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| 3 | %% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them. |
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| 7 | ->''"Penny for you thoughts, Chief?" Cortana asked, breaking the silence.''\ |
| 8 | ''"Everything is so... different." Chief said. "It's like the war never even happened."''\ |
| 9 | ''"It's definitely an adjustment." Cortana condeded. Chief turned back to the memorial, to all the names on that wall. That's when it truly dawned on him.''\ |
| 10 | ''"I'm the last one." he stated. "I'm the last Spartan."'' |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5939286/1/The_Last_Spartan The Last Spartan]]'' is an AlternateUniverse ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[=/=]''Franchise/MassEffect'' crossover FusionFic. After the prologue, a novelization of Halo 3's ending, a turian patrol discovers the remains of the ''Forward Unto Dawn'' floating in deep space... 131 years after the events of the last game. In a historic moment, the [[SealedBadassInACan Master Chief]] is thawed out of his Cryo Pod and [[FishOutOfTemporalWater awakens to a whole new galaxy]], one where humanity has not only made peace with most of the former Covenant races, but has since joined [[TheFederation the Citadel Council]]. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | While initially nonplussed about some decisions humanity has made about joining the Citadel races, Spartan-117 and Cortana both overcome their culture shock while the former grudgingly overcomes decades of wartime xenophobia to secure humanity's place in the galaxy... by becoming a Spectre. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | But all is not well in the galaxy, for [[TheHeavy Saren Arterius]] launches an assault on the human colony of Eden Prime in search of a powerful artifact, and while the Master Chief [[YouCantThwartStageOne is unable to prevent him from using it]] nonetheless finds himself on a manhunt across the galaxy. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | The simplest way to describe this crossover is [[JustForFun/XMeetsY Master Chief put in Commander Shepard's boots]]. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | It has also spawned two spinoff fanfics, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8817206/1/Desperate-Measures Desperate Measures]]'' and ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9116551/1/Last-of-An-Ancient-Breed-A-Side-Story-to-The-Last-Spartan Last of An Ancient Breed: A Side Story to The Last Spartan]]''. Tropes for them go at the bottom of the page. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | A DeadFic for almost two years, the first update in many months came on the 1st of January, 2017. After another seventeen months of inactivity though, the author announced on May 2, 2018 [[KilledOffForReal that he was ending the story for real this time]]. However, [[http://dinojakeswordworks.tumblr.com/post/176473639677/the-swirling-flames-and-dancing-lights-of-a-dying a July 31, 2018 post]] on [=DinoJake's=] Tumblr announced new chapters would be uploaded for both The Last Spartan and Last of An Ancient Breed by the latter story's author Zgamer. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | The story was brought BackFromTheDead on December 31st, 2018 with three new chapters from Zgamer and an announcement that he would be taking over writing duties on the story under [=DinoJake's=] supervision. |
| 25 | ---- |
| 26 | !!This fanfic provides examples of: |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[folder: A-G]] |
| 31 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 32 | ** While walking around in a Marine uniform, the Chief introduces himself to Charles Saraccino as "Petty Officer Steven Downes," which happens to be the name of his voice actor. |
| 33 | ** One soldier that Chief talks to is ODST Vanderloo. Mark Vanderloo is the model whom Male Shepard's default appearance is based on. |
| 34 | * AdaptationalBadass: [[spoiler: In the game, Miranda is a GlassCannon who though competent in a fight has some of the lowest health of all the party members. Here, she takes ''The Arbiter'', and by herself no less.]] |
| 35 | * AdaptationalHeroism: One thing that Chief ''really'' struggles with is that all the aliens previously dedicated to wiping him out are now friends of humanity. |
| 36 | * AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: In the games, Miranda, though being a part of [[NebulousEvilOrganization Cerberus]], and having both a few KickTheDog moments and an [[IceQueen frosty]] exterior, is still a [[GoodIsNotNice good person deep down]] and a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who at the end of 2 [[DefectorFromDecadence leaves Cerberus]] after [[NotWhatISignedUpFor at last seeing that they go too far]]. This version on the other hand, is a full-blown KnightTemplar and just another evil Cerberus agent, as well as something of a SmugSnake, though it could be her pre CharacterDevelopment. The author's admitted to disliking of character.]] |
| 37 | * AintNoRule: While Hackett admits the idea of putting a revived Master Chief forward as a Spectre candidate is ridiculous on paper ([[CrazyEnoughToWork in a manner of speaking]]), he immediately and eagerly {{Hand Wave}}s the issue by citing this trope. The Chief hasn't even been [[HumanPopsicle thawed]] by the time he gets behind the idea. |
| 38 | * AlienArtsAreAppreciated: |
| 39 | ** Standard for Mass Effect, but N'tho takes it to a whole new level, him being a "Squidhead," someone who appreciates human culture. He loves human poetry, songs, and books. |
| 40 | *** Though it's not just human stuff- he is working on a thesis paper comparing Asari writings to his own culture, and [[ShipTease has looked up information on Quarian reproduction habits]]. |
| 41 | ** On a more species-wide scale, according to N'tho, after the Human-Covenant war, the entire sangheli species fell in love with burritos. Apparently, their tube shape is perfect for the oddly-shaped mouths of the sangheli. |
| 42 | ** Surprisingly, there is actually pushback among the Sangheli, as one Zealot confides to the Arbiter. Said Zealot is worried that with the influence of foreign cultures, their way of life is slowly dying out. The Arbiter gently rejects this, claiming that all things change and the wise and successful change with them. They both do agree that neither of them like Frankenstein Joe, though. |
| 43 | ** Also averted with Terra Firma, as they think that spread of alien arts and cultures will erode human cultures and render them weak against potential threats. |
| 44 | * AmbiguouslyEvil: Major Danielle Ackerson of ONI. In the main story she seems fine enough ([[PetTheDog giving the people of Zhu's Hope a generous donation to rebuild their colony and giving Shiala a fairly light slap on the wrist]], for one thing), if a little shady. But in the ''Last of an Ancient Breed'' spinoff, she orders Lieutenant Nolan to summarily execute a pair of captured criminals and makes Helena Blake give her a reason not to kill her too. |
| 45 | * AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Chapter 33 leaves the Normandy and follows The Arbiter [[spoiler: on his hunt for Cerberus on Omega]] instead. The chapter even shares a title with the TropeNamer. [[spoiler:This trend continues into Chapter 34, following two [[ChekhovsGunman Chekhov's Gunmen]] [[OriginalGeneration OGs]].]] |
| 46 | * AnnoyingYoungerSibling: This is how the team sees N'tho most of the time. |
| 47 | * ArcNumber: True to form, variants of the number seven appear throughout the story. For example, some of the "named" Geth troopers have serial numbers divisible by seven, and not counting the Chief himself, there are seven members of the ''Normandy'' ground team. |
| 48 | ** And when the author [[ShoutOut read this page and noticed the above entry]], expressed glee when someone noticed, saying: "Yes! Finally! Someone picked up on that!" Count how many words are in that phrase. |
| 49 | ** Funnily enough, Liara mentions that seven is ''bad luck'' in Asari cultures. |
| 50 | * ArcWords: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." The Chief and Cortana find themselves trying to unlock the secrets of an alien ArtifactOfDoom once again, for starters. |
| 51 | * ArtEvolution: Slyly referenced in the scene where [[spoiler: Garrus finds out Cortana is still alive]]. He admits to recognizing [[spoiler: her]] from depictions in documentaries, but says he [[spoiler: [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved thought her hair]] [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller would be shorter]].]] |
| 52 | ** After the events of the above, Cortana decides to [[spoiler:update her appearance with longer hair, a dress and [[PinkMeansFeminine the color pink]], but the Chief is so dumbstruck by it that she said that she'll revert to her previous appearance when they're alone.]] |
| 53 | * ArtisticLicenseBiology: |
| 54 | ** The story claims that Mgalekgolo (Hunters) eat dextro-amino acid based food, like the Turians and Quarians. As revealed in the book "Contact Harvest," they eat rocks and metals. |
| 55 | *** The author later handwaved this by saying that while they can eat rocks and metals, they also won't swell up and die if they were to consume dextro biological matter. |
| 56 | ** In-story, this is part of the reason several characters don't believe Master Chief really is ''the'' Master Chief. Cryogenics aren't supposed to be able to keep someone alive that long. |
