Master Chief (Halo)
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John-117, or "Master Chief", is a
fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...
and the
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
in the '' Halo'' multimedia franchise. Master Chief is a
playable character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not cont ...
in the series of military science fiction
first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the p ...
video games '' Halo: Combat Evolved'', '' Halo 2'', '' Halo 3'', '' Halo 4'', '' Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite''. The character also appears in ''Halo'' books and graphic novelsincluding '' Halo: The Fall of Reach'', '' Halo: The Flood'', '' Halo: First Strike'', and '' Halo: Uprising''and has minor appearances or cameos in other ''Halo'' media. The Master Chief is a towering supersoldier known as a " Spartan", raised and trained from childhood for combat. He is almost faceless as he is rarely seen without his green-colored armor and helmet. He is commonly referred to by his naval rank rather than his given birth name. The character is voiced by Steve Downes, a former Chicago
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobil ...
, in the video games in which he appears, while in alternate media outside the ''Halo'' games, he is portrayed by other actors, most notably Pablo Schreiber in the live-action ''Halo'' TV series. Downes based his personification of the Chief on an initial character sketch, which called for a
Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' Do ...
–type character of few words. With each new appearance, the character's visual design underwent revamping or updates. The Master Chief serves as a mascot for ''Halo'' and the Xbox brand. The character has received a generally positive reception; while some critics have described the Chief's silent and faceless nature as a character weakness, other publications have suggested these attributes better allow players to inhabit the character. Criticism of the Master Chief's lessened role in ''
Halo 5 ''Halo 5: Guardians'' is a 2015 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries, published by Microsoft Studios, and released worldwide for the Xbox One game console on October 27, 2015. The plot follows two fireteams of human super ...
'' led to the developers at
343 Industries 343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the ''Halo'' series of military science fiction games, originally created and ...
refocusing on him for '' Halo Infinite''.


Character design

The task of developing Master Chief for the character's first video game appearance in developer
Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (progr ...
's '' Halo: Combat Evolved'' (2001) fell on art director Marcus Lehto and Robert McLees. Shi Kai Wang was later hired for conceptual art. One of Wang's sketches became the basis for Master Chief, but the initial translation of the drawing into a three-dimensional model looked too slim and anime-inspired. Lehto felt the character needed to feel more like a walking tank, and the design was bulked up. The Chief's armor went through various changes, such as the addition (and later removal) of an antenna, and a green tint. The character's two-prong visor, intended to convey speed and agility, was inspired by BMX helmets. Story writer
Joseph Staten Joseph Staten is an American writer best known for his work at video game studio Bungie. At Bungie, Staten served as director of cinematics for the studio's games, including the ''Halo'' series; he would write mission scripts and movie dialogue ...
recalled that early on in ''Halo''s development, they had not considered how to engage players in the world, and Master Chief's character was what drew people in. The Chief was always intended to be a soldier in the last part of a long and bitter war. For much of the game's development, the character had no name, and early on was referred to as "Future Soldier" or "The Cyborg".
Eric Nylund Eric S. Nylund (born November 12, 1964) is an American novelist and professional technical writer. His wife, Syne Mitchell, is also a science fiction writer. He holds a B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an ...
established the character's forename as "John" in the tie-novel '' Halo: The Fall of Reach'', but Bungie did not want to use that in the game itself, instead looking to military ranks. Naval ranks grabbed them as "different" from ones the developers had heard of before. Around 0:17:00–0:19:00. McLees, insisting on accuracy, wanted to make sure the character still had a plausible rank for his role. "Master Chief" was the highest non-commissioned rank where the character would still be considered "expendable"; McLees felt the shortened "Chief" sounded more colloquial and less like a modern military designation. Though the name was not universally liked and intended to be a placeholder, it ended up sticking. After the success of ''Halo'', Bungie began developing a sequel. According to Mclees, the developers wanted to "tone down" the look from ''Halo''. In the story, Master Chief's armor receives an upgrade, and the character received a new look he sported for '' Halo 2'' and '' Halo 3'', with added damage and wear and tear included in the high-definition graphics of ''Halo3''. For ''
Halo 4 ''Halo 4'' is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. ''Halo 4''s story follows a cybernetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, and ...
'',
343 Industries 343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the ''Halo'' series of military science fiction games, originally created and ...
took over development duties after Bungie spun off from Microsoft as an independent company. ''Halo4'' made extensive use of
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
for character animation, shooting in a studio that allowed multiple actors to interact. 343 looked for an actor to portray the Master Chief's physicality, while still conveying the emotions of the character. Bruce Thomas portrayed the Master Chief for motion capture sessions, focusing on giving the Master Chief a personality through actions that would be applied to the three-dimensional model; though his face and voice never appear in the final product, Creative director Josh Holmes credited Thomas with strongly influencing all the other performers for the game. The Master Chief's armor was redesigned with the aim of making the player feel like they were inhabiting a character wearing hundreds of pounds of futuristic armor; art director Kenneth Scott emphasized finding a "sweet spot" where the armor remained familiar but still new. Real-world military vehicles inspired some of the details. The armor of Master Chief and his fellow elder Spartans was intended to look more utilitarian and tanklike, contrasting with the more streamlined look of newer characters. Despite the visual differences between the character's armor in ''Halo3'' and ''Halo4'', the developers intended it to canonically be the same armor. 343 Industries redesigned Master Chief's armor for '' Halo Infinite'', drawing inspiration from his previous looks. Actor Bruce Thomas returned to provide motion capture for the character, as he had in ''Halo4'' and ''Halo5''.


