Oly Oly Oxen Free

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

Template:Ratings

Oly Oly Oxen Free is a six note, six beat tone used as an all clear code by the Spartan-II's. They learned it from Deja on Reach when they were younger and have been using it ever since. Spartans would either just whistle the tone or would whistle it and shout "Oly Oly Oxen Free" after. [1] The proper counter-response was "Oly Oly Oxen Free, All out in the free, We're all free."[1]

Psychology

Oly Oly Oxen Free was a secret amongst the Spartan IIs. They, and a select few outsiders knew it. Those outsiders were close to the Spartan II's "family"; such as Dr. Catherine Halsey, Cortana, and Sergeant Johnson. Thus, the signal was extremely important to each Spartan; they would rather die than give up the significance of the tone, which could potentially be used to betray or endanger their teammates. They learned this tune/code from their AI instructor, Deja, while they were training on Reach.

Uses

The term Oly Oly Oxen Free was used on numerous occasions throughout Halo: First Strike. Some of the times it was used are as follows:

Non-Canon Use

Marines use it on the Halo 3 level "The Ark" when firing on the first Covenant encampment, as well as in Crow's Nest, but only if the IWHBYD Skull is activated.[7]

Trivia

  • Dana Awbrey alludes to this phrase by titling a blog post "Olly Olly Axon Free".
  • Olly Olly Oxen Free was originally used to tell players in a game of hide and seek that the game was over and they could come out of hiding.
  • Olly Olly Oxen Free has 7 syllables which is another 7 reference.
  • In the book Ghosts of Onyx, Oly Oly Oxen Free is misspelled. It is incorrectly spelled "Olly Olly Oxen Free".

Sources

  1. ^ a b c Halo: First Strike Page 166
  2. ^ Halo: First Strike page 56
  3. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 118: "Or maybe you're just not saying anything they want to hear," Kelly said. She whistled a six-note singsong tune.
  4. ^ Halo: First Strike Page 322
  5. ^ Halo: First Strike Page 326
  6. ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx Page 236
  7. ^ Halo 3

Related Links