Tribute (music)

Tribute is the twenty-fourth track included in Halo 3: Original Soundtrack, and plays in the ending cutscene of the Halo 3 campaign, as Lord Hood gives his speech and the 3-volley salute takes place. It is meant to have both a feeling of triumph and yet sadness over the losses suffered.

The piece begins with snare drums and strings playing the melody of The Last Spartan. High strings and vocals join in for a triumphant and hopeful melody before swelling to fanfare. Low strings then take over with a reorchestration of the piece Respite (from High Charity Suite in Halo 2: Original Soundtrack). High strings and choir then reinforce the melody as it repeats. The melody continues to swell until the climax, before it quickly fades away, leaving only a quiet single held string note. A shortened version of the reorchestrated Respite plays in the menu of Halo 3: Mythic.

Trivia

 * The use of the The Last Spartan melody is a meaningful way of sending out the (presumed dead) John-117, as he was commonly known as the last Spartan-II.
 * The use of both human-associated music (The Last Spartan), and Covenant-associated music (Respite from High Charity Suite), could be commemorating the loss of life for both the humans and Sangheili during the Human-Covenant War, and the subsequent cease-fire between the two races.