John-117

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"No soldier should be honored for doing what is expected."

- John-117 to First Lieutenant Shah, Second Battle of Mombasa

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, often referred to as the Master Chief or Chief by other humans, Demon by Covenant warriors, is a United Nations Space Command SPARTAN-II supersoldier and the protagonist and main playable character of Halo: CE, Halo 2 and Halo 3.

Childhood and Spartan Training
As a child, John lived in Elysium City on Eridanus II. He had brown hair, freckles, and a small gap between his front teeth. At the age of six he was identified by Dr. Catherine Halsey as one of 150 preliminary candidates for the SPARTAN-II program. John was an ideal physical candidate, standing a head taller than his schoolmates, having perfect physical proportions, and exhibiting quick reflexes. His genetic structure also stood up to Dr. Halsey's rigorous requirements. When Dr. Halsy and Lieutenant Jacob Keyes vistied Eridanus II to study him, they were impressed with his intellect and more importantly, his luck. In a final test of his viability as a candidate, he was asked to determine which side a flipped coin would land on. He watched the coin as it flew in the air and caught it before it could land. John and 74 other six-year-olds were "conscripted" -- covertly kidnapped from their homes without their consent -- and replaced with Flash Clones which later died of natural causes.

John was renamed John-117 and began a new life that eliminated all aspects of civilian life. The Spartans trained under CPO Mendez for seven years, receiving tutelage in history and military strategy as well as weapons and physical fitness training. He bonded early with SPARTAN-087 and Spartan-034, who would be the only close friends he would ever have. Sam's untimely death in 2525 affected John profoundly.

When the Spartans were eight years old, they went on their first training mission. The Spartans were dropped over a wood and expected to get safely to their extraction Pelican. The children also had instructions to leave the last child arriving behind. When the group came upon the Pelican, it was guarded by armed men. John showed early acumen in critical thinking and tactics, not wishing to take it for granted that guards would be friendly toward the children. He came up with a plan to take the men down, capture the drop ship, and ensure the safe extraction of every team member, as he made sure he was the last person aboard. This action caused him to be promoted to Squad Leader of the Spartans.

At the age of 14, John underwent the dangerous and painful process of augmentation that caused many of the Spartans to "wash out" through death or debilitation. John-117 was one of 32 Spartans who made it through the process ideally.

Early Military Career
Promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer, John-117's first mission was against rebels in the asteroid belt of the Eridanus System, where his homeworld was located. He was slightly wounded while leading his squad to capture rebel leader Colonel Robert Watts. He received a Purple Heart after the mission.

Shortly thereafter he was introduced to the Covenant threat. He and his Spartans would fight them for the next 27 years, employing the MJOLNIR Mark IV armor. John's first battle against the Covenant was just after they received the Mark IV armor. All Spartans launched with thrusters from a Pelican. Each Spartan carried an Anvil missile with them to destroy a Covenant ship. Only three Spartans entered through a hole in the hull of the ship, which was put there by a MAC round. These Spartans were Samuel-034 and Kelly-087. They succeeded the mission and blew up the Covenant ship, but lost Sam in the process. This first UNSC victory against the Covenant showed John that the Covenant could be beaten, but at a high cost.

John served in over 200 missions against the Covenant, including the Battle of Jericho VII and the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, in which he detonated a nuclear bomb to clear all forces from the planet. This was one of only a few UNSC victories. A data crystal was discovered during this mission which contained coordinates of Installation 04 and led up to the events in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: The Flood.

The Battle of Reach though brief, was of great significance for John. The majority of the Spartans went to the planet's surface to protect MAC generators. John, with Linda-058 and James, was sent to a docking station to protect an unsecured NAV database. If the Covenant obtained it they would find out the location of Earth, which was still a closely guarded secret. John was successful, but at a great cost. James tumbled into deep space and Linda was gravely wounded. John saved four other Marines including Sergeant Johnson. The team returned to the Pillar of Autumn and escaped Reach. Linda was put in cryo and was healed by Doctor Halsey after the Battle of Installation 04.