| 57 | * AscendedFanboy: |
| 58 | ** Ashley Williams, who studied Spartan maneuvers, tactics, read the stories, and even watched the cartoon show... and now fights alongside her idol. |
| 59 | ** N'tho is an AscendedFanboy of the Chief's, but to a much lesser extent than Ashley. |
| 60 | * AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Wrex teaches this aspect of Krogan culture to N'tho, via headbutt during the battle against the Thorian, after N'tho had been particularly mouthy to him. |
| 61 | %%* AuthorAppeal: "So yeah. I just invented [[spoiler: Mgalekgolo Vanguards]]. Why? [[RuleOfCool Fuck you, that's why]]." |
| 62 | * BadassNormal: According to Tali, Kal'Reegar came back from his Pilgrimage with a suit full of injuries and a gravity hammer. His answer to the obvious question ("How did Kal'Reegar get it?") was simply, "It wasn't easy." |
| 63 | %%* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: How Miranda finally manages to beat the Arbiter, though she was doing pretty well before that.]] |
| 64 | %%* BerserkButton: John [[TranquilFury doesn't appreciate]] Saren [[spoiler:calling him by his real name]]. |
| 65 | %%* BewareTheNiceOnes: Invoked with Tali in chapter 14 (aptly titled "Scary Suit Lady") |
| 66 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: A minor example, but Ashley is stunned when N'tho reveals that not only is one of his brothers the result of someone who ''isn't'' N'tho's father having slept with his mother, but that N'tho's father is ''proud'' to have let that Sangheli bed his wife. N'tho explains that the stranger was a swordsman, and that while they aren't allowed to be married, they are allowed to bed many females in order to pass on their swordsman genes. It's considered an honor to raise a swordsman child in Sangheli culture. |
| 67 | * BodyHorror: One chapter has an Asari merc get infected by the Flood. Her bodily transformation is told to the reader from ''her'' point of view, no less. |
| 68 | * BondOneLiner: Not even the Chief is immune to dropping these every once in a while. |
| 69 | -->'''Master Chief:''' This time, stay dead. |
| 70 | * BoredomMontage: Chapter 10, ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Bored, Bored, Bored]]'' covers John's attempts to kill time during the three day journey from the Citadel to Therum. |
| 71 | * BornLucky: The Master Chief, naturally. He's as lucky as in fights as he ever was, and that luck translates to poker games as well. |
| 72 | * BringMyBrownPants: [[spoiler: Chief's motions to... [[ShutUpHannibal inter]][[PistolWhipping rupt]] Ethan Jeong's rant resulted in "a wet stain appearing in his groin area." After knocking him out, of course.]] |
| 73 | * BrokenPedestal: |
| 74 | ** Khalisah al-Jilani tries to paint the Chief as this after he blows off her interview. Hackett is displeased with both of them and warns Chief that the fight for Feros is going to have to be a vital PR boon for the Spartan. |
| 75 | ** Minor example, but the [[FantasticRacism Terra Firma party]] view the Master Chief as the paragon of humanity. When they hear how he's been accepting non-humans onto the ''Normandy'', they aren't to pleased. [[EveryoneHasStandards Not that Master Chief cares what they think.]] |
| 76 | ** Another minor example for Kaidan, where he views how the Chief is going to coldly execute biotic terrorists by pumping all the air out of their ship, where he's reminded that while the SPARTAN-II program ''did'' save the human race from the Covenant, at the same time they were ''originally'' for suppressing ''human'' rebellions against the UNSC. |
| 77 | * ButHeSoundsHandsome: While under an alias, the Chief ends up arguing with Charles Saraccino, the head of the Terra Firma Party, over whether the Chief was justified in bringing non-humans aboard the ''Normandy''. |
| 78 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: N'tho 'Sraom is a competent, badass, (if wet behind the ears) [[EliteMooks Special Ops soldier]] and you can be forgiven for [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass thinking otherwise]]. |
| 79 | ** He's also written several thesis papers about alien cultures, and is writing ''another'' on the ''Normandy'' comparing the writings of a famous asari matriarch with his own culture. |
| 80 | * [[CasualDangerDialogue Casual Danger Monologue]]: N'tho talks to Tali about a rock n' roll variant of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCoUj3kSwrc Rocky Road to Dublin]] and a lesson about the historical context behind it. Tali, however, is too busy clinging on for dear life as N'tho [[DrivesLikeCrazy drives]] down a Prothean skyway teeming with geth and Krogan. |
| 81 | * CharacterDevelopment: Master Chief's suspicions about both the former Covenant and "new" races slowly but perceptibly erodes over the course of the story. |
| 82 | * ChekhovsGun: The Forerunner Relic the Asari Consort gives to the Master Chief [[spoiler: turns out to be a key that lets The Spartan's team access The Registry two story arcs later]]. |
| 83 | ** The armor that Chief gained from an unknown benefactor hinted at [[spoiler: the existence of other Spartans being active, a possibility reinforced by sightings of the Ghost of Elysium.]] |
| 84 | * CloudCuckooLander: N'tho. He shifts from being an utter newbie on the field of battle to singing random human songs in fights to acting like a fanboy of the Master Chief. |
| 85 | * CoDragons: [[spoiler: Miranda and Kai Leng to the Illusive Man.]] |
| 86 | * CombatPragmatist: Ustrina [[spoiler: the AI]] pulls out all the stops against Chief and his team, including: [[spoiler: rigging omni-tools with deadman triggers to prevent hacking, installing cyanide gas tanks throughout the ship, cutting off the team's communications, and even simply holds off Cortana by choosing to erect powerful firewalls around her rather than face her directly.]] |
| 87 | * ComfortFood: It turns out Chief has a taste for seafood, especially baked clams, thanks to memories of a certain training mission talked about in Literature/HaloFirstStrike. As such, when Ashley treats him to lunch his first suggestion is seafood, and he immediately goes for the clams when he finds them, basking in the nostalgia in wake of all his recent stress and uncertainty. |
| 88 | ** After the revelations and stress and broken pedistals of Eletania, N'tho is found with a pile of burritos. Apparently, Sangheli love burritos- their tube shape and their mouths work well together. |
| 89 | * ContrastingSequelAntagonist: A twofer. |
| 90 | ** Saren to The Prophet of Truth. Both villains lead armies of religious fanatics whilst nursing a hatred of humanity and a penchant for lying. However, Truth was a NonActionBigBad and a DirtyCoward who simply threw waves of Covenant at The Chief and fled him. Saren, on the other hand, is [[RankScalesWithAsskicking more than capable of throwing down with The Chief in a one-on-one fight]]. Also, despite his campaign of genocide, Truth was a rather distant figure as far as The Chief is concerned, while Saren [[TheGadfly does everything he can]] [[ItsPersonal to get under John's skin]]. |
| 91 | ** The Reapers and The Flood. Both are galaxy-killing races of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] whom the [[BenevolentPrecursors Benevolent-but-not-really Precursors]] tried and failed to stop before being driven extinct. However, The Flood were distinctly organic (albeit capable of interfacing with synthetic beings and systems) while The Reapers are synthetic beings with organic foundations. Furthermore, The Gravemind is a [[LargeHam poetic, emotional and bombastic being]] while [[ColdHam Sovereign is cold, emotionless, and plain-spoken]]. |
| 92 | * CorruptCorporateExecutive: Nassana Dantius, who tricks the Master Chief into murdering her sister, then pays him for it. |
| 93 | * CovertPervert: |
| 94 | ** Cortana spoiler: when she watches an [[Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike Old Spice]] commercial with a shirtless Sangheili in it. |
| 95 | ** In chapter 35, she [[spoiler: compliments Garrus on his "magnificent ass."]] |
| 96 | ** Kaidan does some "art appreciation" from time to time. |
| 97 | * CrazyPrepared: |
| 98 | ** The Chief spends much of his conversations with Nihlus sizing him up and figuring out the best ways to hypothetically kill him (or other Turians, for that matter) ''just in case.'' |
| 99 | ** Wrex. He always seems to have something for the occasion. Of particular note is [[spoiler: a T-Pack custom-fitted for Krogan use... which comes in handy when the team boards the ''SSV Ontario'' to defuse the L2 hostage situation.]] He brought it as an ''afterthought.'' |
| 100 | * CutOffTheHeadAndTheBodyDies: Averted from a heroic standpoint. The Normandy and her crew, especially Chief's team, is perfectly capable of handling themselves if contact with the Chief is ever lost. |
| 101 | * DeadFic: [[http://dinojakeswordworks.tumblr.com/post/130006500422/update Officially confirmed by the writer]]. Although after a year and a half long hiatus, it updated in 2017. Time will tell if this will stick though. |
| 102 | ** Confirmed dead on May 2nd, 2018. |
| 103 | * DeadpanSnarker: ''Saren'' of all people has a few moments. |
| 104 | * {{Deconstruction}}: |
