Fal 'Chavamee

"I know they will come in force to challenge me, but I will not turn away from them. I will answer their call."

- Fal 'Chavamee

Fal 'Chavamee, the Defiant One, was a Sangheili Arbiter and the leader of his clan sometime before the Human-Covenant War. Though he was a prominent leader among his people and within the Covenant, he refuted the Covenant religion's validity, leading to his condemnation as a heretic.

Life as the Arbiter
As evidenced by his title, 'Chavamee was highly respected and held a considerable degree of recognition among the Sangheili and within the Covenant. He held a considerable degree of command of the Covenant military and among his clan's forces. Despite holding such authority within the Covenant, he believed that his people had strayed from their sense of honor and now fought for power and supremacy. He also believed that the Great Journey was a false belief, used by the San'Shyuum to achieve and maintain power over the Sangheili, despite their officially equal standing within the hegemony. Eventually, he was called before one of the Hierarchs, who urged 'Chavamee to profess faith in the Great Journey. Despite the Prophet's pleas, the Arbiter exclaimed that the Great Journey was a lie; for this, the Hierarch declared 'Chavamee a heretic.

Rivalry, duel, and death
Haka, a member of Fal's clan, took advantage of the Arbiter's denouncement as a heretic, seeking to gain influence within the clan. Wishing his clansman dead and supported by the Hierarch, Haka dispatched assassins to kill the Arbiter. Predicting treachery, Fal had one of his clansmen ferry him up a river, seeking to goad the assassins to attack. He killed them all after a brief struggle.

After the assassins were killed, Haka forced one of Fal's closest friends, Roh, into killing Fal's wife, Han, in order to provoke the Arbiter into a duel. Upon returning home from his fight with the assassins, he discovered Han's and Roh's bodies. Stricken by grief, 'Chavamee gained the resolve to end Haka's threat, defeating an enormous Covenant military detachment which had been sent to kill him for his alleged heresy. When Fal finally met Haka atop a Forerunner structure, their duel began. At the same moment that he was mortally wounded by Haka's blade, Fal managed to stab his foe. Fal thought of his wife as he and Haka died at each other's hands.

Legacy
Before 'Chavamee's actions, the rank of Arbiter had been considered a privilege. However, his supposed heresy led the Prophets to declare that the rank of Arbiter would thenceforth be one without honor, given to those who could be useful to them as a last chance to regain their lost honor before death.

Trivia

 * Fal was voiced by John Gremillion, who also voiced Arthur-079 in The Package.
 * The episode's subtitles mistakenly show Fal's name as "Thel", the name of the Arbiter from the Halo games and of the Major from The Package.

List of appearances

 * Halo Legends
 * The Duel
 * Halo 2: Anniversary
 * Terminals