Halo 5: Guardians trailer depicts the death of Master Chief

A dramatic new trailer for Halo 5: Guardians depicts the death of series protagonist Master Chief and the televised report breaking that news to the world. It may also offer up some clues as to the plot of 343 Industries' upcoming first person shooter.

The live action trailer (below) is a sombre affair, but but suspiciously holds back on a few details. We cycle through sad faces around the world – in a diner, on a train, at a military camp – before we see Master Chief's apparent death, on Earth.

An enormous machine is seen moving through buildings, bringing each of them down and eventually one on Chief himself, whose visor fades as he "dies". If the machine is a Forerunner Guardian, the enormous machine seen in Halo 5's announcement trailer, one heading to Earth could mark the end of the game.

Of course nobody truly believes this game will depict the death of its iconic series protagonist, but it does introduce the chance that it may happen – especially given the single player story of Halo 5 will be split between Chief and another character, Spartan Locke.

Chief, who at the start of the game is on the run, and Locke, who has been tasked with hunting him down – are widely believed to eventually team up, because convention suggests that's what must happen. If the Guardian is a threat to Earth then that would give them a fairly good reason to put their differences aside.

Will Locke become the series' protagonist if Chief is indeed killed? It's not likely, but we'll find out for sure when the game is released on 27 October exclusively on Xbox One.

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