| 105 | ** While the Master Chief is a good soldier, he's not Shepard. He's not Paragon, he's not Renegade. He doesn't know how to deal with people. In chapter 37, he openly admits that he feels that the Council made a massive mistake choosing him as a Spectre. In short, while he's completely awesome in many ways, the ability to rip out a charging Jirlhanae's spine doesn't necessarily translate well to being able to deal with politicians, or former enemies. Shepard (in the games) was able to walk that line- he knew the galaxy well. For Chief, it was just last week that the same unggoy that sells him his grenades with a half-off discount for saving the galaxy... was charging at him insanely, screaming oaths to his god with two plasma grenades primed, ready to sell his life to stop "the Demon." |
| 106 | *** [[FridgeBrilliance It's like watching a gamer who's played FPS games all his life try to play an RPG for the first time.]] |
| 107 | ** The "ProudWarriorRaceGuy" attitude is deconstructed as well. At least one member of the political party "Slip To The Future," says that they believe that the ''Kig-Yar'' (Jackals) will likely have the next council seat after the humans get a seat, instead of the Sangheli. While the Sangheli are prominent leaders and proud warriors (especially in the Halo Games proper), they focus a ''lot'' of their energy on their military... and don't place nearly enough on other pursuits. On the other hand, the Jackals, while weaker than the Sangheli, still have a military that is strong for its size, and a booming economy, which would be far more advantageous to the Council. |
| 108 | *** Further deconstructed when N'Tho mentions that part of what the Sangheili had to re-learn after breaking from the Covenant was ''agriculture, plumbing and building and maintaining infrastructure'' and how they were so focused on being the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race]] that their society was essentially non-functional without the Unggoy and other species supporting their society. |
| 109 | * DefrostingIceQueen: Master Chief to the Normandy crew, before his KickTheDog moments start coming and then he freezes solid again. He starts thawing out again after a bit of soul-searching. |
| 110 | * DegradedBoss: Cortana lampshades how fighting Geth juggernauts used to be hard. |
| 111 | * DisastrousDemonstration: The first Turian slipspace-capable ship (which the Alliance helped construct) was lost in an effort by the Alliance to validate slipspace as a viable form of FTL travel, [[AuthorsSavingThrow explaining why slipspace is illegal.]] [[spoiler: It is later revealed that the ship was deliberately sabotaged.]] |
| 112 | * DistractedByTheSexy: At one point, the Master Chief is riding an aircar whose screen is playing an ad starring an Elite as Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike. He tells Cortana to [[{{Squick}} shut it off]], but she's not listening to him. |
| 113 | -->'''Chief''': I don't even want to know. |
| 114 | -->'''Cortana''': In my defense, that elite was ''ripped''. |
| 115 | * DontYouDarePityMe: Tali has this as a pretty strong character trait. She gets angry at the Chief (not letting him explain himself) when he notes that the chief engineer shouldn't have given her the access code for the ship's accounts (thinking that she's a civilian and those are military resources) and accuses him of not trusting her because she's a Quarian. It does drive her to prove herself to be worthy of the Ground Team, and absolutely ''refuses'' to take any aid from Cortana after TheReveal. |
| 116 | * TheDragon: Benezia to Saren of course. And Saren to Sovereign, obviously. |
| 117 | * DramaticGunCock: Chief does with a shotgun in Chapter 5. |
| 118 | -->'''Chief:''' Don't worry. *shotgun pump* This wouldn't be the first time I stopped the Darkness of Eternity. |
| 119 | * DramaticIrony: This line: |
| 120 | --> '''Nihlus:''' Not the most glamorous assignment I've ever had. But no less important than any other I've been given. Besides, I've learned a long time ago that you never know when a boring assignment might turn interesting. |
| 121 | ** Oddly clairvoyant, if you've played [[DoomedByCanon Mass Effect 1]]. [[spoiler: He still dies]] |
| 122 | * DrivesLikeCrazy: The Chief. N'tho is a lesser example, but he still makes his passengers plead for their lives. |
| 123 | * {{Droit du Seigneur}}: one of N'thos siblings was sired by a wandering swordsman; who are not allowed to marry but are instead expected to sow their oats far and wide. A rare example of everyone being on-board with the idea; it's a great honour to bear and/or raise a swordsman's child. |
| 124 | * EarlybirdCameo: |
| 125 | ** Although it's only in mention and not presence, The Councilors mention assigning [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 Jondum Bau]] [[spoiler: to search for Halo]] in Chapter 32. |
| 126 | ** He makes a proper appearance at the end of Chapter 33, [[spoiler: and so does Miranda, who has a rivalry with The Arbiter]]. |
| 127 | ** [[spoiler:The Illusive Man, Kai Leng, and Diana Allers (not in that order, nor, in the latter's case, during the same scene) all show up in Chapter 34.]] |
| 128 | * EnemyMine: [[spoiler: Miranda suggests this to the Arbiter and the Illusive Man concerning an alliance with the Elites against the Reapers, but is rejected by both.]] |
| 129 | * TheEngineer: Tali obviously qualifies, with [[MagicKnight Chief becoming a surprising addition]] with his new drone and support courtesy of his new armor. |
| 130 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: Even with AdaptationalVillainy Miranda is still disgusted by [[AxCrazy Kai]] [[PsychoForHire Leng]]]] |
| 131 | * EvilLawyerJoke: Apparently many Kig-Yar have become lawyers. |
| 132 | * ExactWords: |
| 133 | ** "I can categorically say no, the place did not explode." Chief, in chapter 31. [[spoiler: the Forerunner facility self-destructs by sucking everything into slipspace, similar to the method used to destroy the ''Long Night of Solace'' supercarrier in Halo Reach. That, if anything, was an ''im''plosion, where it collapses in on itself.]] |
| 134 | ** And again when N'tho, Kaiden, and Chief are discussing Chief's love life (or lack thereof): |
| 135 | -->'''John''': "Whatever happened to 'didn't want to pry into my personal life behind my back?'" |
| 136 | -->'''N'tho''': "I'm not prying into your personal life behind your back, I'm doing it right in front of you." |
| 137 | ** When Jondam Bau requests the aid of the Arbiter, he specifies that they should only take ''one'' ship to search for Halo. The Arbiter responds by indeed only taking one ship. The type of ship, however, is the same class of supercarrier that was used in Halo: Reach, namely, a ''twenty-seven kilometer long supercarrier'' which has enough soldiers and firepower to subjugate an entire planet, and is roughly three-quarters the size of the Citadel. |
| 138 | * FanGirl / {{Fanboy}}: |
| 139 | ** Ashley and Jenkins towards the Master Chief, his historic influence being part of their inspiration to join the Alliance military. |
| 140 | ** [[spoiler: The Biotic Terrorist Leader]] immediately surrenders after seeing the Master Chief in person, he and his followers having seen him as a hero as well. It helps that at Kaidan's suggestion, Chief attempted to negotiate with them instead of depressurizing their ship and suffocating them as initially planned. |
| 141 | * FantasticRacism: Plenty to go around of course. [[NobleBigot Master Chief himself has this problem]] [[CharacterDevelopment initially,]] but it's justifiable, seeing as how before he was frozen, all aliens wanted to destroy his entire species. Initially, the only reason he took aliens with him was because they were useful, and was planning on getting rid of them at the first opportunity, simply because they weren't human. |
| 142 | ** Ironically, Kaiden uses Chief's chewing out of Tali (after she used ship funds to get parts for the ''Normandy'') and N'tho (after the incident with the Thresher Maw) to show how the Chief may have been yelling at aliens, but he wasn't being ''racist.'' Specifically, he was chewing out two members of his crew that made mistakes (Tali for not clearing the purchases with him, N'tho for being an idiot), not because they were a Quarian and a Sangheli. |
| 143 | * FantasticSlur: The former Covenant races regard their old nicknames as this and it's considered politically incorrect to refer to them as such. "Squidhead" doubles as NWordPrivileges for young elites. |
| 144 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: After destroying a geth transmitter in the tunnels under Zhu's Hope, Wrex discovers that the three Krogan they killed to get to it were all adolescents, something he points out to the Chief is [[DepopulationBomb very unlikely]]. |
| 145 | * ForWantOfANail: Because [[spoiler: the Monster of Torfan]] killed all the Batarians long before his unit showed up, Major Kyle was never traumatized by the loss of his men, and never became a cult leader. |
| 146 | ** InSpiteOfANail: Instead, he becomes a catholic priest and winds up being called "Father Kyle" anyway. |
| 147 | * FourIsDeath: |
| 148 | ** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]], Wrex mentions that four is considered a lucky number...[[DeathWorld on Tuchanka]]. |
| 149 | ** Garrus plays it slightly straighter, four is simply unlucky to turians. He offers to trade his call sign (Blue Four) with Wrex, but gets shot down by the Chief. |
| 150 | * GasLeakCoverup: |
| 151 | ** Halo's ability to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy all sentient life in the galaxy]] has been dismissed as a conspiracy theory. The Chief, understanding the panic this could cause, goes along with it when N'tho asks. |
