Messages

61

SGP Task Force: The Librarians / Re: Nomolos=Solomon, The Ark, & Allusion in the Halo Universe

« on: May 14, 2010, 18:06:26 »

Solomon was the son of King David.

Yes, and David and Solomon were of the tribe of Judah, which was represented by the lion (and from which Christ is said to have descended).  According to I Kings 10:19-20, 12 lions adorned the throne of Solomon (12 tribes of Israel = 12 lions).  Now we know lions can be seen on the walls of the city of New Mombasa.  I didn't mention earlier because lions also feature in the Kenyan coat of arms (and have occasionally been spotted in Africa ) and this would therefore be the more obvious/less metaphorical explanation.  Still, I'm mighty tempted to run around counting lions.

And yes, on a humorous note, the Bungies predicted my fervor (OR, is it a CLUE?! ):
Medic: "And the Covenant?"
Crazed Marine: "They're the lions...RAAAR!"
Medic: "Careful. I think you just strained a metaphor."
Crazed Marine: "Oh, oh god! Is that...serious?"
Medic: "Only if you keep it up."

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SGP Task Force: The Librarians / Re: Nomolos=Solomon, The Ark, & Allusion in the Halo Universe

« on: May 13, 2010, 17:05:18 »

Thanks, Enigma.  I have to represent, you know.  

Funny you should mention Star Wars, because I was thinking the same thing while writing the post, especially since John-117 is a messianic sort of figure (the child savior raised on a distant planet).

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SGP Task Force: The Librarians / Nomolos=Solomon, The Ark, & Allusion in the Halo Universe

« on: May 13, 2010, 16:04:44 »

I wrote this post a long time ago and apparently never posted it.  Duh!

Speaking of businesses referenced in ODST, Nomolos (as in Nomolos Refining) spelled backwards is Solomon.  Now this could be a Bungie employee's shout-out to himself.  OR, it could be a clever allusion to Solomon, Biblical King of Israel, who makes an appearance in the Paradiso section of the Divine Comedy and who also built the first Temple to house the ARK of the COVENANT.  We've all seen Raiders of the Lost Ark so we all know the Ark of the Covenant is one of archaeology's big kahuna missing artifacts.  We also all know that in ODST, the Covenant is invading Earth to gain access to the Artifact, or the Portal, which is hidden beneath New Mombasa/Voi and leads to Installation 00 or (wait for it now) the Ark.  Hmmmm.... (Forgive me if the preceding seems completely obvious, but I always thought the Ark was a reference to Noah's Ark since the Librarian was trying to index all sentient beings/save them from the Flood by sending them to the Ark.  Now I'm thinking the Ark allusion works both ways.  Toss in a bunch of Norse mythology (Jotun, Mjolnir, Sif) and Greek historical and mythological references (Spartan, Tartarus, etc.) and you have one hell of a mixed metaphor.  It better freaking hang together in some big way, Bungie, that's all I have to say.)

Further, the colors of the Nomolos logo are the same colors used in the present-day Israeli flag, which would be consistent with the use of the color red in the Sinoviet sign, Sinoviet likely being a Chinese (Sino)-Vietnamese conglomerate of some sort.  (Red is featured prominently in the Chinese and Vietnamese flags.)  The company logos are also reminiscent of the flags in their use of shapes:  Nomolos features six stars (the Israeli flag features a single hexagram, or six-pointed geometric star figure) while Sinoviet utilizes the pentagon (both the Chinese and Vietnamese flag use five-sided stars, or pentagrams, in instances of five or one, respectively).

Overanalysis indeed, but I think it's safe to say that these two ODST businesses seem to represent political/nationalistic interests.

[Night Edit] The in-house links are way broken. Sorry guys.

64

Halo Reach: Beta / Re: Screen Shot's Please

« on: May 11, 2010, 19:00:15 »

My story knowledge is a bit rusty at the moment but I don't recall any references to Guardian Lance in the novels.  The Halopedia seems to confirm that this is new Reach-related lore.  (Nice job, Enigma.)  As for Jericho VII, this is the site of the opening of the novel, The Fall of Reach.  Following a mission with Blue Team in 2535, John-117 witnesses the glassing of the planet, which is in the Lambda Serpentis System (hence the lambda symbol and the word 'SER' also noted on the plaque).  So...the referenced operation occurred on the planet post-glassing.  Another admittedly thin connection to Reach is the fact that many of the Spartan-III recruits - and we are playing as a Spartan III in Reach - are orphans of planets such as Jericho VII.  For the interested, Bungie has released some new info on the in-game characters.

And yeah, Jericho, and Jericho VII at that....Those Bungie people sure do love their Bible references.

