Talk:Rtas 'Vadum

Modded picture?

I think that somebody should change the main picture of half-jaw back to one of him in campaign mode, the modded one doesn't ever look like him I think, plus the swords look WAY more fake then the real ones. Please discuss.

Jpb1719 17:53, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

I believe the only modding done to the swords is that a reverse image is now in his left hand. Otherwise, it looks like normal Halo 2 swords. --Dragonclaws^(talk) 18:01, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Name Change

The Graphic Novel states that Half-Jaw/Spec Ops Commander are both Rtas 'Vadumee. The title should be changed.

Where? I was looking at this page last night and was surprised to see "Half-Jaw" with a name, so I checked here and saw that it was supposed to be in the HGN. I figured Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor, but I looked through that whole story and never saw the name Rtas 'Vadumee. Can you give me a page number where "Half-Jaw" is mentioned by name?

The intro on page 6. --Dragonclaws 00:28, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Shorthand name

It's been established in Halo: The Flood that Elites shorten their names to the second part. If you're going to shorten his name, it will be "'Vadumee", not "Rtas". -ED 15:17, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Name

When is his name revealed? One of the books? Also, how is it pronounced? Salty 05:10, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

His name is apparently revealed in Halo Graphic Novel, since there's a story with him in it. I'd pronounce it with a gentle 'r' (lower case) sound at the beginning and then the rest as it's spelt. I know it could be a problem if you're not used to pronouncing funny words. J.f 4 September 10:31

I don't see how to pronounce the R without a vowel on either side, and say "er-tas" even though I know it's probably inaccurate. --Dragonclaws 10:46, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Hah hah, I have always pronounced it with emphasis on the R. To me it sounds like AR-tas. -ED 01:28, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

To be honest sometimes i pronounce it artas because it's easier -J.f

Am i the only one to pronuonce it like "Retas"?

Quite probably. I personally say er-tas, er not like heir, but like ur, not sure if that's what DC meant or not. g^ue_st^y-p_er^so_ny-^th_in^gy 03:18, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

No, I pronounce it Retas too.--Lieutenant Alan 11:37, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

I pronuce it Reh-tazz

I also pronounce it "Retas" or "reh tahs". Captain J

I pronounce it something close to Rhe-tas, and I'm surprised no one pronounse it Arthas, XD --H91 18:52, January 9, 2010 (UTC)

I don't try to pronounce it. I call him by his last name. Smoke^{Sound off!} 18:58, January 9, 2010 (UTC)

I got it stuck in my head that it's pronounced 'Rat-us'. Probably very inaccurate, not to mention it resulted in misspelling his name to 'Ratas' many times. Zeno 'Ribal 19:00, January 9, 2010 (UTC)

The way I say it is "Ru-Tas" with the first syllable very short and the 'T' in the second syllable is emphasized. The u is pronounced as in the word 'bug' and the a is pronounced as in the word 'at'.TailSpin 21:03, January 9, 2010 (UTC)

Too many quotes!!!

So many quotes make it look to tacky--207.28.99.145 18:18, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I contributed some of his quotes, but only the "quotish" sounding ones. I was not the person who included the quotes of every single thing he ever said in the "Heretic" and "Oracle" missions and I think somebody should get rid of some of them. -User:J.f

Okay, I removed some of the quotes just now but it still might need trimming a bit --.J.f 19:29 25 September 2006

Removed Quotes

• "Even now they use our lords' creations to broadcast their lies!"
• "Bring the Phantoms closer to mine. We're not leaving until the leader of these heretics is dead. Arbiter, the Flood have spread throughout the station! We don't have enough troops to manage such a large infestation."
• "The storm has masked our approach, and it should have their local battlenet in disarray."
• "Are you still alive, Arbiter? We're keeping pace as best we can!"

Served on the fleet of Particular Justice?

