Now I have noticed more and more of the immense fandom of Elites as I explore and participate in the forums. A lot of people want them back as part of Multiplayer, including myself. Now other than just the huge fan base for Elites from prior games being overlooked, there are important details from the past Halo games that just seem to be overlooked as well, and even in Halo 5 there is a huge part that was not taken advantage of to incorporate in Multiplayer.
First thing we should remember is what started playable Elites in Halo franchise…well technically WHO? The Arbiter. The first time a player experiences the Halo Universe as something other than a Spartan. This was a big change and greatly expanded the Halo experience. Because of the Arbiter and his major role in Halo 2 campaign, Elites were also incorporated into Multiplayer for players to be, almost like picking a team other than being Red or Blue. Also as the Master Chief is running through High Charity to catch up to Truth, you see two prior enemies fighting each other which I will bring back up later. It even made sense why Elites and Spartans would be on the same side because of the Arbiter’s following after leaving the Covenant. Then in Halo 3, Master Chief & Arbiter, they were side by side throughout the whole campaign (if you played with a friend in Co op, which is the best way to play Halo 3) and were a real powerful duo, showing off what a Spartan and a Sangheili can do together. This same teamwork was part of the Multiplayer with again the choice to be a Spartan or an Elite.
Now the examples of teams of the two races, in the Halo games, parts of the story give reasons why they would be part of the Multiplayer. In Halo 3, there are moments that both the UNSC and the Arbiter’s Elites are fighting along side each other against the Covenant. So of course it would make sense for them to be on the same team in Multiplayer. However, in Halo 2 and 3 you never see an Elite fight another Elite except in the Multiplayer, then in Halo 4 you find out not all the Elites followed the Arbiter some have stayed with the Covenant. Which brought back Elite enemies, and none of them friendly, just like back in Halo CE they were the enemy. Which holds to why there are no Elites in Halo 4 Multiplayer.
Next, Halo 5 has very important plot points that would justify Elites being back into Multiplayer. First off, the Arbiter is back! That alone should warrant having Elites for multiplayer, it is the Arbiter who is a major character, fan favorite, voiced by Keith David, and the most iconic Sangeili of the Halo Universe, the Arbiter was the one players for the first time were able to be something different, and in a way to play the enemy. The Arbiter was also the story element that lead to players being Elites in the first place. Just him being a part of the story should mean a player can play as an Elite somewhere in the game. On top of that Halo 5 introduced one thing that no other prior Halo campaign has, Elites against Elites. Players go to the home world of Elites, Sangheilios. We go to their home planet, marvel at the massive statues in the canyons of ancient Sangheili, we even come into contact with the first proof of females of their species! Now those are new and extremely significant elements added to the Halo player’s experience, and could and should have been more often capitalized on in Halo 5. From those brand new aspects to the player’s view on the Halo Universe, which would make having the choice to play as a Spartan or a Sangheili make complete sense, they even could have made female or male body types as well!
Now, I will play devil’s advocate here and state why Elites would not be a logical choice in multiplayer. So lets say that well the Elite body, from past games to now, have changed and now they are not as similar in scale, size, and shape to Spartans. And yes there are obvious and drastic physical differences of the Elites from Halo 2 and Halo 3 to the Elites in Halo 4 and Halo 5 (I would say the Elites in Halo Reach are a fair median). Elites are now way larger and taller in scale then Halo 3, just think of when you assassinate an Elite in Halo 5 your Spartan’s legs dangle as he/she climbs on the Elites back. In Halo 3 Elites could fit in air vents if they crouched, in a Scorpion’s or Hornet’s driver seat, The Arbiter even dashed through the doorway in between the back and the cockpit of a Pelican without even ducking! The Arbiter must have gained a lot of weight when he thought his best buddy had died, because I don’t even think he would even fit in the back of an Pelican anymore! So its clear the scaling of Elites is different now, and I can understand how players being an Elite would be bigger targets, have a higher eye level than Spartans, have a larger head, might not fit right in some vehicles, and for all of that and probably more would create unbalanced gameplay between players. Unless they could change those somehow I haven’t thought of. If so maybe Elites and Spartans on the same teams again and fighting each other may not be something 343i can do. Which would be disappointing but I would understand. But 343i did create a multiplayer experience for Elites, but did not realize it which is what I am really upset with.
On Sangheilios, home planet of the Sangheili, we see that same race at full out war! This is different from Elites fighting the Covenant in Halo 3. Why? Because that happening, Elite against Elite, was AVOIDED before! Why that is is up for debate, it could be for a lot of reasons, but the fact that it was avoided and now we see a planet where it is nothing but that…is mindblowing! Sure you can say it happened before in Halo 2 with the Arbiter and the Heretic, but that was the first time we see these rugged almost sickly looking Elites, and the last time. As players, there was no real reason we should like or hate the heretics other than “oh they are bad mouthing the space turkeys we call prophets, what jerks” so they never left an impact for the player. But now we have two sides, The Swords of Sangheilios and The Covenant! The side that is led by everyone’s favorite Elite, the Elite we first walked as, the one who many of us have gotten a Mark of Shame tattoo to match with (or that might only be a few of us ), the leader who is not “worried so easy”. The Arbiter! The other side we have fought since the beginning and we know what they are capable of and are why we have struggled to be Legendary, because of them we lost Reach (more importantly they killed Emile!), and because of them we were awoken from cryo sleep…twice! The Covenant Elite!..(This is where I might seem upset)…These two sides, these essential parts to the Halo 5 campaign, these two Sangheili based factions, how could they not be in multiplayer? The Swords of Sangheilios’ Elites against the Covenant’s Elites, how was that overlooked? They are even colored themed to be a multiplayer gametype already! The Swords have shown that they commonly armor themselves and all their vehicles in red, and since we have stepped out of cryostasis on The Pillar of Autumn, we see streaks of blue flying and glowing blue grenades hurled toward friendly Marines and only to be fired from the first Elite we ever see in blue armor, we have associate the Covenant with blue. Now I know I have thought about this a lot, but how could they overlook these blatant details that practically spoon feed the idea of: