The Theology Of … is a series in which we tell parents about the overt or subtle spiritual worlds of various popular media. Each article will explain the theological landscape of a relevant series, and when appropriate, we’ll provide ways for parents to use said content as a way to teach their child about Christian theology.
Introduction to Halo
It should come as no surprise that a series with a name like “Halo” would come with some religious themes.
We can’t say, of course, that when Bungie (the original developer) released the first Halo game in 2001 that they necessarily foresaw how deep into theology the franchise would go. But as the game’s main menu opens to the sound of a reverent-sounding choir, you get an indication that it’s not going to be your average first-person shooter.
But how deep can Halo’s 13 games (not including remasters) and a few dozen books go? Well, deep enough to merit a blog on the subject. And while not every spiritual theme in Halo is immediately present or fully explained in the game’s campaign (after all, you’re probably too busy blasting Covenant bad guys to care), taking a moment to question why the alien and robotic races of the series are fighting will inevitably lead you down Halo’s religious rabbit hole.
Fortunately, we at Plugged In have explored that rabbit hole and planted some signposts to help you make sense of it all. And after explaining the lore behind Halo’s most prominent spiritual ideas, we’ll show you how you can connect those ideas to Christianity—and in this case, it may be far easier than you’d expect.
So, without further ado, let’s don our MJOLNIR armor and ready a plasma grenade or two as we drop feet first into these spiritual themes.
Note: Because Halo is a vastly expanded universe, it would take a much longer blog post than this to cover all of the spiritual themes found within. As such, this blog will primarily focus on the franchise’s 13 video games, though some references to the series’ novels will be included, too.
Overarching Spiritual Worldview
Events Prior to Halo’s Known Human History
Millions upon millions of years ago, there was an alien race known as the Precursors. These ancient trans-sentient creatures chose to create other sentient life throughout the universe—and two races rose quickly in galactic power and interstellar prominence: humanity and the Forerunners.
The Forerunners developed some religious ideas about their Precursor creators, the most central of which was the “Mantle of Responsibility”—a belief that the “most developed species” should protect and steward all other life. While the Forerunners initially believed they were destined to hold this prestigious title, they learned that their creators intended for humans to rule the galaxy.
Unwilling to accept this reality (and perhaps afraid that the Precursors might deem them unworthy and destroy them), the Forerunners rebelled against their creators, slaughtering most of the Precursors. Facing genocide, many of the remaining Precursors transformed themselves into a molecular dust, hoping that one day the proper stimuli would allow them to regenerate back into their original forms.
Eventually, the ancient humans encountered this dust. However, over the course of millions of years, the Precursor dust had become corrupted. So when it was reconstituted, it became a new creature called the Flood. The Flood was parasitic in nature, multiplying via spores that shared a single consciousness. It took control of the nervous systems of any living creature the spores came across, assimilating their memories and intelligence into its own hive mind.
The ancient humans battled against the Flood, destroying entire planets wherever they found any trace of the infection. However, because some of these planets contained Forerunner citizens, the Forerunners retaliated, waging war against humanity for their perceived assault and eventually devolving them back into a primitive race.
It was only after all but wiping out the humans that the Forerunners likewise discovered the danger of the Flood. And, finding no other way to stop its spread, the Forerunners chose to construct massive weapons known as Halo rings. The weapons, when fired, were capable of destroying all life in the galaxy, thus starving the Flood of its food source.
Before they activated the rings, the Forerunners collected portions of every species they could find (including some of the Flood for research purposes), storing them on the Ark, the Halo control center which would remain untouched by the destructive force of the rings. From this safe zone, the Forerunners then fired the weapons, killing all life in the galaxy—including most of their own kind. When the proverbial dust settled, the Forerunners who had survived on the Ark then went about the galaxy, reseeding worlds with the preserved species before themselves slowly fading away or else leaving the galaxy.
Their final act was to designate humans as the race to succeed them in carrying the Mantle of Responsibility.
Events Within Halo’s Known Human History
Far in the future, humanity, having been reseeded on Earth, grows into a space-faring race once more. They begin colonizing other planets, but the race is plagued by terrorist attacks from insurrectionist colonies. In response to this, the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) starts the SPARTAN Program, looking to create super soldiers to quash the rebellions. The most successful of these super soldiers is John-117 (often simply referred to by his military rank, Master Chief), one of many children kidnapped at a young age to be genetically and cybernetically augmented and trained for the task (and the main character of the Halo franchise). It is around this time that humanity makes first contact with a political and religious alliance of various alien races known as the Covenant.
The Covenant, formed long ago, worships the Forerunners, mistakenly believing that the Forerunners used ancient technology to ascend to godhood. The Covenant scours the galaxy, searching for Forerunner artifacts, believing that if they collect the Forerunner tech as an act of faith, then they, too, will ascend to godhood in a process they called the “Great Journey.”
However, a sentient Forerunner robot informs the Covenant’s three leaders, known as the Prophets, that their beliefs are misconstrued. The Prophets had translated a Forerunner glyph to read “reclamation,” and the Covenant had taken it to mean they should reclaim the technology to complete the Great Journey. But the robot tells them this was a mistranslation: In actuality, the glyph means “reclaimer,” and it refers to the Forerunner’s choice to finally follow the Precursors’ original plan to give humanity the Mantle of Responsibility and allow them to rule over the galaxy.