Source? --JohnSpartan117 06:33, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

It's in the comic. --Councilor 'Nodotee File:Donut 7.JPG ^[BattleNet] 13:15, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Picture

Um, that picture at the bottom is definitely not on Installation 05. Irkallabyss

It looks like it's the Quarantine Zone. --Dragonclaws 23:42, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Eye color

For your information, all elites have a distinct eye color. The only reason why and elites eye color apears to be brown or black is because of how they are wearing eye pieces or eye patches used for targeting and zooming. Since they wear an eye patch, unless you could remove them, all sangheili eyes will apear to be black or dark brown. To prove this, on the very first cutscene in halo 2 before the level The armory, in the council meeting to determine the fate of the future arbiter, look at the arbiters eyes and you will notice they are black. That helps prove that elites do wear eyes pieces as when arbiter recieves his ceremonial armor he is no longer wearing his eye pieces therefor, his eyes are an amber and orange. -- User:Halo3 01:05, 25 December 2006

I noticed a bit ago that someone put in the article that Rtas has one orange eye and one green eye, which is incorrect (the green eyes Rtas had in H2 were due to eye coverings). However, could that editor be not far from the truth? I noticed today on my new Rtas action figure had one orange eye and one yellow eye. The safe assumption is this is a production mistake, however to be safe I started making inquiries with other people that has a Rtas figure online. So far only one has responded, but she replied that her's has two eye colors as well.
If this is wide spread and not a production mistake, this could mean one of a few things:
- This could simply mean a case of artistic license by the toy company
- Rtas' yellow eye (which is on the left side) could be a result of damage from when he lost his left mandibles (if you look in the HGN, Rtas does lose a sizeable chunk of his helmet and you can no longer see his eye on that side).
- Rtas has Heterochromia.
Granted, this is speculation and I am still looking into this. Rtas in H2 wears eye coverings, so we can't really see his true eye color there. In H3, we only really get a close up of the right side of his face and it is largely in shadow. If he truly does have heterochromia, whether by genetics or battle scarring, right now we only have this figure as proof and I doubt an action figure would be considered very high on the list of canon sources. Zeno 'Ribal 20:20, October 29, 2009 (UTC)

Half Jaw on The Oracle

That is not level oracle.--Halo3

What isn't? g^ue_st^y-p_er^so_ny-^th_in^gy 03:18, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Actor

I was wondering why the actor who plays the voice of Rtas 'Vadumee isn't on the page?--User:The Chazz025 and Clan ^{[Razu'Kuzumee]} 01:08, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Because this is just about his role in Halo, not anything technical about the model or voice actor or anything. g^ue_st^y-p_er^so_ny-^th_in^gy 03:18, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Hey, if anyone still cares, he was played by Robert Davi. Captain J

Sword picture

Oh, I didn't notice this was the article it was on, and that's why it said that... well, it was shortened wrong anyway, and there's no harm done in calling him Half-Jaw every once in a while. I think. g^ue_st^y-p_er^so_ny-^th_in^gy 03:18, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

left handed

he is not the only character to hold his weapon in his left hand, jackals hold their weapons in their left hand as well. The Lieutenant General 14:42, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

The Arbiter also holds his weapon in his left hand once. Watch this. AlphaPrime 23:49, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Vadum?

Since when did he get a name change?

                       Ilikeme101 05:27, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Since the Covenant Civil War. Look at the reference on his name. - 49_Harboring_Enmity 23:05, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

that is purely conjecture it may have been simply a typo this has not been confirmed by anyone. Ralok 00:24, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm...

Isn't it weird that 'Vadum said that the Arbiter's life means nothing to him, even though the Arbiter is the leader of 3/4 (4 being controlled by Prophets) of the entire Covenant? And also that 'Vadum and the Arbiter became good friends at the end/around of Halo 2, yet he does not take his statement back? - Just a guest.

Vadum did not die he is the Shipmaster http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC7Fukxe2tM Look at his left mandibles he is the shipmaster of the Assult Carrier

In Halo 2, the Arbiter is leader of nothing and noone, he's a single soldier who takes orders directly from the Prophets, it's the fact that his missions are so high-priority that means he is surrounded by the best the Covenant has to offer. 'Vadumee was likely ordered to support the Arbiter on the mission against the Heretics, for example. As for Halo 3, since the Arbiter was one of the first Elites to realize the truth about the Halo array and rebel against the Prophets, he's held in fairly high regard by the rest of the Elites, giving him more personal power. Captain J

Uhh...

