Me too. I thought of water though, instead of air. Installation 2 itself looks like it could be ice covered. Maybe it was once covered in water, and the environmental systems got screwed somehow and the water turned to ice.
Looks icy to me, much like like the ring that is the setting for Containment. The moon theory holds up nicely as well though. The symbol looks like a plant with a moon, perhaps with a liquid flowing thourgh it. The way one line flows through, while one stops at the surface is also symbolic for something?
I don’t know about the rest of you but I think we could show a bit more faith in the Forerunner’s design. I seriously doubt they would create something with such significance with such carelessness.
Could it not be an almost complete cloud covering?
Looking at the others, this one looks more elemental and geological than the other ice world. Wouldn’t surprise me if the surface was solid rock. Though I’m not really sure.
I don’t think its ice for the reason that there are so many marks that look like craters to me. I think It somehow got stripped of its atmosphere, and that’s why it looks like the moon.
Tough one this was to figure, and I’m not very sure of my conclusions either.
The light jade/teal (probably ice) surface is rough with various surface abnormalities such as craters and fissures. Such evidence points toward a battered ring in a meteor infested solar system. But then, why would the Forerunners mind to put it there? Could the facilities in the ring survive constant bombardment?
It could also be a pattern of dense clouds covering the entire surface of the ring with a space here and there revealing the surface (dark jade/teal). The Halo symbol also seems to point toward a windy environment, favoring the cloud theory.
I, personally, favor the cloud environment theory.
The installations seem to be fully automated and capable of self repair, hence the recreation of 04 in the ark. If any sort of catastrophe would befall a halo either its resident AI would seek to remedy the problem or another installation could be created at the ark and shipped out to replace the defunct ring.
It could be a water world, and pictured is the bottom of the “ocean.” That seems unlikely however, since for astral bodies to form the craters along the bottom the water would have to be quite shallow.
Going on the rock-world theory the entire habitat could be subterranean. A world of just plain solid rock would seem uninhabitable by anything, but life could exist below the surface in caves and such. This also seems slightly far-fetched in that it doesn’t seem as if an entire world would be needed for subterranean life, it could share space with other habitats below their surfaces.
In any case, relevant explanation or not, I would assume the forerunners meant the habitats to be as they are for a reason.
Now that you think about it, the effects may be trying to render complete cloud cover. But then again that would be kind of pointless as it would block out the sun. It probably is just a different hue of ice than on the other worlds (we have pure blue sea ice in Antartica, so heh?). Either that or Bungie made it a different hue to differentiate it from the other installations in the level.
I think I was wrong about Installation 1, it must be a desert environment while Installation 2 could be a variety of terrain the “Rock World” theory would be interesting as the Installations main facilities would mostly be underground.
The ‘Moon’ theory would again be interesting, but mostly if (as I mentioned in Installation 1) the Halo rings mostly acted as planets or moons, instead of the Forerunners building them fully artificial.
And finally, the ‘Ice’ theory is hard to believe seing as though there are large craters.
Comment by 0000 - Unknown Seer — May 5, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
I can see some trace of atmosphere on this Halo. But judging from the small seas that are devoid of water, I’d have to assume that this is a very icy, or barren ringworld
this looks like 1) the moon 2) an ice covered ring
im leaning towards ice because the forerunners have found ways of hibernation during space travel. the “ice” may be a way of making the flood not able to move off the world.
It might be similar to Onyx in that it’s primarly made up of a certain material (in Onyx’s case it had…well onyx). Though the other theories sound good and interesting though.
this one was infact harmed when a large meteor impacted its gyros causeing it to stop spinning and this made the atomsphere leak out!!
Comment by coktail assasin — May 23, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
the glyph does remind me about water flow, so maybe this halo ring has a large quantity of water, and a low quantity of landmass. and i’m assuming that if the image shows this halo ring is green, then there might be Neon in the Atmosphere and possibly the clouds are made up of Neon too.
Comment by survivaljuice — May 23, 2008 @ 10:26 pm
moon theory holds up, but it could be like on halo 04, when cortana speculates the weather systems are screwed up.
Comment by Offensive Bias — May 25, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
mkay, what if the surface is barren and has no atmosphere, as has been mentioned countless times, but instead of having the key installations above ground, what if the whole inhabitable environment was underground? much like an underground maze thing, possibly the entrances in the many craters that seem to spot the surface of the ring.
My estimation is that the ring is covered in relatively shallow water and ice. If you look closely, you can see patches of solid white and everything else is water.
