Analysis of Halo 5 Cover Art - Halo Archive

[Commander Prime]

Found this over at Halo Archive and it was pretty interesting. Thought I would share.

 

Link to article: http://www.haloarchive.com/catalog/analysis-of-halo-5-cover-art/

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So here we are days after the crazed Hunt the Truth puzzle, where the entire Halo community was working swiftly to piece together a puzzle we had no idea existed at the time. No one knew what we were about to uncover, and most still wonder what it means...although they have given us a lot more to work with than previously. This post is going to be an in depth analysis of what we see in both the Halo 5 Cover Art as well as the poster, which has a bit more to it. First though, if you have not seen the animated version of the art, please go here to check it out this new trailer. It’s amazing.

 

http://www.haloarchive.com/halo-news/halo-5-cover-art-new-trailer-revealed 

 

Let’s start with only the Cover Art, and we will move to the poster later.

 

http://i.imgur.com/RjqM9pm.jpg

 

There may be more than meets the eye in this picture, but let's start with the obvious, giant, beautiful looking Spartans staring each other down. We have Spartan Locke, presumably the Hunter, on the left. Then we have the hunted, Master Chief, on the right. If we look at their posture, Locke is leaning forward a bit more than Chief. Yes they both are squaring off, but Locke does lean in a bit more which could signify he is the aggressor, or more specifically, the hunter. We know Locke is hunting Chief...this is not new. He basically says so in the Halo 2 Anniversary Prologue:

 

“I'm not so much hunting a Spartan, as I'm hunting ‘the’ Spartan.” - Locke to the Arbiter

 

It does suggest however that Master Chief has explaining to do, for what we are not sure. Which brings us to the next point: Where are they? The setting in the background looks...’destroyed.’ We see smoke emanating from some of the buildings, and if you look in the distance we also see banshees flying through the war zone. Another note would be to notice the circular rooftop building on the left side underneath Locke. Reminiscent of anything in particular?

 

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140516133304/halo/images/e/eb/Halo-5-guardians-concept-art.jpg

 

http://www.haloarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/halo-5-guardians-visual-id-teaser-1920x1080-81d61a07017644d4ad00a3cc411f9f992.jpg

 

If you look at the tops of these structures in the above images, confirmed to be Sanghelios, it is the exact same as the cover art circular structure. It may not have been a stretch to say, but it confirms that this planet and Elite homeworld will have a HUGE role to play in the upcoming installment.

 

And this now brings us to the most mysterious, yet ominous part of the photo. The giant bird like thing-a-ma-jig. We see this same style structure in the E3 2013, Halo on Xbox One trailer:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE-5szqJQIQ

 

http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/files/2013/06/Halo-Xbox-One-Reveal-03-e1371065424137.jpg

 

Or is it the same? If we look closely, there are some very stark differences in both its stature and angular design:

 

http://www.haloarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/x2okMxB.jpg.pagespeed.ce_.vmyJLab0Xr.jpg

 

Now first off, this is almost 2 years later in development and design, so it is entirely possible this is the "newer" version of what we saw in the 2013 E3 trailer.’ That being said, the differences are massive. Not only are the wings spread out and more sharp, but the head looks completely different than the owl like design previously. The one in the cover art also seems to have some sort of spinal structure in the back, whereas in the trailer that seems to be missing. Aside from the obvious differences let’s ask the real question: What is this thing doing here?

 

The way it is positioned suggests it is at least partially responsible for all of the destruction. That begs the question of who is in control of this and why would they attack Sanghelios (if it did indeed attack)? Some have mentioned the Didact, others have mentioned Master Chief. However what if this is structure is not on the offensive and is instead acting as a...dare I say? Guardian?

