The Blessed One Halo is the name given to both Master Chief (John 117) and the Covenant’s mysterious human asset Makee. We know that the Halo TV series is straying away from its roots as far as canon and sticking to the games are concerned, but how much inspiration has been taken from the games?
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The Forerunner Link – The Blessed One Halo
Blessed Ones are special humans who can interact with Forerunner Technology, such as Master Chief when activating the Forerunner artefact found on the outer colony planet Madrigal.
There are instant nods to the official Halo canon with the artefact, with the biggest being the Forerunner insignia displayed when activated. Although Forerunner in Origin, the above insignia is actually that of the reclaimers, a species that was chosen by the ancient civilisation to take up the Forerunner mantle long after they have passed.
Halo 4, Halo 5 and Halo: Infinite are all part of the ‘Reclaimer Saga’, which explores Master Chief’s destiny as the Reclaimer. With that being said, big bads such as The Didact and the Harbinger wished to take the mantle for themselves.
We’re still waiting for a canon conclusion with the upcoming reveal of ‘The Endless’ campaign add on for Halo: Infinite, but the conflict between potential Reclaimers is most likely going to rear its head between both Master Chief and Makee in the Halo TV series.
How Can They Interact with Forerunner Artefacts? – The Blessed One Halo
The Mantle represents the stewardship over all life, much like the Forerunners before building the Halo array and wiping out and re-populating all sentient life in the Galaxy to wipe out the Flood. Humanity was chosen by the Librarian and her Forerunner followers to take the Mantle, embuing their genetics with Geas, the genetic modifications that allow them to operate Forerunner technology. It’s looking like the Blessed One Halo will represent this in the TV series.
Master Chief first experiences this when activating a Forerunner panel on Installation 04 in Halo: Combat Evolved. It seems the Reclaimer status works on Covenant technology too, which is reverse engineered from found Forerunner weapons and ruins.
The Librarian also planted “seeds” that inspired some of humanity’s greatest achievements, such as Mjolnir Armour and the Spartan Project that were responsible for creating the Master Chief we see today.
How Will This Play Out In The Halo TV Show?
We know that Forerunner technology and being blessed is key to one of the key narrative strands of the series thanks to showrunner Steven Kane in an interview with Decider:
“That connection and also Makee’s connection to those objects and what that means is actually a really core thread of the show,” he confirmed. “John is in many ways an alien or an orphan among his own people because he’s different. He’s a Spartan, he’s trained to be a certain kind of way. And that’s what makes them effective as a soldier. In many ways, he is similar to Makee, who is a stranger in a strange land living among the aliens. As the season goes on, you learn more about where she came from and learn more about where he came from.“
The basic premise of the Reclaimer and Mantle of the Forerunners are deep-rooted in the blessed one’s narrative, but we’re not sure how much the show will lean into it. What we do know is that the show is keen to give us a fresh take on Master Chief and the Halo universe, with the current events taking place before the fall of reach.
There are eight mainline games and countless extended media canon to pull from yet, so at the moment is anyone’s guess. It seems some form of conflict between Master Chief and Makee is building up and maybe the main plot device for a full-on UNSC Vs. Covenant conflict.
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