Halo Infinite: What Happened To The Spartans On Zeta Halo?
Quick Links
- Spartan Overview
- How Did The Spartans End Up On Zeta Halo?
- What Happened To The Spartans On Zeta Halo?
- Known Spartans On Zeta Halo And Their Fate
Master Chief is not the only power armor-wearing ultimate warrior walking around in Halo: Infinite. When the story first begins he’s onboard the UNSC Infinity, a gigantic and hyper-advanced Human ship that’s filled to the brim with UNSC military personnel and a large number of Spartan-IVs. It’s a small army of Super Soldiers that should be able to deal with the Banished easily, but that doesn’t happen.
Instead, when Chief gets to the ring what Spartans he can find are either dead and dying, or captured and tortured to death. It’s a pretty grim moment that makes every lifeless suit discovery add more weight to your responsibility as the only Spartan left on the Ring. But each fallen friend found does provide a suit upgrade as Chief scavenges their UNSC tech to enhance his fighting capabilities and give himself an edge over the innumerable ex-Covenant mercenary hordes. So, with that monumental hill to climb in mind, what happened to the Spartans on Zeta Halo?
Spartan Overview
Before diving headlong into the mystery, here’s a little backstory on who the Spartans are and why the fact they were all beaten so easily is worth noting. These tall armor-clad juggernauts are essentially Super Soldiers, they're humans that have been extensively trained and physically and genetically augmented to be better, faster, and stronger than everyone.
Clad in advanced suits of Mjolnir Armor, they’re a super-fast, incredibly tough, and borderline unbeatable force of nature, and that’s just one of them. In a group, they’re invincible, with each member reacting as one with the composition and leadership changing on a whim to suit the current needs of the mission and skill sets of the individuals involved. They’re about as good as you can get, and if there's a creature on the ring that can take one down it’s worth trying to figure out how it did it.. and where it went.
How Did The Spartans End Up On Zeta Halo?
Under normal circumstances, the Spartans that end up scattered around Zeta Halo would have deployed with the rest of the UNSC onboard the Infinity at UNSC-controlled sections of the station. Since there are already around 3,000 UNSC troops and scientists stationed there it would have made sense to meet up in their own barracks.
But unfortunately, after being ambushed by the Banished whilst en route to trap Cortana on the Ring, the ship got pretty wrecked and those that managed to escape were scattered to the surface of the installation. With a sizable chunk of the site then detonating, throwing everything into complete anarchy as both sides scramble to gain supremacy within the sudden power vacuum. With the Infinity ordering all hands to evacuate, though no sign of its crashed hull is seen, it could either be floating somewhere or crashed and destroyed on another part of the ring. Even if there could be Spartan reinforcements somewhere, their training station was destroyed by The Created AI Leonidas on the orders of Cortana, costing the lives of 76 Spartans along with hundreds of research staff in a violent explosion, and causing a massive setback to the Spartan Program and the UNSC as a whole.
What Happened To The Spartans On Zeta Halo?
Things would only go from bad to worse after the ambush for the scattered Super Soldiers. Despite many of them mounting daring missions of their own or holding out valiant last stands as is heard in the numerous audio logs scattered around the game, almost all of them were taken down one way or another. A large number of them were assassinated by Jega 'Rdomnai, a Sangheili Lieutenant of Escharum, known as the "Spartan Slayer" that specialized in taking down these augmented soldiers. Some of them, most notably Hudson Griffin, were also taken hostage and tortured by The Banished, although he would later succumb to his wounds and pass away in Master Chief's arms.
But it’s not all doom and gloom as according to the upcoming book Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, some Spartan-IVs did survive. The book's plot is set to follow a group of them as they mount a resistance against the Banished in the weeks following their initial ambush when they arrived at Zeta Halo. Though their number will probably drop as the story goes on, hopefully, some Spartan side characters appear or there's an end to the mystery surrounding the fate of the surviving UNSC Infinity crew. Either way Master Chief is going to need some backup in the next game when the Endless start to stretch their legs as the new advanced alien force in a galaxy that is not prepared for them.
Known Spartans On Zeta Halo And Their Fate
As you progress through the story of Halo: Infinite you come across a number of dead or dying Spartans, with each one showing that they did not go down easily. Most of them are surrounded by a large number of dead Banished troops and their deaths were not in vain as their suits offer Chief a permanent upgrade, making him stronger on his journey to save everyone. Here’s each Spartan you find and the upgrade they provide.
| Bonita Stone | Found carrying an advanced shield module, surrounded by a large number of dead Banished, mostly grunts and one very big Jiralhanae. A Recon Specialist, she's been lying there dead for a month after being killed by Jega 'Rdomnai. | |
|---|---|---|
| Vedrana Makovich | Her suit carries a Drop Wall Module, and Vedrana has been dead for 13 days when the Chief finds her. She was also assassinated by Jega 'Rdomnai. | |
| Hudson Griffin | Carrying a Deployable Threat Sensor, Hudson's armor was forcibly stripped off him and Chief finds Griffin being tortured by the Banished. He later dies from his wounds after he's rescued by John-117. | |
| Theodore Sorel | A Weapons Expert that was carrying a Thruster Upgrade, Theodore is found amongst a large group of dead Jiralhanae and an Elite, after apparently dying at the hands of highly-trained Brutes, Hyperius and Tovarus. He’s been sitting there for 13 days when Chief comes across him. | |
| Locke | Though his body is never found and he could still yet be alive, Locke's helmet is strung up across the shoulders of Hyperius. Grunt propaganda can also be overheard saying how Spartan Locke "sure knew his stuff" and that Hyperius wears his helmet on his armor as a mark of respect. |
These are just the Spartans you come across in the story of Halo: Infinite, there’s a large number of suit cores and upgrades scattered around Zeta Halo that suggest a much bigger force was being catered to. Unfortunately Master Chief is the only Spartan known to be alive on the ring so far, but he’s the only one the UNSC needs.
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