In the Halo science fiction universe, an Arbiter is a ceremonial, religious, and political rank bestowed upon Covenant Elites. In the 2004 video game Halo 2, the rank is given to a disgraced commander as a way to atone for his failures. A different Arbiter appears in the 2009 real-time strategy game Halo Wars, which takes place 20 years before the events of the main trilogy.
About Arbiter (Halo) in brief
In the Halo science fiction universe, an Arbiter is a ceremonial, religious, and political rank bestowed upon Covenant Elites. In the 2004 video game Halo 2, the rank is given to a disgraced commander as a way to atone for his failures. A different Arbiter appears in the 2009 real-time strategy game Halo Wars, which takes place 20 years before the events of the main trilogy. Actor Keith David lends his voice to the character in Halo 2, 3, and 5, while David Sobolov voices the Arbiter of Halo Wars. The Arbiter has appeared in four series of action figures and other collectibles and marketing in addition to appearances in the games. The character’s name was changed from \”Dervish\” after concerns that the name reinforced a perceived United States-versus-Islam allegory in the game’s plot. For Halo 5, the Arbiters’ armor was redesigned as a tribute to the previous Arbiters in the Halo-universe as a symbol of transition and a transition to a new world. The name came so late that the voice lines had to be re-recorded, and some game manuals were printed with the wrong armor in the wrong place. In Halo 3, the character was changed to a member of the Covenant as a plot twist that no one would have seen coming, but the character and the humanization of Covenant in general was not evenly received by critics and fans. Bungie’s former content manager Frank O’Connor said that the inclusion of the Arbites in Halo 3 was supposed to be a’secret on the scale of a Shyamalan plot twist’ and explains that Bungie was able to keep the public uninformed about this until the game was released.
The only substantial difference between the Arbite and other Elites is ceremonial armor seen in early concept sketches and which appeared in the final design. The overall appearance of the alien Covenant Elite had been designed and developed for the previous game, 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved. The design of the Elites was not changed very little during development, as the overall appearance was the same as that of the original Halo game. Bungie picked the name because of its evocation of an otherworldly warrior. Microsoft Game Studios’ consultants found nothing wrong with the name, but said the name set up a potentially problematic set-up within the game’s context of ‘within the Halo 2’s plot—the forces of ‘the United States versus Islam’ The name was later changed so that the character’s voice lines could be recorded in a new version of the game, which was released late in the year of Halo 3’s release. In Halo 2 the Arbiter was intended to die serving the Covenant leadership, the High Prophets, but he survives his missions and the Prophets’ subsequent betrayal of his kind. When he learns that the PropheTS’ plans would doom all sentient life in the galaxy, he allies with the Covenant’s enemies and stops the ringworld Halo from being activated.
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This page is based on the article Arbiter (Halo) published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
