I’ve seen this question raised a few times since the release of the new Halo Wars 2 trailer. It seems odd that Thel 'Vadamee was not sent after a more high-profile target, Atriox, instead of Sesa 'Refumee, when he (Thel) was given the title of Arbiter. He would surely die if he were sent after Atriox, thus accomplishing the Council’s will. However, I think that perhaps The Prophet of Truth hoped to gain the allegiance of Atriox, or some kind of respect from him, partly due to the imminence of the Great Schism. Truth’s desire to replace the Sangheili with the Jiralhanae would not have been helped by him commanding the latest Arbiter to hunt down a group of Jiralhanae.
Thoughts?
Because this is a newer story and there’s no need to retcon everything/Atriox wasn’t deemed high enough threat at the time/some other excuse.
Just roll with it.
Well that’s the obvious answer. I’m trying to analyze this a bit more in-depth and stimulate a conversation.
Sesa was more politically relevant to the time at hand. By then the common covenant civilian was probably used to the Banished being a threat for a decade or more and were probably bored of it. A less ‘interesting’ enemy that probably didn’t show in news broadcasts often anymore compared to propaganda about how well the war with humans were going.
Sesa on the other hand jumped in just when a major blow had been struck to the great journey. He was new and different and his message probably resonated with those disheartened by halo’s destruction. His proximity to Alpha Halo likely also had the prophets worried he’d found something disruptive (ending up being Spark).
Atriox capitalizing on halo’s destruction would make sense, but its also unknown if he still believed in the great journey despite fighting the covenant.
I assume that the Banished were a small faction in the outer system, not necessarily a danger for the Covenant, even though it’d be hard to eliminate them.
If this is true, then it’d make perfect sense, that they sent the arbiter to kill someone, who is starting a civil war in the center of the covenant, rather than sending
him to kill someone, who is hard to get at, but at the same time unimportant.
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> He would surely die if he were sent after Atriox, thus accomplishing the Council’s will.
Debatable. Other than Thel basically being the best elite fighter ever, his track record also seems to be better than Atriox’s, as he has lead the attack on Reach and many more colonies, and later on built up the Swords of Sanghelios, won a civil war and therefore conquered an entire planet. The only thing that is speaking for Atriox, is that Atriox was able to handle 3 spartan 2’s at once, while Thel struggled with one spartan 2, but since then, Thel has gotten way more experienced.
well he was a ship master I say he wouldn’t have time to kill atriox because he was too busy fighting the UNSC
I believe after the mastercheif destroyed the ring all focus went on crushing humanity i believe if atriox destroyed the ring humanity wouldn’t have been hit as far as it did that or the prophets didn’t take them seriously. due to the trailer the army he has is quite small compared to the covenant forces and the unsc forces overtime the covenant and unsc clashed millions on both sides died. id say atriox has a ccs battlecruser and a million forces so about the same as captain cutter and the spirate of fires crew. so i believe he did hit and run tactics and only attacked the covenant (which was preoccupied on crushing humanity then the flood and sagntheli forces) when he needed supplies and equipment
> 2533274804854766;5:
> I assume that the Banished were a small faction in the outer system, not necessarily a danger for the Covenant, even though it’d be hard to eliminate them.
>
> If this is true, then it’d make perfect sense, that they sent the arbiter to kill someone, who is starting a civil war in the center of the covenant, rather than sending
> him to kill someone, who is hard to get at, but at the same time unimportant.
>
>
>
>
> > 2533274991067213;1:
> > He would surely die if he were sent after Atriox, thus accomplishing the Council’s will.
>
> Debatable. Other than Thel basically being the best elite fighter ever, his track record also seems to be better than Atriox’s, as he has lead the attack on Reach and many more colonies, and later on built up the Swords of Sanghelios, won a civil war and therefore conquered an entire planet. The only thing that is speaking for Atriox, is that Atriox was able to handle 3 spartan 2’s at once, while Thel struggled with one spartan 2, but since then, Thel has gotten way more experienced.
one problem his fleet and forces were far superior then the unsc forces. atriox has the same amount of tech and fire power as the covenant so they could be equal matched with only taticts to give them the edge
> 2533274804854766;5:
> Debatable. Other than Thel basically being the best elite fighter ever, his track record also seems to be better than Atriox’s, as he has lead the attack on Reach and many more colonies, and later on built up the Swords of Sanghelios, won a civil war and therefore conquered an entire planet. The only thing that is speaking for Atriox, is that Atriox was able to handle 3 spartan 2’s at once, while Thel struggled with one spartan 2, but since then, Thel has gotten way more experienced.
I dont get why Reach is a great notch on the belt. He lead a numerically overwhelming fleet of technologically superior ships. He charged said ships at the orbital guns, while the sniper ship designed to take them out had a delayed arrival and was subsequently destroyed because he didn’t give it any escort craft. It was a great victory, yes, but it took little skill on his behest.
