Halo 5: Guardians is finally here to continue the epic, ongoing story of Master Chief. But
things in the Halo universe have changed, as Guardians finds Master Chief questioning
everything he thought he knew about his past. The game also features a new playable protagonist,
Agent Jameson Locke, who fans may remember from the web series Halo: Nightfall. With
the lore of the series continuing to grow in new and interesting ways, there’s no
better time to dig into some of the myth, history and pop culture that helped shape
the newest installment in the series. According to the developers at 343 Industries,
the character of Jameson Locke actually began life under a very different name. During the
initial stages of development the character was not “Locke” but “Marlowe”. Many
fans believe this to be a reference to the character Philip Marlowe, a well-known noir
detective created by Raymond Chandler in 1939 and famously portrayed by Humphrey Bogart,
This would make sense, as the plot of Halo 5 finds Agent Locke acting
as a bit of a futuristic detective in his mission to track down Master Chief, who has
gone missing. There is a lot of new armor and weaponry to
find in Halo 5, one example is the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor Foehammer. This name
is noteworthy for a few reasons, the first may be obvious. The name “Mjolnir” is
a reference to Thor’s hammer found in Norse mythology. The second reason is a little bit
more subtle. “Foehammer” is actually a reference to the character Carol Rawley who
piloted the Echo 419 in the first Halo game. Most fans will know her from her call sign:
“Foe Hammer”. But that’s not all, since Foehammer was already a reference to something
else in Halo 1, Gandalf’s sword Glamdring the Foehammer in the Lord of the Rings series.
When creating new assault armor and weapons for Halo 5, 343 Industries also appears to
have taken a lot of inspiration from Greek mythology. The new armor class Hermes is notable
for being so fast that only a few Spartans can wear it. It was named after Hermes, a
Greek god known for being the messenger of the divine. In many myths, Hermes is depicted
as being very quick and able to move between the worlds of the mortal and gods with ease.
Which gives players a pretty clear hint about why the name was chosen. Another example is
the Phaeton gunship, which is named after the troubled son of Apollo of the same name.
It doesn’t stop there, the Hydra Multiple Launch Rocket System, or Hydra MLRS for short,
is a new rocket launcher capable of firing multiple rockets in very quick succession.
It’s no wonder then that the weapon is named after the Hydra of Lerna, a snake monster
from Greek mythology whose multiple heads allow it to strike from multiple angles at
once. One of the locations that play an important
role in the plot of Halo 5 is the cold, icy planet of Kamchatka. This name is cleverly
taken from the Kamchatka peninsula, located in the far north of Russia. A place known
for its beauty and, of course, its extreme cold. Another prominent location in the game
is Sanghelios, the homeworld of the Sangheili species. The name “Sanghelios” actually
comes from two languages, the Latin “sanguis” and the Greek “helios”, when combined
the word means “Blood-Sun”. A reference to the bloody warrior culture of the Sangheili.
This warrior culture has invited comparisons to both the ancient Spartans of Sparta and
the Samurai of Feudal Japan. Like those cultures, one’s rank is determined by success in battle
and much of their lives revolve around war.
Speaking of the Sangheili, many
believe that their look is directly taken from the design of the Predator, due to both
having four mandibles and the fact that the Sangheili’s energy swords are thought by
some to be similar in concept to the Predator’s wrist blades.
Introduced in Halo 4 and making their return in Halo 5 are the Promethean Knights, a deadly
class of Promethean warriors created near the end of the Forerunner-Flood war to combat
the Flood. Now of course we have to mention that the Prometheans are named after the Greek
Titan Prometheus. What’s really interesting
about the creation of the Promethean Knights is who they got to voice them. 343 Industries
were looking for something that would immediately inspire fear in players so they employed the
vocal talent of tasmanian devils to do the Knights’ voicework. No, not that one, actual
tasmanian devils from Australia.
Now it’s time to get to the answer of last week’s trivia question. Here’s a refresher:
In the Elder Scrolls series, St. Jiub was said to have arisen to sainthood by driving
the cliffracers from Morrowind. This is a reference to St Patrick, who legend tells
us banished the snakes from all of Ireland. It’s unclear whether there ever really were
that many snakes in Ireland to begin with, but if they were even remotely as annoying
as cliff racers, I can’t blame the Irish for celebrating.
You thought you knew Halo 5: Guardians, but you can put that to the test by answering
this trivia question: introduced in Halo 3: ODST and making their triumphant return in
Halo 5, what shiny star voices the Spartan supersoldier Edward Buck? Leave your answer
in the comment section below, along with any amazing hidden pop culture or literary references
we may have forgotten this week, and we’ll try to get to them next time. OH, and like
and subscribe to the channel. Please? I really, really like the attention.