Voice acting

Downes, who voices the Master Chief, is a disc jockey and voice actor who had never played video games before ''Halo''. Downes's previous experience with video game voice work was a small part for '' Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator''. During production of ''Halo'',
Martin O'Donnell Martin O'Donnell (born May 1, 1955) is an American composer known for his work on video game developer Bungie's series, such as '' Myth'', ''Oni'', ''Halo'', and ''Destiny''. O'Donnell collaborated with his musical colleague Michael Salvatori ...
, Bungie's music director, recommended Downes for the part of the Chief based on his experience working with Downes on ''Septerra''. Downes never interviewed for the part, describing his acceptance as a phone call. After ''Halo''s success, Bungie briefly considered recasting the role with a celebrity before deciding against a change. Downes believed he came close to losing the role with ''Halo4'' as well. "When I did my first 'demo' session for ''Halo4'' in early 2012, I knew it was really an audition to see if I could carry the additional emotional weight that John was going to endure," he recalled. "I knew my future as the voice of Master Chief was on the line that day." Downes was more involved with the ''Halo4'' sessions, seeing the script in advance for input and recording sessions in person over a longer duration, with him and
Jen Taylor Jennifer Taylor is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cortana in ''Halo'' games and the intelligent personal assistant. Career Jen Taylor taught herself how to do voice work by recording the radio and imitating what she ...
(Cortana) playing their roles in the same space for the first time. For years Downes never appeared at Bungie or Microsoft events and believed the Master Chief was left masked because " he character's identityis really in the eye of the player." He has called the role the most rewarding of his voice acting career.