 

http://www.halopedia.org/Guardian_Sentinel

 

For those unaware, the Guardians were designed initially to be implemented into Halo 3, however they were nixed before the game came out and we the fans never were able to see them in their full beauty. Check out the below images:

 

Guardian Sentinel hologram on Halo 3 map: Epitaph:

 

http://www.halopedia.org/images/6/65/Epitaph_symbol.png

 

http://www.haloarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/253x488xOxmguardian.png.pagespeed.ic.t_OJgR1Pkx.jpg

 

Obviously this looks different than what we see in the cover art (although it could just be its form when wings are down), but it's worth keeping an eye on especially after this tweet from Halo producer Josh Holmes:

 

https://twitter.com/JoshingtonState/status/592477020073828352

 

Screaming “Guardian” anyone? Only time will tell. Let's move on to the Halo 5 Poster.

 

http://www.haloarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/x2okMxB.jpg 

 

So with the extra room to see the full picture, we get some very exciting hints at what is to come. First off we see Blue Team on the left. For anyone unaware of who Blue Team is, they were Master Chief's group of Spartans he led during the Human-Covenant War. We even see Fred and Kelly in the web-series Forward Unto Dawn:

 

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140114024851/halo/images/e/e9/Fred-104.png 

 

http://www.halopedia.org/images/2/20/FUD-Kelly.jpg

 

We also see Spartan Locke's team consisting of mostly unknowns at this point, however the back right Spartan is rumored to be the one and only Buck from Halo ODST. This is in large part because of the similarities in the armor.

 

http://www.halopedia.org/images/d/d3/BuckODST.png

 

The interesting part about all of this is obviously that Locke's team is underneath Chief and Chief's team is underneath Locke. Our member MoaHerder had a good theory on this:

 

“Speaking of there being two sides to every story, I noticed some interesting symbolism going on in the new poster/cover art.

 

In art, blue, especially the lighter blue seen here, generally represents stuff like order and understanding.  Dark orange generally represents deceit and distrust.  This can be seen in the Forerunners as well, with blue usually representing order, and dark orange chaos.

 

Notice that the image depicts Locke as glowing blue, while Chief is glowing orange, potentially symbolizing that Locke is order while Chief is chaos.  However, you also notice that Chief/Blue Team are underneath Locke, and are also enveloped in blue.  On the flipside, Locke and his team are underneath Chief, enveloped in orange.  Seems to me like the poster may be symbolically going along with the whole idea of there being two sides to every story, both teams seem to be in the wrong depending on your perspective.”

 

A pretty good analysis by Moa which, most likely, has merit. Either way we get to see Blue Team and Locke's team face off in Halo 5 Guardians in some fashion, be it mentally in discovering the truth or physically. I know I'm excited.

 

Thanks for reading Archivers and let us know what you think in the comment section below or jump in on the discussion on our forum:

 

http://www.haloarchive.com/forum/topic/263-hunt-the-truth/page-130

[Drizzy_Dan]

Hey Commander Prime didn't know you were a member here for so long!

 

Nice analysis! Here's some stuff I wanna add on if you will:

 

So it's already been confirmed but for anyone who needs anymore convincing, they are in fact on Sanghelios (disregard the colored circles in the image, I made it using someone else's image): http://imgur.com/33zUdIU

 

As for the Guardian and Forerunner bird-like construct, I think they are both going to be making an appearance in the game and they are definitely different. The Arbiter seems to have a connection to the bird-like structure or is aware of it at least: http://imgur.com/X4XTdfc

 

Also just to add for Locke's Team even though I know you know this: You mentioned Buck but on top of that I think it's notable that Holly Tanaka is presumed to be on the team as well because of her focus in Halo: Escalation. As for the remaining Spartan, it's rumored to be either Macer from Nightfall or Romeo from ODST. MoaHerder also pointed out that the armor the white Spartan is wearing is female armor because of a missing specific missing piece I don't remember which one exactly.

[Silent Orbis]

Good analysis... but there's so much analysis in the gaming world that it spoils the story and can even ruin the hype...  

 

 

BUT I LOVE IT!!! It's so hard to resist separating the different pieces of a teaser trailer or poster, and spoiling the story. While it potentially can reveal too much, usually it makes the hype train accelerate even more. And I'm going to say, right now, I can't wait 'till this one crashes in October. Good work!