Any bets on who the mysterious figure manipulating Vale & Arbiter is?
Serin Osman seems like too easy a pick but sewing discord amongst the Sangheili is literally her heritage so maybe.
I’ll take Dhas Basvod I think. Makes perfect sense that he wants revenge on the Arbiter, and after what he did to spoiler, all of us readers certainty want revenge too.
As far as we know, Osman and Hood are on a remote world hiding from the created, however they fled earth in October 2558 and Outcasts is set in November 2559, so I suppose it could be possible, I can’t imagine Osman sitting for a year not doing espionage.
Text from article (does not include the preview content itself):
In the years that followed the Covenant War, Arbiter Thel ‘Vadam reformed the Swords of Sanghelios—an alliance of keeps that serves as the primary governing body of Sanghelios.
As Fireteam Osiris in Halo 5: Guardians, we helped the Arbiter liberate his homeworld from Jul ‘Mdama’s Covenant remnant faction, but then the galaxy itself fell under the looming shadow of the Created uprising. Powerful Forerunner constructs have been dispatched to forcefully pacify resistance against Cortana’s rule, with Guardians threatening planet-wide destruction as the cost of defiance.
And it is here that Halo: Outcasts takes place, in November 2559, following the razing of Oth Sonin—the home system of the Jiralhanae—and a few short weeks before the Banished attack on Zeta Halo.
- Formerly one of the Covenant’s greatest and most fearsome warriors, Arbiter Thel 'Vadam is now allied with his former human enemies while deeply entrenched in leading the Sangheili people to a new era of unification. But his aspirations are under constant threat, whether by the dangerous, warring factions of rival Sangheili keeps, or the relentless shadow of oppression spread by the renegade artificial intelligence Cortana.
An opportunity to break Cortana’s chains has suddenly presented itself through the rumored existence of an ancient artifact located on the hostile world of Netherop. Spartan Olympia Vale, trained with the skills to live and thrive among the Sangheili, also recognizes this alien prize as an essential means to aid humanity in reaching the same goal of freedom. But behind the scenes, both 'Vadam and Vale are being manipulated by a mysterious figure with their own agenda. And to make matters worse, all involved are unknowingly placing themselves at perilous odds with forces beyond their comprehension.
[PREVIEW 1] | PREVIEW 2 (coming July 24) | PREVIEW 3 (coming August 1)
In this first of three previews, we catch up with Arbiter Thel ‘Vadam and his entourage—which includes Usze ‘Taham and N’tho ‘Sraom from Halo 3—as their journey back to Vadam Keep is interrupted by the occupying armiger forces of Cortana.
Netherop will be interesting to return to. Gosh I love sangheili characters! Arby and Vale teaming up will be fun too.
Audiobook version of chapter 1 here. Two more previews will be releasing leading up to the book release on August 8.
I am very excited to get another Denning book, also very happy to get more Arby and Vale content.
I didn’t read much past the Forerunner trilogy books, are the new novels any good? Halo’s felt a little lost to me since halo 5 story wise.
Read the Evolutions and Fractures short stories if you haven’t already, those were phenomenal.
Outside of that, the books in the last few years have been pretty good, Kelly Gay’s books are amazing if you have read the forerunner trilogy. She is working on a book that will be the spiritual successor to the forerunner trilogy now called Halo: Epitaph.
