Another great website that almost rivals Engrish...

My favorite is rule #2.

- Halo 3 and the Bible -

So I beat Halo 3, the supposed end to the series, and I was very dissatisfied with the ending, even after seeing the hidden Legendary Mode ending. So I looked it up online and found this HUGE backstory that left me a little more fulfilled. The strange thing I noticed as I read was the parallels with Christianity, or at least references to it.

The Halo Universe's story in a brief synopsis:

10,000BC - The Forerunners had colonized the entire Milky Way galaxy and categorized and protected all life they found
9,800BC - The Forerunners came into contact with, and began to battle, the Flood, a small army of parasites that came from outside the galaxy.
9,500BC - The Forerunners, realizing that there was no way to defeat the Flood but to destroy all life in the galaxy, built the Halo Array (7 ring worlds positioned throughout the galaxy that would trigger the extermination of all sentient life), and the Ark (a haven far outside the Milky Way where every sentient being in the galaxy would be preserved in case of the necessary firing of the Halos).
9,500BC - The Librarian (an explorer who tried to find and save all sentient life in the galaxy) discovered Humans on Earth and managed to send some to the Ark before the Halo Array was activated.
9,000BC - The Forerunners, having starved the Flood to death (some were kept in stasis on the Halos and other observation facilities), began to repopulate the worlds of the galaxy with the sentient beings kept safe on the Ark. The Forerunners then left the galaxy, leaving Humanity as the "Reclaimers" who could re-activate the Halo Array if the need every arose again.
2550AD - The first Halo game begins.

Basically, I realized the story is attempting to rationalize (through Science Fiction) the Biblical story of Noah.

Where:
Forerunners = God/Angels/Deity of some sort
Librarian = Noah
Flood = The Flood (clever..)
Ark = Noah's Ark
Halo Array = Rainbow (think about the significance - promise not to destory the world again by a flood, and the theme throughout the Halo games of trying to stop the Halos from being activated)

Some other interesting stuff I found about 7 (holy/perfect number according to the Bible):
-There are 7 Halos
-There are 7 colors in the rainbow (Human visual capability, anyways - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet)
-The monitor of each Halo is a number 7^n + a random name (343 Guilty Spark of Installation 04 = 7x7x7) so that the monitors are all numbered:

01 = 1 "unknown"
02 = 7 "unknown"
03 = 49 "unknown"
04 = 343 Guilty Spark
05 = 2401 Penitent Tangent
06 = 16807 "unknown"
07 = 117649 "unknown"

I've been spending way too much time reading this crap, but it's very interesting.

More at: http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

"24"

Twenty-four oceans
Twenty-four skies
Twenty-four failures
Twenty-four tries
Twenty-four finds me
In twenty-fourth place
With twenty-four drop-outs
At the end of the day
Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty-four hours ago

Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And I'm not who I thought I was twenty-four hours ago
Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You

There's twenty-four reasons to admit that I'm wrong
With all my excuses still twenty-four strong

See I'm not copping out, not copping out, not copping out
When You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh, I am the second man
Oh, oh, I am the second man now
Oh, oh, I am the second man now

And You're raising these twenty-four voices
With twenty-four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty-four parts
But I want to be one today
Centered and true

I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh, I am the second man
Oh, oh, I am the second man now
Oh, oh, I am the second man now
And You're raising the dead in me

I want to see miracles, see the world change
Wrestle an angel, for more than a name
For more than a feeling
For more than a cause
I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And You're raising the dead in me

                                                  -Switchfoot

Surprisingly Christian-esque lyrics from Linkin Park's new CD: Minutes to Midnight. I like.

What I've Done


In this farewell
There is no blood
There is no alibi
Cause I've drawn regret
From the truth
Of a thousands lies
So let mercy come and wash away...

(Chorus)
What I've Done
I'll face myself
To cross out what I've become
Erase myself
And let go of what I've done...

Put to rest
What you thought of me
While I clean this slate
With the hands
Of uncertainty
So let mercy come
And wash away...

(Chorus)

For what I've done
I start again
And whatever pain may come
Today this ends
I'm forgiving what I've done...