2026 continues to move apace (at FTL speeds, really!) and that can only mean it’s time for a new Canon Fodder issue.
We’ve got some treats for you today! We reveal the narrators for the Waypoint Chronicles – Volume One audiobook (and tease the titles of the additional stories); we’ve got some nice new wallpapers to give you as we take a look at the front and back cover of the Master Chief Omnibus; and there’s plenty more where all that goodness came from…
VARIOUS VOICES
We’re just two months away from the release of Halo: Waypoint Chronicles – Volume One, a new anthology novel that collects all of the hitherto published Waypoint Chronicles, Armory Infinitums, and Intel entries released for Halo Infinite—and adds ten new short stories as well.
There’s a lot in that package, and since many of these stories follow or feature characters from the past we were keen to work with our amazing partners at Simon & Schuster and Gallery Books to see just how expansive we could make the audiobook experience.
Could we get Tricia Helfer to voice Veronica Dare in Venezian Sonata? How about getting Gideon Emery to reprise his role as Sloan after his self-given promotion to High Auxiliary of the Created? Could Tamara Taylor dig Ilsa Zane out of the rubble from the end of Hunt the Truth to follow her through The Third Life? And since this year is all about celebrating all things Halo fandom, could we get community members aboard to read some of these stories as well?
Well my friends, let us take a look at the truly astonishing cast of the Waypoint Chronicles audiobook. Buckle up!
HALO VOICE TALENT
The following are voice actors who have previously appeared in Halo media.
JEN TAYLOR
Known of course as Cortana, Dr. Halsey, Joyeuse, and perhaps most famously the Bumblebee pilot in Halo: CE, Jen Taylor will be narrating The Machine Breaks, Fifth Canticle, and Connectivity – Part 2.
SCOTT BRICK
Audiobook narrator of seventeen Halo audiobooks, Scott Brick will be narrating all Armory Infinitum and Intel entries.
SARAH ELMELAH
Voice of Spartan Nina Kovan and Despondent Pyre in Halo Infinite, Sarah Elmelah will be narrating Whispers from the Pyre.
GIDEON EMERY
Voice of Jerome-092 in Halo Wars, Governor Sloan in Halo 5, and Captain James Cutter in Halo Wars 2, Gideon Emery will be narrating Precipice and First Rain.
JEAN GILPIN
Voice of Shipmistress Mahkee ‘Chava in Halo 5, Jean Gilpin will narrate Battle for the Blood-Moon.
TRICIA HELFER
Voice of Captain Veronica Dare in Halo 3: ODST, Tricia Helfer will narrate Venezian Sonata.
SUZIE MCGRATH
Voice of Spartan Commander Laurette Agryna in Halo Infinite, Suzie McGrath will narrate London Calling.
DARREN O’HARE
Voice of Captain Thomas Lasky in Halo 4, Halo 5, and Halo Infinite, Darren O’Hare will narrate Axios.
JEFF STEITZER
The iconic multiplayer announcer throughout the Halo series since 2001, Jeff Steitzer will narrate The Eridanus Twelve.
FRED TATASCIORE
The voice of many additional characters throughout the series, from the Brutes in Halo 3 and the mysterious AI in Combat Evolved Anniversary’s Terminals, as well as Chak ‘Lok and Tomas Horvath in Halo Infinite, Fred Tatasciore will narrate Vertical Umbrage and Duality.
TAMARA TAYLOR
Voice of Ilsa Zane in the beloved audio drama Hunt the Truth, Tamara Taylor will narrate The Third Life.
TRIEU TRAN
Voice of Spartan Hieu Dinh in Halo Infinite, Tran Trieu will narrate Battle for the Academy, Part 1.
CAMILLA ARFWEDSON
Voice of Spartan Sigrid Eklund in Halo Infinite, Camilla Arfwedson will narrate Battle for the Academy, Part 2.
