Community Corner: Halo Guy
The Community Corner makes its return for 2023!
In this series, we spotlight and interview individual members of the Halo community about the cool stuff they do, their personal history with the Halo franchise and universe, and more.
Today, we're joined by the aptly named Halo Guy—avid fiction fan and YouTuber.
Thank you for joining us for the latest issue of the Community Corner, Halo Guy! Tell us a bit about yourself—what do you do as part of the Halo community and where can we find you?
Well first off, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to speak about this amazing franchise that I’ve come to love so much. It’s sincerely a dream come true.
Now, as far as what I do as part of the Halo community, I am captivated with all things related to Halo lore and its story. And for a long time, I found myself on the receiving end of others’ content creation and lore videos, but after Halo Infinite released, I found myself wanting to lead discussions on topics I found interesting.
Since then, I’ve opened a Floodgate (pun intended!) of all the ideas and theories I’ve had floating around in my head. In addition to YouTube, I’m fairly active on Twitter.
How did your Great Journey with Halo begin?
Well, funny enough, I was pretty young when Halo: Combat Evolved released, and I was definitely that kid who ran around with my friends pretending to be “Halo” because I thought that was the name of the Master Chief!
But between the all-nighter Halo: CE LAN parties and the game’s story that sucked me in, I was hooked from the beginning. Even to this day, I clearly remember when I found out that books Halo: The Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike existed. Finding and reading those books as a kid was a turning point for me for sure, and well, the rest is history.
What’s your favorite Halo game (or, if such generosity is required, which games) and why?
My first reaction is to say Halo: CE because it’s my genesis story with the series, but there is a solid reason why Halo Infinite is also up there on my list. It really all comes down to this: Halo Infinite was able to provide me with the same sense of wonder, awe, and mystery that the original gave me so many years ago.
Not only that, Infinite told a story in a very unique, but familiar way that really resonated with Combat Evolved. Playing Infinite for the first time felt like playing the original all over again, but this time as an adult and someone who could really appreciate the depth of what is going on.
Just like Combat Evolved, I have no idea how this story will conclude, and I can’t wait for some of those mysteries to be explored in the future.
What’s your favorite story in Halo’s expanded universe media?
I have so many stories that I could go on about for hours, but the one that tops them all, in my humble opinion, is the story contained in the book Halo: Point of Light and what happens to Rion Forge.
Rion Forge is someone who is out on her own quest and her own journey to find answers about her father (Sergeant Forge from Halo Wars), and we get to see that play out beautifully over the course of several books.
Without spoiling it too much, Point of Light concludes with a gift and an opportunity for Forge that no other human has been privileged to have. Everything that leads up to the climax of that story is worth the read.
Everyone should go check out Kelly Gay’s series on Rion Forge. You won’t be disappointed. And as a bonus, you’ll read about some pretty interesting lore connections to Halo Infinite, and some other mysteries involving Zeta Halo...
Which areas of the Halo universe do you find yourself really gravitating towards and why?
I experienced a short hiatus from Halo at one point, but as I’ve told people before, Halo 4 is the game that really brought me back into the mystery and awe of this vast universe.
Ever since that game released, along with Greg Bear’s Forerunner Trilogy, the Forerunners and their history are one aspect of Halo that I have constantly found myself being pulled towards. It always seems like no matter how much is revealed about their past, there is still so much mystery to be revealed, and I love that about them.
Who are some of your favorite characters in Halo?
Some of my favorite Halo characters are definitely Veta Lopis and her Ferret Team of SPARTAN-III Gammas. Their story is an absolute pleasure to read through, and discovering how these individuals found family in one another is really touching and beautiful.
If you’re wondering where to start on their journey, go pick up a copy of Halo: Last Light, Retribution, Shadows of Reach, and Divine Wind (in that order). You will not regret it!
Beyond the fiction aspect of Halo, are there any other areas of the games that you’re really into as well—whether that’s creativity in Forge, or should I be worried if I come across you on the enemy team of a Slayer match?
Well, just to clarify, don’t worry if you come up against me in matchmaking! I am by no means going pro anytime soon, but one of my favorite aspects of the franchise outside of the lore definitely has to be the competitive scene.
Last year, watching all the pro teams compete after Infinite’s release was a blast, and if anyone is curious, I’m a big OpTic Gaming fan and I rooted for them the entire way through last year in HCS.
For the benefit of folks out there who might be looking to dip their toe into Halo’s vast expanded universe, what stories would you recommend?
I would highly recommend Troy Denning’s “A Master Chief Story” trilogy (Silent Storm, Oblivion, and Shadows of Reach) for a few different reasons.
First, it covers the beginning of Master Chief’s journey as a Spartan all the way up until the most recent game, Halo Infinite.
Additionally, this trilogy will definitely give someone new the chance to ease themselves into Halo’s vast universe, while simultaneously exploring the central figure of the entire story from his past up to the present.
Let’s talk content creation. Tell us a bit about your journey as a YouTuber and how you came to start creating Halo lore content...
Becoming a “YouTuber” was never in the cards for me, so it definitely wasn’t something I had been planning.