Has anyone noticed that in Halo 3 we can play 4 characters in co-op. Why isn't Vadum a character! Now we are stuck with two other guys im sure we are all clueless about!--The Evil O'malley 19:50, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

I have some reasons for this: 1) He is the shipmaster so he wont go out. 2) If he would be playable in 4 Co-op, when you play alone he also will appear 3) Ovbiusly he is the chClavix2 File:Halo2emblemClavix.jpg ^{I WILL PAY FOR ALL MY SINS} 19:56, 12 October 2007 (UTC)ief of the Elites so he wont go to fight like another soldier, he keeps commanding troops and things like this.

Even though this is old, he COULD have been playable because the other two elites aren't seen on the first player and 2 player mode anywhere, unless i am mistaken.--Shade 01:17, January 12, 2010 (UTC)

prostetics?

In halo three he seems to have full-- if unarmored-- mandables Are they prostesis? ...Or am I halucinating... I once thought there were 3 bases on snowbound because i cold not find the basement door on needler-roof.

also half-jaw is proof that the dog did not ALLWAYS beat sarge over the fenceSargeLIVES 21:38, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Female Elite?

Why is this mentioned? "female Elite, Verllan'a Cenduumee" I've never seen this character anywhere.-- Joshua 029 13:12, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Body on Floodgate

The armor permutations on the dead elite are not identical to 'Vadum's - only the right shoulder is assault, the left is combat. It is visible even in the small pic on this page. Forgive me for nitpicking, but isn't that what we're here for?

the legate

'vadum never kills the legate. he just bitchslaps him and threatens him, but he doesn't actually kill the legate.CaptJim 16:02, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Even/fair?

The first quote. Can we sort this out if anyone can give a source for their version lets see it? (I remember it as fair)That Geek 09:24, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

"Then it is an even fight. All cruisers fire at will. Burn their mongrel hides!"

— Rtas 'Vadum responding to the Elite

You mean this one? It's the only one with a reference to either the word 'fair', or 'even'. Here's a source. Watch, and listen closely to what he says: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x89jHCVmkzE&feature=channel_page

Smoke

14:58, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Rewrite

This article needs a rewrite to make it more concise. The paragraphs sound too much like random collections of sentences, and in several paragraphs the same information is repeated unnecessarily. If no one else fixes it I'm going to do it.

Okay I took out some of the unnecessary stuff and tried to make the paragraphs flow a little better. I left most of the original wording intact except for a few sentences that were just too awkward to save. I'm going to bed now.

ok, i have a question......where is all this info coming from? bungie didnt give these elites names and i know for a fact if they did there would be something about that on bungie.net

its very disrespectful to all thew fans of halo that you people are going around giving false names and false info........"honestly.....i AM shocked"-343 Guilty spark/The Maw

--96.235.184.117 14:42, 25 July 2009 (UTC)Ttdeu Gerumee(thomas mckenzie)

if you are going to reply to this message here is my email prophetoftruth7@yahoo.com

Not all information on the Haloverse is put on Bungie.net, heck, barely anything on Halo itself is on that site. Therefore, much of the information put on these pages is gleaned from other canon sources: usually the games, but books/comics as well. Rtas' name was revealed in the introduction to the 'Last Flight of the Infinate Succor' in the Halo Graphic Novel,which is considered canon by Bungie. Zeno 'Ribal 05:21, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Shorthand Name

Hate to resurrect an old argument here, but as far as I recall, every other Halo novel besides Halo: The Flood that I've read- and I'm fairly certain I haven't missed one yet- consistently uses every Sangheili's first name as the shorthand. For example, Halo: The Cole Protocol consistently uses "Thel" as Thel 'Vadam(ee)'s shorthand name, while Halo: The Ghosts of Onyx consistently uses "Voro" as Voro Nar 'Mantakree's shorthand name. Heck, most of Thel's handpicked group aren't even given last names, so this rule is even used in actual speech in The Cole Protocol's case. Going from seeing every other major Sangheili character referred to by their first name to Rtas consistently referred to as "'Vadumee" and "'Vadum" whenever mentioned by name in the article is just really jarring and ruins the internal consistency Halopedia has going. Would anyone mind if I went and changed most of the instances of "'Vadumee" and "'Vadum" to "Rtas", to fit the naming conventions followed by the majority of the canon as well as the majority of the Sangheili character articles here on Halopedia? Dewback rancher 13:39, April 23, 2010 (UTC)

