|
"Mature Content!" |
| “ | Were it so easy... | „ |
| ~ Arbiter's catchphrase |
| “ | Rtas 'Vadum: Will you not come with us, brother? Arbiter: No. This is our fight... and I will see it finished. |
„ |
| ~ Arbiter to Rtas |
| “ | Hunt them to the last. Today we extinguish the Covenant's light forever! | „ |
| ~ Arbiter's speech as they claimed victory against the Covenant Revenant. |
Thel ‘Vadam, more commonly known as The Arbiter, is the tritagonist of the Halo franchise. He is the overarching antagonist of Halo: Reach and Halo: Combat Evolved, the main protagonist of Halo 2, the deuteragonist of Halo 3, and a supporting character of Halo 5: Guardians. He is a Sangheili, more commonly known as an Elite, who served the Covenant Empire but ended up being betrayed by the Prophet Hierarchs, which led to him to form the Covenant Separatists and ally with the UNSC against the Covenant near the end of the Human-Covenant War.
He is voiced by Keith David, who also voiced Goliath from Gargoyles and The Cat in Coraline.
His Good Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Good?[]
- His killing of Koida was justified because he sent three of his assassins to attempt to kill him but to no avail and thus he executed Koida.
- Though he killed billions of humans, it was justified that he was being manipulated into doing this by the Hierachs as a puppet. He deems humanity honorable and suggests to fight them when they are prepared to defend their worlds rather than fighting them defenseless.
- Even as a villain, he cares about his Elites. As shown, he told his commander, Rtas 'Vadum, to evacuate his troops from the facility when the storm was about to strike it.
- He saved several surviving Elites and Hunters when the Brutes massacred most of them in the second Halo ring.
- He put his differences aside from Sergeant Johnson and teamed up with him to stop Tartarus from firing the Halo ring.
- Even after Tartarus betrayed and nearly killed him, Arbiter still tried to reason with him about Halo’s true purpose and the Prophets’ lies and even attempted to redeem him.
- When Tartarus cannot be reasoned with and activated the Halo ring, Arbiter killed him and his Brutes, which allowed Commander Keyes to deactivate it.
- He, alongside his fellow Elites, would form a permanent alliance with the UNSC to end the Human-Covenant War, as well as being a personal sidekick to Master Chief.
- Tried to reason with other Covenant species about the Prophet’s lies.
- He halted Rtas’ Vadum from glassing the Earth when the Flood were infecting it, by suggesting a surgical strike on the landmass surrounding Voi, the city where the Flood crash landed.
- He supported Chief's desire to pursue Truth and attack the Flood preemptively, claiming that if Cortana was wrong, then there would be no way to stop the Flood.
- Along with Sergeant Johnson, he helped marines and Elites in gearing up and have them practice with Covenant and UNSC weapons before the battle through the portal.
- Lead an Elite squad in deactivating the second tower of the shield generators that was protecting Truth’s citadel.
- Executed the Prophet of Truth by impaling him in the back. While he was vengeful about it, Truth deserved it in the end when he betrayed his race, the other Prophets, and was willing to destroy the entire galaxy for his own image.
- He helped Master Chief escaped the Flood after Gravemind betrayed them.
- He and Johnson evacuated the remaining marines and Elites to Rtas 'Vadum's ship after the Covenant's defeat.
- Covered Master Chief as they make their escape from the Flood in High Charity.
- Assisted Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson as they fight their way into the control room in the newly-made Halo.
- He mourned Miranda Keyes and Avery Johnson over their death.
- Helped Chief in escaping the crumbling Halo, reaching to the escort ship called, Forward Unto Dawn, and escaped the Ark and Halo just before it fired.
- Unlike his fellow Elites, he participated in the UNSC funeral ceremony to pay respect to all of the marines and important figures that had fallen during the war.
- After the Human-Covenant War ended, he began the first steps to bring his people into a new future.
- He acted as a voice of reform to the Sangheili, uniting the keeps under a new planetary government, the Swords of Sanghelios.
- After returning to his homeworld, he planned to visit each state to make his case for permanent peace with the humans they had battled for so many years.
