The Oracle

The Oracle is the seventh campaign level of Halo 2, where the player plays as Thel 'Vadamee. Starting directly after you land the Banshee you were flying in the previous level, the opening cutscene has Rtas 'Vadumee comment on smelling a familiar stench. You will again have Spec.Ops. Elites and Grunts as allies and, possibly (Depending on difficulty), an Ultra Grunt.
This is the first level in Halo 2 where you encounter the Flood and some of their new abilities, most notably the ability of Infection Forms to revive fallen Combat Forms and the shielding on some Combat Forms.
The player goes down an elevator and up to the top of the Gas Mine to cut three cables. He or she then must backtrack to the hangar of the previous structure, complete with another Banshee-flying section, where he engages in combat with the Heretic Leader to prevent him escaping Threshold in a Seraph. In the cutscene directly before the fight, it is shown that 343 Guilty Spark had survived the destruction of Installation 04 and was responsible for the "heresy" through his teachings.
==Transcript==
{Cutscene}
A door slides open. Two Special Ops Elites cover the entrance with Plasma Rifles while Special Ops Grunts file in. The Elites cautiously advance, followed by Rtas 'Vadumee and Thel 'Vadamee. Rtas 'Vadumee pauses and sniffs the air.
*Thel 'Vadamee: "What is it?"
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "That stench...I've smelled it before."
===Juggernaut===
The assault team proceeds through a small room, where a large tank containing some small, floating, fleshy lifeforms can be seen. The team approaches a doorway, and through the transparent floor of the next room, they can see the shadows of Heretics and strange creatures battling. Eventually, all of the Heretics are killed. The victorious creatures have familiar screams...
*SpecOps Elite 1: "By the Rings. What is that?"
*SpecOps Grunt 1 or 2: (whimpers)
*SpecOps Elite 1: "Quiet."
The creatures all leave through another doorway.
*SpecOps Elite 1: "It's moved on. Quickly, before it returns, let's find the Heretic Leader and finish him off."
The team moves into a laboratory, strewn with deformed corpses.
*SpecOps Elite 2: "What happened here?"
*SpecOps Grunt 1: "Me have bad feeling about this."
*SpecOps Grunt 2: "You always have bad feeling! You had bad feeling about morning food nipple!"
*SpecOps Elite 2: "Close your jaws, or I shall bind them shut!"
A floating orb enters the room, and the image of the Heretic Leader appears in the air.
*SpecOps Grunt 1: "See! Heretic!"
The Grunt fires on the image, which quickly becomes apparent as a hologram and nothing more.
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "Hold your fire. Hold your fire!"
The Grunt comes to a halt. The hologram begins to speak.
*Sesa 'Refumee (Hologram): "I wondered who the Prophets would send to silence me. An Arbiter... I'm flattered."
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "He's using a holodrone. He must be close. Come out, so we may kill you."
*Sesa 'Refumee (Hologram): (laughs) "Get in line."
The hologram vanishes, and moments later, familiar tiny bulbous creatures start to appear.
*SpecOps Elite 1: "Leader!"
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "Stand firm! The Flood is upon us!"
The team battles the oncoming Flood Infection Forms. Unless the Combat Form corpses are destroyed, the Flood begin reanimating them.
*SpecOps Elite 2: "Heretic fools! What have they done?"
The Flood assault subsides, and a doorway opens out of the labs.
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "Go, Arbiter! I'll follow when our reinforcements arrive."
*SpecOps Elite 1 or 2: (whispers) "This place is filled with the parasite, not even Heretics deserve this!"
'Vadamee and the survivors ride an elevator down to the lower levels of the labs, fighting the Flood and Sentinels. They enter a hallway strewn with corpses.
*SpecOps Elite 1 or 2: "We should have brought weapons to burn these bodies. Every one is a potential vessel for the Flood."
The team advances into a lab filled with battling Heretics and Flood.
*SpecOps Elite 1: "Heretics! Above!"
'Vadamee manages to press outside to the exterior of the station. He sees Flood battling more Heretics, and a Phantom swoops in to provide reinforcements and covering fire.
*Phantom Pilot (COM): "Leader, the storm is about to hit! We cannot maintain our position!"
