(Apparent) Inconsistencies within the Halo Universe
It is always a tough call to make. With the depth and intricacy of the Halo world, many points are bound to cause a certain degree of bewilderment and curiousity. Often times however, the detail does not appear to be so much a mystery as a discrepancy; an unthinkable thing within Bungie mythos. Unfortunately, whether the item is a typo, the result of a game limitation, a correction of earlier material, an oversight, or an intentional hook for further story expansion, it is often difficult to tell the difference on our end of the Halo Story Bible. This section will attempt to list the various inconsistencies that crop up within the official Halo novels, games, and media. Time will tell if they are merely "features" or not...
- Manual states that the Harvest incident took place in 2520 (H:CE Manual p.4) while other sources specify 2525 (FoR p.96)
- Manual states that Captain Keyes has served in the UNSC since 2526 (H:CE Manual p.8) though he was fresh out of the UNSC OCS in 2517 (FoR p.19)
- The Grunts are referred to as 5 feet tall (H:CE Manual p.10), but in The Fall of Reach they are referred to as being only a metre tall (FoR p.1)
- Main viewscreen of the Pillar of Autumn labels the as-of yet unidentified ring as "Halo" (which is not officially named till the level Truth and Recconcilliation (H:CE)
- Total number of Spartan trainees changes several times over the course of a mission (FoR p.46-52)
- The London: included as a mistaken reference to the Pioneer in some early editions (FoR p.74)
- Faster than light drive is referred to as a "Shaw-Fujikawa" engine (FoR p.141), and later as "Fujikawa-Shaw" (FoR p. 278)
- UNSC frigate referred to as the Alliance, and then shortly thereafter as the Allegiance (FoR p.145, 154)
- The ship Leviathan is referred to as a cruiser (FoR p.162) while it is later referred to as a carrier (FoR p.212).
- James' left/right arm fried off by a fuel-rod gun (FoR p.208, 210)
- Pillar of Autumn missing its portside emergency thrusters, and then using them twice (FoR p.271, 292, 320)
- Pillar of Autumn uses rotating sections to simulate gravity (FoR p.274) yet no such mechanism is seen in-game
- Confusion: "There were twenty SuperMAC guns in orbit. They could accelerate a three thousand ton projectile to point four-tenths the speed of light and place that projectile with pinpoint accuracy..." (FoR p.283). 0.4c or 0.04c?
- The Pillar of Autumn's Mac cannon is depolarized and cannot fire (FoR p.337), yet the gun is apparently used, and the loss of fire control still makes headlines (H:CE, opening cinematic)
- The cutscene in H1 at the end of the level "The Pillar of Autumn" clearly shows the PoA being fired upon with plasma. However in the novel, the Prophet at the ring forbids the Covenant ships to fire lest they strike the sacred relic (Htf p.6)
- Jackals and Black Commando Elites on board the Pillar of Autumn (HtF p.7, 36, 29)
- Yayap dreams of trudging "through the swamps of his home world, past naturally occurring pillars of fire, to the marshy estuary where he had grown up" along with a "reedy hut" and "the family's ancestral fish pond" (HtF p.60). All other sources establish their homeworld as a frozen, methane filled wasteland.
- Grunts love to overcharge their plasma pistols (HtF p.81)
- Primary insertion group during the Truth and Reconciliation assault is made up of ODST's (HtF p.100), while in-game there are only marines
- During the Two Betrayals chapter, the Master Chief "went with the rifle and shotgun" (HtF p.281), and only a page later manages to come up "with his sidearm in his hand" (HtF p.282).
- Sergeant Parker referred to as a he (HtF p.112) and then a she (HtF p.113).
- McKay's mission clock appears to be prefixed by an extra 1 (HtF p.127, 148)
- Active-camouflaged Elites using shields (HtF p.28, FS. p.222)
- Halo: The Flood describes only four Scorpion tanks being retrieved from the Pillar of Autumn, which does not account for the one on AotCR
- Pelican's operational maximum is listed as 12 Marines (HtF p.76), elsewhere as 3 crew, 10 seated, 5 standing (Sybex PC Guide p.66), yet elsewhere they can carry 75 children (FoR p.46), 30 Elites (HtF p.211), or 27 Spartans (FS p.27)
- Jackal anomoly: An encounter with 2 Jackals ends with one bullet ridden and the other plummetting off a cliff. However, following this a Marine steps forward and summarily shoots "each Jackal in the head" (HtF p.103).
- Cortana accesses Halo's Control Center via the Master Chief removing and placing the memory chip from his helmet in the console, while in the novel she broadcasts herself into the system using the suit's transmitter.
- Cortana cannot "begin to calculate the [Halo] pulse's range" just after 343 finishes telling her it has a radius of 25 000 light years (H1 "Two Betrayals")
- Longsword landed in the Ascendant Justice is repeatedly referred to as a Pelican (FS p.75, 93, 95, etc.)
- Understatement: Halo described as "a weapon designed to kill all sentient life for dozens of light-years in every direction." (FS, p.298)
- Pistols: H1's M6D pistol is explained (ret-con-ed?) in First Strike to be an upgraded version of H2's "standard sidearm", the M6C; The Flood, however, calls the M6D "standard issue". Poor Dietz.
- During the battle of Reach many Covenant ships are destroyed, but not before they can loose their own lethal plasma attacks. However, later plasma en route to a target merely dissipates as the originating ship and its magnetic controls are destroyed (FS p.266).
- Spartan II Roster: Who exactly is left after all these years?
- (Amended) Discrepancy between the date on Jenkins' in-game recording and the events during September recorded elsewhere
- (Amended) Samuel and Fhajad: both listed as SPARTAN 034 (FoR p.40, 141)
- (Amended) Joshua and Vinh: both listed as SPARTAN 029 (FS p.9, 121)
- (Amended) Ensign William Lovell also referred to as Micheal Lovell (FoR p.159,188)
- (Amended?) Number of Pelicans (and Longswords) aboard the Pillar of Autumn and subsequently on Halo 04
See something we've missed? Let us know.
