- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Master Chief will, or another human main character. Not only that, but they WILL sacrifice themselves to save all of humanity from the flood. My reason for this is:
1) Master Chief is the main character, and if it's not him (since he could possibly be out battling the Flood and Covenent because he's a bad-ass) it will be another human main character...hopefully Sgt. Johnson (imagine how cool it would be to have Sgt. Johnson the savior of humanity..haha).
2) If it's a main character that has been with us since Halo 1, it will be dramatic and actually make us feel something when they go. Having somebody you just learned about sacrificing themselves makes you think, "Woah!? He killed himself to save humanity...who cares?!!" Halo 3 needs a dramatic ending, and having a main character sacrifice themselves is huge.
3) If the Arbitor saves Earth, they will pass up the whole Master Chief vs. Arbitor scene. And I don't care if it wouldn't have one anyways..but they really need to have that. If they have a Covenent save Earth, it will be lame Irony...and alot of people will be disappointed.
Bungie has already said that they are not going to have any other Spartans. The books are not directly linked through the games from the game point of view. Only the books are related to the games from the game point of views (as in, you will hear about stuff that happened in the game...in the books, but not vice versa. And don't quote this and give me a story about Reach, because that's a prequal to Halo 1...which was decided before the books came out).
Halo 3 will have Master Chief on Earth because we saw the finishing scene (SPOILERS!):
Master Chief comming in from a warp-hole, and showing his Earth under heavy siege from a huge covenent force. Master Chief even states that he is going to 'finish this fight.' It wouldn't make sense for Master Chief to just float by Earth on the Forerunner Ship (which is actually a Human ship as far as I'm concerned) waveing goodbye to Earth and getting down with the Prophet of Truth while they drink champagn. As far as the Arbitor and the other main characters, they will probably be the 'Halo part' of the game (since it wouldn't make sense for the game to have 'Halo' in the title and not involve the Halo rings). They will then most likely travel to Earth and the 'final epic battle' will begin and/or come to a climax.
Just my 2 cents...which is most likely better than 90% of the posts that have been said on here (no offense, but I'm including the people who havn't played Halo 2, the people who say Bush and Arnold/other celebrities and/orpolitical figures, the people who believe the books dictate the game story line, and the people who post obnoxious junk).