Origins

Origins is one of the seven short films comprising the anime adaptation of the Halo universe, Halo Legends. Origins is an expansive history of the 100,000 year long franchise timeline, comprised of two parts. The story is told through the eyes of Cortana and the episode begins after the events of Halo 3.

Part 1
As Cortana watches over John-117, currently in cryo hibernation, she begins to experience the effects of rampancy, unable to key together who she is with the massive input of information in her databanks. She then begins recounting the history of the galaxy.

Over 100,000 years ago, there was once a great civilization called the Forerunners. However, their empire was invaded by a parasite called the Flood. Initially, the Forerunners treated the Flood as an infestation, until it was too late. The more Forerunners assimilated by the Flood, the more intelligent the Flood became. Soon, open war was on the rise. The Forerunners were confident that their valor and technology would stop the Flood. Unfortunately, the parasite had spread too far across their empire. On the verge of defeat, the Forerunners made one last ditch attempt to eradicate the Flood from the galaxy. They constructed the seven Halo rings and used The Ark to send the rings to different parts in the galaxy. The seven rings would destroy all sentient life and Flood biomass. Once the rings were in place, the effects of the rings cleansed the galaxy of all life, including Flood, in an instant.

With their enemy defeated, the Forerunners then began to repopulate the galaxy with various alien lifeforms that had been indexed, storing DNA samples, embryos and live specimens. These lifeforms were then returned to their home planets.

Part 2
The humans, still fresh from their encounter with the Forerunners, continue on with their civilizations. Inevitably though, much to Cortana's dismay, they fight amongst themselves. Various moments in Humanity's history, such as the invention of penicilin, the invention of dynamite, the bombing of Hiroshima, and the launch of Sputnik and the International Space Station are shown briefly.

Things are all changed when Dr. Wallace Fukijiwa and Dr. Tobias Fleming Shaw invent the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, allowing Humanity to move across star systems. Colony ships, such as those of the Phoenix-class, are sent throughout the Orion arm of the Milky Way, settling on suitable planets. Even after finding new worlds to satisfy their greed with however, Insurrection ensues, forcing mankind to once more fight among themselves.

In 2525 though, Humanity is unified against a single threat, for the first time in their history. The Covenant stumble upon UNSC controlled space, and proceed to lay waste to it. Humanity was outnumbered and outmatched in terms of technology and for decades, the Covenant slowly laid waste to its colonies.

As the war is about end, the dangerous Flood reemerged, determined to spread once again. After the Great Schism, Humanity and the Covenant Separatists then worked together against two common foes, which would soon lead to peace between both sides.

The final scene shows Cortana attempting to make physical contact with John-117, before her eyes turn red with the Iris symbol, implying her descent into rampancy.

Characters

 * 032 Mendicant Bias
 * Avery Junior Johnson
 * Cortana
 * Didact
 * Gravemind
 * John-117
 * Miranda Keyes
 * Prophet of Truth
 * Terrence Hood
 * Thel 'Vadam
 * Tobias Fleming Shaw
 * Wallace Fujikawa
 * 343 Guilty Spark

Species

 * Forerunner
 * Flood
 * Human
 * Huragok
 * Jiralhanae
 * Kig-yar
 * Mgalekgolo
 * Sangheili
 * San 'Shyuum
 * Unggoy
 * Yanme'e

Vehicles

 * Assault Carrier
 * C709 Longsword-class Interceptor
 * CCS-class Battlecruiser
 * Covenant Destroyer
 * Dropship-77 Heavy Troop Carrier/Infantry Pelican
 * Halcyon-class Cruiser
 * Keyship
 * Forerunner Dreadnought
 * Orbital Defense Platform
 * Odyssey
 * Phoenix-class Colony Ship
 * Type-25 Troop Carrier
 * Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform
 * Type-52 Troop Carrier
 * Unnamed Forerunner Starship
 * UNSC Frigate
 * UNSC Frigate

Weapons

 * MA5B ICWS Assault Rifle
 * MA5K
 * Unidentified Forerunner Weapon
 * Rocket Launcher

Other

 * Combat Skin
 * Strato-Sentinel
 * Sentinel
 * Guardian Sentinel
 * Super Sentinel
 * Unidentified Sentinel Variant

Locations

 * Arcadia
 * Balaho
 * Doisac
 * Earth
 * Republic of Kenya
 * The Artifact
 * United Republic of North America
 * New York City
 * United Nations Headquarters
 * Eayn
 * Halo Array
 * Harvest
 * High Charity
 * Council Chamber
 * Installation 00
 * Reach
 * Sanghelios
 * Threshold
 * Unidentified Forerunner Planet

Organizations

 * Covenant Empire
 * Covenant Army
 * Covenant Navy
 * Fleet of Particular Justice
 * High Charity Defense Fleet
 * Flood
 * Forerunner
 * Forerunner Navy
 * Forerunner Fleet Command
 * Insurrectionists
 * United Nations Space Command
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * UNSC Navy
 * United Nations
 * Sparta

Events

 * Forerunner-Flood War
 * World War II
 * Insurrection
 * Human-Covenant War
 * Harvest Campaign
 * Battle of Reach
 * First Battle of High Charity
 * Battle of Earth
 * Battle of Voi
 * Battle of Installation 00

Trivia

 * Origins is the first event in the Halo franchise to actually depict the Forerunner species figure, though they were wearing Combat Skin and their true features were never shown.
 * Origins is the first event to depict life on the home planets of the Unggoy, Jiralhanae, and Kig-yar.
 * At one point in the animation, during the section showing the Flood being wiped out by the Halo effect, a large Flood form is shown, on the Forerunner planet, attached to the top of the unused tiered structure design for New Mombasa first shown in the Halo 2 E3 Demo.