| 152 | ** [[spoiler: The Councilors, however, admit to having been briefed on Halo's true purpose shortly after First Contact and take it seriously enough to send a Spectre looking for it once The Chief discovers Saren wants it]]. |
| 153 | * GilliganCut: The Author loves to prove how wrong the characters are. |
| 154 | * GoodCounterpart: "Slip to the Future" is this for the Terra Firma party. It's an inclusive party comprised of many non-humans that nonetheless advocates Slipspace technology, an FTL technology (and humanity's primary method of FTL travel pre-Citadel) that the Council has banned. Mostly the same agenda, but none of the FantasticRacism. They even advocate that humans should get a council seat, although this is merely a means to an end- if humanity gains a seat on the Council, it'll mean that the vote in favor of slipspace on the council will be tied, rather than 2-1 against as it was previously. It's why they're also campaigning for Kig-Yar and Sangheli council seats, since if ''those'' races get a seat, they'd have enough votes to get overturned. This shows a far more long-sighted attitude than Terra Firma, who care about little other than humanity. |
| 155 | * GrievousHarmWithABody: While fighting Geth inside the Therum excavation site, The Chief picks up a freshly killed Geth Juggernaut and starts running, using it as both a shield and battering ram to knock over other Geth. |
| 156 | [[/folder]] |
| 157 | |
| 158 | [[folder: H-R]] |
| 159 | * HannibalLecture: |
| 160 | ** Though just as emotionless as ever, the geth runtimes Cortana holds hostage and tries to interrogate [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech remind]] her of her mortality as a smart AI made from flash-cloned brain tissue and her organic shortcomings. She's able to maintain her composure before destroying them, but it leaves her quite rattled. |
| 161 | ** In Chapter 30, Saren gives a caustic review of Master Chief's leadership skills, pointing out how many Marines died at his side despite seeing him as a MessianicArchetype and ''especially'' how a sizable number of Spartans died under his command. You'd think this would be [[BullyingADragon suicide]] when it does [[BerserkButton work]]. Instead, Saren nearly [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomps]] the Chief when he chooses blind rage over his normally clinical tactics. |
| 162 | ** The effect of the Hannibal Lecture is somewhat lessened when you've read enough of the EU to know that ''very few'' Spartans have died under the Chief's command. Most of them died under Fred's command. |
| 163 | * [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday Have I Mentioned That I Hate Synthetic Life Today]]: Ever since Cortana was revealed, Tali has been hit with this hard. Any attempt at Cortana trying to form any sort of bond with Tali is viewed with extreme suspicion, and she will frequently take any slight sign of betrayal as proof that the AI ''specifically designed'' to protect mankind, with a proven track record of doing so, is about to kill them all. |
| 164 | * HeelRealization: Master Chief has something of one in regards to his being a {{Jerkass}} in Chapter 32. |
| 165 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: [[spoiler: The Arbiter]] has been [[spoiler: investigating Cerberus]] for at least a month before The Chief's miraculous discovery and even performed several in-game sidequests related to them. |
| 166 | * HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: The Sangheli way of dealing with teenagers apparently involves sending them off to fight battles for the empire, figuring that a few near-death experiences will make them less uppity. |
| 167 | * HeroesPreferSwords: Invoked with the Arbiter, [[spoiler: but also lampshaded and deconstructed by Miranda when she uses it to her advantage in her fight against him.]] |
| 168 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Garrus kills Dr. Saleon by locking him in a test chamber with one of the Flood infection forms he was experimenting on]]. |
| 169 | * HiddenDepths: N'tho 'Sraom: Ascended Fanboy of the Master Chief, irreverent mid-battle singer, conspiracy theorist ([[TheCuckoolanderWasRight of sorts]])...and WarriorPoet (knowing human poetry--in N'tho's case, Shakespeare--is practically mandatory if you want to call yourself a [[{{Otaku}} Squidhead]] with a straight face). He's also written several thesis papers about alien cultures, and is able to hold a relatively sophisticated conversation about the sociological ramifications of the end of the Human-Covenant War, how it affected his species, and similar parallels in other races. |
| 170 | * HypocriticalHumor: After The Chief is captured [[spoiler: by Dr. Saleon]], a turian guard [[IdiotBall falls for]] The Master Chief's "pretending to be passed out in jail" trick and gets close enough for him to drop the guy to the floor and snap his neck. The Chief then reads an email on the guad's omni-tool where he called a ''coworker'' a moron for wanting to try on the Spartan's armor. |
| 171 | * IdiotHero: N'tho. [[LampshadeHanging He's also explicitly called an idiot a couple times.]] |
| 172 | ** Interestingly, also averted. He might not be too smart on the battlefield, but it's also clear that he's plenty smart in other ways. For example, he's working on an essay comparing asari writings to his own culture. |
| 173 | * TheIlluminati: Subverted. [[spoiler: As per Halo canon, The Assembly helps guide humanity, but doesn't seek to rule them.]] |
| 174 | * ImStandingRightHere: Chief says this to Wrex in Chapter 14, when Wrex says he could beat him in a fight. |
| 175 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: [[spoiler: The Guardian on Eletania]] "helpfully" warns Wrex that he's suffering genetic corruption because of the genophage and should probably seek medical help or be unable to breed. |
| 176 | * InsistentTerminology: Tali refers to [[spoiler: Cortana as 'it' instead of 'she' once she learns she's an AI]]. |
| 177 | * TheInternetIsForPorn: Cortana mentions porn repeatedly in her descriptions of what could be found on the extranet. |
| 178 | * InterserviceRivalry: [[spoiler: Between the Illusive Man's CoDragons [[EvenEvilHasStandards Miranda]] and [[AxCrazy Kai]] [[PsychoForHire Leng]]]]. |
| 179 | * JerkAss: |
| 180 | ** Chief is starting to show a very socially-aggressive side. His treatment of the Normandy crew is becoming increasingly cruel, even by his standards. See [[KickTheDog Kick the Dog]] entry below. He seems to be realizing this as of Chapter 32. |
| 181 | ** Ethan Jeong is still one. As is Saren |
| 182 | ** [[spoiler: Miranda and Kai Leng]] |
| 183 | * JumpedAtTheCall: N'tho in spades. |
| 184 | * KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Played with. With the inclusion of all sorts of Halo weapons technology, which include lasers and plasma, there are ongoing debates InUniverse over which style of weapons are better. |
| 185 | * KnightTemplar: Saren and Cerberus as always. [[spoiler: Notably this version of Miranda [[AdaptationalVillainy is even more of one here than in the actual game]]]] |
| 186 | ** Master Chief himself becomes a mild case of this thanks to his KickTheDog moments. |
| 187 | * LampshadeHanging: All. The. Time. The big twist of the Halo games plot is [[AffectionateParody criticized repeatedly as being like "something out of a bad video game"]] |
| 188 | * LastOfHisKind: Hell, it's right in the title. And [[spoiler: even if he isn't, he's still the last of the SPARTAN-II soldiers]]. |
| 189 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: N'tho tells Kaidan how it almost felt like it took 4 months for the Normandy to land on Noveria despite it only being a few days since their last mission, referring to the author [[ScheduleSlip taking that long to update from the last chapter.]] |
| 190 | * LoveDodecahedron: |
| 191 | ** N'tho speculates one is afoot with the Chief at its center, pointing out rumors that the Chief is dating either Liara or Ashley, speculating that Kaidan may have a crush on him, and that even Tali might see something in him. [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend The Chief and Kaidan insist otherwise]]. |
| 192 | ** Although Kaidan has admitted to "Admiring" the Chief from time to time, but says that it's purely from an artistic standpoint. |
| 193 | ** N'tho, as revealed in the same section, has read ''several'' articles on how quarian reproduction works... |
| 194 | * MagicKnight: We have [[spoiler: Vanguard Hunters]] in Chapter 33. Huge dudes, massively honorable, decked out in full-body armor plating, and with the ability to utilize biotics, they definitely count. |
| 195 | * MeaningfulName: "Ustrina" is the ancient Roman name for the site of a funeral pyre. [[spoiler: An AI of the same name tries to kill The Chief's ground team by activating a SelfDestructSequence on board the ship they're on. Before that, she helped Horridus program a nuclear bomb and several trap mechanisms to fool Cortana into getting The Chief's team killed. Furthermore, her avatar is wreathed in flames]]. |
| 196 | * TheMole: [[spoiler: Cortana winds up becoming one of these for the Assembly, much to her chagrin.]] |
| 197 | %%* MoralityPet[=/=]MoralityChain: Cortana tries to be both to Master Chief, but he still gets some nasty KickTheDog moments. |
| 198 | * MundaneUtility: A Yanma'e (drone) is seen using her flight powers... to deliver pizza. |
