Google+

Halo 4 - 21 must-know facts about the Halo universe

Get caught up before jumping into Halo 4

Words: on November 2, 2012
Back to Article

22 comments

  • antiAntag0nist - November 2, 2012 12:26 p.m.

    This is a great primer for those new to the Halo universe. Good work Mr. Cooper. I didn't think that you were much of a Halo fan to be honest.

  • YouaintgotNOyeezy - November 2, 2012 12:27 p.m.

    couple of mistakes, tartarus, was the brute chieftan, the elites did not have a chieftan. The elites did split off from the covenant while all other races stayed. And also, killing the gravemind did not kill the flood, the gravemind only gave flood higher intelligence todo things such as control ships, which would allow flood to spread. The chief did kill the gravemind, but by blowing up the ship he was in on halo 3, new graveminds could form. When activating the new halo, a new gravemind was being formed once again on that halo since there was still vast amounts of flood. Once the halo was activated, all unsc and elites had already reached earth, the remeaining covenant forces died off, the halo was destroyed along with the gravemind, and the flood were left to starve. this all happend on the ark. Just wanted to clear these 2 main subjects up :)

  • Redeater - November 2, 2012 1:12 p.m.

    "The Covenant are a conglomeration of stupid, religious aliens" ....we call them scientologists on earth.

  • Galaxy010 - November 2, 2012 1:16 p.m.

    A few errors. First, Tartarus is the Brute Chieftain, not the Elite (Elites don't have Chieftains). Second, killing Gravemind didn't kill the Flood, as the Flood is more akin to a virus than a hivemind. A Gravemind is created at a certain stage in Flood evolution to give them higher intelligence. Killing the Gravemind brought the Flood back to a lower level of intelligence, but they were still a serious threat because they still spread and stuff. Third, in the Haloverse, all smart AI are based off of a human (they normally use a dead person's brain). So Cortana isn't special in that regard, what makes her special is that she is made from the most brilliant mind in the universe. Oh, and while its not a mistake, I think it would be good to include that Sgt Johnson is a "Spartan-I" (part of the Orion project). Anyway, aside from that, great article. I'm just a Haloverse junkie and so those things caught my eye. Normal people probably wouldn't catch any of them though =P

  • D0CCON - November 2, 2012 1:18 p.m.

    In regards to the Flood, isn't that largely the same thing? Killing the Gravemind left the flood to starve, which basically meant that killing the Gravemind killed the flood. It's not that much of a jump. They may not have died simultaneously with the Gravemind, but without him, they didn't have a chance.

  • Hollander_Cooper - November 2, 2012 1:37 p.m.

    I'll make these changes, I genuinely appreciate you both calling them out. I'm a Halo fan, but the universe is big enough that it can get away from ya.

  • Hollander_Cooper - November 2, 2012 1:37 p.m.

    Will make the changes, thank you for the notes!

  • CrashmanX - November 2, 2012 2:02 p.m.

    Aw the lack of details about "Half the Spartans died during the enhancement process" made me sad. Having read the books I knew this stuff, but still pretty damn awesome.

  • Raikeron - November 2, 2012 3:45 p.m.

    Actually one more thing, John-117 isn't the last known spartan alive. There are a handful of Spartan-II's that are still known to be alive, such as Kelly-087, Frederic-104, and Linda-058. I think are a few more, and there could be some surviving Spartan-III's.

  • Raikeron - November 2, 2012 3:52 p.m.

    Actually, John-117 isn't the last known spartan alive. There are a handful of Spartan-II's that are still known to be alive, such as Kelly-087, Frederic-104, and Linda-058. I think are a few more, and there could be some surviving Spartan-III's.

  • SpadesSlick - November 2, 2012 4:58 p.m.