ERIKA SOTO
Voice of the AI Isabel in Halo Wars 2, Erika Soto will narrate Fireside.
LOTTIE VAN-PRAAG
Known for her work as an esports presenter for the Halo Championship Series, Lottie Van-Praag will narrate Bella Corsa.
PIERCE O’TOOLE
Voice director for Halo: Campaign Evolved and Halo Infinite, along with many other games like Cyberpunk 2077 and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Pierce O’Toole will narrate ‘Ghosts & Glass’ by B. Giraud.
JEFF EASTERLING
Senior Franchise Story Lead at Halo Studios, Jeff Easterling will narrate Aileron.
ALEXANDER WAKEFORD
Franchise Writer at Halo Studios, Alexander Wakeford will narrate Graveworld.
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
The following are members of the Halo community.
LUC “HIDDENXPERIA” KIRCHIN
You’ve watched his lore videos over the years, now you’ll get to listen to HiddenXperia narrate Age of Retribution.
KAT “CXEE FOXX” PETERSON
Voice actor, Halo fan, and Dr. Halsey cosplayer, Kat Peterson will narrate Worlds Uncharted.
MARTIN “INSTALLATION 00” SMITH
From the lore videos of Installation00 to the culinary critique of Arturo Bustamante, Martin Smith will narrate Rendezvous with Ramen.
AUSTIN MURPHY
Already adept at voicing Waypoint Chronicles as part of JumperScape, Austin Murphy will narrate Anvil Accord.
NEW NARRATORS
The following are new voices to the Halo universe who will narrate the following Waypoint Chronicles.
CARY HITE
Actor and award-winning audiobook narrator, Cary Hite will narrate Sunrise on Sanghelios.
DANIEL HENNING
Award-winning actor, producer, director, and audiobook narrator, Daniel Henning will narrate Hippocratica.
YINKA LADEINDE
Nominated for Newcomer of the Year in 2022 and Female Voiceover Artist of the year in 2024 at the One Voice Awards USA, Yinka Ladeinde will narrate Moonrise Over Mombasa.
KEVIN R. FREE
With extensive training in acting and voice, and having performed in many productions at the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Kevin R. Free will narrate Winter Contention.
HELEN LASER
Award-winning voice actor, artist, and audiobook narrator, Helen Laser will narrate Trial of Reckoning.
JACQUES ROY
Narrator of over a hundred audiobooks, including New York Times bestsellers, Jacques Roy will narrate Tulpamancy.
STEWART CRANK
With over eighty titles to his name across a variety of genres, Stewart Crank will narrate Saturn Devouring His Son and Ascension on Atropos.
JENNA SHARPE
Award-winning voice actor and motion capture artist across animation, video games, Jenna Sharpe will narrate Ghosts of the Gyre.
LISA FLANAGAN
Award-winning narrator, voice actor, stage director, improviser, opera librettist, and classical singer, Lisa Flanagan will narrate From the Soil to the Stars.
That’s quite the list! With the anthology format and tales set across such a sprawling series of character perspectives, locations, and times in the universe, we’re incredibly excited to have such a diverse soundscape for this audiobook experience.
Halo: Waypoint Chronicles – Volume One releases May 26, just two short months away! You can head over to the Simon & Schuster website to check out your pre-order options below.
PRE-ORDER HALO: WAYPOINT CHRONICLES – VOLUME ONE
OMGNIBUS
Last month we revealed Isaac Hannaford’s stunning cover art for the upcoming Halo: The Master Chief Omnibus which collects The Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike with updated corrections and edits, new adjunct stories, and a very pretty visual treatment for your shelves—including sprayed edges based on a Halo ring’s outer band.
Well, you’ve seen the front cover, so how about we take this opportunity to show you the art Isaac Hannaford did for the back as well? Oh, and let’s get rid of those pesky mechanicals so you can use these as your wallpapers!
FRONT COVER:
BACK COVER:
The Master Chief Omnibus will be available on November 10.
