Seven

"Some of you may be wondering - "What's up with this unhealthy obsession with the number 7?" This page offers some insights."

- Luke Smith, linking to this very page

"Cause that's the best number. It's like rock. Nothing beats rock or 7"

- Michael Wu

Bungie Studios has long enjoyed using the number Seven (7) in its games in many ways. Ensemble Studios and authors also have many seven references in their works about Halo. Therefore, in many of their games, this eccentric idea has caused a wild hunt for as many references to the number as possible. While almost anything can be made into a reference to something with effort or construed accidentally through pareidolia, the following attempts to list the intentional references Bungie placed into Halo for the fans to find.

Halo: Combat Evolved (and Halo: The Flood)

 * There are 7 pine trees in the area surrounding the Control Room.
 * There are 7 blast doors leading to the Index in the Library.

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

 * The core of the planet's door was going to close forever, at the time Dr. Catherine Halsey was asked they had exactly 1:17 minutes left. 1-1+7=7, this can also be a reference to John 117's serial number.

Halo 3
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 * On Crow's Nest on the walkway above the barracks there is a box with a large red 7 written on it.
 * There are 7 structures coming out of the bottom of Epitaph.
 * Cold Storage is the seventh downloadable Halo 3 map, and was released on Bungie Day (7/7).
 * There are 7 different types of UNSC vehicles (seen in the game): Mongoose, Warthog, Gauss Warthog, Scorpion, Hornet, Pelican, and Elephant.
 * There are 7 different types of Covenant vehicles (seen in the game): Ghost, Banshee, Wraith, Phantom, Prowler, Scarab, and Chopper.
 * Miranda Keyes has a seven engraved in her cheek (you can see it clearly on Crow's Nest).
 * In one of the Terminals, it is revealed that Mendicant Bias made contact and studied the Gravemind for 379,807 hours (3+7+9+8+7=34, 3+4=7). 379,807 divided by 24 (hours in a day) equals 15,825 days (1+5+8+2+5=21, 21/3=7). 15,825 / 365 (days in a year) equals 43 years. 4 + 3 = 7.
 * The UNSC Forward Unto Dawn has the number 7 on the front of it.
 * There are 7 pairs of monoliths around the Portal.
 * “The casing is constructed of an unusual porous metallic compound. Shrapnel from the Spike Grenade reaches a temperature of approximately 270 to 315ºC and retains that heat for upwards of seven seconds. By design.” Taken from Bungie.net on Spike Grenades.
 * There are 7 large objects in the background of Sandtrap, the six pillars and the ''Aegis Fate" Frigate.
 * There are 7 columns of light inside the control room on Halo.
 * In the mission Crow's Nest, a rocket has the number 7 on each side.
 * At the beginning of Crow's Nest, some of the monitors have "Sector 331" written in a corner. 3+3+1=7.
 * Last Resort is Zanzibar Municipal Turbine 7.
 * The SMG has a scratch in the shape of a 7 (easier to see if weapon is aimed at sky or near a light source).
 * It takes 7 seconds of Hornet ChainGuns to destroy a Warthog.
 * It takes 7 seconds for 343 Guilty Spark to explode after being dealt the fatal shot in the level Halo.
 * It takes 7 seconds from being infected by an Infection Form to turn into a Combat Form.
 * In the level Cortana, in the beginning of the cut scene where you rescue Cortana, there is 7 seconds of silence before she says "You found me".
 * High Ground has a vague "7" shape in the middle of it.
 * The seventh level of the game (The Ark) is the first level of the series (chronologically) where you first see the Installation that developes the Halo Rings.
 * On the side of the Warthog, below where the driver and passenger get in, just above the side skirts, there are 7 dashes.
 * There are 7 rivets holding the panel on each side of the Warthog right below the driver or passenger entry opening.
 * Only seven Sangheili ranks are seen in Halo 3.
 * In the level Crow's Nest, when you first take control of the Master Chief, the emergency power generators on the far side of the room, where you need to go to get the Black Eye Skull, have the writing "EPG 2401". 7{{sup|4}} = 2401.