| 199 | * MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Chief meets an entire political movement of these, the "Slip to the Future" party. They're a salarian-founded group with many non-human members advocating lifting bans on Slipspace technology, which is a solely human invention. |
| 200 | ** For the Salarians, it's less of this, since their government voted ''against'' the Slipspace ban, but were outvoted by the Asari and Turians. Any Asari or Turian members are a straighter examples of this. |
| 201 | * MythologyGag: |
| 202 | ** The Chief hates riding in elevators, [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 they take too long]]. |
| 203 | ** While on the Citadel (and Reach) several squad members partake in activities that normally, Shepard takes care of as sidequests, such as scanning Keepers, investigating a murder threat, getting an undercover cop out of Chora's Den, and so on. |
| 204 | ** A lot of characters have similar thoughts about elevators throughout the entire series. |
| 205 | ** The LoveDodecahedron mentioned up above has Chief's possible romantic interests include Liara and Ashley as the prime contenders, with Tali as a possible one, and Kaidan as another possible LI. Liara and Ashley were the romantic interests for Male Shepard in the first Mass Effect game, Tali is one of the most popular choices for romancing in the second Mass Effect game, and Kaidan is a love interest for the ''third'' game. |
| 206 | ** The name of Spartan B-312 (Noble Six) is the same as the name for the default Female Shepard (Jane). |
| 207 | ** Spartan 051, Kurt, is described as having many of Male Shepard's characteristics, including the infamous trait of saying "I should go." |
| 208 | ** ODST [[spoiler: Vanderloo]] suggests that Chief punch al-Jilani if she tries to interview him again, similar to how Shepard could in canon. [[spoiler: For the record, Mark Vanderloo is a real-world male model whose likeness was used for the appearance of the default male Shepard in the games]]. |
| 209 | * TheNeedsOfTheMany: The reason that the Assembly gives for [[spoiler: encouraging mankind to join the Citadel, giving up some fleet power, slipspace, and AI. While a war between Turians and the UNSC would ultimately lead to a human victory, it would also pull in the former Covenant allies and the other Citadel races. This would lead to decades or centuries of border wars against polities who have turned guerrilla warfare into an ''artform,'' costing countless lives.]] |
| 210 | * NegatedMomentOfAwesome: Invoked and deconstructed in Chapter 24, when the return trip down the Prothean skyway sees N'tho about to "challenge" a geth hovercraft to a race/ramming run. Tali cuts N'tho's attempt to ram it off the skyway short by [[JustShootHim firing a needler into its pilot]] and tells N'tho point blank that she didn't want him [[DrivesLikeCrazy to stoop to such antics]]. |
| 211 | * NeverFoundTheBody: N'tho mentions the [[Literature/HaloTheThursdayWar Sangheili insurrection against the Arbiter]] in Chapter 39, and how it ended with an orbital bombardment of Jul 'Mdama's last known location. 'Mdama was never found and presumed dead, but prolonged discussion about rumors of his survival all but hit you over the head with the probability that he will show up somewhere down the road. |
| 212 | * NobleBigot: Chief himself at the start of the story, on the basis that [[ScaryDogmaticAliens all the]] [[TheVirus aliens]] he's encountered before then [[EverythingTryingToKillYou have been trying to shoot him]]. Ashley of course also has shades of this, but after a conversation with some of the other crew members seems to mediate her views a little bit. |
| 213 | ** Tali is, for the most part, kind, friendly, and a good soldier willing to put herself in harm's way to save others... but when it comes to Cortana or other AI, she's not afraid to be the first one to point out that AI could turn on them, or that the Geth are responsible for her current situation. |
| 214 | * NobleBigotWithABadge: Master Chief also expresses discomfort at the idea of taking orders from aliens before and after becoming a Spectre. |
| 215 | * NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Captain Anderson mentions offhandedly that one of reasons no more Spartans have been made since the end of the Human-Covenant War was because all the data pertaining to their creation were destroyed with Castle Base during the events of ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike''. |
| 216 | * NoodleIncident: The Arbiter's fight with [[spoiler:Miranda]] in Chapter 33 is their third encounter during his [[spoiler: hunt for Cerberus]]. |
| 217 | ** Kal'Reegar came back from his pilgrimage covered in blood, badly injured, with a suit that was ripped to shreds, and carrying a Gravity Hammer. When asked how he ''got'' said hammer, he simply responded "It wasn't easy." |
| 218 | ** Wrex got into some trouble on the planet Sanves once and had to biotically manipulate a corpse to get out of it. |
| 219 | * NotHisSled: |
| 220 | ** [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice Fai Dan]] is lucky that the Chief has such good aim]]. |
| 221 | ** [[spoiler:The ruins on Eletania aren't of Prothean origin. They're Forerunner, and they're ''way'' bigger than a random sphere that floats around.]] |
| 222 | ** [[spoiler:Parasini isn't with Noveria Internal Affairs. She's an undercover ONI agent.]] |
| 223 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: After reaching the ExoGeni building and clearing it of Geth, the Chief muses on how much his otherwise rag-tag party has in common with his wartime squadmates. |
| 224 | * NotSoStoic: |
| 225 | ** When they argue about whether or not to reveal Cortana's continued existence to the crew in Chapter 26, the Chief loses his infamously laconic composure and tells Garrus that Cortana is all he has left. One of his lines even has an exclamation point! |
| 226 | ** He also give N'tho a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how the Elites view the Forerunners when [[spoiler:N'tho wants to stay in the Registry]]. |
| 227 | * NothingIsScarier: For the first third or so of Chapter 45, Peak 15 is silent and empty, making the team nervous and wary. |
| 228 | * NWordPrivileges: "Squidhead," a FantasticSlur from the Halo era, has since been adopted by a Sangheili youth counterculture as a badge of pride. |
| 229 | * ObfuscatingStupidity: |
| 230 | ** Cortana pretends to be a VI when Garrus examines her storage chip on his Omni-tool. [[spoiler: He eventually sees right through it, having seen enough documentaries on the Human-Covenant War to put two and two together]]. |
| 231 | ** She tries again at a later chapter on [[spoiler:the whole team]]. Let's just say [[spoiler:the bluff failed not even 5 minutes in; It is a VERY bad idea to do so in front of someone who's race's [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] is "[=AIs=]."]] |
| 232 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: While initially friendly towards the Master Chief due to his role in destroying the Covenant's hold over the Kig-Yar, Administrator Chok still blocks Chief's desire to head up to Peak 15 during the Noveria mission. |
| 233 | * OfCorpseHesAlive: Chief's team uses a dead brute to fool a dropship pilot. |
| 234 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The Chief gets one in chapter 41. Just before the narrative cuts over to his crew, he's being tossed around like a ragdoll by a biotic Jiralhanae Chieftain (naturally). When his crew later reaches his location, they simply find him standing over the chieftain's corpse cleaning blood off his knife. |
| 235 | * OhCrap: [[spoiler: Dr. Saleon has frozen samples of The Flood in his lab on The Citadel]]. |
| 236 | * OldSoldier: Averted with Master Chief, who is the same age as he was in Halo 3 [[HumanPopsicle despite]] chronologically being 172 years old. Played straight with [[spoiler: The Arbiter.]] |
| 237 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Used in an interesting way. The Arbiter, while on route to a mission, notes how ''strange'' the Sangheli are behaving with their squads of Unggoy compared to how they would act in the original trilogy (where the Unggoy were little more than slaves). He specifically spots one Sangheli acting as a DrillSergeantNasty to his Unggoy, but doing it in a humorous way (rather than just beating them or demanding that they do something), and another playing poker with his squad (and actually ''losing'' to one of his underlings). |
| 238 | * PardonMyKlingon: "Wort wort wort" is a well known MemeticMutation in the Halo franchise. The way N'tho uses the word in the story implies that it is actually Sangheili curse word. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq1FsQbWEQM It makes sense in that context.]] |
| 239 | * PayEvilUntoEvil: |
| 240 | ** [[spoiler: How Garrus chooses to deal with Doctor Saelon. [[LampshadeHanging He even refers to it as "poetic justice"]]]] |
| 241 | ** [[spoiler: Miranda also seems to have this mentality, believing that it's okay to perform unethical experiments on people if they're violent criminals that no one will miss.]] |
| 242 | * PercussiveMaintenance: Inverted. [[spoiler: Wrex smashes one of the nuke's hard points just in time to stop the detonation.]] He then refers to this trope as "Krogan Engineering." |
| 243 | * PetTheDog: Once he has some time to think about it and cool down, Chief starts making up for all his KickTheDog moments, starting with giving Tali information on Slipspace technology for her pilgrimage. |
