Warning: The following editorial contains spoilers for the Halo video games and novels. Read at your own risk.

The Halo storyline is something that can be analysed from an almost infinite number of angles. Halo has connections to a wide variety of subjects, from the horrors of war to romance. However one of the most obvious parallels that can be drawn is that between Halo and religion, most notably Christianity. The following is a summary of these various parallels; I hope you enjoy.

Even the title 'Halo' itself conjures up images of angels of heaven, adorned with rings of light floating around their head, but these religious references that can be found throughout the plot often run subtle and deeper. Staying on the relatively obvious level though 'The Covenant' are also a race whose names carry biblical connotations; in the Bible the covenant originally referred to the set of agreements between the Israelites and God and later The New Covenant referred to "a bond in blood sovereignly administered by God.". The Prophets of The Covenant are also characters with blatant religious connotations. A prophet in religion is a divine messenger and despite being revealed to be false prophets, the Prophets of The Covenant were responsible for fueling the religious Covenant ideology. The Covenant revered the Forerunner as Gods, constructed their buildings like cathedrals and gave their ships religious names (e.g. Truth and Reconciliation). The Prophets also taught The Covenant of The Great Journey, a time when all followers would be taken to some kind of higher place; this bears much likeness to the Christian Day of Reckoning. The Prophets told the Covenant that the Halo rings were the key to this journey and indeed the Prophet of Truth's final words were "I shall light the rings and become a God". Many finer aspects of The Covenant and their creations have also taken on a religious style, including the Covenant vehicles which bear spiritual names, such as 'the Spectre' or 'The Ghost'.

Even the famous protagonist of the series is of religious importance; Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (to give him his full name and title). The concept of the one savoir who constantly avoids death and is the only one who can vanquish evil (The Covenant and The Flood) means that direct parallels can be drawn between him and Christ. This is further reinforced at the end of Halo 3 when like Jesus; Master Chief effectively sacrifices himself for the good of humanity and much like Jesus the Chief also did not reach his end that day but lived on. On a slightly deeper level, in Revelation 1:17-18 God is noted as saying "I am the first and the last", while Master Chief is both the first Spartan-II candidate Dr. Halsey (creator of the SPARTANs) studied and the last Spartan-II left in action at the end of the games meaning that in one way he is also "the first and the last". Master Chief also possesses a God-like level of power in the ability to destroy all living beings in the galaxy with the power of the Halo arrays. Another important thing to be noted is that John I became the 7th (7 being Bungie's favourite number) bishop of Jerusalem (the city where Jesus lived from a part of his life and was sacrificed) in 117 AD (117 of course being the Chief's Spartan tag).

The Gravemind, the 'father' of the Flood in Halo also holds some similarities to the Angel of Death or Satan. Gravemind speaks with an almost demonic, warped voice and also seems to have an almost supernatural ability to connect with peoples' minds. Upon meeting him he claims to the Arbiter, Cortana and Master Chief "I am a monument to all your sins" and when speaking to Master Chief he aims to put death in a very good light, often trying to coax him into it. It can be seen that the Gravemind's intent goes to a point where it can be called evil, trying to consume others in his own evil by turning them into flood forms (just as Satan is said to draw people into evil) and eventually goes to the sadistic lengths of trying to torturing Cortana, in an attempt to make Master Chief submit to the Flood.

Moving away from the subject of characters however, after the end of Halo 2, The Ark became a major plot point in Halo; the single place from which all Halo rings could be controlled. The Ark was created by the Forerunner as a means of protection for all beings from the Flood, the evil race trying to consume all life in the galaxy. Similarly Noah's Ark in the Bible was built to stop the creatures of the Earth from becoming extinct when God sent a great flood to wipe out all life on Earth. The Ark of the Covenant is also the name of the container for the Ten Commandments that were passed down from God to Moses and the Ark is also the container of the Torah in a Synagogue.

There are also two reversed messages hidden on the Halo 2 and 3 soundtracks which have religious significance. The first can be found during the Halo 2 song Destroyer's Invocation (the First Movement of the Mausoleum Suite). It has been very much speculated which character is supposed to be speaking in the message but it does talk of "men and angels", "forgiveness for my horrible crimes committed against God and man" and of other things along this theme. Here the religious references are very clear (although according to the composer of the soundtrack part of the currently known transcript may however still be mistranslated). Another message can be heard on the Halo 3 soundtrack during the track Black Tower and begins "I smote death's dream kingdom, appearing as sunlight on a broken column", again a cryptic but none the less religiously-based message.

Finally all serious Halo fans will be well aware of the use of the number seven throughout the series. Listing all the uses of the number would be an editorial in itself, but some of the most obvious examples of the use of this number are that there are seven Halos, Master Chief's Spartan tag is 117 and the 343 at the beginning of 343 Guilty Spark is seven cubed (7x7x7). Seven is also a number that can be found numerous times throughout the Bible. For example in the feeding of the five-thousand Jesus began with seven loaves of bread, in the book of Psalms it says the word of God is "silver...refined seven times" and in Genesis after creating the Earth on the seventh day God rested. Again these are just some examples of the use of the number

As you can see the concept of religion is something that can be found in all sorts of aspects throughout the Halo series, but these are just some of the religious and biblical references that the writers have cleverly woven into the plot. There are of course many smaller and subtler references they Bungie have dropped in to the games and novels in their own little way. I'm sure many of you have many other thoughts on the topic and I am eager to hear them. Thank you for reading and I look forward to any and all feedback.