Halo Evolutions: The Return 1080p HD 

The planet is a monument to his sins.

This reminds me of the Headhunters comic. A wounded Elite chastises the Headhunters by saying they are assassins and don’t have true honor. The Headhunter replies: “Says the alien shithead who invented active camo. Yeah, your ‘noble’. How ‘noble’ is glassing a planet from orbit?” I think that’s a perfection summation for what this Elite is realizing

What makes this even better is that the Shipmaster is voiced by Roger Cross, the same man who voiced Ulysses in Lonesome Road from Fallout New Vegas. He adds so much depth when narrating the reflection of ones mistakes and the folly of ones culture and how with the loss of a purpose, one struggles to find meaning in ones own action.

I felt like that Elite was about to drop a Jazz single at any second.

Take a shot every time an Elite drop kicks something in this one.

343 needs to make more vids from a covenant perspective

Its funny that this is set 6 years after the war and im watching this 6 years after the video was made

The odd thing is, I love how he actually freaked out when he saw the pile of bodies

8:50 was a great scene we never get to see the reaction of the covenant towards the civilians they’ve killed but this really brings perspective.

"faith destroy them with faith, and plasma bombardment"

It's nice to see an elite feeling remorse and guilt over the destruction he wrought in the name of false prophets.

If this story's taught me anything it's this. There's a difference between following a blind belief and following your honor And while the lines are blurred and concealed one thing is truly certain. Belief can take you so far before it fades. But honor. Honor is the only thing that will never fade. Because if it does then you fade as well.

Dang, that voice is so good...

I know it's a video game series, but it was a damn good fight those marines fought hard. It's sad to see honestly.

The way he looked at the corpses in the bunker really shows how much the elites regretted blindly following the prophets

I love this animated short so much. But the quote at 4:45 . "This world is dead because of me. And now I need this world to tell me how to live." He is a lost soul in the Galaxy after a terrible war. Something that deep down, I think we can all relate to at some point in our lives.

And this is just one lil fleet out if the entire Covenant Empire. And one of the hundreds of human worlds destroyed.

The part where he finds a bunker of only skeletal remains including an adult holding a child makes me think of the white phosphorous scene from Spec Ops: The Line.

My favorite part of this is when he has that look of pure horror at 9:00. A lot of Elites seem to forget just how many humans they killed during the war. Nice to see at least one seeing the horrors he had wrought and reacting to them.

I imagine surviving UNSC troops on some of the glassed colonies resorted to guerrilla tactics against the Covenant. Most were on the ground, some were from escape pods plummeting into hell as their ships were breaking up in the terrible space battle above, but there were civilian fighters too including children. It was hot then it was cold, and difficult to breathe. Covenant guns and munitions were seized whenever possible due to ammo and weapon shortages. And it was not uncommon for battered UNSC vehicles to have Covenant armor plating and scavenged plasma cannons mounted on them. Especially on Warthogs to better protect the exposed sides, windshield, and engine block from enemy small arms fire. A Halcyon-class ship found that crash landed onto the great plains was a bonanza for the war effort with its armories, motor pools, and supplies raided and it was used as a base. As the war dragged on, they were like family, but with each one killed in action they had to quickly move on. The seriously wounded had the worst impact on morale, and some had to be killed out of mercy to ease their suffering. An explosive crystalline bolt from a Needler causes horrific wounds to the human torso. On the barren hill they put up a memorial to humanity. When they learned the war was over, there were small celebrations on some worlds and some raised a tattered flag but mainly it was relief. Relief that humanity survived, that they survived hell and could finally rest. Veterans collapsed in exhaustion and took off their helmets, revealing grimy faces that have not bathed for months, others cried for the Chief or at the sight of a small green sprout sticking up out of the charred earth.

see that's why we need a covenant/Elite Spin-off game !!!

