Let 'Volir

"Let 'Voir is a Sangheili guskarit. He risks nothing unless he believes it will not be lost."

- Voridus describing 'Volir's apprehensive personality in a derogatory manner.

Let 'Volir is a Sangheili mercenary of the Banished and former shipmaster of the Enduring Conviction, formerly serving the Covenant. During the battle against the UNSC on Installation 00, 'Volir failed to protect the Enduring Conviction from being destroyed. Following the death of War Chief Decimus, Atriox left 'Volir in charge of the Banished forces on the Ark before he returned to the Milky Way.

Human-Covenant War
During the Human-Covenant War, Let 'Volir commanded the Enduring Conviction as part of a larger Covenant fleet. The ship was known to the United Nations Space Command for some time. From around 2549 to 2552, it was responsible for the destruction of quite a few UNSC warships. Enduring Conviction was noted by the Office of Naval Intelligence for one particular battle in 2551 during which it demonstrated an impressive evasive maneuver and counterattack.

Great Schism
During the Great Schism, Let 'Volir and his crew were among the numerous Sangheili to abandon the empire and its religion, proceeding to fight against the Prophet of Truth-allied Jiralhanae loyalist forces in the initial stages of the civil war. However, this union was only one of a mutual enemy - following the war's conclusion, 'Volir had no desire to join the emerging warlords trying to divide the empire's remains among themselves, with a particular disdain for the Swords of Sanghelios led by Thel 'Vadam and their attempts at peace with humanity. For around six months following the war's end, 'Volir and Enduring Conviction continued to serve in the Fleet of Recalcitrant Ire.

Joining the Banished
Around May 2553, the Fleet of Recalcitrant Ire was led by Fleetmaster Arkad Nar 'Kulul, and was stationed near an airbase on the swamp-moon of Kostroda. The base was attacked by Banished forces led by Atriox on May 6, resulting in numerous casualties and a distress signal being activated - which was picked up by Enduring Conviction. Let 'Volir responded immediately to the distress call out of concern for the safety of the base crew, proceeding to land at the base site to reinforce their fellow defenders on the ground. Ultimately, 'Volir was able to capture Atriox in the battle thanks to the Jiralhanae's willing surrender, and subsequently brought the prisoners aboard Enduring Conviction - ending the skirmish.

Aboard the Enduring Conviction's bridge, several hidden Banished soldiers promptly ambushed 'Volir and his crew, turning the tables on the Shipmaster. Now a prisoner of Atriox, the two began to talk, with Atriox revealing that he allowed himself to get captured as an opportunity to make a proposition. Atriox pointed out how he was aware of Volir's wavering faith in the Covenant separatists and saw him as a good recruit for the Banished. 'Volir reluctantly accepted and told his crew that they wouldn't be misused as cannon fodder for the separatists any longer and would serve the Banished as free mercenaries instead.

Let 'Volir received several incoming messages from Fleetmaster Arkad Nar 'Kulul, inquiring on the status of Atriox's imprisonment. 'Volir deliberately ignored these messages, leading 'Kulul to believe he was dead and that the Sangheili crew of the Enduring Conviction had been overthrown by the Banished. 'Kulul and the rest of his fleet approached and opened fire on the Enduring Conviction, assuming it was now hostile and under Atriox's control. 'Volir ordered the Enduring Conviction to perform evasive maneuvers and make a sudden slipspace jump, successfully escaping from the rest of the fleet. The raid on Kostroda and Enduring Conviction's short battle with the Fleet of Recalcitrant Ire were recorded and later made known to the Office of Naval Intelligence Section Zero, leading 'Volir to be the subject of analysis by agents 'D' and 'S'.

