Hunt the Truth

The avatar used on the HUNT the TRUTH SoundCloud profile.

"What seems like the end, is only the beginning."

— Tagline

Hunt the Truth, stylized as HUNT the TRUTH or the hashtag #HUNTtheTRUTH, was a marketing campaign made by the Ayzenberg Group and led by creative director Noah Heichen for the release of Halo 5: Guardians, hosted on the popular microblogging and social networking site Tumblr. After a countdown ending on Sunday, March 22, 2015 at 6:00PM PST, the site displayed the "Halo 5 Bullet" trailer, as well as acting as the front page of journalist Benjamin Giraud's hunt for the truth about the story of Master Chief. Over the course of Season 1, Giraud updated the site weekly with his "part docu-diary, part audio archive" until E3 2015 in June 14, 2015. Season 2 premiered on September 22, 2015 and follows the story of FERO, a recurring character in Season 1.

Season 1

Main article: Hunt the Truth Season 1

Hunt the Truth Season 1 started on March 22, 2015, and finished on June 14. It details the journey Benjamin Giraud did to discover the truth on the Master Chief.

Season 2

Main article: Hunt the Truth Season 2

Hunt the Truth Season 2 started on September 22, 2015. It details FERO's story.

Supplementary marketing campaigns

Bullet Trailer

"It’s time to #HUNTtheTRUTH."

On the same day the audio drama started, a bullet trailer was released. The trailer had a bullet shot out of an SRS99-S5 AM sniper rifle that rotated with several words on it finally ending up shot through the Master Chief's visor. On the Hunt the Truth Blog you can slow down the trailer to see clearly the words on the bullet and with each turn it reads: SON, ABDUCTEE, VICTIM, ORPHAN, RECRUIT, SOLDIER, WARRIOR, ALLY, HERO, SAVIOR, TRAITOR. An image of this is shown in the gallery below.

All Hail and The Cost

Main articles: All Hail, The Cost

"There are 2 sides to every story."

Two live-action trailers were released on Sunday, March 29, 2015, as part of the marketing campaign.

Hunt the Truth Voice

On April 24, 2015, four popular Halo YouTubers - Halo Follower, ReadyUpLive, ChiefCanuck, and Halo Canon - uploaded a video detailing that community members would have the option to record their voice to be used in an episode of Hunt the Truth. The deadline was April 27, 2015. The voice clips appeared in Season 1 Episode 6 and the Message from Sully Blog Post.

Hunt the Signal

Main article: Hunt the Signal

Hunt the Signal was an ARG related to Hunt the Truth in which teams of four competed in order to have characters in Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series be created in their likeness.

Hunt the Master Chief

From Friday, May 15 to Sunday, June 14, 2015, a competition was held in Italy. Competitors had to fill in a registration form, and quickly answer five questions. The fastest eight competitors competed in a game of laser tag on June 28, 2015, for a copy of the Halo 5: Guardians Limited Collector's Edition.

A Hero Falls and The Hunt Begins

Main articles: A Hero Falls, The Hunt Begins

The minute-long live-action trailer, A Hero Falls, debuted September 27, 2015, on Sunday Night Football. It was followed five days later by a longer trailer, The Hunt Begins.

