Editing Halo: The Flood

{{Title|''Halo: The Flood''}}

{{disambig header|the novel|other uses|Flood (disambiguation)}}

{{Novel infobox

|author=[[William C. Dietz]]

|ISBN=[[Special:BookSources/0345459210|0345459210]], [[Special:BookSources/978-0345459213|978-0345459213]], [[Special:BookSources/978-1982111632|978-1982111632]]

}}

'''Halo: The Flood''' is the novelization of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' written by [[William C. Dietz]] following the events of the book ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''. This novel attained the ''Publisher's Weekly'' bestsellers list during May 2003.<ref name=gamingage>[http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2003/5/2-15 '''Gaming Age''': ''Halo novel cracks bestseller'']</ref>

The novel, along with ''The Fall of Reach'' and ''[[Halo: First Strike|First Strike]]'', was reissued in [[2010]] by [[Tor Books]], with the new version including some content updates.<ref>[http://kotaku.com/5543023/halo-novel-trilogy-to-be-republished-with-updates-new-content '''Kotaku''': ''Halo Novel Trilogy to be Republished with Updates, New Content'']</ref>

{{Article quote|Reach has fallen.

Engaged in a fierce ground battle, Master Chief and Cortana go deep into the Halo Construct to uncover a dark secret; this enigmatic ring world is also the universe’s most dangerous weapon. Its purpose: the destruction of all sentient life. For the Forerunners built the Halo to battle the universe’s most vicious enemy—a virtually unstoppable and suddenly reawakened force known as The Flood.}}

==Plot synopsis==

===Sections I to III===

''Halo: The Flood'' takes place between September 19 and September 22, [[2552]]. It is based on the game ''Halo: Combat Evolved''. It begins as the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] cruiser ''[[UNSC Pillar of Autumn|Pillar of Autumn]]'' is exiting [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] (on a randomized vector due to the [[Cole Protocol]]) after retreating from the fallen military base at [[Reach]]. The [[Smart AI|AI]] [[Cortana]]'s exit vector leads the ship to a system discovered when she decrypted Forerunner glyphs found by the [[John-117|Master Chief]] on [[Sigma Octanus IV]]. When the ''Pillar of Autumn'' drops out of slipspace, her crew encounters a massive ring-world in orbit around [[Threshold]], a gas giant. This ring-world is called [[Installation 04]], also known as Alpha Halo.

The Master Chief and a squad of Marines board the ''Truth and Reconciliation'', rescuing the Captain. Keyes has learned that the ring-world they are on has vast significance to the Covenant (who believe that "Halo", as they call the ring, is a weapon of unimaginable power). Escaping from the Covenant cruiser, Keyes gives the Master Chief the mission of finding Halo's control room before the Covenant does. In the meantime, Zuka ’Zamamee and Yayap are given permission to hunt for the Master Chief but fail in their attempts. Meanwhile, Lieutenant McKay and her company assault the now Covenant-controlled ''Pillar of Autumn'' for supplies and vehicles.

===Sections IV and V===

==Appearances==

{{Featurelist|secondcolumn=title-5|title-1=Characters|

;Human

*[[John-117]]

*[[Wallace Jenkins]]

*[[William Lovell]]

*[[Samuel Marcus]]

*[[Carol Rawley]]

*[[Prophet of Stewardship]]

|title-2=Species|

*[[Flood]]

*[[Sangheili]]

*[[Unggoy]]

|title-3=Organizations|

*[[Covenant]]

**[[Covenant military]]

***[[Security Team 3]] {{1st}}

**[[Special Warfare Group]]

***[[Covenant Special Operations]]

****[[UNSC Marine Corps]]

*****[[Fire Team Charlie]]

*****[[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]

******[[105th Shock Troops Division]]

******[[SPARTAN-II program]]

*****[[Office of Naval Intelligence]]

|title-4=Locations|

|title-5=Events|

*[[Human-Covenant War]]

**[[Fall of Reach]] {{Mo}}

**[[Battle of Installation 04]]

***[[Battle of the Silent Cartographer]]

|title-6=Vehicles|

|title-7=Weapons|

*[[Archer missile]]

*[[Combat knife]]

*[[M19 surface-to-surface missile]]

*[[M41 rocket launcher]]

*[[M9 fragmentation grenade]]

*[[M90 shotgun]]

*[[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]]

*[[Point-defense gun]]

**[[M910 point defense network]] {{1st}}

*[[Type-1 energy sword]]

*[[Type-25 plasma pistol]]