*Rtas 'Vadumee (COM): "Bring the Phantoms closer to the mine. We're not leaving until the leader of these Heretics is dead. Arbiter, the Flood have spread throughout the station! We don't have enough troops to manage such a large infestation. Find the leader of these Heretics, kill him now!"
'Vadamee and his troops advance into the heart of the installation. They encounter the Heretic Leader fleeing.
*SpecOps Grunt 1: "Heretic boss! You see, you see?"
Sesa 'Refumee takes cover behind a shielded door before 'Vadamee can catch him.
{Cutscene}
*Sesa 'Refumee: "This will save me from the storm, but you will be consumed."
'Vadamee pounds angrily on the portal, but cannot break through as the doors seal. The SpecOps Commander and his troops arrive.
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "Arbiter, where is he? Stinking Floodbait boxed himself in tight. We'll never break through this!"
'Vadamee notices a hologram of the station, and watches it thoughtfully.
*Thel 'Vadamee: "Then we shall force him out."
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "How?"
*Thel 'Vadamee: "The cable. I'm going to cut it. (turns to Rtas 'Vadumee) Get everyone back to the ships!"
{Gameplay}
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "Warriors, return to the landing zone! The Arbiter is going to continue upward, cut this station loose, and scare the Heretic from his hole!"
*SpecOps Elite 1: "May our Lords guide you."
*SpecOps Elite 2: "We shall not forget your sacrifice."
If you have an Energy Sword already
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "Keep your blade handy. I doubt the cable can withstand its bite."
If you do not have an Energy Sword
*Rtas 'Vadumee: "Take my blade. I doubt the cable can withstand its bite."
===Hey, Watch This!===
'Vadamee rides the elevator to the upper level where the cable is located.
*Rtas 'Vadumee (COM): "All of my Phantoms are in the air, Arbiter. Go ahead, cut that cable!"
If you spend too much time fighting
*Rtas 'Vadumee (COM): "Sever the cable at the points where it connects to the structure!"
After cutting the first cable
*Rtas 'Vadumee (COM): "That's one! By the Prophets, look at the station list!"
After cutting the second cable
*Rtas 'Vadumee (COM): "One final cable, Arbiter!"
'Vadamee cuts the final cable, and the entire station groans with the stress. All the Flood and Sentinels present stop their fighting and look upward towards the cable. The top of the station tears away, and it plummets into the atmosphere. The remaining Sentinels, if any, were swept out into the sky.
*Rtas 'Vadumee (COM): "That did it! The station is in free fall! The Heretic Leader is on the move, do not let him escape! We'll stay with you as long as we can!"
Thel 'Vadamee drops back down into the station and advances past Heretics protecting the Heretic Leader's rear.
*Heretic Elite: "Our lives for the truth, the truth and the Covenant!"
'Vadamee enters what looks like the main power generator for the station.
*Rtas 'Vadumee (COM): "Are you still alive, Arbiter? We're keeping pace as best we can."
{Cutscene}
The Arbiter fires at the Heretic Leader's Banshee as it flies away, then dodges as the Banshee fires at him in return. The Arbiter dashes out, and get inside another Banshee and pursues the Heretic.
{Gameplay}
*Rtas 'Vadumee (COM): "What lunacy! He'll never escape this maelstrom in a Banshee! Wait! The hangar, there was a Seraph fighter inside! Arbiter, you know what to do!"
The Arbiter flies to where the Heretic Leader landed.
{Cutscene}
The Arbiter's Banshee tries to land on a platform, but fails and crashes into it instead. The Arbiter holds on to the edge of the platform, raises himself up, and continues to go inside.
{Gameplay}
===Dead Or Alive...Actually, Just Dead===
'Vadamee fights through the first portion of the station back toward the hangar, as explosions appear throughout the corridors. There, he confronts the Heretic Leader as he is boarding the Seraph.
{Cutscene}
*Thel 'Vadamee: "Turn, heretic."
The Heretic Leader turns to face the Arbiter
*Sesa 'Refumee: "Arbiter. I would rather die by your hands than let the Prophets lead me to slaughter."
*Thel 'Vadamee: "Who has taught you these lies?"
A familiar humming is heard. The Arbiter looks up and sees 343 Guilty Spark descending from above.
