History Franchise / Halo

* 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.

* TheWikiRule: Two, [[http://www.halopedian.com/Main_Page Halopedia]], an independent wiki and [[http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Halo Nation]], which is hosted by Wikia. The two were previously one wiki, but split apart after a dispute about the new Oasis skin for all Wikia websites. Just a quick look should tell you where most of the community went.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: Brutally averted in the case of Covenant [[KillSat stategic glassing]]. Carefully placed Covenant warships in orbit rain beams of plasma down onto a planet's surface in a choreographed grid pattern. What does not die instantly from getting hit with the plasma will die somewhat less quickly from the convection as the atmosphere boils around them...

* AIIsACrapshoot

** However, New Mombasa ''is'' treated as the future financial metropolis of the world, not as obscure as it is today.

* DoomedHometown - The colony of Reach. Also, the homeworld of every single SPARTAN-II.

* RockBeatsLaser (Used and/or subverted depending on certain circumstances. Human firearms can outperform Covenant energy weapons in some cases, such as against the Flood. That said, in space combat the Covenant tend to have a massive advantage over the UNSC.)

** Justified in that thanks to the neural interface put in both the Marines and the Covenant, sights aren't really needed anymore.

* SpaceMarine (Both straight with Master Chief, and averted with the real space marines.)
** [[PhoenixWright Hold it!]] John's actually in the Navy. Rank of [[CaptainObvious Master Chief Petty Officer]]. While not ''technically'' a Space Marine, he qualifies in other ways.

* SuperPrototype (Inverted with the Arbiter armour, which has a cloaking system inferior to the modern Elite armour, ditto with the novel ''Ghosts of Onyx''- the SPARTAN III's had the inferior Semi-Powered Infiltration armour, which lacked the shielding and strength-enhancements of the MJOLNIR suits in favor of some camouflage ability. Played straight with the Master Chief's armor in the first and second games, however - it is markedly superior to the 'standard' MJOLNIR suit due to improvements in shielding and the AI support system that Cortana represents.)

* {{Tykebomb}} (Master Chief and the other Spartans began training when they were six.)
** [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/halo/images/5/50/John-117_fighting_ODST_team.png Quite literally after they got their augmentations]]

* ZombieApocalypse (The Flood)

* LateToTheParty - The ODST squad arrives at New Mombasa just as it's devastated by a jumping cruiser. While most of the squad jumps straight into the action that follows, the Rookie (who we play as the most) wakes up six hours later and spends most of his time trying to find the rest of the squad.

* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'', takes place during ''Halo 3'', which was always planned as a DLC, but it grew to become its own game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'', which was originally supposed to extend to the ''Halo 3'' Crow's Nest.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'', which was originally supposed to be one game, merged with ''Halo 3''.

** Somewhat relatedly, movement speed is a lot slower than older shooters, partly to compensate for the inaccuracy of a joystick and partly for more "serious" gameplay. Going by scale, Doomguy moved about 50 miles per hour without strafe running, whilst the Master Chief can't break 23 KPH (despite the {{canon}} tie-in novels announcing that he can run at about 50+ KPH, which is about thirty miles per hour). This is also a product of the wide environments, which often supply multiple ways to complete a level; paying attention to the SceneryPorn is almost mandatory. (Strangely, the Master Chief also has an extremely "floaty" jump, allowing him to clear obstructions taller than himself and hang in the air for a full second, which can likely be explained by the fact that his leg strength makes a professional basketball player look like a paraplegic.)

** Somewhat relatedly, movement speed is a lot slower than older shooters, partly to compensate for the inaccuracy of a joystick and partly for more "serious" gameplay. Going by scale, Doomguy moved about 50 miles per hour without strafe running, whilst the Master Chief can't break 23 KPH (despite the {{canon}} tie-in novels announcing that he can run at about 50+ KPH, which is about thirty miles per hour). This is also a product of the wide environments, which often supply multiple ways to complete a level; paying attention to the SceneryPorn is almost mandatory. (Strangely, the Master Chief also has an extremely "floaty" jump, allowing him to clear obstructions taller than himself and hang in the air for a full second.)

