Something I been thinking of in my head when did the Banished and Atriox attack the Infinity. I know Chief met him on Reach, but then I hear about portal opening and Atriox leading the Banished. But was that portal from the Ark, or did he go there after attacking the Infinity?
Because if it was after, its such a cool thought that Atriox took out the UNSC flagship but then is struggling against the 30 year old Spirit of Fire.
The timeline would be that Atriox was on the Ark, fighting against the SoF, got the portal to Reach opened, left the Ark (and left a portion of his forces to continue to fight against the SoF), and then the attack on the Infinity happened after.
The insinuation at the end of Halo Wars 2 is that Atriox only dedicated a portion of his forces to fight against the SoF.
After Halo Wars 2 ending inthe year 2559 Shadow of Reach novel leads us to Halo Infinite. You can look up the dates online.
Halo Wars 2 is before halo infinite.
Well thats dumb. The whole point the SoF stays on the Ark is the prevent Atriox from leaving. He leaves his forces there kind of just does nothing and leads no point for their story to conflict.
Halo: Divine Wind sheds more light on the purposes of the leftover Banished on the Ark, and sets up interesting possibilities for future game tie ins. Worth a read if you want to see where the SoF and Ark angle is presently at.
One old ship with half a crew vs the entire might (or at least a sizeable portion) of the banished, a group that even the covenant at the hight of it’s power couldn’t get close to defeating? I don’t think the Spirit of Fire had containing the banished in the cards for them. Besides, Halo: Shadows of Reach and Halo: Devine Wind explain both how Atriox manages to return to the Orion galaxy and what the remainder of the Banished on the Ark are up to like @N0_REM0RS3 was saying. It’s not that hard to infer why Atriox left as many troops behind as he did.
But thats not the point. Even in thee campaign, Cutter states their priority is the hold out and maintain the Banished from leaving the Ark, that included Atriox. Knowing now that he just portaled away to the main story plot. Whatever they said for the remaining portion of the Banished on the Ark doesn’t matter, its just a reason for them to still be relevant in the background. But it just cancels out the purpose of the SoF from ever tying into the main story, or even having a continuation.
343 is exactly known for making the best use of the storylines they have already.
And despite their best efforts, they simply were unable to achieve this. The ship only had a crew complement of around 5,500 by the time they got to the Ark and suffered heavy casualties during the Ark conflict. Be realistic here @UniSectorian, they were severely outgunned and outnumbered. Atriox’s escape was inevitable.
Chief did not, in fact, meet Atriox on Reach. I can assure you that Halo: Shadows of Reach would have included a lengthy chapter dedicated to such an encounter and not just “and the master chief saw Atriox and then decided to kill some random grunt”. The only other spartan encounter with Atriox himself that we know of is Red Team on the Ark on March 28, 2559, which ended with SCPO Spartan Douglas-042 severely wounded by crushing his left shoulder.
What do you think I’m arguing about here? Im not arguing the fact that the SoF should’ve whooped the Banished on the Ark. Im talking about how the 343i neglects them from the main story by ridding a key antagonist. Saying “Some forces left don’t he Ark” doesn’t make them relevant. It just gives a reason on what the SoF are still doing. Even then, the SoF aren’t doing anything related to the main story.
IK already made a thread about how they will lose once. But they should’ve had a key role to play with their post credit scene. But now 343i threw them out of the plot, and even out of their own goal of fighting.
The thing is the SoF wasn’t part of the main story (I assume by the main story you are referring to the reclaimer saga and whatnot). They are kinda their own thing but still cannon.
I don’t think you understand what I am talking about.
The HW2 post ending scene was the opportunity to tie them in to the main story. But with them just battling some Banished on the Ark and their main antagonist in the main story, they through the chance of the SoF out the window.
At least I know that I’m not on the same page now. I mean they also threw the entire Created conflict out the window by killing Cortana in Infinite so I guess they rendered the cutscene somewhat moot. But I agree that they destroyed any chances to tie the SoF to the main story. That might have been the plan all along though.
In the book Halo Divine Wind it’s mentioned that Atriox departed for the Ark a few months before Cortanas uprising and arrived after Portal to Earth shut due to her actions. Not sure how he knew or could have planned but okay…
He then returns to the Galaxy during the book Shadow of Reach due to a portal being on Reach, which is mentioned in Halo Infinite audio logs where they get the cloned brains to make the Weapon. So iInfinite is firmly set after Halo Wars 2.
As an aside not sure why they needed to go to Reach for them when they have Halsey but okay…
I know. It’s weird that he made such an effort to take the Ark only to zip back to the main galaxy having utterly failed in all his objectives and got most of his army killed in a disastrous campaign.
I guess the Ark was a feint and he was really after Zeta Halo. 
They did something similar with Abaddon in 40k. He didn’t lose 12 of the previous Black Crusades. They were all this intricate master plan…he’s even called the Warmaster as well like Atriox.
Spirit of Fire was from a more epic time. New UNSC leadership is cringe
It should be noted that flash cloning people is illegal and that Halsey still had viable brains in her lab on Reach. So it would effectively mean sacrificing Halsey to get her brain pattern otherwise. Also, I’m pretty sure that the other thing that gets retrieved in Shadows of Reach is research from the artifact she is studying during halo reach.
Who says that he knew or planned for that? It seems more likely that the timing was coincidental.
Taking the Ark wasn’t much of an issue at all if you look at the conflict history. Atriox takes the Ark on November 25, 2558, from a UNSC security detachment with a handful of Mantis exoskeletons and M12 Warthogs with at least one Scarab, Banshees, Spirits, Blisterbacks, an assault carrier, and god knows how many ground troops. Banished win easily. Atriox’s play for power is admittedly shattered in a period of only 5 days of fighting the SoF starting March 28, 2559, but doesn’t necessarily fail in all his objectives as he does find out about the Endless while on the Ark.
Yeah, things were built differently 29 years ago. But war, war never changes.
It’s more than a little convenient. The only reason the UNSC didn’t send the Home Fleet from Earth to destroy Atriox is because his arrival coincides with the Created Uprising. This shuts the portal down which meant the Spirit of Fire mysteriously showing up (five years for an explanation on that and counting) and he is able to take the Ark with a single Assault Carrier.
In Halo Wars 2 you win every single battle, destroy their flagship, kill tens of thousands of Banished soldiers; that’s a defeat. My point is they are doing what they did with Abaddon to frame that as not being a disaster or reflecting badly on Atriox because they want to build him up as the antagonist. So him finding the Endless becomes a win and not a disastrous attempt to take a Halo ring where you got smashed by a single human ship you outnumbered a thousand to one.
Hopefully the Encyclopedia gives a clear cut description of the power level of the Banished. Is this the First Order or are they the Nihil.
On another note - Just saw contents page of Halo Encyclopedia. It’s not looking good for the Created. Looks like a heavy retcon unless they’re lumped into the Forerunner and Human sections. I should be getting book this weekend so I’ll have more to say on it then. 