Master Chief (Halo)

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Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN 117-John
Halo series character
Master Chief from the Halo 3 trailer
First gameHalo: Combat Evolved (2001)

Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117, commonly referred to in-game as simply Master Chief, is the fictional protagonist within the Halo universe. He is the main character of the video game Halo: Combat Evolved, and one of the two playable characters in Halo 2; additionally, he appears once more in the forthcoming game Halo 3. In addition to the video games, the Master Chief appears in the novels Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, and Halo: First Strike, and has cameos in both Halo: Ghosts of Onyx and the Halo Graphic Novel. The character is voiced by Steve Downes.

In the games, the Master Chief is the last of the SPARTAN-II super-soldiers, having been trained for war since a young age. During Halo: Combat Evolved, the Master Chief leads several missions on the surface of Halo, eventually destroying the ring and saving all sentient life in the galaxy from destruction. The Chief returns again in defense of humanity following a Covenant invasion of Earth during Halo 2, and will return once more during Halo 3. The Chief is depicted as a decorated and heroic soldier, who has beaten insurmountable odds to save humanity on several occasions.

Character design

The task of developing the Master Chief for the character's first appearance in Halo: Combat Evolved fell on the project's Art Director, Marcus Lehto, and Rob McLees. Eventually, Shi Ki Wang was hired for conceptual art.[1] One of Wang's sketches "took hold" and became the basis for the Master Chief. However upon importing Wang's version into 3-D model form, it was decided the Master Chief looked too slender, "almost effeminate".[1] The Master Chief was subsequently bulked up to the version found in the games.[1] Similarly, the Chief's armor went through various changes, such as adding (and later in development losing) an antenna and gaining the green tint.[2]

Bungie's Joseph Staten noted in an interview on creating believable video game characters that until the Master Chief was created, Bungie had not considered how to make people want to play in the world of Halo. "Master Chief is really what kicked off the creativity," he said, "in terms of how people react to him. He's a space marine in really cool green armor."[3]

Master Chief's voice comes from Steve Downes, a disc jockey and voice actor who had never played video games before Halo.[4] He was recommended for the part by Martin O'Donnell, whom had done work with Downes for another video game.[5] Formal appearances of Downes at Bungie or Microsoft events have never occured; Downes believes that the main reason that the Master Chief is left masked is that "[the Master Chief's identity] is really in the eye of the player."[6][7]

Attributes

Personality

Steve Downes said that his voice acting for the Chief was based entirely on a written character description provided by Bungie, which specified a "Clint Eastwood"-like character of few words. The actor noted in a podcast interview that during the recording, he was given a fair amount creative leeway in terms of developing the Chief's personality.[4] In the games, the Master Chief is silent during player-controlled gameplay, making him a silent protagonist. Even during cutscenes, the Chief generally speaks sparingly, which leads to complaints that the Master Chief is not fleshed out believably character-wise.[8]

In the official novels, the Chief's personality is expanded upon. Before awakening from cryosleep before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, the Chief experiences a nightmare in which he is a powerless child- suggesting some physiological issues or trauma.[9] Being entirely encased in heavy armor and seven feet tall, the Chief (and other SPARTAN-IIs) inspire equal amounts of awe in terror in friend and foe alike.[10] Despite his cold exterior, the Chief cares about his fellow soldiers, especially the Spartans he trained with.[11] At one point, the Master Chief risks being caught in a massive explosion in order to save a fellow Spartan.[12] Despite his excellent combat record, many in the United Nations Space Command view the Master Chief with distrust. Antonio Silva, an ODST, exemplifies this attitude.[13] Silva views the Master Chief as a freak product of an experiment that should never be repeated.[14] While the Chief resents Silva's dishonor to his fallen comrades' memory, he is also loyal to the chain of command, and stays quiet despite being demeaned.[14]

Outward appearance

In the video games, the Master Chief is never seen without his armor. In the last cutscene of Halo: Combat Evolved, the Chief takes off his helmet, but the camera pans and his face is never seen. However in the novels the Chief is on one occasion briefed by Major Silva, and is told to come without his armor. During the briefing in Halo: The Flood, the Chief is described as being tall with short hair, serious eyes, and strong features.[15] His skin is "too white", testifying to the amount of time he spends in his armor.[15] Inside his armor, the Master Chief stands about seven feet tall and weighs half a ton.[16]

