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aka: Halo Spartan II Program Master Chief

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SUBJECT: SPARTAN-II PROGRAM - JOHN-117

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Master Chief Petty Officer John-117

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cf_chief_inf_render_f64f9b1d9b7b4a2c8d5b45240c24b91e_8.png
"We make our own luck, but I'll always be there when you need me."

Homeworld: Eridanus II (Elysium City)
Birthdate: March 7, 2511
Debuted in: Halo: Combat Evolved (chronologically: Halo: The Fall of Reach)
Voiced and portrayed in English by: Steve Downes (games, Halo: The Fall of Reach as adult John), David Wald (Halo Legends), Alex Puccinelli / Daniel Cudmore (Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn), Cole Jensen (Halo: The Fall of Reach as child John), Damien C. Haas (Halo: The Fall of Reach as teenage John)
Motion capture performance by: Bruce Thomas (Halo 4-present)
Voiced in Latin-American Spanish by: Eduardo Bulnes (Halo 2), Jesús Hernández (Halo Legends), Jorge Riveros (Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn), Raúl Anaya (Halo 3-present), Carlos Segundo (The Fall of Reach)
Voiced in Brazilian Portuguese by: Sérgio Fortuna (Halo 3-present)
Voiced in Japanese by: Atsuki Tani (original trilogy), Rikiya Koyama (Halo 4-present)

"Thought I'd try shooting my way out. Mix things up a little."

John-117, more commonly known as the Master Chief, is the main character for much of the Halo franchise and a central figure in the series' mythology. A quiet, stoic space marine, the Chief is the leader of the SPARTAN-IIs, a group of Super Soldiers serving in the United Nations Space Command.

Trained from childhood as part of an illegal military experiment, Chief and the other SPARTANs were biologically and cybernetically enhanced as part of an effort to put down colonial insurrections, but after First Contact the program's focus became fighting the Covenant. Few of them survived the war, and while he rarely shows it, the loss of so many lifelong comrades weighs heavily on his mind.

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    A-I 
  • Ace Custom:
    • Subverted. Most Spartans throughout the series personalize their MJOLNIR Powered Armor to some degree, be it by using specialist components, adding attachments, painting it in stylish colors, or carving etched symbols into it. Chief's armor, by contrast, is notable for the fact that it features no personalization at all. He exclusively utilizes the standard-issue setup, the sole identifying features being the battle scars it develops and, rarely, his serial number being stenciled on the chestplate.
    • Played straight after the original trilogy. All of Chief's suits from then on have some level of custom tooling, typically creating an appearance that's unavailable in multiplayer. Though in this case it's justified, because his armor is explicitly distinct as a retooled version of his old MJOLNIR Mark VI gear, whereas the SPARTAN-IV forces in the later games generally have a separate GEN2 armor system entirely, and his Mark VI GEN3 gear in Infinite versus the general Mark VII GEN3; he's effectively on a whole separate armor system entirely.
  • Ace Pilot: All Spartans are cleared on all UNSC vehicles, including air and spacecraft. In Halo 4 the Chief flies a Broadsword fighter through Didact's ship while it's flying through Slipspace. Given his augmented reflexes, this is probably justified.
  • The Ace: If you want the best soldier in the galaxy, Chief qualifies ten times over. He's taken on entire hordes of aliens either by himself or with just a scant amount of allies, proved instrumental in bringing the entire Covenant down, and is hailed as a battlefield legend because of his numerous accomplishments in combat.
  • Action Hero: He's a soldier; this is a given.
  • The Antichrist: Overall, the Covenant view Spartans as "Demons", but the Master Chief is another whole level of scary for them, often being referred to as The Demon.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: With the Arbiter in Halo 3.
  • Badass Boast: Several, such as "To give the Covenant back their bomb" and "Finishing this fight".
  • Badass in Distress: In the climax of Halo 5, he and the rest of Blue Team are captured by Cortana, who intends to seal them away for 10,000 years while she conquers the galaxy. The final level involves Fireteam Osiris' efforts to rescue them.
  • Berserk Button: Even suggesting harming Cortana can send him in a very bad mood. This eventually comes back to bite him in the ass before he realizes Cortana's Face–Heel Turn.
  • Blind Obedience:
    • Usually his Fatal Flaw. The lifelong military indoctrination he was subjected to as part of the SPARTAN-II program left him extremely dependent on authority figures for direction, feeling deeply uncomfortable and uncertain when he lacks a clear objective or has to make his own calls. His lowest point in this regard is in Combat Evolved — cut off from Cortana or any superior officers and unsure how to proceed with regards to the Flood, he meets 343 Guilty Spark and latches onto the AI's insistence that the Flood can be stopped by activating Halo, blindly following its instructions and even referring to it as a "friend" when confronted. As a result, Chief comes within a hair's breadth of unwittingly killing all sentient life in the galaxy, stopped only by Cortana's timely intervention. Interestingly enough, however, those who are savvy to Chief's flaw can use this to read the situation: if the Chief himself is knowingly disobeying or outright defying an order given to him by a superior, then that is a sign that something is very, very wrong. This trait, however, comes to bite him in the ass in Infinite, as his blind adherence to protocol means he is ready to delete the Weapon at the slightest sign that she may become compromised or rampant, which earns him an earful from the latter and almost destroys their partnership.