It should also be noted that readers might confused Vadum(ee) with Vadam(ee). By all means, please do.- 5əb'7aŋk^(7alk) 13:42, April 23, 2010 (UTC)

Done and done. Also turned the "Alpha Halo" section into a short postscript of the Infinite Succor section, since that's what it basically amounts to: saying that we have no idea what Rtas was up to doing during the rest of the greater Battle of Installation 04 that The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor takes place during a small part of (namely, it at least starts at the same time as the level 343 Guilty Spark, IIRC) and made a few other minor changes. Dewback rancher 03:09, April 24, 2010 (UTC)

Special Operations Commander

Is there a source that asserts he was in charge of all Covenant special forces? I came to doubt this because the Essential Visual Guide states he was merely Special Operations commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice. It's possible he was promoted after the events of Installation 04, but if so, it's not mentioned in the visual guide.

That, and "Special Operations Commander of the Covenant" seems like it could be a fanon title - I recall he's only been called "Special Operations Commander". --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 13:55, 29 August 2011 (EDT)

Seems like we're starting to reconsider the way we view the Covenant's armed forces. Perhaps you should start a forum on this?--The All-knowing Sith'ari 13:57, 29 August 2011 (EDT)

During the Halo 3: Essentials commentary for the opening cutscene of Sacred Icon, Jason Jones says something to the effect of, "There he is... Half-Jaw, the special operations commander of the Covenant." Jason Jones has never had much involvement with the Halo series' story, especially not since Halo 2's release. He has always been far more concerned with gameplay than with canon, and he has a bad habit of saying things simply because they sound cool. At no point has it been stated or even suggested that "Special Operations Commander of the Covenant" is a canon title. On a related note, when/where has Tartarus ever been called the "Chieftain of the Jiralhanae"?. —This unsigned comment was made by Braidenvl (talk • contribs). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

Tartarus' rank is seemingly derived from the final cinematic of Sacred Icon, where he proclaims himself to be "Chieftain of the Brutes" ("And I, Tartarus, Chieftain of the Brutes will send you to it") It does seem odd that such a tribal and disorganized species would have a proper leader, but perhaps it's a position born out of necessity to have someone represent them in the Covenant.

Coming back to the original subject, we could take Jones' comment at face value or not. It just seems a little strange if he was indeed in command of all Covenant special operations forces and the visual guide makes no mention of it. Still, he was apparently in an important position during the events of Halo 2, given his involvement in high-level politics. Either way, it's apparent that "Special Operations Commander of the Covenant" is merely a descriptor used by Jones and Rtas' actual rank is "Special Operations Commander".

As for a forum post on Covenant military restructuring, I'll get working on that. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 11:43, 30 August 2011 (EDT)

On a side note, according to the Tartarus page on the Essential Visual Guide, he is "Chieftain of the Jiralhanae". Looking forward to the end of this discussion in the forums. —S331 _{(When I played Halo: CE, we didn't have any fancy-shmancy armor abilities...)} 12:00, 31 August 2011 (EDT)

Put his alternate name "Half-Jaw" in the first sentence or the info box

His nick name "Half-Jaw" is now canon as shown in Halo: Shadow of Intent's description “ After decades of grim combat against the humans and then the traitorous Covenant Prophets, the Sangheili warrior Rtas ‘Vadum—the Half-Jaw—has earned a long rest. But not all of the Prophets perished in their holy city, High Charity, and now one of their fearsome Prelates has sworn his vengeance. This powerful threat has set a cataclysmic plan in motion—a plan to lure the Half-Jaw into a trap that will herald the utter destruction of the entire Sangheili race…[4] ”