Seven



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

- Brian Jarrard, 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 prominent ways. Ensemble Studios and authors also have certain obvious seven references in their works about Halo. While almost anything can be made into a reference to something with effort or constructed accidentally through pareidolia, the following attempts to list the intentional references Bungie placed into Halo for the fans to find. As such, not all of these references may be fully accurate, and many of them may be proven to be false at any time. Bungie's obsession with the number seven may be attributed to (or be a determining factor) why John-117 is considered lucky, as 7 is considered a lucky number. In spite of the fact that the number seven is featured extensively in Bungie's work, it has generated an aura of apophenia. This cultural nuance can be compared to the 23 enigma.

Halo series
John-117's service tag is another 7 reference (1x1x7=7).

Cortana Letters and Transmissions

 * Cortana signs one letter with seven 'X's and 'O's.
 * Cortana sends eight emails. But Letter Three was likely never intended, so seven messages were planned.

Halo: Contact Harvest

 * There were seven space elevators of the Tiara.
 * Seven main maglev train lines led out from each base of the space elevators.
 * Prophet Senior Ministry staffers could manage to travel in their gravity thrones in groups as small as seven.
 * The first space elevator to collapse was the seventh elevator.
 * Later Loki changed the five minute interval for the containers to seven minutes.
 * Sif's electronics were stored in seven towers in the Tiara's control room.

Halo: The Cole Protocol
Seven ODST's were killed during the attack on the Redoubt.

Halo Wars

 * In Halo Wars, both the UNSC Fortress and Covenant Citadel possess 7 expansion sockets.
 * There are 7 Elites deactivating camouflage in the first Halo Wars Trailer
 * There are 7 types of buildings for each UNSC and Covenant.
 * There are 7 power nodes that you can destroy to make the Super Scarab's searchlight move slower on the level Scarab.
 * At the beginning of Relic Approach the lockdown on the base will not end and the main gate will not open until the player trains five more squads of marines, bringing the total to seven.
 * When playing on Easy or Normal the player begins Arcadia City with seven units: six Hornets and Sergeant Forge.
 * The player begins Scarab with exactly seven units: 2 Rhinos, 2 Marine squads, 1 Scorpion, 1 Warthog, and Sergeant Forge.
 * The player beings Beachhead with exactly seven units: 4 ODST squads, 1 Hellbringer, Sergeant Forge, and Professor Anders.
 * Following the events aboard the, Sergeant Forge required seven doses of anti-radiation treatment.
 * The cryo pods in the last cutscene are row 3 and 4. 3+4=7

Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
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 * content =

Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian

 * Sergeant Michael Baird found fourteen terabytes of information on cancer using Shipnet. 14/2=7
 * Mo Ye's initial plan was to have Baird drive the ship into a red giant fourteen million miles starboard. 14/2=7
 * When Baird first exited the medbay he ran into seven Covenant soldiers (4 Unggoy, 2 Kig-yar, and 1 Elite).

Palace Hotel

 * John-117 was less than seven meters from a Kig-yar when its head snapped to the side.

The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
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 * Preston Cole was one of seven children (four boys and three girls).
 * Preston Cole's student ID account was 00034. 0+0+0+3+4=7.
 * Ensign Alexis Indara begins management training (Series 7) following the CMA Season of Plenty's bi-annual personnel review.
 * Cole was called before a Board of Inquiry at the Academy at Mare Nubium on June 7, 2492.
 * The UNSC Destroyers which participated in the Callisto Incident in 2494 carried only 7 Ares Missiles.
 * During the Skirmish at Theta Ursae Majoris the UNSC Gorgon had seven Pelicans on standby.
 * "The scattered debris of seven destroyers, however, continued on their previous trajectories."

