After playing through “The Arbiter” and “The Heretic” on Halo 2 once again, and watching all of the terminals online involving Sesa 'Refumee (the Heretic Leader), I wondered how bungie missed the chance to make an even more exhilarating story out of Halo 2 and beyond.
In in the terminals, Sesa, upon believing the oracle’s confessions about the true purpose of Halo and the prophets’ lies, tells the Oracle that Thel ‘Vadamee (the Arbiter) would be the only one that could help him to influence the Sangheili away from the prophets’ hold over them. He recognizes, though, that if 'Vadamee isn’t dead the prophets would make him Arbiter because of his influence over the Sangheili and vast military accomplishments, as well as his unquestioned loyalty to the prophets.
So, in the campaign, after the Arbiter catches the Heretic Leader, and they have a short discussion with the Oracle, bungie had Sesa begin to shoot the arbiter and release his drones, which was in my opinion the most missed opportunity for a suprising alliance in the entire game.
If Sesa and the Oracle had actually convinced Thel about the purpose of Halo, and that the Great Journey is a lie, they could all have joined forces. For the remaining missions you would play as the Arbiter in Halo 2, Sesa may have been like Johnson, an invincible ally that can attract enemies. In Halo 3, instead of having the extra 2 elites as 3rd and 4th player in campaign, the 3rd could have been Sesa, and the fourth a Special Operations Sangheili from the Arbiter’s old fleet or something to that extent.
Maybe there could have even been unlock able “Heretic” armor in Halo 3. That would have been something. For an unconventional Sangheili player like myself this would have been a goldmine.
Looking back, if Sesa had not died an enemy of the Arbiter, he would have made te game much more interesting and popular, as some plot twists could have been made in Halo 3’s campaign(which was relatively fruitless compared to that of Halo 2). It is hard now to understand how Bungie missed that opportunity.