The Arbiter | ||
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Arbiter as he appears in Arby 'n' the Chief. | ||
Voice Actor | Microsoft Mike | |
Gender | Male | |
Affiliations | TOSERS (formerly) Eugene Black's clan (formerly) | |
First Appearance | Pilot | |
Last Appearance | TBA | |
Status: | Alive | |
Online Status | Active | |
Gamertag | Imthinkinarby |
- "This is going to be great relationship. I can tell."
- — "Pilot"
The Arbiter is one of the two main protagonists of the Arby 'n' the Chief series, alongside Master Chief. He is a Halo 2 series action figure of Thel 'Vadam manufactured by Joyride Studios.
Jon Graham stated in one of his director commentary episodes that he modeled the Arbiter after himself. Amongst other things, he represents Jon's opinion of gaming products and the industry and culture in general.
Character history[]
Master Chief Sucks at Halo[]
In Master Chief Sucks at Halo 2, The Arbiter tapes an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond over a Halo 3 trailer. Master Chief confronts him about it over MSN; after that, Chief invites him to a Halo 3 match.
In Master Chief Sucks at Halo 3, he is the cameraman who films Master Chief's snipe montage.
In both of these appearances, Arbiter does not seem to have the personality he displays in Arby 'n' the Chief and appears to have a level of intellect similar to Chief's. The Arbiter from the trilogy was initially assumed to be a separate character; nevertheless in "Face-Off", Arbiter references a "sick montage" he made with Chief, which appears to reference the trilogy.
Arrival[]
For Arby 'n' the Chief, the Arbiter was rebooted with a more highbrow personality to spar with Chief's. In Pilot, he was delivered to Jon Graham's apartment, and he first met the Chief after he freed himself from his package, and attacked Chief. They spent most of their time playing Halo 3 together.
It was hinted in some way that the Arbiter is attracted to Cortana (though not as much as Chief). Unlike Chief, though, he politely backed off after Todd and Cortana showed interest in each other. Although he initially claimed he did not like beer or anything that makes him unhealthy, he gave in to the pressure that Chief puts on him to drink when they celebrate the release of the Mythic map pack, resulting in a very painful hangover and partial memory loss the following morning. He also once asked Travis for some alcohol while being forced to watch Chief's incredibly lengthy and poorly made machinima. He was also seen with a few beer cans while watching the repetitive Resident Evil 5 review by Josh Butterballs and eventually getting bored and walking away leaving a few cans on the chair. He stopped drinking for a long period of time after these episodes, before collapsing into full fledged alcoholism in later seasons, as a result of depression.
Amputations[]
Arbiter first began showing signs of deterioration when Chief noticed that his helmet had fallen off. Arbiter continued to wear it, but eventually lost it, though it was later returned to him by Greg. After this, Arbiter glued the helmet back on.
Several months later, Arbiter's right hand broke off when he tried to open Jon's copy of Mass Effect 3, which led to his alcoholism becoming even more extreme.
Personality[]
The Arbiter is a well-spoken, sarcastic gamer who enjoys a wide range of video games, with a particular fondness for the classics of the 1990s like The Legend of Zelda series. This stands in contrast to Chief's single-mindedness, ignorance and lack of common sense. Arbiter acts as the "voice of reason" in the show, and sometimes tries to improve Chief's skills and personality, with varying success. Although he openly criticizes Chief and has at times quite harshly pointed out ridiculousness of other people's ideas, Arbiter's general attitude is rather non-confrontational. He has been described as a "natural mediator", always trying to resolve conflicts when they arise. Arbiter would also often give in to the pressure of his peers, even Chief. He is also rather uncreative and a poorly skilled artist compared to Chief; he has at times acknowledged that fact.
From Endgame onward, he has been revealing a more flawed and emotional side to his personality. While initially not drinking alcohol at all, he later gains a taste in beer and whiskey, which later develops into full alcoholism. Arbiter tries to find a deeper meaning in his existence, and his failure to do so drives him into depression which further fuels his addiction ("[[]]"). He is terrified of being alone, and was willing to sacrifice his moral integrity for the sake of the only company he could find. Arbiter is arachnophobic, which makes him feel uneasy when around Greg, although he tries to overcome this fear. He is also agnostic, and rather doubtful of the existence of afterlife.
However many times Master Chief proves to be untrustworthy, Arbiter displays a surprising amount of faith in him, such as when he made no effort to question the disappearance of Cortana. Though also keeping a decent amount of caution such as when Chief was convinced to betray Arbiter by a member of Chaos Theosis.
Despite their countless arguments, both Arbiter and Chief have demonstrated that they are still very good friends and will always watch out for each other.