A strategic advantage would be that the Flood biology seems vulnerable to low temperatue, therefore Important structures would be located in the ice while allowing the flood to adapt to the warm, wet environment that is the water which covers aprox. 87 percent of the rings surface. The ice seems to be underwater which is unusual. Once the flood moved in on the ice they would find themselves unprepared for the arctic chill.
The symbol possibly says “Ring of fallen water and ice.” Fallen water represented by the downward flow of a liquid and ice represented by being a small circle underneath the symbol for water.
I would concur with JoKeR it does seem to be covered in Ice and water.Why would they leave it barren? Not even the flood can operate in a vacuum that we know of, and they could have just left it without the rocks and made it a metal surface. THe water and Ice could be some sort of defense the Monitor used to keep the flood away from the index and control room ( bury them in Ice and nothing will get in same with deep enough water) eitehr that or maybe the Monitor was captured by flood like 2407 and the envirment is overgrowing.
Comment by Firestarter-007 — June 2, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
I would say that it’s made of ice, but it could be like the moon, have you people realized that it was probably made that way on purpose so the Flood couldn’t take it.
I must say that the ring doesn’t look like is covered in ice because is has to much color, and the ice we see on Earth is mostly white, reflecting the sun’s light. It doesn’t look like water either because of the craters and such a pale blue.
I would say it’s something like the moon, maybe so that the Flood wouldn’t take it, like Spartan-039 posted above, or to see how much the Flood could survive in such a barren atmosphere, although there’s no visible atmosphere, as far as I can say.
Perhaps the forerunners created the rings to cater to all forms of sentient life that may have originated from a wide assortment of planets and environments. Hence here we have a barren, moon like environment that would suit species that come from barren, moon like planets. Ditto this reasoning to all the other halos, ice halo for ice dwelling species, lava halo for lava frying species etc.
I think it is in a similar position to one of Jupiter’s or Saturn’s moons. ONe of thoes planets moons is covered entirely in ice with a sea underneath it. The ice is thick enough that it won’t crack if impacted. I think its called Tritin?
As for Installation 1, I’m certain that that has the runaway greenhouse effect of Venus. Venus looks very similar, and Flood are known to be vulnarable to heat.
This Halo could be a moon-like structure. More likely though it was a planet that had an environmental apocalypse. Why would the Forerunners build an uninhaital world?
Comment by Wrath of T3nma — November 18, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
Possibly it was beginning to be overrun by the Flood, and then the remaining Forerunners (or AI constructs they left behind) glassed it.
it looks as if this instalation is in a mountainous terain with most of it coverd in snow due to the high alltitudes as the forrunners might have been experimenting with living in these conditions if the flood were not to go there becuse of the thin air and the cold and this immage shows that this part of the ring is in its winter let me allso remind that on the first halo (installation 04) you can see a winter in the back ground on the ring and that when cortana and mc locate the piller of autum it is in a hot summer condtion 10,000 kms up spin
Comment by wolfgear098 — October 3, 2009 @ 8:11 am
Maybe the little circle in the symbol represents Earths moon because of the size comparision
and the curved lines indicate the Solar wind
It looks like this Halo was left barren, very much like the moon. That or made that way by some catastrophe.
Comment by Psi Gun — March 24, 2008 @ 9:08 am
Low-budget Halo.
Seriously, though, it can’t be exactly like Earth’s moon. We Reclaimers need an atmosphere, for example.
Comment by Mr Toad — March 31, 2008 @ 6:47 pm
Just throwing this out there but the symbol reminds me have a glyph for air or water. Probally the wavy lines.
Comment by Divine — April 2, 2008 @ 11:15 pm
Me too. I thought of water though, instead of air. Installation 2 itself looks like it could be ice covered. Maybe it was once covered in water, and the environmental systems got screwed somehow and the water turned to ice.
Comment by Calliopeia — April 3, 2008 @ 4:52 am
Looks icy to me, much like like the ring that is the setting for Containment. The moon theory holds up nicely as well though. The symbol looks like a plant with a moon, perhaps with a liquid flowing thourgh it. The way one line flows through, while one stops at the surface is also symbolic for something?
Comment by SLEEKYx16 — May 2, 2008 @ 11:52 pm
Maybe this one was unlucky enough to fall into the shadow of its gas giant permanently, leaving no warmth to stop its cooling.