Attributes

Downes's voice for Master Chief was based on Bungie's character description, which specified a man of few words similar to
Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' Do ...
. The actor noted that during recording, he was given creative leeway to develop the Chief's personality. In the early games, Master Chief rarely spoke during player-controlled gameplay, making him an almost-
silent protagonist In video games, a silent protagonist is a player character who lacks any dialogue for the entire duration of a game, with the possible exception of occasional interjections or short phrases. In some games, especially visual novels, this may extend ...
. Even during cutscenes, the character generally spoke sparingly. Bungie's Frank O'Connor described the Chief as "so quiet and so invisible, literally, that the player gets to pretend they're the Chief. The player gets to inhabit those shoes ndapply their own personality." Joseph Staten felt that a focus on immersion was key to developing Master Chief's personality in the games, as "the less players knew about the Chief, we believed, the more they would feel like the Chief." As such, many of the lines written for Master Chief in the first game were eventually cut, as the more the character spoke, "the more chances there are that we’ll get it wrong for you, whoever you are." Eric Nylund recalled that some at Bungie wanted the tie-in novel ''The Fall of Reach'' cancelled because they felt it gave Master Chief too much of a distinct character. The Master Chief has a close relationship with the
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
construct Cortana, whom he meets just prior to the fall of the human colony Reach before the events of ''Combat Evolved''. Cortana was created as a game design requirement to guide the character as Master Chief throughout the game world, but she became an important aspect of revealing the Chief's humanity. "Over time, Cortana became a fully realized charactera friend and companion to the Chief, not to mention the only person to poke revealing holes in his tough-guy exterior," Staten recalled. The game designers crafted the player experience of the first game to focus on abandonment and loneliness in many levels, as it reinforced the plot point that many of the Chief's friends were killed before the game began. For ''Halo 4'', 343 Industries consciously decided to treat Master Chief as less of a vessel for the players, exploring the character as a human being facing new challenges and threats. Creative director Josh Holmes cited the video game ''
Ico is an action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and Team Ico, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, released for the PlayStation 2 video game console in 2001 and 2002 in various regions. It was designed and directed by Fumito U ...
'' as an inspiration for the Chief-Cortana relationship in ''Halo4'', noting that it emphasized how to tell a story without dialogue. He described the challenge with the character thusly:
What we were striving for with Master Chief in ''Halo4'' was right in the middle, and I describe it as a marriage of player and protagonist. There has to be enough space within the character for you to feel you can inhabit it as a player. And also, just from the standpoint of personality, Chief is a stoic character. He's a man of few words. If he speaks too much, it goes against his innate persona. And yet if we don't have him speak at all, there's no way to really understand his mind and you can't chart his growth as a characterhe becomes dull and one-dimensional.
In the video games, the Master Chief is rarely seen without his armor. To aid players in identifying with the character, cutscenes tease the character's face, but never fully reveal it. At the end of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', the Chief removes his helmet, but camera movement hides his head, while at the end of ''Halo 4'', Master Chief's eyes are briefly shown if the game is played on the highest difficulty. O'Connor said in an interview that revealing the face of the Chief is not as important as revealing the events going on around the character. In ''Halo: The Flood'', the Chief is described as tall with short brown hair, serious eyes, and strong features. His skin is unnaturally pale as a consequence of spending most of his time in his armor. The Master Chief stands about 7feet (2.13m) tall and weighs 1,000 pounds (450kg) in armor; without it, he stands 6feet, 10inches (2.08m) tall and weighs 287pounds (130kg).


