FLOOD (HALO)

The 'Flood' is a fictional parasitic alien life form in the ''Halo'' video game series. They are introduced in '' as a secondary enemy to the game's protagonist, Master Chief, and return in ''Halo 2''. The Flood are driven by a desire to infest sentient life they encounter, and are depicted as such a threat that the ancient Forerunner were forced to kill themselves and all other sentient life nearly 100,000 years before the beginning of ''Halo''^[1] in an effort to starve the Flood to death.^[2]
The player's discovery of the Flood is kept suspensful and tense, and was one of the surprises reviewers noted positively upon release, Halo: Combat Evolved'' for Xbox Review Fielder, Joe although others found the Flood too derivative and a clichéd element of science fiction. Wizard Magazine rated them the 77th greatest villains of all time.^[3]

Contents

Game development

Physiology

Appearances

''Halo: Combat Evolved''

''Halo Graphic Novel''

''Halo 2''

Reception

References

External links

Game development

The Flood were added early in the game development stage of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', before the game had made its jump from the Macintosh platform and Bungie was bought by Microsoft; a design for one Flood form appeared as early as 1997.^[4] At one point, the ringworld ''Halo'' featured dinosaur-like terrestrial creatures, but due to gameplay constraints, these were dropped. An additional consideration was that Bungie felt the presence of other native species would dilute the impact and surprise of the Flood.^[5]
Commenting upon the inception of the Flood, Chris Butcher noted that "the idea behind the Flood as the forgotten peril that ended a galaxy-spanning empire is a pretty fundamental tenet of good sci-fi. Yeah, yeah, and bad sci-fi too."^[6]

Physiology

The Flood are seen to have a complicated lifecycle, using base forms of Flood which infect and mutate hosts into other forms. The largest self-contained form the Flood can produce itself, without using other biomasses,^[4] is an "Infection form", which as its name suggests homes in on hosts, attempting to drive sharp spines into the host and tap into the nervous system. This tap causes the host to be incapacitated, while the Infection form burrows into the host's body and begins mutating the host form, bringing its body under Flood control.^[8]
Depending on the size or condition of the host, the Infection form is seen to turn the host into several other forms to serve the Flood's purpose. Larger hosts are turned into "combat forms", which are described as extremely powerful, utilizing either the weapons of their hosts or developing long, whiplike tentacles. ''Halo 2: The Official Strategy Guide: The Flood]'', Piggyback, , , Piggyback Interactive Ltd., 2004, If the host is not of sufficient size, or is not useful in battle, the next stage of mutation occurs. The upper body swells and incubates new Infection forms, creating a "carrier form". When a Carrier form detects a suitable host in its proximity, it explodes, releasing the Infection forms to continue the cycle.
The Flood also create forms for tasks other than finding more food. In ''Halo'' the Flood are seen to create "Brain forms"; these spongy creatures, resembling a large bag of flesh with tentacles, can be used to interrogate victims, stripping and destroying information it draws before eventually assimilating the victim into itself. , , William, Dietz, Ballantine Books, 2003, ^[8]

Appearances

''Halo: Combat Evolved''

The Flood make their surprise appearance more than halfway through ''Halo: Combat Evolved'''s campaign, during the sixth mission "343 Guilty Spark". The Master Chief is sent on an extraction mission by Cortana to try and find Captain Jacob Keyes, who disappeared in a swamp while looking for a weapons cache.^[10]
The Master Chief finds that the Covenant have released the Flood accidentally, and the sheer numbers of the parasite overwhelmed Keyes and his squad. While most of the UNSC Marines were converted to Combat forms, Keyes is interrogated in an attempt for the Flood to learn the location of Earth. Keyes successfully resists,^[10] but is assimilated by the Flood before the Master Chief can rescue his Captain. The Flood attempt several times to leave the ring in search of food, prompting Halo's "Monitor", 343 Guilty Spark, to enlist the help of the Master Chief in activating Halo's defenses and preventing a Flood outbreak.^[12] Much of the Flood on Halo are destroyed when the Master Chief, learning of the devastation that Halo would cause if activated, detonates the ''Pillar of Autumn''s engines, destabilizing the ring and preventing the Flood from escaping.

