History Characters / HaloUNSC

** ''Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn'' fully reveals the level of the UNSC's indoctrination of its own citizens as well. They named their top military academy after a Roman general who committed suicide because his emperor ordered him to, purely because said emperor saw him as a threat to imperial power. The UNSC glorifies said general as an example of what all UNSC officers should be, and even makes the last words that he used to ''justify his suicide'' the official motto of the academy.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Heavily downplayed. As a whole, the UNSC has a ''lot'' of UnitedSpaceOfAmerica in their overall military structure, though (as shown in ''Foreward Unto Dawn'') they also have a lot of inspiration taken from UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire in terms of their authoritarian militarism (with a few fans even comparing the UNSC having control ceded to them from the UEG as comparable to the fall of the Roman Republic and it becoming an empire under Octavian).

[[folder: In General]]

[[folder: In General]]

* HufflepuffHouse: Despite providing the majority of the actual soldiers in most UNSC ground campaigns, they're the second least seen branch of the UNSC armed forces (next to the Air Force) in ''Halo'' media, taking ''five'' games to finally show up in a campaign. Supplementary ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' materials and ''Spartan Ops'' mention that they're also serving aboard the ''Infinity'' alongside the Marines and Spartans, but we never actually see them in-game.

[[folder: COL. Urban Holland]]

->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''
->'''Birthdate: Unknown'''
->'''Debuted in: ''VideoGame/HaloReach'''''
->'''Voiced by: Pat Duke'''

[[folder: SGM. Duvall]]

->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''
->'''Birthdate: Unknown'''
->'''Debuted in: ''VideoGame/HaloReach'''''

[[folder: SGT. Holly Tanaka]]

[[folder: In General]]

[[folder: Forsell]]

->'''Homeworld: Harvest'''
->'''Birthdate: Unknown'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Literature/HaloContactHarvest'''''

[[folder: Wallace Jenkins]]

[[folder: In General]]

[[folder: Gen. Daniel Black]]

->'''Homeworld: Unknown'''
->'''Birthdate: Unknown'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'''''
->'''Portrayed by: Mike Dopud'''

[[folder: Col. Kennedy Mehaffey]]

->'''Homeworld: Desdoron V'''
->'''Birthdate: Unknown'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'''''
->'''Portrayed by: Creator/AyeletZurer'''

[[folder: April Orenski]]

->'''Homeworld: Harvest'''
->'''Birthdate: June 18, 2508'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'''''
->'''Portrayed by: Enisha Brewster'''

[[folder: Chyler Silva]]

->'''Homeworld: Cygnus'''
->'''Birthdate: c. 2510'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'''''
->'''Portrayed by: Creator/AnnaPopplewell'''

[[folder: Michael Sullivan]]

->'''Homeworld: Emerald Cove'''
->'''Birthdate: September 3, 2510'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'''''
->'''Portrayed and voiced by: Masam Holden (''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn''), Creator/JerryTrainor (''ARG/HuntTheTruth'')'''

[[folder: Walter Vickers]]

->'''Homeworld: Boundary'''
->'''Birthdate: c. 2510'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'''''
->'''Portrayed by: Iain Belcher'''

[[folder: Dimah Tchakova]]

->'''Homeworld: Reach'''
->'''Birthdate: c. 2510'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'''''
->'''Portrayed by: Katerina Katelieva'''

[[folder: Junjie Chen]]

->'''Homeworld: Earth'''
->'''Birthdate: c. 2510'''
->'''Debuted in: ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'''''
->'''Portrayed by: Creator/OsricChau'''

* KnifeNut: Part of the reason why she got her nickname back when she was still an active combatant; Mahaffey preferred to engage in close-quarters combat with her knife.

* GameplayAllyImmortality: Notable for being one of the few ''minor'' characters to be unkillable during gameplay.

* NiceHat: Like most UNSC sergeants, he wears a cap.

* HufflepuffHouse: Despite providing the majority of the actual soldiers in most UNSC ground campaigns, they're the second least seen branch of the UNSC armed forces (next to the Air Force) in ''Halo'' media, taking ''five'' games to finally show up in a campaign. Supplementary ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' materials and ''Spartan Ops'' mention that they're also serving alongside the ''Infinity'' on Requiem, but we never actually see them in in-game.

* ArtifactName: They were created and named at a time when the United Nations was the main political power managing Earth and its colonies. By the time the series begins, the UN has been reorganized into the [[OneWorldOrder United Earth Government]], but the UNSC keeps its name out of tradition.

