In all my time playing Halo, I have never understood this line, “Were it so easy?” Is it even grammatically correct? I don’t go up to a friend and go “Were the exam so easy?” It’s just wrong. Why does Arby say it anyways? It’s just something that’s been on my mind for a long time, and I figured it was time for an answer.
Before that Hood says “I can’t believe he’s dead” or something like that about Master
Chief. I think the Arbiter says “were it so easy” because he was never able to defeat him in Halo 1.
> “Were it so easy?” Is it even grammatically correct?
Yes it is. It’s not a question though.
Were it so easy to kill me I would not be here.
Were it so easy to kill him none of us would be here.
Thel is just leaving the rest unsaid.
I thought it had to do with the fact he was difficult to kill and that he had died so easily at the end of Halo 3.
You want a clear, definitive answer?
WERE IT SO EASY.
> You want a clear, definitive answer?
>
> <mark>WERE IT SO EASY.</mark>
Best quote by the Arbiter.
> > You want a clear, definitive answer?
> >
> > <mark>WERE IT SO EASY.</mark>
>
> Best quote by the Arbiter.
I have been saying that since '07.
> In all my time playing Halo, I have never understood this line, “Were it so easy?” Is it even grammatically correct? I don’t go up to a friend and go “Were the exam so easy?” It’s just wrong. Why does Arby say it anyways? It’s just something that’s been on my mind for a long time, and I figured it was time for an answer.
Were it so easy to answer this question
> In all my time playing Halo, I have never understood this line, “Were it so easy?” Is it even grammatically correct? I don’t go up to a friend and go “Were the exam so easy?” It’s just wrong. Why does Arby say it anyways? It’s just something that’s been on my mind for a long time, and I figured it was time for an answer.
im pretty sure he said “WORRIED so easy?”
Yoda always kind of talk backwards like: “To the command center, take me” It makes since, it’s just weird that’s all.
hes basicly saying if it were that easy to kill chief he would have done it by now…
> > “Were it so easy?” Is it even grammatically correct?
>
> Yes it is. It’s not a question though.
>
> Were it so easy to kill me I would not be here.
>
> Were it so easy to kill him none of us would be here.
>
> Thel is just leaving the rest unsaid.
Winning answer.
> im pretty sure he said “WORRIED so easy?”
Read what you just said, doesn’t make much sense does it.
Were it so easy has been used forever.
Yeah, it’s grammatically correct.
Look at this Wikipedia page.
> A pluperfect subjunctive may be considered to exist; its form (had with past participle) does not differ from the corresponding indicative, but a distinction can be sought in the possibility of inversion: had I sung… (equivalent to if I had sung).
Had I sung… = If I had sung…
Were it so easy… = If it were so easy…
Were instead of was is necessary here because of the subjunctive. The Arbiter’s basically saying “If only it were so easy…”
It’s a contrary-to-fact conditional statement that leaves off the ending to imply a sense of longing for it to be true. Just like if someone asked you:
“Can you come with me on the trip?”
you might say…
“If I only could…”
Same deal here.
When the Arbiter initially said “Were it so Easy”, he was referring to how difficult it is for him to depart from his anti-human mindset he had adopted throughout the human-covenant war. There’s also the possibility that he was referring to Covenant forces surrounding them, and how relentlessly ‘brutal they’ are.
The second times he says it, at the end of Halo 3 where they are hosting the Voi memorial, was more spiritual in nature. After Lord Hood mentioned Chief’s death being difficult to grasp, the Arbiter likely concurs with him. He could also be doubting Hood’s assertion that the Chief is dead, as he could believe that you can never kill such a noble warrior - and that remnants of Chief still live on. Either throgh an afterlife or John literally surviced the aftermath. If this is what Thel meant, then he was right; John-117 is still alive and we’ll be playing as him again in Halo 4.
I’ve always loved this quote. It’s inentionally vague and cryptic, and it inspires feelings of awe and a sense of mystery. It can be interpreted in multiple ways. And it’s also of a poetic nature; Thel says it at the very beginning of Halo 3, then he says it at the end. Each time with a different meaning.