Comment by observer — May 3, 2008 @ 8:11 am
I don’t know about the rest of you but I think we could show a bit more faith in the Forerunner’s design. I seriously doubt they would create something with such significance with such carelessness.
Could it not be an almost complete cloud covering?
The glyph could mean evaporation.
Comment by Foopaux — May 3, 2008 @ 1:03 pm
Looking at the others, this one looks more elemental and geological than the other ice world. Wouldn’t surprise me if the surface was solid rock. Though I’m not really sure.
Comment by Diddler — May 3, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
I don’t think its ice for the reason that there are so many marks that look like craters to me. I think It somehow got stripped of its atmosphere, and that’s why it looks like the moon.
Comment by Rannier — May 3, 2008 @ 6:45 pm
Tough one this was to figure, and I’m not very sure of my conclusions either.
The light jade/teal (probably ice) surface is rough with various surface abnormalities such as craters and fissures. Such evidence points toward a battered ring in a meteor infested solar system. But then, why would the Forerunners mind to put it there? Could the facilities in the ring survive constant bombardment?
It could also be a pattern of dense clouds covering the entire surface of the ring with a space here and there revealing the surface (dark jade/teal). The Halo symbol also seems to point toward a windy environment, favoring the cloud theory.
I, personally, favor the cloud environment theory.
Comment by Kabcr — May 3, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
The installations seem to be fully automated and capable of self repair, hence the recreation of 04 in the ark. If any sort of catastrophe would befall a halo either its resident AI would seek to remedy the problem or another installation could be created at the ark and shipped out to replace the defunct ring.
It could be a water world, and pictured is the bottom of the “ocean.” That seems unlikely however, since for astral bodies to form the craters along the bottom the water would have to be quite shallow.
Going on the rock-world theory the entire habitat could be subterranean. A world of just plain solid rock would seem uninhabitable by anything, but life could exist below the surface in caves and such. This also seems slightly far-fetched in that it doesn’t seem as if an entire world would be needed for subterranean life, it could share space with other habitats below their surfaces.
In any case, relevant explanation or not, I would assume the forerunners meant the habitats to be as they are for a reason.
Comment by Indy — May 3, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Now that you think about it, the effects may be trying to render complete cloud cover. But then again that would be kind of pointless as it would block out the sun. It probably is just a different hue of ice than on the other worlds (we have pure blue sea ice in Antartica, so heh?). Either that or Bungie made it a different hue to differentiate it from the other installations in the level.
Comment by Diddler — May 4, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Avalanche?
Comment by Ansi — May 4, 2008 @ 9:40 am
I think I was wrong about Installation 1, it must be a desert environment while Installation 2 could be a variety of terrain the “Rock World” theory would be interesting as the Installations main facilities would mostly be underground.
The ‘Moon’ theory would again be interesting, but mostly if (as I mentioned in Installation 1) the Halo rings mostly acted as planets or moons, instead of the Forerunners building them fully artificial.
And finally, the ‘Ice’ theory is hard to believe seing as though there are large craters.
Comment by 0000 - Unknown Seer — May 5, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
It looks like a jungle to me case its green
Comment by Commder Paul — May 9, 2008 @ 11:22 am
I can see some trace of atmosphere on this Halo. But judging from the small seas that are devoid of water, I’d have to assume that this is a very icy, or barren ringworld
Comment by Chris000 — May 16, 2008 @ 7:08 am
this looks like 1) the moon 2) an ice covered ring
im leaning towards ice because the forerunners have found ways of hibernation during space travel. the “ice” may be a way of making the flood not able to move off the world.
Comment by todeshandler — May 22, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
It might be similar to Onyx in that it’s primarly made up of a certain material (in Onyx’s case it had…well onyx). Though the other theories sound good and interesting though.
Comment by Da3m0n 0m3gA — May 23, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
this one was infact harmed when a large meteor impacted its gyros causeing it to stop spinning and this made the atomsphere leak out!!
Comment by coktail assasin — May 23, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
the glyph does remind me about water flow, so maybe this halo ring has a large quantity of water, and a low quantity of landmass. and i’m assuming that if the image shows this halo ring is green, then there might be Neon in the Atmosphere and possibly the clouds are made up of Neon too.
Comment by survivaljuice — May 23, 2008 @ 10:26 pm
moon theory holds up, but it could be like on halo 04, when cortana speculates the weather systems are screwed up.
Comment by Offensive Bias — May 25, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
mkay, what if the surface is barren and has no atmosphere, as has been mentioned countless times, but instead of having the key installations above ground, what if the whole inhabitable environment was underground? much like an underground maze thing, possibly the entrances in the many craters that seem to spot the surface of the ring.
