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Edited by Dr. Halsey's Left Arm:
8/7/2013 5:01:06 AM
19
Will Halo's fiction ever evolve?
A few days ago I finished reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Following young Ender as he moves through adolescence with the fate of his species in his hands was captivating and his unwitting xenocide of the buggers and the miscommunication between them and humanity that made that happen was pretty deep. It was depressing stuff.
I have also recently finished reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov from Foundation to Foundation and Earth, I have no read the two prequels yet. I've seen that series grow from the development of the Foundation on Terminus as it moves towards the coming Second Galactic Empire through political maneuvering and technological advancement to nearly seeing it collapse from the might of the Mule and his mind powers to seeing it grow suspicious of the Second Foundation and it's council of members with mind powers to the revelation of the entire galaxy being put on track towards becoming a super organism created by an ancient robot. Confusing I know, but what I am saying is that a simple concept of a coming empire arising after the collapse of the previous one morphed into something so much more satisfying.
To look at something different from a different author and two different books from said author, Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End offered a "spiritual" take on science-fiction about humanities evolution while Rendezvous with Rama is a straight up mystery that begs a lot of questions yet doesn't have many answers. Those are some great concepts.
So when I look at what Halo has to offer recently, I just hang my head and wonder when the fiction is going to actually improve in terms of quality and scope. Now a disclaimer, I think the Forerunner Saga does a lot to evolve the fiction. What I am mostly concerned with is pretty much everything set after Halo 3 in the games and books. From the looks of it, Halo is stuck in a rut and can't do anything else but retread everything.
I have to ask, when is Halo going to move past the Covenant, move past the Forerunners, move past morality of things like the Spartan-II Program. I'm not saying things like that should be ignored, but there are so many better topics and stories that could be told instead. At this point I'm getting really sick of the "Humans vs aliens" and "Humans -blam!- yeah!" plot of post-Halo 3 Halo. Shit, I can't be the only one who would love to see humans and some former Covenant species exploring the galaxy together. Maybe it seems a bit too happy-go-lucky, but it sounds way better to me than following around Jul "Humans are worse than the Flood" 'Mdama and the cast of clowns in the Kilo-Five squad. Halo 4 didn't really break this trend either, 343i even made shooting the Covenant easier by making them look more like ugly monsters this time around and throwing away the development those species got during Halo 2-3 and books like Contact Harvest and Cole Protocol.
When are we going to see more alien species introduced into the franchise? The Milky Way Galaxy is huge place so I find it hard to accept that around 8 sentient species are all that there is. It'd be awesome to see how new beings view the Forerunners and all of the mysteries of the cosmos. New technology, new weapons for the games, new places to explore, think about it.
That last part especially really bugs me, we have a vast universe to play with and we never really go anywhere. Instead of a stupid comic book about Sarah Palmer, why not a look at the voyage of the Infinity as it goes from planet to planet. We know it helped in the exploration of Installation 03, that'd be cool to explore.
Frankly, it seems all Halo has going for it now is constant plots about war and killing. And even though I love the Forerunner Saga as it actually had an emphasis on world-building, exploration and mystery, the Precursors on reflection are a bit disappointing. They are basically Cthulhu now, not that that is a bad thing but I would've love to see them more in a chessmaster role with the Mantle, making occasional moves and throwing challenges at humanity to see how they will react and if they are worthy of the Mantle. As of now, they are pretty much, "We're just going to eat all of you guys because you pissed us off".
Maybe I'm judging things a bit prematurely what with two more games on the horizon and no doubt more novels on the way, the Halo story just doesn't look like it is going to change and that is disappointing more than anything because Halo has the potential to be something more.
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6 RepliesWell, here goes. Cobra, at this point I'm not understanding what you mean by "evolve." Regardless, the two biggest elements of a story that can be evolved are the overall narrative style, and the thematic values of the story in general. At first glance you might say that Halo's narrative style hasn't evolved much at all (outside of Bear's books). But in actuality, the mode [i]has[/i] changed. While it still maintains the traditional third person omniscient camera in game as it always has, Halo 4's narrative mode leans a lot more towards the third person subjective side- that is, it now focuses on Master Chief and his body language to convey the story. It's focusing on the way Chief [i]reacts[/i] to the events of the narrative and what he thinks of them. Not on the events themselves, a la Bungie Halo. It's a subtle change, but it will probably make a huge difference down the line. Of course, I highly doubt you meant narrative style. However, if we're talking about a thematic evolution, a lot more has changed. While you bring up new species and constant plots about war and killing, you've got to take into account the general idea that 343's been building up to. The theme of finding the place of life within the universe. Whereas Bungie's Halo games eschewed this for a smaller scale narrative of humanity finding its place within the galaxy, 343 has decided to confront the theme head on. I'm sure you're familiar with the Mantle of Responsibility. The plot device is more than just a motive for the enemy. Indeed, it's what the entire narrative hinges on. Is it truly the purpose of life? Is it just a substitute, filling in the void for something we may never understand? Why did the Precursors uphold it instead of just guaranteeing everyone protection? Who truly [i]deserves[/i] it? And let's not forget, once again, that 343 is now attempting to build up a far more character driven narrative as well. This is a clear evolution for the franchise, and the Master Chief himself. Where before he was pretty much a machine working on clear cut orders that allowed him to exercise his proficiency, he is now working on impulse, after the loss of the person who would [i]give him[/i] those orders. It's a natural evolution of a character we only thought we knew, and given the Halo Xbox One teaser, where we see Master Chief working on his own, driven by his thoughts about Cortana, it's clear that 343 isn't about to let it go. This is all ignoring how 343 has managed to perfectly parallel the overall theme of "what is the purpose of life" with the theme of "what does it mean to be human." Am I saying that you're completely wrong, and that 343 has evolved every facet of Halo? No. I completely agree when you're talking about the sociopolitical troubles of post war, Karen Traviss, Halo. They're generic and just filled with boring wars. But despite that, given how 343 is seemingly setting up a grand exploration into the way the franchise's Forerunner lore can critique our most basic thoughts, and how 343 is also setting the table for a completely new take on Master Chief, I have to disagree with your overall argument. [spoiler]Yeah, I typed this up in a hurry, forgive me[/spoiler]