Appearances

Characters Aden Langereis (First appearance) Alea Maciejewski (First appearance) Ana Dias*Santos (First appearance) Andrew Del Rio Andy Walczak (First appearance) Anthony Petrosky (First appearance) Antonio Silva (Mentioned only) Ari Rezneck (First appearance) Benjamin Giraud Black-Box Bostwick (First appearance) Charles Kesler (First appearance) Chris Stillwell (First appearance) Chur'R-Zhal (First appearance) Daniel Card (First appearance) Dasc Gevadim David Barker (First appearance) Deon Govender (First mentioned) Derryl Jackson (First appearance) Dmitry Yudin (First appearance) Ellie Bloom Eifinn Rein (First appearance) Emil Rukavina (First appearance) Franklin Mendez Gabriella Dvørak (First appearance) Gábor Zsolt (First appearance) Hollie Chu (First appearance) Ian Redding-Smythe (First appearance) Ilsa Zane Jameson Locke Janet Goodwin (First appearance) Jasper Arko (First appearance) John-117 John Weiland (First appearance) Josh Keegan (First appearance) Judith Adomo (First appearance) Katrina (First mentioned) Langston (Indirect mention) Laurel Adams (First mentioned) Leckie Tom (First appearance) Leon Stephens (First appearance) Lucy Quinn (First appearance) Margaret Parangosky (Mentioned only) Mattius Drake (Mentioned only) Matthew Drake (First appearance) Maya Sankar (First appearance) Mendicant Bias (Indirect mention) Michael Sullivan Mshak Moradi (First appearance) Noah Reibach (First appearance) O'Connor (First mentioned) Oscar-129 (Mentioned only) Oliver Barrett (First appearance) Paul Gustivson (First appearance) Penelope Boren (Mentioned only) Petra Janecek Ray Kurzig (First appearance) Richard Moody (First appearance) Richard Sekibo (First mentioned) Ravi (First mentioned) Ryder Hannigan (First appearance) Serin Osman (Mentioned only) Silas Mogensen (First appearance) Simon Kensington (First appearance) Steve Covington (First appearance) Thomas Wu (First appearance) Wiley (First appearance) Species Human Jiralhanae (Corpses only) Kig-Yar Sangheili San'Shyuum (Mentioned only) Unggoy (Mentioned only) Organizations BXR Mining Corporation Covenant (Mentioned only) High Council Hierarchs (Mentioned only) Zealots (Mentioned only) Insurrectionist (Mentioned only) Freedom and Liberation Party (Mentioned only) New Colonial Alliance Unidentified Sangheili clan (First appearance) Sapien Sunrise (First appearance) Triad Unified Earth Government (Mentioned only) Inner Territories Transportation Administration (First appearance) United Nations Space Command UNSC Defense Force UNSC Army UNSC Marine Corps Orbital Drop Shock Troopers UNSC Navy Naval Special Warfare Command SPARTAN-II program Office of Naval Intelligence SPARTAN-IV program Locations Barrier (First appearance) Binterall (First appearance) Biko Bliss Manikata Concord Corsica (Mentioned only) Lethbridge (Mentioned only) Conrad's Point Cygnus system New Jerusalem (Mentioned only) Dwarka (Mentioned only) Epsilon Eridani system Reach (Mentioned only) New Alexandria (Mentioned only) Eridanus system Eridanus II (Mentioned only) Elysium City (Mentioned only) Elysium City Primary Education Facility Number 119 (Mentioned only) Mamore (Mentioned only) Meridian Midnight Facility Oban (Indirect mention) Procyon system Arcadia Pirth City (Mentioned only) Sedra (Mentioned only) Sol system Earth Africa Kenya New Mombasa North America United Republic of North America Boston Mars (Mentioned only) Saturn Castellaneta Ursa IV (Indirect mention)

Events Human-Covenant War Battle of Biko (Mentioned only) Fall of Reach (Indirect mention) Battle for Earth Battle of Mombasa Battle of Installation 00 (Indirect mention) Insurrection Post-Covenant War conflicts Raid on Biko peace talks (First appearance) Raid on UNSC Infinity (Indirect mention) SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures (Mentioned only) Weapons M41 rocket launcher (Mentioned only) M6H magnum M7 SMG MA5D assault rifle Petra Janecek's revolver SRS99-S5 AM sniper rifle Anskum-pattern plasma grenade (Mentioned only) Type-33 Needler Vehicles Autumn-class heavy cruiser UNSC Unto the Breach (First appearance) CAS-class assault carrier Solemn Penance Hog M274 Mongoose Prison ship Prowler (Mentioned only) Rampant Perdition (First appearance) Type-26 Banshee Ru'swum-pattern Phantom UNSC carrier UNSC Atlas UNSC Infinity (Mentioned only) Technology and equipment COM pad Energy barrier Flash cloning (Mentioned only) Guardian MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor MJOLNIR [GEN1] Mark VI (Original and Modified variants) MJOLNIR [GEN2] Hunter variant ODST armor UNSC Army Battle Dress Uniform

