Why Arbiter is the most “Human” character in the Halo Trilogy | Halo 2 Retrospective

the arbiter is one of the most interesting characters in Halo he was introduced to the series as the one in charge of the Covenant campaign during the fall of reach and by extension the Battle of Halo and where we are now currently he's a changed man and is a force of change for his whole species dragging his civilization out of the pits of blind servitude and into the Sun as free thinking individuals not bound by outdated tradition the arbiter is a character whose arc is spanning multiple games and as someone who personally grew up with this character it's fun to see where he's going and I can only wonder what the end of his personal journey will look like this will be the start of a retrospective series analyzing the arbiter and there's no better place to start then with his introduction keep in mind that these are just my personal feelings on the character and if you feel differently please feel free to comment below your personal deconstructions I'd love to hear how you viewed his character so without further ado let's begin the character who came to be known as the arbiter was once a terrifying covenant leader who had the name of fel vadym II humanity was definitely outgunned and on the run but they could always count on the predictable nature of the Covenant to allow them time to at least flee or prepare for the assaults what freaked out the UNSC and the Office of Naval Intelligence was how this one specific covenant leader was seemingly always one step ahead of humanity enacted very out of character for most covenant generals the same fleet that brought down planet reach was led by him something a lot of people don't consider when thinking about halo is that humanity was on the run they were actually truly losing and a majority of the reasons why was because of this one elite and his uncanny tactical aggression forth elven ami this was a crusade a holy war a cleansing a religious act of purifying the galaxy humanity had realistic stakes their lives their families their future the Covenant didn't need such things sure they cared for their brothers and sisters but you need to understand that their unusual aggression as an enemy was fueled by the knowledge that they were carrying out divine orders if they die on the battlefield they will be rewarded a thousand times over in death by the gods Salvati himself was incredibly demoralizing for humans in the ways that he would personally show up on battlefields he was impossible to take down it was almost as if there was something to it his golden armor and glowing sword made him look like some kind of ethereal Spectre that descended from the heavens to carry out the work of the gods but no there was nothing Supernatural about him he was simply an incredibly intelligent elite who is raised to cherish tradition and personal beliefs his passion and devotion to his religion and fellow covenant caused him to become a zealot at a young and quickly work his way up from there until he eventually became a proper ship master and then Supreme Commander vana me believed it was their destiny to walk among the stars with the forerunners and he had every intention on making that happen world after world of fell by his hand and he had humanity on the run and it seemed as if he had finally put the nail in the coffin for Humanity as his glassing beams purified the surface of reach and he rapidly caught up with a pillar of autumn until halo we all know the story of combat Evolved and we all know how it ends so I don't need to recap that but behind the scenes a power struggle was going on between the supreme commander himself and a representative of the prophets the minister of etiology the minister was attempting to seize control of the operation under the excuse that this was now a religious matter since they found the fabled halo this power struggle is part of why the covenant forces on the ring were so disorganized despite that same covenant force being able to take down an entire planet it was an infuriating mess for the commander as this prick politician intentionally was trying to use his personal beliefs as a way to gain political power if it weren't for the minister's meddling bottome probably would have secured the ring driven the humans off of it and continued to finally win the war but that's not what happened despite the best efforts of fel Vata me the ring was destroyed the undefeatable commander had lost not only had he lost the holy ring was completely destroyed this man who is driven so strongly by his passion and devotion to the Covenant had just committed an unforgivable sin to make matters even more humiliating the demon responsible for halos destruction managed to take control one of their ships and escaped alive fell vada me was on his way to becoming a permanent part of covenant history and in a way he had he was a disgusting disgrace not only had he lost a pretty damn important battle he allowed the most holy of monuments the fabled halo to be violated pillaged and then destroyed by humanity it was at this day that vada me died his name was taken from him his armor violently torn off of his body and his body branded for all to see with the mark of shame and finally once his humiliation torture and desecration were all done he would be publicly executed he was now this nameless naked creature with no identity and no worth to him he didn't belong to anybody especially not the Covenant he was doomed to die alone rejected by the brothers and sisters he cared for and fought for could you imagine if someone did this to you because of a mistake out of your control you had everything robbed from you even your own damn name didn't belong to you anymore what probably speaks to the humility of Vata me is how he didn't even protest or fight back he allowed this to happen to him and he accepted his sentence this shows this wasn't about power or glory tip he was fighting for a cause he truly believed it for a people he truly believed in when the elite formerly known as fel Vata me was branded with the mark of shame and stripped of his name and rank the terrifying human slaughtering covenant general died in a sort of baptism being washed in the light of the arbiter was like a cleansing of sorts a new beginning arbiter even seems to acknowledge this during the campaign he will serve the prophets as their holy art better but nothing can remove the mark from his chest nothing will give him back his former name halo 2 anniversary provides interesting little character details that add to the flavor of the story some