The official Halo Twitter account has made a post wherein CTN 0453-0, the UNSC AI, whom the players have named ‘the Weapon’ in Halo Infinite, informed that she has chosen the name Joyeuse. The post was accompanied by the hashtag #FictionFriday giving an implication that it is a lore and it is a continuation of the Zeta Halo events after the eradication of Escharum and the Harbinger. The AI as a tool is quitting and embracing the new path with her new name.
What is the fuss regarding the name? For the players who have been keeping up with the story, this is a very significant character moment. The Weapon was a clone of Cortana who had the opportunity to eliminate the latter after she turned evil with the Created. For the entire duration of Halo Infinite, she was a very upbeat, curious, and congenial AI that was always assisting Master Chief and her taking a name signals that she is maturing into her own not merely a clone or a weapon. After the entire torturous Cortana debacle, it is the start of self-assertion.
On the other hand, a vast reaction from the players was quite spirited and here is the twist – this major character development was not even initially in the game! No, it was in a tweet for a #FictionFriday post. And the Halo community, they had some thoughts.
Players’ responses were to put it mildly…mixed. A number of comments expressed disappointment that this had not been offered to them as a gaming experience outright. One user Calico tweeted “Would have been GREAT to see this in-game instead of a fucking BOOK RAHHH,” which indeed, conveys the frustration quite well. Another gamer Dorkster just said “Wish this choice was revealed in a game…” It is a popular feeling that crops up frequently. When you spend hours upon hours roaming a campaign with a character, their biggest traits or moments are expected to happen in the campaign and not in a social media post or a book that you may not read. It makes the plot feel peeling like you have to do some outside the game homework to get the whole picture.
There is also a group of players who are simply…done. Some responses were just negative comments like the user who said, “Halo going out sad with all this low effort bs” or just a short “You guys suck.” It is apparent that a portion of the fandom is rather displeased with the direction of the franchise in terms of narrative. A gamer by the name ArcticFire even said, “Nobody likes ‘the weapon’ or ‘joyeuse’ whatever nonsense you want to call her. Bring back Cortana!” This is indeed a suggestion that there is still a faction that is attached to the past and is not willing to accept the new AI no matter what her name is.
The name Joyeuse itself also stirred some reactions. It is a French name and one user, The Autistic Gandalf, thought it necessary to inform, “And please, ‘muricans, pronounce it correctly, it’s a french word.” Thus, a little phonetics lesson can be found amid the uproar. In a different comment, another user DodsCR wrote in Portuguese, “Nome feio do carai kkkkkk,” which means in English “Such an ugly name, lol.” So, the choice is not popular with everyone. Most people know that Joyeuse was the name of Charlemagne’s sword, which can be considered a nice, appropriate reference for a character that is linked to a fierce warrior like Master Chief, but perhaps it does not appeal to all.
Instead of becoming the primary source of confusion and chaos, there were a few clarifications and deeper lore discussions. A user going by the name Nighterlev was replying to others’ posts constantly confirming that the reveal actually first took place on a Halo Championship Series community stream not just randomly on Twitter. He also shot down some speculation, like an instance when another user asked if the Weapon had asked to be called Cortana at the end of the game, to which Nighterlev replied, “No. Never happened.” So the community is trying to piece the canon together.
There was even some speculation about future villains with users discussing the fates of characters such as Jega ‘Rdomnai and the possibility of a new major villain, Severan, the son of Tartarus in upcoming books. It indicates that many are mad about how the story is being told but the hardcore lore lovers are still deeply invested in the what. It is a peculiar situation for 343 Industries. On the one hand, they want to broaden the universe and give a new favorite character a defining moment. On the other hand, people who would prefer to play Halo rather than follow a trans story arc feel that giving the moment through a tweet rather than a game cutscene or a DLC mission.