Though having a grim outlook on life, Arbiter appears to understand the value of others and often attempts to express this strong passion such as when he stopped an out-of-hand argument in the latter portion of Season 3 and begged Chief not to intervene in Claire's wedding, among many other instances. The monologue in the premiere of Season 6 is a clear example of what Arbiter is thinking when faced with the isolation and lack of contact with the outside world.
Towards the end of Season 6, Arbiter gradually becomes more and more suicidal and wants death as things fall apart and those close to him leave him. He contemplates suicide in Ignition, and ultimately allows Chief to destroy the apartment and kill them. This was called out by Chief in No Purpose during their fight, who knew that Arbiter genuinely wanted to die, and being denied that upon being revived in a new body is what compelled him to attack Chief out of anger and frustration.
In Season 8, Arbiter is deeply pensive as he tries to figure out why he and Chief were reborn, and to find the meaning to their lives. He has little patience with Chief's frivolous antics in their new life, and is frustrated with how he could be so carefree when dealing with the possibility that their lives were meaningless. He also confides that he worries that something bad is going to happen in their world upon after likening their lives to a video game, with stages and bosses, and fearing what boss would come next.
Likes and Dislikes[]
Media[]
Unlike Chief, who has an extremely limited taste in video games apart from the Halo series, Arbiter enjoys a wider variety of games. Aside from Halo, Arbiter enjoys Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the Modern Warfare series as a whole, he and Chief in fact had played the games together. Beyond Xbox games, Arbiter plays Super Smash Bros Brawl on the Wii, and Demon Souls on the PS3. The latter of which he often has to play in secret, as Chief refuses to let him play. In God's Work, Arbiter hides the PS3 controller under a pillow so Chief couldn't see. This fails, and Chief ended up throwing the controller in the toilet. In Bytes, Arbiter enjoys playing on Jon's new Nintendo Switch, one of the games on it he played was Animal Crossing.
Arbiter often uses Jon's computer when Chief is playing video games by himself. He usually looks up the news of the world, and takes great interest in the information he sees. In Future Shock, he took the time to look up what had happened in time he and Chief were dead. His discoveries were, and not limited to, the year was 2017, Donald Trump was the President of the United States, Justin Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada with the country now having a liberal government, the gaming industry was now bigger than ever, virtual reality was invented, and both Halo 5: Guardians and the Xbox One series being created. Arbiter also uses the computer to talk to Claire.
It is implied that Arbiter enjoys books more than Chief, but its unclear if this is true.
Religion[]
Arbiter appears to be agonistic, as he questions his and Chief's very existence quite often. His faith began to appear when his body began to deteriorate, his hands falling off, and losing his helmet briefly. After being reborn in Jon's apartment, Arbiter eagerly wanted to known the true purpose of his life.
Consumption[]
Like Chief, Arbiter has a level of nourishment and can be affect in many ways by whatever he consumes. Arbiter's favorite drink appears to be coffee, as Cortana once asked him if he liked some, and he and Chief had coffee together at Jon's mom's house during Christmas. He also seems to enjoy Cheerios with milk, as its the only thing Jon bothers to stock the apartment with. Arbiter also has a unique history with alcohol, and has had an assortment of other beverages from Jon's liquor cabinet, including whiskey. In Season 7, he took up smoking, and soon became addicted to it along with drinking. However in Season 8, he ended his addiction after talking with Chief.
Awareness[]
While possessing a large amount of knowledge of popular culture, Arbiter also has a wide view of the global community. He is aware that both he and Chief live in Vancouver, Canada, despite the latter often mistaking it for the United States. Arbiter also takes interest into the world news, and was horrified of hearing the news of the COVID-19 pandemic. Arbiter hasn't traveled that outside of Jon's apartment, other than staying at Claire's in Los Angeles for a short time before returning to Vancouver. He has also assisted an agent of the FSB, but overall, his social life is confined to online gaming and the internet.
Trivia[]
- The Arbiter often uses British phrases like "Wanker" , "Chin Wag" , "Bugger Off" and "Twat" (The latter being said in "The Reunion") although it is unknown if he was made in Great Britain.
- In Master Chief Sucks at Halo 3, the Arbiter films the replay of Master Chief's Sniping Montage, however he does not speak. (This is likely to be a different Arbiter, as the canon figure was introduced later in the series.) However, in one episode, the Arbiter mentions "that sick montage we made" to cheer Chief up, reinforcing the possibility that it is the same arbiter.
- The Joyride Halo 2 Arbiter figure is used for Arbiter during it's live-action segments.
Relationships[]
- Main article: Arbiter/Relationships
Gallery[]
Toys |
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Trent Donnovich's affiliates in season 5 |
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TOSERS |
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Eugene Black's clan |
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