Comment by JohnM3E92 — May 26, 2008 @ 4:46 am
It looks as if bungie took pictures of our moon and just cut them thin and put them on there.
Comment by JoKeR — May 26, 2008 @ 8:43 am
My estimation is that the ring is covered in relatively shallow water and ice. If you look closely, you can see patches of solid white and everything else is water.
A strategic advantage would be that the Flood biology seems vulnerable to low temperatue, therefore Important structures would be located in the ice while allowing the flood to adapt to the warm, wet environment that is the water which covers aprox. 87 percent of the rings surface. The ice seems to be underwater which is unusual. Once the flood moved in on the ice they would find themselves unprepared for the arctic chill.
The symbol possibly says “Ring of fallen water and ice.” Fallen water represented by the downward flow of a liquid and ice represented by being a small circle underneath the symbol for water.
Comment by Hunter — May 26, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
I would concur with JoKeR it does seem to be covered in Ice and water.Why would they leave it barren? Not even the flood can operate in a vacuum that we know of, and they could have just left it without the rocks and made it a metal surface. THe water and Ice could be some sort of defense the Monitor used to keep the flood away from the index and control room ( bury them in Ice and nothing will get in same with deep enough water) eitehr that or maybe the Monitor was captured by flood like 2407 and the envirment is overgrowing.
Comment by Firestarter-007 — June 2, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
I would say that it’s made of ice, but it could be like the moon, have you people realized that it was probably made that way on purpose so the Flood couldn’t take it.
Comment by Spartan-039 — June 16, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
I must say that the ring doesn’t look like is covered in ice because is has to much color, and the ice we see on Earth is mostly white, reflecting the sun’s light. It doesn’t look like water either because of the craters and such a pale blue.
I would say it’s something like the moon, maybe so that the Flood wouldn’t take it, like Spartan-039 posted above, or to see how much the Flood could survive in such a barren atmosphere, although there’s no visible atmosphere, as far as I can say.
Comment by Antonio — June 24, 2008 @ 8:54 pm
Perhaps the forerunners created the rings to cater to all forms of sentient life that may have originated from a wide assortment of planets and environments. Hence here we have a barren, moon like environment that would suit species that come from barren, moon like planets. Ditto this reasoning to all the other halos, ice halo for ice dwelling species, lava halo for lava frying species etc.
Comment by Roosevelt — July 5, 2008 @ 7:22 am
to me it looks like a world capable of sustaning something like grunts, which need a cold, methane rich atmosphere in order to survive
Comment by Dylan — September 12, 2008 @ 11:54 pm
I think it is in a similar position to one of Jupiter’s or Saturn’s moons. ONe of thoes planets moons is covered entirely in ice with a sea underneath it. The ice is thick enough that it won’t crack if impacted. I think its called Tritin?
As for Installation 1, I’m certain that that has the runaway greenhouse effect of Venus. Venus looks very similar, and Flood are known to be vulnarable to heat.
Comment by Rolla7 — September 14, 2008 @ 11:41 am
This Halo could be a moon-like structure. More likely though it was a planet that had an environmental apocalypse. Why would the Forerunners build an uninhaital world?
Comment by Wrath of T3nma — November 18, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
Possibly it was beginning to be overrun by the Flood, and then the remaining Forerunners (or AI constructs they left behind) glassed it.
Comment by an elite — May 11, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
this could just be a normal ring were the monitor kept it clean of infections and rebelled the covenant
Comment by Alertfiend — July 5, 2009 @ 3:10 am
it looks as if this instalation is in a mountainous terain with most of it coverd in snow due to the high alltitudes as the forrunners might have been experimenting with living in these conditions if the flood were not to go there becuse of the thin air and the cold and this immage shows that this part of the ring is in its winter let me allso remind that on the first halo (installation 04) you can see a winter in the back ground on the ring and that when cortana and mc locate the piller of autum it is in a hot summer condtion 10,000 kms up spin
Comment by wolfgear098 — October 3, 2009 @ 8:11 am
Maybe the little circle in the symbol represents Earths moon because of the size comparision
and the curved lines indicate the Solar wind
Comment by Antdog — March 23, 2010 @ 1:04 am
and the line stopping on the planet indicat an atmosphere on the planet 02 is modeled after the moon of.
and is that a crater?
Comment by Antdog — March 23, 2010 @ 1:06 am