The Elite John fights on the Covenant ship and sends down in a drop pod was the Arbiter, right? For some reason I remembered this now, always wanted to know
If you mean Thel, then no, that was not the elite John fought. In fact, I’m pretty sure Thel isn’t mentioned at all in First Strike.
It isn’t him. Nylund may have intended for that particular Elite to be the future Arbiter but later material invalidates that possibility. Thel was his fleet’s supreme commander and a Zealot, not a mere SpecOps trooper. Besides, he had already left the Soell system aboard his flagship (the assault carrier Seeker of Truth) by the time the human survivors boarded Ascendant Justice. It’s also important to note that Ascendant Justice (despite the name) didn’t belong to the Fleet of Particular Justice: She was part of a scout flotilla dispatched from High Charity.
As for Truth referring to “the incompetent who lost Ascendant Justice” at the end of First Strike, that’s another artifact of Bungie not keeping Nylund fully informed of Halo 2’s story. You’d think the Hierarchs would care infinitely more about the destruction of one of the Sacred Rings than for the loss of a mere DDS-class carrier, let alone a vessel that wasn’t even part of Thel’s fleet. Why 343i didn’t change the line to “the incompetent who lost Halo” when they revised the book is quite bewildering.
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> If you mean Thel, then no, that was not the elite John fought. In fact, I’m pretty sure Thel isn’t mentioned at all in First Strike.
The Elite was the Shipmaster of the Fleet’s mothership, and he survived the clash (in a drop pod). It was never confirmed that this was Thel, but Thel was supposedly the commander of the fleet at Installation 04. When I first read the book (after playing Halo 2) I thought it was a potential Easter egg.
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> It isn’t him. Nylund may have intended for that particular Elite to be the future Arbiter but later material invalidates that possibility. Thel was his fleet’s supreme commander and a Zealot, not a mere SpecOps trooper. Besides, he had already left the Soell system aboard his flagship (the assault carrier Seeker of Truth) by the time the human survivors boarded Ascendant Justice. It’s also important to note that Ascendant Justice (despite the name) didn’t belong to the Fleet of Particular Justice: She was part of a scout flotilla dispatched from High Charity.
>
> As for Truth referring to “the incompetent who lost Ascendant Justice” at the end of First Strike, that’s another artifact of Bungie not keeping Nylund fully informed of Halo 2’s story. You’d think the Hierarchs would care infinitely more about the destruction of one of the Sacred Rings than for the loss of a mere DDS-class carrier, let alone a vessel that wasn’t even part of Thel’s fleet. Why 343i didn’t change the line to “the incompetent who lost Halo” when they revised the book is quite bewildering.
Okay that was what I was looking for. So could Nylund’s have intended for him to be Thel at first? Before Bungie retconned it? That would still be cool IMO.
I originally thought it was Thel seeing as the elite put up quite a fight. What actually happened in the end, I know chief was victorious but what happened exactly?
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> I originally thought it was Thel seeing as the elite put up quite a fight. What actually happened in the end, I know chief was victorious but what happened exactly?
We’ll, I read the book a generation ago but IIRC it ended with Chief sending the Elite down in a drop pod.
I doubt it was Thel. John held that Elite up to an opening with Johnson and Locklear on the other side and they unloaded into the Elites spine.
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> I originally thought it was Thel seeing as the elite put up quite a fight. What actually happened in the end, I know chief was victorious but what happened exactly?
The chief and the Elite fought hand to hand combat. Chief was in serious trouble because the elite was extremely quick and skilled with the energy sword. Luckily chief had an ODST and Johnson on the other side of the door that didn’t open all the way. He managed to pin the elite up against the opening and the two unloaded bullets into the elite’s spine. After gaining the upper hand he threw the elite into a pod and jetted it out.
Forgive me but I wrote this while trying to fall asleep.