History Awesome / Halo

* Kinzler getting his long-due comeuppance when Branley (per Sadie's instructions) successfully rallies the crowd, allowing them to overpower the corrupt cops guarding Kinzler's train, with Vergil ensuring the train doesn't leave, and Sadie simply telling Vergil to open the doors, a fierce glare in her eyes.

* "Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside. Corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!" You knew it was coming, you knew he would turn on you just as soon as Truth was dead but the speech, the Arbiter and the Chief going back to back and the massive evil tentacles rising up from the bottomless pit just completed it so much.

(Cue Cortana appearing in the middle of the Floodmatter and tenticals, looking determined and not at all afraid)\\

* "Were it so easy." This is the first thing we hear the Arbiter say in this game, and it was in response to Johnson telling him and Chief that they shouldn't kill each other. So Thel'vadem has come to respect the human as a worthy foe, and over time, as a partner, understanding that they benefit more from working together than duking it out.

--> Gravemind: "Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside; corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!"

-->'''Elite Major''': Brute ships! Staggered line! Ship Master! They outnumber us three to one!\\

--> '''Emile''': I'm ready! [[PreMortemOneLiner How about you!?]]

* Taking down the Prophet of Truth, while fighting side-by-side with [[spoiler:the Flood]].

** And before that, [[spoiler:sighting the Flood and having a [[EnemyMine green targeting reticule]].]] ''Pure. Awesome.'' To put into perspective, this is the very last push to stop Truth, and [[spoiler:the Gravemind forges a truce with Chief and the Arbiter to stop the Rings from firing. Cue an entire section consisting of you slaughtering the last of Truth's forces, ''with the Flood as your allies!'']]

** Even after they predictably [[spoiler: try to kill you right after, you still can't help but admire the flood for pulling such a clever move. They're smart enough to understand when it's best to team up with their enemies so that they can preserve themselves. Especially when they break up their brief friendship with this line...]]

* "Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside. Corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!" You knew it was coming, you knew he [[spoiler: would turn on you just as soon as Truth was dead]] but the speech, the Arbiter and the Chief going back to back and the massive evil tentacles rising up from the bottomless pit just completed it so much.

** That one line proves beyond any and all doubt just how badass the Elites are (in case you're guessing, the Elites completely [[spoiler:''thrash'' the Brutes]]).

* The end cutscene of "The Storm". Expecting, like most things by the UNSC in the games, a little piddly assault by some Longsword fighters, but no, not just Longswords... [[spoiler: three fricking starships rumble over your head!]]. That was unexpected, to say the least. We'll overlook the fact that [[spoiler: really they did bugger all damage and merely served to activate the shiny portal of doom]] in favor of [[RuleofCool the sheer awesomeness.]] The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=logVD4ifoL4 music]] certainly helps.
* Whether you like Guilty Spark or not, you have to admit that his ability to take on [[spoiler:[[SuperSoldier Master Chief]]]] without any problem was just awesome.
* Miranda Keyes' rescue of Johnson. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, but that does not make it any less awesome]].

* If you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXYt6-2OasM manage to pull it off]], having [[spoiler:Johnson]] ride along with you during the final escape, especially if he manages to man the machine gun.

* Many of Forge's actions, but the most memorable is when he wanted to talk with the Arbiter as "man to freak" twice. [[spoiler: The second time he talked The Freak to death]].
** To clarify, [[spoiler: he takes on an Arbiter man-to-man and wins. By stabbing the Arbiter with his combat knife so he can impale him with the guy's own energy sword. BadassNormal doesn't even begin to describe John Forge.]]

* The final battle. [[spoiler: An insane three-versus-a-metric-buttload killfest with rockets, hammers, and an engineer providing you with energy shields.]]

