Master Chief in Halo 5

[Ranger Intel]

Hi everyone. Today I want to discuss the legendary Spartan-117, also known as John or Master Chief, in Halo 5 (as the topic title states).

 

So, in Halo 4 I've noticed that John is getting older. Halo 4 is set approximately 4 years after the events of Halo 3. He is now (2557) 46 years old. Not that old, but he's getting older. For one of the first times in Halo 4 we actually see the Chief fall due to the effects of the composer. I remember it being mission 7. The scientists die but he is resistant to the composer because of the Librarian. Does this mean Chief is getting weaker? I think not, but it is a possibility. Spartans are not machines, they are human. They are not invincible. Especially now that Chief has no A.I (from what I speculate), he is more vulnerable. The Spartan-II's augmentations won't last forever, as they get older their metabolism system weakens. As I said before, they are human. They feel pain. For those of you who have read Halo: First Strike, you would know that Chief was almost killed a few times. He could've died before Halo 2. I am worrying about Chief's fate. Unfortunately he won't live forever. He also was expecting to die in Halo 4. He is always focused on the mission, not himself. When he detonated that nuke, he was expecting Cortana, and himself, to die. What if he did? If he didn't have an A.I like before when he was on missions with the other Spartan-II's, there would be no more chief. We can expect to see chief getting weaker, physically, never mentally. Chief never weakens from his mind. But everyone's body gets weaker. He will only have himself to rely on now, unless he has another A.I, or a teammate/team by his side.

 

What do you guys think will happen to Chief in Halo 5? Do you think anything bad will happen to him? A serious injury? Will this happen in Halo 6? So far we can only predict, so lets see what you come up with.

[Guts]

I thought he was older. Judging by your picture and the trailer he knows it. He is holding Cortana and has a cracked helmet. He is going to try to resurrect Cortana in Halo 5 and if Halo 6 is the last mainstream Halo then he will probably be killed off by 343

[Caboose The Ace]

Well I think chief will be not physically but mentally broken down for the inside for his failure to protect cortana and get her to Earth to save her.  

[Ranger Intel]

Interesting points. I can imagine him returning to Earth at the end of Halo 5 or Halo 6 with a cutscene showing us giving the remains of Cortana to someone and then it fades on Chief leaving us with a cliffhanger as to what will happen next.

 

We do not know if the A.I chip in the Halo 5 is Cortana's one. Many people say that Cortana's chip was destroyed in the final mission in Halo 4 when the pedestal is destroyed and incinerated and Chief is blown away.

[ProjectHMz]

I cant wait for Halo 5 and i'm more excited for the campaign than the multiplayer. 

[Ranger Intel]

I cant wait for Halo 5 and i'm more excited for the campaign than the multiplayer. 

 

I agree. The storyline is what has always kept me interested. Multiplayer can also be enjoyable though. I also prefer the Campaign more than multiplayer.

[BrandNewClassic]

I prefer forge over multiplayer... Campaign is my favorite.

[Krissy Malott]

Yes Chief / John is getting older but we also have to take into account how many times he's been in cryo sleep which freezes the bodies aging process and now he's been "advanced" by the librarian and we (the players) still don't know what all that entails. Taking into account that yes cryo sleep will only slow the aging temporarily but just how much did the librarian do and does it affect his aging? Chief isn't isn't invincible but do we know if what the librarian did create a sort of (for lack of better word) anti - aging or age slowing/ prevention kind of process?

I'd like to know what exactly he is since through the games he's been referred to as many things such as warrior, human, reclaimer and even forerunner decendant. Now I am new to the game and may be missing some information but we all know that John/ Chief has already been advanced by Halsey already so that may also help in his age slowing process so is there really a way of knowing how old he really is for sure discounting the amount of years passing by? Not for sure.

