Build a disciplined method for reconciling primary campaigns, reference works, and official commentary.
LESSON 01
Source Types and Claims
Match each claim to the evidence a source can actually provide.
Primary does not mean complete
Campaigns directly present events but still restrict the player's location, timing, and viewpoint. A primary source can be authoritative for what it depicts while incomplete beyond that frame.
Sources: HALO-CE, HALO-2, HALO-INFINITE
Reference works organize evidence
An encyclopedia can connect dispersed material and provide context, yet its summary form should not be mistaken for an eyewitness perspective inside the fiction.
Sources: HALO-ENC-2022LESSON 02
Perspective and Reliability
Separate a character's knowledge from the setting's established record.
Speakers have purposes
Orders, boasts, memories, logs, and testimony are produced for audiences under constraints. Reliability is evaluated claim by claim rather than assigned once to an entire character.
Sources: HALO-2, HALO-INFINITE, WAYPOINT-NEW-YEAR
Contradiction can be evidence
Conflicting accounts may reveal uncertainty, propaganda, damaged memory, or different vantage points. Analysts preserve the conflict before choosing an explanation.
State conclusions at the level of certainty the record supports.
Established, disputed, and unknown
A clear method labels what sources establish, what official commentary disputes, and what remains unanswered. This prevents interpretation from hardening into fact.
Sources: WAYPOINT-NEW-YEAR, HALO-ENC-2022
Cutoff dates matter
An evolving franchise can add or clarify evidence. Every course records a canon cutoff so later updates can be reviewed without silently rewriting earlier assessment logic.