Master-chief117spartan:

I agree with the light, match and flame analogy. However, I disagree with the statements going around that the master chief did not singlehandedly took down the Covenant. In my opinion, he did.

He killed MANY flood on Halo, singlehandedly destroyed Halo, helped kill an entire armada of Covenant, and contained most of the flood on Halo. He commited all of the acts that we see in the games, plus MANY more that are listed in the books. He singlehandedly took down the second Halo in Halo 3. HE did it. I would not count Cortana as a character; she is part of the master chief, integrated into his suit and mind. So, when you talk about Cortana, you talk about her.

The Arbiter; what did he do? Wow, he killed Tartarus; big woop. He did nothing else of importance; in fact, in the games (Halo 2 & 3) he was just one big pain in the ***.

I would have to say that the master chief definitely singlehandedly took down MOST of the covenant and flood threats, with miniscule help along the way from other characters.

If I may make an analogy of my own; Say the characters were related to buildings, and the higher the building, the more responsible for the covenant downfall they are.

Master Chief= CN Tower, Toronto (highest tower in world)

Other UNSC=  Empiere State Building

Arbiter: House

 The Arbiter killed Truth in Halo 3 and stopped him from taking over the galaxy once all resistance was destoryed by the Halos.They both had important parts in destroying the Covenant.