Hunt the Truth

V9D2HzbT9Pc "What seems like the end, is only the beginning."

- Tagline

Hunt the Truth, stylized as HUNT the TRUTH or the hashtag #HUNTtheTRUTH, is an ongoing marketing campaign for the upcoming release of Halo 5: Guardians, hosted on the popular microblogging and social networking site Tumblr. After a countdown ending on Sunday, March 22, 2015 at 6:00PM PST, the site displayed the "Halo 5 Bullet" trailer, as well as acting as the front page of journalist Benjamin Giraud's hunt for the truth about the story of Master Chief. Giraud states that the site will be updated weekly with his "part docu-diary, part audio archive" until E3 2015 in June 14th, 2015.

Episode 00: Primer
"What began as a high-profile hero story quickly turns into a full-blown investigation. Sources claim they know the “real Master Chief”: The boy, the soldier, the hero…the traitor? But who’s telling the truth?"

- Description

Benjamin Giraud gives a brief history of himself and states that he has been tasked with creating an in-depth profile about the Master Chief.

Episode 01: A Hairline Fracture
"Master Chief was born in the metropolis of Elysium City. Then known as John, he grew up like any kid in the Outer Colonies. Childhood playmates and school teachers share charming stories. But what happens when a single document throws everything into question?"

- Description

Benjamin interviews people who know of John's childhood on Eridanus II. He finds Deon Govender, who used to teach John in Elysium City Primary Education Facility Number 119. Benjamin also interviews John-117's childhood friend Ellie Bloom, who tells him about how she used to play with John and another girl named Katrina. He also managed to find a victim of the Insurrection, Thomas Wu. Benjamin later finds a document stating that John died in 2517 at age six, contradicting all the other information Benjamin had discovered.

Episode 02: Bad Records
"An obscure record from the far reaches of the galaxy contradicts everything. Government officials and conspiracy theorists weigh in. Stories of a remarkable young man are once again torn down by conflicting accounts."

- Description

After finding a document stating that John had died at the age of six, Benjamin calls Michael Sullivan to see if he can help make sense of the inconsistency. Sullivan reminds Benjamin that most records from the glassed Outer Colonies are usually "a mess." Realizing this to be true, Benjamin then reviews a message he had received from Mshak Moradi, a man who had been sending Benjamin a message every day for the past two months without getting a reply back from him. Mshak had guessed that the government told Ben that the information wouldn't add up because it's from a planet that had been glassed. Ellie Bloom had also stated how hard it is to find information from a glassed planet.

Ben boards  in order to interview Gabriella Dvørak, an ONI Vice Admiral who claimed to have encountered John. Dvørak tells Ben about how she took part in saving a thirteen-year-old John among many other prisoners of rebels in Elysium City during the Insurrection and that John appeared strong compared to the other prisoners. She also stated that John told her that his parents had died a few weeks before he was freed. Ben decides to interview Deon Govender again. In their interviews, both Dvørak and Govender state that John's will to survive inspired them.

On his return home, Benjamin was called by Ellie Bloom, who was told by her friend Katrina that John died when he was six. Again faced with inconsistent information regarding John's death, Benjamin calls Katrina so she can explain what had happened. Her explanation of John's death at six years old was so detailed that Ben didn't believe that he could disregard her information. Katrina also stated that John's parents where alive in 2528, four years after their death as stated by all of the other information he has been given.

Episode 03: Critical Condition
"Conversations with retired military paint very different pictures of John. More questions arise about John’s home planet and his involvement in a violent training incident. The cracks in the official account widen, and Benjamin is drawn in."

- Description

Confused by conflicting information about the Master Chief's parents from Katrina, Benjamin has his friend, Ray Kurzig, try and find information to prove that the story unauthorized by ONI to be false. Ray found that the information was actually true, confusing Ben all over again. Ben later calls Sullivan to help clear the confusion, but just like in their previous call, Sullivan says tells him the "glassed planets have bad records". Trying to forget about the conflicting information, Benjamin interviews Jakob Walker, a retired Navy soldier. Jakob talks about how he and John trained together on Reach and John's natural leadership. Later, Mshak Moradi gives Ben the contact information of Anthony Petrosky, a former Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. He retold a story about a 12 or 13 year old John fought four other ODSTs in a fight, resulting in half of the men being killed and the other two being injured. This had also contradicted Ben's information, since it he originally was told that John finished boot camp at the age of 17. After the interview, Benjamin let's Ellie listen to his first episode. She insinuates that both Deon Govender and Thomas Wu lied in their interviews since boxing was forbidden on Eridanus II and Insurrectionists didn't abduct any of Elysium City's citizens. After trying to call both Deon Govender and Gabriella Dvørak and getting no response from either, Ben calls Thomas Wu to prove Ellie wrong. Thomas eventually began accidentally contradicting some of the things he said in his previous interview. Soon he became angry with how Ben was trying to pry information out of him and hang up. Ben then came to the realization that the entire interview was done through Waypoint, meaning any military personnel could have heard the interview.

