Atriox

"I am not Tartarus or some fanatic. I am not Truth. I am not Regret. I am their remedy."

- Atriox to a group of Silent Shadow assassins sent to kill him.

General Atriox is a powerful Jiralhanae and the warlord that leads the Banished. He originally fought on behalf of the Covenant but was banished after surviving an attempted execution. A deadly warrior and brilliant military leader, Atriox inspired many others to join him in exile. He has led his followers for over a decade, during which time he amassed an large amount of ordinance and materiel, especially following the collapse of the Covenent Empire in 2552. By 2558, he had become a symbol for even Jiralhanae not serving with the Banished to rally around. Atriox's full ambitions are unclear, but they are grandiose. His largest play for power came in 2559, when he led a large force to Installation 00 with the intention to use its forges to build Halo rings. After months of occupying the Ark, the Banished were confronted by the and a battle for control of the immense Forerunner construction ensued. In a matter of days Atriox lost his fleet's flagship and a newly-constructed Halo was sent through a portal to the Soell system, placing it beyond his reach.

Covenant service and banishment
"With every victory his legend and his hatred of the Covenant grew. Eventually both were impossible to conceal, and they tried to banish him."

- Isabel recounts Atriox's history.

Atriox was once a member of the Covenant military. During the empire's war against humanity, he honed his tenacity and shrewd strategic planning. The Covenant used Atriox's clan as frontline soldiers against the United Nations Space Command. Groups of forty would be sent to storm enemy positions, clearing the way for follow-up attacks, but typically all of the attackers would die in the process. Atriox was the first to return as the sole survivor of one such suicide mission — a feat which he achieved again and again after that. As he continued to lose thirty-nine brothers at a time with each instance of being used in this way, his resentment toward the Covenant, and the prophets in particular, grew. Tales of his improbable survival made him legendary in the eyes of many. However, Atriox did not believe in the Great Journey and viewed the genocide of the humans as wanton. His increasingly-celebrated reputation was seen as a threat by the hierarchs. When his hatred and heresy eventually became impossible for him to conceal, and upon returning from yet another suicidal strike against a human position at some point in the 2540s, he was met by a group of Sangheili that had been ordered to execute him. Realizing what was intended, Atriox surrendered his Type-2 gravity hammer and dropped to both knees, seemingly accepting of his sentence. When a Type-1 energy sword was thrust toward his face, however, he caught the blade with his right hand, rose to his feet, and killed his would-be executioner. The other Sangheili drew their swords and prepared to attack him together, but at that moment other Jiralhanae that had been watching, including a particularly fearsome Brute known as Decimus, leapt into action. Inspired by Atriox's defiance, they slaughtered the Sangheili. Decimus kneeled before Atriox as other howled in affirmation of their decision to follow him, and from this moment, the group that would come to be called Banished was born.

Going big
"I see you for what you are and what you could be. We can do great things together. Not as master and slaves, but as the warriors you truly are -- free to continue your crusade without the shackles of outdated faith."

- Atriox to Resa 'Azavayl and the rest of the Silent Shadow.

With the demise of the Covenant Empire in 2552, Atriox acquired numerous weapons and soldiers once belonging to the Covenant's vast military. One of the most powerful assets he gained was the Enduring Conviction, along with her experienced Sangheili crew and warriors. Let 'Volir, the shipmaster of the assault carrier, reluctantly agreed to serve Atriox in exchange for fuel and supplies. Atriox's experience fighting against the Covenant gave the Banished a strong advantage over other factions in the post-Covenant War galactic environment, as Atriox consolidated a significant amount of power and influence from the fallen empire.

At some point following the Great Schism, a unit of Special Operations Sangheili called the Silent Shadow began to mercilessly hunt down and slaughter groups of Jiralhanae and any others unlucky enough to be found associating with them. Atriox was leading from a captured, Elegy's Lament, at the time. The Silent Shadow, led by Resa 'Azavayl, managed to infiltrate the vessel and catch several Jiralhanae off-guard thanks to the use of active camouflage. An alarm was soon sounded, tipping Atriox off to the assassins' presence on his ship. When the Sangheili finally approached Atriox on the bridge, he was ready. He invited the would-be assassins to show themselves and proceeded to question their motives. Resa had been unaware that his target was Atriox, whom he called "the betrayer". Atriox conceded that he would gladly fight the Silent Shadow if necessary, but he made it clear that it would be in the interests of all involved to join forces. He mocked their short-sightedness and stubborn adherence to old hatreds. Resa was not swayed from his task upon Atriox's words, but the others responded quite differently, driving their energy swords into their leader's back and allowing themselves to be welcomed into the Banished.