*Thel 'Vadamee: (shocked) "The Oracle!"
*343 Guilty Spark: "Hello! I am 343 Guilty Spark. I am the Monitor of Installation 04."
*Sesa 'Refumee: "Ask the Oracle about Halo. How they would sacrifice us all for nothing!"
*343 Guilty Spark: "More questions? Splendid! I would be happy to assist you."
Any questions are cut off as the Heretic opens fire on 'Vadamee with twin Plasma Rifles. 'Vadamee falls back, taking cover while his shield generator recharges. As he does so, the Heretic Leader floats back toward the Seraph and pulls out two holodrones.
*Sesa 'Refumee: "The Elites are blind, Arbiter ... but I (holds up two Holodrones) ... will make them see."
The Heretic Leader releases the drones, which become copies of him. They turn to look at the Arbiter.
{Gameplay}
'Vadamee battles the Heretic Leader.
If the player activates their Active Camouflage: 
*Sesa 'Refumee: "Arbiter! Show yourself!"
During the battle, the Heretic Leader will continue to taunt Thel 'Vadamee.
*Sesa 'Refumee: "How did the Prophets buy your loyalty Arbiter? With a new command, a new fleet,...or was it the promise ... their "Great Journey"?"
*Sesa 'Refumee: "Look around you, Arbiter. This facility and dozens like it resulted in the study of the Parasite, but where are the weapons, Arbiter? What was the result? All that time and effort and the best the Forerunners could do was put these foul creatures on ice."
*Sesa 'Refumee: "And now where are these "Gods" the Prophets would have us worship! Transcended? (laughs)... Hardly. (intending on killing the Arbiter) Come, Arbiter, let me show you where they went."
343 Guilty Spark will also talk to Thel 'Vadamee throughout the battle.
*343 Guilty Spark: "This mining facility predates Installation Alpha by several hundred years. It was retrofitted to research possible offensive and defensive measures against the Flood. Indeed, I designed and oversaw the construction of this facility's various outbreak management systems."
If you continue the fight long enough
*343 Guilty Spark: "The cable on top of this mine was designed as a fail safe in case an outbreak took place. I am glad someone had the foresight to cut it!"
*343 Guilty Spark: "Fortunately, all the Flood on this installation will perish once this facility enters the planet's nitrogen core."
If you miss Sesa 'Refumee with your shots
*Sesa 'Refumee: "I see the Prophets have chosen poorly, Arbiter!"
If Sesa 'Refumee kills you
*Sesa 'Refumee: "Come, Oracle, we have much work to do."
After the Arbiter kills the Heretic Leader:
{Cutscene}
'Vadamee has killed the Heretic Leader and is dragging his corpse to the hangar door.
*343 Guilty Spark: "Unfortunate. His edification was most enjoyable."
*Thel 'Vadamee: "I had no choice, Holy Oracle. This Heretic imperiled the Great Journey."
*343 Guilty Spark: "Oracle? Great Journey? Why do you meddlers insist on using such inaccurate verbiage-ohhhhh myyyyy!!!!!"
343 Guilty Spark is snatched by an unseen force and pulled away. He is dragged through the air, directly to the top of the Fist of Rukt, the gravity hammer of Tartarus. Tartarus, standing beneath a Phantom, pulls 343 Guilty Spark off the end of his hammer.
*Thel 'Vadamee: (disbelievingly) "That... is the Oracle!"
Tartarus tosses 343 Guilty Spark into the Gravity Lift casually.
*Tartarus: (indifferently) "So it is. Come, we are leaving this system."
Fades to black.
Level ends.
== Achievements ==
Icon	Name 	Description 	Value
 	10 Minutes Too Early 	In The Oracle, find the holo-drome before the Herectic Leader activates it.	5G
 	Fascinated 	Activate Terminal 5 on The Oracle. 	5G
 	Leave None Alive 	Beat the par score on The Oracle. 	10G
 	Oracle 	Complete The Oracle. 	30G (H2V)
10G (MCC)
 	Reed the Strategy 	Beat the par time on The Oracle. 	10G
 	Skulltaker Halo 2: Famine	Find and claim the Famine skull on Legendary. 	5G
==Trivia==
===Glitches===
*When the Phantom drops off surplus reinforcements, you move inside the structure and see the Heretic Leader starting to run away. If you stick him with a grenade, he will drop the Plasma Rifle in his right hand, allowing you to pick it up. It is a handy tip for the chase.