Installation 04
When John boarded the Pillar of Autumn, it was attacked by the Covenant. Captain Jacob Keyes ordered all hands to abandon ship and crash landed on Halo, Alpha Installation 04. Initially fighting on Halo was between UNSC and Covenant forces, but after Captain Keyes' unwitting release of dormant Flood parasites, the majority of both forces were infected by the Flood and fighting shifted to eliminating the new enemy. John and his AI partner, Cortana, were responsible for retrieving the Index for 343 Guilty Spark, a device which would activate Halo and destroy all Flood forms within a large radius. Later, Cortana informed him of the installation's true purpose-- to destroy all sentient life forms large enough to serve as food for Flood. John fought Covenant, Flood and Forerunner Sentinels, returned to the Pillar of Autumn and destroyed Halo. Very few other members of the UNSC forces survived, notably Sergeant Major Johnson.

OPERATION: First Strike
After the destruction of Alpha Halo, the Master Chief and Cortana floated in space in the Longsword they escaped in. He discovered three cyro tubes floating nearby, one containing Linda, and retrieved them. Soon after, the Covenant Flagship Ascendant Justice came into the system along with a few cruisers. A nearby Pelican dropship fired at the cruiser to distract it. John linked the two vessels and brought its passengers aboard to the Longsword. Seven others helped John in capturing a Covenant ship, eventually rendezvousing with the Eridanus Rebels and destroying the Covenant space station Unyielding Hierophant.

John faced a dilemma regarding the combat data on the Flood. Providing regular data, and not complete data, would protect Sgt. Johnson from possible experimentation by ONI, as he survived Flood infection due to complications from Boren's Syndrome.

John and the few remaining Spartans, Linda, Grace, Will, and Fred, focused on finding a way to stop the Covenant from reaching Earth, the location of which has been discovered. They decide to destroy the Covenant Battleship 'Unyielding Hierophant. The Spartans infiltrated the ship, and after eleven hours onboard reach a temple, where a copy of Cortana warns them of a new type of guard known as "Brutes". Linda took a sniper post and the other four entered the temple. They are ambushed by Brutes, and John is nearly killed, but manages to kill their attackers. Grace is killed by a Brute Shot that chieftan Brutes used and John activated the failsafe on her armor.

The team sabotaged the generator in the Hierophant and as they escaped out a side door, the failsafe on Grace's armor activated, disintegrating several Elites and many Grunts. John, Fred, and Will were quickly spotted by three Banshees, but their Elite pilots were hit by Linda's sniper fire. The Banshees were then captured by the Spartans. John doubled back to retrieve Linda, who took down four more Elites attempting to kill John. They quickly escape, and arrive back at the Gettysburg.

Vice Admiral Whitcomb and Lietenant Haverson piloted the Ascendant Justice straight towards the Unyielding Hierophant. Whitcomb discusses the Alamo and Thermopylae with John, then prepares to fight the Covenant off while the Unyielding Hierophant's fusion reactor detonates. Every one of the five hundred covenant ships maneuvers in right next to the Ascendant Justice, and the Admiral draws an SMG. The Admiral and the Lieutenant die when the fusion reactor explodes. The explosion annihilates four-hundred and eighty-eight ships of the Covenant fleet, leaving only a dozen badly damaged ships to invade Earth. John leaves after witnessing Whitcomb's sacrifice, and arrives back at Earth with the last members of his team, Linda, Will, and Fred.

The Battle Comes to Earth
Aboard the orbiting defense station Cairo, John's Mark V Mjolnir armor was upgraded to a Mark VI model. He attended a brief awards ceremony aboard the station. The ceremony was interrupted by Covenant boarders, which he repulsed. The John then briefly participated with defense in the First Battle of Earth. After Cortana successfully deactivated a Covenant bomb intended to destroy the Cairo, he requested permission from Lord Hood to leave the ship to "give the Covenant back their bomb". John dragged the bomb into a Longsword bay to launch it. The hanger depressurized and flung him and the bomb back to a Covenant Capital Ship's fusion chamber and detonate the bomb.

John then hitched a ride on In Amber Clad, headed to New Mombasa, East African Protectorate to combat invading Covenant troops. His Pelican dropship was shot down by a Scarab's main cannon. John and other surviving Marines fought their way to the other surviving Pelicans. After a rendezvous with Gunnery Sergeant Pete Stacker in the Zanzibar Hotel, in Old Mombasa, the Master Chief destroyed Covenant units along the shore of the city as he chases the tracks of the Scarab. Arriving at the edge of Old Mombasa, John received a Scorpion Tank from Sergeant Johnson.