    • That being said, it is shown he is capable of taking charge of a situation even without direct contact with an authority; in Halo Infinite, he manages to not only make contact with and consolidate the scattered UNSC forces on Zeta Halo, but he pretty much spearheads the counterattack with the Banished, almost singlehandedly turning the tide of the battle and managing to salvage a situation thought unsalvageable to the point that the Banished can go from declaring victory over the UNSC to being almost completely ousted from the map. Overall, while he is conditioned to serve Humanity and the UNSC, he (and the other SPARTAN-II's), are not so dependent on authority that they are unable to function without specific orders.
  • Blunt "Yes": Or Blunt "No", depending on the situation. A humble Terse Talker and straightforward soldier as he is, his go-to response to anyone questioning his more insane but simple ideas is a brief yes or no with zero elaboration.
  • Born Lucky: According to Cortana, this is the reason she picked him over the other Spartan-IIs. It's also strongly implied that this is the big difference between John and the equally skilled Spartan-III Noble Six.
  • Break the Badass: The end of Halo 4 shows the strain of a long war and the loss of many people who were close to him (especially Cortana) has had a detrimental effect on the Chief. The opening cutscene even has Halsey's interrogator pointing that Spartans are so psychologically damaged they can't interact very well with ordinary people, inferring that John had to be broken to become the badass he became. The signs were visible even before that, as there are several moments in the game where the Chief just sounds... Tired. In Halo 5, his hands are shaking. However, even though Blue Team is worried about him, John actually maintains his cool throughout the story.
  • Broken Ace: On the surface, he's the perfect soldier and a paragon of humanity. While not the strongest or smartest of the SPARTAN-IIs, he's still leagues ahead of any ordinary human soldier, and compensates by being slightly above-average in every category. Combined with his uncanny good fortune and natural leadership skills, this made him the best of them all. Underneath the armor, however, Chief is a deeply broken individual — kidnapped, indoctrinated, and experimented on by the military as a young boy, deeply uncomfortable in any situation not related to warfare, barely able to function without direction from an authority figure, and nearly incapable of socializing with anyone other than his various handlers and fellow SPARTANs. And that's not getting into the thirty years' worth of PTSD he's all but outright stated to be suffering from as a result of the seemingly-endless war with the Covenant.
    ONI Official: Records show SPARTANs routinely exhibited mildly sociopathic tendencies. Difficulty with socialization... [...] Do you believe the Master Chief succeeded because he was, at his core, broken?
  • Cannot Spit It Out: However he feels about Cortana, every time he is questioned about it, especially by the Weapon, he hesitates, trails off, or moves on and can't seem to speak his true feelings about her aloud.
  • Celibate Hero: In Halo Infinite, when Echo-216 asks Chief if he has anyone to go home to, he gives a flat "No." It's also generally implied that (from Halo 4 onwards) Cortana is in love with him, but John doesn't see her in the same way. Actually a Justified Trope, as Dr. Halsey's Journal noted that one of the side-effects of the SPARTAN-II Bio-Augmentation is a suppressed sex drive.
  • Character Development: With The Fall of Reach, John was initially an aloof but well-meaning trainee in the SPARTAN-II program who was notably more expressive and optimistic, even as the horrors of battle and the Human-Covenant War started to unfold around him. Samuel's death and the ongoing conflict, with almost all of his friends and newfound family meeting their end, embittered and dulled Chief's emotions to the point that he becomes The Workaholic to handle more and more excessive workloads in the war dutifully and take his mind off the worst of his pain, though he still has moments of levity while neverendingly attempting to save those around him. Even the end of one war ended up with him awakening to a new one four years later, where Cortana's temporary death followed by her coming back psychotic messes him up even further. By the time of Infinite where everything's gone to hell yet again and the UNSC is effectively defeated by the Banished, he's notably exhausted and worn down, letting more of his emotions back out again even if mostly incidentally, and clearly reached a point where the only reason he's still fighting is because he's the only one left that can.
  • Character Tic: As much of The Stoic as he is, he's got a habit of silently looking away or off to the side if something deeply affects him, which can become an obvious tell if the person he is speaking to is hitting a sore spot.
  • Chest of Medals: In The Fall of Reach, it is mentioned that the Chief has earned almost every single medal that the UNSC can offer. The only one he hasn't earned is the Prisoner of War Medallion, and according to the events of Halo: Ghosts of Onyx he should likely be eligible for that one too.
  • Childhood Marriage Promise: In Palace Hotel, the Chief encounters Parisa, a girl he had known on Eridanus II, who is now a marine. She tells him the story of how she and her friend John had promised to marry each other after he saved her from drowning, but that he died as a child and she still would have held John to that promise. The Chief is unable to bring himself to tell her that it's him, and that the child who had died had been a flash clone created specifically for the purpose of dying "naturally" to cover up ONI kidnapping him for the SPARTAN-II program.
  • Child Soldier: All SPARTAN-IIs started at age six, receiving their augmentations and armor at 14.
