In Response To: Spec Thoughts Part I: The Crisis of the Sangheili (Marius Hamilton)
: For my first post, I will first come out of the closet so-to-speak, perhaps
: forever marking myself as something of a zoo animal when held up next to
: the vast majority of Halo fan-boys (and the occasional fan-girl, may the
: Forerunners bless you and keep your souls dear to their hearts for all
: eternity), I must confess: I am a late-comer to the Halo scene as I have
: only been playing for perhaps six or seven months. I have never played
: Halo vs. another human being either on XBL or in a LAN party of any kind.
: I take great pleasure in playing co-op with a friend…I don’t care that
: much of a shit for FPS’s in general, I love Halo because of the story and
: ONLY because of the story. Some pride in me (I don’t really understand it)
: is driving me to continue tinkering with Legendary on Halo2. I feel like I
: can’t say that I’m any good at this game until I can play and do
: reasonably well, beating the game on Legendary without dying more than
: half a dozen times per level. After all, who doesn't wish to be good at
: those things that they enjoy?
: I resent those things in Legendary that adversely affect my suspension of
: disbelief and thus my enjoyment of the story ie; An Elite can kill me with
: a plasma rifle melee in one hit but I can’t do the same to him even with
: the mighty plasma sword. Or the Jackals being able to snipe me dead with
: one shot, ME, the feared legend, John117…but my marine buddies can be shot
: two or three times before they go down…etc. etc.
: But this post isn’t about my troubles with Legendary, this post is about the
: story. I think about the story a lot and I’ve got to thinking about what
: is forthcoming and about the absolutely critical role that the Sangheili
: must play in the resolution of the story arc in Halo3. As a side note, we
: had Halo: Combat Evolved, now we have Halo2: Strategy Evolved. Why not
: Halo3: Victory Evolved? Anyway, I digress, onwards then, to the Crisis of
: the Sangheilli: Part One, The Arbiter and Commander Half-Jaw
: May the Forerunners have mercy upon the Arbiter for his task his herculean.
: Other than what is surely a heroic destiny, he has but one great blessing,
: the earned loyalty of Half-Jaw. But think of what sort of problems face
: the Arbiter right now…right at the end of the Halo2 chapter that we have
: just played through and enjoyed.
: Halo2 ends. Mere minutes before, the Arbiter has defeated Tartarus, the
: mighty chieftain of the now bitterly hated Jiralhanae, a feat that will
: surely earn him a complete pardon in the eyes of the Sangheili public.
: Truly has he redeemed himself in their eyes and is worthy of regaining his
: name (if the Prophets stripped him of it) and whatever status he may have
: had as a fleet admiral. God, I wish I knew the Arbiter’s name. BUT, (and
: the news will surely get out considering its enormous import and sheer
: novelty) the Sangheili were not alone, another can rightfully claim his
: warrior’s share of the Arbiter’s triumph, right along side of the other
: Sangheili who fought Tartarus and died for their bravery. Holy Forerunners
: Batman, did I hear that right? A HUMAN?! Who is this Avery Johnson? Who is
: this Amanda Keyes?
: I am going to assume (because the assumption serves to further the story in a
: favourable way) that the Elite/Brute space battle in and around the now
: evacuated High Charity is won by the Elites. Assuming that the newly freed
: Sangheili Heirarchs/High Councilors who had been imprisoned on
: Installation 05 are willing to play along with the likely decision by the
: Arbiter and Half-Jaw to continue the truce and working relationship with
: the human faction on Installation 05, one of the first tasks that faces
: the Arbiter is to convince the highest ranking living Sangheili naval
: officer in the immediate vicinity of High Charity and Installation 05 that
: the truce with the humans is a thing to be respected.
: Within the first hour or two after Halo2 ends, the Arbiter and Halfjaw have
: to complete the following tasks: 1. Regroup and reorganize the remainder
: of the Spec-Ops cadre present on Installation 05.
: 2. Coordinate a defense with the remaining humans against any remaining
: Jiralhanae and allies still lurking about to say nothing of any nearby
: Flood.
: 3. Establish some sort of working relationship with the newly freed Sangheili
: heirarchs/councilors formerly serving on the Covenant council of
: heirarchs. It is here that it is most likely that a legitimate Sangheilli
: successor government that opposes the Covenant can and probably must be
: established.
: 4. Contact and coordinate with whatever remaining Sangheili naval forces
: remain in-system after the battle of High Charity
: 5. Convince a majority of ranking officers of said forces that A. the
: authority of the remaining Sangheili heirarchs and the Arbiter is
: legitimate and B. that the truce with the humans on installation 05 is to
: be not just honoured for honour’s sake but respected. At this juncture in
: the story, it seems critical that the Sangheili stop hating humanity and
: vice versa, otherwise, all is lost…ALL, is lost.
