For Halo 4, there’s supposed to be a new enemy. A new evil. To make whatever it is a truly great villain, I think it also should have an interesting character.
Look at the great villains of stories: Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, the Man in Black, Voldemort, Arthur Mitchell, Anthony Bates, etc. All of these villains had clearly defined traits that made them a good evil. Some even had a back story. With Halo 4’s evil, it, too, should have a character. Giving a villain character traits makes them all the more evil. It gives them reason to do what they do. Villains that just do evil things without explanation, or with a lousy explanation, in my opinion, are crappy villains.
The Prophet or Truth started out slow, but became a great villain. There was reason as to why he lied, murdered, and lead war against humanity. We found out that he and the other Prophets learned from Mendicant Bias that humanity was the Reclaimers/ descendants of Forerunners, and their Great Journey was a lie. Truth saw that this would destroy the Covenant and lied to everyone to keep power and order. He even let the other Prophet die from a flood spore in the Great Schism.
In conclusion, I believe that to make Halo 4 even better than it already looks, the evil should be a great, thought-out villain with motive and clearly-defined traits. It’ll just make the villain all the more scary and evil.
Or not. IMO Truth was a terrible villain. I didn’t hate him at all, the only reason I wanted to kill him was for taking that alien feel out of the Covenant in Halo 2.
The Alien Queen from Aliens is a perfect example of an awesome villain. It’s animalistic. It’s only ideal is to seed it’s own species. It was truly fearsome. Other villains are just these smart people in suits. Make the villain truly feel like an extraterrestrial threat. Now I wouldn’t mind if we could see that the main “Central Intelligence” can communicate with the player, I just hope it isn’t voiced in English. Perhaps the Intelligence can communicate with the player through terminals or something.
And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
> Or not. IMO Truth was a terrible villain. I didn’t hate him at all, the only reason I wanted to kill him was for taking that alien feel out of the Covenant in Halo 2.
>
> The Alien Queen from Aliens is a perfect example of an awesome villain. It’s animalistic. It’s only ideal is to seed it’s own species. It was truly fearsome. Other villains are just these smart people in suits. Make the villain truly feel like an extraterrestrial threat. Now I wouldn’t mind if we could see that the main “Central Intelligence” can communicate with the player, I just hope it isn’t voiced in English. Perhaps the Intelligence can communicate with the player through terminals or something.
>
> And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
I nearly soiled myself when I first played the cortanna mission on Halo 3. Then again I was about 12 at the time…
> And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
Yes, actually. I thought that Truth was a pretty great villain. The Flood in CE were scary because it was a twist, and Bungie kept that scare going after the 343 Guilty Spark level with the Level that must not be named. Was I terrified of Truth? No. Was I scared and threatened by him? Yes. I’m not saying he’s a better villain than the ones I listed above, but he was still great.
> > And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
>
> Yes, actually. I thought that Truth was a pretty great villain. The Flood in CE were scary because it was a twist, and Bungie kept that scare going after the 343 Guilty Spark level with the Level that must not be named. Was I terrified of Truth? No. Was I scared and threatened by him? Yes. I’m not saying he’s a better villain than the ones I listed above, but he was still great.
How about the ones I listed?
> > Or not. IMO Truth was a terrible villain. I didn’t hate him at all, the only reason I wanted to kill him was for taking that alien feel out of the Covenant in Halo 2.
> >
> > The Alien Queen from Aliens is a perfect example of an awesome villain. It’s animalistic. It’s only ideal is to seed it’s own species. It was truly fearsome. Other villains are just these smart people in suits. Make the villain truly feel like an extraterrestrial threat. Now I wouldn’t mind if we could see that the main “Central Intelligence” can communicate with the player, I just hope it isn’t voiced in English. Perhaps the Intelligence can communicate with the player through terminals or something.
> >
> > And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
>
> I nearly soiled myself when I first played the cortanna mission on Halo 3. Then again I was about 12 at the time…
You should have played Guilty Spark instead.
Cortana wasn’t scary at all. It was just annoying as hell. Also contrary to popular belief, it’s one of the easiest missions on legendary.
> > > Or not. IMO Truth was a terrible villain. I didn’t hate him at all, the only reason I wanted to kill him was for taking that alien feel out of the Covenant in Halo 2.
> > >
> > > The Alien Queen from Aliens is a perfect example of an awesome villain. It’s animalistic. It’s only ideal is to seed it’s own species. It was truly fearsome. Other villains are just these smart people in suits. Make the villain truly feel like an extraterrestrial threat. Now I wouldn’t mind if we could see that the main “Central Intelligence” can communicate with the player, I just hope it isn’t voiced in English. Perhaps the Intelligence can communicate with the player through terminals or something.
> > >
> > > And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
> >
> > I nearly soiled myself when I first played the cortanna mission on Halo 3. Then again I was about 12 at the time…
>
> You should have played Guilty Spark instead.
>
> Cortana wasn’t scary at all. It was just annoying as hell. Also contrary to popular belief, it’s one of the easiest missions on legendary.