* There is no HyperspaceArsenal to speak of (although in the first two games, the weapon you didn't have equipped was invisible to other players); you can only carry two different guns at a time. The ammo for each gun is incompatible with any other weapon type (subverting UniversalAmmo), which means finding ammo for your assault rifle requires you to find another assault rifle (there are very few ammo stockpiles and for the most part armories are still limited on certain weapons), and you ''can't'' reload most of the [[FrickinLaserBeams plasma weapons]] used by the Covenant. BlatantItemPlacement is also averted; you can grab any weapons dropped by anyone. The guns all have different purposes and performance, so adapting your loadout to fit the situation is a smart idea.
* You have access to three different forms of attack: guns, PistolWhipping, and grenades. All three have their own dedicated controller buttons and all three can be used ''at the same time'', with no delays for RealTimeWeaponChange. Melee attacks are a OneHitKill if delivered from behind (and decent damage from any other angle), while grenades come in "[[StuffBlowingUp standard frag]]" and "[[StickyBomb stick to the target before exploding]]" varieties, later entries to the series added "[[KillItWithFire sets things on fire]]," and "[[SpikesOfDoom shoots spikes]]" flavors. Each attack is a viable and useful option, and the available tactics are a lot broader when you've got three different triggers to pull.

* The PlayerCharacter has DeflectorShields built into his armor (which is [[AllThereInTheManual justified perfectly in-universe]]). If they go down, damage is applied directly to your lifebar, but if you avoid enemy fire for a few seconds, your shields will be restored to full strength. It effectively becomes RegeneratingHealth, especially in the later games when the underlying lifebar was removed entirely. Because you technically have infinite HitPoints, you can focus on the current engagement without [[ResourcesManagementGameplay worrying about surviving the entire level on your current lifebar]]. Of course, Bungie took advantage of that to stage intense and frantic battles, increasing the emphasis on knowing when to retreat and recharge your shields.
* Movement speed is a lot slower than older shooters, partly to compensate for the inaccuracy of a joystick and partly for more "serious" gameplay. Going by scale, Doomguy moved about 50 miles per hour without strafe running, whilst the Master Chief can't break 23 KPH (despite the {{canon}} tie-in novels announcing that he can run at about 50+ KPH, which is about thirty miles per hour). This is also a product of the wide environments, which often supply multiple ways to complete a level; paying attention to the SceneryPorn is almost mandatory. (Strangely, the Master Chief also has an extremely "floaty" jump, allowing him to clear obstructions taller than himself and hang in the air for a full second.)

* KickTheDog - Miranda Keyes' death at the hands of Truth, and potentially Johnson's death as well.

* SuicidalOverconfidence (Averted with the Grunts, who will commonly break ranks and flee if you kill their more powerful allies. Even if backing up and attacking you while doing so, they will frequently sound pretty scared, taken ''very'' literally in ''Halo 3'', where the Grunts sometimes can and ''will'' [[TakingYouWithMe grab two plasma grenades, prime them, and charge at you screaming at the top of their lungs]].)
** Watch when the Grunts get desperate ''just'' right in front of you.
** Elites flee from the player in ''Halo 1'' and Elites, Flood, and most lesser Covenant flee from the player in ''Halo 2''.

** The Banshee and Hornet flying sequences may fith this too.
* UnexplainedRecovery: When Johnson shows up in Halo 2, a Marine asks him how he got off Halo alive (the player saw him being overrun by Flood on video.) His response? "That's classified." The actual answer is a major subplot in ''First Strike''; [[spoiler:earlier in his career, he used a crate of plasma grenades to hold off the Covenant, and got something called "Boren's Syndrome". Since he elected to skip the treatment to remain in the fight, he has an irregular nervous system and is immune to the Flood.]]
** {{RetCon}}ned in the ''Halo'' Graphic Novel: [[spoiler: The Borens Syndrome story was a ONI coverup. Johnson is actualy a SPARTAN-I, and was just so {{badass}} he managed to fight his way out]].

** The Film of the Game was going to be directed by Neill Blomkamp, the director of ''{{District 9}}''.

* There is no HyperspaceArsenal to speak of (although in the first two games, the weapon you didn't have equipped was invisible to other players); you can only carry two different guns at a time. The ammo for each gun is incompatible with any other weapon type (subverting UniversalAmmo), which means finding ammo for your assault rifle requires you to find another assault rifle (there are very few ammo stockpiles and for the most part armories are still limited on certain weapons), and you ''can't'' reload most of the [[FrickinLaserBeams plasma weapons]] used by the Covenant. BlatantItemPlacement is also averted; you can grab any weapons dropped by anyone. The guns all have different purposes and performance, so adapting your loadout to fit the situation is a smart idea.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', the conclusion of the original trilogy and the climax of the Covenant war.
* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'', takes place during ''Halo 3'', which was always planned as a DLC, but it grew to become its own game.