PRE-ORDER HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF OMNIBUS
HELPING HANDS
A core theme throughout this year as we celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Halo is the community. Your feedback helps to shape our games and updates. Your creativity is regularly featured in our Spotlight, Forge Features, and Mod Minute blogs here on Halo Waypoint. Montages, machinimas, cosplays—all these things and more are what has made the series endure over the last quarter of a century.
In keeping with this theme of community, we’re thrilled to say that our work on Halo: The Master Chief Omnibus allowed us to call in reinforcements from some of the fine folks at Halopedia, borrowing their scrutinous eyes.
Halopedia is a fan-run online encyclopedia founded all the way back in November 2004. It’s a place where one can easily lose hours exploring the vast story and lore of the Halo universe, from information pertaining to the games down to the most incredible minutiae of obscure fiction you may have never known existed. Over the years, they have maintained a rigorous editorial standard that has made them one of the finest examples of a fan-run wiki on the internet.
As we embarked on the journey of updating The Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike to match the more modern lore details that exist in 2026, working with Halopedia was a no-brainer. For many years, they have recorded much of the existing errata—everything from the height and blood color of various Covenant species, the way weapons are described, shenanigans with chronology, and so on. Tapping into that existing well of knowledge in partnership with the Halopedia folks opened up a lot of great dialogue about how we can address these elements (and many more) in the edits.
Over the coming months, we’ll explore some of the specific updates in each book within the omnibus, so stay tuned for a deeper dive into all that!
In the meantime, you can check out our Community Corner issue with Halopedia, celebrating the wiki’s twentieth birthday in November 2024.
And we want to give a huge shoutout to admins Christopher Aiken (CIA391), Jacob Stokes (BaconShelf), and Garrett Hass (TheArb1ter117) who have been on this great editorial journey through the original novels. Their work has been invaluable in making this omnibus the very best it can be!
IN MEMORIAM: WILLIAM C. DIETZ
It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the death of William C. Dietz who was reported to have passed away earlier this month at the age of 81.
Dietz has written tie-in books for many beloved franchises over the years, from Halo and Hitman to Star Wars, Mass Effect, and Starcraft. He has also published a vast library of original science fiction, military, and crime fiction—you can find a complete bibliography on his official website.
For Halo fans, he is known for authoring The Flood, originally released in 2003 as the official novelization of Halo: Combat Evolved. It is a uniquely positioned book in the series because it stands alone as the sole novelization of a game among around forty siblings and in Dietz’s effort to expand the scope of the game’s story by exploring other perspectives it laid the foundation for many things that have become a pivotal part of the series.
Before we played as the Arbiter in Halo 2, we read about the efforts of Zuka ‘Zamamee—and his unlikely Unggoy companion Yayap—to eliminate the Master Chief on Alpha Halo. What followed was something akin to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a tragicomedy of errors where these two Covenant characters find themselves in the periphery of the Master Chief’s mission, often involving ‘Zamamee concocting increasingly dangerous schemes while Yayap bemoans ever having rescued his Sangheili commander.
Dietz also introduced us to First Lieutenant Melissa McKay, an essential viewpoint in expanding the UNSC side of the conflict on the ring as she leads a company of ODSTs and marines against the overwhelming odds presented by the Covenant and the Flood. McKay cares deeply for those under her command and she is in many ways the emotional heart of the novelization, aspiring to get her troopers through the day and feeling that the ultimate reward would be to just get some of them home. Alas, we the readers know that her desire is in direct conflict with what both duty and the existing narrative will demand of her.
Other contributions from Dietz that have come to be expanded upon over the years include the additional sections from Captain Keyes’s perspective as he is assimilated by the Flood, which was adapted by the Terminals in the 2011 remaster Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. Alpha Base, the UNSC’s main tactical position on the ring, was also a major location featured in Halo: Fireteam Raven. The game also featured Major Antonio Silva, the ODSTs’ commanding officer aboard the Pillar of Autumn, and the AI Wellsley who helped coordinate the UNSC’s defenses.
