Nomolos=Solomon, The Ark, & Allusion in the Halo Universe

[The Arkaeologist]

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.

[EnigmaBiz]

......You make me feel stupid. I totally agree, it actually makes sense that they would incorporate these thing or links to other events. It reminds me of Star wars and how they use Republicans as the enemy along with several bible references. It seem like you have to weave in a little history to attain cult followers or to make a lot of money.

Wow, you really never waste a post..

[EnigmaBiz]

Also could be Solo Man in reference to Master chief.. (one man wrecking crew)

[The Arkaeologist]

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).

[Dunder Moose]

Sinoviet might also be Russian.  As in Soviet with "in" in it.  Also with the Inferno theme, it adds Sin as the prefix.

Solomon was the son of King David. God asked him what he would ask from God and he said wisdom to rule his people.  Since he did not ask for wealth or power God gave him all three. He was not a warrior and so since his hands did not have blood on them he was fit to build the temple. He is famous for suggesting that a baby be divided in half since two women claimed to be the child's mother, the one that backed down proved to be the mother.  The UNSC ship is divided down the middle upon their escape leaving MC floating above Reach.

Great brainwork Arky!

[The Arkaeologist]

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."

[EnigmaBiz]

Let me lay this heavy sh*t on you!!

I don't know why this didn't hit me before but all this bible talk and making CG a new pick got me thinking....The Crucifiction Jesus and the other two men, The names are not found in Scripture. However, tradition gives the names of the two as Dismas (the "good thief") and Gestas, the one who rebuked Jesus.

The attachment is a reenactment but I think it maybe explains the tri-glyph or maybe its meaning. Really glad your here Ark, its very refreshing.

[EnigmaBiz]

My crude drawing of the above..

[The Arkaeologist]

I must say, Enigma: that is strangely compelling.

Staten's father is a theologian and I think we (or those of us who are interested) should definitely keep this in mind as we're playing the games, reading the novels, etc.  You can see the influence and I would like to think it's holistic: not because I hope Bungie is promoting a certain religious viewpoint, so much as because I think it would be super-cool if the story worked as a big multimedia allegory rather than as a hodge-podge of literary, historical, and religious allusion.  I want to believe an underlying and cohesive vision has been present throughout.  Don't let me down, Bungie!

I do want us to be careful  :police: - especially since I started this thread - to be sure to provide proof wherever possible and to really try to think things through before tossing out hypotheses or listing every little possible connection.  We don't want to become the crazy conspiracy branch of the scientific gaming people and we always have to recognize that religion, like politics, can be a touchy subject and that an artist's vision, and certainly his intention, is ultimately his own.  That said, I think there may be something to this theory, and even if it doesn't hold, it wouldn't be bad for us to have a catalog of the various references.

A good starting place is seeing what's already out there.  (I was surprised to see the Ark of the Covenant thing is apparently common knowledge.  I swear I did not steal it.  And yeah, you can see some people get a wee bit wacky with their conclusion-jumping.  This is truly the Halopedia at its worst, barely a reference in sight.)  For the truly ambitious, a reading of the relevant chapters of 1 Kings (starting here, I guess) will provide a background on Solomon's temple, which contained the Ark and could correlate in some way (maybe?!) to New Mombasa/Voi.  There's also a whole lot of numbers magic there.  And we know those Bungies love their numbers.

And let me just say, I love the mix of talents we have here, artistic, technical, etc.  It's just really cool.  We're our very own Bungie lite.

[Imppa]

Wow, you're really sharp, Ark. Perhaps the other companies have same kind of relations?

 We don't want to become the crazy conspiracy branch of the scientific gaming people

What, we don't?

[The Arkaeologist]

Thanks, Imppa, though I suspect you guys may be taking it easy on me....perhaps because of my pink bow tie?  

Perhaps the other companies have same kind of relations?

Yes, the companies seem to break down along two lines - those that represent, or at least take their names from, states or regions (Nomolos, Sinoviet, African Trust, and Misriah (more on Misriah in a moment)) and those with generic corporate-y/product-related names (Hinos, Optican, Tecnniqe, Traxus, Vyrant and probably Asklon, e, and Huciv).  Jotun, from the Norse mythology for giant, is an appropriate name for a company that produces large agricultural machines, but there doesn't appear to be a Norway connection beyond this since Contact Harvest lists the headquarters of Jotun as Mars.  Misriah too is located on Mars and seems to take its name directly from the planet - the letters in Mars + the letters 'i,' 'i,' and 'h' shaken up a little.  (I had a theory about this being a reference to the two Hirams in I Kings, but I decided I was taking things a bit too far.)  Of course, this is all cursory.  Some of those generic-sounding names could very well be significant.

[EnigmaBiz]

I am kinda surprised CG hasn't got up on this!

[Pulse Cloud]

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."

*head asplodes*
I guess The Ark has found us and not the other way around, then. (first one understanding gets a DELICIOUS CAEK!)
The Arkaeologist, this is EPIC. We should DEFINITELY invest some time in this.

[Imppa]

*head asplodes*
I guess The Ark has found us and not the other way around, then. (first one understanding gets a DELICIOUS CAEK!)
The Arkaeologist, this is EPIC. We should DEFINITELY invest some time in this.

I knew these Ark jokes would start soon.
Oh and btw, TEH CAEK IS A LIE!