 

Someone also said about him bringing back Cortana - now my question for that is there are several possibilities but I am wondering, in Halo (Forward unto Dawn) in the beginning her code is glitching and latching onto John/ Chief's body in the cryo tube and she touches John at the end (Halo 4) are these ways that she's possibly already left a sort of "key" to bringing her back within John/Chief himself?

 

I know 343 said they wanted John/Chief to really go through the Heroes delemma process of how they don't always succeed that sometimes they do fail and that he needed something to really shock him to his core and really get him to finally realize his own humanity that Cortana was trying to show him for so long, but I can't imagine the game without her anymore. So personally I'm hoping they find a way for John/ Chief to bring her back but then that may not be part of the story although you have to wonder if he will find a way to keep his promise to her in some fashion since he most likely feels as if he failed her. We already know that he sacrificed himself and her (at the end of 4) knowing they wouldn't make it out, but as he said "they were supposed to go together."

Obviously we will get to see how that really affects him in 5 but since Cortana has been so vital it could really go both ways - either we will never see her or we will get to see her revived at the end or he reunites with her in some form or fashion or he comes to terms with losing her and finds a way to move on.

 

The chip in the trailer is Cortana's chip because we see him in one of the game modes actually picking something up in his hand when he pushes himself back up again. You can tell that the chip is damaged - most likely from being incinerated in the blast. He wouldn't be holding onto one the way he is in the trailer if it didn't have an emotional connection to him, and let's face it Cortana was about as connected to him as it gets.

 

 

I don't think Chief/ John will die just yet since he is the focal point of the story 343 is trying to tell and he still has a long journey a head of him to go. We may see him go at the very end of the game when its all said and done but I don't see that happening for many years to come.

 

 

 

Then again, its all just an opinion.

 

 

[Ranger Intel]

Yes Chief / John is getting older but we also have to take into account how many times he's been in cryo sleep which freezes the bodies aging process and now he's been "advanced" by the librarian and we (the players) still don't know what all that entails. Taking into account that yes cryo sleep will only slow the aging temporarily but just how much did the librarian do and does it affect his aging? Chief isn't isn't invincible but do we know if what the librarian did create a sort of (for lack of better word) anti - aging or age slowing/ prevention kind of process?

I'd like to know what exactly he is since through the games he's been referred to as many things such as warrior, human, reclaimer and even forerunner decendant. Now I am new to the game and may be missing some information but we all know that John/ Chief has already been advanced by Halsey already so that may also help in his age slowing process so is there really a way of knowing how old he really is for sure discounting the amount of years passing by? Not for sure.

 

Someone also said about him bringing back Cortana - now my question for that is there are several possibilities but I am wondering, in Halo (Forward unto Dawn) in the beginning her code is glitching and latching onto John/ Chief's body in the cryo tube and she touches John at the end (Halo 4) are these ways that she's possibly already left a sort of "key" to bringing her back within John/Chief himself?

 

I know 343 said they wanted John/Chief to really go through the Heroes delemma process of how they don't always succeed that sometimes they do fail and that he needed something to really shock him to his core and really get him to finally realize his own humanity that Cortana was trying to show him for so long, but I can't imagine the game without her anymore. So personally I'm hoping they find a way for John/ Chief to bring her back but then that may not be part of the story although you have to wonder if he will find a way to keep his promise to her in some fashion since he most likely feels as if he failed her. We already know that he sacrificed himself and her (at the end of 4) knowing they wouldn't make it out, but as he said "they were supposed to go together."

Obviously we will get to see how that really affects him in 5 but since Cortana has been so vital it could really go both ways - either we will never see her or we will get to see her revived at the end or he reunites with her in some form or fashion or he comes to terms with losing her and finds a way to move on.

 

The chip in the trailer is Cortana's chip because we see him in one of the game modes actually picking something up in his hand when he pushes himself back up again. You can tell that the chip is damaged - most likely from being incinerated in the blast. He wouldn't be holding onto one the way he is in the trailer if it didn't have an emotional connection to him, and let's face it Cortana was about as connected to him as it gets.