I remember back in 2020-2021, I read about fifteen or so Halo books (some for the first time and others I reread), and it was also around this time that I actually discovered your old Haruspis blog too. Well, the depth of the articles you wrote, along with what was in my head after reading so much, is what caused the initial spark to organize my thoughts somewhere and somehow. After Halo Infinite released, I knew I needed to have some sort of outlet to get my thoughts out, and that is how “Halo Guy” was born.
Since then, I’ve branched over into Twitter and, depending on how much free time I have, determines if I’ll make a full-blown YouTube video or a long Twitter thread as some of you may have seen already.
What are some of the videos you’re most proud of?
There are two videos that come to mind. The first video I think of is actually one of the first videos I did that got a lot of attention for my standards. I remember when the new Halo Encyclopedia released last year, the first thing I looked up was Jega ‘Rdomnai because I had this theory that he was still alive and roaming Zeta Halo. I felt like his death was quite open-ended, so I made a video about it.
Seeing that video take off gave me that push I needed to make other lore and theory videos.
The second video that comes to mind is my definitive map guide to the Boat Crew’s travel during Kelly Gay’s Halo: Rubicon Protocol.
I spent almost an entire month reading and re-reading that book, looking for every detail imaginable so I could correlate the travels of the book to Infinite’s campaign. You should see the copious number of notes and markings I have in my copy of the book!
I have to ask: what was the moment you decided to see whether you could trace some of the boat crew’s journey in Halo: The Rubicon Protocol in the campaign of Halo Infinite?
What a great question, and one that I can’t answer without first giving a massive shoutout to Kelly Gay and anyone at 343 who helped to produce a book with such intricate attention to detail.
My first thought of making a video following the travels of the Boat Crew came during Halo Waypoint’s first preview teaser that included the opening chapter of the book. Believe it or not, I almost didn’t read that blog post because I didn’t want to spoil the book. But, not being able to resist, I read the preview and noticed there was a ton of interesting details about where Spartan Stone crashed her lifeboat, and it got me thinking, “I might be able to find this!”
So, I looked and looked until I finally found a part of the map that fit, and then I made a video about it.
Shortly after, you all at 343 officially recognized it, and it pumped me up enough to want to do that same type of video on a larger scale when the book finally released.
Are there any folks out there who have served as inspiration for your own content creation?
First and foremost, I’m going to have to give a massive shoutout to Red Nomster who has made quite the impression on us all over the past several months with some out-of-this-world Forge builds.
Before I started making videos, Red’s content on Halo’s mysteries really made me realize there was an audience of Halo fans who wanted to discuss the deeper aspects of the universe, which was a community I had been trying to find for quite some time up until that point.
Over the past several months, I have probably discussed more Halo theories with Red Nomster than anyone else I can think of. I can’t thank Red enough for providing that outlet for me.
I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention the crew over at Sacred Icon who have been more supportive of me than I feel like I deserve. They have welcomed me into their community with open arms and I couldn’t be more grateful for that, and how they’ve let me on their podcast a few times.
For some folks, they look to do content creation as a full-time job, whereas others do it as more of a hobby on the side. Is there any particular perspective that you have as a Halo lore YouTuber on what that means for you?
I am definitely doing this because it is a hobby of mine, and I put out videos and lore threads as frequently as I can. From my perspective, creating content as a hobby is something I do because I find joy in it, and that is my whole angle.
I find little value in adding more negativity and complaints to the internet. So, if you follow me in some type of way, you’ll only see me talk about things I like, or things that bring me joy.
Do you have any advice to impart for others who might be looking to start a YouTube channel?
My advice is pretty simple: find the thing you love, keep at that particular topic, and build your audience off of it.
I wouldn’t recommend chasing trends for the sake of becoming a content creator. There’s so much more fun in it when you make content based on what you love instead of just creating content for content’s sake.
We had the pleasure of actually meeting at the 2022 Halo World Championship event just a few months ago. Was that the first Halo event you attended? (It was certainly mine!) And were there any particular highlights from seeing so many different kinds of Halo fans brought together?
Yes, it was the first Halo event I’ve ever attended! And to be honest, with it being my first event, I did feel quite spoiled, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to top it.
Highlights that come to mind definitely include the live Canon Fodder session, being there to witness the team I rooted for all year be crowned champions, and to meet so many wonderful people at 343. It was great to see that the people behind the scenes are just as passionate about all of this as the fans are.
Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.
Well, everyone knows Halo lore lives rent free in my head, and I guess in some way, that translates into a future dream I have of being the author of my own stories one day. I have so many thoughts in my mind of different worlds and people I want to create, so hopefully one day that becomes a reality for me.
Thank you very much for giving us your time to kick off the Community Corner series for 2023! Got any parting words before I let you pass back into the Domain?
It is an absolute pleasure and dream come true to be recognized like this in the Halo community, so thank you for this opportunity! I never imagined I’d be given a platform like this. But, as I tend to say at the end of my YouTube videos, I hope everyone finds joy in their own respective Great Journeys.
Whatever path you might be on in life, there is a lot of fun and joy and wisdom to be found in Halo’s stories, and because of that I hope everyone can find the inspiration they may need from them—just like I have been able to do over the years.
Don't forget to check out Halo Guy's YouTube channel, where you'll find his explorations of the Halo universe, and follow him on Twitter.