Check out the [[{{Characters/Halo}} character sheet]].

* AbnormalAmmo: The Needler, Needle rifle, and related weapons shoot pink to purple crystals that detonate a few seconds after impact.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Captain Keyes looks ''much'' younger in ''HaloReach'' and ''Anniversary'' than he did in the original ''Combat Evolved''.
* 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.
* AggressiveNegotiations: A Grunt nervously pulls this and starts the entire war.
* AIIsACrapshoot
* AllThereInTheManual: Think Halo is just some generic thoughtless ASpaceMarineIsYou ''{{Doom}}''-clone? [[http://www.halopedian.com/Main_Page Think again.]] There's ''tons'' of supplemental material for the multimedia universe, often including ''the actual manuals''.
* AKA47: Sniper Rifle System 99D-S2 Anti-Matériel bears a heavy resemblance to the South African made NTW-20, manufactured by the Mechem division of the DENEL group, sharing many of the same features; chambering for the 14.5 x 114mm round, the stock, carrying handle/scope guard and the muzzle brake.

** And its powers, especially 7^3 (343), 7^4 (2401) and 7^6 ('''117'''649).
** If you start counting at 0, like programmers do, the powers of 7 are 1,7,49,343,2401,etc. The 4th one is 343, the 5th is 2401. [[spoiler: Which has a strong correlation with which Monitors live at which installations.]]
** 9 also is used heavilly, though not as much as 7.

-->"[[ItsRainingMen Jumping into hell isn't the job]], [[KillEmAll making sure its crowded when you get there is]]."

** The Covenant, lead by the Prophet of Truth, is a religious, genocidal coalition of ScaryDogmaticAliens bent on (unknowingly) causing intergalactic extermination by activating the Halo Array, as a means to "begin the [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Great Journey]]".
** The Flood are a parasitic, mutated virus, represented by the Gravemind, that seek to literally feed on every organic species in the universe.
** The Sentinels, spearheaded by their Monitors (i.e. 343 Guilty Spark), were created to contain the Flood, as well as anyone else that sought to prevent the firing of the Halo rings, and wished to steal the rings' activation indexes for their own purposes (the two go hand in hand).

* BlackAndGrayMorality

*** The Prophet of Truth, however is a definite OmnicidalManiac.

** The [[ZombieApocalypse Flood]] had killed and infected trillions of people, but their leading hive mind, [[EldritchAbomination Gravemind]], sincerely believes that he simply [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans bring peace and prosperity]] to a galaxy which simply doesn't understand the Flood due to ignorance and fear.

* CharacterExaggeration: The Covenant's potential to "[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt glass]]" entire planets is subject to a strong degree of exaggeration {{In-Universe}}. While they certainly have the capacity to reduce an entire planet's surface to glass using their energy weapons, it is a very lengthy process, and [[AwesomeButImpractical though impressive, is rarely worth the time it takes]], leading the Covenant to focus on glassing major population centers and doing a few other token sweeps. With atmospheric convection, the destruction is equally deadly if less absolute. For their part, the Covenant boast of their ability to cleanse entire planets, while reports to the UNSC exaggerate the destructive potential to galvanize humanity into action. This is backed up by information from one of the datapads in ''HaloReach'', saying that the Covenant do not have the resources to glass an entire planet and wage a multi-system war at the same time, and that to '''entirely''' glass Earth would require about thirty years of continuous bombardment by a fleet of equal size to that possessed by the UNSC.

** Carter "Noble 1:" TheCaptain
** Kat "Noble 2:" TheEngineer[=/=]PlayfulHacker[=/=]TheCracker

** ''The Package'' has the Master Chief interact with [[spoiler: Dr. Halsey]] face to face and she acts exactly like Cortana, right down to telling him "Don't make a promise to a girl if you know you can't keep it."

** August-September 2552: [[HaloReach Reach]] [[TheFallOfReach falls]], the ''Autumn'' [[HaloCombatEvolved discovers the first Halo]], and the events of {{First Strike}} take place.

* DeflectorShields: Used extensively by The Covenant, and to a more limited extent by the UNSC after reverse-engineering The Covenant's shield technology.

* DropPod - Human Entry Vehicles, the entire purpose of the ODST "Helljumpers." Elites are often dropped in similar Covenant pods.