 

 

I don't think Chief/ John will die just yet since he is the focal point of the story 343 is trying to tell and he still has a long journey a head of him to go. We may see him go at the very end of the game when its all said and done but I don't see that happening for many years to come.

 

 

 

Then again, its all just an opinion.

 

Really detailed post. You seem to know a lot for someone "new" to the game. The Librarian basically just sped up his evolution and made him immune to the Composer. Reading the books tells you so much more about him. I would recommend picking up "Halo: The Fall of Reach". I don't usually read, but the Halo books are amazing. Very well written, and informative. You learn so much about the storyline. 

[Krissy Malott]

Really detailed post. You seem to know a lot for someone "new" to the game. The Librarian basically just sped up his evolution and made him immune to the Composer. Reading the books tells you so much more about him. I would recommend picking up "Halo: The Fall of Reach". I don't usually read, but the Halo books are amazing. Very well written, and informative. You learn so much about the storyline. 

 

 

When I get into something I try to know as much about it as I can from both sides of the spectrum even if I'm wrong, as for the books I just picked up several of them so I'll be breaking into those soon. I look forward to seeing what comes out of them compared to the games and movies.

[Ranger Intel]

When I get into something I try to know as much about it as I can from both sides of the spectrum even if I'm wrong, as for the books I just picked up several of them so I'll be breaking into those soon. I look forward to seeing what comes out of them compared to the games and movies.

 

You'll be surprised.

[Benchimus]

Hi everyone. Today I want to discuss the legendary Spartan-117, also known as John or Master Chief, in Halo 5 (as the topic title states).

 

So, in Halo 4 I've noticed that John is getting older. Halo 4 is set approximately 4 years after the events of Halo 3. He is now (2557) 46 years old. Not that old, but he's getting older. For one of the first times in Halo 4 we actually see the Chief fall due to the effects of the composer. I remember it being mission 7. The scientists die but he is resistant to the composer because of the Librarian. Does this mean Chief is getting weaker? I think not, but it is a possibility. Spartans are not machines, they are human. They are not invincible. Especially now that Chief has no A.I (from what I speculate), he is more vulnerable. The Spartan-II's augmentations won't last forever, as they get older their metabolism system weakens. As I said before, they are human. They feel pain. For those of you who have read Halo: First Strike, you would know that Chief was almost killed a few times. He could've died before Halo 2. I am worrying about Chief's fate. Unfortunately he won't live forever. He also was expecting to die in Halo 4. He is always focused on the mission, not himself. When he detonated that nuke, he was expecting Cortana, and himself, to die. What if he did? If he didn't have an A.I like before when he was on missions with the other Spartan-II's, there would be no more chief. We can expect to see chief getting weaker, physically, never mentally. Chief never weakens from his mind. But everyone's body gets weaker. He will only have himself to rely on now, unless he has another A.I, or a teammate/team by his side.

 

What do you guys think will happen to Chief in Halo 5? Do you think anything bad will happen to him? A serious injury? Will this happen in Halo 6? So far we can only predict, so lets see what you come up with.

First off, while 4 is several years after 3, chief was frozen during that time and thus didnt really age. His augmentations are permanent, it not like super steroids or something. Combine that with the fact that people live longer in the Halo universe due to advances in medicine and what not ( I believe I read that in the books at some point) and I can say that it will be a long time. 

 

So long as they dont show him crying at some point.

[Ranger Intel]

First off, while 4 is several years after 3, chief was frozen during that time and thus didnt really age. His augmentations are permanent, it not like super steroids or something. Combine that with the fact that people live longer in the Halo universe due to advances in medicine and what not ( I believe I read that in the books at some point) and I can say that it will be a long time. 

 

So long as they dont show him crying at some point.

 

They are still human and won't live forever. No matter what they advance in, they can't make him live for too much longer. When his metabolism system gets weaker as he's older, the augmentations will become less effective. I understand what you mean about him not aging in the cryotube. Although he is dormant when in cryosleep, his body is still getting older. Cryosleep doesn't stop time, but it can prevent age or growth.

