List of inconsistencies in the Halo series

This list is compiled to show the various discrepancies spotted in the Halo universe. It is difficult to decide which resource is "superior" to another, so usually, the inconsistency is mentioned in the articles that it involves.

If you think you can explain an inconsistency, do so here, on the article's talk page.

There are two types of Inconsistencies: Conflicts and Discrepancies. Conflicts happen when two sources say two different things about the same object. Discrepancies occur when a seemingly impossible event happens without any explanation.

Halo: The Fall of Reach

 * On page 46, Kelly handed out parts of a map to the seventy-five SPARTAN-II trainees, but on page 48, when John checked to make sure all the children arrived at the lake. He counted only sixty-seven, which seemed to be all of them.
 * The London: included as a mistaken reference to the UNSC Pioneer in some early editions (FoR p.74)
 * Faster than light drive is referred to as a "Shaw-Fujikawa" engine (FoR p.141), and later as "Fujikawa-Shaw" (FoR p. 278)
 * UNSC frigate referred to as the UNSC Alliance, and then shortly thereafter as the UNSC Allegiance (FoR p.145, 154)
 * The ship UNSC Leviathan is referred to as a cruiser (FoR p.162) while it is later referred to as a carrier (FoR p.212).
 * On page 19, Michael Stanforth was said to be a Vice Admiral, and on page 95, it said he was a Rear Admiral. It is very rare for the brass to be demoted, as they have achieved a lot to earn their rank.
 * James' left/right arm burned off by a Fuel Rod Cannon (FoR p.208, 210). However, he could easily have been made a flash-cloned arm afterwards.
 * Pillar of Autumn missing its port-side emergency thrusters, and then using them twice (FoR p.271, 292, 320)
 * While riding to Reach Station Gamma, Kelly-087 tells the Chief that the Spartans are "All secure." Kelly isn't even in the Pelican at the time (says on com?) (FoR p.306)
 * During Master Chief's mission to Reach Station Gamma, a Jackal's blood is said to be blue while it is clearly purple. The same mistake is made with the Elites as well, saying that their blood is green, while it is also purple.
 * On the cover, it shows 4 Spartans in Mark V Mjolnir on Sigma Octanus IV but the Mark V was issued after The Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
 * Its says that Lt. Hikowa was Male, then later Female (She's a woman)

Halo: Combat Evolved

 * Main view screen of the Pillar of Autumn labels the as-of yet unidentified ring as "Halo" (which is not officially named till the level Truth and Reconciliation), but could refer to the shape of it.
 * Cortana says she cannot begin to calculate the pulse range of Halo just after 343 Guilty Spark finishes telling her it has a radius of 25,000 light years. This can be accounted for by Cortana's inherent distrust of Guilty Spark's motives (she had just called him a bastard), thus, she wouldn't believe anything he says at face value. Additionally, since Cortana is an AI with an insatiable urge to know everything she can, she may have tried to calculate the range herself regardless of whatever 343 Guilty Spark had simply told her.
 * Almost every Pelican dropship bears the marking E419 on its side, despite that each Pelican has a different ID number. The only other Pelican in the game is labeled V933, such as Bravo 22 and the actual Victor 933. The V933 model is used for all the crashed pelicans.
 * PVT Jenkins' Record View on the level 343 Guilty Spark shows the date as the 27th of May 2552 when The Maw clearly takes place on September 22. (Frankie has confirmed that the date calibration of his equipment was not performed, causing the apparent discrepancy.)
 * The pilot of the Master Chief's lifeboat is referred to as "Lieutenant" but says "Aye aye, sir" to the Master Chief even though Lieutenant is higher ranked than Master Chief. However, this could be due to the fact that nearly all UNSC personnel owe subordinate respect to the Spartans to some degree. (The Master Chief has mission command thus command of all survivors since his orders came from Captain Keyes, the commander over the entire operation. His mission is to get Cortana of the ship, and therefore he has tactical superiority.)
 * In The Maw, the main objective is to trigger a Wildcat destabilization of the Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactors. Later Cortana tells Foehammer that the engine sustained more damage than she thought because of the Wildcat destabilization. Note that this may be due to the fact that the engine decay rate was faster then Cortana originally expected and therefore theorized it must have taken damage on impact or she didn't want to admit that they were blowing up the ship and used it as an excuse.
 * Also in The Maw, the player has to travel over 3km to reach the Longsword, but the Pillar of Autumn is only 1.17km long.
 * In Halo: The Fall of Reach, Hikowa and Dowski are female officers of the Pillar of Autumn. However, on the level Pillar of Autumn, the bridge (HQ of a ship) has no female members.
 * Similarly, William Lovell's eyes are green, but the PoA's crew has no green-eyed members.
 * Grunt combatants can be heard saying "Bad Cyborg!" to the Master Chief. Master Chief, however, is not a cyborg. The second chapter of The Pillar of Autumn is called "AIs and Cyborgs first." Same inconsistency as above. However this could be a Marathon reference, because you are a Cyborg, or it could be because The Chief is able to contain an AI.

