#and they get thrown right into the oni trilogy

[destinysbounty]

wait. wait wait wait. so yknow all those ninjago fics where a fan from our world gets isekai'd into the world of ninjago and has adventures about it. right? sound familiar? well, hear me out. what if instead of a fan of the show, it was actually, like, the fan's profoundly uninterested friend, who only has the vaguest scraps of secondhand knowledge from listening to the fan's rants all these years? (but also they werent paying attention like at all so theyre still horribly confused). and at one point theyre like:

"hang on. i remember someone is supposed to die fighting the overlord, but also my friend talked about a lot of characters dying, so that doesnt actually narrow it down like at all. but also we just fought the overlord and everyones alive, so idk what thats all about."

*one year later*

"OH THATS WHAT THEY MEANT. WHAT THE FUC-"

and idk maybe they learn a valuable lesson about respecting their friend's interests a bit more. who knows. but mostly its just them being really confused for 15 seasons. chaos ensues.

[thevoidable]

Does Chief know that Arbiter was behind the fall of Reach?

This is a question that I'm sure has crossed a few people's minds, especially if you're someone who enjoys the dynamic that Chief and Arby share.

Reach was basically Chief's home; he grew up there, he was trained to be a Spartan there. That planet holds a lot of fond memories for him, and losing it to the Covenant was a devastating blow that only made him all the more angry towards them. So, you can imagine that he would be pissed if he ever came face to face with the one responsible. But when he did, there was no malice beyond shoving a magnum in Arbiter's mouth. They're good allies by the end of H3, so, does he know?

Well, the short answer is: yes. He absolutely does.

So, the real question here is: when did he know?

In order to answer that, we first need to look at what confirmed Chief's knowledge of the Arbiter's dark past in the first place.

Halo 2 Anniversary introduced terminals that gave lore fanatics incredibly juicy details about the in-game universe, and the very first one on Cairo Station is a report by Jameson Locke that details EVERY major crime committed by Thel 'Vadamee. Upon opening up the terminal, we are greeted by this:

A "blink and you’ll miss it” detail that I think a lot of people's eyes glaze over upon first watch. Now, I know what you're probably thinking - "Oh, he's viewing this report on Cairo, so he knew this back in Halo 2 then!" Ah ah ah, not so fast.

Locke specifies the date of the report as September 26 2552, but the events of Reach and the original trilogy all took place two months prior in July - if you remember how Halo 3 ended, that means that Chief is stranded in space by the time Semptember rolls around. Unless he has time travelling powers, there’s no way he’s reading a report from the future on Cairo, especially while it’s under attack. 

So, that said, when did Chief have a chance to read the report? 

Well, the answer is actually very simple: directly after the end of Halo 4.

If you need a refresher, Chief was thrown right into the conflict with the Didact from the beginning of the game, and it was non-stop action for him ever since. However, the ending cutscene of the game shows us his armour being removed (presumably for repairs), and he gets his first real downtime in years. This is when we can best assume that he found the report.

Now, allow me to paint you a picture.

Chief has just come back from defeating the Didact, but in the process he’s lost his closest friend. Fresh out of his armour and knee-deep in grief, he seeks to distract himself by digging through some files to find out what he’s missed. The last thing he remembers before entering cryosleep four years ago is discovering that the Foward Unto Dawn was torn in half, and the Arbiter was nowhere to be found. So, what happened to him? Did he survive? Is Chief’s newfound ally okay?

The database has several files listed under “The Arbiter”, but he ignores each in favour of one that immediately catches his attention, marked by ONI as highly classified.

He came looking for a distraction, but found only anger instead.

For the entirety of his time between the end of Halo 4 and during Halo 5, Chief had been dealing with his grief over Cortana and the indirect betrayal of someone he once trusted. Repressing those feelings led him to take on mission after mission back-to-back without rest, so much to the point that even ONI noticed. Blue Team was thankfully there for him through it all, but there wasn’t much that even they could do for him beyond supporting him. 