Appearances


Video games

The Master Chief's backstory is revealed in the 2001 novel ''The Fall of Reach''. Born in 2511 on the human colony world of Eridanus II, John and other selected children are covertly taken from their homes and conscripted by the
United Nations Space Command The ''Halo'' video game and media franchise takes place in a fictional science fiction universe. In the distant past, a race known as the Forerunners fought the parasitic Flood. The Forerunners ultimately activate weapons of mass destruction, th ...
(UNSC) into the SPARTAN-II Project. The military and the SPARTAN-II Project's lead, Doctor Catherine Halsey, believe humanity will fall into interstellar civil war without the creation of supersoldiers (the Spartans). John proves a natural leader and leads his fellow trainees over eight years of grueling training and dangerous physical augmentation. A new threat emerges: the
Covenant Covenant may refer to: Religion * Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general ** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible ** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...
, a collective of alien races determined to exterminate humanity. Though the Spartans prove effective against the Covenant, they are too few to turn the tide in the UNSC's favor. Master Chief first appears in the games with ''Halo: Combat Evolved''. Master Chief and the crew of the UNSC ship ''Pillar of Autumn'' discover the alien ringworld
Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...
. Master Chief is entrusted with safeguarding Cortana, the ship's artificial intelligence, from capture. While fighting the Covenant, Master Chief and Cortana learn that an ancient race known as the Forerunners created Halo as a last line of defense against an alien parasite called the Flood, which begins to spread across the ring. Learning that Halo's activation kills all life in the galaxy to prevent the Flood's spread, the Master Chief and Cortana destabilize ''Pillar of Autumn''s fusion reactor—destroying it and Halo. Master Chief and Cortana escape in a fighter spacecraft. In the 2003 novel '' Halo: First Strike'', Master Chief and Cortana pick up survivors from Halo and reunite with Halsey and more Spartans. Learning the Covenant has discovered Earth's location, Master Chief leads a preemptive strike against a Covenant fleet. Master Chief returns to
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
in '' Halo 2'' (2004), defending the planet from Covenant attack. Pursuing a fleeing Covenant vessel, Master Chief and the crew of the human ship ''In Amber Clad'' discover another Halo ring. Master Chief falls into the clutches of the Flood intelligence known as a Gravemind, who forges an alliance between them and the disgraced Covenant commander known as the Arbiter. The Gravemind sends them to stop Halo's activation—Master Chief is sent to ''High Charity,'' a Covenant space station serving as their capital city, then in Halo's orbit. Cortana remains behind on ''High Charity'' to ensure the ring is destroyed if activated. At the same time, Master Chief pursues the remaining Covenant leader, the Prophet of Truth, aboard a Forerunner ship. Truth heads to Earth, intent on activating the Halo Array remotely from a place known as the Ark. During the events of '' Halo 3'' (2007), Master Chief reunites with the Arbiter to stop Truth. Master Chief and Arbiter pursue him through a portal to the Ark, located beyond the
Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
. On the Ark, the Flood-controlled ''High Charity'' crashes into the installation. Master Chief stops the Halo Array from firing and battles through the wreckage of ''High Charity'' to rescue Cortana. Together, they activate replacement Halo being built on the Arkstopping the Flood while sparing the galaxy at large. Escaping aboard the UNSC ship ''Forward Unto Dawn'', the section of the ship with Master Chief and Cortana is set adrift in space while the Arbiter makes it to Earth. Master Chief does not appear in the games '' Halo 3: ODST'' and '' Halo: Reach'', save for a cameo
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in ''Reach''. The character returns as the playable protagonist in 2012's '' Halo 4''. After years adrift in space, Cortana awakens Master Chief from cryonic sleep as the ''Forward Unto Dawn'' approaches a Forerunner installation, Requiem. Hoping to prevent the UNSC ship ''Infinity'' from being drawn into Requiem like them, Master Chief and Cortana attempt to activate what they believe is a communications relay; instead, Master Chief awakens the Didact, a Forerunner who hated humanity and intended to resume his war against them. Master Chief and Cortana pursued the Didact, and Cortana sacrifices herself to stop his attack on Earth. Master Chief reunites with his fellow Spartans of Blue Team in a 2014 arc of the comic series ''Escalation''. During the events of '' Halo 5: Guardians'' (2015), Master Chief is contacted by Cortana, directing him to the human colony of Meridian. Master Chief and Blue Team disregard their orders and head to the planet, leading the UNSC to dispatch another group of Spartans, Fireteam Osiris, to bring them in. Blue Team board a buried Forerunner construct known as a Guardian and are transported to the Forerunner planet Genesis. Cortana reveals her survival resulting from the Forerunner repository of knowledge known as the Domain. After Master Chief realizes Cortana's new plans for the galaxy would mean authoritarian rule, Cortana imprisons him and Blue Team in stasis as she rallies human AIs to her cause and deploys Guardians around the galaxy as enforcers of her new order. Through the efforts of Fireteams Osiris, Master Chief and Blue Team are rescued, but forced to retreat as Cortana puts her plans in motion. The novel ''Halo: Bad Blood'' (2018) details the events immediately following ''Halo5''. He returns in '' Halo Infinite'' (2021) as the main playable character, where after Cortana's defeat, he works with the Weapon, an AI modelled after Cortana, to stop a faction of space pirates known as the Banished from activating a Halo ring.


Live action

Master Chief would have appeared in the cancelled ''Halo'' film. Director
Neill Blomkamp Neill Blomkamp (; born 17 September 1979) is a South African filmmaker. He employs a documentary-style, Hand-held camera, hand-held, cinéma vérité technique, blending naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated imagery, computer-gene ...
said the film would have depicted the character as "the most important supporting cast member" because of his faceless nature, with other characters exploring their perception of the Chief. The character would make his live-action debut in the 2012 film '' Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn''. Master Chief is portrayed by
Daniel Cudmore Daniel Cudmore (born January 20, 1981) is a Canadian actor and stuntman. He is perhaps best known for his roles as the superhero Peter Rasputin / Colossus in the ''X-Men'' film series, and as the Volturi Felix in ''The Twilight Saga'' film ser ...
, while the voice is provided by Alex Puccinelli. In the 2022 ''Halo'' television series, the character is played by Pablo Schreiber. Master Chief takes off his helmet in the series, as part of an effort to make the audience empathize with the character.