Halo: The Flood

 * On page 39 the Pelicans had to wait until they were in Halo's atmosphere. Pelicans are known to be able to operate in space although this could simply be the pilots being delayed until they were in the atmosphere.
 * During the Two Betrayals chapter, the Master Chief "went with the rifle and shotgun" (HtF p.281), and only a page later manages to come up "with his sidearm in his hand", though this could be because the book does not honor the 'two weapons maximum' of the Halo games. (HtF p.282).
 * During a skirmish with a force of 100 Ghosts, it states the snipers and rocket launcher-armed Marines couldn't be hit by plasma fire, as the weapons were fixed and the marines were on a hill. Yet in the game, the Ghost's plasma cannons can increase or decrease their angle, and could have quite easily have killed the marines, unless they were positioned up an extremely tall and steep hill.
 * Sergeant Parker referred to as a he (HtF p.112) and then a she (HtF p.113). (He's a male)
 * On page 232 of Halo: The Flood, Second Squad was completely consumed by the Flood, stating that their numbers dwindled until two PFCs remained, before the last of the marines fell, but on page 233, Foehammer picked up the surviving Marines, although it was possible part of the second squad were separated.
 * First Lieutenant Melissa McKay's mission clock is prefixed by an extra 1 (HtF p.127, 148) NOTE: The last time it shows her mission clock it shows D+144:38:19, while on the Master Chiefs last mission clock mention, it reads D+76:18:56. That's while he is en route to the Pillar of Autumn. It wouldn't take over 5 hours to detonate the ship, let alone 70 hours.
 * An encounter with 2 Jackals ends with one bullet ridden and the other plummeting off a cliff. However, following this a Marine steps forward and summarily shoots "each Jackal in the head" (HtF p.103).
 * Near the middle of the book Spec Ops Elite Zuka 'Zamamee lays a trap for the MC near the Silent Cartographer, coinciding with the game level of the same name. Afterwards he sends a Grunt spy to Alpha Base who reports that MC has gone there sometime before the events of the level 343 Guilty Spark. This is impossible as from the Silent Cartographer MC goes straight to the area around the control room and then straight to the swamps of 343 GS. ''However, the book does say that Foehammer picked up the Chief to bring him back to Alpha Base where he 'scarfed a quick meal and a couple hours of sleep' so possibly Yayap saw him during that time.
 * Sergeant Stacker is not mentioned in the book. He is replaced for the raid on the Truth and Reconciliation by Sergeant Parker, and for the raid on the Silent Cartographer by Gunnery Sergeant Waller. The only place where he might make in appearance is when the Chief rescued a crashed Marine squad with a Sergeant, where Stacker is normally found in the game.
 * Several soldiers were referred to as both a man and a woman, such as Sergeant Parker and Second Lieutenant Oros.
 * On page 27, it says "Consistent with his status as a veteran, the first alien to come around the corner wore red-trimmed armor, a methane rig, and a Marine's web pistol belt. The alien wore the captured gear Pancho Villa-style and dragged it across the deck. Two of his comrades brought up the rear." That is three Grunts in the Master Chief's sight. The next paragraph says, "Confident that there were more of the vaguely simian aliens on the way, the Master Chief paused long enough to let more of them appear, then opened fire. The recoil compensators in his armor dampened the effect, but he could still feel the handgun kick against his palm. All three of the Grunts went down from head shots." It is as if the extra Grunts that appeared simply disappeared. Only three Grunts were killed yet, which are the three orgiginal Grunts that first appeared, the leader and the two followers. But "...the Mater Chief paused long enough to let more of them appear, then opened fire... All three of the Grunts went down from head shots." Which means that either only three Grunts appeared, the author made a mistake, or the extra Grunts that had rounded the corner simply vanished into thin air.

Halo 2

 * In the video "A Day at the Beach" the Marines fighting are ODST's. During gameplay the Marines at the hotel are not ODSTs, just standard Marines. Also the location for the crash of the Pelican does not match its position in game.
 * The level Delta Halo, you can find deceased ODSTs all around the level, 7 to be exact, only when there are only 11 HEVs dropping from the In Amber Clad. 3 ODST' along with the Master Chief, and 3 more dead equals 14, including the 7 dead ones. This may just be a secret 7 reference, however, as 7=7 and 7x2=14.

