|HUNT THE TRUTH- Premer Transcript breakdown|
The first audio-log in the HUNTtheTRUTH campaign, we saw that Benjamin Giraud – now confirmed to be the war photographer from the Halo: Graphic Novel story “Second Sunrise over New Mombasa” – is investigating the life of the Master Chief. Now, we will be breaking down exactly what he said in reference to what we already know. So, without further adieu, let us begin.
“When you’re a war journalist, you see a lot of horrible stuff. All the stories I’ve done, I’ve seen the absolute worst of humanity. But I’ve also gotten to see the best. Six years ago, I saw HIM, the greatest, most mysterious hero of our time… up close, in action. I witnessed first hand what he did that day, and it changed EVERYTHING for me.”
This first quote starts off with Ben having seen Humanity’s downfall during the Human-Covenant War, maybe personally witnessing the destruction and evacuation of important human colonies, such as Reach. Next, if this audio-log was made sometime in 2558, 6 years prior would place him in 2552 (the setting of the original Halo trilogy). This means that he saw Chief in action during the Battle of New Mombasa from Halo 2 – adding credence to his story in “Second Sunrise over New Mombasa” with him being the last survivor. Finally, these events made Giraud realise the true nature of the Spartans, and the heroism of the Chief first-hand.
“Anyone listening to this knows exactly who I’m talking about, the guy who saved us, saved earth, saved mankind. Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117, whom we now know simply…The Master Chief. A few months ago, I was hired to do an in-depth profile on the Chief, exclusive access, the whole thing, since then I’ve gotten to talk to a lot of people who claim they know the real Master Chief, the boy, the soldier, the hero… the traitor? See I’ve always known where a story was going before it started, I’d known EXACTLY the story I wanted to tell for years, the story all of us wanted to hear, glossy, inspiring, the blockbuster hero biography, that’s all this was supposed to be.”
The first sentence of this is pretty self-explanatory – confirming that the Chief is indeed the guy who kicked Covenant butt that day! Six months ago could refer to the point when Chief left Infinity with Blue Team to go on missions alone, meaning that the UNSC wanted to find out why he left. Some people the reporter spoke to (ie. other witnesses of Chief’s awesomeness) call him a hero, whilst others (ie. ONI agents) call him a traitor. Here, the Office of Naval Intelligence may have fabricated the idea that Chief is a traitor for their own means. ONI has become more untrustworthy and diabolical as the series goes on, and they are more than capable of doing whatever they want. For example, they recently helped plant seeds of doubt within Sangheili clans post-war to start a civil war on Sangheilios. The final part of this quote goes on to explain that he had always wanted to capture and write that one perfect story that would cement his career as a war journalist – the ‘History of the Master Chief.’ Now, somehow this dream of his has changed.
“But the truth isn’t always that clean. When I pulled that first loose thread, something broke, now everything is caving in, and I find myself stuck with all these ugly questions, questions I never intended to ask, fabricated histories? People who aren’t who they say they are? Cover ups of cover ups? That steady drum beat of theories that used to sound insane, now they don’t seem so out there. And these disturbing rumors, reports of anomalies, something big is happening in deep space, and I can’t even corroborate a single fact about one man’s life.”
When Benjamin started his search for answers, it appears he found the real truth behind Chief’s origins. This section may refer to the ONI-ran Spartan-II Program, as they “fabricated” the abductees’ histories and destroyed their innocence as children of their own free will. The program was so secret that ONI needed to create convincing cover-ups as to why the children went missing…but also something else that ONI put in the files. The last sentence of this quote makes mention of an alien force rising from deep space (Forerunners? The Flood? Something new?) that is distracting Giraud from finding out the truth about Master Chief’s past.
“It’s clear to me now. I can’t fix the pretty story, but maybe I can break the ugly one. For the first time in my career, I can honestly say I don’t know the shape of where this is going, and in fact, the… the possibilities have me lying awake at night, but I believe we all deserve to know the real story. We need to know where this leads. I know I do. So I find myself back at the beginning, who is the Master Chief, where does he come from, and is he keeping us safe? Join me as I hunt the truth about the Master Chief.”
Now, the reporter knows that he will never get the dream article of his life published, but can get the real truth out there. As a war journalist, he had been forced to ‘format’ the news for public audiences, but for the first time he has decided not to. This story is too big for people to not know the truth, and not even he knows the scope of this story. He, like so many others, wants to know what could have been hidden from them, in regards to the Spartan they saw save countless lives over the years. The last sentence tells us that Giraud has scrapped the story and is rewriting the account of Chief’s history from the start – he intends to find out the truth for as many people as possible.
That concludes our breakdown of the first audio-log in the HUNTtheTRUTH series. What did you think, have we managed to change your minds on what this reporter is saying? Leave a comment down below with your thoughts, and remember to keep an eye out for more breakdowns here on Halo5Follower. See you next time!
