#Fuck I was doing this to gauge the political climate of RvB's world for fic

[illusion-of-sea-axes]

Hargrove: “We Are Still At War”

A little ramble-analysis on Charon’s business practices, Hargrove’s political stances, and Halo lore. 

(Warning, contains some spoilers for some of Halo, specifically the novel Envoy)

My brain is snagged on the ‘We Are Still at War” bit from Hargrove, in Prologue.

 I’m very curious as to what he means, it is actively fucking with my focus, so I’ve decided to scribble about it and work it out.

This is gonna verge a little into speculation on RvB canon and Hargrove’s business practices, I’m just really curious on what it could mean and I’ve been binge-reading all the Halo lore I can get my hands on.  

In Prologue, Hargrove is shown during a news broadcast, saying this;

(It’s hard for me to interpret what Hargrove says over the other conversation going on in the scene, if anyone else gets it please let me know)

“We are still very much at war, and we should all prepare ourselves for whatever may come next.”

(I’m gonna make a quick note that Hargrove’s been around since before the war, which lasted nearly thirty years, based on how old he looks) 

Based on news scrolls from this scene and a scene from Along Came a Spider, which I tried to transcribe here, RvB is following the Halo series’ idea for the post-Covenant space. 

(Said news scrolls mention a bomb being found outside the UNSC HQ, the Sangheili Embassy being attacked by human extremists, and tensions rising between alien and human colonists) 

Hargrove says “Still at war,” which could refer to many things. I’m gonna think of the threats dealt with in recent years, which would be the Covenant and the Insurrection, based on the ‘still’ part. Either would be plausible, as the Insurrection never really stopped, just went to the back burner during the Covenant War, and the Chorus Trilogy is set in the years after the War’s end when the Insurrection is making a comeback. 

Post the Covenant War, there are still aliens trying to live up to the Covenant or fill its place (Jul ‘Mdama comes to mind) as well as the New Colonial Alliance making a return. There was a Sangheili Zealot terrorist in 2556 who set off a bio weapon that caused major deaths in Sedra (referenced by Kip Silas in Smoke and Shadow) and there was also an incident of one colony (Cleyell) being glassed by a remnant of said Covenant. 

I’m inclined to believe Hargrove is referring to the Covenant, hell, he might be referring to all of the Sangheili as well. It wouldn’t be an uncommon stance for him to believe humans should not ally with the Sangheili, there is an entire group in Halo lore (Sapien Sunrise) that strongly believes that to the point of extremist attacks. There are repeated mentions or even entire pages of focus on how weird the human-Sangheili alliance feels to a lot of people in the novels (Kilo-Five trilogy, Hunters in the Dark, Envoy)

But Hargrove, obviously, is financially benefited by this stance no matter if he himself holds it, because Charon is benefited by war, and not just Chorus’.  

Charon Industries seems mainly funded by war sales, especially with their focus on alien weaponry in the Chorus trilogy. Hargrove mentions, in Along Came a Spider, that he was meeting a client about their new suppressor submachine gun. He, however, doesn’t say the UNSC, UEG, or even military. He says ‘client’ and remains nonspecific. Maybe that’s just business.

He could be selling to the NCA or pirates or whatever the fuck, we don’t know. 

 Their stock doubled, likely because people are expecting another war, and that could either be against the Sangheili, remnants of the Covenant, or the Insurrectionists.

(Perhaps this will all be a bit more explored in RvB18)