The second episode of "Halo" is finally available,
and fans are already scouring each frame to find every hidden game reference.
Did you spot them all? Here are the Easter eggs you missed in "Halo" episode 2.
The second episode of "Halo" starts with a flashback to Master Chief's youth.
As a Spartan recruit, the young John is shown confronting one of his close friends,
a trainee named Soren, who's trying to escape Reach.
It's revealed that John originally planned to leave with him, but doesn't go through with
the desertion in the end. It's at that point that John shows mercy to his fleeing friend.
"You've got five minutes, and then I'm waking up the entire camp."
He may not appear in the video games, but Soren does appear in the short story collection "Halo:
Evolutions." Specifically, he's the main character of a story titled "Pariah”,
which follows him from a brutal outer colony upbringing, being experimented on by Dr. Halsey.
Soren's body reacts negatively to the Spartan augmentations,
leaving his body deformed. And like in the show, he eventually chooses to defect.
"Halo: Evolutions" never confirms what happens to Soren after being
shot down by the UNSC during his escape attempt. The show, on the other hand,
reveals that he actually managed to get away and build a life for himself away from prying eyes.
Many of the other returning characters in "Halo" make their game connections obvious.
Players will quickly recall Dr. Catherine Halsey, Captain Jacob Keyes, and of course Master Chief
himself. However, there are a couple of characters in the UNSC that only fans will recognize.
One of those characters is Admiral Margaret Parangosky, Dr. Halsey's direct superior.
Parangosky has her origins in the "Halo" books, but she appears in a few of the games as well.
Her role in the TV series is as the director of the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence.
Easier to miss is Lord Hood, one of the highest-ranking officers of the UNSC,
who first appears in a conversation with Dr. Halsey. While he isn't named,
shots during the council meeting show that he wears a nametag with "Hood" written on it.
Beyond just characters, there are several places fans will also recognize.
After going rogue, Master Chief takes Kwan Ha to the place he believes she'll be safe: the Rubble.
A renegade human colony built in an amalgam of asteroids, the Rubble appears most prominently
in the novel "Halo: The Cole Protocol." In the book, many of the Rubble's inhabitants
are refugees from Madrigal, which seems to be referenced in the show by Kwan's arrival there.
However, there are a lot of differences between the Rubble of the old "Halo" canon and the show.
For starters, in "The Cole Protocol," the Rubble isn't just inhabited by humans,
but also by the Kig-Yar, one of the member species of the Covenant. Secondly, the colony
in the book is largely operated by an AI called Juliana. Lastly and perhaps most significantly,
the Rubble is ultimately destroyed by the Covenant in the books, forcing its residents to flee.
The Kig-Yar plotline and the eventual destruction of the Rubble could eventually
take place in the "Halo" series as well, but that remains to be seen.
After reuniting with Soren on the Rubble, Master Chief is introduced to a man named Reth,
a human who was driven mad after being imprisoned by the Covenant. It's implied
that Reth was experimented on and possibly even tortured, all as part of the Covenant's mission
to discover and utilize Forerunner artifacts. Reth even makes an important revelation.
"What is that ring?" "A door."
Though he doesn't call it a Halo,
he clearly understands that it's a weapon of genocidal proportions.
Interestingly, Reth is actually a reference to the novel "Halo: The Cole Protocol."
In the book, Reth is the name of one of the leaders of the Kig-Yar who engage in trading
operations with the humans of the Rubble. He's a treacherous and scheming Covenant commander who
ultimately causes problems for both factions, and it's certainly an interesting choice for the show
to name a human after him. Reth could simply be an Easter egg for fans who've read the "Halo" books,
but his name could also foreshadow a darker role in the episodes to come.
Finally, at the end of the episode, when Master Chief turns himself in to the UNSC, there's a
brief glimpse and mention of a frigate called the Stalwart Dawn. In the video game "Halo: Reach,"
the Stalwart Dawn takes part in the defense of the eponymous planet from a surprise attack by
the Covenant. Things don't end well for the humans on Reach, and the inclusion of the Stalwart Dawn
could be a hint at things to come. The Fall of Reach is one of the most important events in
the entire "Halo" timeline, so it seems inevitable that it will be brought into the show eventually.
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