Early history

See also: Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

John was born in 2511 and spent the first part of his childhood on the human colony planet Eridanus 2 where he lived with his family. John was large for his six years of age, approximately a foot above his school peers. At this age he is described as a typical boy, having brown hair, freckles and a gap in between his two front teeth.[17] In 2517, John and seventy-four other children his age are covertly taken from their homes and replaced with flash clones to hide the kidnapping. The original children are brought to planet Reach, one of the UNSC's headquarters, to train to become SPARTAN-II supersoldiers. On Reach, the abducted children began intensive physical, mental and psychological training as part of the Spartan program by Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, and were assigned new identification numbers instead of last names. John became known as John-117.[18]

In March 2525, John, along with the other children, were biologically and cybernetically augmented and enhanced. These procedures had substantial risks, and only thirty-three Spartans of the original seventy-five survived to functional status after the augmentations. Of the others, twelve were crippled in surgery and were relegated to tactical and administrative duties as part of Naval Intelligence. When John asked Mendez what to do on his next mission (he considered their augmentation a "mission" with substantial casualties) to avoid such heavy losses, Mendez replied by saying that some losses are acceptable; however, he tells John that there is a difference between a life spent and a life wasted, and this lesson followed John for the rest of his career.

Later on November 2, 2525 he was briefed on the Covenant threat; he and the other Spartans would fight for many years against this new enemy. They were first sent to the Damascus Materials Testing Facility on the planet Chi Ceti 4 to retrieve the MJOLNIR Mark IV armor. While retrieving the armor, the UNSC ship on which they had arrived encountered a Covenant frigate in the system and was severely damaged in the battle. After leaving the planet, Sam, Kelly, and John subsequently boarded the enemy vessel and planted a bomb. This insertion ultimately resulted in the death of Sam, who, due to his suit being breached from a plasma bolt, stayed behind to ensure the successful detonation of the explosives.

On May 1, 2531, John and his SPARTAN-II team had been sent to the 111 Tauri System, on Planet Victoria, to recover nuclear warheads stolen by rebel insurgents. Among his five-man team, Kurt-051 became Sam's replacement, a former rival during training whom John felt would jeopardize the mission due to Kurt's "lack of discipline" and "having funny feelings." However, when John, Kelly-087, Linda-058, and Fred-104 were captured by rebel commandos, John's doubts were proven wrong as Kurt initiated a successful one-man-rescue.

In 2552 the Covenant launched an invasion of the human world of Sigma Octanus and occupied one of the human cities, Cote D'Azure. John and three teams of Spartans were sent in to destroy the Covenant force with a nuclear warhead following a failed Marine assault. While in the city, John and his team discovered the Covenant were scanning an ancient stone artifact in the city's museum, and recovered it before detonating the nuclear warhead.

As humanity fought a losing war against the Covenant, the UNSC High Command developed a last-ditch plan to capture a Covenant High Prophet, who they hoped could be used in order to barter a truce. Prior to planning out the mission, the MJOLNIR Mark IV armor got upgraded to the Mark V, integrating the Covenant's energy shielding system and the ability to house an AI. The Master Chief was the first to test the armor, and he was introduced to Cortana, who would become his partner for the operation. Despite attempted sabotage by Colonel Ackerson, the test was a spectacular success, due to John and Cortana's teamwork.

Before the physical part of the mission could be put into action, Reach, the staging ground for the operation and the UNSC center of naval operations, was attacked. The majority of the Spartans were diverted to Reach's surface to defend groundside installations and the fusion reactors for the MAC guns in orbit. The Master Chief was sent along with two other Spartans, Linda and James, to destroy a small Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) stealth ship so that the vessel's navigation info, which could lead the Covenant to Earth, would not fall into enemy hands. As the UNSC fleet, the Marines, and the Spartans defending Reach were being destroyed, the Master Chief managed to complete his mission and return to the Pillar of Autumn. Knowing Reach was lost, Cortana plotted a random course as per the Cole Protocol. The Master Chief, seemingly the last Spartan alive, went into cryogenic sleep along with the Autumn's crew, standard operating procedure for slipspace jumps. As Reach was burned by the Covenant bombardment, several Spartans managed to escape and hide in the one area that was not being targeted.[19]

Appearances

Halo: Combat Evolved

See also: Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: The Flood

The Master Chief first appears being awoken from cryosleep during the opening cinematic of Halo: Combat Evolved. Upon coming out of slipspace, the Pillar of Autumn is attacked by the Covenant and crash lands on Halo. Master Chief escapes the ship via a lifeboat. Upon landing on the surface of the ring, his first task is finding survivors from the crash. During the midst of fighting the Covenant, Master Chief and Cortana discover that Halo was created by the Forerunners as a last line of defense against an alien parasite called The Flood.[20] The Flood is accidentally unleashed by the Covenant and begin to spread across the ring.[21] On behalf of the installation's resident A.I. 343 Guilty Spark, the Master Chief retrieves the Index, a device which will activate Halo's defenses and wipe out the Flood. However, Guilty Spark neglects to inform Master Chief that Halo would accomplish this by destroying all sentient life in a vast radius, essentially starving the Flood to death.[20]

