Thel 'Vadamee is the Supreme Commander of the CAS-class Assault Carrier Seeker of Truth in the Fleet of Particular Justice. In early versions of SPV3, he was only ever mentioned in Covenant datapads, being referred to as "The Commander".
SPV3.2 released 6 new levels, two of which were spinoff missions: The Commander and The Commander: Evolved. These missions feature Thel in person as the player character, making him a deuteragonist of the mod.
Biography[]
Life as Supreme Commander[]
At some point between 2535 and 2552, Thel's exceptional leadership and combat prowess earned him the rank of the Fleet of Particular Justice's Supreme Commander. During his time as a Supreme Commander, Thel was responsible for over 1 billion human casualties, the loss of at least 7 human worlds, the destruction of over 123 human vessels during fleet action and the deaths of over 23,000 UNSC personnel.
He led the victorious Covenant forces at the Fall of Reach. As the battle ended, Thel ordered all ships within his command to follow the fleeing UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Following the Autumn's course led them to Installation 04. Commanding the Seeker of Truth, he had his ships begin evacuation of the ring upon the release of the Flood, but the parasite managed to capture a ship and infect a Minor Prophet, the Minister of Etiology. The sudden widespread evacuation led to confusion as ships became infested, and he was unable to prevent the destruction of the ring and was forced to abandon it.
Gameplay Infomation[]
In the spinoff missions, The Commander and The Commander: Evolved, players control Thel 'Vadamee. The Commander missions are set during the Battle of Installation 04, while Thel was still an Elite Zealot and Supreme Fleet Commander of the Covenant, before he became the Arbiter.
Masterz1337, SPV3's lead developer, was never a fan of how playable Elites were implemented in Halo, simply being an alternate skin for a SPARTAN. Thus, he aimed to make playing as an Elite a different experience from playing as a SPARTAN in SPV3.
Since the missions are set before his fall from grace, Thel is an honour bound Sangheili at this time, meaning any UNSC weapons and equipment can't be used at all when playing as him, even though enemies still drop them, as he would rather die than lay his hands on the humans weapons. This includes the Frag Grenade and all UNSC armour abilities. As such, the Needle Grenade from Lumoria replaces the Frag, and the Energy Sword Hilt, the only Covenant armour ability, is permanently equipped whenever playing as Thel.
Thel's HUD in SPV3, wielding the Energy Sword.
Thel's HUD also varies significantly from a SPARTAN's, with a vastly different layout, being made to be more Covenant themed, an coloured in a green hue rather than blue (see right). Aside from the aesthetic variations, the biggest difference is that there is no motion tracker, meaning enemies can only be located visually in the field. The Visor overlay option in the launcher menu is not applied to the HUD during Thel's missions.
Another advantage of controlling Thel is that he will regain full health when his shields are at full power, as long as no enemies are nearby. Thus one doesn't need to search for Health Kits in a weakened state, but on the flip-side, it is impossible for Thel to heal in the middle of a battle.
This limiting of the players options, such as only half of the weapon sandbox being available and the lack of a motion tracker, is the trade off for Thel's higher vitality, stronger shields, greater jumping abilities and faster movement speed than an average SPARTAN.
Trivia[]
- Thel 'Vadamee shares the same in-game model at the Elite Zealots.
- The shield power, health bar and Energy Sword charge display for Thel's HUD resembles the Marathon logo.
- In SPV3.2, playing as Thel was the only way players could access the Energy Sword for use in game. The weapon has since become available in The Maw and Firefight.
- Sound clips from other games in the series were used and edited for Thel's lines of dialogue in the mod.
- Cutscenes were created by CMT in for the Commander missions, especially The Commander: Evolved. But, unlike John-117, Thel 'Vadamee also speaks during gameplay as well as the cutscenes.
- Thel's religious pride is lost to him when he becomes the Arbiter in Halo 2, explaining why he willingly uses UNSC weapons after the Battle Of Installation 04.
- Although Thel 'Vadamee is playable in 2 missions, they are both retellings of the same events, and players are given the option to choose which one they want to play, like The Silent Cartographer and The Silent Cartographer: Evolved (the Commander missions reuse the Cartographer missions respective level designs). This means that in a single play through of the Installation 04 campaign, players will only play as Thel for one mission.