 * The Magnum has Korean Hangul symbols on the barrel, and the very bottom of the mag. When reflected, it translates to the number 7.
 * If you exit Epitaph in pan-cam mode, there are 7 lines in the dirt surrounding the tower that houses the map.
 * In Tsavo Highway the doors at the start of the level all have the number 7 on them.
 * In the multi-player level Sandtrap, the UNSC frigate, Aegis Fate, has a number 7 surrounded in a star on the side.
 * When Miranda Keyes dies, there are 7 spikes from the Brute Spiker lodged in her back.
 * In the Level The Covenant, there are 7 Elites that help you (not including the Arbiter or the other Elites in Co-op).
 * There are 7 levels that the Cortana and Gravemind Moments occur.
 * 7 Brute ships fled to the Ark.
 * There are 7 lists of objects to put on a map in Forge. Weapons, Vehicles, Equipment, Scenery, Teleporters, Respawn Points, and Goals.
 * The multi-player medal "Killionaire" has the pattern 343. 343=7x7x7.
 * There are 7 usable vehicles on the level the Ark, the seventh level of the game, including Arrival.
 * There are 7 Chieftains in the level 'The Covenant'.
 * In the multi-player map "Foundry", at the wide end of the map there are 14 full squares in between the walls, 7 on each side.
 * In the level Crow's Nest, in the barracks, there are 7 Marines you can save.
 * There are seven Battle Rifles placed on the default Construct multi-player map.
 * In the level Floodgate, there are seven marines capable of being saved. Two behind the sandbags, and five in the warehouse, one of these being the one overwhelmed by Infection Forms (though he'll be infected anyway).
 * It takes 7 shots from the Magnum to destroy the Gravity Lift object.
 * A Power Drain lasts for 7 seconds.
 * Like the M6D, the M6G has Asian calligraphy stamped on the barrel, but in this case, they are Korean Hangul, not Japanese Kanji. The symbol, when reflected, translates to 7.
 * The center screen in the sword room on The Pit features the name sector 331. 3+3+1=7.
 * It takes 7 seconds for the screens in The Pit Ops Center to scroll through all of the visuals.
 * Shooting the front of a Mongoose with a Sniper Rifle 7 times would destroy it.
 * There are seven spikes on the combat helmets of Elites.
 * In the room with the Silent Cartographer, there are 7 trapezoids above the doors.
 * In the campaign lobby while selecting the level, there are seven two-sentence levels.
 * The Type-52 Pistol, a.k.a, the Mauler, is a reference to 7. 5+2=7.
 * There are 7 individual lights throughout the cave of Valhalla.
 * There are seven pieces of grating involved with the missile launcher scenery on High Ground (including the one placed under the aiming machine).
 * Outside the computer room on High Ground, above the yellow stripe is the white text 443-9A. A=1. 4+4+3+9+1=21 21/3=7
 * On the 'fire point' sign on High Ground there are 7 licks of flame coming from the white triangle.
 * There are 14 steel doors on High Ground. 14/2=7 (this counts the gate as two individual moving doors).
 * There are 7 lines of text on the screen of the gate switch on High Ground.
 * The two small generators in the foundry rec. room are labeled with the number 25. 2+5=7.
 * Slayer matches last 12:07 in matchmaking if fully played out.
 * Deaths that do not require two people have a seven second respawn when no other penalties are active.
 * There are two sevens on the side of Grunt Minor armor.
 * There are seven areas surrounding the portal, (from closest to farthest) the landing pad, the downward slope going into the landing pad, the first ring of metallic symbols, the second ring of metallic symbols, the third ring of darker, metallic symbols, the slope of fiery and burned land, and the city/mountain.
 * There are seven plates of metal grinding on the cranes used to board your first scarab, including the elevators.
 * There are seven pallets on the pathway with the missile pods on the storm.
 * The are seven pipes you can walk into on the lake bed where you fight your first scarab.
 * The center structure of the scarab lake-bed has a cylinder on top with 7 pipes going out of it.
 * There are 14 needles poking up out of the Needler. 14/2=7.
