History Franchise / HALO

* AttemptedRape: [[spoiler:Commissioner Kinsler]] attempts to rape [[spoiler:Sadie]] in the Audio Files' story. [[spoiler: He tries and fails three times, and the third failure gets him brutally killed by an angry mob.]]
** Not just killed. He gets ''ripped to shreds''.
* AxeCrazy: Kinsler, the New Mombasa police commissioner featured in Sadie's Story, is a rephrehensible jackass, who is willing to sacrifice the safety of the citizens in his bid for payback as the city falls apart.

* TheNeidermeyer: Buck is a subversion. At first he seems like your typical hard-ass, ball-busting, douchebag sergeant type. Turns out he's anything but, and just as likable as all the other [=ODSTs=]. He was just pissy over a few...girlfriend issues.

* YourMom (Avery Johnson makes reference to this, saying "I would have been your daddy but the dog beat me over the fence!" in the first game, which has been referenced throughout the series numberous times.)

[[/index]]

* ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'', a five part live action film that introduces the past of Tom Lasky, a character in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''.

** Played much straighter in the "Shut Up and Get Behind Me... Sir" segment of the ''Truth and Reconciliation'' level in the first game, where the player has to escort Captain Jacob Keyes off a Covenant Cruiser.

''Halo'' is a massive video game series and one of the premiere franchises exclusive to the {{Xbox}}. In the 26th century, Earth is at war with a powerful collective of alien races known as The Covenant, who share a fanatical religion and have declared humans a profane race to be wiped out. [[{{Bungie}} Bungie Studios]] created the game series and it has taken on a life of its own, with many ExpandedUniverse stories and other game genres. The first three FPS games form the main story with the main character, Master Chief, and his vital role in the war. There have also been several {{Novelization}}s, which forms the majority of the {{backstory}}, introducing and naming characters, events, and [[AllThereInTheManual other information that fill in gaps in and between the games.]]

* EternalSeptember: Pre-''Halo'', {{Bungie}} had a small but very dedicated fan community, primarily drawn from previous Bungie titles like ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' and ''{{Myth}}'', with whom they kept a very close relationship, hosting fan events, or attending events organized by fans. They even would release a few teasers into the fan community before any formal announcements had been made (such as with "[[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/cortana.html The Cortana Letters]]".) When ''Halo'' came onto the scene, the fan community experienced an explosion in population size, often completely bypassing the original "old school" community entirely and forming vast new communities which quickly overshadowed them in size and visability. The older Bungie community is still alive and active, but is now a small piece of a much larger whole.
* EveryEpisodeEnding: Of sorts- Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, ODST and Reach all have a driving sequence in their respective final level, some more prominent than others.

* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'', A side-story during ''Halo 2'' concerning a team of special-ops troopers. Features [[{{Series/Firefly}} Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk]].

* ''HaloEvolutions'', an anthology of short stories by several authors.

* ''SemperFi'': UNSC marines.

* SuicideMission: Occurs throughout the series, such as the Arbiter's first mission in ''Halo 2.''

* TrueCompanions: Quite a few examples. Spartans (both [[LaserGuidedTykebomb Type-II]] and [[SuperSoldier Type-III]]) are trained together from childhood and quickly become like family. [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Sangheili/Elites]] refer to each other as "brother" and are hardly ever seen without another of their kind nearby. And the squad in ''ODST'' becomes pretty tight-knit as the game's events progress.

** Although John's actually in the Navy. Rank of [[CaptainObvious Master Chief Petty Officer]]. While not ''technically'' a Space Marine, he qualifies in other ways.

* MeaningfulName / IronicNickname: The Prophet of Truch is a habitual liar, The Prophet of Regret is impetuious and doesn't seem to regret his actions, and The Prophet of Mercy is completely merciless. According to ''Contact Harvest'', Regret used to be the Vice Minister of Tranquility and was known for his confrontational attitude, and got his later position after blackmailing the Prophet of Restraint over his illegitimate children. This sort of thing seems to be a RunningGag throughout the Halo universe.

** ''The Thursday War''

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', a FanWork that has since become a lucrative franchise in its own right, with RoosterTeeth being recruited by [[PromotedFanboy Bungie themselves]] to promote the newer games and reveal new features, as well as having an EasterEgg {{Cameo}} in ''{{Halo 3}}'' and the Grifball game mode.