65

SGP Task Force: The Librarians / Re: SGP: Dr. Catherine Halsey and the ONI Memorial

« on: January 04, 2010, 16:14:30 »

Additional discrepancies:

Preston Cole's DOB on Screen C is given as 04/04/2484 while his DOB in "The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole" (Halo Evolutions) is 11/3/2470.

Furthermore, on Screen C, Cole's SN is listed as 03956-26127-PC.  In the story, his UNSC SN is 00814-13094-BQ.

I would question whether the number on the panel is an ONI service number, if there is such a thing - Cole's a bit of a mysterious creature - BUT Stanforth's SN is consistent across both sources and he was ONI (Section Three) at the time of some of the communiques in the short story.

Hmmmmmmmm...Stanforth's birthdate on Screen C doesn't make sense either.  According to the story, he was an admiral in June 2503 (p. 454).  If you juxtapose the info from the ONI memorial and Evolutions, that would make him a sixteen year old admiral.  That hardly seems likely.

I would hypothesize that there are two Stanforths (a son perhaps?) but the SN's are the same.  For the record, his name is curious as well.  He is referred to in the story as 'Harold Stanforth,' but on the panel, we see his full name is 'Hieronymus Michael Stanforth' and he appears to go by 'Michael.'  So either 'Harold' is short for 'Hieronymus' or we're talking two different people with the same SN such that SN's are assigned by...family perhaps?  In my opinion, the former seems more likely than the latter, which casts suspicion on his Screen C DOB.

I want to say Halsey's DOB appears in one of the novels but I can't locate it at the moment.  Hers may be correct.

Finally, Danforth Whitcomb is listed on panel R and on the scrolling panels but did not die on Reach.  As with Halsey, that is the presumption.  In reality, Whitcomb died during Operation First Strike (approx. 9/13/2552) when he and ONI's Lt. Haverson used the Ascendant Justice to lure covenant ships near the Unyielding Hierophant, which John-117, Blue Team, and Cortana had rigged for explosion.

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SGP Task Force: The Librarians / Re: i found a mistake by bungie

« on: December 27, 2009, 17:04:49 »

Thanks for having me and for all your hard work in creating this great online community.   

67

SGP Task Force: The Librarians / Re: i found a mistake by bungie

« on: December 26, 2009, 17:25:37 »

Though playing the games leaves one with a very different impression – I would have to give it some thought to determine how exactly this is accomplished or whether it is (perhaps?) intentional on the part of the Halo story people – most of the main events depicted within the Halo games occur on a very compressed timeline.  The glassing of Reach occurs in late August 2552.  John-117 escapes Reach and goes to Threshold, the site of the first halo (Installation 04), where he initially encounters the Flood.  The events depicted in Halo 1 thus take place in September 2552, over what I believe is a three to four day period.  Halo 2 begins with John-117 on Cairo Station above Earth on October 20, 2552.  The events of ODST take place on October 20, 2552.  In this sense, ODST takes place before the events of Halo 3 (no surprise) but also, it appears, before many of the events depicted in Halo 2.  It is hard to give a timeframe to the Arbiter portion of Halo 2 (though we know it is after his September defeat at Installation 04), at least until he comes in contact with John-117, at which point we know it must be October 20 or later.  Events involving Colonel Ackerson’s Spartan-III’s and the aforementioned Dr. Halsey, who is rescued from Reach during the events of First Strike, are transpiring on Onyx around this time as the firing (later canceled) of Installation 05 (as depicted in Halo 2) appears to trigger the opening of the shield world on Onyx (as depicted in Ghosts of Onyx).

Suffice it to say, it is all very confusing.  To further complicate matters, the Halo novelists skip back and forth in time to provide back story.  This means that you may encounter a character in a “later” book at an earlier time in his life.  Plus, the story is told from the perspective of the characters (or you, the gamer, as the character).  There is no omniscient voice ushering us through events, correcting our misconceptions etc.  Much like in life, the misconceptions (She’s dead!) are allowed to play themselves out and to serve as later plot twists.  Who knows?  Maybe it’s cheating or poor planning, but it winds up being pretty entertaining.

SO…I say all this only to say Reach wasn’t glassed “years ago” – it just feels like that – and Halsey didn’t die on Reach, or if she did, she didn’t die at the time the planet was glassed.  The Covenant merely half-glassed it, as it were.  Unless she wound up back there at some point and it was glassed again and more thoroughly and I don’t know what the heck I’m talking about (entirely possible).  I’ve only sped through a few of the books at this point and played Halo 2 and 3 a little – and very badly.

Ah, the multi-media experience.  And howdy!

Also, here's the Halopedia page, which shows the whole of the Halsey ONI memorial plaque.  Odst Glitcher’s link seems to take us to a fragment of this plaque.  (Forgive me if I’m stating the obvious in any or all parts of this post.)  Since the Halopedia has a problem citing sources, I have no idea where you can see the whole plaque in-media though.