| 244 | * PlanetOfHats: |
| 245 | ** In true Franchise/MassEffect fashion, these hats come off quite often, and with the Covenant races to boot. Most prominent is N'tho, a Sangheili Spec Ops warrior who acts unusually informal and awesome compared to the Elites we've seen in Halo canon. Likewise, while the few other hats have come off prominently, Kig-Yar, the GoddamnedBats of the Halo franchise, have settled into more benign mercantile professions...such as [[EvilLawyerJoke lawyers]]. |
| 246 | ** When Chief first gets to the Presidium, he notices a Drone/Bugger/Yanme'e flying through the air... delivering pizza with an advertisement for her workplace draped over her. |
| 247 | ** The party "Slip to the Future" reveals that this trope is the reason they're hoping for the Kig'yar to be the next Council Race after humanity- while the Sangheli are stronger militarily, their hat is being strong warriors... and ''only'' strong warriors. They're still overcoming millenia of being warriors exclusively, and trying to catch up on how to take care of themselves. |
| 248 | ** When Ashley calls Wrex out for not identifying the Rachnai on Noveria, saying that the Krogan were the ones to wipe them out, Wrex turns it back on her by saying that while, yes, they did, it was ''two thousand years ago,'' and Krogan written records aren't all that impressive to begin with, so he had no idea what they looked like other than "Bugs," helpfully inverting a few of the Warrior Race tropes. |
| 249 | ** Chief tries to hide the fact that Cortana managed to hack the Geth at Feros. Unfortunately for him, his teammate is a Quarian, whose Hat is both Technology and [=AI's=], so she's immediately suspicious when he claims ''he'' hacked the Geth. |
| 250 | ** Brutes are cannibalistic, huge, berserk monsters. One does not expect one to have a Quarian fetish, nor to have a friend tell him point blank that "You need help." |
| 251 | * PoliticallyIncorrectHero: |
| 252 | ** Chief is ''mostly'' professional enough to not let it get in the way, but coming fresh out of the Human-Covenant War (when the rest of humanity has had over a century to bury the hatchet) means that his opinions lean somewhat xenophobic by galactic standards, towards aliens in general but especially the former Covenant species. In particular, he has the habit of referring to the latter by their old marine-given nicknames, which is very much not the preferred nomenclature anymore. |
| 253 | ** Possibly The Arbiter. He doesn't approve of Kaidon Tyrannai's training Vorcha to be proper soldiers, but it's unclear if it's because of FantasticRacism or a more pragmatic reason. |
| 254 | * PragmaticVillainy: [[spoiler: Miranda, in contrast to the more AxCrazy Kai Leng]] |
| 255 | * RammingAlwaysWorks: |
| 256 | ** While driving the Mako across Therum, the Chief follows an old rule in vehicle combat from the previous games: "Don't brake for nobody." |
| 257 | ** It's partly for this reason (among many, ''many'' other reasons) that Tali forbids N'tho from ever driving anything ever again. |
| 258 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[KickTheDog Chief gives N'tho a scathing one about the Elites in Chapter 29]]: |
| 259 | -->'''Master Chief''': The Forerunners are not gods. They did not ascend to a higher plane of existence. They were wiped out by the Flood. They didn't want you worshiping them or the broken toys they left lying around, and they sure as hell didn't think your species was somehow unique from the others. You know how the Forerunners really saw your species? You know what they really saw when they looked at you split-jaws a hundred thousand years ago? They didn't see the beginnings of a noble race of warriors. They saw a race of savages who were still trying to get the hang of making fire, and didn't stand a chance against the Flood. They didn't ennoble you with some kind of divine destiny. They took pity on you. Now, we're on a high-profile mission to track down a rogue Spectre and bring him to justice, which means we don't have time to entertain an ancient squidhead ''fairy tale''. Are we clear on that? |
| 260 | * {{Retcon}}: There was a period of time when the author couldn't decide how to mingle the two timelines together. At first, the Halo verse was bumped up a few centuries, with the story taking place in [=ME=] time. Then the story was in 2683, for no reason. Then bumped to earlier, with the author justifying it by pointing out how the technology present in Halo would be more along the 2100's. Then finally, it seemed to settle on 2683, because it would be impossible to colonize 800 planets in 70 years, and instead moved the Franchise/MassEffect universe up 500 years. |
| 261 | * TheRival[=/=]ArchEnemy: Saren to Master Chief and [[spoiler: Miranda and Arbiter with each other]] |
| 262 | * RunningGag: The Chief mentioning not knowing about something, and people asking where he's been in the last few years. Given that he was literally taken out of a ''freezer'' less than a year ago... |
| 263 | * RuleOfCool: Vanguard Hunters, according to the author's notes. Justified because it's a giant alien monster the size of a truck that decides that something over there ''really needs to die'', and then BAM, he's slamming into that something at unbelievable velocity. It's a terrifying combination. |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder: S-Z]] |
| 267 | * SabotageToDiscredit: [[spoiler: Chok and his mercenaries did this to the Turian slipspace ship to render slipspace technology illegal in Citadel Space, primarily for financial reasons. Specifically, if Slipspace Tech was banned in Council Space, then Noveria, which sets itself up as a world where Council Laws don't exist and all varieties of scientific research are welcome, then the only place that further Slipspace research could take place was on Noveria, lining his pockets.]] |
| 268 | * SamusIsAGirl: In Chapter 38, Noble Six is identified by the name Jane-B312. |
| 269 | * ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: A general ability of Spectres except with the Council, Chief uses the privilege to leave a star system earlier than ONI wanted him to. |
| 270 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: |
| 271 | ** Early on, a group of mercenaries surrender after their strongest combatants get killed to Chief and the Ground Team. Chief is confused, since no one has actually done that before. |
| 272 | ** A few of Doctor Saelon's mercenaries get the hell out of dodge when [[spoiler: the Arbiter]] shows up to rescue Chief, citing that the doctor doesn't pay them enough for that kind of risk. |
| 273 | ** Ustrina bails out after [[spoiler: Horridus is killed, but not without rigging the ship to explode on her way out.]] |
| 274 | ** Chief does this in the next chapter when [[spoiler: Vanderloo]] suggests that Chief is trying to find and sleep with [[spoiler: the Angel of Akuze.]] |
| 275 | * SeriousBusiness: |
| 276 | ** Meta example. The ''Jackal's beaks'' are this to the author, and according to him prompted him to refuse to recognize anything from Halo 4 (except the Prometheans) in his story. |
| 277 | ** It's not clear how serious he was with that statement, as weapons and vehicles (as well as characters) have had references made to them or actually appeared, including the Mantis mecha, the SAW (Squad Assault Weapon), and a Rail Gun. |
| 278 | * ShaggyDogStory: Possibly. The Arbiter spends Chapter 33 hunting [[spoiler: Cerberus]] on Omega and although he fails to download intel from any of their computers, [[spoiler: Miranda]] hands him a datapad (supposedly) containing information on The Reapers, Saren and the Geth. He immediately destroys it without even reading it, presuming to to be booby-trapped or at least bugged. [[spoiler: Correctly, as Miranda casually reveals in the next chapter.]] |
| 279 | * ShootTheMedicFirst: Chief's team is forced to destroy a drone that kept restoring the shields of a juggernaut before they can kill the large Geth. |
| 280 | * ShoutOut: |
| 281 | ** When a Brute is discovered among the pirate crew at Sharjila, the narrator muses on some of their more savage actions during [[Fanfic/EnemyOfMyEnemy The Battle of Crassus]]. |
| 282 | ** Ashley calls Tali her [[Franchise/StarWars "Dark Apprentice."]] Tali has no idea what she's talking about, claiming that they (the Migrant Fleet) didn't get many videos. |
| 283 | ** On the trip to Feros, Liara is skeptical of becoming TheMedic given how little time she has to learn. Ashley [[GallowsHumor reassures]] her that she doesn't have to learn enough to save lives but that her job is to [[WebAnimation/RedVsBlue make people feel more comfortable...while they die]]. |
| 284 | *** The next chapter has Cortana alter her appearance so anyone else who sees her won't think she's ''the'' Cortana. Among other changes, her avatar color is now pink. When a dumbstruck Chief [[CaptainObvious points this out]], Cortana replies that she thought it was "lightish red." |
| 285 | *** Furthermore, in the next chapter, Wrex calls Shotgun on the Warthog, and N'tho says "Shotgun! Wort!" |
| 286 | ** The premise itself: A badass OneManArmy SuperSoldier who got turned into a HumanPopsicle immediately after a pivotal war in human history wakes up to kick more ass in a world [[FishOutOfTemporalWater decades removed from his]]. [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Where have they done that before?]] |