* ''Anime/HaloLegends'', an {{Anime}} MiniSeries
* ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'', a five part live action film that introduces the past of Tom Lasky, a character in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}

* Vehicles are prevalent and are integrated seamlessly into gameplay: if you run across a jeep, or a hoverbike, or a tank, or even a SpacePlane, you can jump right in and the game shifts instantly to a third-person perspective, with no LoadingScreen or separate map or anything. Relatedly, many of the franchise's campaign levels are absoutely enormous, with some levels largely about driving from Point A to Point B while avoiding enemy fire. While it is possible to finish the level on foot (assuming there aren't any ramps to jump, high spots to get to or timed sections), it is in your best interest to use a vehicle whenever possible.

** Katee Sackhoff, the actress who portrays Kara Thrace in the 2003 revival of BattlestarGalactica, voiced a marine in Halo 3. You can hear her yelling "Frak!" if she gets hits.

* DeTerminator - The Spartans, especially the Master Chief.

* ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'', the first ''Halo'' game, the Combat Evolved tagline now used to differentiate it from the series as a whole.
* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'', which was originally supposed to extend to the ''Halo 3'' level Crow's Nest.

* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'', takes place during ''Halo 2''. It was always planned as a DLC, but it grew to become its own game, and features [[{{Firefly}} Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk]].
* ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', a prequel to the original, but never planned.
* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', the first part of "The Reclaimer Trilogy".

At the 2011 E3 convention, two new ''Halo'' games were announced. One is an UpdatedRerelease[=/=]VideoGameRemake of the original ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', titled ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1J3z_2Uep8 Halo: Anniversary]]'', which will contain updated graphics and campaign and use the ''Halo: Reach'' engine for online multi-player play. The second game is the next chapter in the ''Halo'' series, ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9YsrobXezI Halo 4]]''.

!Other games in the ''Halo'' franchise:
* ''VideoGame/HaloWars''

** ''[[HaloGlasslands Glasslands]]''

* ''HaloLegends'', an {{Anime}} MiniSeries

* EverybodyLives [[spoiler: The end of ''Halo 3: ODST''. Unless you count all the dead Covenant and the Superintendent, and the latter is debatable.]]

* {{Fanservice}} (Cortana. She's not naked, but welllll...)

* LevelFiveOnix - Hunters in ''Halo 1'' were just sad once you figured out their weak point and how to exploit it (one pistol shot to the orange bits and it's game over). Their cannon shots were powerful but easily dodged, and their melee attacks were so predictable that even the NPC {{Redshirt}}s could dodge them with reasonable consistency. They majorly TookALevelInBadass in the sequels, though.
** In the sequels, they become a BossInMookClothing. They can no longer be one-hit killed except with the sniper rifle, their armor completely deflects projectiles instead of simply reducing their damage (so you can ''only'' hurt them by shooting their weak point), their weak points are much harder to target(nearly impossible to get behind them now), and both their cannon and melee attacks can OneHitKill you.
*** Reach makes them [[UpToEleven even more difficult]]

** Also IRIS for ''Halo 3'', Hell, simply visiting Bungie.net can also qualify, due to their love of PaintingTheFourthWall, or hiding clues to future projects in unassuming places.

* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'', takes place during ''Halo 3'', which was always planned as a DLC, but it grew to become its own game, and features [[{{Firefly}} Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk]].

* DidNotDoTheResearch - Sergeant Major Johnson's rank was abbreviated to "Sergeant" many times; even in the first game, his rank was not Sergeant, but Staff Sergeant. (Marine ranks are never abbreviated to the point of losing distinction.)

* [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack Universe]]: "Welcome to the galaxy, mankind! Incidentally, our religion has decreed you to be a race of demons and we're going to genocide you now, no offense or anything. Oh, and don't mind the CosmicHorror over there, it hardly ever {{Mind Rape}}s anyone."

* ''RedVsBlue'', a FanWork that has since become a lucrative franchise in its own right, with RoosterTeeth being recruited by [[PromotedFanboy Bungie themselves]] to promote the newer games and reveal new features, as well as having an EasterEgg {{Cameo}} in ''{{Halo 3}}'' and the Grifball game mode.