> 2533274964189700;4:
> Sesa was more politically relevant to the time at hand. By then the common covenant civilian was probably used to the Banished being a threat for a decade or more and were probably bored of it. A less ‘interesting’ enemy that probably didn’t show in news broadcasts often anymore compared to propaganda about how well the war with humans were going.
>
> Sesa on the other hand jumped in just when a major blow had been struck to the great journey. He was new and different and his message probably resonated with those disheartened by halo’s destruction. His proximity to Alpha Halo likely also had the prophets worried he’d found something disruptive (ending up being Spark).
>
> Atriox capitalizing on halo’s destruction would make sense, but its also unknown if he still believed in the great journey despite fighting the covenant.
Bold 1 also occurred to me, but we don’t yet know what kind of force Atriox had amassed by then, and just how active he was against the Covenant.
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> > 2533274804854766;5:
> > Debatable. Other than Thel basically being the best elite fighter ever, his track record also seems to be better than Atriox’s, as he has lead the attack on Reach and many more colonies, and later on built up the Swords of Sanghelios, won a civil war and therefore conquered an entire planet. The only thing that is speaking for Atriox, is that Atriox was able to handle 3 spartan 2’s at once, while Thel struggled with one spartan 2, but since then, Thel has gotten way more experienced.
>
> I dont get why Reach is a great notch on the belt. He lead a numerically overwhelming fleet of technologically superior ships. He charged said ships at the orbital guns, while the sniper ship designed to take them out had a delayed arrival and was subsequently destroyed because he didn’t give it any escort craft. It was a great victory, yes, but it took little skill on his behest.
Reach wasn’t my main point.Overall, his track record under the Covenant is extremely impressive, as he has fought and won many battles.
And even after that, he was partly responsible for the defeat of the Covenant and he is now in control of Sanghelios.
His whole story is bascially straight success:
- went up in ranks during the Covenant war
- made one mistake in the prophet’s eyes
- became the arbiter & killed a heretic leader
- fought his way through to the index
- fought back against the Covenant & became leader of the Sangheili
- killed Tartarus
- stopped installation 05 from firing
- helped Chief defeat the Covenant with his new army
- returned to his home planet
- won a civil war
Just to put it short (and I know I’m repeating myself quite a bit): he was successful in the Covenant, then he turned on them, defeated them, fought a civil war and is now leader of Sanghelios.
> 2533274991067213;3:
> Well that’s the obvious answer. I’m trying to analyze this a bit more in-depth and stimulate a conversation.
I get it. The grown-ups are talking. I’ll go play with my toys.
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> > 2533274991067213;3:
> > Well that’s the obvious answer. I’m trying to analyze this a bit more in-depth and stimulate a conversation.
>
> I get it. The grown-ups are talking. I’ll go play with my toys.
Bruh.
> 2533274991067213;13:
> > 2533274809541057;12:
> > > 2533274991067213;3:
> > > Well that’s the obvious answer. I’m trying to analyze this a bit more in-depth and stimulate a conversation.
> >
> > I get it. The grown-ups are talking. I’ll go play with my toys.
>
> Bruh.
sulking intensifies
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> > 2533274991067213;13:
> > > 2533274809541057;12:
> > > > 2533274991067213;3:
> > > > Well that’s the obvious answer. I’m trying to analyze this a bit more in-depth and stimulate a conversation.
> > >
> > > I get it. The grown-ups are talking. I’ll go play with my toys.
> >
> > Bruh.
>
> sulking intensifies
Fine. When all of the anti-343i nitpickers come out to pout, I won’t be here to provide a voice of reason.
pouts
To be honest though, I’ve pretty much lost interest in the Halo lore. It’s just too much for me and Halo 5’s loose ends, let downs, and outright inconsistencies really broke this camel’s back.
As long as each story can be engaging in a self-contained manner, then I’ll be happy. I don’t need an overarching grand tale of non-stop continuity pock marked with loose ends and dead-ends.
Atriox defied the Covenant’s authority, but as far as I know he wasn’t actively preaching heresy. Maybe Arby would have eventually been sent after the Banished, but there were other things the Prophets wanted to take care of first.
> 2533274953123640;17:
> Atriox defied the Covenant’s authority, but as far as I know he wasn’t actively preaching heresy. Maybe Arby would have eventually been sent after the Banished, but there were other things the Prophets wanted to take care of first.
Exactly. They sent the Arbiter after the pressing need at the time. And the plan was to have him killed by Tartarus eventually anyway. So I don’t think it ever would have been in the cards…until Halo 6 
Lore-wise, the Covenants belief-system revolved around killing humans. Therefore they practically were wasting all their resources against the humans, Yes, may be a new story, but the banished in general were mentioned before. In my opinion the Prophets were either stupid or careless to not see Atriox as a threat.
My guess is that after the discovery of Delta Halo, the Covenant’s attention changed to guarding it. After that failed, Truth set his eyes on the Ark. Also, if he activated it, and the other Halo rings, he could take out humanity, The Flood, and The Banished in one fell swoop. Also, he was possibly keeping secrets from Thel himself. So, if the Swords Of Sanghelios ever encounter The Banished, they’re in for a horrifying surprise.