The Halo rings are an important feature of the Halo franchise. They are not only a gorgeous setting for players to traverse, they are also integral aspects of the story. As giant weapons, the firing of which could kill millions of beings, they understandably play an important role in Halo’s narrative.
But how much does the average gamer really know about them? Created by the mysterious Forerunners, the Halo Array itself, though showcased in nearly every Halo game, is not delved into deeply. We’re here to help you lean about the large ringworld you love to explore. Read on if you want to know more about the Halo rings.
Updated August 5th 2020 by Amanda Hurych: With a potential new Halo ring to explore in Halo Infinite, fans of the Halo universe should be eager to know even more about the Array. Though nearly every Halo game has featured a ring to some degree, it’s clear the mysteries of their creation are still numerous. Before diving into Master Chief’s newest adventure, be sure to brush up on some Halo Array trivia.
15 The Range Of A Single Ring Is 25,000 Light-Years
The universe is a massive place. Not only that, but it is constantly expanding, so it is only getting bigger. That said, it might make you wonder how Forerunners planned to rid the universe of Flood using Halo rings that numbered only in the single digits. The range on these installations will surprise you. After being fired, each Halo ring has a range of 25,000 light-years. That means any sentient life-forms within that range from one of the seven rings of the Halo Array is in danger.
14 The Array Was Built Around 100 Years After The Flood Was Discovered
Upon first encountering the Flood, the Forerunners did not automatically assume they were going to lose the war against their voracious foe. It took them around 100 years to realize that their defeat was inevitable. After that time was when the Forerunners began planning the construction of the Halo rings as a last-ditch attempt to thwart the Flood’s galaxy-consuming intentions.
13 One Monitor Runs A Halo Ring
As evidenced in several Halo games, only a single Monitor oversees the operation of a Halo ring. The first Monitor players are introduced to is obviously 343 Guilty Spark. In terminals found in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, gamers discover that Guilty Spark had hesitations about this set-up. He questioned the foresight of the Forerunners in leaving Monitors without companionship during their long and lonely vigil.
12 The Entire Array Can Be Activated From Installation 00
For a weapon of such destructive potential as a Halo ring, it feels like a huge risk to have a single location where the entire Array can be activated. However, that is exactly the function Installation 00 serves to fulfill. Known as the Ark and introduced to players in Halo 3, this starfish-shaped construction that hangs in space is the one place that can initiate the wipe-out of every sentient being in the galaxy.
11 After Activation, The Halo Array Eliminates Sentient Beings
The Flood, the parasitic antagonists of the first three Halo games, can take over sentient life forms. That means that if the Halo Array wants to get rid of the Flood’s food source, it has to go after sentient beings. The key word there is “sentient.” All beings that have the ability to perceive, reason, and feel are considered sentient. What that means in practice is that the Halo rings’ Pulse has the capacity to identify sentience in living beings. This is a good thing for any smaller life forms that do not possess sentience, as the Pulse will just pass them by.
10 The Halo Pulse Targets The Nervous System
Sentience is made possible by a creature’s nervous system, so that is what a Halo ring’s Pulse targets. In essence, it overloads neurons and other similar cells in a nervous system to the point of annihilation. Just thinking about the kind of feat in engineering this is boggles the mind.
The Forerunners not only had a firm grasp on planetary-scale constructions, but they must have also had immense knowledge of the intricacies of cellular structures in order to target specific types of cells in a creature’s body.
9 Earth Fossil Records Show Evidence Of The First Firing
The Halo universe exists in a separate reality than the one we know. In the game’s narrative, the Forerunners and the Halo Array played an important role in how humans came to be on Earth. As such, while we don’t have records of Forerunner activity in our reality, Halo’s Earth does. Fossil records found on this fictionalized Earth actually mark the exact prehistoric date when the Halo Array was first fired by the Forerunners millennia ago. The suicidal Pulse that the Forerunners activated wiped them out, and evidence of the firing was left behind. Earth scientists called it the Ross-Ziegler Blip.
