The Halo series has always been one that has put a lot of focus on its heroes, whether that be series mascot Master Chief, The Rookie from Halo: ODST or Noble Six from Halo: Reach. The games have always had strong protagonists on our side, even if they don't talk much. What isn't seen so often is a villain. We usually don't get much information about them other than that they're bad
However, the series does have some pretty noteworthy villains despite this and we really enjoy sticking plasma grenades onto them. So we are going to go over the top ten villains that the franchise has to offer.
10 Master Chief - Halo 5
Yup we're starting off the list with the series main character and basically one of the biggest gaming icons in the world, Master Chief. That's because in Halo 5 they really tried to push the new character of Agent Locke as the protagonist, having him face off against Master Chief and his team who went rogue. This was a fairly decent idea but it was executed very poorly and fans did not respond well to how it was done, plus he was only the "bad guy " for half the game, so he is the worst villain by default.
9 Cortana - Halo 5
Cortana is probably more known to the general public right now for being Microsoft's version of Siri and a lot of fans were amused when she was made into that. This is because while from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 4 she was a fan favorite for many different reasons, in Halo 5 she made a complete 180. Disregarding the fact that she should have been dead by that game, Cortana for some reason became evil and obsessed with conquering all parts of the known universe, as well as kidnapping Master Chief to force him to join her.
8 The Didact - Halo 4
The Didact, when Halo 4 was first released and fans got a chance to play through the games camping, was at the time considered to be the worst villain in the entire Halo series and at that point in time that was a fair statement.
The Didact was kind of boring especially for being the last living Forerunner, a species that up until the release of Halo 4 was foreshadowed and hyped up to no end. His boring personality and motivation weren't helped when he didn't wear his cool looking helmet.
7 Catherine Halsey - Halo 4
Catherine Halsey is another character that was actually on the side of humanity and the UNSC, before having her heel turn. The interesting thing about that is that her turn to the dark side happened during the events of Spartan Ops in Halo 4. After being kidnapped by the Elite, Jul 'Mdama, who led a group focused on destroying humanity. She helped 'Mdama in his crusade against humanity and the UNSC, in order to help reach her own ends.
6 Arbiter - Halo Wars
Halo Wars is the first real Halo spinoff attempt and it did pretty well, especially considering that it was a console strategy game. The game also had it's own solid story, taking place before the events of the main series. The game's big bad was the Prophet of Regret (who we are going to get to) but the game also featured its own iteration of the Arbiter, who was singularly focused on crushing humanity, especially with killing John Forge.
5 Atriox - Halo Wars 2
Atriox is the main villain of Halo Wars 2 and was the first example we got of an intelligent Brute. Atriox is well regarded by the people who played Halo Wars 2 as one of the best villains in the Halo series. That was pretty high praise and it seems that the praise has earned the character's way into appearing into the upcoming Halo Infinite game. Atriox, unlike other Brutes, was cold and calculating and was smart and charismatic enough to create an entire faction around himself.
4 343 Guilty Spark - Halo 3
If this was a list of the most annoying characters in the Halo series, this little floating ball of stupid would be at the top of it. Guilty Spark switches between helping Master Chief and trying to kill him seemingly on a daily basis. This culminated in the final mission of Halo 3, where he tries to stop us from destroying the Halo ring.
He then fatally wounds series favorite Sargent Johnson, but we do get the chance to finally blow him up, but he somehow survives but is reprogrammed.
3 Prophet Of Regret - Halo 2
The Prophets are probably what comes to mind when you first think about villains in the Halo series and it's pretty easy to see why. They are the leaders of the covenant, a radical space cult hellbent on destroying all life in the universe. They are also cruel leaders who hide information from their followers. Over the course of the original trilogy of Halo games, you systematically take each of them down, with the Prophet of Regret being a really good boss fight in Halo 2.
2 Prophet Of Truth - Halo 2
The Prophet of Truth is the last member of the Prophets to survive and can be considered to be the most high ranking out of the three that we see in the games. Truth is also arguably the most dedicated to his cause, letting the Prophet of Mercy die so that he could become the sole leader of the Covenant. Truth will literally preach about being the voice of the Covenant as he is getting infected by the flood, while Arbiter is also choking him to death.
1 Gravemind - Halo 3
Despite not making more than one physical appearance in the games, it is safe to say that the Gravemind is the villain of the Halo series as he is overall the biggest threat that the universe has, even more so than the Covenant with access to the Halo rings. Gravemind has threatened all life in the universe for thousands of years but he also has his motives, once saving the life of Master Chief, but all to serve his goal of ending the universe.