Honor Guard Councilor: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:38, April 12, 2023

The Honor Guard Councillor

Honor Guard Councilor is a fan-derived title for a particular glitched Elite model that serves as the final opponent in Halo 2's campaign level Gravemind. This glitch can be attributed to the game's programming due to an incorrect coding; the Elite model was meant to be a Zealot.

Overview[edit]

The Honor Guard Councillor, who appears at the fore of the bridge between the Mausoleum of the Arbiter and the Far Tower, is flanked by two SpecOps Elites wielding Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifles or Carbines (and a pair of Ultra Elites on higher difficulties). The Honor Guard Councilor is extraordinarily powerful and on Normal difficulty or higher requires at least two Fuel Rod Gun hits to kill, or multiple Energy Sword slashes to defeat. The Honor Guard Councilor is programmed to have the power and skills of a Zealot. It always wields an Energy Sword.

Though the armor is always white with Honor Guard pieces, there are some variations, mostly with the helmet. In addition to the helmet variations below, there are occasions where the glitched Elite has Rtas 'Vadum's face - that is, where the Elite is missing two mandibles. The Elite can appear with the following permutations:

Councilor helmet, standard blue lights on body armor
Councilor helmet, Rtas 'Vadum's face, red lights on body armor
Honor Guardsmen helmet
An untextured Councillor helmet

Explanation[edit]

The Honor Guard Councilor's appearance results from the usage of a missing tag.^[1] In Halo 2, every enemy in the Campaign has variations, which increase the game's realism. The variations would be chosen at random each time a level was played; they determined that enemies would act and sound differently. This differs from Halo: Combat Evolved, where some enemies, like Elites, always used the same lines.

Each Elite tag was suffixed with an underscore and a three-letter code denoting the Elite's voice actor. Tags whose name ended in _dog ("dogmatic"), for example, were voiced by Norm Woodel; tags ending in _scl ("Scully") were voiced by David Scully. So in most maps, there are two tags for each Elite rank, with the tags having differing voice actors. This can be seen in many levels, including The Oracle, in which you come across several dead Flood bodies, and an Elite will say either:

"We should have brought weapons to burn these bodies. Every one is a potential vessel for the Flood." in a calm and steady voice, or:
"We should have brought weapons to burn these bodies! Every one is a vessel for the Flood!" in a fast and energetic voice.

So these are all the Elite tags in Halo 2:

Minor_dog
Minor_scl
Major_dog
Major_scl
Stealth_dog

Stealth_scl
Stealth_Major_dog
Stealth_Major_scl
Ultra_dog
Ultra_scl
etc.

On most levels, all a programmer has to do is code the game to produce one Minor Elite, for example, and the game itself will randomly choose between the Minor_dog and Minor_scl variations. Programmers do have the option to force the game to use a particular variation.

However, not all levels have both sets of tags for all enemies. In Metropolis, for example, all Grunts sound the same, because the tags voiced by Brian Posehn were omitted from the map's code, leaving only the Grunts that were voiced by Joseph Staten. Bungie decided to use only one of the two Grunt variations in the game.

This was also done on Gravemind: Elites' _dog tags were omitted from the level, such that only _scl Elites could be used. Because of this, the programmers would have to manually add _scl onto all the Elite tags. Unfortunately, the game's programmers accidentally coded the game to spawn a "zealot_dog"—they had used the wrong variation suffix. Since this variation was not in the map, the game could not find it.

At this point, the game knows to spawn an Elite with the power and weapons of a Zealot, but it does not know what the armor is supposed to look like. It automatically chooses the default armor color, white, but there is no default helmet. The game thus chooses between the available helmets (or lack thereof). The face is also randomized, sometimes causing the glitched Elite to have Half-Jaw's face and eyes. And for unknown reasons, the game always enables the "Honor Guard" armor—all Elite tags have a setting that gives them Honor Guard armor, but it is supposed to be disabled on most Elites, including Zealots.

Trivia[edit]

Sometimes, but very rarely, this Elite appears as a normal Honor Guard Ultra, or even more rarely, a simple Ultra Elite.
In Halo 2 for Windows Vista, the error is partially corrected; the Elite's shields are normal.
This glitched Elite was entered as an entry in the Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition) as one of many ranks within the Sangheili society.
In Halo 2: Anniversary, all of its variations except for the untextured helmet, which shows up as a normal Councilor helmet in remastered graphics. Additionally, the head model of Rtas 'Vadum translates into a regular Ultra Elite in remastered graphics.

Gallery[edit]

The Honor Guard Councilor battles Master Chief with swords in Gravemind.
Another variation with a Rtas 'Vadumee face model.
Another variation with an untextured helmet.
Another variation on a modded multiplayer map.
Another picture of the Elite with the untextured helmet.
The Honor Guard Councilor in Halo 2: Anniversary.
The variation with Elite Ultra helmet in Halo 2: Anniversary.
The variation with Honor Guard helmet in Halo 2: Anniversary.