  • The Comically Serious: It's fairly subtle, but there's a fair amount of humor derived from the fact that the Chief has only known fighting his entire life, and so he doesn't articulate his more out-there strategies to others particularly well. For examples, see him playfully juggling a grenade in response to Cortana saying that it is possible to manually detonate the Pillar of Autumn's engines in Combat Evolved, or his Blunt "Yes" response to Cortana asking if he is serious about his "jump across Liches to reach the Didact's ship" plan in Halo 4.
  • Connected All Along: Silent Storm reveals he was the one who originally came up with the terms "Drones" and "Elites" for the Yan'me and the Sangheli respectively.
  • Consummate Professional: Though by the time of Halo 4, he has trouble keeping this up over time.
  • Cool Old Guy: He's nearly 50 years old as of Infinite, and age hasn't slowed him down at all.
  • Crazy is Cool: In-Universe, Cortana at least seems to think so.
    Cortana: I know what you're thinking, and it's crazy.
    John-117: So, stay here.
    Cortana: Unfortunately for us both, I like crazy.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He has a dry "been-there, done-that" kind of wit, especially in the novels. As for the games, it's best seen in Halo 3, in this quote.
  • Decoy Protagonist: In Halo 2, where it's actually the Arbiter who gets all the Character Development and plot-heavy missions while Master Chief spends most of his time fighting Regret's (completely pointless and already-doomed) bumrush of Earth. Ultimately it's the Arbiter and not the Chief who saves the galaxy and kills the Final Boss.
  • Determinator:
    • Besides his uncanny luck, one personal quality of his is that he will not give up on something if he promised to do it. To quote a conversation from Halo 2:
      Cortana: Just one question: what if you miss?
      John-117: I won't.
    • In Infinite, it's revealed his determination is a quality born of need, rather than any sort of boastfulness. He tells Echo-216 that the pilot will succeed, without any sort of Badass Boast. To Chief, failing isn't an issue; his unspoken words are that everyone will die eventually. Not trying is an issue. He reflects on this in a discussion with the Weapon, telling her that when confronted with death, every person has a choice; like Escharum, Chief chose to "fight."
  • Dope Slap: He does this to himself, or rather, to Cortana, after she accidentally teleports him into the Truth and Reconciliation upside down.
  • The Dreaded: To the Covenant, who call him "the Demon" when against him. The Separatists of the Covenant also acknowledge his prowess, but instead call him the "human champion".
  • Empowered Badass Normal: Notable because as of Halo 4, he's even more so than most other Spartans after being genetically modified to have immunity to Composing.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Most people he associates with, especially in the games, only call him "Master Chief", or "Chief" for short, to the point that many players do not even know his actual name. In-universe, his heroics have become so legendary — and the custom of referring to him solely by rank so widespread — that the rank of "Master Chief" within the UNSC Navy has been informally renamed "Top Chief" as both a sign of respect and a means to avoid confusion. It's to the point that in a post-Halo 4 comic, John rejects an offer to receive an officer commission and fast-tracked promotion to Admiral with the following comment:
    John-117: No offense, sir, but "the Admiral" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
    Lord Hood: Was that a joke, son? Didn't think you had it in you.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Despite having fought them most of his life, Chief looks completely horrified when, in response to Atriox's defiance, Cortana commits genocide by destroying Doisac, the Brute homeworld, hanging his head in shock and sorrow.
  • Expy: Steve Downes claims that his performance of Master Chief draws from Spaghetti Western heroes, Clint Eastwood in particular being singled out.
  • The Faceless: It's been a series-long running gag to never show his face; the closest we've gotten are some glimpses of him as a child (in Halo 3's "Starry Night" trailer, Halo 4's "Scanned" trailer and prologue, and the visual adaptations of The Fall of Reach), and a brief shot of the area around his shadowed-out eyes in the Legendary ending of Halo 4. The novels give a few vague descriptions of his physical appearance, but even the animated adaptation of The Fall of Reach only fully shows his face from ages six to fourteen.
  • Failure Hero: Make no mistake, Chief has an exceptional track record with missions. But throughout Halo 4, where he spends a majority of his time with only Cortana by his side, Chief's personal missions almost never get accomplished. Trying to contact the Infinity, and preventing them from hitting Requiem's gravity well ends with the Didact manipulating his transmissions to release himself. Keeping the Composer out of the Didact's clutches also ends in failure, with almost everyone on Ivanoff Station being composed.
  • Famed In-Story:
    • His legend spreads from the ODSTs that knew about him beating four of their own in a gym without breaking a sweat, to his tales throughout the UNSC about him and his men defeating the Covenant, and even to the Covenant hating him with (grudgingly respectful) passion for the destruction of the first Halo ring.
    • Subverted in Halo 3's "Believe" ad campaign. While he is honored as the savior of the human race, the battle depicted there is non-canon. Wild Mass Guessing and fanon consider it a massive ONI cover-up campaign to hide the truth about, y'know, all life in the entire galaxy nearly ending and all that. It's hinted the true story is known, however, by the "117" scratched in the monument.
  • A Father to His Men: The Chief cares a lot about not just his fellow Spartans, but also any soldier that follows him into battle. Combat Evolved features him comforting a Marine fearful of death in his lifepod, and is later clearly saddened after watching Jenkins' Apocalyptic Log. The Collateral Damage comic shows that this even extends to a group of Insurrectionists who decide to put their differences aside and fight alongside the UNSC; he displays Tranquil Fury over being forced to pointlessly leave them behind to die.