** Also from ''Ghost Of Onyx'', the so-called "Nova Bomb." (also a ChekhovsGun since it was mentioned in an earlier novel, but didn't become a factor until a later book.) The bomb was accidentally set off aboard a Covenant ship in orbit of a planet and it proceeded to instantly vaporize an entire separatist fleet of hundreds of ships (which had been preparing to totally crush the brutes), shatter a nearby moon to pieces, and burn off the entire atmosphere of the planet below it as well as scorching the entire near side into a hellscape. The weapon in question was perhaps the size of a mini van... and [[http://www.halopedian.com/Nova_bomb Halopedia's calculations]] put the thing's likely megaton yield at 1.2 ''billion''.

* EldritchAbomination (Gravemind and the Flood.)

* ElectricBoogaloo: It goes ''Halo [Combat Evolved]'', ''Halo 2'', ''Halo 3'' (and expansion), and then ''Halo: Reach''.

* HeroAntagonist: Sesa 'Refumee's Heretics are disillusioned Grunts and Elites that found out the truth about Halo and formed a resistance movement against the Covenant, but remained an independent organization in their own right, centrally opposing the Covenant and attempting to sway more defectors to their cause.

* HeroicSacrifice -[[spoiler: Sergeant John Forge in ''Halo Wars'']] The books contain several good examples, as well.

* {{Hivemind}}: Gravemind. Its computing power rivaled the entire Forerunner empire's data capabilities. You also have the Proto-Gravemind that's present on the [[spoiler: Truth and Reconciliation with Keyes inside]], as well as the Proto-Graveminds which serve as Flood bases in ''Halo Wars.''
** ''Primordium'' shows that [[spoiler: Halo 007 is crawling with dormant ones.]] [[{{NiceJobBreakingItHero}} Thanks a lot, Didact!]]

* HoldingBackThePhlebotinum: Why the UNSC does not field their emerging [[DeflectorShields shield technology]] more widely. [[AllThereInTheManual According to Dr. Halsey's diary]] that accompanies the SpecialEdition of ''HaloReach'', humans have a very good understanding of shield technology now, but it is limited by two major related factors: size and power. As the volume of area to be shielded grows, the power requirements to maintain the shield increase exponentially. Shielding an entire starship would require several times more power than that ship can generate. However, shielding an infantryman or small vehicle has more modest power requirements, albiet still much more than an infantryman or small vehicle would typically have a power plant capable of producing. Humanity can make small enough power generators in the form of micro-fusion cells, but [[AwesomeButImpractical they are rarely cost-effective to produce]], making each one almost the cost of a small starship. However, the [[SuperSoldier SPARTAN-IIs]] already incorperate such a device into their PoweredArmor by necessity, making adding shields to their existing systems relatively trivial. As for The Covenant technology they reverse-engineered their shields from? Humanity still has no idea how '''those''' things are powered, and from all appearances [[ClarksThirdLaw lack an obvious power source altogether]].
* HotScientist -- Given that Cortana is based on her, Dr. Halsey probably qualifies.

** ''HaloReach'' shows her as the GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave variation on this.
** Let we forget [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090123013847/halo/images/4/43/Andersnew%27.jpg Professor Ellen Anders]] from HaloWars...

* HumansAreWarriors - Many species of the Covenant believe it, especially the Sangheili, and the Gravemind believe that Humans are a greater threat to the Flood than the Covenant, who he only see as arrogant good-for-nothing fodder.

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

* PoweredArmor The [=SPARTANs=]'s Mjolnir armor, Elites and Brutes (to a degree). Rank and file Marines use powered exoskeletons to move heavy stuff, and the regular armor has enough muscle-enhancing technology to allow ease of movement even with heavy gear. ODST armor takes it to the next level, allowing them to use most of the weapons Spartans can carry. The suits worn by the Spartan 3s were semi-powered armor, with a watered down version of active camouflage as well.

* {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}} (The Elites and the Brutes, especially the former, less so for the latter)

* RapeAsDrama: Strongly implied with the interactions between Cortana and Gravemind.

** On the level "Cortana", a message plays on the crashed pelican which draws about as close a parallell as possible, given that the victim isn't even corporeal

* RecycledInSpace: Some might say that The Covenant is similar to Radical Islam, but IN SPACE!

** Many of the achievemenets in ''Halo: Reach'' recall [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1yAf2pFJGM&feature=youtu.be moments in previous ''Halo'' games]].