* An Engineer [[spoiler:lighting the cigar of none other than Sergeant Johnson]] in the epilogue cutscene.
* When [[spoiler: the gravity hammer-wielding Brute Chieftain is about to finish off Romeo, the rest of the squad kicks its ass just in time. This includes Buck leaping onto its back, the other two tackling it, with Buck finally stabbing it in the neck with his knife. Quickly followed by [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments "Get this thing off of me."]] Awesome.]]
** This deserves reiterating. In a series where PunyEarthlings is in full effect, [[spoiler:Buck killed a ''Brute Chieftain'' by ''stabbing'' him in the ''throat''.]] AWESOME.
*** [[spoiler:Stabbing doesn't really express what he did. He was up there carving its throat out for a good 9-10 seconds with a pretty sizable bowie knife.]]

* [[spoiler:Jorge's and Emile's [[DyingMomentOfAwesome Dying Moments of Awesome]] - manually detonating a slipspace bomb that annihilates a Covenant Supercarrier, and killing an Elite right after it impaled him, respectively, and Noble Six using a mass driver to one-shot a Covenant Battlecruiser]].
** Actually, given [[spoiler: Carter's kamikaze Pelican run into a Scarab and Noble Six's final moments against all those Elites, EVERY member of Noble Team has a DyingMomentOfAwesome - except [[KilledMidSentence Kat]] and [[SoleSurvivor Jun]].]]

** Catherine-B320's role in ''Long Night of Solace'' is way, way underrated. For the [=SPARTANs=] to go from the surface to [[spoiler: orbit, blow some shit up]] and get back down in just a few hours must be one hell of military maneuver. It goes to show that being a SPARTAN is also about ''using the brain'' alongside the muscles.

* ''The Package''. Possibly NOBLE [=Team's=] finest moment; What started as a straightforward torch-and-burn op deep under ONI Sword Base's remains by a four-man team turned into a massive slugfest against attacking Covenants, with help from four automated turrets, to protect what NOBLE Team are struggling so hard and dying on Reach for: [[spoiler: Dr.Halsey, Cortana and the information regarding Forerunner technology]]. This battle, this single moment in time, ultimately allows humans to turn the tide of the war.

** At that point [[spoiler: it seems like THE ENTIRE COVENANT get down there just to kill Noble Six.]] Hyper-lethal indeed.
* Emile: [[spoiler:At the end, when he yells defiantly at any Covenant attackers, then gets stabbed in the back by an Elite with an Energy Sword - this doesn't stop him, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmqyfQv3EXc he angrily turns around]] and ''[[TakingYouWithMe stabs the Elite back in the neck]]''.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Emile''': I'm ready! [[PreMortemOneLiner How about you!?]]]]

-->''After [[spoiler:Jorge's HeroicSacrifice]]''\\
'''Noble Six''': [[spoiler: Sorry I came alone.]]\\

* The Master Chief has said a lot of badass things: "Finishing this fight", "I need a weapon", "To give the Covenant back their bomb". And yet, these all pale in comparison to [[spoiler:his response to a superior officer ordering him to hand over Cortana for termination:]]
-->'''Del Rio:''' [[spoiler: I...am ordering you...TO SURRENDER THAT AI!]]\\
[[spoiler:''(Chief looms over Del Rio)'']]\\
'''Chief''': [[spoiler:''[[TranquilFury No, sir.]]'']]
** [[spoiler:Keep in mind the Chief has been indoctrinated in military life since the age of ''6'', disobeying an officer to his face probably took an enormous amount of mental courage for him.]]
** The crew of the Infinity, Lasky in particular, deserve one for [[spoiler:unanimously pulling a ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight on Captain Del Rio. The guards who are supposed to be guarding a Pelican and arresting you? They wave you on, direct you to some heavy weaponry and telling you to kick some ass. Fleetcom then gets one for recognizing what an idiot Del Rio was, and locking him up for it.]]
* The awakening of [[spoiler:the Didact, if for nothing else than for sheer scale.]]
* A villainous one, [[spoiler:[[BigBad the Didact]] with the flick of a wrist reducing the bloody damn ''[[SuperSoldier Master Chief]]'' himself to a helpless sob at the mercy of the Warrior-Servant... granted, he was employing the use of a constraint field to telekinetically lift him, but still remains ''significantly'' badass.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Didact''']]: Time was your ally, human. But now it has abandoned you. [[spoiler: The Forerunners have returned.]] This tomb is now yours!
* ''Cortana'' [[spoiler:[[TookALevelInBadass pinning down the Didact]] allowing Chief the opportunity to finish him off with a grenade to the chest.]]
* The entire first half of the final mission. This doesn't do it justice. The ''entire level'' is just one big long CMOA for the game itself. [[spoiler:You fly a Broadsword Fighter (Which is basically a souped up Saber), fly it along the Diadact's ship gunning down all the Defenses he can throw at you, then you reach the end of the trench run segment. The level then opens up into a nice circular area and above you is the Infinity, all the while you have Neil Davidge's score blasting out the most hopeful and awesome score. ]]
** [[spoiler: The second half ain't something to forget about either, for that matter.]]