Halo: First Strike

 * The Longsword that landed in the Ascendant Justice is repeatedly referred to as a Pelican (FS p.75, 93, 95, etc.)
 * Isaac is referred to as Spartan-029, even though he has already been established as Spartan-039 and Joshua is Spartan-029. This is probably a typo.

Halo 3

 * Every Longsword fighter bears the marking 7-89 on its side, despite that each Longsword has a different ID number.
 * In the ending cutscene of the level The Storm all of the UNSC Frigates have the same serial code. and all say "Forward Unto Dawn", when only one of them is the Forward Unto Dawn.

Manual vs Books
(These discrepancies are created when material from the game manuals is inconsistent with material from the novels.)


 * The Halo: Combat Evolved Manual states that the Harvest incident took place in 2520 (H: CE Manual p.4) while all other sources specify 2525 (FoR p.96)
 * The Manual also states that Captain Keyes has served in the UNSC since 2526 (H: CE Manual p.8) though he was fresh out of the UNSC OCS in 2517 (FoR p.19)
 * The Grunts are referred to as 5 feet tall (H: CE Manual p.10), but in The Fall of Reach they are referred to as being a meter tall (a little over 3') (FoR p.1)
 * On page 202 of Halo: The Flood, the Chief spotted some 12 gauge Shotgun shells near an entrance. In the manual they are said to be 8 gauge.

Game vs Books
(These are created when the novels describe events that are not the same as what is seen in gameplay. As explained in this forum post, the games are considered by Bungie to be more canon.)


 * Jackals and Special Ops Elites on board the Pillar of Autumn (HtF p.7, 36, 29). This does not occur during gameplay on any difficulty.
 * Primary insertion group during the Truth and Reconciliation assault is made up of ODST's (HtF p.100), while in-game there are only Marines. ODST's did appear in Halo: CE (contrary to popular belief), although they did not wear ODST Body Suits in Halo: CE. These could have been separate insertions, but a singular attack is more likely.
 * Cortana identifies Halo when escaping PoA (HtF page 38) but it isn't identified until the level Truth and Reconciliation in the game.
 * Halo: The Flood describes only four Scorpion tanks being retrieved from the Pillar of Autumn, which does not account for the one in Assault on the Control Room. Fire Team Zulu was working out of Alpha Base so they could have been ordered to bring the tank which would account for it being near a downed dropship.
 * Cortana accesses Halo's Control Center via the Master Chief removing and placing the memory chip from his helmet in the console, while in the novel she broadcasts herself into the system using the suit's transmitter.
 * UNSC ships use rotating sections to simulate gravity (FoR p.274) yet no such mechanism is seen in-game. This could be accounted for if the rotating parts were inside the ship. The Pillar of Autumn may also have been using the reverse-engineered Covenant technology called Gravity Plating instead of rotating sections.
 * The Pillar of Autumn's MAC cannon is depolarized and cannot fire (FoR p.337), yet the gun is apparently used, and the loss of fire control still makes headlines (H: CE, opening cinematic)
 * The cutscene in H1 at the end of the level "The Pillar of Autumn" clearly shows the PoA being fired upon with plasma. However in the novel, the Prophet at the ring forbids the Covenant ships to fire, lest they strike the sacred relic. (HtF p.6). However, the order could have been ignored or over-ruled (perhaps by the Supreme Commander to stop the ship from hitting the surface, as the Prophet's demand was made before the ship was even boarded.
 * Grunts love to overcharge their plasma pistols in the books (HtF p.81), yet they never do so in the games.
 * In the game Master Chief throws Pvt. Jenkins' Record View away but still has it in First Strike. This could be explained by the Chief's suit automatically making a copy of Jenkins' recording as a possible means of gathering intelligence, like today’s armed forces gathering dog tags from the dead, although this is only a theory.
 * On several occasions in the books (too numerous to list), UNSC forces are mentioned as switching their MA5Bs from bursts to full auto, although in the games, they are only capable of fully automatic fire. Likewise, in First Strike, (p.137), Vinh fires two single shots at an Elite with her BR55.
 * In the Halo Graphic Novel, specifically the Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor, the Flood are shown consuming every possible living creature they can find, yet in the games, it seems that they are only interested in intelligent beings. Additionally, the Halo Array was mentioned as only being able to kill beings with sufficient biomass and intelligence to support the Flood. However, the Flood was in its feral stage, and could have been searching for more calcium to sustain its Proto-Gravemind.
 * In the game Halo 3 under the armour choices in multiplayer it states that the ODST helmets were used for the Spartans to train in. However this is never mentioned in the book 'Fall of Reach'. It may have been missed however as large sections of the training are missing from the book.