    • Even those who have already died get treated with tremendous respect by The Chief. While floating through space during Halo Infinite he's noticeably gentle with the bodies of dead UNSC Marines while he's happy to throw Banished bodies around like ragdolls. It's to the point that he actually hesitates to take an assault rifle from a dead Marine still strapped into a Warthog.
    • Also despite being a far newer generation designed to replace the aging Spartan-IIs, he treats the Spartan-IVs with as much reverence as if they are his own brothers, as shown in Infinite whenever he discovers one of their corpses, to the point he even addresses them in familial tones while respecting their sacrifices.
  • Fire-Forged Friends:
    • To Sergeant Johnson judging from their casual attitudes with each other, the two having fought by each other's sides through hell and back. Johnson's demise clearly shakes Chief up pretty badly even if he manages to hide it under his stoic demeanor, to the point where he was even willing to carry his mortally wounded body out the Halo.
    • Especially with Cortana over the course of their history together, to the point where even suggesting to damage her or separate them is enough to piss him off and outright disobey orders. Even with her imminent rampancy, her ascension to villainy, he's still too attached to her to consider letting her go.
    • He and Thel 'Vadam AKA the Arbiter became loyal allies over the course of Halo 3, with Chief quickly dropping his distrust of the Elite after some time fighting together and the two helping watch each other's back. This culminates in the level 'The Covenant', with the duo backed against each other as the Flood closes in, and just earlier Chief had even grabbed the Arbiter by the hand while hanging off Johnson's Pelican so they can escape together. The feeling is mutual too, judging from the Arbiter's bold infiltration of High Charity AKA Flood HQ to rescue Chief in the single player version of the mission 'Cortana', and his comments in the introduction of Halo 2 Anniversary.
  • First-Name Basis: With Blue Team, Dr. Halsey, and Cortana by the end of Halo 3. Locke only calls him "117".
  • Genius Bruiser: He didn't reach Master Chief Petty Officer by brawn alone.
  • Gentle Giant: Well, not if you're an enemy of humanity, but any time Chief is dealing with anything less durable than a fellow Spartan, it's remarkable his level of restraint. He's unwaveringly polite when dealing with regular humans like the Marines, Thomas Lasky, and Echo-216 in Infinite, and even when dealing with those on his own side that directly antagonize him (like Captain Del Rio) who pose about as much threat to him as your average Grunt, the most violent he gets is a quiet "No, sir."
  • A God I Am Not: Hand-in-hand with Humble Hero, Master Chief reassures Echo-216 that Chief is still human, and still has human flaws, like everyone else.
  • Happily Adopted: Abducted, actually, but he seems pretty content with how the military raised him. How much of this might be brainwashing and how much is him actually acclimating to UNSC doctrine isn't made clear.
  • The Hero: He is humanity's hero.
  • Heroic Mime: Aside from cutscenes in the games (and averted in the novels and other Expanded Universe). Averted from Halo 4 onward.
  • Hope Bringer: The moment he shows up, pretty much all UNSC personnel fall in behind him and know their chances of survival just shot up by 1000%.
  • Humble Hero:
    • He tries to stay out of the spotlight, seeming uncomfortable with attention. One of the first things he notices when stepping onto Cairo Station for the recognition ceremony is the cameras in the room, to his displeasure. In the words of Bungie artist Eddie Smith:
      He's pretty much the consummate professional. He does his job, walks off, doesn't even get the girl, he's that cool he doesn't need her.
    • Then there's this from the "Believe" campaign:
      Lt. Niraj Shah: Chief told me once that no soldier should be honored for doing what is expected.
  • I Gave My Word: In Halo 2, he promises he'll bring Cortana back from High Charity when he can. He fulfills that promise in Halo 3.
    John-117: You know me. When I make a promise...
    Cortana: You... keep it... I do know how to pick 'em.
    John-117: Lucky me.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Blames himself for not getting Cortana to safety after promising to do so.
  • I'm Not a Hero, I'm...: He feels that one should never be honored or considered a hero for doing their duty. You're only a hero if you go above and beyond your duty. Everything he does, he merely considers his duty.
  • The Immune: In Mission 5 of Halo 4, the memories of the Librarian give John immunity to Composing.
  • It's All My Fault: In Infinite, he blames himself for all the damage that Cortana's wrought because he could not protect her in 4. Goes even deeper in The Reveal when the Weapon realizes she is a copy of Cortana; Chief pointedly mentions the Weapon is the Cortana "as if [she and the Chief] had never met", with pretty heavy implications that he believes the mere act of meeting each other had been what set her on the path to Halo 5.
  • It's Personal: Takes his defeat at the hands of Atriox badly at the start of Infinite, enough to be visibly irate towards the Banished as he cuts through their ranks in an uncharacteristic amount of Tranquil Fury.
  • It's Raining Men:
    • It's almost a running gag that the Chief takes ridiculous plunges without a parachute or jetpack, to the point that Johnson lampshades it in the prologue to 3.
      Johnson: Crazy fool. Why do you always jump? One of these days you're going to land on something just as stubborn as you are.
    • Taken even further in 4 when he has to get to the Didact's ship. He jumps off the tower and lands on a Lich, stabbing it to stay on.