Fast forward to the end cutscene of Halo 5 - Chief doesn’t see Arbiter until he’s lost Cortana again. He failed to save her again. He’s at his lowest, the worst he’s ever felt, and there’s little anyone can do to cheer him up, if they can even tell he’s hurting.

But then in comes Arbiter, who - thanks to one of the books - provides the perfect distraction, taking Chief off to the side to have their first real conversation together, reminiscing about the past and catching up with each other. Chief gets to see how far Arbiter has come now, and just how much he still wants to do better. In the midst of Chief’s pain and guilt, he probably no longer has the energy to be angry, and he can see how holding a grudge against the Arbiter will benefit no one.

Forgiveness may not be in the cards just yet, and maybe one day Chief will get closure for the things Arbiter has done to him and millions of others, but for now, Arbiter can still inspire him to keep fighting, and he’ll value their alliance for as long as it lasts.

EDIT:

So I appear to stand corrected and have been informed that the original trilogy does NOT take place in July (Halopedia is the most convoluted rabbit hole I s2g) - CE takes place in September, and then Halo 2 starts in October with Halo 3 ending in December.

That complicates my theory a little BUT my point still stands that Chief is a busy guy and wouldn’t have read the report on Cairo while it was under attack (if you take accessing it during gameplay as canon). He also wouldn’t have an incentive to go looking for the information nor would he even know what to look for until Halo 4. There’s also a possibility that he was briefed about Thel at some point prior to H2, but wouldn’t have been able to make the connection that the silver-armoured elite he briefly met via the Gravemind and then fought alongside later was Thel. He just knew him as “The Arbiter”.

Either way, he still knows regardless, and it’s incredibly fun to think about the ramifications thereafter.

[jackalopingintothevoid]

hay-and-ame (Submitting because this got longer than the ask box allows oops)

You’re welcome! I’ll have to read veta’s fanfic, it looks good! One hc I have is that Osman’s daemon is still unsettled because of everything that happens with Halsey, the Spartan program, and Kilo-5 and it’s not until after she reads her file and then becomes CINCONI that he settles. And I know you’d said you thought the AIs wouldn’t have daemons, but I thought they’d make their own (except for BB because he doesn’t want to get too invested in humans) partly because they don’t want the humans to freak out, I think.

Also, for larger daemons (like Forge has a Fjord horse), there’s armor for them so they don’t get hurt on the field. Ellen Anders has a red kangaroo and he teaches her to box.

I have some of the characters and their daes here and here if you’d like to see! ^^ (from my main, this is like a secondary main because I’m bad with switching between my side blogs)

Few others I thought of: Evan Phillips, mockingbird or lyre bird; Paragnosky, northern Inuit dog (Thelka), Naomi, northern Inuit dog; Chief Mendez, ram

That’s a very interesting idea regarding Serin, and I love the symbology but it would require a conscious deviation from the canon of daemons (i.e. settles upon reaching maturity) and being someone with many autistic traits I just can’t handle the framework being thrown away like that! Lmao too much creative freedom for me, all that’s left is madness. I think again @veta-lopis is the person to talk to about that, she’s done some discussion before about Serin’s character I think?

Huh, I figured the AIs lacking daemons would be involuntary, since they choose their avatar on creation and can have great trouble and even damage themselves trying to change it later; but now I’m thinking about it, many probably choose to have daemons right away as a holdover from the human mind they were created from.

Armour for daemons! Simple, ingenious and probably took ages to do without risk of breaking taboo! I love it. I wonder if that has any side effects on the daemons? They aren’t standardly corporeal or bound in the same way by our physical laws after all, and we only see un-clothed/burdened ‘natural/vulnerable’ daemons in the trilogy. It’s an interesting notion.

There is, however, one point of contention: Parangosky?? A dog??? A good sweet obedient boy who loves you loyally???? Never!! I have a northern inuit dog and she is the loveliest, sweetest, most conflict-avoidant creature! Yes her priorities are 90% food but she ain’t shy about it! Nothing like the manipulative, hipocritical Parangosky who groomed and re-brainwashed the disabled young woman Serin was when she came into ONI!