Cortana's timely intervention prevents Halo's activation, and the Master Chief assists Cortana in their effort to destroy Halo itself.[22] Fighting off immeasurable numbers of Covenant, Flood, and Guilty Spark's Forerunner Sentinels, the Chief temporarily disables Halo's firing mechanism by destroying its three pulse generators. After an attempt to rescue Capatain Jacob Keyes, the Chief make his way back to the Pillar of Autumn. There, he detonates the ship's fusion reactor core to trigger a massive explosion, destroying Halo. The Master Chief and Cortana escape in a human fighter, and believe themselves to be the only survivors.[23][24]

Halo: First Strike

See also: Halo: First Strike

Halo: First Strike picks up the Master Chief's story soon after the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. Floating in Halo's debris field, Cortana and the Chief discover there are in fact other human survivors.[25] The Master Chief and fellow soldiers, manage to capture the Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice, and return to Reach to contact Earth's High Command. At Reach, the Master Chief discovers that the Covenant had not eradicated the planet's biosphere in the usual manner, and that a few other Spartans are still alive. The Chief retrieves his fellow soldiers, as well as Dr. Catherine Halsey, the creative genius behind the SPARTAN-II project. The Spartans then attack a massive Covenant command station, the Unyielding Hierophant, preventing a Covenant assault on Earth.[26]

By the end of the novel, the only other remaining Halo survivor is Sergeant Avery Johnson, whose life is in the Master Chief's hands.[27] During the novel Catherine Halsey gives Master Chief a lesson about sacrificing a life for the greater good, or saving every single life possible. In Johnson's case, the Master Chief has the option to give to his superiors just the combat data on the Flood, or give the complete data including Johnson's inability to be infected. At the end of First Strike, the Master Chief chooses to give only the regular combat data, saving Johnson from medical experimentation and revealing another side to the Master Chief's personality.[28]

Halo 2

See also: Halo 2

Upon arriving back on Earth, the Master Chief's heavily damaged Mark V MJOLNIR armor is replaced by the newer Mark VI model, recently field-tested by SPARTAN-062 Maria.[29] The Master Chief attends a brief awards ceremony aboard Cairo Station defense platform, which is interrupted by a Covenant invasion force. Master Chief is given the mission of protecting the station.[30] The Covenant are repelled, and the Master Chief links up with In Amber Clad and fights the Covenant at New Mombasa. As the Covenant depart using a slipspace jump within the city, the In Amber Clad follows them to Installation 05 - another Halo. Master Chief and a small squad of ODSTs land on "Delta Halo", and subsequently the Master Chief assassinates the Covenant High Prophet of Regret. Upon emerging from a structure, the Master Chief is fired upon by orbiting Covenant forces.

The Chief is rescued by the Gravemind, an intelligence of Flood origin, who has also rescued a Covenant Elite, the Arbiter. Gravemind sends the two soldiers to stop the Prophets from activating Delta Halo.[31] Gravemind sends the Master Chief to infiltrate High Charity, the Covenant capital city-ship, to attempt and capture Delta Halo's Index. The Spartan follows the Prophet of Truth to a Forerunner ship and manages to board it before it embarks for Earth. When he arrives at Earth (under heavy Covenant attack), one of the orbital defense platforms contacts him and asks him what he is doing on that ship. Master Chief responds by saying "Sir, Finishing this fight."[32]

Halo 3

Very little is known currently about the Master Chief's role in Halo 3. The Halo 3 announcement trailer has placed him at New Mombasa, before a massive Forerunner artifact and surrounded by Covenant ships and aircraft. A video documentary released by Bungie showing Halo 3 alpha-version screens and gameplay shows a character with Spartan arms and human weaponry battling Brutes in various human industrial locations, presumably on Earth.

Appearances in other media

Team Ninja originally approached Bungie Studios asking to use the Master Chief in their upcoming game Dead or Alive 4. While the Chief was not used, Bungie's interest in the idea resulted in the development of Nicole (Spartan-458).[33]

Master Chief is mentioned in the first episode of the Halo-based machinima series Red vs. Blue. While talking to Simmons, Grif says, "I signed up to fight some aliens. Next thing I know, Master Chief blows up the whole Covenant Armada, and I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, fighting a bunch of blue guys."[34] This places the events of the machinima at a point after the events of Halo: First Strike.

