Summary
The main star of theHalofranchise has always been, and will likely always be the Master Chief. Sporting one of the most iconic armor sets in all of pop-culture, the Master Chief has been plastered on the front cover of almost everyHalogame, countless billboards, posters, and a ton of Xbox marketing over the years. And with a superb voice performance by Steve Downes bringing the character to life, it’s easy to see whythe Master Chiefis such a beloved character, though that doesn’t mean he’s the only fan-favorite character in theHalouniverse.
Debuting all the way back in 2001, it’s only natural that a franchise ofHalo’s scale has seen a plethora of popular side characters appear over the years. FromMaster Chief’s partner-in-crime Cortana, to the bold and brash Sgt. Johnson, to the Chief’s fellow Spartans inHalo 5: Guardians, every fan has their own favoriteHaloside character. But there’s oneHalocharacter that tends to take that top spot for many fans, and that’s the Sangheili warrior himself, the Arbiter, who still doesn’t have his own spin-off game.
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Why The Arbiter Deserves His Own Halo Spin-off
The Arbiter made his debut back in 2004 with the release ofHalo 2, but he didn’t make the best first impression. At the time, fans were desperate to play the next installment of the Master Chief’s journey, so when that abruptly paused just a few missions into the game and players were forced to play as this unknown Elite, many fans weren’t all too happy.Halo 2pulled theoldMetal Gear Solid 2trick, and though it wasn’t that bad as players still got to control the Master Chief at regular intervals throughout the game, much of the runtime was taken up by large swathes of Arbiter gameplay, containing a story that fans didn’t really find too compelling back in the day.
Now, almost two whole decades later, fans are much warmer onHalo 2’s dual protagonist system. Though the Master Chief is always fun to play as, fans know that there are plenty of titles that now offer that experience, so getting to play as someone else is a unique novelty forHalo 2now. The same can be said for the Arbiter’s story inHalo 2. While fans originally didn’t see the appeal of all the complex lore surrounding the Covenant, fans now view it as integral world-building for the rest of the franchise.
Now that the controversy surroundingHalo 2has pretty much completely faded into the past, fans are able to see how much of a complex and interesting character the Arbiter actually is, and how intriguing this new perspective on theHalouniverse can be. After being defeated by the Master Chief in the firstHalo, the Arbiter is forced into a life of servitude, where he’s expected to keep working for the Prophets until he eventually dies on some kind of suicide mission. Naturally, the Arbiter has some deep resentment for humanity and the Chief in particular, which makes his willingness to cooperate with them inHalo 3all the more compelling.
With a consistently great visual design across appearances, and a consistently excellent voice performance from the legend that is Keith David, the Arbiter is almost as iconic as the Master Chief himself. As such, it seems like a real missed opportunity that there’s never been aHalospin-off featuring the character in a lead role. In fact, the Arbiter hasn’t appeared sinceHalo 5, and his cameo there was pretty brief. There’s a ton of potential in anArbiter-leadHalospin-off, with a slew of possible settings already ready to go. An Arbiter game could focus on the Elite fighting on his home world of Sanghelios, or coming to assist the Master Chief on Zeta Halo, or even take place in the years betweenHalo3and5.
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