After escaping, Let 'Volir and his crew formally swore fealty to the Banished on neutral territory—an orbital installation. In exchange for their unquestioning loyalty, the Banished would supply the crew and fuel the Enduring Conviction indefinitely. Certain Office of Naval Intelligence operatives who had analyzed the ship's shift of allegiance from a distance surmised that Atriox would lay low for a while after securing such a prize, as he would have painted a large target upon himself in doing so. 'Volir his crew eventually reemerged, notably raiding a human settlement on the planet Ansket IV, and making a name for themselves as members of the Banished. 'Volir later contacted a Jiralhanae warlord named Jovus in attempts to convince him to join the Banished. Upon seeing Let 'Volir's transmission, Jovus found the concept of Jiralhanae and Sangheili banding together to be ridiculous due to the animosity between their species, and ultimately refused the offer when he met with Atriox in person.

For offering his services as a sellsword to the Jiralhanae, Let 'Volir's name was tarnished in Sangheili society - not to mention working under one. However, for 'Volir, social dignity was not a luxury he could afford as the well-being of the Enduring Conviction and its crew were his top priority.

Campaign on the Ark
On November 25, 2558, 'Volir commanded the Enduring Conviction as it arrived in force at Installation 00, carrying with it a massive amount of infantry, vehicles, and aircraft. Instead of launching any orbital bombardments from the ship, Atriox ordered ground forces to be deployed to the Ark's surface. These made short work of the UNSC researchers at the Henry Lamb Research Outpost. Forthwith, the ship remained stationed above the installation for months while the Banished began to extract power and resources from the Forerunner creation. Anything valuable discovered or taken was commonly ferried to the Conviction. Despite the initial victory in this attack, 'Volir did not take joy in the slaughter, with him and his crew refusing to partake in celebrations of the successful battle. Around four months after the Banished first took control of the Ark, the also exited slipstream space above it on March 28, 2559. After the presence of the Banished was revealed to the crew, a protracted conflict between the Banished serving Atriox and the UNSC troops following the lead of Captain James Cutter. During this time, 'Volir used the Enduring Conviction's pulse laser turrets offensively to melt UNSC forces on the ground. In the first instance the ship was used like this, it was during a defense of a salvage operation being overseen by Decimus. From the ground, Decimus not only had the carrier make a show of damaging the Spirit of Fire's recently-built firebase, but also repeatedly ordered 'Volir to target his own location briefly and with precision, as he was protected from the strike by a powerful energy shield. When it became clear that he would not be able to fend off the attack, Decimus retreated but the Enduring Conviction continued to bombard the area, killing UNSC and Banished troops alike, ostensibly to keep the UNSC from learning anything from the operation. The same tactic was repeated when Decimus entered the fight once more on March 30. After Decimus was killed during the battle, 'Volir attacked the Spirit of Fire directly by launching Banshee fighters to harass it before moving the Enduring Conviction to hover over the location where it had been deploying troops and supplies to the Ark's surface via a gravity lift.

Spartan-II Jerome-092 and the AI Isabel infiltrated the Enduring Conviction, and used its energy projector to damage the Ark, causing the installation's Aggressor Sentinels to destroy the carrier in response. 'Volir and a number of his crew survived the devastating destruction of the Enduring Conviction and made it to the surface. The shipmaster later reported on his losses to Atriox as they surveyed the wreckage of the ship, assuring the frustrated Jiralhanae Warmaster that he retained enough men to fulfill his contract. Upon the launch of Installation 09, 'Volir was ordered by Atriox to deploy all of his forces on the ring to prevent it from falling under the UNSC's control, another task that he would fail yet again.

Redemption
With the loss of Enduring Conviction weighing on his mind, 'Volir was not faltered but instead bolstered in his attitude toward the Banished, as recorded in a Shipmaster's log recorded in 2559. Believing the loss of the carrier to be his own fault, 'Volir reasoned that his failures lie in his sole interest in maintaining the safety of his crew and possessions. With many of his crew dead and stranded on the Ark, 'Volir began to believe that his crew now encompassed all within the Banished - not just the Sangheili serving aboard his warship, and that his failures were a penance for his prior attitude. With renewed faith and determination in the cause of the Banished, Let 'Volir was given yet another chance to redeem himself on Installation 00. 'Volir organized all his military assets in a desperate last ditched effort to push back the crew of the on the Ark. His forces managed to push the UNSC far back enough to secure the site of a portal. This rare success put 'Volir back in the favor of the warmaster Atriox, who would use the portal to return to the Milky Way by using shards of a slipspace crystal that were secured during Minas and Zeretus' raid on the Anodyne Spirit.