War..... war never changes

I like how he feels bad for killing all those people

Did you know that the Sangheili wanted Humans to join the covenant, most probably to help them against the Jiralhanae, and that they helped Humans greatly by resisting the covenant for as long as they did, weakening the covenant -Random fact about Halo

The creator of this clearly loved lonesome Road.

10:46 mark made me laugh, those honour guards are just the cut and past image from the halo 2 guide XD

The scene were he sees all the dead civilians is really powerful and I thought it made him more human

*In shipmaster's dank ass black guy accent* "It was then I realized. Dang. I could have landed my ship closer to the gawd dayum smoke"

Dang dude and the most disturbing thing about the covenant the fact it was all a lie all the sacrifice all the dying all the pointless worship and all the fighting and all the unification of the races was all a lie

If Morgan Freeman fought for the Covenant

We seriously need MORE OF THESE!!!

This story makes me tear up every time I watch it. The Sangheili is so sad. I hope he see this guy in a game someday :(

they need to make more episodes following this guy would love to see his story continue

Brutes with Energy Swords? I've never seen that before.

That elite at the beginning made me wonder....343 should quit the bullshit and let us duel wield Energy swords. Also, this is far fetched, but the elite narrating sounds like he's Jul 'Mdama. (The one from halo 4 Spartan Ops. )

The Sangheili thought of the humans as worthy beings to join The Covenant (At first anyway). They were baffled when the Prophets refused to allow humans to join The Covenant. I'm pretty sure it isn't bullshit either, but I don't know for sure if this is true so PLEASE don't consider it true or untrue.

The Henry David Thoreau of the Covenant.

The shipmasters voice fits

Half expected him to start talking about bulls and bears and walls

I want to see how this continues, it's a amazing story

I want to see an adaptation of the ODST story in Halo Evolutions. I liked that story the best.

Damn....wanted this guy in Halo 4 than Jul M dama. Maybe in Halo5 as a friend from the arbiter?

I loved the dark feeling of the Human covenant war in this Short.

so crazy that the only enemy that the Covenant couldn't kill was the banished

Could you imagine a lost elite discovering a rouge squad of UNSC and trying to explain the great schism, that he is on their side. And the rest of the level you play as a high ranking elite fighting alongside the marines killing brutes! Fighting for the same cause but so much tension between the two! Would be sick, the dialogue would be insane

I think he was the few elites to ever regret killing humans

just in case anyone is interested, this takes place in 2559, after halo 5 guardians, at least in the short story, he says that the walls stand even after its glassing 20 years ago and Kholo was glassed in 2539

man i love the shipmaster's voice....its so deep ,revering and commanding

18:57 Could the forunner Oracle he talks about be Mendicant Bias? The paper in his right hand even has a picture that resembals him.

This is definitely my favorite adaptation of the short stories that they did.

They need to make a part 2 to this.

War is even fought between different species

One of those stories with an un resloved ending i want more of this elites adventure

is it just me or dus this reminds me a lot of fallout NV longsome road

Always wanted a mass effect style Halo game set after the war. Running a round with your own crew mixed with humans and ex-covies. He would make a great member, an elite looking for meaning after losing his faith.

I see a bunch of comments here talking about how the elite commander regrets what he did, but I think a lot of you misunderstand why he regrets it. He isn’t filled with regret because he killed innocents, he’s filled with regret because for all his life, he believed he was serving the will of the gods, when in reality, he was only serving the will of the prophets. His eyes have been opened to the fact that he and his people were betrayed, but only that fact. The gods, the forerunners, still exist, and their will must be obeyed, but what do they want? Without the prophets, they are rudderless. How are they supposed to figure out what the gods want? So, you see, this is why he recoils at the sight of the dead humans, but implies that he will torture the injured human to figure out what they were doing there, and why they had the schematics of the Oracle. He doesn’t regret that he is directly responsible for multiple mass murders across many planets, he regrets that he, potentially, wasn’t fulfilling the will of the gods. I mean, if the gods decide that genociding humans was a bad thing, then he’ll agree with that. But if they think genociding humans was a good thing, then he’ll agree with that. He only cares about the will of the gods.