Episode 04: Crossing the Black
"Rumors of discontent across the military and rumblings in the Outer Colonies are detected. A mandatory meeting at ONI branch headquarters takes an unexpected turn."

- Description

Still haunted by the realization that the military could have heard his unsanctioned interview via Waypoint, Benjamin begins to fear that the conversation will get flagged by ONI. Ben calls Mshak Moradi, trying to get more information from his conspiracies. Mshak tells him about how the local soldiers are becoming restless and that the cause of this was Master Chief going AWOL. He even said that people are questioning the Master Chief's motivations. He also stated that many other factors where beginning to scare him. Ben had to end the call when he received a message from Sullivan stating that Ben had to travel to ONI's Boston Headquarters. Ben quickly realizes this is because of his recent interview with Thomas. After arriving in Boston, Ben goes to a nearby pub and meets up with his old friend Petra Janecek. While speaking with her, Ben begins freaking out about the situation and Petra informs him that the military is watching them and will start listening in if he gives certain visual cues. Petra admits to Benjamin that she has no faith in him successfully releasing his whole story. Just so he doesn't lose all of his information, Ben sends all of it to Ray. After he leaves Ben notices an obsidian sidewalk around the ONI campus. He also notices that nobody else dared to walk anywhere near it and that no birds were in any of the nearby trees. Ben walks past the obsidian to enter the facility.

Episode 05: Out of Time
"A visit deep inside ONI branch headquarters brings unexpected results. A voice from the past returns. And an in-flight incident sparks a flame that can’t be put out."

- Description

After sitting uncomfortably in an empty waiting room, Benjamin is finally let into the office of Michael Sullivan. Ben was still worried that his conversation with Thomas Wu was flagged. After a short conversation with Sullivan, Benjamin is taken to interview Franklin Mendez, letting him lose worries about being flagged. Franklin told Benjamin about how powerful John became after his augmentations and how he was a natural leader at a young age. When Benjamin asked Franklin about how heavy a burden such as protecting an entire galaxy must be, Mendez became defensive. The interview was quickly brought to a halt when Mendez apparently had somewhere else to be and could be interviewed again later.

After Benjamin asked Sullivan where the rescheduled interview will be, he basically fired him and told him to transfer all of his recorded interviews to ONI. This made Benjamin realize that his interview with Thomas probably was flagged after all. On the ride back home, Benjamin heard a familiar voice. He recognized it as Jakob Walker, a man who he had interviewed shortly before. Interestingly, Jakob said he was permanently stationed near Saturn. Also, Jakob dressed a lot better than he did during the interview. As Benjamin greeted him he appeared stupefied. Before Benjamin could question him further, he was sedated by a flight attendant.

When he woke up back home he had a terrible headache. His recorder was left on after he was sedated, so he listened to the file. Apparently, after the flight attendant sedated him, two agents (presumably from ONI) came and gave him even more sedative, explaining Benjamin's headache. The men even called him "Ben" as if they knew him. Irritated by the lack of respect, Benjamin cancelled the transfer of his interviews and instead uploaded them so that everyone in the galaxy could listen to them.

Episode 06: Boxing Story
"With major questions about the Master Chief now out on the open network, a flood of feedback and theories come in from all corners of human space. Rumors spread that ONI has fabricated elaborate lies, but why? What are they covering up? Has the investigation now put everyone’s lives at risk?"

- Description

Benjamin gets many messages from listeners, criticizing his interviews. Many of them are negative, but some are positive. He gets a message from Sully, disappointed that he missed the deadline, possibly still not knowing Ben uploaded the interviews online. Ben begins listening to even more of the messages sent from his viewers, going into seclusion for a while. In some of the messages, people state things corresponding with the story Ben got from his unsanctioned interviews. A lot of people also stated that Deon Govender was a "liar", scaring Ben since he seemed so honest in his interview. From there, Benjamin begins his search to discover what happened to John between the ages of 6 and 16. Many of the messages from listeners state that Deon is a real person and that he would be about 85 year old at the time of the interview. Ray arrives at Ben's home with news that Jakob Walker and Gabriella Dvørak's information is legit. Ben disagrees, considering how odd Walker was acting during their last encounter. Soon after, Petra breaks into Benjamin's apartment, annoyed that he released a recording of his last conversation with her. She threatens to kill him. Soon after, Mshak Moradi revealed that he was listening to the whole conversation through Ben's ComPad and cause his encounter with Jakob Walker on the plane. He also reveals that he was contacted by someone named "FERO" who he has never really spoken to. Petra and Ray leave, wanting nothing to do with Ben's story anymore. Before he leaves, Ray says that the real Deon Govender died seven years prior. Mshak also informs Ben that FERO will be contacting him soon.