      John: Track those Liches. We can go across them to get to the Didact's ship.
      Cortana: Wait. Across them?!
      John-117: Yes.

    J-Z 
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While Chief is by no means a Jerkass at all times, he's notably ostentatious towards the Weapon, who genuinely wants to befriend him, and even callously attempts to delete her when she is hacked by the Harbinger. Then again, considering that the Weapon is an exact copy of Cortana herself, who's already caused an apocalyptic amount of trouble for the galaxy at large, it becomes a little understandable why he would be on a hair-trigger at the first sign that the Weapon may become compromised. In fact, when she learns the truth, she horrifyingly begs him to delete her. Seeing this changes his mind about her, as the original Cortana never showed genuine regret for her actions up that point.
  • Jerkass to One: In the grand entirety of the series thus far, for all of the people and things he's fought his way through, none of them managed to rile him up by pure incident as Spartan Locke over the latter trying to arrest and relief Chief of the Cortana situation at gunpoint in Halo 5: Guardians, creating the only on-screen physical altercation between Spartans depicted in the games yet. Though the two work together later on in the story and put the fight behind them, on the interim between games afterwards, when Halsey is concerned about Chief's psyche involving Cortana and offers sending Locke instead, he bluntly shuts down that notion both out of not wanting to get sidelined for something he feels responsible for, and some seeming hint of bitterness over the ordeal.
  • The Juggernaut: From the point of view of the Covenant, (and anybody else who goes up against him, for that matter) John is a quiet, faceless, hyper-lethal, industrially efficient murder machine that destroys anyone and anything that gets between him and his objective. This is especially apparent when John is transported to High Charity, the Covenant capital city, and with almost no backup manages to annihilate every single threat he encounters as he makes a beeline for Truth.
  • Just Friends: John does not reciprocate Cortana's romantic gestures in Halo 5. Unfortunately, Cortana has gone full yandere.
  • Lampshade Hanging: At times, he seems well-aware that he's in a first-person shooter, and this continues even in expanded universe material.
    • In Halo: The Flood, when he storms the Silent Cartographer.
      Cortana: Now all we have to do is find the Silent Cartographer and the map to the Control Room.
      John-117: Right. That, and avoid capture in unknown territory, already held by the enemy, with no air support or backup.
      Cortana: Do you have a plan?
      John-117: Yes. When we get there, I'm going to kill every single Covenant soldier I find.
    • As seen below, in Halo: First Strike:
      Cortana: Can I assume that you have some brutally straightforward yet elegant plan to get us out of this?
      John-117: Yes.
    • And in Halo 3: he presents his entire MO in a nutshell:
      Cortana: Got an escape plan?
      John-117: Thought I'd try shooting my way out. Mix things up a little.
  • Last of His Kind: The series initially indicated he was the last Spartan-II left, with the rest of his fellow cadets that survived the initial augmentations having been wiped out during the war. It's later Subverted when a handful of them appear in later games and stories.
  • Late to the Party: Infinite finds him coming out of stasis after the Banished have done a Total Party Wipe on the UNSC forces, and remnants of the UNSC have fortified themselves on Zeta.
  • The Leader: To the SPARTAN-IIs, as their highest-ranking (indeed, Master Chief Petty Officer is the highest enlisted rank in the UNSC Navy) and most famously skilled member. As the war drags on, he starts to become this (in spirit, at least) for pretty much the entire rank-and-file of the UNSC — soldiers unquestioningly follow his orders in battle and will immediately rally behind him the moment he arrives. It's to the point that other MCPOs in the UNSC Navy elect to go by "Top Chief" rather than "Master Chief" out of respect.
  • Leitmotif: "The Last Spartan" for the Bungie era and "117" for the 343 era.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Like all Spartans, he's damned fast and hits like a truck, and he only gets faster in the Reclaimer saga thanks to sprinting, Spartan abilities, and the Grappleshot.
  • Like Brother and Sister: He and Kelly have been best friends since he was six and she was seven, and this relationship has continued on well into adulthood.
  • Living Legend: He's already held in high regard by humanity by the time of Halo 2 for his actions, but by the time the events of Halo 3 takes place he's practically reached a messianic status. In every game after, many characters who run into him after he's been stranded one way or another acknowledges just how much reputation the Spartan has under his belt.
  • Made of Iron: The books make it clear that he's kept fighting despite heavy injuries on many occasions. That's not even getting into the one time he dropped into Earth from space while protected only by his armor and a piece of metal, and not only survived, but was already at 100% mere hours after landing.
  • Meaningful Name:
  • Messianic Archetype: By the time of Halo 3, he's become something of this to humanity. The Believe series of promotional ads has many human soldiers of the Human/Covenant War, now weary old veterans, recount the events of the war and talk of Chief as their only hope of salvation, and believe he died in battle whilst also saving humanity, with some soldiers believing that Chief will one day return from wherever he vanished to. In the actual game itself, there are multiple points in which soldiers begin to cheer and their morale is instantly raised when they see that the Master Chief has arrived to help.