choices I'd disagree with with the directing of the cutscenes but the ones involving the arbiter are quite strong and breathes a subtle bit of character development in him when he was wearing the armor in the ship with the other elites he's visibly embarrassed he has a hard time looking at the elites around him and he even has a harder time standing up to the shipmaster talking him down even his little retort to the shipmaster seems pathetic and the shipmaster seemed to think so as well in the way that he just scoffed he didn't need to take offence at the arbiters retort it came from an elite wearing the mark of shame after all arbiter once stood on the command deck of capital ships overseeing the glassing of planets now he was in the dirty rusty belly of a phantom our bidder must be truly embarrassed and humiliated to be surrounded by his fellow elites I was bullied a lot in middle school and the one thing that I hated that my classmates did was act as if I did something wrong they'd be talking amongst each other laughing until I got close or entered the room then they would all stop and just kind of stare and disgust at me I was a pretty tall kid so my height made me feel even more self-conscious I started to feel like a spotlight was on me at all times and I truly felt embarrassed to even be in the room with other people I couldn't stand up to go to the bathroom without eyes following me I couldn't sharpen my pencil I couldn't COFF raise my hand to anything when I watched the halo 2 anniversary cutscenes I really appreciate the detail in arbiters body language that truly shows someone self-conscious and aware that everyone around him is judging him what's even better is throughout the campaign as arbiter starts to bond with the shipmaster and is elites you can see the biases they have against him fading the moment where the shipmasters opinion of arbiter began changing I believe is how arbiter damn near killed himself trying to get the heretic remember earlier on when the shipmaster said these are my elites their lives matter to me yours doesn't know this moment here is arbiter respecting that I'm going to cut it get everyone back to the ships it's true his life doesn't matter but the elites around him their lives do and so arbiter gives the ship master and his troops enough time to escape before executing his suicidal plan when arbiter sees the ship master again there's no ill will there's even a bit of respect and held ship master even tries to return the favor at one point by fighting off the flood to buy our better time the ship master cares about his elites his brothers and now arbiter is one of them when arbiter is finally betrayed by Tartarus understand that arbiters whole world must be falling apart he lost his name his rank and now he finds that his own profits have turned on him I've said before that I'm Russian Orthodox Christian and these last few years I've been having a bit of a personal crisis of faith myself it's hard to grow up with a belief that helped shape the person you are only to eventually start questioning its legitimacy these last few years have made the story of halo to resonate with me a lot stronger than usual because I can empathize with arbiter I know what he's going through that feeling of being lost in life in halo 2 anniversary I'm actually not a fan of this scenes construction because I do feel it misses out on a lot of subtle things from the original cutscene like how the prophets are usually presented as having smooth motions and soothing voices well in the gravemind cutscene the Prophet is grotesque twitchy shaky and just shrieking nonsense or how arbiter is constantly struggling and squirming and then starts to slow down and listen as the gravemind talks something I actually like in this grave my cutscene is that when he's finally confronted with the truth about halo you can see arbiter falling back on old cliches and tropes from his faith he's struggling and trying to reject the truth because he's scared of it being a lie he's scared of everything he's ever fought for his whole life and the he Shriya this species being for nothing there's something almost poetic about the fact that he's presented with a disgustingly mutated profit it's almost like you're seeing the profits twisted in corrupt soul even when confronted with the truth that he's been betrayed the truth that the Covenant is a lie he can't accept that and he lashes out at the grave mind and chief thankfully the grave mine straight up plops him in the middle of a slaughter if arbiter doesn't want to listen to words the grave mind will show him the truth arbiter is forced to witness his own kind hunted like animals in the woods of the second halo ring by the orders of the prophets as Tartarus approaches the control room for the second halo he's forced to finally confront the truth and set himself to stopping Tartarus what I also love is that the shipmaster here even assists him without question showing how far they've come from the start of the game fell vada me slaughtered humans in the millions he was a covenant hero and here the arbiter made his first human ally in Johnson he knows he's gonna have to kill Tartarus and stop the firing of the second halo but that doesn't stop him from trying to reason with Tartarus first he killed the heretic without talk blinded by faith but with Tartarus it's different Tartarus the prophets have betrayed us what I actually really like about this line from the arbiter is that it feels like he's not saying it to Tartarus he's saying it to himself his rebirth is complete his mind is finally clear and unfortunately Tartarus is too far gone there is a lot to Tartarus that I find interesting it's hard to tell sometimes if he truly believes in the great journey and the prophets or if he's more so just blinded by his hatred of the elites and that's what mode of the some so he just refuses to even consider arbiters words it may be worth a video someday but Tartarus is brought down with the help of Johnson and the arbiter finally stands tall his armor the mark of shame these are no longer things that he's ashamed of as I said his mind is now clear and he has a new destiny one that will lead the elites out of slavery and onto a great journey of their own one that we will explore in another video

Channel: Late Night Gaming

Views: 450,606

Keywords: Halo, Gaming, LateNightGaming, Examining Games, Commentary, Taras, LNG, Late Night Gaming, Lootboxes, Halo 5, Call of Duty, Battlefront 2, Game discussion

Id: ERrpNuB5-co

Length: 15min 30sec (930 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 22 2018