I certainly didn't think I would post here today, 20 years after Halo 2's release and so many years after going on endlessly about the mystery voice in the Mausoleum Suite and coming up with ideas that it was Tartarus. And it also feels strange to look back and realize just how much I disagree with my past speculations (and posting style).

I think Installation00's pretty much nailed it, but I'm going to take this interpretation a little further. This reversed voice on the music track is indeed meant to be the Arbiter, but it's not Thel 'Vadam the Sangheili, spirts of the deceased past Arbiters, or the ancient Arbiter armor talking. This is rather from the standpoint of the role of the Arbiter, a role that has not changed in 3000 years, that of a condemned warrior wandering and seeking forgiveness for their past transgressions, causing great destruction in the process and knowing that only death will truly restore their honor.

Lines such as "time has no meaning", "wandering the Earth" and "crimes against God and man" are poetic and metaphorical rather than literal. This is on the music track because it isn't actually meant to be one specific person speaking but rather a poetic explanation for what the role of the Arbiter was meant to offer, and what Thel 'Vadam had just gotten himself into. It was hidden information meant to help us understand some of the background behind the Arbiter's role in the context of Halo 2 itself - Master Chief's journey and purpose within the game are crystal clear to us, but this is useful background to the Arbiter's journey of redemption in the game.

I also totally misunderstood what Tartarus was named for in context. Tartarus was a throwaway villain in the grander story but he represented the hell that the Arbiter was thrown into, and it's when the Arbiter truly kills him that he breaks free of the hell represnted by the role of the Arbiter and turns it from a punishment into something truly new and honorable. It was a narrative choice attached to the narrative of the Arbiter, since Tartarus is the Arbiter's main antagonistic supporting character for Halo 2.

Perhaps this interpretation isn't more accurate than all my previous longwinded theories about everything that landed up on the Halo Story Page two decades ago, and it certainly isn't something that I can lay claim to. But I suppose this is something I feel more at peace about, especially since I no longer fear being proven wrong over something that is, in the end, very trivial.

It'd be interesting if Marty the Elder himself were to venture an opinion about this interpretation, but I have no idea if he ever visits this site these days.

And apart from a handful of folks, I'm not sure how many people would remember all the Mausoleum Suite discussion or care much about it. Whatever happens, this has given me the opening to put my endless days of theorizing and overanalysis here to rest - let it join the Mausoleum of the Arbiters in honor rather than linger in embarrassing memories of the past.