Canon Policy

This page details Project Daybreak ' s stance on canon.

Most importantly, as a fan work, Project Daybreak or its authors have no authority to dictate Halo canon in any official sense. Even within the confines of the Daybreak project, it is impossible to enforce an inviolable and all-encompassing canonical standard given the variety in individual interpretations and the ever-evolving state of the project. We can only agree on what is considered definitive at any given time, and the reader can choose to either accept or reject that interpretation. Ultimately, the project leads ( and ) have final creative control, and reserve the right to dictate what is regarded as canon within the project's scope. In practice, however, we try to avoid overly draconian interference by staying on the same page with contributors through discussion and mutual understanding, as well as trusting said contributors to familiarize themselves with Daybreak's version of the universe.

Halo media canon tiers
The following list details the canon status of official Halo media within Daybreak's universe. As a general rule, most (albeit not all) Halo media to come out before 2010 is considered canon (notable exceptions include i love bees and Halo: Uprising).

The list is divided into three tiers, in descending order of canonical priority:
 * Daybreak Canon
 * Broad Strokes Canon
 * Apocrypha

Media falling outside any of the three tiers is regarded as non-canon and ignored.

Daybreak Canon
These works can be assumed to hold accurate for the most part, with only minute changes in details; exceptions are generally noted.


 * Games
 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo 2
 * Halo 3
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo Wars (excepting some details and gameplay mechanics, e.g. shields on MJOLNIR in 2531 would not be a thing)


 * Novels
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach (with some fluidity in regards to contradictory dates and early installment weirdness, e.g. appearances of the Sangheili throughout the war, human artificial gravity, or some bits of MJOLNIR development. It's an establishing work, but it's also an early work, on top of being a full-length novel written in seven weeks, and some adjustment where necessary is to be expected.)
 * Halo: The Flood (with some fluidity applied to early installment weirdness)
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (with some changes to contradictory dates and other minute details)
 * Halo: Contact Harvest (apart from some details, e.g. the Jiralhanae backstory, Harvest's location and population, and the "17 colonies" number is ignored)
 * Halo: Evolutions (the following stories:)
 * Dirt
 * From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal
 * Headhunters (with some broad strokes applied to the Headhunters' backstory and equipment)
 * Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian
 * Pariah
 * Soma the Painter
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
 * The Mona Lisa
 * The Return
 * Halo: Silent Storm (with minor differences)
 * Halo: Oblivion (same deal as Silent Storm)


 * Miscellaneous/Other
 * Halo Graphic Novel
 * Iris
 * Halo Wars: Genesis
 * Halo: Reach data pads (with the caveat of unreliable narration; still, the Assembly exists in Daybreak's setting)
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal (except for select entries pertaining to the events of Halo: Reach)

Broad Strokes Canon
Material that strongly informs Daybreak's version of the setting and story, but is not fixed in its canonicity. In some cases of narrative fiction, the general outline of events can be assumed to have happened, with those characters in the locations depicted and around the same time unless otherwise noted, but some details and circumstances may vary.


 * Halo: Landfall: with the notable difference that it would be set at night
 * Halo: The Cole Protocol: the events, locations and characters can be assumed to still apply, but the Sangheili culture stuff in particular should be taken with a grain of salt
 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn: excepting the "present-day"/2557-era segments, and the visual appearance of the Spartans' armor
 * Halo: Envoy: the general events (i.e. the situation on Carrow and Gray Team) would have happened, though the Sharquoi bits in particular might differ.
 * Halo: Fractures (the following stories:)
 * Breaking Strain
 * A Necessary Truth
 * Oasis
 * Anarosa
 * Halo: Fleet Battles reference material (for the most part)
 * Halo: Evolutions
 * Palace Hotel (the locations and characters are canon, but the version of events in Halo 2 should be taken as definitive)
 * Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss (the general events did happen and those characters did exist, but on Tribute as Beta Gabriel is changed into a non-terrestrial world; and ONI never infiltrated High Charity)

Apocrypha
A tier below Broad Strokes, Apocrypha occupies a limbo between non-canon in that it doesn't fit either of the above categories, but can nonetheless serve as a source of inspiration and influence for some bits of worldbuilding, stories, and characters.


 * The Forerunner Saga: This was one of the harder cases to exclude. Most of the worldbuilding around Forerunner culture (e.g. rates, mutations, customs, etc.) can be assumed to apply, but since Daybreak's general outline of events follows the version from Iris and the Halo 3 terminals, most of the events or deeper backstory around the Forerunners, Precursors and the Flood would not.
 * Halo: Reach: When it came to TFoR and Reach, we were faced with a choice to pick one over the other. We went with the novel, as its version of the Fall of Reach presents less fuss (e.g. in regards to connections to First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx). However, we may find ways to incorporate most of the game's events and characters into the version of the story of The Fall of Reach and First Strike without having to Frankenstein the two stories together. Some parts of the plot can be assumed to have happened, e.g. an advance Covenant scouting party on Reach, Operation: UPPER CUT, as well as the battle for New Alexandria, and most of the locations on Reach would have existed (though the Olympic Tower and the FLEETCOM HQ weren't in New Alexandria, but the FLEETCOM Military Complex in the Highland Mountains as described in the Nylund novels). However, the timeline, some of the the characters or the exact sequence of events would differ.
 * Halo: Warfleet: a good chunk of the worldbuilding can be ported over, except where it pertains to non-existent elements like the Infinity, or some details such as the nature of plasma torpedoes.
 * Halo: Smoke and Shadow: There are some things that would have to be rethought, like the slipspace travel times and improbable Forerunner upgrades, but the overall events and characters can definitely exist in the setting.
 * Halo: Last Light & Halo: Retribution: Both strongly inform Daybreak's worldbuilding in places, but the events themselves are not considered canon for the time being; though the conflict on Gao and Blue Team's participation in it may possibly be included. Notably, the Gammas' need for smoothers is less acute, and the reasons for their reassignment should be retooled given the different overall context (e.g. lack of a Spartan-IV program).
 * Cortana Letters: I have begun to sense rumblings of a worse fate yet to come. I can recall a sun - black, but shining - and the creatures that inched along its fiery tracks. It is an increasingly unpleasant memory.

Useful notes

 * Just because a subject appears in a "canon" work, don't assume the rest of their backstory (as described in "non-canon" works) holds true. For example, Daisy-023 is canon to the extent of her appearance in Silent Storm, but her backstory shown in Homecoming is not. Or, don't assume Buck's squad is called Alpha-Nine, as it was never given that name before New Blood, which Daybreak discards. Some such cases may be incorporated into Daybreak's canon, but by default, they are assumed to be non-canon.