The Women of Halo Cortana Keyes and the rest – Honorary Oakley

In a special Honorary Oakley to kick off 2007, we thought we’d make it all about the cool female gaming characters in the sprawling gaming universe of Halo. So, instead of covering just the one female icon, this particular Oakley will cover a few—how’s that for value? The ladies of Halo we’ll be looking at include the eponymous A.I. Cortana, Commander Miranda Keyes, Captain Carol Rawley, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, Déjà, Maria-062, Kalmiya, and the grunts (a couple of female marines “Hooyah!”).

Who knew there were so many women in Halo, especially given it’s a pretty macho affair. They’re certainly in there though, and some of them, no, ALL of them are extremely cool.

Cortana
Anyone who’s played Halo already knows Cortana, she’s the Chief’s right-hand woman, his virtual guide, his eyes and his ears. In actuality, Cortana is more closely related to one of our other female Halo characters, Dr. Catherine Halsey. Cortana is an A.I.-based construct built on the neural networks of the brilliant Dr. Halsey. Cortana has no tangible physical form, appearing as a 3D hologram, somewhat similar to a young Dr. Halsey. Cortana can take full command and control of ships, has in-depth knowledge of UNSC weapons systems, and is essentially a kick-ass character in both Halo and Halo 2. Current Halo 3 rumors seem to be suggesting that Cortana has been driven insane (the rampancy), remembering of course that Halo 2 ended with Cortana speaking to the ominous Gravemind.

Miranda
Here we have a real flesh-and-blood lady in the form of Commander Miranda Keyes. As well as being the daughter of Captain Jacob Keys (may he rest in peace) she was also Commanding officer of the UNSC FFG-142 Amber Clad military frigate. Much like Cortana, she kicks ass (in Halo 2) when she assists in the defence of New Mombasa. She also plays an integral role towards the end of Halo 2, which we can’t spoil for you here, on the off chance you haven’t played it. Suffice it to say, she’s a cool female character in her own right, despite the overshadowing figure of her father Jacob Keyes. Miranda Keyes Halo Women

Foehammer
To picture Foehammer, one must first recall Aliens—the 1986 James Cameron epic—then think about cool female drop-ship pilot Ferro, because she’s essentially the inspiration for Captain Carol ‘Foehammer’ Rawley. While players never get to actually see Foehammer they certainly get to hear her. Appearing in the original Halo, Foehammer is a Pelican transport pilot, and she’s one of the best due to her skills at combat insertion and rescue during severe hostility. Again, we don’t want to spoil things for those who have yet to experience the Halo games, but Carol ‘Foehammer’ Rawley is brave, forthright, and a great female character in Halo—one of only a couple that grace the original title.

Doctor Halsey
Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey is another female character in the Halo universe. It’s said Cortana is modeled on her in physical appearance, as well as her neural pathways. Dr. Halsey is a civilian scientist in the UNSC, creating the Spartan II Project and therefore is the woman behind the creation of Master Chief himself. Although she’s certainly a cool female character, Dr. Elizabeth Halsey is not wholly good. The Spartan project involved the kidnapping of children who were then groomed to be super soldiers. Most believe Elizabeth Halsey sees the Spartans as her own children—even in their adult form. The undesirable aspects of the Spartan project leads Elizabeth Halsey to be a rather tragic character, one filled with remorse and guilt over what she’s done. However, she still believes she’s done the right thing in sacrificing the few to save the many.

Deja, Maria & Kalmiya
These three gals appear as relatively minor but still integral female characters in Halo. Déjà’s role in the Halo universe is that of a teacher. An A.I. teacher for the Spartans, she was essentially Master Chief’s teacher in many things academic in nature. Maria-062 was involved in the Spartan II project, but left to start a family (yawn). She is best known for her testing of the famous MJOLNIR armour Mark VI—as worn by Master Chief—though this does not appear in the videogame. Kalmiya was an experiment by Dr. Halsey to see if a smart A.I. could handle large amounts of crytographic (code-breaking) abilities. She is destroyed when UNSC protocol calls for a self-destruct sequence on the ONI castle base.
Grunts

There’s nothing quite like the voice acting in the Halo games; there are accents galore and it all feels more ‘real’ due to this. There are also a couple of female marines in Halo 2, one most notably voiced by Michelle Rodriguez of LOST fame (Ana Lucia). It may seem like no big deal to the male gamer out there, but for the female Halo fan, it’s great when you first hear female marines calling out when engrossed in action—it makes you feel more involved in the gameplay. Given Halo is set in a fantasy universe, there’s no reason why there wouldn’t be female super soldiers during combat. Hopefully Bungie will keep this in mind for Halo 3.

“Hooyah!!”
The ladies of Thumb Bandits still hold out hope that when the Master Chief eventually removes that helmet she’ll have piercing eyes, short hair, and look more like Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace than Vin ‘XXX’ Diesel—Ah, well we can but dream. Metroid Prime’s Samus pulls off the ‘hero’ role effortlessly, and let’s not forget she’s got a boy’s name too; Princess Leia also did it in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, so why not John in Halo? Okay, so that’s probably never going to happen, so we’ll just have to console ourselves with the female characters in Halo that we’ve covered here, most of who are integral to the overall plot. We hope you’ve enjoyed this New Year edition of the Honorary Oakley and it’s put you in the mood for some Halo….Hooyah!

Ladies of Halo We Salute You!

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