| 287 | *** On a similar note, there is the fact that the story starts out with him being found by an unrelated party [[Film/{{Aliens}} aboard a derelict ship]], with his [[VideoGame/MassEffect next adventure]] being a GenreShift from [[Franchise/{{Halo}} from the previous one]]. |
| 288 | ** During a firefight on Feros, Wrex shouts "[[Franchise/MortalKombat Get over here!]]" when using a Biotic Pull on an enemy. |
| 289 | ** During the battle against the Thresher Maw, N'Tho yells a line "From Hells Heart I stab at thee, bitch!" This could either be a reference to ''Film/{{Star Trek II|The Wrath of Khan}}'' or to ''Literature/MobyDick'', which the line is originally from. |
| 290 | ** Chapter 33 is titled [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus And Now For Something Completely Different]]. |
| 291 | ** According to Ashley, Wrex enjoys going on [[WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged enthusiastic walks through the woods]]. |
| 292 | ** In chapter 25, when Garrus accidentally calls Ashley fat, he imitates [[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged Freeza]] unknowingly. |
| 293 | -->'''Garrus''': Oh look. That creeper died. And several more live ones are over there. Could we go deal with that? We'll continue this conversation never. |
| 294 | ** Chapter 36 has Tali visit a nightclub... which is a massive shout-out to the "Seige of Madrigal" Easter Egg from "Halo: Reach," including dancing unggoy and a jirlhanae DJ. |
| 295 | ** Chapter 37 is a ''massive'' shout-out to the Halo multiplayer community, and more importantly, to Rooster Teeth. Geoff and Jack are the commentators, and the "Achievement Hunter Rodeo Clowns," segment is another large shout-out to Rooster Teeth's infamous Lets Plays of Minecraft. It even includes the trophy for that game as one of the objectives (known in this story as "Pillar of Vitality," because "there are kids in the audience." (The real name for it is "The Tower of Pimps.")) |
| 296 | ** Chapter 38 has an ONI operative, "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart," clearly based on the character from ''Series/DoctorWho''. |
| 297 | ** When Chief is on his way back from visiting the SPARTAN memorial, he walks past a street musician who sings a song. The musician is based on Malukah, who has done music based on Halo and Mass Effect. The song in question is "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re32xnyYP3A Reignite,]]" which is based on the third Mass Effect game. |
| 298 | ** Chok likes to channel [[VideoGame/BioShock1 Andrew Ryan]] a lot, particularly when he gets arrested. |
| 299 | -->'''Chok''': [[spoiler: A MAN CHOOSES!!! A MACHINE OBEYS!!!]] |
| 300 | ** Mention is repeatedly made of the famous Sangheili flip music artist [[WebVideo/JesseCox Franken]][[Creator/TheCynicalBrit stein Joe]]. One of his hits is ''[[VideoGame/{{Terraria}} A Pile Of Dead Everything]]''. |
| 301 | ** Ashley mentions that there are biotball teams called the [[Franchise/DragonAge Gray Wardens and the Blood Mages]]. |
| 302 | * ShowWithinAShow: Apparently there is a licensed Master Chief children's cartoon, which Ashley watched as a kid. It only lasted one season, which Ashley attributes to [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory toon Chief's annoying Unggoy sidekick]]. |
| 303 | ** There's a sitcom called "My Life With Bipbap," about an Asari and her bondmate, an Unggoy named Bipbap. |
| 304 | * SmugSnake: Doctor Saelon, who faces Garrus with a smile on his face, certain that he won't get punished for the absolutely horrible things he's done, since he's a potential knowledge source on Saren and the Flood. This quickly ends when [[spoiler: Garrus shoves him in a room with an unthawed Flood Infection Form]]. |
| 305 | ** Kai Leng, and Miranda. Both Cerberus operatives, both highly effective. Miranda manages to outwit the Arbiter, confident in her ability to do so, and only fails because the Arbiter is too suspicious to accept her datapad (which was bugged anyway). Kai Leng is similar, except he's crazier. |
| 306 | * SophisticatedAsHell: N'tho, while fighting the Thresher Maw: |
| 307 | -->"[[Literature/MobyDick FROM HELL'S HEART, I STAB AT THEE,]] [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch BITCH!]]" |
| 308 | * SpaceJews: In addition to the Volus, any Kig-Yar who haven't gotten jobs in the military or piracy fall under this trope, having become shrewd businessmen and lawyers in the last century. Some Unggoy are said to fall under this trope as well, but the majority can be considered Space Mexicans, as they are a source of cheap labor. |
| 309 | * StartOfDarkness: Explicitly referred to as such in the author's notes for Chapter 19. When Garrus corners Dr. Saleon in his lab (after seeing footage of a turian being turned into a combat form and catching him over a dead Asari he did the same to), [[spoiler: he locks him in a testing chamber and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard lets a Flood Infection form loose in it]].]] |
| 310 | * StealthPun: |
| 311 | ** In chapter 10, the Chief comes across Garrus fiddling with the Mako. When pressed, Garrus said he thought the Mako's suspension was off and needed adjustment...another word for [[MemeticMutation calibration]]. |
| 312 | ** According to The Guardian, The Forerunners classified the Turians as "Species Delta-702" and the Krogans as "Species Delta-1404," implying that Krogans are basically twice the creature a Turian is. |
| 313 | * SummonBiggerFish: Of the "instantly backfires" variety. In chapter 28, a group of mercs [[spoiler: release a Flood Tank Form from containment to have it deal with Chief and company. Liara tosses it across the room, to have it deal with the mercs]]. |
| 314 | * SuperReflexes: More significant than Chief's strength or toughness or speed, ''this'' is the main edge he has in the ''Mass Effect'' setting, usually accompanied by the recurring phrase "Spartan time kicked in". While there are plenty of big, scary alien races who are strong enough to tangle with a SPARTAN-II, none of them can match his thinking speed and reaction time (except sometimes the Geth). He can do things like pummel and execute a Krogan in a handful of seconds just by fighting so fast and precise it doesn't have the reflexes to defend itself, or [[spoiler:save a man who has a gun to his own head]]. |
| 315 | * SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: Cortana plays [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M436ZKj05ZA Hell Ain't Hot Enough For Me]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9Nz18H0wbY We Wanna Wreck Here]] by TheMeteors back to back during the rescue of Master Chief and their subsequent fight against the [[EnemyMine momentarily united]] forces of Saren's goons, The Flood, and Prometheans respectively. The latter song's lyrics fit the characters and their actions surprisingly well. |
| 316 | * TemptingFate: |
| 317 | ** Tali decides to drive with the Chief, thinking he can't be as bad as N'tho. It doesn't work. |
| 318 | ** See the "Drives Like Crazy," entry for more details. |
| 319 | ** N'tho invokes this on Noveria by thinking that the team won't encounter any monsters, twisted experiments or anything like that. Made even worse when he adds "probably" after that list. |
| 320 | * TermsOfEndangerment: Of a sort. It's worth noting that, thus far, Saren is the only character in the fanfic to consistently refer to the Master Chief as simply "John." Partially because Saren refuses to give a heroic honorific like "Master Chief" [[FantasticRacism to a Human]], partially because Saren knows that it [[IShallTauntYou gets under]] [[BerserkButton the Chief's skin]]. |
| 321 | * ThenLetMeBeEvil: [[spoiler: The attitude that Ustrina has in regards to the Council's distrust of AIs. Chapter 41's [[AllThereInTheManual codex entry]] also implies that other AIs in the Terminus carry this attitude as well.]] |
| 322 | * TimeBomb: Chief's team is almost killed by a nuke on a timer. |
| 323 | * TitleDrop: Twice so far. First when The Chief visits a memorial to his fellow Spartans and realizes he's the last one. A second one comes when Sha'ira advises him to open up more to his crew, telling him that by doing so (read: acting like a proper Western RPG protagonist) he will "no longer feel like the Last Spartan." |
| 324 | * TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler: Invoked by Miranda when speaking to Kai Leng, asking him if all of the [=ODSTs=] were as bad as him or if he was just an exception]] |
| 325 | * TookALevelInJerkass: |
| 326 | * The Chief takes ''several'' in chapters 26 through 29, then realizes (somewhat) what a jerk he's being in chapter 32 when talking with Liara. |
| 327 | * TranquilFury: |
| 328 | ** The Chief manages to remain outwardly composed when [[spoiler: Saren addresses him, condescendingly, by his real name, John. He ends up quietly breaking off and bending a piece of guardrail afterwards]]. |
| 329 | ** He descends into this again when [[spoiler: talking down to N'tho after his attempts to distract the Thresher Maw made fighting it ''harder'' and nearly gets them all killed.]] |
| 330 | ** Garrus's attitude [[spoiler: when he gives Dr. Saleon some "[[HoistByHisOwnPetard poetic justice]]"]] |
| 331 | * TheStationsOfTheCanon: While things have changed in this new universe, by and large the places Chief stops at are ones that you need to in the first Mass Effect game- Therum, Noveria, Eden Prime, and Feros prime among them. There are additions, to be sure- inclusion of Covenant species, a secret Forerunner bunker on Eltania, and more, but the major plot points are familiar enough. |
