Site Poll 96: Who would replace John-117?

[Ranger Intel]

 

 

Hi everyone, Spartan here with Site Poll 96.

 

 

Twitter tore last week's poll apart, and there were some strong thoughts on the future of the Reclaimer Saga here on the site too. Many thought it won't all be about John, and will move on to someone else in the same saga. Others thought he's too valuable for MS to let him be killed off. Click here to view the last poll, 95.

 

 

 

 

Who would replace John-117?

 

 

This poll was inspired by last week's. Now Halo will either die with John, or continue to live with someone else (or other people) representing it. As iconic as the Master Chief is, unfortunately Spartans do die. Now assuming Halo continues to live without him, who would be his replacement?

 

Spartan Buck? Could Locke come back in? How about another Spartan-II? There are many possibilities. It may even be someone completely new. Again, this is assuming Halo continues to live after Chief dies. Anyone specific you all have in mind? Or, would it not follow a single person? Would the future of Halo be a series of spin-off games, with someone different each time? That may be unlikely, because it probably wouldn't sell too well to newcomers. Thing is, there may always be an icon. Chief has been that icon for a long time, but if Halo is to survive without him, who'll take his place? Would it even be an individual, or a group of people who have their own series? Imagine if Alpha-Nine had their own series of games, for example.

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts,

Spartan out.  

[TDM]

Personally, I'd love to see Spartan Thorne get some time in the spotlight. After Spartan-Ops, he kind of dropped off the grid, as well as the rest of Majestic...in the games at least. Not to mention, Thorne was originally in Fireteam Osiris for a period of time before being replaced by Buck (I love Buck, and Nathan Fillion, but come on!). I don't mind this, but I think it would've been great to see how Thorne could've evolved over time as it has been a long time since we've all been able to see him and his team in action. Plus, it would have also led to the whole concept of how he found himself included with Osiris anywho. I dunno about anyone else, but we've finally seen a Spartan-III go Hyper Lethal back in Reach with Noble Six...I think it's time we find a Spartan-IV who can do the same thing. Nothing against Locke, but I don't think he really fits the role of being that main character, unless they nail his personality better and really help him stand out as a Spartan, but more importantly, a human. The thing I'd love to see explored if they gave us a Spartan-IV as a main character would really be how they engage with their own moral compass and what those choices and decisions do to them as a character, setting up interesting conflicts; they've had plenty of time to live and find their personal values, whereas the older Spartan generations really didn't have that, as they knew war from early childhood until death. That's an idea that I can discuss another time though.

[Minuette]

Jerome and the AI from Halo Wars 2. Maybe since he was 'introduced' better than Locke was with Halo 5 but the parallels between Chief and Jerome are visibly there *cough* Jumping out of a covenant ship without hesitation *cough*

[Ardent Prayer]

Keeping it straight and simple.

 

Commander Jerome 092. Sure, Locke could take over, but I find Jerome as the next fit "replacement" for the Master Chief. He's a physically-young Spartan II with a new AI Companion. If that doesn't yell >>New franchise lead<< for any future mainstream titles past John 117, I don't know what does.

 

[Ranger Intel]

Loving the thoughts here guys, keep them coming.

[Twinreaper]

Given the circumstances of the beginnings of the franchise, I think you can't really replace John at all.  The whole series started off with being the "last of his kind", that's what made him unique.  You were the only known reported Spartan left living, which is why in CE through Halo 2 just about everyone that comes into contact with Chief all have the same "whoah!  OMG a Spartan" reaction.  That being said, even the enemies in Halo CE through 3 all had the same kind of reaction.  He was termed "Demon" for a reason.  They all feared him....not the fact that he was a "Spartan".  Adding Spartan III's and IV'd and V'S takes away the mystery, fear and inspirational aspect of what John was.  On a side note, the newer Spartans are just plain cocky and arrogant.  They way they introduced Palmer to Chief...just bonkers.  Palmer meets him for the first time, and her response to him is "I thought you'd be taller"?  Like seriously WTF?!?!  It's gogdamn John-117 Master F-in Chief lady!  She should have been either speechless, shaking in her armor or overly kissing his ass.  She made it seem as they were equals...which clearly they are as far from equals as the color black is from white.

 

Moving forward, if they want to capture the same magic they need to irradicate the Spartans except for a handfull.  They need to rebuild the legendary status of the few to promote the older feelings and overal feel of the PSartan Warriors within Halo.  Noone is going to fear a single Spartan if they are as common as sand on the beach.  At this point going back and making another Spartan II the lead would not make sense.  John was "supposed" to be the last until the extended universe **** came into play.  I understand canonicly they have expanded things, but you have to remember that a game is completely different beast than the books, comics, etc..

 

This is why John was the only Spartan in play throughout Halo CE to ODST.  This is also why Spartan III's were isolated to only Reach and not incorporated into Halo 4 or 5.  If they want to have a true spiritual successor to Halo beyond John, it needs to be a new augment or new Spartan, and like I said, there needs to be a catastrophic failure somewhere reducing the numbers, and or make something happen to the whole "Spartan Program" that makes the numbers dwindle and results in the remaining being special and the last of their kind.

 

None of the characters in the universe have anything on John.  None have the battle hardness, training, intuition, humanity or humility that he has.  No one even comes close in terms of what type of human/soldier he is.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Twinreaper

[Drizzy_Dan]

I don't think anyone can replace John as the main protagonist of the series. I personally think Halo should take the approach of different view points each time and have their potential novel ideas be full length video games instead.

 

However, to answer this week's great poll, I think I would have to go with Locke. That may sound cliche but being Locke felt pretty cool in Halo 5 and he has a great team to work with already on top of having a small amount of backstory to really develop. I don't think he will ever be as famous as Master Chief but Locke taking over the role of the main protagonist could be written in as Chief ages out or something.

[Yoshi1176]

Given the circumstances of the beginnings of the franchise, I think you can't really replace John at all.  The whole series started off with being the "last of his kind", that's what made him unique.  You were the only known reported Spartan left living, which is why in CE through Halo 2 just about everyone that comes into contact with Chief all have the same "whoah!  OMG a Spartan" reaction.  That being said, even the enemies in Halo CE through 3 all had the same kind of reaction.  He was termed "Demon" for a reason.  They all feared him....not the fact that he was a "Spartan".  Adding Spartan III's and IV'd and V'S takes away the mystery, fear and inspirational aspect of what John was.  On a side note, the newer Spartans are just plain cocky and arrogant.  They way they introduced Palmer to Chief...just bonkers.  Palmer meets him for the first time, and her response to him is "I thought you'd be taller"?  Like seriously WTF?!?!  It's gogdamn John-117 Master F-in Chief lady!  She should have been either speechless, shaking in her armor or overly kissing his ass.  She made it seem as they were equals...which clearly they are as far from equals as the color black is from white.

 

Moving forward, if they want to capture the same magic they need to irradicate the Spartans except for a handfull.  They need to rebuild the legendary status of the few to promote the older feelings and overal feel of the PSartan Warriors within Halo.  Noone is going to fear a single Spartan if they are as common as sand on the beach.  At this point going back and making another Spartan II the lead would not make sense.  John was "supposed" to be the last until the extended universe **** came into play.  I understand canonicly they have expanded things, but you have to remember that a game is completely different beast than the books, comics, etc..

 

This is why John was the only Spartan in play throughout Halo CE to ODST.  This is also why Spartan III's were isolated to only Reach and not incorporated into Halo 4 or 5.  If they want to have a true spiritual successor to Halo beyond John, it needs to be a new augment or new Spartan, and like I said, there needs to be a catastrophic failure somewhere reducing the numbers, and or make something happen to the whole "Spartan Program" that makes the numbers dwindle and results in the remaining being special and the last of their kind.

 

None of the characters in the universe have anything on John.  None have the battle hardness, training, intuition, humanity or humility that he has.  No one even comes close in terms of what type of human/soldier he is.

 

I'm getting Order-66 vibes from this... I like it.

 

I agree with Twin. Chief has been center stage for all the main games, and up until Halo 5 he was a complete legend. Not saying that he isn't now, but he has a whole team of people that are in many respects his equal. 

 

If you choose a character that is as powerful as MC, you undermine the whole character of MC. On the other hand if you go for the underdog type of character, you'll end up with something like Rookie or Noble 6 which we already have.

 

I think the two viable options would be to either be done with the one character crusade that Halo has been and that 343 needs to double down and improve on their group fighting and story telling that was seen in Halo 5 with the Blue Team and Osiris. The other option would never happen, but I think it'd be interesting is a game through the eyes of an someone like the arbiter. Who has just as much street cred, but a totally different experience.

[UncookedMoa]

Can we not have a replacement? Let's just make a ton of new characters who don't necessarily "replace" the Chief, nor would Chief necessarily be gone. And I personally have to say that Locke is a terrible replacement for Chief. He follows orders far too strictly, and is even less interesting than Chief, if you ask me. I hope Locke isn't Chief's replacement.

[Ranger Intel]

Can we not have a replacement? Let's just make a ton of new characters who don't necessarily "replace" the Chief, nor would Chief necessarily be gone. And I personally have to say that Locke is a terrible replacement for Chief. He follows orders far too strictly, and is even less interesting than Chief, if you ask me. I hope Locke isn't Chief's replacement.

 

Keep in mind, all the Spartan-IIs spent their lives following orders "far too strictly". Orders are orders, and if the chain of command orders you to do something, you do it. Chief going rogue was very unusual, and ONI (as well as the UNSC, maybe to less of an extent) feared that. When have we ever seen John not follow orders? Only once, in Halo 5.

[Twinreaper]

Historically, John yes has always followed the major/end-game orders he was given, but he always did so with a skeptical mindset and questioned everything.  Let's also not forget that in Halo 4 he disobeyed orders as well.  And also for pretty much the entire halo series, MC did his own thing and basically the UNSC/ONI just sat back and supported him.  If an order was "given" it was an order for something he had already decided to do.  THAT is what made MC so great....

[Ranger Intel]

 he always did so with a skeptical mindset and questioned everything. 

 

Source? Don't say Halo 5. Good point mentioning is disobedience in Halo 4, forgot about that. I don't recall him always being skeptical and questioning everything at all though.

 

And also for pretty much the entire halo series, MC did his own thing and basically the UNSC/ONI just sat back and supported him.  If an order was "given" it was an order for something he had already decided to do.  THAT is what made MC so great....

 

That's because a) he's a good leader, and more importantly b ) there usually isn't anyone around to give him orders. Look at his situations throughout the Halo games, he's usually operating alone or with enlisted marines. All Spartans are similar, they're all able to take up the mantle of leadership, it's in their training. Some are just better at leading than others.

 

 

 

 

Edit: have to put a space between "b" and ")" or I get an emoji...again.

[Melody]

Hopefully a brand new spartan like Noble 6 for example, although Noble 6 is dead why not have a new hyper lethal spartan rise to the ranks?