The Halo franchise originated with the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo 's characters have received varying reception, with characters such as the Chief, Cortana, and the Arbiter being well received by critics. Other merchandise produced includes several sets of action figures. The Master Chief, the most visible symbol of the series, has been heavily marketed, with the character's visage appearing on soda bottles, T-shirts, and Xbox controllers. Halo 's commercial and critical success has led to large amounts of merchandise featuring the franchise's characters to be produced. Subsequent games offered opportunities to refine the character's appearances and design. Characters were also updated to take full advantage of new graphics technologies for instance, the Master Chief's armor was redesigned in a lengthy conceptual process and the final model was bump mapped. The first Halo game's development brought numerous evolutions and revisions to the character's designs and personalities. The artifacts left behind by an ancient race known as the Forerunner play a central role-particularly the ringworlds known as Halos, built to contain the threat of the parasitic Flood.īungie founder Jason Jones noted that bringing together the elements of a video game is unmistakably 'art', but character designers and artists had to make a 'living, breathing world' and populate it with interesting characters and places. The original trilogy's central story revolved around conflict between humanity under the auspices of the United Nations Space Command or UNSC, and an alien alliance known as the Covenant. Major recurring characters of the Halo multimedia franchise are organized below by their respective affiliations within the series' fictional universe. ( March 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.

Journey to Hart's Halo by Lou Hood