 * There are 160 weapons you can forge on High Ground not counting the ones already placed on the map. 1+6+0=7.
 * It takes 7 seconds to rotate the player's model when viewing his/her service record in game or when changing appearance settings.
 * There are seven symbols on each end of the handle on the Energy Sword.
 * On Sandtrap there are 7 standing angled pillars on the long indoor walkway.
 * The red block on the Banshee resembles a backwards 7.
 * The Multiplayer map Epitaph has 7 hologram projectors, 6 minor ones and the Mendicant Bias projector.
 * There are 7 syllables in the IWHBYD skulls name. I-would-have-been-your-dad-dy.
 * There are now 14 Covenant Weapons, excluding the Forerunner Sentinel Beam in total. 14/2=7.
 * There are 14 pieces of Equipment in total. 14/2=7.
 * You can get 7 Objective Sprees in Halo 3.
 * Covenant vehicles introduced in Halo 3 carry 7 references. The Brute Chopper, also known as the Type-25 Rapid Assault Vehicle is one of them. Meanwhile, both the Anti-Air Wraith and Prowler are Type-52 vehicles. 5+2=7.
 * The Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle, the full name for the Spartan Laser, has 7 words in its name.
 * A tree in Sierra 117 denotes three numbers, 7-16-95. The digits in 16 total 7, while the digits in 95 total 14. The first number is needless to say, a 7 reference.
 * In Crow's Nest, red boxes display the number 2401 (7{{sup|4}}).
 * There are 7 scoped weapons: Battle Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Beam Rifle, Carbine, Rocket Launcher, Fuel Rod Gun, and Spartan Laser.
 * In the credits, at one point is says: "And literally hundreds of people we don't have space to 7hank". Instead of a 't' Bungie used a seven.
 * There are 7 Vidmaster achievements; 4 achievements can be found in Halo 3 while the other 3 are to be released with Halo 3: ODST (3+4=7).
 * One of the Halo slogans is "Finish the fight." There are 3 words with 4 syllables total. 3+4=7.
 * The plasma cannon's full name is the "Type 52 Automatic Plasma Cannon. 5+2=7.
 * According to the Halo 3 instruction manual, the kill radius of the plasma grenade is 4m and the kill radius of a spike grenade is 3m. 4+3=7.
 * Seven Marines fire their Battle Rifles in the air in the ceremony at the end of Halo 3.
 * Now with the 79 achievements there is another Seven reference. 7+9=16. 1+6=7.
 * Halo 3's total attainable gamerscore after the update is 1,750. 1,750/250=7.
 * On the level Cortana you can encounter 7 flood portas if you include the 5 if takes to get to the room with Cortana and 2 when you escape High Charity.
 * There are 7 Gravemind moments on Cortana.
 * There are seven original UNSC vehicles other than a warthog and others.
 * There are 4 levels in Halo CE and Halo 2 with Sentinels, while in Halo 3 there are only 3. 4+3=7
 * There are a total of 7 Auto Turrets you can get in Halo 3.
 * On the mission Halo there are 7 vehicle other than the Warthog: 4 ghosts, 1 mongoose and 2 choppers.
 * On the multiplayer map standoff,each missile silo has a number in the center and 7 segments around that in a circle
 * There is 7 bellows of smoke on the horizon in Rat's Nest.
 * One of the tunnels on Rat's Nest has a large "92" printed above it. 9-2=7, this is a possible 7 reference.
 * It takes 7 shots from the needler for the needles to explode
 * It was 7 seconds before Miranda Keyes died after spikes were impaled into her back by the Prophet of Truth.
 * On the level Tsavo Highway you exit the base through door number 7.
 * The achievement Two for One can be read as 2 4 1, 2+4+1=7
 * There are seven different types of enemies on Halo 3.
 * On sandbox the reskinned gravity hammer is called a 7-wood.
 * The orange energy shield on assembly will emit 14 sets of small plumes of smoke before another scarab fully emerges from it.
 * If all golf items are spawned on sandbox, the PGGA grunt face will appear 34 times, 3+4=7
 * The blue lights that shoot out of the towers on Valhalla appear every 49 seconds. 7*7=49
 * The Human-Covenant war had begun 2525 and ended 2553, approximately 28 years. A possible seven reference.
 * At the very end of the game, there are 7 marines who fire the battle rifle to salute the fallen heroes of the war.