  • Mortality Phobia:
    • While "fear" is hard to imagine from the big man himself, he acknowledges that, despite knowing he is all but guaranteed to die in battle one day, he by no means welcomes the prospect of death, as shown from his internal monologue while the Ur-Didact tries to crush his skull in Halo: Escalation Issue #10:
      Master Chief: Since [meeting Dr. Halsey], I have experienced a lifetime of combat. Through thirty years of war against alien aggressors… I have always known my fate. I knew someday I would die in battle. But now that it is here… now that it is time to die… I find I am not ready.
    • Rather than cower from death, however, he instead weaponizes this fear to fuel his determination to succeed and carry out his mission. In Infinite he muses to the Weapon about how death can change a person, and every person who confronts it has a choice to make; and Chief, like Escharum, chose to fight.
  • My Greatest Failure: Curses himself for his failure to protect Cortana in Halo 4. He verbalizes it to Echo-216 in Halo Infinite.
    Master Chief: (to The Pilot) I should have protected Cortana. Stopped everything from going wrong. I failed her. I will not fail you.
  • Nice Guy: While not overly compassionate, at least among humans, he is amicable and understanding enough for one so stoic towards friends and strangers alike, and he never throws his weight around aggressively towards his superiors or civilians. Even the Arbiter gets his respect after earning it.
  • Nice to the Waiter: In Combat Evolved he comforts a panicking marine and pays his respects to Jenkins. This extends to supplemental media like The Flood, where he puts away his gun and tries to talk down the Flood-survivor and opts to leave him be. He even tries to reason with the infected Mendoza before it becomes clear that isn't an option. As stated above, he never mistreats anyone below him.
  • Not So Above It All: Not that Master Chief ever talked down to anyone, but in Infinite, he reveals to a depressed Echo-216 that despite all of his training and enhancements, he's still just a human being and makes mistakes like everyone else.
  • Not So Stoic:
    • His professionalism cracks in Halo 3 following the deaths of Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson.
    • He cracks throughout Halo 4 as Cortana's condition worsens. It gets to the point that, for the first time in the games, he raises his voice while shouting Cortana's name when it looks like the Didact destroyed her.
    • In Halo 5, he responds to Locke's declaration that Cortana is no longer Chief's concern with a very non-professional "like hell she is." This being the same guy who, in 4, still managed to maintain his formal tone while openly defying a UNSC superior.
    • By Infinite, while his stoicism remains on the surface, it is easily apparent that for the first time his emotions are easily readable with how much Tranquil Fury he expresses throughout the campaign. He also has a few moments where he is visibly affected by something, such as when he asks the Weapon to confirm that she, too, saw a vision of Cortana's memories—his voice is audibly shaken for just a moment, as if even he is having trouble comprehending what he just saw. In another incident, when Echo-216, who by that point had had all he could take from Zeta Halo and the Banished, begins ranting at Chief regarding their current misfortunes, Chief momentarily cuts him off with a notably riled, "Enough!"; Echo-216 is unfazed, however, and continues to rant — and Chief becomes more soft-spoken, semi-apologizing to him and telling him he needs him.
    • During the Fall of Reach, he noticeably panics when watching Linda get shot several times with plasma weaponry. He dashes her to the cryo bay the moment they land back on the Autumn, despite the fact that she has already flatlined, desperate to save the life of a girl he's been friends with since they were both six.
  • Old Soldier: By the time of Infinite, John is verging on his fifties. Despite this, his extensive combat experience and superior augmentations compared to the newer Spartan IVs still make him nearly unstoppable.
  • One-Man Army:
    • The main Halo games make it clear he is the reason humanity still breathing after all those alien invasions. His combat prowess is ranked at "Hyper Lethal". The only other Spartan known to achieve this is Noble Six, who even then succumbed to extremely overwhelming odds. Even among the other Spartans who were bred for nothing but waging a one-man rampage, Chief and Six are exceptional cases.
    • However, this is also subtly deconstructed; Chief's biggest claims to fame tend to be not so much winning the whole war by himself, but rather always being shipped off to the most relevant objective to the current conflict, and ending up exactly where he needs to be to get the mission done. Rather than tearing his way through the whole of frontlines, this means he gets to deal with the most concentrated defenses and strategically eliminate the key targets up high to foil his foe's plans time and time again. It's to the point that the Gravemind of the Flood itself is Genre Savvy enough to utilize this exact fortune to its own machinations.
  • The Paragon: As outlined in the Believe Campaign:
    "He's received the highest commendations for bravery. Countless decorations for honor and selflessness. But Master Chief's greatest achievement reaches far beyond what any medal could ever hope to commemorate. For the men and women of the 26th Century, he is a human embodiment of possibility, the last Spartan standing against an angry tide. This strength of spirit is forged through his legend. Jericho VII. The Battle of Reach. High Charity. Tales rife with sacrifice and courage. Tales that grow, flourish, and inspire. And while he shapes his own history, he in turn shapes the history of all who follow. For no matter what horrors are released upon the day, they cannot match the reply of soldiers emboldened with his spirit, an army of Master Chiefs unto themselves."
    • To deepen the point, the UNSC actually informally changed the official rank name from "Master Chief" to "Top Chief", out of respect for John. For Humanity, there is only one Master Chief deserving of the title.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: With Cortana. They care deeply for each other, almost like a mother and a son-which makes sense, considering Cortana's origins.
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: In Halo 5: Guardians, the Chief has a small fight with Locke when Osiris encounters Blue Team.
    Chief: I have a job to do.