Other appearances

The Master Chief is a major character in the novels ''Silent Storm'' (2018), ''Oblivion'' (2019), and ''Shadows of Reach'' (2020), written by
Troy Denning Troy Denning is an American fantasy and science fiction author and game designer who has written more than two dozen novels. Background Denning grew up in the mountain town of Idaho Springs, Colorado. An avid reader of science fiction and fant ...
. The character also appears in the 2010 animated anthology ''
Halo Legends ''Halo Legends'' is a collection of 7 short films set in the ''Halo'' universe. Financed by the franchise's overseer 343 Industries, the stories were created by six Japanese anime production houses: Bee Train, Bones, Casio Entertainment, Product ...
'', as well as the comics ''
The Halo Graphic Novel ''The Halo Graphic Novel'' is a graphic novel anthology of the military science fiction video game series ''Halo'', published by Marvel Comics in partnership with Bungie. ''The Halo Graphic Novel'' was the series' first entry into the sequential ...
'', ''Halo: Uprising'', ''Halo: Collateral Damage'', and ''Halo: Tales from Slipspace''.
Peter David Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956), often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Greatest Hits" Co ...
's graphic novel ''Helljumpers'' contains a cameo by the Master Chief "before he actually ''was'' he Chief. The character appears outside ''Halo'' canon, with guest appearances as a playable character in the Xbox One version of ''
Super Bomberman R is an action- maze game developed by Konami and HexaDrive. The game was first released worldwide as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch in March 2017, and later for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in June 2018. Part of the '' ...
'', and a cosmetic outfit in the battle royale game ''
Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to-p ...
'', marking his only appearance on
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
and
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
. A medieval variation of the Master Chief's armor appears in '' Fable II'', as the suit of armor worn by a legendary hero named "Hal".
Team Ninja is a Japanese video game developer, and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1995 as a part of Tecmo. It is founded and formerly led by Tomonobu Itagaki, later by Yosuke Hayashi, and is best known for the ''Ninja Gaiden'' action-adventure game ...
approached Bungie and asked to use the Master Chief in their 2006 video game ''
Dead or Alive 4 is a 2005 fighting video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo for the Xbox 360. It is the fourth main entry in the '' Dead or Alive'' fighting series. The story of the game focuses on the continuing war between the Mugen Tenshin N ...
''. Although the Chief could not be used due to storyline restrictions, Bungie's interest in the idea resulted in the development of Nicole (Spartan-458). The character is referenced in
Rooster Teeth Productions Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American digital media company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of Warne ...
' ''Halo''-based
machinima Machinima, originally machinema () is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''ma ...
parody series ''
Red vs. Blue ''Red vs. Blue'', often abbreviated as ''RvB'', is an American web series created by Burnie Burns with his production company Rooster Teeth. The show is based on the setting of the military science fiction first-person shooter series and media fr ...
''.


Influences and analysis

''
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' saw in the Master Chief elements of Jon 6725416, a character in
Christopher Rowley Christopher Rowley (born 1948) is an American writer specializing in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He is also a former journalist and television screenswriter. Christopher Rowley was born in 1948 in Lynn, Massachusetts, to an America ...
's novel ''Starhammer''. Other reviewers have suggested that the name John-117 could be a Biblical reference. Michael Nitsche of the
Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
found similarity to
Gordon Freeman Gordon Freeman is the silent protagonist of the ''Half-Life'' video game series, created by Gabe Newell and designed by Newell and Marc Laidlaw of Valve. His first appearance is in ''Half-Life''. Gordon Freeman is depicted as a bespectacled Ca ...
, the protagonist of
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's ''Half-Life'' series of FPS video games: " oth charactersare the independent, individualistic, and often lonely heroes that gain admiration by constantly proving their superiority... in technology-driven, hostile, often closed spaces." Roger Travis, associate professor of classics at the
University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...
, compared Master Chief to the epic hero
Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
, in that both superhuman characters save a civilization by defeating strong enemies in a martial setting. The audience is intended to identify with the protagonist similarly in both stories.
Matthew Stover Matthew Woodring Stover (born 1962) is an American fantasy and science fiction novelist. He is most well known for his four '' Star Wars'' novels, including the novelization of '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith''. He has also wr ...
compared ''Halo'' to the ''
Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...
'', saying both stories share the meta-theme that "war is the crucible of character". As
military science fiction Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that features the use of science fiction technology, mainly weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters who are members of a military organization involved in military a ...
, ''Halo'' further raises the issue of being human. Stover argued that, since players are to imagine themselves as the Master Chief, the character is correctly presented as a
cyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.
, neither a flawless machine nor fully human. Players would be unable to empathize with the former, and the latter would be too specifically developed. This immersion has facilitated the use of the ''Halo'' series' multiplayer mode for live
digital puppetry Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real time by computers. It is most commonly used in filmmaking and television production, but has ...
, as in Chris Burke's
machinima Machinima, originally machinema () is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''ma ...
talk show '' This Spartan Life''.