Sources[edit]

^ halo.bungie.org: Gravemind Freak Elite, finally 100% figured it out

External links[edit]

YouTube: Halo 2 elite with mixed armor An Honor Guard Councilor in combat.

[explain-1] halo.bungie.org: Gravemind Freak Elite, finally 100% figured it out

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Ratings}}
+{{Status|Gameplay}}
-{{Era|H2|FA}}
+[[File:Honor Guard Councilor.jpg|thumb|300px|The Honor Guard Councillor]]
-{{Covenant Rank Infobox
+'''Honor Guard Councilor''' is a fan-derived title for a particular glitched [[Elite]] model that serves as the final opponent in ''[[Halo 2]]''<nowiki />'s [[campaign]] level [[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]]. This glitch can be attributed to the game's programming due to an incorrect coding; the Elite model was meant to be a [[Sangheili Zealot|Zealot]].
-|name=Honor Guard Councilor
-|image=[[Image:Honor_Guard_Councilor.jpg|300px]]
-|species=[[Sangheili]]
-|weapons=[[Energy Swords]]
-|equipment=
-|vehicles=
-|missions=
-|role=Glitch/Coding Mistake
-|notable=
-|affiliation=[[Covenant]]
-}}
-"'''Honor Guard Councilor'''" is a fan-derived term describing a strange [[Elite]] seen in the level [[Gravemind (Level)|Gravemind]].  He appears to be wearing gauntlets and greaves of the [[Honor Guard Ultra]] with the helmet of either a [[Councilor]], an [[Ultra Elite]], or an [[Honor Guard]] Elite. The Elite's appearance can be attributed to a [[glitch]] in the game's programming due to a programmer typing incorrect coding; it was meant to be a [[Zealot]].
+== Overview ==
+The Honor Guard Councillor, who appears at the fore of the bridge between the [[Mausoleum of the Arbiter]] and the [[Far Tower]], is flanked by two [[Special Operations Sangheili|SpecOps Elites]] wielding {{Pattern|Okarda'phaa|plasma rifle}}s or [[Type-51 Carbine|Carbines]] (and a pair of Ultra Elites on higher difficulties). The Honor Guard Councilor is extraordinarily powerful and on [[Normal]] difficulty or higher requires at least two [[Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun|Fuel Rod Gun]] hits to kill, or multiple [[Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword|Energy Sword]] slashes to defeat. The Honor Guard Councilor is programmed to have the power and skills of a [[Sangheili Zealot|Zealot]]. It always wields an [[Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword|Energy Sword]].
-== Appearance ==
+Though the armor is always white with Honor Guard pieces, there are some variations, mostly with the helmet. In addition to the helmet variations below, there are occasions where the glitched Elite has [[Rtas 'Vadum]]'s face - that is, where the Elite is missing two mandibles. The Elite can appear with the following permutations:
-It appears at the end of the level ''[[Gravemind (Level)|Gravemind]]'', at the fore of the bridge between the [[Mausoleum of the Arbiter]] and the [[Far Tower]]. The '''Honor Guard Councilor''' is flanked by two [[SpecOps Elite]]s wielding [[Plasma Rifle]]s or [[Carbines]], but is always armed with an [[Energy Sword]] himself and he may be a bit dangerous if the player doesn't know how to avoid his attacks.
-[[Image:Councillor.jpg|thumb|left|150px|The Honor Guard Councilor battles [[Master Chief]] with swords in the level he spawns in, [[Gravemind (Level)|Gravemind]].]]
-This only occurs after the [[Master Chief]] has killed the [[Ultra Elite]]s, [[Hunter]]s, and [[Brute]]s fighting in the Mausoleum of the Arbiter and has moved to intercept the [[High Prophet of Truth]].
-== Variations ==
+*Councilor helmet, standard blue lights on body armor
-The variations of this particular Elite are as follows:
+*Councilor helmet, [[Rtas 'Vadum]]'s face, red lights on body armor
-Note: in all of these the body amour is white and with honor guard pieces.
+*Honor Guardsmen helmet
-*Councilor helmet
+*An untextured Councillor helmet
-*Councilor helmet with Half Jaw's face and body lights are red, not the normal blue
-*Red Honor Guard helmet
-*Half Jaw's head and green eyes (all other Elite eyes are usually black)
-*Normal white Elite helmet (such as an Ultra Elite)
-*Mysterious helmet (a helmet with a different texture to the Councilor helmet, comes in a thin sheet like form which sticks directly up out of the Elite's helmet at the rear) You can see an honor guard councilor in combat [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQYPoB-N32U&feature=channel_page here]
-== Combat ==
-The '''Honor Guard Councilor''' is extraordinarily powerful and on [[Normal]] difficulty or higher requires at least two [[Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon|Fuel Rod Gun]] hits to kill or multiple [[Energy Sword]] slashes to defeat. The Honor Guard Councilor is programmed to have the power and skills of a [[Zealot]]. It always wields an [[Energy Sword]].
 == Explanation ==