Fighting through numerous highway tunnels and suburbs, John reached the city center, where Marines under the command of Staff Sergeant Banks were pinned down. With the assistance of the Marines and a large stockpile of weapons, John boarded and destroyed the Scarab. The Master Chief is then transported to In Amber Clad to intercept the Prophet of Regret's flagship. When the flagship starts to enter Slipspace, Commander Miranda Keyes is granted permission to follow it. The Master Chief and all on board In Amber Clad were brought to Installation 05.

Installation 05
"Cortana... what exactly am I looking at?"

- Miranda Keyes "That... is another Halo."

- Cortana

Forced to act quickly once at Installation 05, John manned a HEV with several ODSTs, tasked with locating and assassinating the Prophet of Regret. Cortana informed him of Regret's intent to fire Halo as soon as possible. He tracked the Prophet of Regret to a temple in the middle of a lake, but not before witnessing countless Covenant vehicles coming out of slipspace, followed by High Charity. He quickly dispatched the Prophet of Regret, and escaped the temple shortly before it is destroyed by an overhead cruiser.

Losing consciousness and so unable to swim in the lake, he is captured by a long tentacle belonging to the Flood Gravemind. Shortly after, the Arbiter is also captured. The Gravemind appeals to the common interest that Flood and Humans share-- that of not wishing the Halos to be fired. John agrees. The Gravemind then tasked both captives with locating the Index, sending them to the two most likely locations. The Arbiter was sent to Halo's Control Room, where he finds the Index. John was sent to High Charity, where the Prophet of Truth is preparing to abandon High Charity, which was suffering from both a massive Sangheili genocide and a rapidly spreading Flood epidemic.

Fighting through conflicting sides-- Covenant loyalists lead by the Brutes, Elites backed by Grunts and Hunters, and the Flood-- John and Cortana caught up to the Prophet of Regret's ship. Forced to leave Cortana behind so she can denotate In Amber Clad's engines should the ring be activated, John boarded the vessel shortly before it lifts off, leaving High Charity. As soon as the Prophet of Regret's ship emerged from Slipspace to join in the assault of Earth, John informed Lord Hood of his presence aboard the vessel.

Battle of Voi
"Radio for VTOL. Heavy lift gear. We're not leaving him here."

- Johnson, upon finding what seemed to be John's corpse "Yeah... you're not."

- John-117, grabbing Johnson's arm

John escaped Truth's ship and crash landed on Earth, where he was found by Sergeant Johnson, the Arbiter, and the rest of their team. Though the Master Chief seemed dead, he was awake and battle-ready only minutes later. He attempted to attack the Arbiter, thinking he was still an enemy. Johnson informed him that they were now allies, as the disillusioned Arbiter had defected from the Covenant.

John and the Marines travelled through the jungle, searching for evac to a nearby military base. Johnson and his team split up from John and the Arbiter, and they were later captured by loyalist Covenant Brutes and rescued by John and the Arbiter. After taking heavy fire from Phantoms a Pelican dropship evacuated the team to a UNSC base.

At the base, Commander Miranda Keyes decided to evacuate all forces, many of whom were injured. John, the Arbiter and UNSC fought and defended the base during evacuation, planting a bomb to destroy the base along with Covenant forces. Master Chief fought his way through many Brutes, escaping the explosion in an an elevator. He met up with several Marine survivors underground, and they escaped the base and headed for the city of Voi.

At the Battle of Voi, John pushed through many loyalist forces as he made his way to what was believed to be the Ark. Rather, this turned out to be a device that opened up a portal to the Ark. John destroyed a Covenant AA gun, Anti-Air Wraiths and a Scarab, allowing Lord Hood's ships to fire upon Truth's defenses. Truth fled through the portal with his loyalists forces, while the UNSC remained behind to determine their next move.

Just as the Second Battle of Earth seemed finished, a flood-infested Covenant warship crash landed in Voi. John fought to contain the Flood infection, learning that the only way to contain the Flood was to explode the warship. During the battle, Ship Master Rtas 'Vadum came to aid the UNSC. He fought off the Flood as the Master Chief was sent to retrieve Cortana from the warship, as it was believed she was on board. Aided by 343 Guilty Spark, John retrieved a damaged data device and returned to Shadow of Intent. This data turned out to be a message, rather than Cortana herself. The Elites were able to stop the Flood infestation by glassing half of Africa, much to Lord Hood's displeasure.

