: Or they could have all been glassed as children. There's also the people
: controlling Halsey's strings during the creation with all the ends and the
: means regarding these children. That failed government you mention is
: pretty awful, especially ONI. What's the hidden story? While we're busy
: making up possible scenarios, maybe they had threatened Keyes. Maybe her
: daughter. Who knows! Yes, it's all terrible, but don't go acting like she
: set out herself to do this, to stifle all the dissent, to keep a
: government running, to purposely go after kids, etc. What a joke.

How old were they when Harvest happened? How long did it take to go through the colonies. There would have been time to relocate the prodigies to Reach or Earth - you wouldn't even need to kidnap them - you can offer them the best education and opportunities and pay their parents handsomely to relocate. Those offers would get more attractive as the outer colonies started to fall.

She didn't kidnap the children by accident - she did go after them deliberately.

The purpose of the Spartans was to assassinate leaders and instill fear - that does stifle dissent.

Those are the facts of the matter and were established by Nylund - I'm not making them up.

And Nylund makes no mention of H being threatened by the government - she volunteered.

: That's exactly what I've been implying this entire time. No one's guilty.
: Everyone's hands are covered in blood. But nope. Halsey's just this
: ultimate super bad guy, and has been portrayed as such pretty well.

The program was her idea, she instigated it and ran it. Operationally she was in charge.

: Absolutely true. The only thing is, she has a writing style and history with
: doing interesting things with particular characters that she does or
: doesn't personally favor, even if it means mischaracterizing or
: misportraying them, or at the least portraying them in a regard suited to
: her own personal feelings rather than how the actual universe might
: logically react. Yes, the reaction is logical, but it's all so forced and
: ridiculous that you're having to come up with "what ifs" and
: "it's not, necessarilly, out of character" statements to try and
: explain away what she did (or what 343 wanted her to do).

You can say that Travis over-egged the cake but Halsey did do a bad thing.

: Just remember, Palmer's the hero of this universe. They want you to like her
: soooooooooo much. Palmer went after Halsey in Spartan Ops to kill her.
: Based on what 343 employees have said, it seems that they would love
: nothing more for you to be rooting for Palmer and wanting Halsey to die.
: The books may be attempting to really force that thought process. As I
: just accused you of, this is my own "what if" or "it
: seems" and whatnot. It's unclear, because it was too much, too soon,
: and way too condensed with Halsey. None of it felt earned or like it was
: from a standard human scapegoating reaction based on the writing.

I'm not sure what you mean. But, yes, Palmer hasn't worked for me as a hero though I haven't paid any attention to that new game.

: This I agree with. Halsey is a gold mine if they don't try and turn her into
: some one dimensional character (like the Didact in H4) or someone to hate
: "just because she's bad and evil and a monster and we say you should
: hate her, unlike Palmer who you should love and oh my gosh". No one's
: said that, yet, but it sure looks like that's what 343 wants.

At some level I still like Halsey. I think that she always has been on our side. I don't question her loyalty - it's her judgment I question. I hope 343i doesn't turn her into a baddy unless they do a very good job of it.

The haloverse could have been a dark place if the Covenant hadn't found us. I can imagine a mirror universe where Spartans become tools of oppression for a military state. Everyone would wear scarlet sashes and carry daggers! :-) Oh, and John would have a hideous scar.