Halo: Reach
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 * content = *Jorge-052 is another reference to the number 7. 0+5+2=7
 * The Announcement Trailer was 1:17 minutes, or 77 seconds long.
 * There is a clearly visible 7 on the Limited Edition black box and on the Legendary Edition.
 * Emile A-239's service number is another reference to seven, 2+3+9=14, 14/2=7.
 * If a player did not purchase the Limited or Legendary editions, the player will only have access to seven Elite armor permutations.
 * There are 7 Armor Abilities: Sprint, Armor Lock, Jetpack, Active Camo, Hologram, Drop Shield and Evade.
 * The model number of the DMR is M392 (3+9+2=14 and 14/2=7).
 * The Target Locator calls in 7 missiles from orbit.
 * There are 7 Firefight achievements in the game.
 * The assault rifle Carter kicks to Noble Six in the Winter Contingency cutscene has seven rounds in its magazine.
 * The achievement KEEP IT CLEAN requires the player to kill 7 Moa in the second mission of the game's campaign.
 * The Monument to Noble Team is composed of 54,439 individual points of light. (54,439=7*7777)
 * In Invasion, when the countdown goes below 7, it will only recharge back up to 7.
 * There were originally 49 achievements for Halo: Reach. (7*7=49)
 * The Noble Map Pack includes 7 achievements.
 * Noble Six battles 7 Elites in the final cutscene.
 * At the very end of the credits, in the small grid, the number 7 flashes briefly before fading to the "Lone Wolf" mission.
 * After the mission, "Lone Wolf", there is a cutscene with "New Reach" in the background and Noble Six's helmet on the ground. Notice the date is July 7th, 2589. July is the seventh month of the year. This is also a reference to Bungie Day.
 * At the main title screen, while various battle sounds are playing, occasionally a clear seven shot burst from an Assault Rifle can be heard.
 * On the 7th level, Exodus, the player can find an ad on the "world cuisine" store for a Moa burger combo costing 7.77 cR.
 * It is a common occurrence to get 777 on the matchmaking post game slot machine. The Jackpot for this is 7777.
 * Jun A-266's service number is also a reference to seven, 2+6+6=14, 14/2=7.
 * The player begins the 7th level, Exodus, with 25 extra Magnum rounds. (2+5=7) In addition, there are 7 rounds left in the starting clip.
 * Anchor 9 is armed with 7 Point Defense Guns.
 * There are 14 engines on the back of the Pillar of Autumn. 14/2=7
 * At the beginning of the level The Package, the time is shown as 26:16. 26+16=42=6*7.
 * At the beginning of the mission "Nightfall" there is a poster in the first building with 35 black people and 1 red person on it. The red person is on the bottom row 7 places from the left. 35 (the # of black people) divided by 5 is 7.
 * In the seventh mission, Exodus, Civilian Transport 7 survives.
 * Pressing the hidden switch in the level "The Package" results in the tribute room door opening and 7 Elites emerging with swords.
 * The serial number of a Falcon is 1611513214. (1+6+1+1+5+1+3+2+1+4=25, 2+5=7)
 * The grenade launcher starts off with 7 grenades.
 * There are 7 Sangheili Zealots encountered in the game, the first 2 being in the level Winter Contingency, the next one in the mining facility in Tip of the Spear, a further 3 in the final section of the level The Pillar of Autumn, and the final one in Lone Wolf who kills Noble Six.
 * At the end of the level Lone Wolf, there are 14 (7x2=14) dead Spartans, counting Noble Six.
 * There are a total of 7 Scarabs in the game (including ones in background battles).
 * The Golf Club is called a 7-wood.
 * The Collar/Breacher has 7 shotgun shells attached to it.

Dr. Halsey's personal journal
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 * Dr. Elias Carver's initial formula for "the matrix mechanics of the socio- and politico-economic vectors of human expansion" utilized 7 dimensional parameters.
 * Six number 7's are written beside a caricature of a dead Carver.
 * Halsey refers to the piezoelectric effect as a 700+-year-old technology.
 * Halsey reports that standardizing UNSC operating systems over the last seven decades left them vulnerable to the insurgency.
 * On July 29, 2549 Halsey states "Only seven weeks to the completion of my personality transfer."
 * Cortana was activated November 7, 2549 or 11/7/49. 49=72 The date may also be a reference to John-117's service number.
 * Miranda Keyes was decorated for her actions aboard the at the Battle of Gamma Pavonis-VII.
 * There are a total of  7 blank pages at the end of her journal."

Halo Legends
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 * content = There are 7 different anime shorts in Halo Legends.

The Duel
There is a 7 in the sky just before the Desert Battle.

Odd One Out

 * 7 residents of planet Cronkee are spoken of in the episode, including 'Mama' and the dinosaur.
 * The UNSC ship at the beginning of the episode is numbered "993". The average of these three numbers is 7

The Package

 * The battle between John-117 and Thel 'Lodamee lasts 7 seconds.
 * When Frederic-104, Kelly-087 and John-117 enter the Covenant Flagship Kelly says, "We got three minutes" indicating that the space battle lasted 7 minutes.

Homecoming
Ralph-303 mentions to Daisy-023 that it has been 7 years since they were abducted to participate in the SPARTAN-II program. }}

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

 * All the references from the original game apply here.
 * The player has to escape the Flood Containment Facility within 21 minutes to get the Breaking Quarantine achievement.