    There are a few surviving Spartan III's trapped in the dyson sphere alongside Kelly Fred and Linda. Also Gray team was too far away to be recalled for the battle of reach so it's implied they survived the war too. Jai, Adriana and Mike so it brings the total of spartans alive to probably around 7. Though I think Black Team's fate is left in the air as well. /being THAT guy

  • Aarononymous - November 2, 2012 6:40 p.m.

    Possible Spoiler Warning: There's also been some potentially relevant developments in the novels, like the fact that prehistoric humans had a galactic empire that rivaled the forerunners and that these prehistoric humans fought a war with the forerunners and that the flood were originally released during this war oh and the flood was originally created by the precursors as a weapon against the forerunners.

  • secher_nbiw - November 2, 2012 9:27 p.m.

    Really good stuff! But wasn't Halsey the one to notice John's luck? I remember something about her flipping a coin and having John guess what is was when he was a boy.

  • Rocketscientist - November 3, 2012 8:30 a.m.

    Great primer! I've sent this to my friends who aren't familiar with the Halo lore. One note, I don't think every spartan was outfitted with a Smart AI. For example, Naomi in The Thursday War was very uncomfortable with interfacing with Black Box (BB) because she had never done so. So while each spartan is able to interface with a Smart AI, I don't believe it was standard to do so.

  • EdDeRs1 - November 3, 2012 10:45 a.m.

    im sorry but you got a few facts wrong, namely that the Humans and the Profits once shared the Galaxy with the Forerunners, and the Human/Profit alliance were the first species to defeat the flood by sacrificing half there numbers to the flood when they infected them with a genetic condition that would destroy the flood, forcing a few survives outside the Galaxy who would later return to wipe out the Forerunners. however after that victory over the Flood humanity accidentally started to colonize Forerunner worlds, pissing them off, and due to there empire being weakened with the war against the Flood (that the Forerunners didn't know about) they lost the ensuring war with the Forerunners and were technologically sent back to the stone-age as punishment, the same happened with the Profits and all there tec was destroyed to stop them from becoming a threat again. however the Flood reemerged and wiped out the Forerunners and since Humanity was the only species to successfully fight off the Flood they named them the reclaimers of all there tec, and some old human tec. however the Profits accessed Forerunner early sand mistranslated it causing all the events of Halo. oh and the Jackal's of the Covenant are mercenaries employed by the Profits, not a real part of the Covenant.

  • D0CCON - November 3, 2012 5:14 p.m.

    I know Jun from Halo Reach didn't die in-game and I think he might have managed to survive. Can anyone verify that?

  • Fuzunga - November 3, 2012 5:15 p.m.

    Nobody killed the flood "once and for all". They destroyed them temporarily. In fact, the flood aren't even from the Milky Way. As far as I know, nobody's ever found the source of the flood. Actually, the other Halo installations probably have specimens locked away... Although maybe a sore subject, I can see the flood returning at some point. After all, the Forerunner weapons in Halo 4 (and referenced in the first game by Guilty Spark) were specifically designed to vaporize flood, which is why guns like the scattershot disintegrate whatever you shoot.

  • haxxoromg - November 3, 2012 8:34 p.m.

    how can someone possibly know so much about halo lore and still not know how to spell "prophet"... seriously, most of your info comes from the books you honestly have no excuse.

  • xdarkheartxa - November 4, 2012 9:30 a.m.

    I'm pretty sure Halsey first noticed John had incredible luck at the orphanage waaaaaaaay before cortana was ever introduced

  • Bloodstorm - November 4, 2012 5:04 p.m.

    No, the Gravemind is not necessary for the Flood survival. The Flood come first, then the Gravemind, not the other way around. Once the Flood consume enough mass they start making proto-graveminds (as I believe Keyes was labeled as in Halo CE when he was infected), which eventually results in a Gravemind.

Showing 1-20 of 22 comments

Join the Discussion
Add a comment
(HTML tags are not allowed.)
Characters remaining: 5000

Connect with GamesRadar


Featured Guides

Connect with Facebook

Log in using Facebook to share comments, games, status update and other activity easily with your Facebook feed.