: Other than that, was there any real reason for this series?

No. It added nothing meaningful to the universe and the things it did add were extremely contrived and dumb. It also failed in the job it set out to do, i.e. providing an origin story for Locke. There was nothing on his origins and no character development or growth to speak of. Add to that the nonsensical and extremely formulaic story and you have to ask how in hell did this script get past the brainstorming stage?

It really is a shame, because a universe like Halo is full of stories that are practically begging to be told, stories that would come together very naturally from threads and hints dropped over ten years. Or in some cases newer material as well, as seen with Forward Unto Dawn which got the TV-budget origin story thing right (focus on characters and not hilariously awkward low-budget CGI monsters).

In any case, a piece of Halo ring jumping in the middle of nowhere and magically birthing a human-killing element (with inexplicable mutant Hunter worms) is not a story that needed to be told. Then again, neither are most of the stories 343i has been telling, really.