The Ark
"As I suspected. Nothing but a man."

- Atriox, after beating Douglas-042.

By 2559, Atriox desired to gain more power. Turning his attention to the Forerunners' Installation 00 beyond the rim of the Milky Way, Atriox learned that the installation was capable of firing the entire Halo Array. Through unknown means, Atriox and the Banished arrived at the Ark and sought to take control of it. They slaughtered all of the humans at the Ark Research Outpost, leaving no survivors but the logistics artificial intelligence, Isabel. Not long after, the  arrived at the installation, with her crew finally awakening after sleeping in cryostasis since 2531. Spartan-II Red Team was deployed to the Ark's surface to investigate an emergency beacon being broadcast by Isabel from the Ark Research Outpost, and it was there that Atriox sprung his trap. He ambushed the Spartans, easily wounding Douglas-042 severely. Red Team was forced to retreat, and Atriox ordered his Jiralhanae to hunt them down and capture them, as he wished to learn where they came from and obtain resources for the Banished. It was not long before the team was in an M12 Warthog LRV and being pursued by Type-32 Ghosts. Red Team managed to return to Spirit of Fire, and soon Captain James Cutter was spearheading a fight against the Banished to prevent the Ark from falling under their control.

Personality and traits
"Vengeance is petty. Vengeance has no reward."

- Atriox responding to Resa 'Azavayl's animosity towards his species.

Cunning and brilliant, Atriox is a deadly warrior and a skilled military commander leading the massive army of the Banished. Atriox is a versatile soldier, collecting and re-purposing the Covenant military's former weapons, vehicles, and other equipment to allow the Banished to gain military strength against other factions.

Harboring a hatred of the Covenant and its remnants, Atriox seems to follow a philosophy of utter, amoral pragmatism, focusing solely on gathering power for himself and the Banished as a whole and ignoring whatever he cannot leverage as a useful asset. Consequently, he has no attachment to faith, and actively lauds it as outdated and needless. Likewise, he does not care for the Sangheili-Jiralhanae feud and views the Sangheili as warriors with potential to him; he is also fluent in basic Sangheili. His philosophy was also demonstrated by his interactions with the UNSC crew of the Spirit of Fire. During the fight at the Henry Lamb Research Outpost, Atriox intentionally let Red Team escape, with his forces in pursuit, both as a show of power and to discover where the Spartans came from. After encountering the Spartans of Red Team, it amused him when he confirmed that they were indeed only humans beneath their armor. He subsequently mocked them by calling them "little demons". Later, on Installation 04C, he offered Captain Cutter and the Spirit of Fire a chance to walk away, and was impressed by Cutter's refusal to do so.

Equipment
Atriox wears signature, unique black and white combat armor of United Nations Space Command origin made from various pieces, including an ODST chestplate. He dons an augmented power gauntlet that is melee focused and which artificially enhances his strength to a significant degree. The gauntlet also affords him the use of a protesthetic thumb on his left hand, as he lost his after stopping a strike from an energy sword. He wields a customized energy mace called Chainbreaker, which he created from parts of a Type-2 gravity hammer.

In-game information
"Atriox focuses on a cunning and defensive style, supported by heavy cover and invulnerability powers."

- In-game description of Atriox.

Behind the scenes

 * Atriox serves as the primary antagonist of Halo Wars 2, with Dan Ayoub of 343 Industries desiring to tell a deep story with the character in the game's cinematics. First being introduced in the announcement teaser for Halo Wars 2 as an unidentified Jiralhanae leader, Atriox's name and nature were expanded upon at the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo, where it was also revealed that Atriox would serve as one of the game's six playable leader characters at launch.
 * Following the pseudo-Latin theme of most Jiralhanae names, Atriox likely comes from the Latin atrox ("furious", "savage"), the root of the English atrocious and atrocity.
 * As part of the War of Wits marketing campaign, specifically The Sale in which he is depicted as a used car salesman, Atriox was given a fake bio on the website of the real-life car dealership Camacho Auto Sales. According to his profile, Though new to sales, Atriox has over a decade of management experience as leader of The Banished. Like his favorite weapon, an energy mace known as "Chainbreaker," Atriox is fond to claim his deals are "off the chain."
 * Atriox is voiced by actor John DiMaggio.

List of appearances

 * Know Your Enemy
 * Halo: Tales from Slipspace
 * Hunting Party
 * Halo: Smoke and Shadow
 * War of Wits: The Sale
 * War of Wits: The Armrest
 * Halo Wars 2