References

  1. ^ a b c Trautmann, Eric (2004). The Art of Halo. New York: Del Ray Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 0-345-47586-0.
  2. ^ Bungie (2006-02-10). "One Million Years B.X." bungie.net. Archived from the original on 2006-02-10.
  3. ^ Cifaldi, Frank (2005-05-26). "E3 Report: Developing Better Characters, Better Stories". gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  4. ^ a b Downes, Steven. Interview with "Xerxdeej", tiedtheleader.com. (2005-08-23).
  5. ^ KLind (2006-07-26). "Interview with the Master Chief". buttonbasher.com. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  6. ^ Downes, Steven. Interview with "Xerxdeej", tiedtheleader.com [Part 2]. (2005-08-23).
  7. ^ XerxdeeJ (2005-08-23). "A Visit from the Master Chief Himself". tiedtheleader.com. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
  8. ^ Bear, Erik (2004-12-16). "Halo 2 vs Half Life 2". sfhomeworld.org. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
  9. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 15. ISBN 0-345-45921-0.
  10. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 15. ISBN 0-345-45921-0.
  11. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 18. ISBN 0-345-45921-0.
  12. ^ Nylund, Eric (2003). Halo: First Strike. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 324. ISBN 0-345-46781-7.
  13. ^ Nylund, Eric (2003). Halo: First Strike. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 54. ISBN 0-345-46781-7.
  14. ^ a b Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 81. ISBN 0-345-45921-0.
  15. ^ a b Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 80. ISBN 0-345-45921-0.
  16. ^ Bungie, ed. (2004). Halo 2 Instruction Manual. Microsoft Game Studios. p. 8.
  17. ^ Nylund, Eric (2001). Halo: The Fall of Reach. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 24. ISBN 0-345-45132-5.
  18. ^ Bungie, ed. (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved Instruction Manual. Microsoft Game Studios. p. 14.
  19. ^ Nylund, Eric (2001). Halo: The Fall of Reach. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 180. ISBN 0-345-45132-5.
  20. ^ a b Cortana: You have no idea how this ring works, do you? Why the forerunners built it? Halo doesn't kill flood, it kills their food. Humans, covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible. The only way to stop the flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do; wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life. You don't believe me? Ask him. / Master Chief: Is this true? / 343 Guilty Spark: More or less. Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the flood. (pause) But you already knew that. I mean, how couldn't you? - Bungie Studios (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Two Betrayals.
  21. ^ 343 Guilty Spark: Greetings. I am the Monitor of installation 04. I am 343 Guilty Spark. Someone has released the Flood. My function is to prevent it from leaving this installation. But I require your assistance. Come. This way. - Bungie Studios (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: 343 Guilty Spark.
  22. ^ Cortana: We can't let the monitor activate Halo. We have to stop him. We have to destroy Halo. - Bungie Studios (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Two Betrayals.
  23. ^ Dietz, William (2003). Halo: The Flood. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 300. ISBN 0-345-45921-0.
  24. ^ Master Chief: Did anyone else make it? / Cortana: Scanning. (Pause) Just . . . dust and echoes. We are all that's left. - Bungie Studios (2001). Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: The Maw.
  25. ^ Nylund, Eric (2003). Halo: First Strike. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 45. ISBN 0-345-46781-7.
  26. ^ Nylund, Eric (2003). Halo: First Strike. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 332. ISBN 0-345-46781-7.
  27. ^ Nylund, Eric (2003). Halo: First Strike. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 200. ISBN 0-345-46781-7.
  28. ^ Nylund, Eric (2003). Halo: First Strike. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 339. ISBN 0-345-46781-7.
  29. ^ Faerber, Jay (2006). Armor Testing. Marvel Comics. p. 71. ISBN 0785123725.
  30. ^ Lord Hood: They're going to try to take our MAC guns offline, give their capital ships a straight shot at Earth. Master Chief…defend this station. - Bungie Studios (2004). Halo 2 (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Cairo Station.
  31. ^ Gravemind: If you will not hear the truth, then I will show it to you. There is still time to stop the key from turning, but first it must be found. You will search one likely spot... ...and you will search another. Fate had us meet as foes, but this ring will make us brothers. - Bungie Studios (2004). Halo 2 (Xbox). Microsoft. Level/area: Gravemind.
  32. ^ ""The Great Journey" transcripts". halo.bungie.org. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  33. ^ Staff (2006-03-20). "Dead or Alive 4 Q&A". gamespot.com. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  34. ^ Rooster Teeth Productions. (2003-04-01) Red vs Blue Episode 1: "Why Are We Here?"

External links

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