* At the end of the Shutdown level, featuring the aforementioned Pelican, [[spoiler:the Didact escapes from Requiem, along with several [[CoolStarship Liches]]. Chief hitches a ride on one of them by skydiving onto it, and slamming his knife into the side. The Lich he's on flies out of the portal, and he's told to get below deck because of an imminent slipspace jump. What does he do? He says that there's no time, and [[JetPack fires his thruster pack to get behind a part of the Lich.]] In essence, Chief is the only character who has entered and exited slipspace while OUTSIDE a ship. Badass at it's finest there.]]

* [[spoiler:The Didact's BadassBoast in the Epilogue, also doubling as a MotiveRant for why he was so bent on targeting humanity.]]
* At the beginning of the second level, Requiem, [[spoiler: you walk from the wreckage of the ''Dawn'' and several Covenant ships into a small cave system. A little ways in, you see an opening with light streaming through, walk through it... and you find yourself standing on a cliffside, greeted with the sight of a Forerunner world in all its glory, massive, shining towers floating over huge complexes covering the ground, shifting and extending miles into the air, where a roof covered in glittering blue lines is just visible between the clouds, all backed with the most [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic glorious music ever heard in a game.]] Just... perfect.]]
* Usually in Halo games, getting to ride the Scorpion is nothing but awesome, since you can utterly go to town on the hapless Covenant. [[spoiler: Getting it in Infinity is no exception, when John not only gets that, but an entire Spartan-IV assault team under his command to stage a supersolder assault to save the Infinity, complete with music blazing, and the tanks firing nose sounding so much more like someone trapped an artillery piece to your back. The AI Spartans are no slouches either, even on Legendary! It doesn't stop once you reach the Infinity, when you get to jump into a freakin Mantis, and mow down the Covenant inside the ship itself!]]
* In the mission "Midnight", [[spoiler: the ''Infinity'' facing off against Didact's warship ''Mantle's Approach''. The epitome of each species' military might and technological strength, facing off to determine the fate of earth.]]

* Crimson playing BigDamnHeroes multiple times in Episode 2. First for some scientists and later for a squad of marines. [[spoiler: Too bad about Gagarin.]]
* Sarah saving the Infinity by [[spoiler: kicking the artifact.]]
* Episode 3, Chapter 4 ends on [[spoiler:the player equipped with a Mantis standing on the beach of Valhalla fending off wave after wave of Phantoms and Banshees pouring from a cruiser until a missile strike can take it down]]. With four players, it is simply incredible.
* Episode 5, Chapter 5. [[spoiler:You have to try and fine Spartan Thorne, who was transported down to Requiem in the same manner as Dr. Glassman. After killing half a Covenant platoon, you find he's not there. Next thing you know, the other half of a platoon drops down to kill you. Shrug-worthy? Not really. Roughly 80% of the platoon are [[WalkingTank HUNTERS]].]]
** [[spoiler:Then when you kill them, you're called for extraction. The Pelican appears, heroic music swells, and at it's apex... [[TheDayTheMusicLied the Pelican is shot down.]] It's hard to tell how many Covenant are swooping in on your position, but your handlers think it may be [[ZergRush every single Covenant stationed on Requiem.]] [[BolivianArmyEnding We don't see what happens to Crimson,]] but the ending shot of [[CoolStarship 3 Phantoms]] and Banshees flanking them shows that [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu you do NOT fuck with the Covenant and expect to get away with it.]] That Crimson Team survives and then is able to escape capture, proves just how awesome they are.]]
* [[spoiler:Thorne holding his own while unarmed and only partially armored against a contingent of Elites sent to capture him. About seven greet him. [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome Only two are carrying him to the Elite's FOB.]]]]
** [[spoiler:Glassman having the ''cajones'' to run while the Elites are distracted, and knowing full well that he's [[WhyAmITicking wearing a vest full of explosives.]]]]
** [[spoiler:Thorne beating off the two Elites he hadn't already killed, ripping off Glassman's grenade-vest, and chucking it at the horde of Elites rushing them.]]
* All of Episode Seven for Crimson. [[spoiler: They basically take back The Infinity alone.]]
* [[spoiler:Thorne and Gek's impressive throw down match. Majestic Team killing Gek and saving Thorne is one for them as well]].