8 Twelve Rings Were Originally Constructed
The Forerunners’ initial plans for the Halo Array was to have twelve rings sent out into the universe in case of a massive Flood incursion. Their plans were interrupted when one of their defensive ancillas, an AI called Mendicant Bias, betrayed them. His betrayal at the Forerunner’s Greater Ark caused the destruction of nearly every Halo ring they had constructed at that point. The Forerunners had to scramble to replace the Array with rings made from the Lesser Ark (the one we see in Halo 3). Most of the rings left were replacements made after Mendicant Bias destroyed the original twelve.
7 Each Ring Has A Control Room
Anyone who has played a core Halo game knows what a Control Room is. As a matter of fact, “assaulting” that Control Room is a mission Halo fans are quite familiar with. These edifices contain massive, spherical rooms that house an individual ring’s controls. From this spot, a Halo ring can be activated once a Reclaimer has the Index in their possession, for better or worse.
6 Each Ring Draws Energy From Power Rooms
As can be surmised from the fact that Halo rings wipe out life in entire galaxies, it takes an awful lot of power to accomplish this. Thus, each Halo ring contains multiple Power Rooms that energize the ring. Players can note these rooms based on the intense light pulses that illuminate them. These spaces are so massive, a UNSC Pelican could comfortably fit and fly inside of them.
5 Shield Worlds Are Immune To A Halo Pulse
In Halo 4, we don’t spend any time on a Halo ring. Instead, players are taken to their first Forerunner Shield World, a planet hidden in Slipspace. Since they are not in real-space, when the Halo Array is activated, these planet-sized sanctuaries are effectively shielded from the Pulse’s effects. The Forerunners created these worlds in order to survive firing the Halo installations, but since we don’t see that many Forerunners around, it’s clear they were not used (as far as we know). Hopefully, Shield Worlds make a return in another Halo game.
4 The Librarian Hid Life Seeds On Halo Rings
The Halo Array was not constructed solely to be a weapon in the Forerunners’ war against the Flood. The Librarian, a Forerunner Lifeworker, planned to house what she called life-seeds on the rings.
If the Array was ever activated, wiping out all sentient life in the universe, the life-seeds could be launched out into the cosmos so that hope for new life could persist. Of all the places to keep these life-seeds, the Halo rings make for an ironic storage facility for the universe’s best hope at continuing sentience.
3 Only A Reclaimer Can Activate The Array
The fact that a “Reclaimer” is the only being that can activate a Halo installation is expressed in several Halo games. However, the reasoning behind it is not always made clear. The Forerunners, and even the Precursors who came before them, planned for humanity to inherit the Mantle of Responsibility. They were to be the ones to “reclaim” the heritage of the Forerunners. As such, when the Halo rings were built, the Forerunners crafted them so that if the Array ever needed to be fired again, only humans could set it in motion.
2 Retrievers Collect Raw Materials For Halo Environments
We don’t see any Retrievers in the Halo games. However, in the books, they are part of the hierarchy of machines left on Halo installations to care for the gigantic constructs. The Halo rings, as can be seen by any able-eyed gamer, are not solely built from metals. Rock formations, vegetation, and bodies of water comprise the inner surface of the rings. These things are constructed from raw materials that Retrievers bring. These machines are sent out into the galaxy to acquire resources, then they come back and deposit them.
1 A Halo Ring’s Gravity Is Created Through Centripetal Force
Just looking at a Halo ring from afar makes it seem delicate. It also feels a wonder how anybody could land on the ring and stay on it without falling into the cold vacuum of space. Gravity is actually maintained on the rings through centripetal force. The ring spins in space in such a way that beings and items on the interior surface are kept grounded. Since the installations are complete with an atmosphere, there is nothing to keep a human from calling it home. Well, aside from the errant Flood spore, crazy monitor, or potential alien hostiles.
