Xytan 'Jar Wattinree

"The Great Schism is upon us. The unbreakable Covenant Writ of Union has been split asunder. This is the end of the Ninth, and final, Age."

- Xytan 'Jar Wattinree

Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree was a high ranking Covenant Elite military officer. He was the Regent Command of the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose. He is the only Elite holding the rank of Imperial Admiral.

Background
Xytan was over eleven and a half feet tall, a giant even among the average 8' 6" Elites. It may be that this is an illusion, given his image is projected by a holographic generator, or that he wears a ceremonial headdress, like the Councilor. The former theory has been debunked: Xytan is present physically alongside a holographic image of himself. The hologram is 30 meters tall. However, the headdress is certainly possible, it has even been explained by Eric Nylund himself that he is wearing a larger pair of "platform shoes" along with the headress and is really the normal height of 8' 6".

He was legendary among the soldiers of the Covenant. He had never been defeated in battle, he had never failed at any task, no matter what the challenge, and he was never wrong. His only flaw was that he had been so revered, some respected him above any Prophet, and for that he had been exiled to lead a fleet only at the fringes of the vast Covenant empire.

Commanding his fleet he played a large part in the Civil War of the Covenant. 'Jar Wattinree was one of the first Elite leaders to take command of the confused Elites and rally them at Joyous Exultation. There, they moved in to ambush the Brutes and destroy them, putting an end to the civil war before they could destroy the Flood. The Imperial Admiral had no illusions about the true nature of the Halo Rings or the Flood.

Unfortunately, his flagship, Sublime Transcendence, was destroyed by a NOVA bomb they had taken from Reach and activated by a curious grunt named Kwassass after the Covenant Engineers (Huragok) reconnected the detonator to the NOVA bomb. Whether or not he was aboard the ship is unknown but it is most likely he was not because there has been a small spoiler in Halo 3 where many have thought to have seen him in numerous cut scenes with Rtas Vadum rallying with him and the remainder of Xytan's fleet. Many of the ships are thought to be Xytan's as in the beginning cut scene of "The Ark" some of the ships are thought to be part of his fleet.

Rank
His armor was described as "silver armor covered with the gold Forerunner glyphs of sacred mystery." Such silver-and-gold Elite armor has yet to be seen or mentioned elsewhere, and may be superior in quality to the gold armor of a Zealot or even a Councilor.