* [[spoiler: Halsey keeping half of a map to every piece of Forerunner technology in the galaxy from falling into Jul M'dama's possession, and throwing it to Majestic Team while being carried away by Jul.]]

* [[spoiler:An Elite Zealot corners the remaining Hastati members. It laughs, draws back its sword... then gurgles and slumps to the ground, Chief behind him with a blood-covered knife. Best BigDamnHeroes in the series.]]

** [[ActionSurvivor Las]][[BadassNormal ky]]'s distraction shouldn't be discounted, either. This is a kid who had one foot out the door on a potential medical discharge for a severe allergic reaction to the chemicals used in cryosleep, something he has to deal with his entire career. When the Chief needs a distraction, [[IndyPloy he comes up with a plan on the spot]] while holding [[spoiler: Silva's tags]], then psyches himself up by yelling "Axios!" and ''willingly running into the line of fire to buy the Chief some time''. Tough kid.

** The entire rest of the mission counts as well, with Blue Team never once freaking out or raising their tone beyond professionalism except [[spoiler: when concerned about the Chief falling down a hole and having a brief episode from Cortana's visions.]] Not even when staring down [[BossinMookClothing Hunters.]] Which is topped off by [[spoiler: wiping out a Covenant fleet via causing the ship they're on to have a meltdown when there's no way to recover the ship due to enemy numbers. And escaping just like the Chief escaped the Pillar of Autumn so long ago.]]
* In mission 3's opening, [[spoiler: Halsey begins flipping out when she realized Cortana was ''somehow'' still alive after ''Halo 4'', and even more so when she finds out John knows about it somehow.]] Roland, the AI of the UNSC ''Infinity'', keeps trying to get a word in and keeps getting cut off, until he finally shouts out and then [[spoiler: ''verbally backhands'' Halsey over her sudden accusations that Cortana should be kept away from the Chief and trying to throw her own creation under the bus.]]
-->'''Roland:''' [[spoiler:Why is Cortana the problem? [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Because she didn't die when she was supposed to]]?!]]
* After the massive buildup in the marketing of the confrontation between Chief and Locke, we finally get to see a short but sweet brawl between the two. [[spoiler: Chief wins, but not without Locke cracking his visor and leaving a scar that sticks around.]]
** Before that, the Chief had simply considered Fireteam Osiris a distraction not worth fighting. The reason the fight happened? Locke inadvertently pressed the Chief's one BerserkButton: [[spoiler:he threatened Cortana]]. Cue Locke suddenly being designated a threat. [[spoiler:Locke should honestly consider himself lucky that the Chief wasn't trying to kill him.]]