*[[Type-33 Needler]]

|title-8= Equipment and Technology|

*[[Active camouflage]]

*[[Armored matrix]] {{1st}}

*[[Artificial intelligence]]

**[[Avatar]]

**[[Smart AI]]

*[[Biofoam]]

*[[CH252 helmet]]

*[[Command neural interface]]

*[[Cryo chamber]]

*[[Data crystal chip]]

*[[Energy shielding]]

*[[Energy shield test station]]

*[[Fusion drive]]

*[[Fusion reactor]]

*[[Helmet recorder]]

*[[Holotank]]

*[[M4 field disk]]

*[[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor]]

*[[Navigation point]]

*[[ODST armor]]

*[[Riemann matrix]]

*[[Rucksack]]

*[[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]]

*[[Spartan neural interface]]

*[[Spoofer]]

*[[VZG7 armored boots]]

*[[Weapon attachments]]

**[[Muzzle brake]]

**[[Telescopic sight]]

}}

*A private status report by 343 Guilty Spark after the outbreak of the Flood on Alpha Halo.

*A status report filed by the [[Librarian]] on the progress of her categorization of life on [[Earth]], presented as a [[Terminal]] transcript.

==Production==

[[William C. Dietz]] was originally reluctant to accept this work because of two main reasons. First, he had no prior knowledge of ''Halo''. Second, [[Bungie]] and [[:Wikipedia:Random House|Random House]] (the parent company of [[Del Rey Books]]) gave him only ten weeks to write the novel, while Dietz would usually take six months to write a book. He nevertheless changed his mind after checking ''Halo'''s popularity at his local videogame store, and after his agent negotiated a good pay because of the counterproductive delay. He was also confident in this kind of work, as he had already written the [[starwars:Dark Forces (novellas)|Dark Forces trilogy]] for ''Star Wars''.<ref name="Hfr">'''[[Halo.fr]]''': [https://www.halo.fr/news/11104/interview-exclusive-william-c-dietz/ ''(Interview Exclusive) William C. Dietz''] (French)</ref>

==Reception==

*On the original cover, the Banshees flying overhead have their covers up, meaning they have no pilots. The same is true of the cover of ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.

*The original finalized cover is remarkably similar to that of iD Software's ''[[wikipedia:Doom (video game)|Doom]]''. Both depict the main character gunning down hordes of enemies against a reddish background.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doom-boxart.jpg '''Wikipedia''': ''Doom box artwork'']</ref>

*The 2010 reissue cover depicts what is meant to be the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V|MJOLNIR Mark V]] armor, although it does not follow any established iteration of the Mark V, instead being a mix of features from the various depictions of [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV|MJOLNIR Mark IV]], Mark V and [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark VI|Mark VI]]. He is also dual-wielding M7 submachine guns. Neither the M7 nor dual-wielding appear in the game or the novel.

*As the novel was written before many of the Covenant's beliefs were further detailed in ''[[Halo 2]]'', it bears several discrepancies with later material. For example, the Covenant show no particular reverence toward [[343 Guilty Spark]] and the [[Aggressor Sentinel|Sentinels]], and regard them as enemies;<ref>'''Halo: The Flood''', ''page 319'' (2003 edition)</ref> ''Halo 2'' later established that the Sentinels are revered by the Covenant as "holy warriors of the sacred rings" while monitors are among the holiest of Forerunner creations as "Oracles".<ref>'''Halo 2''', campaign levels ''[[The Arbiter]]'' and ''[[The Oracle]]''</ref> In addition, John-117 or the other Spartans are never referred to by the epithet "Demon" and are discussed with more pragmatic terms by the Covenant, although their battlefield prowess and high kill counts are acknowledged. However, the later-established nomenclature is used in the ''Adjunct'' section of the 2010 edition, such as 'Zamamee's journal entries.

==Gallery==

<gallery>

File:TF_2010.png|2010 cover art of the novel.

File:TheFlood Invasion.jpg|2010 edition art for Part I - Invasion.

File:TheFlood Grasp.jpg|2010 edition art for Part II - Grasp.

File:TheFlood_Eradication.jpg|2010 edition art for Part III - Eradication.

File:TheFlood Engulfed.jpg|2010 edition art for Part IV - Engulfed.

File:TheFlood Aftermath.jpg|2010 edition art for Part VI - Aftermath.

</gallery>

==Sources==

*[[List of rectified inconsistencies in the Halo series#Halo: The Flood|List of changes in Halo novel reprints]]

[[Category:Novels|Flood]]

[[Category:Canon|Flood]]