Master Chief, the protagonist of the Halo series, is a super-soldier called a Spartan who was kidnapped and trained from childhood to fight human terrorists, then an alien empire. He first appeared in the 2001 shooter Halo: Combat Evolved. The designers deliberately gave him very few lines and hid his face under armour, so players could imagine their own intentions behind his actions. In the games he is voiced by Steve Downes, who based his performance on a brief asking for a man of few words, similar to Clint Eastwood. He later appeared in films and a live-action TV series, where he was played by Pablo Schreiber.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.