* StandardSciFiArmy: Naturally. Infantry dominate (from Light to Elite, and of course the Super Soldiers), although both sides use field aircraft and at least one Armored vehicle. Halo Wars expands on this, giving the UNSC Heavy and Elite infantry (the Hellbringers and Helljumpers respectively), APC's, and Anti-aircraft units. Several of the Covenant vehicles are effectively Technicals, being repurposed mining equipment.

* {{Tykebomb}} (Master Chief and the other Spartans began training when they were six.)

* YouAreNumberSix: True to a certain extent with all Spartans, who are given numeric designations. Typically they will retain their personal name, suffixing the numeric designation to this.
** This trope is also '''literally''' true in ''Halo: Reach'' where the otherwise unnamed primary player character joins Noble Team as their new "number six."

**** I believe the implication was that she could ''reliably'' run at 62 KPH, as in, that was the highest pace she could keep for a significant amount of time without major side effects. Presumably she could have ran a lot faster if she pushed herself like John did.

* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: In the expanded universe, pre-contact with the Covenant, and continuing through the war, there was a huge ongoing rebellion movement in the Outer Colonies.

* TheAllSeeingAI: Noteably averted, in all games including the first ''Halo: Combat Evolved''; Enemies are only aware of your last known position once they lose sight of you, so it's possible to flank and sneak up behind them in a firefight if you use walls as cover. One of the skulls in ''Halo 2'' makes the game harder by making enemies aware of your position at all times.

* BashBrothers: Hunters always come in pairs of two. In most games, they're identical and equipped identically.
* TheBattlestar: Any ship that figures into the main plot, such as the ''Pillar of Autumn'', the ''In Amber Clad'', or the ''Forward Unto Dawn''. In ''Halo 3'', the Separatist vessel ''Shadow of Intent'' takes the place of the Rebel Basestar.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Following in the tradition of Bungie's ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' and ''{{Oni}}'', enemies in ''Halo'' are color coded to denote rank; orange or blue for rookies, red for veterans, black for spec ops, and silver or gold for the super-tough BossInMooksClothing types.

* CopyAndPasteEnvironments:

*** The Level Floodgate in ''Halo 3'' is pretty much the previous level, backwards. Except everything's apocalyptic, and the Covenant is replaced with the Flood.

** Halo: Reach implies that [[spoiler:Noble Six was this to Master Chief in the series as a whole. Considering that Noble Six is completely customizable and is stated to have the same combat rating as Master Chief, this makes it one of the more sadistic examples.]]

* ElevatorActionSequence - Seen on The Oracle, Regret, Quarantine Zone, etc.

* EnemyCivilWar - The Covenant Civil War in Halo 2: Elites, Hunters and Grunts versus Brutes, Jackals and Drones. Beforehand, there was the Heretic uprising, with Spec-Ops Grunts, Elites and the Arbiter eradicating the defectee Grunts and Elites.
* EnemyMine - This quickly becomes a theme. The Elites join with the humans during the Covenant Civil War. Guilty Spark assists Master Chief after the destruction of his station. Even Gravemind lends a tentacle in his debut [[spoiler: and again to stop Truth.]] Of course, some of these alliances are more lasting then others...

* 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.

** In every game in which she's featured, she is bare-bottomed, and the camera angles almost always manage to make that very visible in every cutscene she is featured in.

** The [=SPARTANs=] of Halo: Reach are shaping up to be this, based on [[http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14276699/halo-reach/videos/haloreach_trl_121309hi.html the most recent trailer]].

*** TheChick - Kat

*** Jorge also the TeamDad (SPARTAN-II

* FlunkyBoss - Regret and Tartarus. Tartarus isn't so bad as the Brute reinforcements only show up at two or three pre-scripted points in the fight, and every time they do you usually get a fresh squad of Elite reinforcements to help you. Regret, on the other hand, can reach ThatOneBoss status due to the endless waves of respawning Honor Guard Elites and Grunts coupled with the lack of good cover and necessity to charge right out into the open to melee damage the boss.

* IconicLogo: People wear T-shirts of a 2 or 3 inside the distinctive O in the title and it's obvious what game they play.

* TheMothership: High Charity

** Elites in ''Halo 2'' are significantly weaker without their shields than they were in ''Halo 1''. In fact, an unshielded Elite in ''Halo 2'' can survive less damage than even a mid-level Grunt.