    Locke: Cortana's our concern now, sir.
    Chief: Like hell she is.
  • The Promise: Promises to rescue Cortana from the Flood at the end of Halo 2, and makes good on it in Halo 3.
  • The Quiet One: Even compared to most of the other Spartans. In the games, he didn't get much dialogue at all until Halo 4 allowed him to talk during gameplay. For perspective, he has just twenty lines in the entirety of Halo 2, and he doesn't even speak during two of his levels ("Outskirts" and "Metropolis").
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: The highest-ranked enlisted Spartan II and one of the highest-ranking Spartan-IIs overall, outranked only by Lieutenant-Commander Kurt-051, eventual Lieutenant Junior Grade Fred-104, and Chief Warrant Officer Grade 5 Jorge-052 and arguably the best.
  • Red Baron: "The Demon", to the Covenant.
  • Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Halo 4 and Halo Infinite both have Chief popping up after having been reported KIA (well, officially MIA, since no Spartan can ever be listed as KIA.)
  • Sealed Badass in a Can: How he starts Halo: Combat Evolved, in cryostasis. And how he ends Halo 3, being released again in Halo 4.
  • Sergeant Rock: Just for reference, the rank of MCPO is equivalent to that of Sergeant Major in the Marine Corps, the second-highest Enlisted rank.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: It's taken a very long time to surface thanks to both Chief's mental training and his sheer force of will, but by the time of Halo 5, some cracks are beginning to break through. The Chief has been pushing himself non-stop instead of taking some time off, and in Blue Team's intro cutscene, he can't stop his hands from shaking as he pilots his Pelican; both are telling signs of PTSD. It's telling that he contemplates his helmet far longer than necessary. There's been psychological analysis on this.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: One that really shows Chief is a Shell-Shocked Veteran by 5:
    Cortana: I'm offering people a chance to be more than they are naturally.
    Chief: Like Doctor Halsey did for me.note 
  • Simple, yet Awesome: Though all the Spartans are very apt at tactical planning, the Chief tends to prefer simple plans that play to the strengths of himself and his Spartans. This also extends to Chief's abilities and prowess themselves; supplemental material shows that he never got the highest marks in tactics or intelligence; however, he is a natural leader, and a Determinator to boot which means that he doesn't need a grand plan to complete the mission.
    • This exchange from Halo: First Strike sums it up:
      Cortana: Can I assume that you have some brutally straightforward yet elegant plan to get us out of this?
      John-117: Yes.
    • Perhaps the best example is in Halo 5, when Blue Team has a very simple way of dealing with a group of sword-wielding Elites when hurtling towards an Alliance ship they're occupying: shoot the reinforced window with a hurricane of gunfire to burst through it, then allow Explosive Decompression to handle the rest as they remain stationary with jetpacks and gravity boots.
  • Socially Awkward Hero: Warfare is the only thing Chief knows, and throughout the series there are rare little moments where his lack of social and emotional grace shows.
    • In the introduction to Halo 2, the first thing Chief does is complain how Johnson promised there wouldn't be any cameras at the ceremony honoring them, and Johnson retorts that Chief said he was going to wear something nice to it, as in anything besides his all-concealing Powered Armor.
    • Throughout most of Infinite, Chief only has really the Pilot as his human friend during the situation and can only muster short and blunt replies to most of his protests, tends to reply in a Blunt "Yes" / Blunt "No", stands around stoically rather than argue back when he's being grilled by him and almost seems uncomfortable/taken aback when the Pilot gives him a huge hug towards the end of their journey.
  • Special Person, Normal Name: Humanity's greatest hero, John.
  • Still Wearing the Old Colors: Once Chief swapped from the MJOLNIR Mark V that he wore during Combat Evolved over to the Mark VI in 2, it became his iconic design series-wide; the system he wears in 4 is technically the same armor upgraded through Nanomachines and Cortana giving the system a configuration upgrade to the then-developing GEN2 model between games to become the Mark VI MOD, and his armor in Infinite is explicitly a modernization of the GEN1 design of the Mark VI whereas nearly every single other SPARTAN had swapped to either the more modern Mark VII or improvised alternatives after the Created War. Notably the only exception to the rule is 5, where he's using a modified GEN2 to resemble the Mark VI MOD because his long-standing armor became too damaged to keep using in Escalation.
  • The Stoic: Generally maintains a quiet, professional demeanor.
  • Super-Soldier: Like all his brethren, John has been biologically augmented into the ultimate badass.
  • Supporting Leader: To the Arbiter near the end of Halo 2. While the Chief attacks the Covenant's capital city (mostly) singlehandedly, the Arbiter is the one who defeats Tartarus and saves the day (for the moment).
  • Supporting Protagonist: In Halo 2, he is this to the Arbiter. While Chief is still the main character you control, the Arbiter is the one who undergoes more Character Development and is ultimately the one to fight Tartarus and prevent Delta Halo's firing in the game's final level. Chief meanwhile spends the second half of his missions chasing Truth and Mercy around in High Charity and sets up the events of Halo 3.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: On occasion, he has this reaction:
    • He's not thrilled in Halo: The Flood when he's told he'll have to deactivate the pulse generators by walking into them and draining his shields.