*If you melee the Heretic leader in a certain position with a Carbine or an Energy Sword you can pass through the holo-door but you will die as soon you go through.
*If you follow the Spec-Ops Commander and the remaining Elites and Grunts after the Arbiter announces his plan to cut the station's cable you can see them get back on their Phantom. If the two Grunts are still alive they will try to board the Phantom at the same time usually. One of them will enter the ship but the other will get stuck and the Phantom will stay there but if you kill the Grunt or stop them from going in at the same time it will fly away.
*It is possible (with some practice) to reach the very bottom of the level by hopping on a Sentinel and slowly glide down while staying on it.
*Similarly, after cutting the cables, you can descend down the elevator on a Sentinel although the Sentinel will disappear after the loading point is triggered. Activate the elevator but get off of it immediately. Any active Sentinels should be distracted. Jump on one and coordinate it with your feet towards the elevator.
*In co-op, play until the Arbiter says he is going to cut the cable. Move up to the elevator and have one person go up it. Right before the loading scene have the other player push the button to bring it back down. If done correctly, you will be standing on the elevator platform and you will be outside. NOTE: there is no way to escape so you must restart from checkpoint if you wish to continue. See the Oracle Elevator Glitch page for steps on accomplishing this.
*In the first room where you fight the Flood, if you manage to keep your two Grunts alive, no Flood Combat Forms will spawn in the next room.
*Once the cables are cut, if one jumps at the correct moment this will cause a Oracle Super Jump.
===Mistakes===
*In the cutscene where the Heretic Leader uses shields to seal the entrance behind him, when Rtas Vadum approaches the Arbiter with his Elites, they are floating level with the top of the incline rather than actually being on the ground.
===Easter Eggs===
*The Famine Skull is found on this level.
===References===
*When you reach the LZ that you took a Banshee from near the end of The Arbiter, the cutscene will show the Arbiter crashing the Banshee into the wall below the LZ, before he climbs up and walks to the door. This is similar to what John-117 did at the beginning of The Maw.
*When you are about to encounter the Flood for the first time, an Unggoy soldier can be heard saying "Me got bad feeling about this..." This is similar to Private Mendoza's words in Halo: Combat Evolved, when you first encounter the Flood.
*The first part of this level is named "Juggernaut." This is actually a direct reference to the Flood Juggernauts, which were cut from Halo 2. They were originally meant to debut in this level and there is even a cut piece of dialogue cementing this. Here is the video showing this cut content.
===Miscellaneous===
*In the first room you encounter the Infection forms, if you kill the entire raiding party rather than the Flood, and allow them to cover Sesa's hologram, then they will float up into the air with him and move into a pipe jutting from the wall. This will not stop Sesa' from appearing in any cutscenes.
*In the room with the Heretic hologram, you can jump back on to the second level (out of the way of the Flood). To do this you need to jump onto a little ledge on the side of the pillars near the corners of the elevated walkways. From there, crouch-jump onto the walkways. Be careful not to fall through the glass when you jump up. Just stay up there and let ‘Vadumee fight the Flood and take out the stragglers.
*The cables holding up the facility will not cut while the Commander is talking.
*At the beginning of the level, you can see a sealed aquarium in the middle of the room with small unidentified flood forms floating around within.
*Whichever weapon the player is holding prior to the cutscene before the Banshee section is the same weapon the Arbiter will shoot at the Heretic Leader's Banshee with.
**In Halo 2 Anniversary, the Arbiter will only use the Covenant Carbine since the cutscene is pre-rendered.
*Even if the player's Banshee is damaged, the "Dead Or Alive...Actually, Just Dead" cutscene will show a fully-intact Banshee.
*When you revisit the area from the previous level, explosions will occur. These explosions do no damage.
==Gallery==
===Halo 2===
The_Oracle_Official.png|The Oracle level image for Halo 2.
==Videos==
Halo- The Master Chief Collection Walkthrough - Part 17 - The Oracle|The Oracle Walkthrough
it:L'Oracolo (Livello Halo 2)
Category:Halo 2 Campaign