* AerithAndBob: Not so much for any characters (the Covenant notwithstanding), but for UNSC ship names. The ones from the games are poetic and [[CloudCuckooLander a little bit weird]]: ''Pillar of Autumn'', ''Spirit of Fire'', ''Aegis Fate'', ''In Amber Clad'', ''Forward Unto Dawn'', and ''Say My Name''. But ships from the novels tend to have (more) normal names like ''Leviathan'', ''Fairweather'', ''Gettysburg'', ''Texas'', and (eventually) ''[[DirtyHarry Do You Feel Lucky?]]''. The odd ship names are very likely a nod to [[IainMBanks Iain M. Banks']] ''[[TheCulture Culture]]'' universe [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_%28The_Culture%29 and the shipnames of the Culture]], a setting which also has giant ringworlds. This trope's prevalence in ''Halo'' really [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the writer]]. For example, in ''HaloEvolutions'' had a story called "Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian" written by former Bungie staff Frankie O'Connor takes place in ship called "The Heart of Midlothian.

** The [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Covenant]]'s ruling caste is highly corrupt (and in some cases, possibly borderline insane), and the [[KillerSpaceMonkey Brutes]] are [[BloodKnight aggressive and violent by nature]], but the rest are either [[CorruptChurch misguided by religious fervor]], [[CannonFodder expendable slaves for all intents and purposes]], [[ActualPacifist just tagging along to fix stuff]], otherwise coerced into serving the Covenant, or simply [[PunchClockVillain mercenaries with no real grudge against humans]].

** In universe, Brutes are given the derisive nickname "[[KingKong Baby Kongs]]" by UNSC forces, often just expressed as "[[MilitaryAlphabet Bravo Kilos]]".

* MsFanservice: Cortana. Probably also the reason that they dialed down [[spoiler: Dr. Halsey's]] apparent age from 60 to 20 AT MOST in ''The Package.''

* RetCon ''Lots'' of them. The books, video games and other media frequently contradict each other on the dates of the timeline, the history of the Covenant and the level of technology that humanity has. Official policy is that games trump books, and new material trumps old material.
** One particularly striking example was the incident involving Cortana, who [[spoiler: opted to stay behind in High Charity]] in ''Halo 2'' to detonate [[spoiler: the crashed In Amber Clad's]] reactor to destroy said colony. The reason: it '''didn't have one of its own''' (not in-built, anyway). Then, in ''Halo 3'', when Chief returns there [[spoiler: to retrieve her]], he is instructed to ''detonate the colony's nuclear reactor'', which calls the validity of both a whole mission and a LARGE plot-point into question and could have been easily averted.

** A small one: in ''Halo Wars'', the hero unit Spartan [[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy 42]]'s real name is [[DouglasAdams Douglass]].

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: The Office of Naval Intelligence has a very complicated relationship with both civilian and military law. While the violation of civilian law would be understandable, they also frequently violate military like the Cole Protocol, and have orders that in the event of a Winter Contingency (Covenant attack on a planet) they are to ignore all mission detrimental orders from anyone below secure-grade Captain.
** That's somewhat misleading. They have classified orders to ensure the Cole Protocol is carried out fully. It states that all navigational data must be destroyed upon contact with the Covenant, but that leaves a flaw. The navigational officer. ONI's exact orders are to "destroy all navigational data stored digitally or organically." They ignore the orders of anybody who could or would stop them.

** Then there's the RedVsBlue [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waL8K2SGR1M "What's the Password" scene]] in ''Halo 3''.

* SpiritualSuccessor (The series is made by Bungie, who also created the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' games. ''RedVsBlue'' references this now and again.)

* TropeCodifier / TropeMaker: The original ''{{Halo}}'' didn't actually ''pioneer'' any of the unique gameplay features it's famous for (all of them, from vehicle sections, to radar, to limited inventory, to regenerating health, to melee attacks, to seperate buttons for firearms and grenades, had all been done before in previous PC FPS games), but it is unquestionably the game which combined them all into one package and popularized them to the point that most modern First Person Shooters now use most of them by default.