Episode 07: Who's Listening
"In scanning the slush, Ray makes an interesting discovery. Petrosky returns to tell a terrifying truth about the origins of the Spartan program. And FERO finally surfaces, helping concoct a plan to expose ONI’s ugliest secrets."

- Description

Episode 08: Drip, Drip, Drip
"FERO drops a bomb that ripples throughout human-occupied space, calling the Master Chief’s allegiances into question. Did the Master Chief do that? Or are there more nefarious elements at play?"

- Description

Episode 09: Phantoms
"A new report surfaces about a Spartan abductee, but there’s no time to check the facts. FERO is missing, and the Senate meeting is about to begin."

- Description

Episode 10: Gag Order
"Freshman Senator Andrew Del Rio wastes no time turning Biko into an anti-Chief campaign, but news from the Outer Colonies tells a very different story. With the truth about the Spartan program hanging in the balance, how far will ONI go to bury it?"

- Description

Episode 11: Down To The Bone
"The window on Petra’s lead is closing. With only 72 hours to get past ONI and into Deep Space, it’ll take a miracle–or a timely intervention–to keep the story on track."

- Description

Live-action trailers
Two live-action trailers were released on Sunday, March 29th, 2015 as part of the marketing campaign.

Halo 5: Guardians cover art puzzle
OUdh9kZhFtQ Between Saturday, April 25 and Tuesday, April 28, 2015 Halo fans from around the world searched for 117 pieces of an image. These pieces of the image were found in emails from Microsoft, Twitch, YouTube videos, and Xbox.com before the puzzle was completed revealing the final Halo 5: Guardians cover art. Coincidentally, Rob Semsey, senior communications manager for the Halo franchise, claimed that the puzzle was completed at 1:17 pm PST. Shortly after the puzzle's completion an animated version of the poster was uploaded to YouTube featuring some of the Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack.

Hunt the Signal
Hunt the Signal was an ARG related to Hunt the Truth in which teams of four competed on order to have characters in Halo 5: Guardians be created in their likeness.

Hunt the Master Chief
From Friday, May 15 to Sunday, June 14, 2015, a competition was held in Italy. Competitors will have to fill in a registration form, and quickly answer five questions. The fastest eight competitors will then compete in a game of laser tag on June 28, 2015 for a copy of the Halo 5: Guardians Limited Collector's Edition.

Voice cast

 * Keegan Michael-Key as Benjamin Giraud
 * Cobie Smulders as Petra Janecek
 * Phil LaMarr as Simon Kensington (aka "Deon Govender"), Thomas Wu, and Ray Kurzig
 * Tara Strong as Ellie Bloom
 * Jennifer Hale as Gabriella Dvørak
 * Kumail Nanjiani as Mshak Moradi
 * Troy Baker as Anthony Petrosky
 * Jerry Trainor as Michael Sullivan
 * Steve Blum as Paul Gustivson (aka "Jakob Walker")
 * Stacy Keach as Franklin Mendez
 * Janina Gavankar as FERO
 * Laura Bailey as Katrina
 * Mark Rolston as Andrew Del Rio

Trivia

 * With each successive turn, the bullet reads: SON, ABDUCTEE, VICTIM, ORPHAN, RECRUIT, SOLDIER, WARRIOR, ALLY, HERO, SAVIOR, TRAITOR. An image of this is shown below.
 * Hunt the Truth establishes that Halo 2's cover art is actually an in-universe photograph captured and edited by Giraud.
 * The circular symbols at the top of the Death Record are actually a modified form of Circular Gallifreyan from the British television show Doctor Who.
 * Giraud's "Notice of Violation" features a QR code. When scanned, the code redirects the user to the Hunt the Truth Tumblr page.
 * The officer who authorized the "Notice of Violation" ticket is a reference to Frank O'Connor, with both people sharing the same last name.
 * Originally the Blog Post "The Twins" image had a typo "Background Nose". This was corrected a couple hours later to "Background Noise".
 * On April 24, 2015, four popular Halo YouTubers - Halo Follower, ReadyUpLive, ChiefCanuck, and Halo Canon - uploaded a video detailing that community members would have the option to record their voice to be used in an episode of Hunt the Truth. The deadline was April 27, 2015. The voice clips appeared in Episode 6.