: 6. Get the hell off of Installation 05 and decide what to do about the humans
: that are there. Take them along? Give them a ship? What?…
: Good God, what a bunch of tasks, and in such a horribly short amount of time.
: Thank the Forerunners that the Arbiter has Half-Jaw at his side. Half-Jaw,
: who has displayed nearly every noble character trait that one could
: possibly want from him. A Spec-Ops commander, silent, invisible, used to
: working behind the scenes while those in Gold Armour receive glory. On at
: least one and probably more occasions during the events of Halo2, Half-Jaw
: guards the back of the Arbiter, willingly sacrificing a position in the
: vanguard where glory is found that he might guard the life of he who has
: won his loyalty. Half-Jaw the humble Sangheili, who’d have thought??? But
: one must be a great follower to be a great leader. Half-Jaw has also
: displayed a clear sense of value for the lives of those who serve under
: him, an officer who values his men. Further, more than just about any
: other of the Sangheili, and certainly more than the gold armoured ship
: masters and heirarchs, Half-Jaw has been in close, probably within arm’s
: reach of humans. Half-Jaw, behind the secrecy of his cloaking device, has
: probably listened to the speech of humans for long periods of time,
: listened to their conversations with each other, their jokes, their
: dreams, their fears. Then he killed them haha! BUT, my guess is that
: Half-Jaw and those like him, make up those portions of the Sangheili
: military machine that have grown to respect humanity and have begun to
: understand the potential that humans have as allies or even, someday,
: friends. In the labours ahead, the Arbiter will have no greater asset than
: Commander Half-Jaw who by all rights should wear the gold.
: The Arbiter and Half-Jaw can and must convince the living heirarchs that
: peace with Humanity is the way to go. But what of the Heirarchs?
: Forerunners have mercy on them in this dark midnight of their souls. What
: do they know as of now?
: Part 2: The Heirarchs, the Sangheili as a whole, and those loyal to them
: 1. The Covenant is broken. Force has been used against them and they have
: been cast down by the Prophets using the strength of the Jiralhanae. They
: have been purged. The mates and children of every Sangheili warrior may be
: in mortal danger, their outer world is in chaos and in peril.
: 2. Due to the testimony of 343GS and the duplicity of the prophets, the
: veracity of their religion, THE religion of the entire Covenant is cast
: into GRAVE doubt. The state of their VERY SOULS is in danger and truth,
: for the first time since the founding of the Covenant is unknown. Not only
: does the spiritual ship of the Sangheili threaten to break upon the stormy
: seas, but they must now find a way to keep the ships of the Unggoy and the
: Lekgolo from likewise breaking. These are people who’s entire existence
: day-to-day is based on faith and now that faith has been crippled, perhaps
: mortally. Not only is their outer world in chaos and peril, so is their
: inner world. Who will they be, the Sangheili? What is the nature of their
: future?
: 3. Some humans, the blasphemers, the infidels, the worthless dogs have earned
: a place of honour. Surely without them, the Arbiter would never have
: triumphed over Tartarus, surely the Rings would have unleashed their fire
: and brought an end to the galaxy and all of the Sangheili. How can this
: be? How can each and every Sangheili acknowledge that in a very real way,
: they owe a life-debt of honour to these enemies of their faith and race? A
: faith that may be a lie? Woah, shit, that might be just too much to even
: think about all at once? A more immediate question might be,
: can/should/will the Sangheili extend the courtesy of honour to humanity as
: a whole, or just this small grouping of humans on Installation05? What of
: the feared demon, the “MasterChief”, human hero and mortal enemy of all
: Sangheili? Do the Sangheili pardon him as well? Is he even a demon? Are
: there such things as demons? Why do the Oracles (a title they reject)
: favour the humans? What’s so damned special about the humans!? ARRRRRGH!
: Once the heirarchs figure out how to deal with all of this super-heavy stuff,
: (and they better damn-well do it mighty quick) then they have to convince
: everybody else as well: All of the remaining Admirals, warriors, mates and
: children as well as the Lekgolo and the Unggoy. If not all of them, then
: enough of them to keep the others from rebeling.
: How is this going to happen? How long have humans and the various races of
: the Covenant been killing each other sparing nothing, giving no mercy, no
: quarter and taking virtually no prisoners? How much hatred has
: accumulated? How much blood and how many tears have been spilled? Where is
: forgiveness and understanding? Where is peace and at what price?
: Seriously, can any of us who haven’t seriously contemplated suicide ever
: imagine how f’d up things are for the Elites right now? The fabric of
: their reality has fallen apart.
: Bungie could potentially exploit a very powerful (mythic, one might say)
: story hook at the end of Halo3 by having the Master Chief and the Arbiter
: die fighting side by side as heroes of their respective races in such a
: way that peace and forgiveness can begin to bloom between humanity and
: their former enemies. When heroes become martyrs for peace, they become
: truly legendary and their stories become a thousandfold more powerful.
bravo dude just,just bravo.....
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