Last, but certainly not least, while making his way through the Library, the Master Chief encounters the body of a fallen marine: Staff Sergeant Marvin Mobuto. The Chief laments that he didn’t know Mobuto, but—in the Spartan’s own words—honors him as “one hardass son of a bitch.” Twenty-three years later, Mobuto will be a lead character in the upcoming novel Halo: Parasite’s Wake by Tim Lebbon, which really goes to show just how the most unexpected elements of a single book can have such a far-reaching impact on the series.
We are tremendously grateful for his contributions to the Halo universe, and our thoughts and best wishes are with his family and friends.
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
March is Women’s History Month and we thought this could be a fun opportunity to highlight some particular favorite female characters from the Halo universe.
There are the obvious candidates such as Cortana, Kelly, Linda, Anders, Halsey, Sadie, Palmer, Rion, Veta, and so on from widely known media… but what about some of the characters from more obscure corners of the lore? This is Canon Fodder, after all. Let’s take things up a notch and look a little deeper into the expanded universe…
GUDAM KESCHUN
SOURCE: Halo: Legacy of Onyx
An Unggoy living within the shield world Onyx, Gudam comes from a family of two mothers, three fathers, and five siblings in her clutch, and when we meet her she’s just turned five years old (of course, Unggoy age and mature at a very different rate to humans).
Aggressively optimistic in attitude and fiercely loyal to her friends (even giving Asum ‘Mdama a big hug!), Gudam offers a rare insight into the culture of the Unggoy beyond the rigid hierarchy and military structure of the Covenant. Gudam ends up being so endearing that she almost single-handedly breaks through protagonist Molly Patel’s xenopobia!
ZHAO HENG LOPEZ
SOURCE: Halo: Evolutions – ‘The Mona Lisa’
While not a super obscure character, the sheer aura from the name of The Mona Lisa’s protagonist—co-written by Tessa Kum and Jeff VanderMeer—is reason enough to put Lopez on this list. Everybody should always be taking the appropriate time to appreciate Sergeant Zhao Heng Lopez.
This no-nonsense sergeant thinks of her squadmates as her rosary beads, pertaining to her Roman Catholic faith, and will slug an uncooperative ONI Section Three major in the face for them. She’s the quintessential UNSC marine, a leader that her squad will follow into hell itself (and they do), and her ultimate fate remains unknown.
Also, in the motion comic adaptation (which you can watch here!), she is voiced by the amazing Morla Gorrondona, who you may know as Eris Morn in Destiny.
LYRENNE CASTILLA
SOURCE: Halo: Evolutions – ‘The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole’, Halo: Silent Storm
Many stories of romance in Halo are about lovers separated by distance and duty. In Halo 3’s Terminals, the Didact and Librarian were on opposite sides of the Maginot Line seeing to their respective tasks. In Halo 3: ODST, Buck and Dare have been separated by the war against the Covenant, and by their respective affiliations to the Marine Corps and Naval Intelligence…
Another such example is the unlikely romance between Lyrenne Castilla and Preston J. Cole. She’s an insurrectionist; he’s a vice admiral of the UNSC—it’s the classic girl-meets-boy, both admire each other’s astronavigational skills scenario. Three times they engaged each other in ship-to-ship combat, after which they engaged in private textual communications that ultimately resulted in shore leave, pregnancy, a faked death, a surprise return, and then an ambiguous disappearance.
Just a typical Tuesday in the impossible lives (and possible deaths) of Lyrenne Castilla and Preston J. Cole!
NAIYA RAY
SOURCE: Halo: Escalation
Formerly a signals intelligence officer for the UNSC Air Force, Naiya Ray volunteered for the SPARTAN-IV program after the Covenant War and served as a Headhunter operative before later being assigned to Fireteam Jackknife aboard the UNSC Infinity alongside Spartans To, Newman, and Vladimir Scruggs.