[Ranger Intel]

Hes 46. As far as the Halo universe goes, he may very well live another 75 years before dying of old age. Your making it sound like hes going to croak any minute. Also your points contradict. Your saying crysleep stops aging but doesnt stop time.... Being frozen like that may as well stop time for whoever is doing it if they come out years later in the same shape they went in and werent aware of the passage of time.

 

I am not trying to sound like he is going to "croak" any minute, that's how you are reading it.

It does not stop time, the whole universe doesn't freeze when someone goes into cryosleep. Their body is frozen. It no longer functions and they don't age. I'm not contradicting myself.

I doubt he will live that long. Another 75 years sounds a little too extreme to me. If you can find evidence to this then I believe you.

[ShockGazm]

Huh, I also thought he was older. Considering he's a Spartan that could also bump up his life expectancy... but then again, he's been through a lot. I doubt John would last too long, not so much age wise he may have a good 20 years before he has to slow down but as in sacrifice himself to save the universe and all that jazz.

[RedStarRocket91]

I'm actually a lot more worried about Chief's mental state than his physical health - sure, he's ageing, but it's mentioned in one of the novels that the average human life by the time of Halo often exceeds 120 years - making Chief perhaps as young as 35 by today's standards, and that's before we consider that he's spent a very great deal of time in cryogenic stasis, during which he wouldn't have been ageing at all. Indeed, between Halo 3 and Halo 4 four years passed and he spent all of that in suspended animation, meaning at the very worst he's only biologically about 43, which isn't really that old at all. Even in the modern military, soldiers are quite capable of staying fit well into their 50s, and they neither have cybernetic enhancements, suspended animation, or a life expectancy of 120. So physically, the Chief is going to be absolutely fine for a good few years yet, and possibly even longer based on whatever the Librarian did to him.

 

Mentally though, he's got to be a complete wreck. From his perspective, it's only been a few months since he saw Reach fall, and in that time he encountered the Flood and was almost infected by one, fought almost continuously for days on end on Halo, broke a suit of Mjolnir armour through heavy use, watched Earth get invaded by the Covenant, had a severely damaged Cortana put back into his head, watched both Miranda Keyes and Johnson die, was caught in the firing of a Halo ring, had a rampant AI directly connected to his thoughts, watched an entire space station full of civilians disintegrated, and then had his only companion die right in front of him in order to save his life - and that's not even counting getting back to Earth and discovering almost every other member of the Spartan-II programme has been killed or crippled since he last saw them. None of that can be good for his emotional health, and it's mentioned in Reach and the associated literature that Spartans often display antisocial or psychotic behaviour even at the best of times. If Chief weren't a Spartan he might well have snapped already.

[BeckoningZebra1]

Red brings up a really good point. It's one thing to be able to handle things physically and survive, but it's another thing entirely when you add in the emotional and mental state being forced on Master Chief.

 

In Halo 4 we saw Cortana go rampant and breakdown. Halo 5 very well could be the game where the tolls of war become too much for our Hero.

[Ranger Intel]

I'm actually a lot more worried about Chief's mental state than his physical health - sure, he's aging, but it's mentioned in one of the novels that the average human life by the time of Halo often exceeds 120 years - making Chief perhaps as young as 35 by today's standards, and that's before we consider that he's spent a very great deal of time in cryogenic stasis, during which he wouldn't have been ageing at all. Indeed, between Halo 3 and Halo 4 four years passed and he spent all of that in suspended animation, meaning at the very worst he's only biologically about 43, which isn't really that old at all. Even in the modern military, soldiers are quite capable of staying fit well into their 50s, and they neither have cybernetic enhancements, suspended animation, or a life expectancy of 120. So physically, the Chief is going to be absolutely fine for a good few years yet, and possibly even longer based on whatever the Librarian did to him.

