Halo, it’s finished. At least Season 1 of the Halo TV Series is. The ending of the first season might be confusing, both for newcomers and long-time fans of the series, as the newly introduced Silver Timeline greatly differs from the Core Canon featured in the video games and books. In this article, we try to make sense of it all and explain the ending of the Halo TV Series Season Finale.
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Is John, The Master Chief, dead?
The Master Chief is alive and well. Thanks to Cortana’s takeover, Master Chief became faster, more precise, and more lethal than ever before, enabling him to capture the keystone and saving Silver Team at the same time against terrible odds.
However, ‘The Master Chief’ and ‘John’ might be two different things. The fate of John, the human side of Master Chief, is not so certain. He was defeated and seemingly died so that he could ‘hand over control’ to Cortana, so to say. Yet, it seems highly unlikely that after all the personal development during this first season, John really died. I mean, Spartans never die, right? They are just missing in action.
Why did John had to hand over control to Cortana?
John felt he had to hand over control of his body to Cortana for two reasons. First, he and his team were overwhelmed by the Covenant forces, and with Silver Team incapacitated, he would not stand a chance by himself. Letting Cortana control his body made him even faster, more precise, and more deadly than ever, giving him a fighting chance against Atriox and the numerous other Covenant forces.
Secondly, John could not carry the Keystone back to the Condor by himself. As soon as he would touch the artifact, he would probably trigger another memory of vision and would not be able to move, just like Makee a few moments earlier. With Silver Team being incapacitated, the only way for John to safely interact with the artifact, was by letting Cortana take over.
Where is the final battle taking place?
The climatic battle in the Season Finale is taking place on Raas Kkhotskha, a holy planet of the Covenant located in the Aspero System. Although the existence of the mythical Forerunners is yet to be confirmed in the TV Series, the temple where the battle takes place seems to be of Forerunner origin, as we see many Forerunner glyphs on the walls.
Why do the Covenant want the Halo ring?
The Covenant are a bunch of religious fanatics, believing the Halo’s will help them embark on the Great Journey, making them gods while all those who are not worthy will be cleansed. The Halo will be the ultimate weapon in the war against humanity.
Why do the Covenant hate humanity?
This is never really explained in the TV series, but in the Core Canon, the Halo rings and many other installations are created by the ancient Forerunners, an advanced race that ruled the galaxy a long time ago. The Covenant believe them to be gods, but the Forerunners actually appointed humanity as their successor. Mad with jealousy of this fact, the Prophets decide to eradicate all humans and start a holy war against humanity.
Why do the Prophets betray Makee?
Makee is, after all, human and thus vermin in the eyes of the prophets. They only used her to gain access to Forerunner technology like the keystones. Because Forerunners appointed humanity as their successor, only ‘Blessed Ones’ like Makee and John are able to interact with Forerunner technology.
What is the star chart the keystone is projecting?
The combined keystones appear to be some kind of Forerunner artifact that contains a map with the location of a Halo ring, or maybe several Halo rings. A similar artifact exists in the Core Canon. The map of this artifact was deciphered by Cortana. That is how humanity finds the Halo ring at the start of Halo: Combat Evolved!
Is Atriox dead?
Well, he does take a full salvo of a Condor chain gun, so his chances of survival are slim. Yet, it seems strange to introduce such a major character only to kill him off after only a few minutes of screentime. In the video games, Atriox becomes the leader of The Banished and the main nemesis of Master Chief. We expect Atriox to return, fueled with anger and seeking revenge on the Demon, A.K.A The Master Chief. The humiliating defeat at Raas Kkhotskha might even make him turn against the Covenant and start his own faction The Banished, like he did in the Core Canon.
Is Halsey dead?
No, Dr. Catherine Halsey faked her own death using flash clones. Flash clones have been seen before in the TV series. For example, Halsey replaced the children she kidnapped for the Spartan program with flash clones. These flash clones would eventually die, but this way the parents would not notice their real child went missing. She also used a flash clone to create Cortana. And now, she uses a flash clone to make everyone think she died, while she escapes off-planet, aided by an unknown man. Miranda Keys sees trough this trickery, though, and the UNSC is still hunting for Halsey by the end of the episode.
What book is Halsey holding?
As we see Halsey make her escape off-planet, she brings a book with her that seems very important. Fans will recognize this book as Dr. Halsey’s Personal Journal, a book containing all of her personal notes about the Spartan program, the Mjolnir armor, the development of Cortana, and even some personal stuff. The actual book was included in the Legendary Edition of Halo Reach.
What about Kwan Ha and Soren-066?
We haven’t seen Kwan Ha and Soren-066 in the last two episodes. At the end of Episode 7, Inheritance, they say goodbye to each other after Kwan Ha learned about the true purpose of her family. Her family was destined to protect Madrigal. We don’t know exactly why, but in the vision of the past, we see a Monitor. Monitors are usually guardians or stewards at Forerunner installations, like Shield Worlds and Halo rings. It might mean that Madrigal is a Forerunner installation, but for now, we can only guess.
The first season might be finished, but Halo is really just getting started, as the Halo TV Series will continue in 2023 with Season 2. Got more questions about the first season? Drop a comment below and we will try to explain more about the events in the Halo TV Series!