Miscellaneous
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 * content = *Most family names of Sangheili have 7 letters, including the 'ee' suffix for military service (e.g., Vadumee, Zamamee, Vadamee).
 * Seventh Column is the name given to Bungie's official fan club.
 * John-117 stands 7' tall in the MJOLNIR Mark IV suit.
 * The terms SPARTAN and MJOLNIR both have 7 letters.
 * There are seven remaining Spartan-IIs still able to fight: John, Fred, Kelly, Linda, and Gray Team, the three missing at the start of the mission beyond UNSC-controlled space.
 * The ASCII Master Chief in a Bungie Weekly Update was made with 7s.
 * Smart AIs (such as Cortana) go rampant after seven years of activation.
 * There are 7 Halo rings.
 * In the Cortana Letters "... In my palace deep, Lyca lies asleep ..." is mentioned on the 7th letter and is believed to be from the poem "The Little Girl Found-By William Blake". One section says:

"Arm in arm, seven days They traced the desert ways. seven nights they sleep Among shadows deep, And dream they see their child Starved in desert wild."


 * In the preview of Halo 3 featured at the Seattle IMAX theater, Bungie gave away a prize to the person sitting in seat G7. (Note that G is the seventh letter of the alphabet, so it is essentially 77.)
 * The Legendary Map Pack banner on the official Bungie.net. There is a slogan saying: Tru7h. Carnage. Bungie.
 * All known "Monitor" Forerunner A.I.'s have I.D. numbers that are powers of seven.
 * The Forerunner Dreadnought has 14 x 14 x 14 dimensions. 14 = 7+7.
 * In the background of the Limited Edition of Halo 3, the door behind the Chief has a 7 written on it.
 * In an ad for the Halo 3 guide that occasionally shows up on Bungie.net, "07" is stenciled in white on the Pelican behind the Master Chief.
 * Bungie has seven Steps to World Domination.
 * In the Bungie weekly update, 6/27/08, this message is posted:

/PACKET INTERRUPTION – ERROR CODE 5929 */ …Attempting Recovery… …Attempting Recovery… / 93% PACKET CORRUPTION – RECOVERY UNSUCCESSFUL - DISPLAYING * /C!#4x---^&-$x%^^p3@ Head2@!#SWa#++-DL*SLAj3r 48hr0x0ABFFFFF [ERR 5929] / END DISPLAY */

Out of 5929, 5+9+2+9=25 2+5=7

Also, with "93% packet corruption", 7% was left uncorrupted. }}
 * In the Halo series there are 7 levels named after a Halo character: 343 Guilty Spark, Keyes, The Arbiter, Regret, Gravemind, Sierra 117 and Cortana.
 * Bungie broke off from Microsoft July 7, 2007 7/7/07 (though this may just be another coincidence)
 * Bungie's The Art of Halo 3 was released on November 25th, 2008 (2+5= 7).
 * There are 7 Vidmaster achievements.
 * Most of The Halo Series is set in years beginning with the number 25. 2+5=7 The vast majority of the game trilogy is set in 2552. 5 and 2 is the exact same equation, per order of operations.
 * In many cultures, 7 is considered to be lucky, and Master Chief is seen by Cortana to be "luckier" then the other Spartans, in both The Fall of Reach and the beginning of Halo 3.
 * Many Covenant weapons have Type-52 or Type-25 at the beginning of their official names (5+2=7 and 2+5=7)
 * The Quito Space Tether was officially given its name in the year 2401, exactly 32,196 days after its completion (including leap days).(2+4+0+1=7} (74=2401 and 3+2+1+9+6=21 21/3=7)
 * When a Spike grenade detonates, its spikes will stay hot for seven seconds.
 * Dr. Halsey's journal has 7 pages unwritten (excluding the text at the last page with the copyrights).
 * The Human-Covenant War started in 2525 (2+5+2+5=14/2=7) and ended 28 years later(28/4=7).
 * The Halo: Reach limited edition Xbox 360 controller and wireless headset are both marked with the requisition number "//65|59_234|97///" . On the headset, directly before the requisition code, is a larger number 7.
 * There will be seven multiplayer maps in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

Internal

 * List of references to religion in the Halo series
 * List of Marathon References in Halo

External

 * The Septionary is a fan-created list every seven letter word in the english language.


 * The relevant Bungie.Net forum topic is here.


 * List of "Three" References in Halo - Parody of this list at Gruntipedia.


 * "7" on Wikipedia