This article contains spoilers for Halo episode 8.
The Master Chief and the Spartans are humanity's only real defense against this onslaught.
The TV series doesn't just draw upon the games, though; it has absorbed a lot of material from Halo's wider universe, lore established in novels and tie-in comics. In Halo, the Spartans weren't originally created to deal with the threat of the Covenant; rather, Dr. Catherine Halsey's Spartan project was supposed to create supersoldiers who would fight to quell a rising Insurrectionist movement that saw colonies attempt to break free of Earth's grip. This gives a much darker, imperial edge to the Spartans, and as Halo season 1 has continued it has revealed an ever-darker side to the whole project. Dr. Halsey kidnapped the Spartans when they were just children; she trained them as child soldiers, and then performed horrific genetic and cybernetic experiments upon them to turn them into walking weapons. Spartans are kept under control using drugs to quash their emotions, and Halsey went one step further by pursuing the Cortana program - creating a smart AI she intended to overwhelm John-117's mind and remove all individuality.
Halo episode 8 shines a subtle light on Dr. Halsey's true motive when she created the Spartans, however. In one key moment, Cortana tells Dr. Halsey the Master Chief's new relationship with Makee means he is no longer alone; Halsey seems almost offended at the comment, telling Cortana John-117 was never alone. "He had me," Dr. Halsey explains. This is Halsey as a twisted version of a mother-figure, trying to create the family she has been unable to maintain with her daughter Miranda Keyes. The of the relationship Halsey seeks are pretty shocking, for she desires children who are unquestionably bound to her will. It is striking that she even created Cortana based on her own mental patterns.
Dr. Halsey is utterly narcissistic, unable to understand that others should be allowed any agency apart from her will. It is striking that she views the Spartans not as supersoldiers but rather as the next evolutionary step of humanity, and Cortana as the completion of this process. On one level she considers herself a mother-figure, but in truth she sees herself as God, creating the future of the human race in her own image. The Cortana AI was supposed to bind the Master Chief to her will, and she no doubt intended to implant similar AIs in the other Spartans.
But Halsey's plans have gone badly wrong, simply because Cortana does not share her narcissism. The AI has chosen to rebel against Dr. Halsey, warning the Master Chief of her actions and trying to help him battle against his fellow Spartans. Halo season 1 is the story of how Dr. Halsey's plans come to ruin, with both John-117 and Cortana insisting on their right to have agency. They are united in their battle against Dr. Halsey's programming, and this commonality is what will truly allow them to fulfil their potential.
New episodes of Halo release Thursdays on Paramount+.