Searches gave no results, so eh…
Arbiter: [standing before the heirarchs and the council] There was only one ship.
Prophet of Truth: One? Are you sure?
Arbiter: Yes. They called it the "Pillar of Autumn"
Prophet of Mercy: Why was it not destroyed with the rest of their fleet?
Arbiter: It fled as we set fire to their planet. I followed with all the ships in my command.
Prophet of Regret: When you first saw Halo, were you blinded by its majesty?
Arbiter: Blinded?
Prophet of Regret: Paralyzed? Dumbstruck?
Arbiter: No!
Prophet of Regret: Yet the humans were able to evade your ships, land on the sacred ring, and descrate it with their filthy footsteps!
Arbiter: Noble hierarchs, surely you understand that once the parasite attacked…
[crowd uproars]
Prophet of Mercy: There will be order in this Council!
Prophet of Truth: [Gestures the crowd to be silent] You were right to focus your attention on The Flood, but this Demon? This Master Chief?
Arbiter: By the time I learned of the Demon’s intent, there was nothing I could do!
[crowd uproars again]
Prophet of Regret: [whispering] Prophet of Truth, this has gone on long enough! Make an example of this bungler! The Council demands it!
Prophet of Truth: [to the Arbiter] You are one of our most treasured instruments. Long have you lead your fleet with honor and distinction. But, your inability to safeguard Halo was a colossal failure.
Counselman: Nay! It was heresy!
[crowd uproars intensely]
Arbiter: I will continue my campaign against the humans!
Prophet of Truth: No, you will not.
[Signals the Honor Guards to take him away]
Prophet of Truth: The Great Journey is about to begin. But, when it does, the weight of your heresy will stay your feet… and you shall be left behind.
Halo 2 took an unexpected turn in the series, opening up with the Covenant holding a Council regarding the events that took place under Reach and Combat Evolved.
For the first time allowing us a deeper glimpse at the Covenant, their Capital of High Charity, society, motivations and getting to understand the interaction amongst themselves.
Through the eyes of the Arbiter(and supportive role of Halfjaw!), he who brought doom upon Reach and he who was shamed and fell from grace by the actions of the Master Chief - we got to better understand the Covenant, their inner struggles and the addition of a new dimension, width and depth added to the Halo universe and our understanding of it.
When we joined the Covenant, we took an oath!
: According to our station! All without exception!
: On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, we swore to uphold the Covenant!
: Even to our dying breath!
: Those who would break this oath are heretics! Worthy of neither pity nor mercy!
: We shall grind them into dust! Wipe them as excrement from our boots!
: And continue our march to glorious salvation!
Some people didn’t like this; that the focus wasn’t soley placed on the Chief and the campaign perspective being split - where as others like myself loved it. Although Halo 2 may have not been the best installment due to the studio’s time having ran out - it nevertheless remains my favourite in the franchise.
Now Halo 4 is soon upon us, the start of a new trilogy - and in essence, a bigger, badder and hopefully just as satisfying rerun of Combat Evolved.
The Chief and Cortana are back, by the looks of it being boarded by a Storm Covenant search party - Pillar of Autumn style.
The Shield World of Requiem playing the role of the Halo Ring.
Stuck on an unknown world, with hostile, mostly unintelligible and nasty Covies dropping down from Phantoms and Spirits - and the Prometheans/Didact fulfilling the Sentinel/Ancient Unknown Enemy role.
It’ll be us as the Chief alone, blasting through unrelatable, monstrous Covies and Didact/Prometheans instead of 343 Guilty Spark and his Sentinels.
Now hell yeah to this, but with the series continuation - I’d very much like to see 343 taking a Halo 2 turn with Halo 5, and allowing us to again get some insight into the Covenant, the Arbiter and Halfjaw - just like the Covenant were in turmoil in Halo 2 - the Elites and Covenant remnants are in civil war. Conveniently becoming viable for the classic pattern which Halo 4 is starting out with.
So what do you folks think?
Would you like to see 343 taking a Halo 2 route with Halo 5 - placing some focus and expansion on the Covenant and possibly the Arbiter’s own struggles?
Allowing us further insight and getting some updated mechanical and graphical gameplay experiences through that perspective?
Or should things forever remain as with Combat Evolved and Halo 4 - With the Chief alone, no sidekicks or split perspectives - The Covenant and the Elites remaining the unrelatable, ‘’ Wort, wort, wort! ‘’ alien monsters as they were originally introduced and are being reintroduced as?
And why?
Eitherway, Halo 4 is going gold and will soon be in our hands - and production will be begun on the next installment which will likely fall into the next Console Generation.
Our thoughts, ideas and overall opinions matter now, sooner rather than later when productional visions and designs are finalized and set to manufacture.