* In previous Halo works, Monitors were either an annoyance who only provided the barest of help, or an active threat. But Halo 5 introduces Exuberant Witness, the first female-personality Monitor. Not only is she noticeably saner than Guilty Spark, not only does she immediately make it abundantly clear she intends to side with the humans against the [[BigBad Big Bad]]'s plans to [[spoiler:subjugate organic life]], but she makes her first impression even better by warping in ''a [[TankGoodness Scorpion tank]]'' for you to use against the plentiful enemies of her introductory level.
* The finale, [[spoiler:where the only thing standing between Cortana getting away with a Cryptum that has Blue Team trapped inside and Spartan Jameson Locke is a measly relay node, smaller than the gravitational cores that Fireteam Osiris has been destroying for the past half an hour. According to 031 Exuberant Witness, all Osiris has to do is disrupt the energy field. Easy, right? Not when Cortana's Getaway Guardian is priming its Slipspace jump sequence, which involves a crescendo of shockwaves that have been known to destroy ENTIRE CITIES, and even bring a SPACE ELEVATOR to the point of critical damage. And Osiris braves the walk with each blast, their armor straining from the repeated blows, as Locke's armor readouts fizzle and almost seem to go NEGATIVE, until he finally manages to PUNCH the relay in the nick of time, giving Exuberant control back of the Genesis installation and letting her steal back the Cryptum from Cortana. BAD. ASS.]]
** [[spoiler: Exuberant doesn't simply ''steal'' back the Cryptum, she summons millions of Constructors from within Genesis itself to remove it - watching the ground beneath Cortana's Guardian collapse as these machines swarm towards it is awesome in itself.]]
---> [[spoiler: '''031 Exuberant Witness:''' I have control again!]]\\
[[spoiler: '''Cortana:''' What?! What are you doing? What happened?]]\\
[[spoiler: '''031 Exuberant Witness:''' Do you hear me?! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I! HAVE! CONTROL AGAIN!]]]]\\
[[spoiler: '''Cortana:''' It is too late, the slipspace drives are activated. You can't-]]\\
[[spoiler: '''Vale:''' ''(as hordes of Constructors swarm towards Cortana's Guardian)'' Exuberant? What...]]\\
[[spoiler: '''031 Exuberant Witness:''' Constructors! This is a Builder facility after all. And I was installed by the Builders. [[BadassBoast I serve the Builders!]]]]\\
[[spoiler: '''Cortana:''' [[OhCrap No. Stop it!]]]]\\
[[spoiler: '''031 Exuberant Witness:''' [[LaserGuidedKarma You took my installation! I will take something of yours!]] ''(the Cryptum detaches from the Guardian and begins to descend)'']]\\
[[spoiler: '''Cortana:''' ''(as her Guardian disappears into slipspace)'' [[VillainousBreakdown JOHN!]]]]

* ''Fall of Reach'': [[spoiler:a wounded Marine shoots down two Banshees with a rocket launcher from the back of a moving Warthog.]]
* In ''Contact Harvest'', the planetary AIs get a CMOA for [[spoiler:using the defunct ground-to-orbit mass driver to take out a Covenant ship. Bear in mind that this is a FIXED mass driver.]]
* In ''Ghosts of Onyx'', [[spoiler:The Elite commander comes up to a mortally wounded Kurt and says "One last fight demon. Then you will die and we will reopen to silver path." Kurt just laughs and says "Die? Don't you know, Spartans never die." Then he detonates the nukes.]]
** In the same book, Will-043 took on two Hunters by himself and managed to rip one of them apart with his ''bare hands''. [[spoiler: He was unfortunately not as lucky in dealing with the second one.]]

* ''Literature/HaloEvolutions'' probably wins points for the most audacious moment towards the end. Admiral Cole goes to his (possible) [[NotQuiteDead not-quite death]] by luring a 200+ Covenant Fleet in close and then [[spoiler: igniting a brown dwarf by [[DeusExNukina nuking it repeatedly.]]]]

* ''Fall of Reach''. The ''Cradle''. When it [[spoiler:blocks Covenant plasma salvos from hitting the UNSC battlegroup. And they don't launch any escape pods. The entire UNSC force there is stunned, then [[BerserkButton they really go to town on the Covenant]].]] To clarify, the ''Cradle'' is a unarmed ''space station''.