Having atoned for his failures, 'Volir was placed in command of all Banished forces on the Ark by Atriox during the interim, due to Atriox's departure from the installation back to Reach. This assignment was much to the dismay of Voridus and the other Jiralhanae clan leaders on the Ark.

When Atriox's personal Lich, Pegoras, had returned through the portal back to the Ark, Let 'Volir engaged in transmission with it to see if Atriox was on board. Castor responded, pretending that the warmaster wasn't on board, which was soon contradicted by a later statement made by Blademaster Inslaan 'Gadogai. While suspicious, 'Volir allowed the ship to pass through his air traffic. 'Volir was against Pavium and Voridus going after the Keepers of the One Freedom and Dhas Bhasvod's Covenant loyalists, which they proceeded to do regardless. Following the Battle of Epsilon Clarion and the loss of the Clan of the Long Shields, Pavium and Voridus decided to report to 'Volir that they had held the other two factions off long enough for the Spirit of Fire to launch its bombardment, knowing that there was no one else around to contradict their claims.

Although Atriox had tolerated the rogue Yapyap's independent campaigns into the unexplored regions of the Ark, allowing his Unggoy thralls to take the brunt of hostile defenses still present in those areas, Let 'Volir sought to quell this impudence.

Personality and traits
"Let 'Volir"

Let 'Volir is a skilled commander, and believes that a captain should sacrifice everything just to keep his crew alive. He became conflicted with the dawn of the Great Schism in 2552 as he was forced to abandon the Covenant religion and battle the Hierarchs-led Covenant as the Sangheili were betrayed by the empire. With the Covenant's fall later that year, 'Volir still continued to command Enduring Conviction, eventually joining the Banished as he felt that it provided the best chance of keeping his crew alive and together. Despite believing that a captain should sacrifice everything for his crew, Let 'Volir did not go down with his ship.Following the loss of the Enduring Conviction, 'Volir exhibited a timid and submissive demeanor around Atriox. The other Banished are shown to be dismayed by 'Volir being left in charge and think very little of him.

With the Covenant's demise, 'Volir fosters animosity towards virtually all of the fallen empire's successor states. While he views the new "Covenant" as a continuation of the falsehood that crippled his people and repressed their nature, he disagreed with the Swords of Sanghelios' attempts at peace with humanity. However, 'Volir and his crew declined the Banished Brutes' invitation to celebrate the destruction of the human's outpost on the Ark. When approached by Atriox to join the Banished in exchange for fuel and supplies, 'Volir reluctantly agreed as he felt that there was no other option. He was deeply uncomfortable with serving under Atriox, as he was used to being above the Jiralhanae in the Covenant's society. Atriox often teases 'Volir about the name of his carrier, Enduring Conviction, as he believes that it is particularly ill-suited for a mercenary shipmaster.

Ultimately, the loss of Enduring Conviction proved a humbling moment for 'Volir - where prior he had held only the lives of his crew and honouring his contract in his goals, later in 2559 he mused in his personal log that this destruction was a penance for his attitude. Rather than stepping back, he took the destruction of Enduring Conviction as a moment to realise that his "crew" had now expanded to encompass all within the Banished. Subsequently, this renewed his faith not in the Forerunners or the Great Journey, but in the might of the Banished.

Production notes
Let 'Volir was voiced by American actor Darin De Paul.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars 2
 * Halo: Rise of Atriox
 * Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual
 * Halo: Divine Wind