This article contains spoilers for Halo episode 4.
The Halo TV series finally gives a reason for the Sacred Rings’ name – a much more effective one than the games. In 2001, gamers were introduced to the world of Halo: Combat Evolved – and to the first Halo Ring. Revered by the alien Covenant as the “Sacred Rings,” these ancient artifacts were created by a race known as the Forerunners millennia ago. Each Halo Ring is designed to sterilize a portion of the galaxy, a desperate attempt to defeat a parasitic race known as the Flood.
The first season of Paramount+’s Halo TV series is clearly serving as something of an extended introduction to the show. It’s mainly focused on character-building and world-building, while the narrative gradually builds towards the discovery of the first Halo Ring. Episode 1 saw John-117, the Master Chief, discover a Forerunner artifact known as the Keystone, that seems to be designed to point towards a Halo Ring. In Halo episode 4, scientist Miranda Keyes – daughter of the UNSC’s most controversial scientist, Dr. Catherine Halsey – managed to translate the Covenant’s comments about images generated by the Keystone when the Master Chief touched it.
The scene also finally explained why these are known as “Halo” Rings. The holographic image Keyes studied showed the artifact projecting the Ring at its center, with the Ring surrounding it like a halo. It makes sense that humanity would lack an equivalent word for the Covenant’s descriptor of the “Sacred Ring,” because there’s nothing in recorded human experience to correspond with the Halo Rings.
In truth, this is a better justification than the Halo games themselves, where the Halo Rings were initially named simply because they are circular in nature. The scene in which Keyes successfully identified the Halo Rings was accompanied by a pleasing musical homage to Halo: Combat Evolved, with a portion of the classic soundtrack integrated into it. Clearly, Miranda Keyes’ name for the Sacred Rings will catch on.
Halo season 1 is all about the journey to Halo. Four episodes in, the UNSC finally know what the Covenant is seeking – even if they have no idea what the Halo Rings can do. It’s reasonable to assume the story will build to a climax around the discovery of a Ring’s location, most likely accompanied by the Fall of Reach. If so, that will set up Halo season 2 to truly explore the majesty and terror of the Sacred Rings.
