I thought Petra was cool foreshadowing. Such a minor story with seemingly minor characters. Now it's titular character has guest starred in Escalation and the random ass "Tom" she was friends with is one of the universe's leading figures.

Halo has some really kickass foreshadowing.

I like to think that whatever Bungie and now 343i has been holding back on for the Arbiter was something cut during the the development of Halo 2 that just wasn't necessary. But for them to hold it dear to themselves two years after that and now a decade later really makes me think that whatever they have planned is going to be killer. If you connect Frankie's words and the Terminal teaser, it's evident that whatever he has done has little to do with the elements 343i has introduced themselves. This is something much deeper than the Arbiter selling out the Chief to Jul 'Mdama for peace on Sanghelios or whatever.

Or it could just be Arbiter hinting that he has personally led fleets which have slaughtered untold millions. Either way, however, drama is drama and I can sense that this will be good.