Cultural impact


Merchandise

''
BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' listed the Master Chief among several video game characters who have been branded beyond their respective video games, "helping them transcend the very medium in the process". The Master Chief has been used in marketing on a variety of products, from
7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...
Slurpee Slurpee is the brand name for carbonated slushies sold by 7-Eleven and its subsidiaries A-Plus and Speedway. The brand first originated in 1966 when 7-Eleven made a licensing deal with The Icee Company to sell slushies in 7-Eleven stores. H ...
s to T-shirts, controllers to
Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew, is a carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman. A revised formula was created by Bill Brid ...
, and costumes to motorcycle helmets. Several
action figure An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are ...
s of the character have been created to market of the ''Halo'' series, including lines by McFarlane, Jazwares, 1000toys, and Mega Bloks. One2One collectibles produced 1:2 scale busts of the Master Chief. Marketing for the video games focused heavily on the character of the Master Chief, including " The Museum", part of ''Halo3''s "Believe" campaign, the ''Halo4'' live-action trailer "Scanned", ''Halo5''s ''Hunt the Truth'', and ''Infinite''s "Become" campaign. The heavy merchandising was considered necessary for the game franchise; Ed Ventura, director of Xbox's worldwide marketing, said, "We want to be in the hearts and minds of our fans as much as we can."


Reception

In an article in ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'',
Lev Grossman Lev Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote ''The Magicians Trilogy'': '' The Magicians'' (2009), '' The Magician King'' (2011), and '' The Magician's Land'' (2014). He was the book critic and lead technolog ...
said the Master Chief represents a "new kind of celebrity for a new and profoundly weird millennium" and was a symbol of the increasing legitimacy of video games as an art form. ''
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'', ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'', ''
Glixel ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cove ...
'', ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
'' and ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' described the Chief as "iconic". Master Chief has been called the ''
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' symbol for the
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
console, Microsoft, and for a generation of gamers. The recognition of Master Chief has spread to mainstream culture;
Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...
in
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
has developed a wax sculpture of the Chief. At the ceremony,
Pete Wentz Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician best known as the bassist and lyricist for the rock band Fall Out Boy since 2001. Before Fall Out Boy, Wentz was a fixture of the Chicago hardcore scene and was the lea ...
of
Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
called the Master Chief a hero of the times as much as characters like
Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
and
Luke Skywalker Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the protagonist of the original film trilogy of the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Portrayed by Mark Hamill, Luke first appeared in ''Star Wars'' (1977), and he returned in ''The ...
were for previous generations. Downes realized his character was such a huge hit only after children lined up around the block for his autograph a year after the game shipped. The character has appeared on lists of the best video gaming characters by ''
UGO Ugo is the Italian form of Hugh, a widely used name of Germanic origin. Its diminutive form is Ugolino. It is also a Nigerian Igbo first name. It may refer to: People * Vgo (stonemason), medieval stonemason * Ugo Bassi, a Roman Catholic prie ...
'', ''
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GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
'', ''
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'', ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'', and ''Time''. ''IGN'' suggested that the dramatic death of the character could be one of the most powerful events in gaming. The faceless nature of the character has alternatively been praised and criticized, with the character called overrated. Writing for '' The Artifice'', Sam Gray argued the character uncomfortably straddled the divide between silent and active protagonist, and the lack of character conflict made him uninteresting. O'Connor noted that given players invest the character with much of his meaning, there is a tension between players who prefer more personality and those who prefer "a sort of paragon of useful emptiness". The more character-focused portrayal of Chief in ''Halo4'' was positively received. Todd Martens of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' called ''Halo4'' a more introspective ''Halo'' game, and the first to explore the motivations and emotions of the Master Chief. Reviews that found the game's story otherwise hard to follow praised the focus on fleshing out the character and Chief and Cortana's relationship. ''Halo 5'' received backlash from fans about Master Chief's reduced role in the story, as he appeared in fewer story missions compared to Fireteam Osiris. ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
''s Stephen Totilo wrote that the confrontation between Locke and Master Chief felt "under-cooked", and the plot point of a rogue Master Chief more effectively explored in ''Hunt the Truth''. O'Connor promised the studio would refocus on Chief in future media.Due to the amount of disappointment for his lessened role, 343 had redesigned his character for Halo Infinite, which was positively received by the community.


References


External links


The Master Chief's profile
a
Bungie.org

The Master Chief's profile
a
Halowaypoint.com

John-117’s profile
a
halopedia.org
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