''Halo Graphic Novel''

The 2006 one-shot ''Halo Graphic Novel'' expands upon the Flood's release on Halo in two stories. The first, ''Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor'', takes place early on in the level "343 Guilty Spark" during ''Halo: Combat Evolved''. The Flood manage to pilot a Covenant dropship off Halo, and crash-land the vessel on a Covenant agricultural ship, ''Infinite Succor''. Successfully assimilating most of the Covenant and wildlife aboard the ship, the Flood are stopped by a Covenant strike team led by Rtas 'Vadumee, who sets the ship on a course into the nearby sun.^[13]
The second story, details the escape of Sergeant Avery Johnson from the clutches of the Flood, immediately after Keyes' squad is overrun during ''Halo''. Due to a pre-existing medical condition, the Flood infection forms cannot infect Johnson- and attempt to kill him instead.^[14]

''Halo 2''

The Flood returned in ''Halo 2'', released once again^[15] on Delta Halo. The Flood on this ring are led by the Gravemind, a massive creature that dwells in the bowels of the ring. Gravemind captures both the Master Chief and the Arbiter, and sends each in different places in an effort to stop the Covenant from activating the ring.^[16] In the meantime, Gravemind infests the human ship ''In Amber Clad'', and crashes it into the Covenant space station of High Charity.^[17] Once there, the Flood sweep through the city, before Gravemind himself appears and begins questioning the A.I. Cortana.^[18]

Reception

While the surprise appearance of the Flood during ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' was seen as an important plot twist, the response to the presence of the Flood in ''Halo 2'' was lukewarm. A panel of reviewers noted that the Flood appeared for no obvious reasons, and were simply described as "aggravating" to play against. Team Freemont: Halo 2 review Team Freemont Similarly, some reviewers felt that the Flood were too derivative of other sci-fi stereotypes, and functioned as "space zombies".^[19] Lee Hammock, writer of the ''Halo Graphic Novel'' story ''The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor'', described the basis of the story as a way to showcase the true danger of the Flood as an intelligent menace, rather than something the player happens upon and shoots. Hammock also stated that the story would prove the intelligent nature of the Flood, and "hopefully euthanize the idea that they are just space zombies";^[13] this treatment was received positively by critics.^[21]

References

1. HBO interview with Staten HBO staff
2. '343 Guilty Spark:' After exhausting every other strategic option, my creators activated the rings. They, and all additional sentient life in three radii of the galactic center, died ...as planned. -
3. Top 100 Greatest Villains, , , , Wizard Magazine, 2006 )
4. The Art of Halo, , Eric, Trautmann, Del Ray Publishing, 2004,
5. One Million Years B.X. Bungie
6. Halo Chat with Developer Chris Butcher
7. The Art of Halo, , Eric, Trautmann, Del Ray Publishing, 2004,
8. , , William, Dietz, Ballantine Books, 2003,
9. , , William, Dietz, Ballantine Books, 2003,
10. , , Eric, Nylund, Ballantine Books, 2003,
11. , , Eric, Nylund, Ballantine Books, 2003,
12. '343 Guilty Spark': Greetings. I am the Monitor of installation 04. I am 343 Guilty Spark. Someone has released the Flood. My function is to prevent it from leaving this installation. But I require your assistance. Come. This way. -
13. The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor, , Lee, Hammock, Marvel Comics, 2006,
14. Breaking Quarantine, , Tsutomu, Nihei, Marvel Comics, 2006,
15. 'Truth': We are, all of us, gravely concerned. The release of the parasite was unexpected, unfortunate, but there is no need to panic. -
16. 'Gravemind': If you will not hear the truth, then I will show it to you. There is still time to stop the key from turning, but first it must be found. You will search one likely spot... / ...and you will search another. Fate had us meet as foes, but this ring will make us brothers. -
17. 'Cortana': Flood-controlled dropships are touching down all over the city. That creature beneath the Library, that "gravemind", used us. We were just a diversion; In Amber Clad was always its intended vector. -
18. 'Gravemind': Silence fills the empty grave, now that I have gone. But my mind is not at rest, for questions linger one. Now ''I'' will ask, and ''you'' will answer. -
19. Review: The Halo Graphic Novel Godinez, Victor
20. The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor, , Lee, Hammock, Marvel Comics, 2006,
21. Game Zone Pro: ''Halo Graphic Novel'' Scrofani

External links

★ Halopedia - Halo Knowledge center

★ Bungie.org Flood Archives

★ Flood Discussion @ Bungie Forums