* ArtifactName: They were created and named at a time when the United Nations was the main political power managing Earth and its colonies. By the time the series begins, the UN has been reorganized into the [[OneWorldOrder United Earth Governments]], but the UNSC keeps its name out of tradition.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: They are the (admittedly) dark Grey to the Black of both the Covenant and Flood. On the one hand, the UNSC is an authoritarian military state that once [[https://www.halopedia.org/Far_Isle nuked a colony simply to stop a rebellion]], and approved ''two'' SuperSoldier programs that primarily conscripted/recruited young children. On the other hand, at least they don't want to wipe out all of humanity or turn everyone into zombies.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted. Despite being the only black character with a substantial role in ''Forward Unto Dawn'', she not only avoids being the first major character killed, but ends up being one of only three Corbulo cadets who survive the Covenant attack.

** ''Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn'' fully reveals the level of the UNSC's indoctrination of its own citizens as well. They named their top military academy after a Roman general who committed suicide because his emperor ordered him to, purely because said emperor saw him as a threat to imperial power. The UNSC glorifies said general as an example of what all UNSC officers should be, and even makes the FamousLastWords that he used to ''justify his suicide'' the official motto of the academy.

* ThemeNaming: UNSC ground vehicles are named after animals, aerial vehicles are named after flying animals, and fighters are named after bladed weapons. Also, the ReportingNames they give to Covenant vehicles are all mythological monsters.

->'''Portrayed by: Osric Chau'''

* WeAREStrugglingTogether: Not ''nearly'' to the extent of the Covenant, but they also still suffered from infighting in the form of independently-minded colonies and instances of RightHandVersusLeftHand (largely thanks to [=ONI=]) during the Great War. It also hasn't exactly gotten better after the Great War, with the UNSC having to still deal with Covenant remnants and several Insurrectionist organizations now openly acting against them across the few remaining Outer Colonies.

*** [[Characters/HaloSpartanIIProgramMasterChief The Master Chief]]

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Killed by a stealthed Elite Zealot.]]

* OhCrap: [[spoiler:Sports this expression upon realizing that he's walked into a stealthed Elite Zealot.]]

* MauveShirt: [[spoiler:The second member of Hastati to die.]]

* MissionControl: For Noble Team.

%%* BaldBlackLeaderGuy
* GameplayAllyImmortality: Notable for being one of the few ''minor'' characters to benefit from this.
* MissionControl: Is primarily seen/heard coordinating evacuation efforts over the radio. He also takes on this role for Six towards the end of "Exodus" (despite being technically lower-ranked). That said, you can bring him into battle if you can coax him onto a Warthog.
* NiceHat: Like UNSC sergeants in general.

* SergeantRock: Well, he does his best, anyways.
* YouAreInCommandNow: Implied, given that under somewhat better circumstances, it likely would have been a commissioned officer taking his role in coordinating the evacuation.

* RedshirtArmy: Even by the standards of the rest of the UNSC, they tend have a pretty short lifespan when fighting against Covenant.

* CombatPragmatist: During a training exercise, he wins against Stisen by knocking him off the beam while Stisen's distracted by something Byrne just said.

-->"''Axios!''"

* BoardingSchool: With its cadets all being about fifteen to eighteen years old.
* ElaborateUniversityHigh: Structured like a university despite its students being around high school age. It even has its own SpaceElevator.

* PretentiousLatinMotto: Which roughly translates to "I am worthy".

* SecretKeeper: Being a high-ranking officer in charge of a major UNSC facility near the edge of UNSC space he is one of the handful of officers informed about the Covenant during the early months of the war. He kept news of the aliens from the staff and students while instituting communications blackouts to prevent leaks.

* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:Gets shot in the throat with a needler while trying to protect the cadets.]]

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Considering how Needler guns work, even without a [[StuffBlowingUp supercombination explosion]].]]
* KnifeNut: Part of the reason why she got her nickname back when she was still an active combatant. Mahaffey preferred to engage in close-quarters combat with her knife.
* TheMentor: Tries to be one to Lasky, and succeeds to some degree.

* SheIsTheKing: Like Col. Maheffey, referred to as "sir".

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:In Lasky's]].
* InstantDeathBullet: Averted. [[spoiler:She gets hit with a needle shard in the stomach, and doesn't even notice it until the action calms down. Her death is pretty slow and painful.]]
* FriendlySniper: She's one of the friendliest cadets, and is one of the best shots in Hastati Squad. She even wields a Covenant carbine in Part 4.

* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler:For Lasky, who has kept her dog tags over thirty years after her death.]]

* TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath: [[spoiler:After being hit by a single Needler shard while Lasky is driving the Warthog to try to escape the planet, she only notices it after they stop for the moment. However, not quite as sudden as other examples, as she has a death sequence that allows her some last actions.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Sullivan was easily the friendliest and most laid-back of Hastati Squad. By the end of ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'', [[spoiler:his roommate and two other squadmates have been killed by the Covenant, who've also massacred most of the rest of the academy, and he himself gets nailed in the leg with a needle round.]]

* CynicismCatalyst: The events of ''Forward Unto Dawn'' played a major role regarding who he became by the time of ''Hunt the Truth''.

* NiceGuy: As a cadet at Corbulo.

* PlayfulHacker: At Corbulo, he noticed that ONI was hiding something from the cadets and decided to hack into restricted files to find out what.
** TheCracker: Once he starts to dig deeper, he's less playful about it. Still a heroic example, though less so after he himself joins ONI.
* PluckyComicRelief: Is able to keep up some semblance of humor [[spoiler:even during the Covenant invasion]].

* TheSpook: Particularly during the war, when he was part of ONI's Section One.

** By the time of ''Hunt The Truth'', it's clear that the class clown of Corbulo Academy has become quite cold, with whatever is left of his old self being just a facade.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:He charges at the Elite to try and give the other cadets a chance to escape, and is shot in the chest for his efforts.]]

* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler:The other cadets fail to run. They are saved by the Master Chief seconds later, which suggests that everyone, including him, might've lived had Vickers kept quiet.]]

* [[ByTheBookCop By-The-Book Soldier]]: When Lasky complains that Vickers's orders during an exercise didn't make sense, she told him that it didn't matter and that he should have followed them anyway. Dimah does agree not to report Sully for hacking into secure files though.

* InTheBlood: What she considers her military career to be.

* AsianAndNerdy: Is noted to have very high academic scores, though his combat skills are lacking.
%%* [[ByTheBookCop By-The-Book Soldier]]

* WellDoneSonGuy: Gives off this impression with his communication with his father.

* EmergencyAuthority: After the outset of the Covenant War, the UEG transferred all of its powers to the UNSC to allow the latter to establish an emergency military government. Post-war, the UEG has been officially restored as the governing body of mankind, but the UNSC in practice still holds most of the power, particularly in the colonies.

* TheFederation: The UEG is ostensibly a representative democracy where all worlds have individual representation, though in practice Earth has a disproportionate amount of power. However, the UNSC itself tends to exercise power in a more authoritarian fashion, especially once the war with the Covenant began, which resulted in the UNSC taking emergency powers and overriding the UEG's rule. Power has technically been ceded back to the UEG after the war, but the UNSC is still the dominant authority in practice.

* AntiHero: The UNSC as a whole, Sure, they might be the best defense for humanity against the Covenant and other threats, but they're still a ruthless and imperialistic PoliceState that's committed countless atrocities with very dubious benefits.
* BadassArmy: It's mentioned that the UNSC actually ''won'' most ground battles with the Covenant's forces. Unfortunately, most of those victories would be then quickly undone through the Covenant then [[OrbitalBombardment "glassing"]] the planet from orbit.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: They are the (admittedly) dark Grey to the Black of both the Covenant and Flood. On the one hand, the [[TheEmpire UNSC]] is a totalitarian military dictatorship that runs [[ChildSoldier Child]] SuperSoldier programs [[WouldHurtAChild that kill the bulk of their recruits]], gives cloned kids cancer in order to cover it up, backstabs their own allies in order to maintain the BalanceOfPower, [[https://www.halopedia.org/Far_Isle nukes civilian populations off the face of the planet in response to rebellion]], etc. Its semi-shadow government, [[StateSec the Office of Naval Intelligence]], veers much closer to the black side of things, with its willingness to do things [[EveryoneHasStandards even the rest of the UNSC doesn't approve of]]. Heck, it borders on StupidEvil at times, [[spoiler:such as when they nearly started another war between the Elites and humanity after ''Halo 4'' by supporting the Servants of Abiding Truth against the Swords of Sanghelios, the latter of which is led by the Arbiter... ''who saved humanity from extinction.'']] On the other hand, the UNSC would be the BigBad in most other works, but [[EvilVersusOblivion against the Covenant and Flood, they come off as the lesser of the evils.]]
** ''Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn'' fully reveals the level of the UNSC's indoctrination of its own citizens as well. They named their top military academy after a Roman general who committed suicide because his emperor ordered him to, purely because said emperor saw him as a threat to imperial power. The UNSC glorifies said general as an example of what all UNSC officers should be, and even makes the FamousLastWords that he used to ''justify his suicide'' the official motto of the academy. Additionally, ''Forward Unto Dawn'' confirms that the UNSC's population on Earth was largely not even aware of how the war was going in space, even as they were losing horribly and about to be invaded, indicating an absurd level of state censorship and information control.