-The Honor Guard Councilor only appears by mistake in ''[[Halo 2]]'' because its appearance was never intentional. The armor the [[Elite]] wears is the result of a bug in the programming of the game. This glitch does not always appear.
+The Honor Guard Councilor's appearance results from the usage of a missing [[tag]].<ref name="explain">[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive26.pl?read=756168 '''halo.bungie.org''': ''Gravemind Freak Elite, finally 100% figured it out'']</ref> In ''Halo 2'', every enemy in the Campaign has variations, which increase the game's realism. The variations would be chosen at random each time a level was played; they determined that enemies would act and sound differently. This differs from ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', where some enemies, like Elites, always used the same lines.
-Every character was programmed into ''Halo 2'' with variations to increase the realistic feel of the game. These variations would be randomly placed in each level, each time it was played. These variations determined that the Elites would act and sound differently, instead of saying the same things, as they did on ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''.
-[[Image:Honor Guard Ultra.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Another variation on a modded multiplayer map..]]
-In particular, there are two voice sets for regular Elites. They are '''"_dog"''' (Meaning "dogmatic") and '''"_scl"''' (Meaning "scully"). _dog Elites have the voice clips of [[Norm Woodel]], while _scl Elites have the voice clips of [[David Scully]]. The "Object Properties" tag takes care of what variations of things have; it assigns armor, voices, faces, default health, and such. So in ''most'' maps, the Elites have 2 copies of one rank, one assigned to each voice. For instance, in the level [[Great Journey (Level)|Great Journey]], when you exit your [[Spectre]]/[[Wraith]] there is an Elite saying either;
-*"The [[Arbiter (character)|Arbiter]]? I thought he was dead. Hold your fire! The [[Hunter]]s have come to our aid, Arbiter. They will '''stand''' by our side." In a calm and steady voice, or;
-*"The [[Arbiter (character)|Arbiter]]? I thought he was dead. Hold your fire! The [[Hunters]] have come to our aid, Arbiter. They will '''fight''' by our side." In a fast and energetic voice.
-Therefore, in the case of [[The Great Journey (Level)|The Great Journey]] for example these are all the Elite variations:
+Each Elite tag was suffixed with an underscore and a three-letter code denoting the Elite's voice actor. Tags whose name ended in <code>_dog</code> ("dogmatic"), for example, were voiced by [[Norm Woodel]]; tags ending in <code>_scl</code> ("Scully") were voiced by [[David Scully]]. So in ''most'' maps, there are two tags for each Elite rank, with the tags having differing voice actors. This can be seen in many levels, including [[The Oracle]], in which you come across several dead [[The Flood|Flood]] bodies, and an Elite will say either:
+*"''We should have brought weapons to burn these bodies. Every one is a '''potential''' vessel for the [[The Flood|Flood]].''" in a calm and steady voice, or:
+*"''We should have brought weapons to burn these bodies! Every one is a vessel for the [[The Flood|Flood]]!''" in a fast and energetic voice.
+So these are all the Elite tags in ''Halo 2'':
+{{col-begin}}
+{{col-2}}
 *Minor_dog
 *Minor_scl
@@ Line 50: / Line 28: @@
 *Major_scl
 *Stealth_dog
+{{col-2}}
 *Stealth_scl
 *Stealth_Major_dog
@@ Line 55: / Line 34: @@
 *Ultra_dog
 *Ultra_scl
-*Etc. etc.
+*''etc.''
+{{col-end}}
+On most levels, all a programmer has to do is code the game to produce one [[Sangheili Minor|Minor]] Elite, for example, and the game itself will randomly choose between the Minor_dog and Minor_scl variations. Programmers ''do'' have the option to force the game to use a particular variation.
-However, both sets of variations are not always used. For example, in [[Metropolis]], the voices of all the [[Grunts]] are the same because the designers did not put the [[Brian Posehn]] Grunt variation in the [[Metropolis]] Map file, so that all the [[Grunts]] only have the voice clips of [[Joseph Staten]] variant. They chose only to use one of the two available variations in the game.
+However, not all levels have both sets of tags for all enemies. In [[Metropolis]], for example, all [[Unggoy|Grunts]] sound the same, because the tags voiced by [[Brian Posehn]] were omitted from the map's code, leaving only the Grunts that were voiced by [[Joseph Staten]]. [[Bungie]] decided to use only one of the two Grunt variations in the game.
