I don't know that I'd call Halo anti-fascist lol, but otherwise this a great breakdown of Tolkien's mindset while creating Middle Earth that hits the important elements without getting lost in the weeds, like trying to figure out whatever the fuck Tolkien thinks "anarcho monarchism" actually is and how, exactly, it's different, much less better, than an absolute monarchy.

[–] exocrinous@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

The core thesis of Halo is "if soldiers were allowed to do whatever they want, they'd destroy the world". Halo 1, Chief wants to fire the ring and Cortana stops him. Halo 2, Arby wants to genocide the humans and everyone says that's a bad idea and then he gets genocided. Halo 3, Hood wants to do a heroic last stand on earth and everyone says that's a bad idea. Halo ODST, stop killing huragok they're slaves. Halo Reach, stop going down in a blaze of glory and carry cortana. Halo 4, stop putting your giant phallic ship before earth. Also the whole reason for the human covenant war is that Truth lied and started a genocide to avoid admitting that humans are gods.

Every single game is about soldiers and politicians making bad decisions based on violence, hate, and pride until a scientist or a smart person stops them and explains what's actually going on.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

And then a literal Ubermensch saves the galaxy, again, mostly with violence.

I get what you mean, but I think that message might be getting lost if that was the intention. Plus all those smart people still work for space fascists in the first place.

Heck, reminding myself of the details of the UEG/UNSC I'm looking at a Reddit thread right now were some poor kid asked if they had a shadow fascist government and all the comments are assuring him no, a military junta is in fact very cool and based, so even if the writers intended that poor kid's questioning to be the goal of the Halo narrative, um, mission failed.

[–] exocrinous@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago

The Master Chief has massive psychological trauma from being a child soldier. That trauma has always been a central part of his arc, and whether the covenant's invasion justifies Halsey's actions in retrospect has always been a central question of the universe. The reason Halsey is kind of a Nazi is that she's implanted with a Geas by the librarian to follow in the footsteps of the Forerunners, and the forerunners sucked. Halo is concerned with big philosophical questions, and I like those questions, and none of the answers to those questions say fascism is okay.