| 332 | * UnwantedAssistance: N'tho is guilty of this when the Normandy Crew first runs into a Thresher Maw, resulting in some TranquilFury from Master Chief in response. |
| 333 | ** In-universe Master Chief also [[KickTheDog comes to see his whole team this way and plans to get rid of them all later except for Kaidan and Ashley]]. He gets better. |
| 334 | * TheVoiceless: |
| 335 | ** Averted unlike the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series. Since Master Chief is filling in for [[GuileHero Comm]][[RousingSpeech ander]] [[TheCharmer She]][[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath pa]][[HannibalLecture rd]], he's spoken more in his first two chapters than he has in the Halo Trilogy. PlayedForLaughs as he still uses short, blunt sentences where Shepard used charismatic lines, and complains silently about how sore and raspy his throat is becoming. |
| 336 | ** Although technically this was subverted in the series itself- Chief actually did speak in the series... it's just that he didn't do it all that often, and was usually in short, to-the-point sentences. |
| 337 | * WarriorPoet: We already know Ashley's one, but both she and Master Chief are surprised when N'tho shows off his knowledge of Tennyson and Shakespeare. He reveals that it's practically a requirement for the Squidhead subculture. |
| 338 | * WeAreStrugglingTogether: The leadup to the Eletania mission, as well as the mission itself, sees the Chief [[IncrediblyLamePun alienating]] more and more members of his squad. |
| 339 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: The Assembly has shades of this, preferring to set off the incident that banned AIs rather than risk a major war with the Citadel Races against the Systems Alliance.]] |
| 340 | * WillfullyWeak: Essentially humanity's strategy when it comes to the Council. While giving up a large portion of its fleet, Slipspace, and AI would seem to be massive disadvantages- and they are- the humans are playing the long game. By joining the Council, they avoid another massive war like the Human-Covenant War, and gain access to a large number of new technologies. It might take a while, but eventually humanity is going to gain a Council Seat- they are exponentially more aggressive in this goal than in canon. This will allow them to triple the size of their fleets and put them in a position to start negotiating AI and Slipspace technology back, as well as give them a say in galactic politics to possibly prevent future wars. |
| 341 | * WhamEpisode: |
| 342 | ** Chapter 18. [[spoiler: Chief has been kidnapped on what he now learns are orders of Saren. The Arbiter is launching a rescue mission with Garrus. Cortana is missing. And to top it all off, Saleon is working on the Flood.]] |
| 343 | ** Chapter 48. [[spoiler: Chief goes through the wringer over whether or not to kill the Rachni Queen, while the ONI brass is having a good, hard conversation on exactly what a Spartan-II ''is'' - a {{Shell Shocked|Veteran}} ''ChildSoldier''. "And you can't trust a ''broken man'' to make the right choice." Cue the chief [[AmbiguousSituation "typing in a command and hitting execute."]]]] |
| 344 | *** [[spoiler: And we see the next episode he was wrong- Chief released the Queen.]] |
| 345 | * WhiteMansBurden: An example without white men... or men, actually. Kaidon Tyrannai has begun training Vorcha to supplement the Covenant forces. He explains that he remembers the Old Covenant, and views parts of it fondly... though he does gloss over the nastier aspects, he does admit that it failed when it came to the Prophets and humanity. He claims that it's the role of the stronger species of the galaxy to uplift and guide the weaker ones, in this case, the Vorcha[[note]]While this does come across as condescending, even in canon Mass Effect the Vorcha are considered barely better than vermin, and the Vorcha homeworld of Heshitok is described as a hellscape of lava and warring, anamalistic Vorcha tribes. Time will tell how this plays out in the story[[/note]]. |
| 346 | * WhyDontYouJustShootHim: |
| 347 | ** Miranda mocks the Arbiter of this when they fight in chapter 33, how despite him having ''guns'' he still relies on his sword. Averted the very next instant, as the Arbiter then opens fire on her ''with'' said guns, forcing her to take cover. |
| 348 | ** He then reveals that he was deliberately not using it until she suggested it or pulled out her own gun, as that wouldn't be ''honorable.'' It's at this point that Miranda plays this trope straight and pulls out her ''own'' gun. |
| 349 | * WonTheWarLostThePeace: |
| 350 | ** The Human/Former Covenant Alliance defeated the Turians at Shanxi and eventually joined The Citadel as in [[Franchise/MassEffect one half]] of the source material, but were eventually forced to reduce the size of their fleets and give up Artificial Intelligence and Slipspace technology in the process, as their new peers thought them too dangerous. |
| 351 | ** In practice however, they're still fighting "the peace." They're exponentially more aggressive in their efforts to become a Council race in TLS, with the stated goal of re-introducing AI and Slipspace once they gain the Council seat(which coincidentally would permit them to [[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Treaty_of_Farixen triple their fleet size.]]) Further, they're helping to sponsor groups like "Slip To The Future," which advocate for aliens and alien governments to elect pro-Slipspace representatives, as well as advocate for governments that would support Slipspace Legalization to get Council Seats alongside humanity. |
| 352 | ** It's also noted that human colonies ''outside'' of Citadel Space ''do'' use AI's and slipspace drives, because they are not ruled over by the Citadel Council. |
| 353 | * WorthyOpponent: |
| 354 | ** Though initially just as dismissive and contemptuous of The Chief as he is of any other human, Saren starts developing a fascination with him after watching a video-recording of [[OneManArmy his actions on Therum]]. |
| 355 | ** [[spoiler: Miranda also sees Arbiter this way, referring to him (albeit somewhat condescendingly) as her "favorite sparring partner"]] |
| 356 | * YouRemindMeOfX: As far as Cortana's concerned, [[FantasticRacism Admiral Mikhailovich]] is just like [[JerkAss Colonel Ackerson.]] |
| 357 | * YourCostumeNeedsWork: |
| 358 | ** Although no one says it to the Chief himself, Harkin and Saren ([[ArtisticLicenseBiology understandably]]) don't think John is the real [=McCoy=], and is just an unusually tall soldier they put in similar armor as a publicity stunt. |
| 359 | ** Ethan Jeong is unimpressed when the Chief states he swore an oath to protect Earth and its colonies, and unlike the above two examples, openly calls the Chief a phony. The Chief's [[PistolWhip response]] puts him in his place though. |
| 360 | [[/folder]] |
| 361 | ---- |
| 362 | [[folder:''Desperate Measures'']] |
| 363 | * AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Ever wondered what happened to Rtas 'Vadum? He's an ''Imperial Admiral'' now. Though this tends to be the case for Sangheli culture in general... |
| 364 | %%* WarFic: Moreso than the source fanfic. |
| 365 | [[/folder]] |
| 366 | |
| 367 | [[folder:''Last of an Ancient Breed'']] |
| 368 | * AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Not so much art as a whole culture, but a Mormon Church has at least one Sangheili and one Elcor in its congregation. |
| 369 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Lieutenant Nolan is a bit put out when The Master Chief effortlessly breaks his previously unbeaten record on the firing range, and loses sleep trying to reclaim it. |
| 370 | * AscendedExtra: The Marines that thawed out the Chief in Chapter Two of the original fic? We get to see what they did before and after too. |
| 371 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: During a tour of the Citadel, Ops Chief Beckett talks to Avina about the Relay Monument and notes how no one knows for sure the meaning the Protheans imposed on it. Beckett assumes the Protheans must have been "the original trolls of the galaxy." Come ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'''... |
| 372 | * OddNameOut: Kyle Nolan and Corporal Timothy Michaels (the latter of whom was the [[NominalImportance only Marine named]] in the original fanfic) are the only purely anglophone names among a BadassCrew with names like Tu'uta Tangilanu, Julianne Engelbrektsson and Asha Beckett. |
| 373 | * POVSequel: Chapters 3 to 6 are actually the second and third chapters of The Last Spartan from the point of view of the Marines who personally thawed out the Master Chief. |
| 374 | * ReportingNames: During the First Contact War, Turians were initially dubbed "Raptors" though a few other Marines came up with names of their own, such as "boneheads" due to their skull-like faces. The former name has since become a FantasticSlur. This trope was actually highly prevalent in the original Halo as well, as shown by the names of various species you face there (Sangheli become "Elites," Jilrhanae become "Brutes," and Unggoy become "Grunts.") |
| 375 | * ShroudedInMyth: One of the soldiers recounts their grandfather believing til the day he died that Spartans were actually robots. |
| 376 | * WarFic: The first two chapters feature Kyle's first hours on Shanxi during the attempt to reclaim it. |
| 377 | [[/folder]] |
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