    • When Cortana suggests a quick way to get to Keyes, she admits it could be risky, and John comments that something tells him he isn't going to like this.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: He's often confronted with the dilemma of whether to follow his orders to the letter or protect his fellow soldiers, grappling with his feelings on whether it's appropriate to sacrifice others for the greater good. In chronological order:
    • In Silent Storm, he's forced to order a platoon of ODSTs to their deaths in order to complete a critical mission. He does it, but it's clear that it weighs heavily on him.
    • Oblivion sees him nearly miss a crucial rendezvous with a Prowler commander he needs to meet. Rather than report as ordered, he runs out the mission clock trying to save a militia squad and keep the Covenant from capturing a strategic resource that will fuel their genocidal war machine in the future. He fails on both counts.
    • He and Blue Team have to leave the Prowler's crew unguarded for most of a day on a Death World in order to capture a Covenant frigate without the exhausted and heatstroke-afflicted crew slowing them down.
    • In First Strike, he's faced with the choice of whether or not to inform ONI that Sergeant Johnson is immune to Flood infection. If he does, they'll have a slightly better chance to find a cure—but ONI will likely vivisect Johnson to discover the secret to his immunity. He decides not to tell them.
    • When ordered to turn over Cortana to Del Rio in Halo 4, it turns out to be an easy decision for him and he openly defies the order.
    • In Infinite, he initially veers into the Lawful side when he attempts to delete the Weapon when it seems she is about to be captured and hacked, as part of protocol for dealing with rampant or compromised AI's. This earns him an earful from the Weapon, who is very icy towards him for the rest of the mission. However, when the Weapon later learns her origins and asks to be deleted because of it, this time around the Chief refuses and states that, while he doesn't yet trust the Weapon, he wants to.
  • Tragic Bromance: With Samuel-034, who John admits is the closest thing to an actual brother he ever got to have. Sam dies Taking the Bullet for John, and at fourteen years of age is the first SPARTAN-II killed-in-action. His death devastates John, and it ends up having a very strong effect on the solemn and focused manner John approaches his duty with.
  • Tranquil Fury:
    • A moment in Halo 4 occurs when Captain Del Rio dismisses the threat of the Didact to humanity and demands that John surrender the clearly-going-rampant Cortana. John, all seven feet, 1000 pounds of him, simply stares Rio down and utters a simple "No, sir," and it's quite obvious John is mentally holding himself back. In that moment Del Rio would probably have been safer shouting down the barrel of a fully armed and loaded Super MAC.
    • In Halo 5, after Cortana tries to explain her actions post Face–Heel Turn John tells her that he doesn't simply want to hear any of it at every opportunity, and judging by the sound of his voice, actually sounds pissed at what Cortana is doing.
    • A very short moment in Halo Infinite: While searching for Cortana, the Weapon appears on a pedestal and bluntly announces her deletion. For just a hair's width of a second, John rounds on her in a manner that indicates he was about to beat whoever just spoke absolutely senseless without even a word, only stopping when he sees it was the Weapon whom was speaking, and whom clarifies that it was not her who did it—and is very obviously not at all sure what is going on.
    • Also in Infinite, his behavior on a whole seems largely more irate than usual while maintaining his characteristic stoicism somewhat due to being nearly killed by Atriox at the start of the game, putting him out-of-commission for six months and with said failure leading him into a position of feeling like every death caused by the Banished afterwards being It's All My Fault.
  • Tragic Keepsake: The first teaser for Halo 5 shows him keeping Cortana's data crystal chip on him after her death during the Didact's assault on Earth. Considering that Cortana's chip was destroyed before the final fight with the Ur-Didact in Halo 4, it's more a symbolic representation of what he lost.
  • Troll: In Combat Evolved, Cortana suspects the Chief of being this when he crashes his damaged Banshee and bails just in time to climb into the Pillar of Autumn. The Chief doesn't deny it.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Master Chief may seem at times like a Blood Knight, but it's more this — he seldom is in any situation where he has any tools to deal with a problem aside from shooting his way out. He's entirely aware of it and even jokes about it with Cortana after rescuing her in Halo 3.
    Pelican Pilot: We need to run!
    Master Chief: (Beat) I need a weapon.
  • Worthy Opponent: The Covenant are more or less forced to acknowledge he is essentially unstoppable. John has helped to eradicate several fleets and exterminated entire divisions of their troops almost single-handedly.
    Locke: May I ask you something? Your people used to call him "Demon." Was that an insult or a compliment?
    Thel 'Vadam: ...An insult, to be sure. But one with a modicum of respect.
    • Despite his animosity in general towards the Banished, Chief shows Escharum genuine sympathy and respect as he dies in his arms, in part due to recognizing that Escharum is much like himself.
      Master Chief: Death changes people. Forces you to look at yourself, make a choice.
      The Weapon: And what did he choose?
      Master Chief: Same as I would. Fight.
  • Younger Than He Looks: When we do get to see glimpses of his face, John has visibly aged quickly thanks to both his augmentations and the stress of fighting in a decades-long war. This is most apparent in the Collateral Damage comic, in which this is a 14-year old John. This is apparently natch for most SPARTAN-II cases; as a result of the extreme cybernetic and genetic augmentation and training regimes.

Alternative Title(s): Halo Spartan II Program Master Chief

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