* DarkerAndEdgier: While the UNSC isn't shown to exactly be all sunshine and rainbows in the games themselves, the ExpandedUniverse often expands on the darker aspects of the UNSC and showcases how terrible it can be to live under their brutal PoliceState.

* {{Determinator}}: The UNSC, despite being [[DavidVsGoliath an industrial midget compared to]] [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens the technologically superior Covenant]], still managed to fight them tooth and nail for ''over a quarter of a century''.

* TheEmpire: How most Insurrectionists see them. And considering how they ''are'' a repressive PoliceState, [[VillainHasAPoint they're not exactly wrong]].

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Heavily downplayed. As a whole, the UNSC has a ''lot'' of UnitedSpaceOfAmerica in their overall military structure, though (as shown in ''Foreward Unto Dawn'') they also have a lot of inspiration taken from UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire in terms of their expansionism and ruthless militaristic imperialism (with a few fans even comparing the UNSC having control ceded to them from the UEG as comparable to the fall of the Roman Republic and it becoming an empire under Octavian). However, their fight against the invading Covenant also paints them as the native Saracens in the Holy Land trying to defend themselves against the various invading European Catholic powers from during the Levantine Crusades.
* TheFederation: Though somewhat more authoritarian than the norm, especially once the war with the Covenant starts, which resulted in the UNSC taking emergency powers and overriding the UEG's rule. Power has technically been ceded back to the UEG after the war, but the UNSC is still the dominant authority in practice.
* HumansAreWarriors: It's in large part due to the Humans' guts and will that they did so well and survived so long in the Human-Covenant War. Many Covenant warriors (especially the Elites) lampshade it, and some even believe they've earned the right to join the Covenant.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Explosively or [[MagneticWeapons magnetically]] propelled kinetic weaponry, along with tactical explosives and the occasional nuke, form the mainstay of [=UNSC=] weaponry both on the ground and in space. The only energy weapon designs they are known to possess are the shoulder-mounted [[{{WaveMotionGun}} Spartan Laser]], the Prowler's pulse laser turrets, and a prototype plasma mortar tank that was deployed only rarely. Nevertheless, despite their overall technological inferiority, some of the humans' ballistic weapons were actually somewhat more effective than their energy-based Covenant counterparts.

* TheNapoleon: In ''Silentium'', Riser (a Florian) remarks to a Forerunner that he takes charge not despite of his size, but "because of it". The implications of such can be applied to humanity as a whole.

* PoliceState: The UNSC's control of information in the Inner Colonies during the Great War almost reaches the level of absurdity, to the point where many people on Earth actually thought the UNSC was ''winning'' the CurbStompCushion humanity was collectively facing before the Covenant started to land and invade New Mombassa.
* {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s: Well, you can say that. The Humans were the first species since the Lekgolo to give the Covenant a real fight, [[spoiler:holding out long enough for the Covenant to destroy themselves]]. Post-War, they actually eclipse most of the remaining Covenant factions in strength.

* RightHandVersusLeftHand: Suffers from this, largely thanks to the manipulations of [=ONI=].
* RockBeatsLaser: Although UNSC technology is explicitly stated to have been mostly inferior to Covenant tech during the Human-Covenant war, the humans made very good use of what they had.
** This can be seen especially in space; while a single Covenant ship was worth at least three UNSC ships in a straight fight, clever tactics and positioning allowed the UNSC Navy to often hold its own even against overwhelming numbers. Well, that and their Magnetic Accelerator Cannons and nuclear warheads (the heaviest variants capable of one-shotting even shielded Covenant ships).

* ThemeNaming: UNSC ground vehicles are named after animals, aerial vehicles are named after flying animals, and fighters are named after bladed weapons.
** Also, the ReportingNames they give to Covenant vehicles are all mythological monsters.

* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: ''In SPACE!!!''
* WeAREStrugglingTogether: Not ''nearly'' to the extent of the Covenant, but they also still suffered from infighting in the form of Insurrectionist cells and instances of RightHandVersusLeftHand (largely thanks to [=ONI=]) during the Great War. It also hasn't exactly gotten better after the Great War, with the UNSC having to still deal with Covenant remnants and several Insurrectionist organizations now openly acting against them across the few remaining Outer Colonies.

* RedShirtArmy: In most of ''VideoGame/HaloReach''.