- While some Elites are against this new form of peace, considering the notion of peace with the humans hopeless and that they could not be trusted, Arbiter argued that they had not only failed to defeat humanity in the end, but attacking them would bring Elites to ruin after the sundering of the Covenant had left their people without the technical expertise to replace lost warships, or maintain their own infrastructure.
- He welcomes female Sangheili in the ranks of the Swords of Sanghelios.
- He attempted to enter into peace negotiations with the Brutes.
- It's later revealed that he did end up returning Brute laborers from Elite lands home.
- He has the medical Sangheili treat the wounded Sangheili during the war with the Covenant Remnant, instead of leaving them to die.
- He formed an alliance with Agent Locke and his team against Jul ‘Mdama’s Covenant Remnant.
- During his meeting with Master Chief and Halsey, Thel reveals that he was relieved that Master Chief has survived the end of the Human-Covenant War and had developed remorse of what he did to humanity during the Human-Covenant then gives him his thanks for helping him turn away from his wrong path of being a destroyer.
- He is shown to have a great deal of respect for certain humans in particular, including Johnson, the Master Chief and Olympia Vale. After reuniting with the Master Chief for the first time in years, the two are mentioned to have spent the night catching up with each other.
- Despite Nizat's refusal to join twice, Thel did explain everything about the truth and attempt to convince Nizat to join the Swords of Sanghelios as a path to his survival.
- Though he reluctantly allowed Atriox to have the Divide Hand, he did gain hope that the usage of the Divide Hand by the Banished would be capable of destroying both the Created and themselves for good especially when he is not willing to allow Sanghelios to be destroyed by the Divide Hand for the safety of his fellow Sangheili.
- After finding humans marooned on Netherop for 33 years, he expressed sympathy for their situation, understanding of their distrust of him and even offered to rescue them, additionally offering to contact the UNSC if they didn't want to go with him personally. Thel showed his personal knowledge of Earth and its landmarks as proof that he had been there long enough to get to know some of the planet rather than being there to destroy it to help convince the humans of his sincerity.
- Is one of the very few Elites who learned to speak English rather than relying on a translation device. This allows Thel to communicate more naturally with his allies.
- Even amongst the Swords of Sanghelios, this is depicted as being a rare skill.
- Is shown to be haunted by the idea that if he had continued down a path of vengeance, Thel could've become the next tyrannical threat that the galaxy rose up against.
What Prevents Him From Being Pure Good?[]
- He is occasionally shown to be ruthless at times. One example was when he executed his cousin, Murok 'Vadam, for betraying him and the Sword of Sanghelios. Although, this is understandable as he has a history of been consistently betrayed by the Hierarchs and even some of his people as well as Murok is shown to actually stayed in his delusional path and had a grudge against Thel even before his betrayal as his true colors.
- As seen in Halo: Fifth Canticle, this was done not out of malice or vengeance but to punish a dishonorable traitor who had attempted to assassinate him by working with the enemy. Honor and killing an enemy face to face is extremely important in Sangheili culture. When the Arbiter executes Murok, he is shown to only feel pity for his cousin rather than hatred or anger.
- As a member of the Covenant, he committed genocide on multiple occasions. While he felt intense remorse for it when he discovered the truth and was mislead by his leaders since childhood to believe it was for a great moral purpose, the weight of these actions are still too heavy for him to be Pure Good.
Trivia[]
- Thus far, he is one of two Halo characters to be Near Pure Good, alongside Master Chief.
- The Arbiter is one of the few Near Pure Good heroes to be Inconsistently Heinous, alongside Sunset Shimmer, Joseph Korso, Nathalie Sancoeur, The Animator, Grace Monroe, Cedric the Sorcerer, and Petey the Cat.
- He is also technically the only Killer Instinct character to be Near Pure Good due to being a guest character.
External Links[]
- Arbiter on the Heroes Wiki
- Thel 'Vadam on the Villains Wiki
- Thel 'Vadam on the Halo Alpha Wiki
- Thel 'Vadam on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki