John-117
Masterchief_halo_face.jpg
the Master Chief
John-117 (last name unknown and deleted) is the formal name for the protagonist in the Halo series of video games and novels which as of December 2004 consists of two games: Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequel Halo 2 as well as three novels: Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood and Halo: First Strike.
He is most often referred to as the Master Chief, presumably short for Master Chief Petty Officer, the highest enlisted rank in the United States Navy. It should be pointed out that, in the modern day, an actual Master Chief holds a purely administrative position, whereas the protagonist of Halo is more like an action hero. He is known to Covenant as the Demon.
In the game series he is always portrayed in his MJOLNIR battle armor which has the effect of never revealing his face, using Mark V armor in Halo: Combat Evolved and upgrading to Mark VI during Halo 2.
He is voiced by Steve Downes in the video game series.
Biography
Until the age of six, John lived in Elysium City, on the planet of Eridanus 2. He was large for his age at the time, approximately a foot above his school peers - a sign of a "perfect genetic match" for a project dubbed "Spartan II".
At the age of six, John and quite a few other children his age were covertly captured from their houses, and replaced with Flash Clones. This specific form of clone was employed to ensure that none of the families knew that their children had been kidnapped, and to quickly die so that the parents would never seek their "lost" child. The original children were brought to Reach, military capitol and location of UNSC headquarters, to train to become Spartans.
Six years into Spartan training, John and his fellow Spartans were biologically modified and enhanced, undergoing the following procedures:
- Advanced carbide ceramic material grafted onto bones to increase durability
- Protein complex injections to increase muscle density and lower recovery time
- Body growth hormone pellet injections to boost skeletal and muscle tissue growth
- Occipital capillary reversal to increase bloodflow to the eyes, resulting in enhanced vision
- Superconducting fibers added to nerve endings, resulting in 300% increase in reflexes and increases in intelligence, memory, and creativity.
These procedures had substantial risks, and only 32 Spartans of the original 70 survived to functional status. Of the others, 12 suffered 'significant impairment' and were delegated to tactical duties. The rest died. John, during his time with the Spartans, was deemed the "luckiest" and was the first to test the MJOLNIR armor. He also took command of the trainees during free-form tactical exercises and was eventually made squad leader.
According to Bungie programmers, the Chief stands 7' tall and weighs approximately 2,000 pounds in the full MJOLNIR Mark VI battle armor.
Halo: The Fall of Reach
John-117's first mission was against rebels in the asteroid belt of the Eridanus System, where his homeworld was located. He was wounded but not incapacitated while leading his squad to capture Colonel Robert Watts, leader of the rebels.
Later on, he was briefed on the Covenant threat; he and his Spartans would fight for the next 30 years against this new threat.
Halo: Combat Evolved and the Flood
As humanity was slowly worn down by the Covenant, High Command developed a last-ditch plan: the Spartans would board the UNSC destroyer Pillar of Autumn and attempt to capture a Covenant starship, which they would use to locate the Covenant homeworld and capture their leaders for use as hostages in cease-fire and peace-treaty negotiations. Before this mission could be embarked upon, however, Reach was attacked. The vast majority of the Spartans were landed on Reach's surface to defend groundside installations; John led an alternate space op, of which he was the only survivor. Reach itself was lost as well. The Master Chief managed to return to the Autumn, which, emerging from hyperspace in a random location as per the Cole Protocol, was attacked by the Covenant and was forced to to crash land on Alpha Installation 04, AKA Halo. In the midst of fighting the Covenant, Jacob Keyes discovered the secret of Halo: it was a ring-shaped construct created by the Forerunners as a last line of defense against a alien scourge called The Flood, which was released at some point by either the Forerunners or their legacy; a majority of the Covenant and UNSC troops who landed on Halo were infected by The Flood. Keyes and a small group of Marines were the first humans to encounter the Covenant-released Flood; Keyes was later absorbed by the Flood, soon after which he died. The Master Chief was then responsible for retrieving the Index for 343 Guilty Spark, a device which would activate Halo and wipe out the Flood... By destroying all life within a large radius, essentially starving The Flood to death; its activation would also trigger the other six Installations, which would wipe the entire galaxy clean of sentient life. Cortana's timely intervention prevented Halo's activation, and the two decided to destroy Halo itself. Fighting off Covenant, Flood and Forerunner Sentinels, the Chief made his way back to the Pillar of Autumn and, using her self-destruct, destroyed Halo.
Halo 2 and Halo: First Strike
First Strike
The Master Chief, along with the few UNSC personnel who survived Halo, manages to capture a Covenant command cruiser, thus making possible his original mission; but in light of the Fall of Reach, they take the ship back to Reach to contact Earth high command. There, John-117 discovers that the Covenant have not eradicated the planet's biosphere the way they normally do, and furthermore that a few, at least, of his Spartans are still alive. He retrieves them, as well as Dr. Catherine Halsey (the originator of the Spartan project). He then takes on a Covenant space station, the Unyielding Hierophant, around which is massing a giant Covenant invasion fleet whose target is Earth. By the end of the novel, the only remaining Halo survivor is Sgt. Avery Johnson; furthermore, only four of the original Spartans are in active service: Linda (who died during the Reach space op but was later revived), Will, Fred, and John himself. Kelly-87 is still alive but has been kidnapped by Dr. Halsey for purposes unknown. Four other Spartans are recovered from Reach but die during the adventures; four are lost in the landing on Reach itself; and three others are confirmed lost between the unit's formation and the Fall of Reach. The remaining Spartans are MIA on Reach.
Halo 2
Chief's Mark V MJOLNIR armor was switched by technicians aboard the orbiting defense station Cairo to a Mark VI model. He attended a brief awards ceremony aboard the station, which was interrupted by Covenant boarders, which he repulsed. He destroyed one of their ships with their own bomb intended to destroy the Cairo, and landed in New Mombasa, East African Protectorate to combat Covenant landing troops. He boarded and destroyed a Scarab with the nominal assistance of a small squad of Marines and followed the main Covenant invasion force aboard the In Amber Clad to Delta Halo Installation 05, where he killed one of the High Prophets, the Prophet of Regret, the Covenant invasion/occupation force commander.
He was captured by the Gravemind after barely escaping from the High Prophet's main temple and met his Covenant Elite counterpart, the Arbiter and the two set off to stop the Covenant from activating Delta Halo, John-117 infilitrating High Charity to stop the High Prophet of Truth while the Arbiter went to stop Tartarus from activating the ring.
In the end Cortana decided to stay behind aboard High Charity in order to ensure the destruction of Delta Halo by initiating the ship's self-destruct if necessary. Meanwhile the Master Chief followed the last High Prophet to a Forerunner-powered ship which launches and embarks for the Ark on Earth. Upon arriving in the Solar System, Spartan-117 informed UNSC superiors and comrades who were still defending Earth that he intended "to finish this fight."
Biblical reference
"John-117" is believed by many fans to be a reference to New Testament of the Christian Bible.
Bungie Studios is known to have placed many biblical references in their earlier Marathon video game series, and many other such references have been found in the Halo series.
Fans have found that a passage from the Book of Revelation (more formally known as The Revelation of St. John the Divine) to be a good fit for the Master Chief.
- When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
- I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
- Book of Revelation, New International Version. Chapter 1 - verses 17 and 18.
The statement "I am the First and the Last" has led some fans to believe (along with other evidence) that future releases in the Halo series will involve time travel.
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