Did anyone else notice this dialogue mistake?

Games Other Halo
1

In the first campaign mission, “Dawn”, after John finishes wrestling with the elite he says:

[

> John-117: “I thought we had a truce with the Covenant.”

](http://www.halopedia.org/Dawn_(level)#Transcript)

This annoyed me beyond belief because the UNSC never had a truce with the Covenant, but only had a truce with the Elites that were following under the lead of the Arbiter (Known as the “Covenant Separatists”), who were rebelling against the Covenant.

I simply can’t believe 343i could screw up such a trivial fact in John’s dialogue. Things like this can cause main canon related confusion among new fans of the franshise. They should have had John say “I thought we had an alliance with the Elites” or something along those lines.

Did anybody else notice this? If you did, did it bother you? If you didn’t does it bother you now that you know?

Since people seem to be ignoring citations I linked above (mainly the link about the Covanant Separatists here is a quote from Halopedia:

[

> Sangheili-human alliance
>
>
> The Unggoy [Grunts] were too indecisive to continue the rebellion and the true political motivation of the Mgalekgolo [Hunters], if any, remains a mystery, although Mgalekgolo pairs could have followed the Sangheili they protect. The shaky-to-steady alliance between the separatists and their former foes, the humans, was forged entirely out of necessity. The UNSC forces were on the defensive, and both factions had two common enemies that wished for their extinction: the Covenant and the Flood. The alliance of circumstance was forged in the control room of Delta Halo, when UNSC Sergeant Major A. J. Johnson and the Arbiter were coerced to unite in order to prevent Tartarus, Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, from activating Installation 05.[2] After that, the Arbiter persuaded the rest of the Sangheili to join humanity. While the two factions experience some friction, they learn to work with one another for their mutual survival. By the end of the Human-Covenant War, the Sangheili fight alongside humans in battle and save them from destruction.
>
> The devastated UNSC Home Fleet defending Earth were glad to accept the help of the superior separatist warships. The Sangheili’ understanding of enemy equipment and Covenant’s combat tactics proved invaluable in the Battle of Installation 00. Recurrently the heroes of the battle, Thel 'Vadam and John-117, fought alongside one another many times in the desperate and long conflict.

PS: Does this thread belong more in the “Halo Universe” forums? If it does can the mods move it for me please?](http://www.halopedia.org/Covenant_separatists#Sangheili-human_alliance)

2

I noticed that the first time i played the campaign

3

Holy crap, that’s it. I’m done with this game.

He’s probably just generalizing.

4

After nearly five years of much-needed sleep, maybe he wasn’t thinking? Silly Chief.

5

Well, think about it, Chief has had no word on if the truce was Covenant wide or just Elites, all he knew was that the Elites weren’t gonna attack humanity anymore. Then he was in space for near 5 years. So obviously he’s going to question that.

6

> I noticed that the first time i played the campaign

So did I. I was playing Campaign CoOp with my friend the first night of release and noticed, and it’s bothered me every time I hear it playing through that first level.

7

It’s said that quite a large amount of Grunts and Hunters allied themselves with the Elites and so the Covenant Seperatists included more species than just Elites. That might be what he meant.

8

> It’s said that quite a large amount of Grunts and Hunters allied themselves with the Elites and so the Covenant Seperatists included more species than just Elites. That might be what he meant.

If you are talking about the missions in Halo 2 when you play as the Arbiter, that was before the separatist movement and the Sangheili-Human alliance.

9

There are parts of the campain in halo 3 were you fight with hunters and grunts against the flood, perhaps that is why he said that

10

> There are parts of the campain in halo 3 were you fight with hunters and grunts against the flood, perhaps that is why he said that

Yes, but I’m sure John knew that they were only temporarily allied with him for that. It would be ridiculous for him to assume “Oh, hey these grunts an Hunters are helping me fight flood, I guess the Human-Covenant war is over”.

11

Nope, never noticed it nor does it bother me. What bothers me is when Del Rio calls the Infinity to stand down when the Didact’s cryptum gets pushed back at the end of the level “Infinity” when there is at least one Covenant CCS Battlecruiser in weapons range with little to no damage whilst the Infinity is grounded. No commander in their right minds would order their ship to stand down when an incredibly dangerous and known hostile is within weapons range, especially when their ship can’t move.

12

If I was the creative director I would say that it was a slip of the tongue which adds to the complexity of the character and further humanizes him by showing that he has flaws just like everyone else.

I would then go and find the writer responsible for this line of dialoge and slap them on the back of the head :wink:

13

The Covenant Separatists were still called the Covenant Separatists. Clearly it was a split between the Brutes and Elites. The UNSC had an unofficial truce with the Elites and he was just attacked by an Elite. That is what he was referencing.

14

> If I was the creative director I would say that it was a slip of the tongue which adds to the complexity of the character and further humanizes him by showing that he has flaws just like everyone else.
>
> I would then go and find the writer responsible for this line of dialoge and slap them on the back of the head :wink:

That’s great man! hahaha

In response to the original question. Yes I noticed it and it bothered me a bit as well. To some it may seem like an insignificant detail but given the history and budget the Halo Universe and Series has to work with, it is expected that the integrity of the story line maintains consistency throughout. And i think the fact that this oversight made it into the final release acts as a big slap in the face to the writers every time a gamer plays that segment. Not quite as bad as double dragon 3 for NES when it starts with “Bimmy and Jimmy” instead of “BIlly and Jimmy” LOL!

15

Sure is cOLD around here…

Seriously, I knew they screwed up that line of text the first time I heard it… Did it take you this long to realize it?

16

He’s not a machine, maybe he misspoke.

17

Why don’t you complain and write more essays about it?

Anyway, i’m sure generalizing the races and saying the Covenant is easier than taking the time to break down the specifics. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just the elites that were having a truce by the end of H2/H3; weren’t there some hunters and grunts participating as well?

18

Well Cortana knew what he meant.

19

> > If I was the creative director I would say that it was a slip of the tongue which adds to the complexity of the character and further humanizes him by showing that he has flaws just like everyone else.
> >
> > I would then go and find the writer responsible for this line of dialoge and slap them on the back of the head :wink:
>
> That’s great man! hahaha
>
> In response to the original question. Yes I noticed it and it bothered me a bit as well. To some it may seem like an insignificant detail but given the history and budget the Halo Universe and Series has to work with, it is expected that the integrity of the story line maintains consistency throughout. And i think the fact that this oversight made it into the final release acts as a big slap in the face to the writers every time a gamer plays that segment. Not quite as bad as double dragon 3 for NES when it starts with “Bimmy and Jimmy” instead of “BIlly and Jimmy” LOL!

Thank you! This is exactly what I’ve been trying to say, I just couldn’t put it quite so well! The story and the writing are what put the Halo franchise on the map! I’d expect it to stick to some standards.

20

Covenant can just be considered a vague term for current and former species that resided with the covenant. Like a slang.