Books vs Books
(These happen when information from the novels are inconsistent with information from other novels)


 * Pelican's operational maximum is listed as 12 Marines (HtF p.76), elsewhere as 3 crew, 10 seated, 5 standing (Sybex PC Guide p.66), yet elsewhere they can carry 75 children (FoR p.46), 30 Elites (HtF p.211), or 27 Spartans (FS p.27) {Note that the Pelican in FS has all the unnecessary equipment removed (likely including the seats), and the Spartans are more or less jam-packed into the little craft} It is possible, that there may be different variations of Pelicans though we only see the one type in game... 
 * During the battle of Reach many Covenant ships are destroyed, but not before they can loose their own lethal plasma attacks (FoR). However, later plasma en route to a target merely dissipates as the originating ship and its magnetic controls are destroyed (FS p.266).
 * Halo:The Fall of Reach states that Harvest has a population of 3 million. However, in Halo:Contact Harvest, it is stated to have a little over 300,000.
 * Halo: First Strike implies, though never implicitly states, that the Ascendant Justice is the flagship of the Fleet of Particular Justice. But the Halo Graphic Novel describes the Seeker of Truth as the flagship.
 * Lieutenants Hall and Dominique are introduced as members of the command crew of the Pillar of Autumn (FoR) then they disappears when the ship arrives at Installation 04 (HtF). {Halo: The Fall of Reach states that there was a flutter in Dominique's heart when he came out of cryosleep prior to the discovery of Alpha Halo. It is possible, though unlikely, that he suffered a heart attack just after seeing Halo.} Lieutenant Hall's presence was unknown.
 * Engineers are supposedly first seen by humans at Battle Of Sigma Octanus IV in 2552, however, in Ghosts Of Onyx, when Kurt is reviewing a mission of the SPARTAN-IIIs, some years prior, he saw Engineers. However this could have been kept classified due to the secrecy of the SPARTAN III program.
 * Elites and Hunters are also seen in a mission reviewed by Kurt, though the two creatures were first seen in 2552, Kurt is reviewing the mission years prior to 2552.
 * Chronologically, the first time Brutes are encountered by the UNSC was at the Battle of Harvest in 2525, yet the Master Chief has no intel on them until the attack on the Unyielding Hierophant in 2552. This could be accounted for by the secrecy of the first encounter with the Covenant, and ONI could have tried to cover up the failure of the negotiations with the Brutes.
 * In 2525, when Harvest was glassed by the Covenant, UNSC technology took approximately two months to traverse between Harvest and Reach, but in 2552 it takes a ship only 19 days to travel between Reach and Earth, when the distances between the three planets are only between 10 and 11 light years.
 * The BR55 (Battle Rifle) is said to be a prototype weapon on the planet Harvest for Captain Ponder's militia in Halo: Contact Harvest. However, in Halo: First Strike, some thirty years later, the SPARTAN IIs only just get the weapons despite being the top choice for the weapons.
 * Jai remembers being abducted to Reach along with seventy-five other children.
 * Prior to 2525, UNSC ships used rotating sections to simulate gravity, and the Spartan-II's were surprised to discover artificial gravity on the Covenant ship they boarded (FoR). However, since then multiple human facilities and ships are shown to have artificial gravity capability.  It is possible this technology was adapted from the Covenant, but it is unlikely due to the difficulty in capturing intact Covenant samples, much less reverse-engineering them.  The most reasonable answer is that the writers use AG-tech for convenience purposes.

Game vs Game
(This occurs when information from one game is not consistent with another)
 * In Halo: CE, the Master Chief needs a chip to house Cortana. In Halo 2, all he needs to do is touch something to allow her to move from his suit to another power source.  It is reverted back to the chip in Halo 3, however, it gains some of the properties of the touch ability in Halo 2.  Why technology went backwards in between Halo 2 and 3 is unknown. (Though this may be due to him falling 2 kilometers and damaging the suit)


 * In Halo 1, the Sniper Rifle had night vision, but it is absent from Halo 2 and Halo 3. This is likely due to its limited purposes, but it is still strange to see a weapon lose an advantage, and the different versions of the Sniper Rifles during the era could not be accounted for that loss.


 * The doors in High Charity are different in Halo 2 and Halo 3. This could be because the High Charity part of Halo 2 takes place near the Prophets' Sanctum, and in Halo 3, near the core area so there is a difference in design.