The Hunt Begins

This article contains information of dubious canonicity. While not officially established as fully non-canonical, certain aspects of the subject may not be part of the official Halo canon.

The Hunt Begins is a live-action trailer for Halo 5: Guardians that debuted October 2, 2015, on Xbox's YouTube channel. It acts as a counterpart and follow-up to A Hero Falls, which shows the public version of the story. Both trailers were created by Method Studios.

The trailer follows on from the body camera clips initially uploaded to the Hunt the Truth blog as part of the second season of the drama. The clips served to tease the wider Hero Falls and Hunt Begins live-action trailers.

Transcript

Open to the surface of Meridian: John-117 is running on a trail across a dirt plain. The ground below him crumbles as a Forerunner Guardian slowly emerges.

• Voice (voiceover): "In all my years of command, I’ve never seen a more determined soldier than Master Chief."

Cut to wide shot: John is running towards a city. Cut to a planet's orbit. A D79-TC Pelican zooms towards a city on the surface. There are smoke trails over the city. Cut to the Pelican’s troop bay. Members of Fireteam Osiris sit silently and stare at each other. Cut to the city on Meridian: John enters the outskirts as buildings and the road below him crumble. A part of the Guardian destroys a building.

• Voice (voiceover): "You know his service record was unimpeachable."

Cut to a corridor inside a building. Two civilians run down the hallway as the walls behind them fall over.

• Voice (voiceover): "But he’s not responding to orders… and he’s setting these things loose."

Cut to a building’s exterior: multiple skyscrapers are about to collapse. Cut to John, who is still running. A man, holding a woman in his cradle, sit in front of a pillar under a building and sees John. He calls for the Spartan’s help, but John run pasts him. Cut to an ONI camera overlooking a courtyard. Dozens of civilians are running for their lives. Cut to Fireteam Osiris inside the Pelican. Locke stands up.

• Pelican pilot: "Spartans. On approach. Three minutes out."

Cut to Jameson Locke giving Holly Tanaka a headbutt. Cut to Locke retrieving a weapon from the locker and passing it to Edward Buck. Cut to a skyline of the city: the Guardian rises higher. Cut to inside a building. Two civilians take cover under a table as rubble fall from the ceiling. Cut to the street: John sprints past a group of civilian as they run away.

The below line has two versions

• Voice (voiceover): "We created him, so we’re responsible when we can’t control him."
• Voice (voiceover alt): "We created him, so we're responsible when he kills civilians."

A part of the Guardian rises from the ground in front of John. The debris on top of it is blocking his way. He throws a grenade, and the explosion destroys the debris on top of the Guardian. John jumps, and his thrusters send him over the gap created by the destruction.

• Voice (voiceover): "When he recruits others to join him…"

The remaining members of Blue Team use their thrusters and continue behind him. Kelly-087, Linda-058, and Frederic-104 follow John down a cracked road as the buildings around them crumble. Civilians continue to run past them.

• Voice (voiceover): "The only thing worse than losing a hero... is watching him turn against us."

John looks up as a building on his right begins to collapse. The Guardian sends out a shockwave, destroying buildings near it. The building crashes down on John. Cut to black.

Open to the Pelican troop bay door opening: Fireteam Osiris is ready to move out. Cut to Linda among the rubble.

• Penelope Boren (voiceover): (softly) "...Spartan-117, the man most commonly known as the Master Chief..."

• Voice (voiceover): "The official story is the Master Chief is dead."

Cut to the ONI camera. Kelly and Fred are firing their weapons as Linda approaches John, who is trapped under rubble. Cut to Linda as she lifts up the concrete from John, using her armor’s thrusters to increase her strength. John’s hand twitches.

• Voice (voiceover): "You, Spartan Locke, are the unofficial story."

Cut to Locke as the Pelican’s troop bay door opens.

• Voice (voiceover): "Your mission is go…"

Cut to John as he stands up. His helmet's visor fades from dull brown to bright orange. The helmet’s flashlights reactivate. Cut to Locke inside the troop bay.

• Jameson Locke: "Let’s hunt him down."

Fireteam Osiris raise their weapons and leave the Pelican.

#HUNTtheTRUTH

10.27.15

Cut to Xbox logo.

Trivia

• In the original version of the trailer, the narrator says "We created him, so we're responsible when he kills civilians".
• In 2024, the novel Halo: Battle Born was re-relased by Simon & Schuster, including a short story named "Glassed", which fleshes out and canonizes the Fireteam Osiris sections of this trailer, as taking place before the SPARTAN-IV fireteam reaches Meridian.

Gallery

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  Concept art for the trailer.

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  Concept art for the trailer.