* NoCampaignForTheWicked: Even when playing as the Covenant Elite in ''Halo 2'', you ''never'' fight against Human forces, instead spending those levels battling Covenant rebels and The Flood.

* ThePromise:

* RecurringRiff - Countless examples, eg "A Walk In The Woods", "Rock Anthem For Saving The World", "On A Pale Horse", "Enough Dead Heroes", "Under Cover of Night", "High Charity", "The Last Spartan", and "Finish The Fight".

* RunningGag: The Rookie naps whenever he has free time.

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

** Elites flee from the player in ''Halo 1'' and Elites, Flood, and most lesser Covenant flee from the player in ''Halo 2''.
* SuperDrowningSkills - Mostly averted, but in some places, such as on the level "Sierra 117", bodies of water are made [[BottomlessPits instant-kill zones]] to prevent the player from {{sequence breaking}} or [[{{Unwinnable}} getting stuck]].

* UnitedNationsIsASuperPower: The United Nations in Halo founded both the Unified Earth Government (UEG) and the UN Space Command (UNSC); the UEG absorbed its parent organization into one of its branches, but was itself eventually subsumed during the Human-Covenant War - by the UNSC, which now rules all of humanity in the Milky Way galaxy.

** [[NoodleIncident "OH NO! NOT AGAIN!"]] * boom*

** And how! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgo3pFRQeO4
** AndYourRewardIsClothes: In ''Halo 3'' and ''Reach'' getting achievements gets you a better selection of armour.

* TheIshmael: The Rookie in ''ODST''

* MeaningfulName / IronicNickname: The Prophet of Truch is a habitual liar, The Prophet of Regret is impetuious and doesn't seem to regret his actions. 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 have been a RunningGag throughout the Halo EU.

** 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.

** Another in ''Halo Wars'': sometimes, when selecting or moving UNSC flamethrower [[KillItWithFire Hellbringers]], they will sing [[HomestarRunner "Burninating the countryside!"]]

''Halo'' is one of the best-known {{Killer App}}s. When the original XBox was announced, there was a lot of skepticism from those who had already experienced the ConsoleWars and had no reason to believe the XBox would go anywhere. Their reasoning wasn't inaccurate: [[FourIsDeath Three Is Death]] in the console market, which (until then) had had trouble supporting even ''two'' consoles; and, as released, the XBox did not (seem to) have anything worth playing.[[hottip:*: The fact the original Xbox was an ''American-made console'' didn't help, after the disaster the AtariJaguar was.]] But once gamers got their grubby little hands on it, ''Halo'' singlehandedly kept Microsoft in the race, with [[CausticCritic Edge Magazine]] even going so far as to call it "the most important launch game for any console, ever." All of its sequels have set "biggest-opening-day" records.

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 play. The second game is the next chapter in the ''Halo'' series, ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9YsrobXezI Halo 4]]''.

* ''RedVsBlue'', a FanWork that has since beome 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.

* AbnormalAmmo: The Needler, Needle rifle, and related weapons shoot pink to purple crystals that detonate in contact with living tissue.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Captain Keyes looks ''much'' younger in ''HaloReach'' and ''Anniversary'' than he did in the original ''Combat Evolved''.
* 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.

* There is no HyperspaceArsenal to speak of[[hottip:*:although in the first two games, the weapon you didn't have equipped was invisible to other players]]; you can only carry two different guns at a time. The ammo for each gun is incompatible with any other weapon type (subverting UniversalAmmo), which means finding ammo for your assault rifle requires you to find another assault rifle (there are very few ammo stockpiles and for the most part armories are still limited on certain weapons), and you ''can't'' reload some of the [[FrickinLaserBeams plasma weapons]] used by the Covenant. BlatantItemPlacement is also averted; you can grab any weapons dropped by anyone. The guns all have different purposes and performance, so adapting your loadout to fit the situation is a smart idea.
* You have access to three different forms of attack: guns, PistolWhipping, and grenades. All three have their own dedicated controller buttons and all three can be used ''at the same time'', with no delays for RealTimeWeaponChange. Melee attacks are a OneHitKill if delivered from behind (and decent damage from any other angle), while grenades come in "[[StuffBlowingUp standard frag]]", "[[StickyBomb stick to the target before exploding]]", "[[KillItWithFire sets things on fire]]," and "[[SpikesOfDoom shoots spikes]]" flavors. Each attack is a viable and useful option, and the available tactics are a lot broader when you've got three different triggers to pull.