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This is a pretty definitive post that specifies exactly what is considered canon in the Halo universe. It has been put together using quotes and posts from various Bungie and Microsoft employees, as well as some external people such as Eric Nylund. Sources have been listed where appropriate and possible.
People included in this document include:
- Joseph Staten: Bungie's Director of Cinematics and Lead Writer
- Peter Parsons: Executive Producer of Halo 2, Studio Manager
- Frank (Frankie) O'Connor: Content Manager, Bungie.net Team.
- Eric Nylund: Author of Halo novels, including Fall of Reach, First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx.
- Shishka: Ex-contract worker, current Playlist Designer.
Contents
- Halo Canon General
- Halo novels are canon
- Cortana Letters are not canon
- ILOVEBEES is not canon (disputable)
- Halo Wars is canon
- Spartan 458 - Nicole (from Dead or Alive 4) is not canon
- IRIS and other Halo 3 PR and Marketing
- Conclusion
- Thanks and acknowledgements
- Links
Halo Canon General
Hey Folks,
Bry has hit the nail on the head:
: Halo 'canon' can quite easily be viewed in a similar way as the kind of canon
: system in place with Star Wars.
: A certain hierarchy of priority.
: In other words, different levels of canon where the higher levels will
: override the lower ones whenever there is a contradiction.
Everything that Bungie has ever approved is canonical. But even then, certain things trump others. In order of canonical influence:
- The games rank first
- Published materials (books, comics, soundtrack liner notes etc.) rank second
- Marketing and PR materials third
And there's one codicil: the more recent items trump the older ones. So, for example, if some aspect of Halo 3's fiction contradicted Halo 2's, Halo 3's would be the gold standard.
Bungie doesn't like to retcon (i.e., deliberately change previously established facts), but sometimes it's necessary. Take for example the issue of the number of human worlds. The truth about the "800+" number? That was made up by a non-Bungie employee and never approved by us before the Halo: CE promotional website went live.
As for some of the other issues raised, chiefly Jenkins' age and UNSC foot-dragging on fielding the BR55? I will only say that some marines have spent a very long time in cryo-sleep and that putting an entirely new weapon into service during a war -- especially a war that spans multiple star systems -- is no small order.
That being said, I'm constantly impressed by how close attention you all pay to the details. Don't ever stop keeping us honest! And we'll do our best to keep you reliably entertained :-)
- Joseph
Source: Halo.Bungie.Org (Joseph Staten's Post)
Halo Novels are canon
GameSpy: When you were writing the game's script, did you want to tie the whole universe together, including stuff that was in the two books?
Joe Staten: The books are full of wonderful, complex elements that would be hugely problematic if we included them in Halo 2 in any meaningful way (e.g. the existence of other Spartans). That being said, I did my best to be take the books into account as I wrote, and there are definitely common themes and characters. The opposite is true as well; Eric Nylund and I spoke often as he gathered his thoughts for the third Halo novel, "First Strike."
Source: Gamespy (Xbox)
How Stuff Works: Was the "Halo" story fully realized and segmented into different games, or did you take the story as far as "Halo 1" and when it came time for a sequel, build the story from the ground up?
Pete Parsons: The "Halo" universe has an overarching story that is well thought out and was well thought out before "Halo 2." We have roughly 600 years worth of "Halo" fiction, and we know what happens inside of that universe at any given time. The ["Halo 2"] story itself only existed as notes and was really fleshed out. We know ultimately, at least in the "Halo" universe, where humanity came from, where it's going to, at what point in time it comes in contact with The Covenant [the villains in "Halo"] and what happens well beyond that. "Halo 2" picks up literally right after "Halo 1." But there is still plenty of story in and around that. And you can see some of that in the three novels we have.
How Stuff Works: The novelization of a video game is, well ... novel. Where does Eric Nyland <sic> get the background for his books?
Pete Parsons: We work closely with him on all the stories. So what we do is we have these story arcs of the "Halo" universe, and Eric goes in and says, "Well that's a really good piece to take and here is in a microcosm what I think that story will look like."
How Stuff Works: Are you guys very conscious to make sure that everything fits together -- that the books and games don't contradict one another -- so that everyone can look to any source and say, "This is very consistent, fully realized world"?
Pete Parsons: Yes, but not in the marketing kind of way. We do it because we want the "Halo" universe to be manifold. You can certainly probably pull out some inconsistencies, but as a general rule we really try to keep it manifold. Because we think that ultimately we are doing this for ourselves. And after that, we're doing it for our fans, and we want them to really believe in this place that is the Halo universe. I think the reason Halo has captured so many imaginations is because we care a lot about what's going on in that universe and how believable that universe is. We have this high level myth that we understand very well.
Source: How Stuff Works
EGM: You mention Reach; have you read all of the Halo books?
Pete Parsons: Yeah, obviously the Halo fiction. The overarching Halo universe is crafted here, and then guys like...particularly [Halo book author Eric Nylund] has the job of really fleshing out the bones of that particular story arc.
EGM: So somewhere there's a Halo bible that has the basic storyline, including what goes on after Halo 2?
Pete Parsons: Yes, from the present day to the future.
Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine
HBO: As the Halo storyline has evolved, have you made changes to Halo: The Fall of Reach, or have you kept it going in the direction you started?
Eric Nylund: By the time writing began, the storyline of the Halo game was more or less finalized. An outline for the novel was approved by Bungie before I began writing-only very minor changes were made to the novel.
HBO: Have there been changes to the GAME (that you know of) due to the book, or due to research instigated by its writing?
Eric Nylund: Not that I'm aware of, no. I relied on the Story Bible quite extensively. The whole idea behind a Story Bible is that if you create a document that accurately describes the universe in which a game takes place, you can use it as a guide for writing a novel (for example) without needing to constantly check the developing novel against a developing game.
Source: Halo.Bungie.Org
GameSpy: Also in regards to the "Halo universe," who has ultimate control over where and how the storylines intersect?
Joe Staten: Bungie. Specifically, myself, Jones, Parsons and our community team. And we're very careful about the opportunities we pursue.
Source: Gamespy (Xbox)
GameSpy: When it comes to the expansion of the Halo universe, we've seen books come out, action figures, things like that. Was this a conscious decision by Bungie, or did it just start to happen as the Halo snowball rolled on and got bigger?
Frank O'Connor: You know, if you come by the Bungie offices, the place is absolutely filled with action figures, toys, and other stuff like that. The cool thing about working at Bungie, and I can't speak for the other studios at Microsoft, is that they let us do what we want, and they let us have complete control over our intellectual properties. So, we get to make the things that we want to make. That why I think people like the Halo action figures. They're fully posable, they're really high quality, and they're really detailed, and that's a direct result of us having control over them. It could have been possible for us to just hand that off to some factory and say, "Just make something that looks like this," but every toy, model, and even cups and T-shirts, that come back here, we get final approval over. It's not just approval, though, we also get to make changes like, "No, that's not detailed enough, make it more detailed." That's a really cool thing about working in this studio.
Source: Gamespy (Xbox)
[Edited on 09.01.2009 10:46 AM PDT]