* From ''Glasslands'': Lucy punching Halsey full on in the mouth [[spoiler:and speaking for the first time in years]] after getting fed up with Halsey's inability to act decently to the Engineers that treated her kindly and were the group's only chance to escape the Dyson sphere.

* The Didact [[spoiler:executing the Primordial. Bonus points for the method in which he does it: he causes something made to live forever to ''die of old age''. Even more bonus points when it's pointed out that he basically just killed his own god]].

--> [[spoiler: '''Emile''': [[FamousLastWords I'm ready!]] [[PreMortemOneLiner How about you!?]]]]

* The final levels of ''Halo'' and ''Halo 3'' in which you're desperately driving your Warthog as the entire ring is disintegrating around you - especially in ''Halo'' when you have the Covenant and Flood fighting each other all around you.

* The beach assault on Silent Cartographer. Charging up the beach with a dozen Marines behind you, gunning down the Covenant while the Halo theme blasts in the background....''awesome.''

* "Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside. Corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!" You knew it was coming, you knew he [[spoiler: would turn on you just as soon as Truth was dead]] but the speech, the Arbiter and the Chief going back to back and the massive evil tentacles raising up from the bottomless pit just completed it so much.

*** [[spoiler:Stabbing doesn't really express what he did. He was up there carving it's throat out for a good 9-10 seconds with a pretty sizable bowie knife.]]

*** Also, props to the NMPD guy. Generally, police officers are a step below normal soldiers in the RedShirt department, but this guy manages to keep up with one of the most badass ODST squads known, and survive the hellish onslaught of Covenant troops and air power. If he hadn't been caught off-guard and killed when the Hammer Chieftain dropped down right next to him at the battle's end, who knows how much farther he could've made it?

* ''The Package''. Possibly NOBLE [=Team's=] finest moment; What started as a straightforward torch-and-burn op deep under ONI Sword Base's remains by a four man team turned into a massive slugfest against attacking Covenants, with help from four automated turrets, to protect what NOBLE Team are struggling so hard and dying on Reach for: [[spoiler: Dr.Halsey, Cortana and the information regarding Forerunner technology]]. This battle, this single moment in time, ultimately allows humans to turn the tide of the war.

* The "If They Came to Hear Me Beg" achievement is automatically going to be this. A reference to the above line from ''Halo 2'', it requires the player to survive an otherwise lethal fall by landing on top of an Elite ''and killing them with their knife using the game's new melee kill mechanic.'' One video on Rooster Teeth's ''Fails of the Weak'' series (originally intended to showcase people doing stupid or awesome things in ''Reach'' but later expanded to the entire ''Halo'' series and then any game) features a Spartan having a Banshee shot out from under them and surviving the resulting free fall by landing on an Elite who just ''happened'' to be running past and killing them. The best part? This was during an "Invasion" multiplayer match, and that Elite was another player.

* The entire first half of the final mission. This doesn't do it Justice. The Entire Level is just one big long CMOA for the game itself. [[spoiler:You fly a Broadsword Fighter (Which is basically a souped up Saber), fly it along the Diadact's ship gunning down all the Defenses he can throw at you, then you reach the end of the trench run segment. The level then opens up into a nice circular area and above you is the Infinity, all the while you have Neil Davidge's score blasting out the most hopeful and awesome score. ]]

** It [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establishes]] the Arbiter as both CrazyAwesome and a foil to the Chief: rather than leave a deactivated bomb on his ship, the Chief ''goes into space and hurls it back at the enemy''. Rather than go the long way around to try to catch a fugitive, the Arbiter ''sends the space station he's on into freefall''.

[[AC:General]]

[[AC:Halo: Combat Evolved]]

[[AC:Halo 2]]

[[AC:Halo 3]]

* This is incredibly understated, but at the end of Floodgate, in the cutscene where the Elites and the UNSC are prepping to move to the Ark, you get a bit where a squad of Elites and a mix of Marines and ODSTs are staring each other down. Johnson casually walks up to the Elite squad with an armful of covenant weapons, grabs another one right under them, and doesn't even flinch when the Elites take offense with it and stand up. The part that's awesome is that the Marines instantly stand up in response, fully ready to take on the physical equal of a Spartan in hand to hand combat to back up one of their own.