I will get CEA eventually. ALthough I doubt I’d be as easily scared now as I was then.
> > > And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
> >
> > Yes, actually. I thought that Truth was a pretty great villain. The Flood in CE were scary because it was a twist, and Bungie kept that scare going after the 343 Guilty Spark level with the Level that must not be named. Was I terrified of Truth? No. Was I scared and threatened by him? Yes. I’m not saying he’s a better villain than the ones I listed above, but he was still great.
>
> How about the ones I listed?
Well, I haven’t seen all of the Alien sequels, but I want to because of Prometheus. And I haven’t seen the Thing.
> > > > And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
> > >
> > > Yes, actually. I thought that Truth was a pretty great villain. The Flood in CE were scary because it was a twist, and Bungie kept that scare going after the 343 Guilty Spark level with the Level that must not be named. Was I terrified of Truth? No. Was I scared and threatened by him? Yes. I’m not saying he’s a better villain than the ones I listed above, but he was still great.
> >
> > How about the ones I listed?
>
> Well, I haven’t seen all of the Alien sequels, but I want to because of Prometheus. And I haven’t seen the Thing.
The Thing is on Youtube. The entire thing (No pun intended). Also, you should definitely watch Aliens. It’s AWESOME. And it’s probably the most major influence for CE there ever was.
> > > > > And did you seriously think that the Prophet of Truth or the Gravemind were scary at all in Halo 3? Did you find them anywhere near as terrifying as the Flood in Halo CE or the Xenomorph from the Alien films, or the Thing from “The Thing” just to name a few examples of awesome alien enemies?
> > > >
> > > > Yes, actually. I thought that Truth was a pretty great villain. The Flood in CE were scary because it was a twist, and Bungie kept that scare going after the 343 Guilty Spark level with the Level that must not be named. Was I terrified of Truth? No. Was I scared and threatened by him? Yes. I’m not saying he’s a better villain than the ones I listed above, but he was still great.
> > >
> > > How about the ones I listed?
> >
> > Well, I haven’t seen all of the Alien sequels, but I want to because of Prometheus. And I haven’t seen the Thing.
>
> The Thing is on Youtube. The entire thing (No pun intended). Also, you should definitely watch Aliens. It’s AWESOME. And it’s probably the most major influence for CE there ever was.
Maybe, when I have time. I have buttloads of homework this weekend.
And I think this thread is getting off-topic.
Villains need many different things.
Terror isn’t necessarily one of them.
Every person needs a backstory; every villain needs his own reason–what made him turn out that way? I don’t know if any of you have seen Wicked, but it has to be kind of like that–step back and look at the whole thing.
How about Saruman in Lord of the Rings? He’s not a huge, imposing villain. He’s a coward, abandoning his beliefs out of fear. He didn’t want land–at least not at first–he wanted to save his own hide.
And the Cortana level? Took me hours on Heroic, but breezed right through it on Legendary. Strange.
> Villains need many different things.
>
> Terror isn’t necessarily one of them.
>
> Every person needs a backstory; every villain needs his own reason–what made him turn out that way? I don’t know if any of you have seen Wicked, but it has to be kind of like that–step back and look at the whole thing.
>
> How about Saruman in Lord of the Rings? He’s not a huge, imposing villain. He’s a coward, abandoning his beliefs out of fear. He didn’t want land–at least not at first–he wanted to save his own hide.
>
>
>
> And the Cortana level? Took me hours on Heroic, but breezed right through it on Legendary. Strange.
I love Wicked, that’s a great example.
every good villain has an English accent.
>
Could you please put this under a spoiler category, I haven’t finished Primordium yet 
The Timeless One in the Halo books has excellent reasoning for wanting revenge on pretty much everything…
> Could you please put this under a spoiler category, I haven’t finished Primordium yet
Sorry about that but I left most of this wonderful novel intact for you.
> The Timeless One in the Halo books has excellent reasoning for wanting revenge on pretty much everything…
And us and our Forerunner brethren have a good reason for wanting to exterminate our parents. 
But yes, I very much agree that the main antagonist in Halo 4 NEEDS to be highly characterized and not just a cut-and-paste commander with no clear motives, emotions, etc. 343 Guilty Spark, the Hierarchs, Tartarus, and the Gravemind were excellent and i’d love to see more of that in the future. Though something more than the “ultimate evil” with no reason behind it other than just for the hell of it wouldn’t help the story out one bit.
I liked Truth as a villain for the Halo games. I mean, I was never terrified of him, but I knew he was lying to the council, his subordinates, and the entire Covenant. On top of that, he was leading the Covenant to attack humans, so I knew he was a doucher who needed to die.
He took a backseat in Halo 3 to the Gravemind, but that made some sense. So yeah, we need some character villain for Halo 4
> > Could you please put this under a spoiler category, I haven’t finished Primordium yet
>
> Sorry about that but I left most of this wonderful novel intact for you.
No problem at all, skipped out on reading most of most your post after the spoiler anyway, so no damage.