‘Halo 5’ #HUNTtheTRUTH Sets Stage For Master Chief As The Traitor

The #HUNTtheTRUTH viral campaign for Halo 5: Guardians officially went live Sunday night. There’s not much there for the Xbox One exclusive right now though there is the promise of looking at the mythology of the Master Chief through the eyes of a journalist on the hunt to break an ugly story.

The Halo 5 viral site is set up around a journalist and war photographer named Benjamin Giraud. His bio states that he’s “onto something big,” but is not sure what, except that it involves the Master Chief and possibly traitorous actions.

The first episode of an audio journal accompanies the #HUNTtheTRUTH website, where Giraud claims what started as a simple hero cover story on the Master Chief is turning into a full-blown investigation into the truth behind the legendary Spartan. With conspiratorial music playing in the background, Giraud states he has sources that know the “real Master Chief” – the boy, the soldier, the hero… the traitor?

The audio log also mentions reports of “anomalies, something big in deep space.” This is possibly a setup to what will happen in Halo 5, though who knows with marketing efforts such as this.

Also included in the launch of the #HUNTtheTRUTH Tumblr site is a version of the previously released teaser video that allows you to scroll through and see words imprinted on the bullet as it spins around. Those words are: Son, Abductee, Victim, Orphan, Recruit, Soldier, Warrior, Ally, Hero, Savior, and Traitor.

The Halo 5 viral site promises a new audio log every week. How many, we don’t know. It may lead up to a big reveal at E3 in June, if the viral website goes with an episode every week for each of the words on the bullet. Or, it could go all the way up to the launch of the game on the Xbox One this fall. The former seems the most likely.

Look twice. Question everything. https://t.co/YGHQZQ8WM6 #HUNTtheTRUTH #Halo5

— Xbox (@Xbox) March 23, 2015

As has been mentioned frequently, Halo 5 will feature a Master Chief that’s somehow separated from the UNSC. Oni Agent Locke, now a Spartan IV, is tasked with hunting down his Spartan II predecessor for reasons that are still unknown.

The implication so far is that the UNSC may be hunting Master Chief, possibly as a traitor despite his heroic actions in the past. We’ve already seen the Earth’s military and the ONI intelligence agency take a negative turn toward the Spartan II program in the Halo extended universe.

The Spartan II program creator, Doctor Halsey, was arrested prior to the events of Halo 4 and then turned to work with Jul M’dama and his Covenant faction during the Spartan Ops campaign in the Xbox 360 game. How that factors into Halo 5 remains to be seen.

There’s also still the question of how the above image that leaked in February factors into all of this. A helmet-less Agent Locke stands over a battered-looking Master Chief in what looks to be a shoot for an upcoming live-action commercial.

What do you think of this viral campaign for Halo 5: Guardians? Sound off in the comments below.

[Images via #HUNTtheTRUTH, Reddit]