Need more stories like this. Of the Covenants Humanity, as backwards as that is.

I'm loving these Evolutions films!

Ah. Back when Halo was about more than just the Spartans. Back when the writers actually considered how competent their audience actually was. Now they don’t believe ANY story will gain traction unless there’s a Spartan on the cover.

8:49 how’s-it feel to see your sins first hand, and know it was all for nothing?

Boy am I late to the party but I'm sure glad I found this. Covenant perspective is one of my main reasons for loving H2 and the books so dearly

I love how they got the actor that plays Kratos from God of War 4 & God of War: Ragnarok His name is Christopher Judge

This needs to become a game where you play during the flashbacks attacking the humans and the narraration is during cutscenes and it could tell a really cool story

Elites have more character than humans. NOT INCLUDING GOD JOHNSON! And Badass chief. Not even mister arby. Just focusing on basic elites. Like this one.

Kholo didn't stand a chance.

i wish there were more

I really wish 343 would cut the crap and give us a game where you play as an elite or brute or a prelate (a really bad ass prophet) during the war and give it a proper M rating

I fucking love the elite’s voice

I want more please!

I always loved this short story and the animation adaption of it. Halo Evolutions was in general a brilliant collection of short stories that really helped expand the halo universe beyond the games and the (six or seven) novels and collection of comic series developed under the Bungie era of the Halo Franchise.In truth I wish 343 had used some of the Short stories as thier jumping point for the future of the series (when i say this not i mean the universe as a whole this meaning the books, comics, spin of tv shows and especially the games) The Return and The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole which both were set in a post UNSC/Covenant War focusing on both the possibility of future entanglements between UNSC and Covenant Forces not to mention possible insurrectionist forces.

The beginning of the video is what i feel like when I win a game of invasion as elites

i really wish that 343 would decide what they want the Kig Yar to look like, and then-- for gods sake--stick with it.

God I love the music for this

9:10 That face expression though...

I want a p2 so bad

The prophets tasked me with it's ritual destruction. (Chanting lady)YAI-AAII-YAAAY!!!!!!! YAY!!!!

These are the kind of stories i want new halo games to tell

"It is time for me to speak to them myself." wait till he realizes he's been doing it all this time, every time he's interrogated a human.

this makes me think of the fallout new vegas dlc lonesome road were the courier walks through a colony he/she destroys accidentally. tho here kolo was destroyed intentionally

This shipmaster still sees the Forerunners as gods, so he'd probably join Jul M'Dama's forces. They really did Jul dirty in halo 5. They just killed him off like nothing.

I swear he sounds like Ulysses from Fallout New Vegas

I remember watching this years and years ago on Halo Waypoint great video recommended to anyone who wants to learn more about Elite glassing lol and lor

I'd like to see this Sangheili again

They really should make a book about what happens next.

I want MMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR! Thank you for uploading!

Best animation about elites and great story 10/10

Why the heck is this elite not a poet like this for example” This planet is dead because of me but now I need to tell me how to live “

Any chance we can get the musics? Especially the theme that often comes back?

someone call spielberg, this needs to be a movie

Is voice is so soothing no cap

i do love seeing the parts of halo that arent all rock guitars and badass

6:20 That is just terrifying.

Amazing

Doesn't he sound a bit like Ulysses from Lonesome Road?

For YEARS I had the "Mhh.. jackals" living rent free in my head and I could never figure out what it was from. Today I found it again.

Way better than the halo show

this was awesome!

Ah, the heyday and the foregone legacy of the Covenant, shown in one story in a nutshell.. beautiful yet also tragically poignant. Also, the very first visual depiction of the unhealed results of glassing and the rituals needed to enact them.

Starcrafts looking real nice

They NEED to make an animated halo series. I'd follow this particular elite he's so cool