Knowing that this revelation would destroy the Covenant, the Prophets collectively decide to keep this truth a secret. Instead, they inform the alien races within the Covenant that the very existence of humans is a heretical abomination, and that humans need to be completely eradicated. And while the truth eventually does come out, breaking the Covenant apart, it is this decision that sparks the war between humanity and the Covenant.
In this war (which takes place over the course of the first three Halo games), the Covenant devastates humanity, forcing continual human retreats and relocations. However, the war comes to a head when a small group of humans (led by John-117) gets chased to a Halo ring. These humans quickly discover the ring’s true intentions: to wipe out all life in the galaxy. However, the Covenant, believing that activating the ring will ascend them to godhood, try to find a way to start it. But in this attempt, the Covenant accidentally releases the surviving Flood that the Forerunners had kept around.
The rest of the Halo series chiefly involves John running around, dealing with the outbreak of the Flood and preventing various alien races and robots from activating the rings. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, in Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite, John must deal with the consequences of a human-created AI that’s gone rogue.
Halo and the Link to Christianity
So, it’s apparent that Halo deals with a variety of religious themes, from chosen races and covenants to false religions and divine ascension. But what you may not realize is how closely this franchise connects to the Christian story. And while these connections aren’t confirmed by the developers, you may be able to use them to bring gameplaying back to the gospel.
In these games, the root cause of conflict is, ultimately, the Flood. The Flood is said to be so deadly that “one single Flood spore can destroy an entire species.” And as the Flood gather together and form into a single consciousness, they create an entity known as a Gravemind. We meet one such Gravemind in Halo 2 and 3, which describes itself as a “monument to all your sins.” The Flood stands as the embodiment and result of sin, so it’s no surprise when, to escape the Flood, the Forerunners load up every species on their Ark while the rest of the galaxy perishes. Yes, you got that right: While the majority of the Forerunners perish as a result of the Flood, those who find salvation on the Ark survive—a clear parallel to Noah’s Ark in Genesis. However, just as sin did not end with Noah’s Ark, some of the Flood still survive and continue to ravage the galaxy.
And long after the Ark, the Covenant arises with a religion based on the teachings of so-called Prophets. Specifically, these Prophets point back to the teachings of those who came before as well as point forward to the day when they’ll be saved via their faith in those teachings. The issue with their faith, however, is that they’ve misinterpreted the words of those who came before, adding unnecessary burdens based on tradition rather than truth. Instead of recognizing that the true reclaimer is humanity—and that John-117 is something of a Messianic figure—they attempt to save themselves through rigorous keeping of their laws, fighting against the salvation John brings and calling him a demon. This is reminiscent of what Jesus identifies is the issue with the Pharisees in Matthew 23, explaining that they “tie up heavy burdens” upon people seeking salvation and that they despise the true Messiah.
In the context of the Halo games, the one who will save the universe from the Flood is John-117. John, if we connect his name to John 1:17, would be associated with the following verse:
“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
This, to me at least, is a clear depiction of how John-117 is meant to be a Messianic figure within the Halo franchise, bringing truth to the law-bound Covenant. But there’s one more Christ connection point you may find interesting:
Throughout the first three Halo games, John combats the Covenant and fights the Flood, culminating in his confrontation with the Gravemind head-on by descending into its domain. There, he activates a single Halo ring (outside the range of alien life) to defeat the Gravemind. Speaking with his AI companion, he says the words “It’s finished.” And while humanity believes that he is lost and gone, we, the players, see that he is not dead. These actions are similarly resonant of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. Jesus defeated Satan and conquered the grave by perfectly following the law and acting as a sacrificial lamb. John echoes this by following the law of the Covenant (to activate the Halo rings), sacrificing himself to defeat the Gravemind. And both, after seeing that their work was completed, said “It is finished” (John 19:28-30).
Finally, there is one other character we can connect to Christianity in an interesting way: an alien named Thel ‘Vadam. At the start of the first game, he’s a high-ranking member of the Covenant, tasked with protecting the Halo from humanity. When he fails, he’s stripped of his prestige and given the task of “Arbiter” instead, a role that sends him on deadly missions for the purpose earning his honor back (but, for the Prophets, also in the hope that he’ll perish). In Halo 2, he’s even tasked with killing his own kinsmen who have learned the truth about the Halo rings and are speaking against the Covenant. However, his missions eventually lead to him discovering the truth for himself, and he spends the rest of Halo 2 and Halo 3 fighting alongside humanity against the Covenant. Thel ‘Vadam’s journey from a zealous member of the Covenant hunting down those who speak the truth to a devoted comrade of those he sought to destroy is very reminiscent of the Apostle Paul’s life, who went from being a high-ranking Pharisee wanting to quash Christianity to being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
We hope that this serves as a helpful primer for parents looking to understand the major religious themes presented in Halo—and how you can connect them to Christianity. While we can’t hit on every spiritual reference in the franchise, this guide covers many of the major religious ideas gamers will come across.
And be sure to check out our other Theology Of guides!