Voice cast

Season 1

• Keegan Michael-Key as Benjamin Giraud
• Cobie Smulders as Petra Janecek
• Phil LaMarr as Simon Kensington (aka "Deon Govender"), Thomas Wu, and Ray Kurzig
• Tara Strong as Ellie Bloom
• Jennifer Hale as Gabriella Dvørak
• Kumail Nanjiani as Mshak Moradi
• Troy Baker as Anthony Petrosky
• Jerry Trainor as Michael Sullivan
• Steve Blum as Paul Gustivson (aka "Jakob Walker")
• Stacy Keach as Franklin Mendez
• Janina Gavankar as Maya Sankar (aka "FERO")
• Laura Bailey as Katrina
• Mark Rolston as Andrew Del Rio
• Travis Willingham as Charles Kesler

Season 2

• Janina Gavankar as Maya Sankar (aka "FERO")
• Keegan Michael-Key as Benjamin Giraud
• Jerry Trainor as Michael Sullivan
• Peter Serafinowicz as Black-Box
• Tamara Taylor as Ilsa Zane
• Mark Hamill as Dasc Gevadim
• Kumail Nanjiani as Mshak Moradi
• Vanessa Marshall as Chur'R-Zhal
• Alan Tudyk as Noah Reibach
• Rosa Salazar as Bostwick
• Bruce Thomas as Ari Rezneck
• William Salyers
• Cobie Smulders as Petra Janecek

Reception

The first season of Hunt the Truth won a Bronze Clio Award in 2015, in the Audio category, for its Audio Drama. It also got over 6.7 Million views putting in the top 1% of all iTunes podcasts. For its success on iTunes, Hunt the Truth received recognition there as one of the Best Podcasts of 2015. Hunt the Truth also received a Game Connection Europe award, a Shorty Award in the Games category, and a Silver Distinction for Tumblr Presence at the Eighth Annual Shorty Awards. And as of May 2016, the audio series received a Silver One Show Pencil award.

Trivia

• Hunt the Truth establishes that Halo 2's cover art is actually an in-universe photograph captured and edited by Giraud.
• The circular symbols at the top of the Death Record are actually a modified form of Circular Gallifreyan from the British television show Doctor Who.
• Giraud's "Notice of Violation" features a QR code. When scanned, the code redirects the user to the Hunt the Truth Tumblr page.
• The officer who authorized the "Notice of Violation" ticket is a reference to Frank O'Connor, with both people sharing the same last name.
• Originally the Blog Post "The Twins" image had a typo "Background Nose". This was corrected a couple of hours later to "Background Noise".

Gallery

Season 1 Related Images

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  Marketing for the blog.

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  A graphic showing the successive frames of the Halo 5 "Bullet" teaser.

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  Halo 5 promotional art featuring Locke and John-117, displayed at the end of the "Bullet" teaser.

• 

  The countdown to the HUNT the TRUTH reveal on March 23, 2015.

• 

  Locke and John-117.

• 

  View of the Blog for season 1.

• 

  A grid from the site.

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  An ad for Hunt the Truth with John-117.

• 

  An ad for Hunt the Truth with Jameson Locke.

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  Poster for voice actor submissions for Season 1 Episode 6.

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  The hidden message in Season 1 Episode 6.

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  Hunt the Master Chief.

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  Original image of Season 1 "The Twins" blog post, with the error "Background Nose".

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  FERO's Season 1 script cover.

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  Another avatar used for official Hunt the Truth content.

• 

  An endorsed poster for the first season of Hunt the Truth. Art by Rudy Slama.

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  Another avatar used for official Hunt the Truth content.

Season 2 Related Images

• 

  Image used for Season 2 promotion.

• 

  View of the Blog for Season 2.

External links

• HUNT the TRUTH