The Elites and the UNSC watched Cortana's recording, which contained a warning that High Charity, now overwhelmed and controlled by the Flood Gravemind, was headed for Earth. However, she offered hope, with information of a way to stop the Halos from firing and neutralize the Flood threat. Convinced of the reliability of Cortana's message, John resolved to journey to the Ark while Hood mobilized remaining UNSC forces on Earth. John accompanied a joint UNSC-Elite task force through the portal aboard Forward Unto Dawn to board the Ark.

Battle of The Ark
The Elites carried UNSC forces through the portal which to the Ark. The team was determined to stop Truth from activating the seven Halos. They descended in Pelicans to the surface of the Ark to find the Silent Cartographer, eliminating Covenant loyalists and securing a landing zone for Forward Unto Dawn. Traveling in Scorpions, John and other Marines located the Silent Cartographer and learned that Truth was in a Citadel. John, the Arbiter, and joint troops successfully assaulted the fortress.

John fought through loyalist forces and reached the top of the tower, where he deactivated part of the shield to Truth's location. Sergeant Johnson was captured in the battle but not killed, being spared to serve as a Reclaimer. John, the Arbiter, and Elites deactivated the last tower of the citadel as High Charity comes out of slipspace, bringing the Flood into the battle and damaging the elite carrier Shadow of Intent.

Entering the Citadel, John and the Arbiter pushed toward Truth's location, where Miranda Keyes had forced her way in, breaking through the window with her Pelican. She managed to kill a Brute, but was soon surrounded. Truth killed Keyes with a Spiker when she hesitated to kill Johnson. Johnson was forced by Truth to activate the Halos. In an odd turn of events, John and the Arbiter made a temporary alliance with the Flood to stop the activation of the Halos. The final Brute defenses were defeated by the Flood as John and the Arbiter reached Truth. Truth was infected by the Flood and was killed by the Arbiter while the Master Chief deactivated the rings.

The Gravemind revealed himself, laughing as he succeeded in preventing his own destruction before turning on John and the Arbiter. The two escaped. As they were leaving the citadel, John saw a vision of Cortana that led him to the exit. He learned that a replacement for Installation 04 had been built by the Ark. He decided to return to High Charity to retrieve Cortana.

On High Charity, John battled his way through hordes of Flood forces to reach Cortana, who still had the activation Index from the first Halo ring. John made his way back through High Charity and forced the Covenant City to explode. On his way out, Cortana detected a friendly unit which turned out to be the Arbiter. As High Charity was destroyed, the Flood was believed to be defeated but not destroyed

Firing Replacement Installation 04
"Halo. It's so new... unfinished. I'm not exactly sure what will happen when we fire it..."

- Cortana to the Chief, evaluating their plan to activate Halo "We'll head for the Portal. And we'll all go home"

- Chief to Cortana

The final task for John, the Arbiter, and Cortana was to destroy the Flood by activating the replacement Installation 04. The three landed on the Halo, finding that the Flood was not defeated, but instead trying to rebuild itself on the Halo. Flood dispersal pods released Combat Forms into battle against John and the Arbiter, forcing them to fight their way up to the tower where the ring could be destroyed. During the battle, Sergeant Johnson arrived on the Halo aboard Forward Unto Dawn. Johnson helped the Chief and the Arbiter fight using a Spartan Laser. 343 Guilty Spark opened the door to the control room and locked the Flood out. However, once inside, Guilty Spark realized that the team intended to fire the Halo before it could be completed, and that they did not intend to activate all the Halos as intended by the Forerunners His "protocol" forced him to stop Johnson from activating Installation 04. He shot Johnson, locked out the Arbiter from the room, and attempted to kill John. John stood his ground and fought. Just as the Monitor seemed invulnerable, Johnson shot the Monitor, temporarily distracting him. He then handed off the laser, and John finished off Guilty Spark. Johnson's injury was fatal, and he requested that John send him out "with a bang" after handing over Cortana's data chip and imploring him "Don't ever let her go."

Cortana activated Installation 04 and they fled the Halo fighting Flood the whole way. Both Cortana and the Arbiter gave their condolences for the loss of Johnson. The team boarded Forward Unto Dawn and escaped the explosion of Installation 04. However, the Slipspace portal opened for them could not sustain itself during the explosion, and its closure severed the ship in half, sending the Arbiter on to Earth and leaving John and Cortana in an unknown location, possibly Onyx.

Missing in Action
"Hard to believe he's dead."

- Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood "Were it so easy..."

- The Arbiter

John and Cortana were presumed dead when they did not make it back to Earth. The cockpit portion of Forward Unto Dawn, bearing the Arbiter, crash landed on Earth and was left as a monument to those who died in defense of Humanity. The Chief's Spartan ID number, 117, was carved into the memorial by an unknown party, and taped beside his number was the UNSC Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy insignia patch.

John and Cortana did in fact survive the explosion of Installation 00 in the remaining cargo portion of the Dawn, but it was nearly powerless and, without airlocks or a bridge, could not be properly navigated. Cortana, relieved that John survived, explained this to the Chief, and that it could take years before anyone could discover their distress signal. John stowed himself in a cryo tube, at which point Cortana said "I'll miss you." John replied with, "Wake me when you need me."

After an unknown amount of time, the remainder of the Dawn drifted toward an unknown object, with planet wide city lights that formed the Marathon logo. Master Chief's fate is currently unknown. It may be that the wreckage of the Dawn was deposited in or near the Iris Nebula.

Age
John's age is affected by the same ambiguities as all beings that leave their homeworlds. By technical human Earth years, John is approximately 41 years old at the time he crash-landed on Installation 04. However, during the 27 Earth years that he has spent fighting the Covenant, considerable time was spent in Slipspace. Short Slipspace jumps can take several weeks in Earth time, and long jumps can take months or years, meaning that Slipspace travelers have not aged as much as those who did not travel with them. This phenomenon, Time Dilation, is an aspect of Special Relativity, in which clocks in a moving frame of reference appear to move more slowly than clocks in a non-moving frame of reference. The aging process can be further slowed in Slipspace by deep sleep in cryochambers, in which all cellular aging can be halted completely.

So, although 41 Earth years had passed between John's birth and his arrival on Installation 04, his relative biological age would be much younger. It is presumed that in the 26th century, human longevity would be extended somewhere near its theorized maximum limit of 150 years, which would make 41 years of age the equivalent of being 21 years old in early 21st century aging. Considering that John has undergone physical augmentation, spent time in Slipspace (and in cryo while in Slipspace), his physical condition should be that of a young man at full maturity and the peak of physical health, with a numeric age in Earth years irrelevant to determining age.

Trivia
A model was never made for John's face in the game. Although Bungie has consistently stated that John's face would never be revealed to help players imagine themselves as Master Chief, numerous claims have been made that John's face was visible at some point.
 * In Halo 2 Multiplayer or Campaign, pressing "down" on the D-pad causes characters to put his gun down to cease fire. Throwing all grenades and holding down the left trigger will also produce the same effect. This technique has been used in many machinima like "Red vs Blue" or "The Codex" to make the characters appear to be in conversational, rather than combat-ready, mode. However, only the latter method works on Xbox Live. This was disabled in Halo 3 but changed to holding down LB, RB, A, crouch, down on the D-pad for 3 seconds.
 * In both Halo: Uprising Issue 1 and Halo 3, John is referred to as Sierra 117. This is a military-appropriate identifier using the Phonetic Alphabet.
 * At the end of Halo 3, shown on the memorial to fallen heroes, the Master Chief Petty Officer insignia next to the 117 carving has three stars, with the third being being covered up by tape. This is the rank insignia for Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (highest position for an enlisted sailor). Rank insignia may have changed over the centuries or it may have been a posthumous promotion. It is also interesting to note that this is the good behavior variant of the rank insignia.
 * John's name was never mentioned in any Halo game until the Final cutscene in Halo 3.
 * Fans have many theories as to the significance of his number, 117. Inside the Haloverse the number was randomly assigned, but Bungie's choice has been theorized upon in many ways:
 * In the Bible, John I became 7th Bishop of Jerusalem in 117AD.
 * One possible explanation involves raising the number "7" to different powers. 7 to the third power is 343 (as in 343 guilty spark), 7 to the fourth power is 2401 (as in 2401 penitent tangent). 7 raised to the sixth power equals 117,649, shortened for practical purposes to 117.
 * During the Halo 3 Beta several players posted videos of a possible version of the Master Chief's face. This face was an easter egg left by Bungie, and is a model of one of their employees.
 * Special modding tools show that during the final cutscene of Halo: CE, John removes his helmet to reveal another helmet underneath.
 * Many references to John's face can be found in Halo spoofs.

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