-On most levels, all the programmer has to do is program the Game to produce one [[Minor]] Elite for instance and the game itself will randomly choose between the Minor_dog and Minor_scl variations, unless otherwise specified. But, only one set of variations exists on the [[Gravemind]] map file. Gravemind is another level like this. It was programmed so that only the _scl type of Elites were in the file. Therefore, every time the programmers wanted an Elite to appear, they would have to add the _scl suffix.
+This was also done on Gravemind: Elites' <code>_dog</code> tags were omitted from the level, such that only <code>_scl</code> Elites could be used. Because of this, the programmers would have to manually add <code>_scl</code> onto all the Elite tags. Unfortunately, the game's programmers accidentally coded the game to spawn a "zealot_dog"—they had used the wrong variation suffix. Since this variation was not in the map, the game could not find it.
-Unfortunately, the programmers accidentally programmed the game to spawn a "zealot_dog" Elite to appear at this point on the level. They had intended for the Elite to be a [[Zealot]], but attached the wrong variation suffix to it. Since this variation was not in the level, the game can not find it.
+At this point, the game knows to spawn an Elite with the power and weapons of a [[Sangheili Zealot|Zealot]], but it does not know what the armor is supposed to look like. It automatically chooses the default armor color, white, but there is no default helmet. The game thus chooses between the available helmets (or lack thereof). The face is also randomized, sometimes causing the glitched Elite to have [[Rtas 'Vadum|Half-Jaw]]'s face and eyes. And for unknown reasons, the game always enables the "Honor Guard" armor—all Elite tags have a setting that gives them Honor Guard armor, but it is supposed to be disabled on most Elites, including Zealots.
-[[Image:100_0969.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Honor Guard Councilor with a half-jaw.]]
-This results in the [[glitch]] players see: The game knows to spawn an Elite with the power and weapons of a [[Zealot]], but it does not know what the armor is supposed to look like. Since white is the default armor color, the game automatically chooses it. Since it does not know what helmet to give the Elite, it randomly chooses between the [[Councilor]] helmet, the Honor Guard helmet, the modified Councilor helmet, and the [[Ultra Elite]] helmet. Apparently on very, very rare occasions, there is no helmet at all. The no helmet variation comes from the corpses seen earlier in the level and only sometimes at the level's end.
-Finally, since the game does not understand the [[Sangheili|Elite]] appearance, it automatically enables the "Honor Guard" armor for some reason. This armor is a feature available on all Elites but is supposed to be disabled on those that are not supposed to wear [[Honor Guard]] armor. The game may even spawn the Elite with the wrong face, [[Rtas 'Vadum]]'s, with it's green eyes.
+==Trivia==
+*Sometimes, but very rarely, this Elite appears as a normal [[Honor Guard Ultra]], or even more rarely, a simple [[Sangheili Ultra|Ultra Elite]].
+*In [[Halo 2 (Windows Vista)|''Halo 2'' for Windows Vista]], the error is partially corrected; the Elite's shields are normal.
+*This glitched Elite was entered as an entry in the ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition)]]'' as one of many ranks within the Sangheili society.
+*In ''[[Halo 2: Anniversary]]'', all of its variations except for the untextured helmet, which shows up as a normal Councilor helmet in remastered graphics. Additionally, the head model of Rtas 'Vadum translates into a regular Ultra Elite in remastered graphics.
+== Gallery ==
+<gallery>
+File:Councillor.jpg|The Honor Guard Councilor battles [[John-117|Master Chief]] with swords in [[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]].
+File:H2 Honor Guard Rtas face.JPG|Another variation with a [[Rtas 'Vadumee]] face model.
+File:GravemindHonorGuardCouncillor.JPG|Another variation with an untextured helmet.
+File:Honor Guard Ultra.JPG|Another variation on a modded multiplayer map.
+File:Untexturedhonorguardcouncilor.png|Another picture of the Elite with the untextured helmet.
+File:HTMCC-H2A Honor Guard Councilor.jpg|The Honor Guard Councilor in ''Halo 2: Anniversary''.
+File:HTMCC-H2A Honor Guard Ultra.jpg|The variation with Elite Ultra helmet in ''Halo 2: Anniversary''.
+File:HTMCC-H2A Ultra Honor Guard.jpg|The variation with Honor Guard helmet in ''Halo 2: Anniversary''.
+</gallery>
-==Trivia==
+== Sources ==
-*Sometimes, but very rarely, this Elite appears as a normal [[Honor Guard Ultra]], or even more rarely, a simple [[Ultra Elite]].<ref>''[[Halo 2]]'' level [[Gravemind (Level)|Gravemind]].</ref>
+{{Ref/Sources}}
+== External links ==
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQYPoB-N32U '''YouTube:''' Halo 2 elite with mixed armor] An Honor Guard Councilor in combat.
+{{Glitches}}
-==References==
-<references/>
-[[Category:Elites]]
 [[Category:Glitches]]
+[[Category:Halo 2 glitches]]