[[AC:Halo Wars]]

[[AC:Halo 3: ODST]]

[[AC:Halo: Reach]]

[[AC:Halo 4]]

[[AC:Spartan Ops]]

[[AC:Forward Unto Dawn]]

[[AC:Halo 5: Guardians]]

[[AC:Expanded Universe]]

[[AC:Unsorted]]

* A Brute Captain gets one: "Courage, warriors! Take this hill or ''''DIE UPON IT!!!'''"

* A Brute Captain gets one: "Courage, warriors! Take this hill or die upon it!"

* Any time you get to kill a Scarab is CMOA material.

* Even a comparatively minor character like Gunnery Sgt. Reynolds gets one, telling a Brute interrogating him, under heavy torture, to "Kiss...My...Ass". Of course, he is voiced by Creator/NathanFillion. Reynolds was being held in the air by that Brute... ''by his throat''. The fact that he was able to ''breathe'' is impressive in and of itself.

** Equal part Awesome and NightmareFuel is how the Gravemind has an epic VillainousBreakdown where it just '''roars''' in anger after you recover Cortana and it realizes you have the mean to end it forever. You just beat an EldritchAbomination on its own turf.

* Miranda Keyes' rescue of Johnson. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, but that it does not make it any less awesome]].

** Even after they predictably try to kill you right after, you still can't help but admire the flood for pulling such a clever move. They're smart enough to understand when it's best to team up with their enemies so that they can preserve themselves. Especially when they break up their brief friendship with this line:
--> "Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside; corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!"

* One moment that's not really attributed to one character - Miranda's frigate coming in to land after you clear out the LZ on the Ark. Watching ''Forward Unto Dawn'' grow from a speck on the horizon... and keep growing... very fast... until the thousands of tonnes of metal grinds to a halt hovering above your head, and the turbulence from it's passage sends your Warthog rolling like tumbleweed. It can even pick up a Scorpion tank.

* The end cutscene of "The Storm". Expecting, like most things by the UNSC in the games, a little piddly assault by some Longsword fighters, but no, not just Longswords... [[spoiler: three fricking starships rumble over your head!]]. That was unexpected, to say the least. We'll overlook the fact that [[spoiler: really they did bugger all damage and merely served to activate the shiny portal of doom]] in favor of [[RuleofCool the sheer awesomeness.]] The music certainly helps.

* ''The Package''. Possibly NOBLE [=Team's=] finest moment; What started as a straightforward torch-and-burn op deep under ONI Sword Base's remains by a four man team turned into a massive slugfest against attacking Covenants, with help from four automated turrets, to protect what NOBLE Team are struggling so hard and dying on Reach for: [[spoiler: Dr.Halsey, Cortana and the information regarding Forerunner technology]]. This battle, this single moment in time, ultimately allows humans to turn the tide of the war, years later down the line.

'''Lasky (COM)''': "[[TakeThatScrappy FleetCom didn't take too kindly to his abandoning you on Requiem]]. I'm afraid I'll have to do."\\

* Apologies if this is in the wrong spot... On The Ark, Master Chief is alone, but he has a rocket launcher. Used all but two rockets to take out the last bastion of enemies prior to the Wraith Clearing house. He's got 3 marines left living and 1 brute prowler... so he gets the fuel rod cannon a grunt dropped, and rockets to one guy and fuel rod cannon to the other. NPCS never run out of ammo... hop on prowler, and you've killed all 3 wraiths, ghosts, and both towers in a matter of about 1.4 minutes. The amount of pure awesome of killing 3 wraiths with a prowler, and overwhelming firepower of doom... it's just so beautiful.

** This troper thought the role Catherine-B320 had in ''Long Night of Solace'' is way, way underrated. For the [=SPARTANs=] to go from the surface to [[spoiler: orbit, blow some shit up]] and get back down in just a few hours must be one hell of military maneuver. It goes to show that being a SPARTAN is also about ''using the brain'' alongside the muscles.