After it emerged that Scruggs was a traitor working for the New Colonial Alliance, Ray found herself the sole survivor of Jackknife and worked off-the-books missions with Captain Lasky. After several operations alongside Gabriel Thorne and Sarah Palmer, she was assigned to Fireteam Majestic.
In many ways, Ray is the platonic ideal for a Spartan-IV super-soldier and a major supporting character throughout the comic series Halo: Escalation.
EVELYN COLLINS
SOURCE: Halo 5, Halo: Fractures – ‘What Remains’
Amid the planet-hopping, high stakes adventure of Halo 5’s campaign is the occasional glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in the universe. This is particularly evident during the missions set on Meridian where Fireteam Osiris can learn about colonists who have returned to worlds glassed by the Covenant who are working toward the dream of making them livable once again.
As the Guardian rises on Meridian and a group of Liang-Dortmund miners accompanies Fireteam Osiris to the space elevator, a call comes in over the comms during your ascent where one individual—Evelyn Collins—has arrived too late. The aftermath of this event, with Evelyn and a handful of others trapped on a glassed and empty world as the galaxy is reshaped around them, is explored in Morgan Lockhart’s story ‘What Remains’ in Halo: Fractures.
In Lockhart’s own words from Issue 88 of Canon Fodder: “I have always been interested in the ‘little people’ who are caught up in big events and whose stories are not usually told. Evelyn was a character I created on Meridian to show some of those effects in game—you can find her in audio logs, as well as some level VO—and I wanted to tell more of her story.”
MEDUU THE FIERCE
SOURCE: Halo Encyclopedia (2022)
Imperial Admiral Xytan ‘Jar Wattinree perished in the closing months of the Covenant War, but he is survived by his daughter Meduu—a name that derives from the revered line of ancient Sangheili demi-gods that were central to their dominant pre-Covenant religion.
Though young at little over thirty years of age, Meduu has been tutored by many of the finest war scholars and seneschals from whom her father took counsel. She has already earned the name “Meduu the Fierce” after violently seizing the imperial admiral’s property holdings for her own, repelling a Covenant remnant group that sought to plunder unearned valor. Those who have pledged allegiance to Meduu are greatly interested in how her own military career will progress as the Blooding Years continue to evolve. Per tradition, her worthiness, mettle, and cunning will be continually tested by threats both without and within.
COMMUNITY LORE CORNER
Over the years, Dietz has graciously done a number of podcasts and interviews with fans about his work on The Flood (and tie-in media in general). You can hear from the man himself in the two videos below.
Pixel Lit interview with William C. Dietz.
Forward Unto Dawn interview with William C. Dietz.
Inspired by William C. Dietz’s character in The Flood, you can also check out an awesome fan-made campaign mod for Halo: CE by Drksteel where you actually play as Zuka ‘Zamamee over at Mod Minute: Zuka ‘Zamamee Campaign.
The Charon-class light frigate is known for its iconic silhouette, poetic names, and occasional proclivity for shapeshifting. MetaNerdzLore has put together a lovely ten-minute breakdown of the ship as the UNSC’s “boots on the ground” frigate.
JumperScape’s latest Waypoint Chronicle adaptation brings Tulpamancy to life. Click ahead, dream/dreamer.
And lastly, Phoenix Nat’s great journey through the Halo games has come to a close with Halo Infinite’s campaign.
That brings us to the end of this issue! We’ll be back in late May, by which time the Waypoint Chronicles anthology will be out in the wild and we’ll have even more to share with you about the omnibus as we conduct a breakdown for some of the notable edits in each book.
Also, be sure to stay tuned for our next episode of Spartan Chatter which will be airing on April 2 where we’ll be revisiting last year’s epic Halo: Empty Throne!