 

Mentally though, he's got to be a complete wreck. From his perspective, it's only been a few months since he saw Reach fall, and in that time he encountered the Flood and was almost infected by one, fought almost continuously for days on end on Halo, broke a suit of Mjolnir armour through heavy use, watched Earth get invaded by the Covenant, had a severely damaged Cortana put back into his head, watched both Miranda Keyes and Johnson die, was caught in the firing of a Halo ring, had a rampant AI directly connected to his thoughts, watched an entire space station full of civilians disintegrated, and then had his only companion die right in front of him in order to save his life - and that's not even counting getting back to Earth and discovering almost every other member of the Spartan-II programme has been killed or crippled since he last saw them. None of that can be good for his emotional health, and it's mentioned in Reach and the associated literature that Spartans often display antisocial or psychotic behaviour even at the best of times. If Chief weren't a Spartan he might well have snapped already.

 

I agree with Zebra. Greats points for discussion.

 

I don't think John will at all break down emotionally or mentally, he shouldn't. Spartans are trained to be emotionless. He has witnessed many die. A Spartan would be able to carry on no matter what. I am slightly worried about his reflexes and reactions now that he has no A.I that we are currently aware off. It would be unusual to see an emotional side of Chief. Spartans have no emotional outbursts. Chief should be used to team mates dying. He may be at his core, broken, but he will stay strong mentally and will not break down. After all the training he's been through, he will stay strong. I hope it goes the same for his physical state and reactions.

[jordanwilliams2912]

Judging by the ending of halo 4 ( both main story and spartant ops ) and the trailer of halo 5 i think that the chief has found out about the attempted assasination of Dr Hallsey and has gone against the UNSC ( other than the infinity and lasky because of his past with lasky ) and has gone searching for hallsey in hope that she can bring cortan back ( because she was the original creator of cortana. I also think that because of the covenant civil war the arbiter might come to the chief for help because the splinter covenant may have found another halo ring or a forerunner artifact and could activate it with the help of dr hallsey

 

343 said this was going to be a darker game so in my opinion this mean that we will see the chief slowly become mentally or emotionally unstable which could lead to the death of important characters

 

As for where the game will be set judging by the trailer for halo 5 it could be in 1 of 2 places

1. One of the moons of reach because hallsey wanted to return and the chief may start looking for her there ( the trailer shows a red planet in the distance which could be the destroyed reach )

2. The moon of the elite homeworld as hallsey could have been taken there and again the chief tracking her in hope of restoring cortana ( the elite homeworld is red )

 

All of this is based on facts and my personal opinon, not sure how many people will agree just thought i'd voice my opinion

[Ranger Intel]

Judging by the ending of halo 4 ( both main story and spartant ops ) and the trailer of halo 5 i think that the chief has found out about the attempted assasination of Dr Hallsey and has gone against the UNSC ( other than the infinity and lasky because of his past with lasky ) and has gone searching for hallsey in hope that she can bring cortan back ( because she was the original creator of cortana. I also think that because of the covenant civil war the arbiter might come to the chief for help because the splinter covenant may have found another halo ring or a forerunner artifact and could activate it with the help of dr hallsey

 

343 said this was going to be a darker game so in my opinion this mean that we will see the chief slowly become mentally or emotionally unstable which could lead to the death of important characters

 

As for where the game will be set judging by the trailer for halo 5 it could be in 1 of 2 places

1. One of the moons of reach because hallsey wanted to return and the chief may start looking for her there ( the trailer shows a red planet in the distance which could be the destroyed reach )

2. The moon of the elite homeworld as hallsey could have been taken there and again the chief tracking her in hope of restoring cortana ( the elite homeworld is red )

 

All of this is based on facts and my personal opinon, not sure how many people will agree just thought i'd voice my opinion

 

I doubt we will be seeing Chief going rogue against the UNSC. Spartans are far too disciplined to do this. I haven't heard 343 Industries say it will be a "dark" game, but if they did, they probably meant it will be very different to the previous Halo games because if the loss of Cortana. Many people theorize it may be set on the Ark, Installation 00, because of the scenery in the Teaser trailer. Well thought out post and we are all open to hear your opinions and views on things.