117
117 is Master Chief's SPARTAN tag number, but there is more than meets the eye when it comes to this number, including many religious and historical references.
 * The numbers and letters in John-117, excluding the -, adds up to be 7.

Biblical Reference

 * John-117 is believed by many fans to be a reference to New Testament of the Christian Bible.


 * In the year 117, the 7th Pope of the Catholic Church was named, Sixtus I,as well as John 1 becoming 7th bishop of Jerusalem.


 * The Gospel of John speaks of the 7 miracles of Jesus, the last one, John claims, culminating in his death.


 * Bungie Studios is known to have placed many biblical references in their earlier Marathon video game series, and many other such references have been found in the Halo series.


 * Here are passages from the Book of Revelation (more formally known as The Revelation of St. John the Divine). Revelation in Greek is called "The Apocalypse", a title possibly shortened from "The Apocalypse of John."


 * "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."
 * Book of Revelation, KJV. Chapter 1 - verses 17 and 18.


 * "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascended out of the pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them."
 * Revelation. 11:7


 * There are also references in one other book of the Bible. 1 John houses these:


 * "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin."
 * 1 John 1:7 (1 John 1: 7)
 * "And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."
 * - 1 John 2: 1 7


 * And here are passages from the Gospel of John. These are thought less likely to be references:


 * "Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again."
 * Gospel of John, 11:7


 * "For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
 * Gospel of John, 1:17


 * Another passage in The Book of Revelation could be a reference to the forerunners.


 * "In his right hand he held seven stars. A sharp two-egded sword came out of his mouth, and his face shown like the sun at its brightest."
 * Revelation, 1:16


 * Halo 3's plot also resembles the story of Noah's Ark. Because the Forerunners kept a few of every sentient species in the galaxy in the Ark because the parasitic life-forms known as the Flood were coming, much like in the bible story of Noah's Ark. The flood was coming and Noah put two of every animal in the Ark to save them from the water flood, much like the Forerunners did before they activated the Halos to keep the other lesser sentient species from extinction.

Site 117
Alternatively, others believe the number to be a reference to "Site 117", an archaeological site containing the first evidence of a human battle. The site is near Jebel Sahaba, Nubia and dates from between 12,000-10,000 BC. The site contains 59 human remains of men, women and children who were clearly killed with primitive hunting implements.

117 and 7
Seven has long been a number associated with Bungie. The first three numbers of 76 are 117, the full number being 117649. Also 1*1*7 = 7 and 1+1+7+6+4+9=28 28/4=7 and 7+1-1=7.

The 7th Halo' Monitor code is 117649. Maybe the 117 is significant because it's the 7th Halo, however the 649 could be significant as well. 9+4-6=7. Also, 117649 = 76

The number 819 appears numerous times in the Marathon series. 819/7=117.

Marathon

 * In Marathon Infinity there was a hidden multiplayer map called Hats Off to 819 (named after fan Hamish Sinclair, H=8, S=19) 819 divided by 7 is 117. (Marathon Durandal has an achievement by the same name)
 * Marathons main theme song is done by the band POWER OF SEVEN. (In Durandal there's an achievement by the same name also)
 * Two weapons in Marathon carry the 7 enigma: the MA-75B rifle, and the TOZT-7.
 * In the original Marathon, the barrels all have a backwards 7 in the serial number.

117 Trivia

 * In Halo 3, the game won't let you input the I.D. tag "I-17", "l (lower-case L)-17", or "T-17" saying that these numbers are already reserved by the UNSC. Additionally, "E-43" a variation of 343 will have the same result, so will O00 (Letter "O" and number "0" twice), and so will A55.


 * Also, Bungie's fan club nickname is "7th Column".


 * In Halo: The Flood, Yayap tells 'Zamamee that Master Chief must go through corridor E-117.

Related Pages

 * List of Biblical References in Halo
 * List of Marathon References in Halo