Halo 3 is a cultural stepping stone in the gaming community. It’s considered by many to be the best in the entire series, and even people who might place another game above it would agree that it’s superior to the other Halos. It came out almost 14 years ago, and some players are so dedicated that they still play it on the Xbox 360!
The Halo 3 Rat meme refers to a small rat NPC featured in the game. Halo 3 came out in 2007, but this little rodent didn’t become a meme until 2020 when a viral tweet about him circulated on Reddit. Folks started editing him into other meme formats, and the trend subsequently exploded over Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit, and anywhere else gamers share jokes.
10 Halo Rat Vs. Cyberpunk Burger
The Cyberpunk Burger meme was one that filled up the internet just after the release of Cyberpunk 2077. There were lots of ways to make fun of the game’s difficult launch, but the burger really exhibited how the game looked more like a PlayStation 2 release than one from 2020. Lots of photos online compare this burger directly to one from Battlefield Hardline which released in 2015 and included burgers with realistic textures, sesame seed buns, lettuce, and more. At least the Halo 3 Rat is from a game launched in 2007.
9 The Result Was Inevitable
Artist of original Anakin images: @shanafierce on instagram
This meme used art from Instagram of Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars. The final panel in the original art was titled “Suffering,” with a picture of Anakin as Darth Vader, his transformation complete. Instead, we now see the Halo 3 Rat in Vader’s place. It’s not totally clear who’s being made fun of more — Anakin, for being a dramatic sad-boy, or the rat, who is clearly the ‘suffering’ in this image. Halo 3 is considered by some to be the only good Halo game — that’s how good it was! But it still cannot escape the gamer’s sense of humor.
8 Hagrid and Halo Rat Compete For Worst Spot
This rendering of Hagrid is from the PlayStation 1 game “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” None of the characters looked great, but Hagrid was meme-ified for his particularly terrible face and giant beard combo.
This NPC, like so many other early video game characters, was so bad that it’s good. Can he stand up to the power of the Halo 3 Rat memes? The Halo community can be pretty rabid at times, but PS1 Hagrid has been around for quite some time. Hard call.
7 Height Comparison Chart
Lady Dimitrescu is a giant woman. She features in a short demo, titled simple ‘Maiden,’ for the game “Resident Evil Village,” which is set to release in May of this year. As a huge woman, Dimitrescu has earned lots of love online for a variety of reasons, whether it’s about body positivity, female representation, or some NSFW topics. In this meme, we get to see her standing next to the Master Chief (who, at 7'2", is still huge by ordinary human standards) and the Halo 3 Rat, who is described only as “smol.”
6 Unexpected D&D Results
In Dungeons and Dragons (and lots of comparable tabletop roleplaying games) the Find Familiar spell allows a player to get the help of a spirit. The spirit then turns into an animal of the player’s choice; there are several acceptable options of small animals, and a rat is genuinely among them. That the rat the player summoned is from Halo 3 must simply be an insightful character choice on their part. If there are any Dungeon Masters running campaigns in the Halo universe, they might want to beware of everything dissolving into memes.
5 The Impossible Choice
The Destiny 2 froge meme is a smaller internet joke with less widespread claim-to-fame than the Halo 3 Rat, but with the same basis: a small animal in a video game. There’s a tiny Twitter account for the frog, but it’s been mostly inactive since last year.
Destiny and Halo are both available on PC, as well as the usual consoles. For players who haven’t had a chance to play and compare these franchises, it’s a perfect time. We promise that there’s more to the games than memes about tiny animals.
4 Once You Go Halo, You Never Go Back
Regular, actual pets are all well and good, but why not invest in a virtual one instead? There’s way less housekeeping involved, you never have to spend money on a veterinarian, and you can only engage with it when you’re feeling like it. These exact bonuses are probably what led thousands of children whose parents wouldn’t get them a dog to fall in love with Pokemon, Tamagachi, and Halo 3 Rat. If it’s good enough for the Master Chief, it’s good enough for us.
3 A Curse Upon Your House
Halo players are some of the most talented people in the gaming community; the amount of fan content available at your fingertips is overwhelming at best and suffocating at worst. YouTube channels have blossomed because they were making funny, edited videos about Halo. Visual artists have reimagined the sci-fi landscapes as sprawling paintings. The list goes on! Some people prefer to use their skills for a humble purpose: creating internet memes. And the community is grateful they exist.
2 Don’t Forget Your Emotional-Support Rat
Halo 3 is a tough game to play. The Halo series is notorious for its ‘Legendary’ difficulty, which ramps up the combat to be insanely hard. Players who can complete the games on Legendary have unquestionably earned the respect of other fans.
Though it often appears alongside Doge, the “It’s dangerous to go alone: take this!” meme actually originated in the 1968 game “The Legend of Zelda” for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and has taken on its own life ever since.
1 They Grow Up So Fast
This meme, unlike its peers, has a clear moral message. Parents are often too busy to hang out with their children as they grow up - or at least less than they’d like to be able to. For parents who really won’t put the time in, this meme gives a harsh warning: your child may grow up and care more about video games than they do about you! Or maybe the child has just become the Halo 3 Rat. Depends on how much you decide to read into the joke here, but all art is subjective, right?
NEXT: Halo MCC: 10 Best Nameplates And How To Unlock Them