[ShockGazm]

From the comments above, I reckon Master Chief will quite literally lose his mind at some point. Not so much break down but with anger, lose control of his emotion and within that moment he loses his focus on what his objective was and I guess shuts off his emotion altogether. Though, I'm not sure what he's going to do in Halo 5, I can see some interesting character aspect appearing from John 117, he needs some emotions to come through, it would give the game an interesting twist, well, mostly character wise. But, as I said he may even lose all emotion and become a machine... mentally and emotionally of course, the type of thinking that would make him shoot anything in site. Everyone thinks of John as a Spartan that can petty much get out of any situation, kill all enemies with no mercy and as one Spartan, one human... destroy all that is evil. He's a survivor, but now that Cortana is gone, the main A.I or his best friend (you could say) that was keeping him sane and human, is now gone. I'm curious to see what 343i will do, now that John is alone and with all he's been through, must suffer alone too.

[Ranger Intel]

From the comments above, I reckon Master Chief will quite literally lose his mind at some point. Not so much break down but with anger, lose control of his emotion and within that moment he loses his focus on what his objective was and I guess shuts off his emotion altogether. Though, I'm not sure what he's going to do in Halo 5, I can see some interesting character aspect appearing from John 117, he needs some emotions to come through, it would give the game an interesting twist, well, mostly character wise. But, as I said he may even lose all emotion and become a machine... mentally and emotionally of course, the type of thinking that would make him shoot anything in site. Everyone thinks of John as a Spartan that can petty much get out of any situation, kill all enemies with no mercy and as one Spartan, one human... destroy all that is evil. He's a survivor, but now that Cortana is gone, the main A.I or his best friend (you could say) that was keeping him sane and human, is now gone. I'm curious to see what 343i will do, now that John is alone and with all he's been through, must suffer alone too.

 

I doubt he will lose his mind. Cortana did not keep him sane. He would have been fine without here but he is just too used to her being with him most of the time. If you read the books than you would know what training he had gone through in his training, Spartans are too strong to fall apart. He could be damaged physically, but nothing will weaken his mental state. He worked fine with the other Spartan-IIs before he got Cortana, he can also work fine by himself. He was just shocked about losing Cortana. He was used to losing soldiers on the battlefield. When it was a Spartan though, he would do anything to save them, even if that meant risking his and others lives. It was different with Cortana though, he couldn't save her this time, he felt helpless. He should be fine on his own, his performance may not be as strong without an A.I though. Until then, we will have to see who his ally will be, if he has one. 

[Krissy Malott]

Well John is certainly going to be pissed off. Between the cover ups about the Didact, the fact that ONI "allowed" the Phoenix event to happen (linked to Spartan OPS) because of the "Flood" being let loose on Earth ( linked to Spartan Assault) and finding out about ONI's involvement in Arbiters struggles. (Linked to Escalation) Even though John (in the books) wants to believe that the best is being done for a reason, after losing Cortana he may be less inclined to keep the same opinion after learning those truths.

[Seeker of Truth]

Remember that while John and the other Spartan-IIs are 46 years old chronologically, they're biologically younger due to the amount of time that they've spent in slipspace. John collapsing was also more likely due to the power of the Composer than personal weakness. Based on what we know about Halo 5 the ending of Halo 4, and pre-established lore, I'd expect we'll see the opposite situation - John will go through a rough patch mentally, but will be physically fine.

 

Just in case anyone had doubts about the Spartan-IIs' biological age, look at this picture of Osman from the Halo 4 visual guide:

http://www.halopedia.org/images/4/45/H4-AdmiralSerinOsman-ScanRender.png

I think she is quite clearly younger than 46.