Gabriel Thorne

"Thorne" redirects here. For other uses, see Thorne (disambiguation).

"I enlisted with the Spartans because I was in the Army a year before my family and friends were killed in New Phoenix. I always thought the Spartans were special. Maybe I could have saved them."

- Thorne discussing his reason for joining the Spartan branch to Dr. Halsey

Gabriel Thorne (service number 83920-91083-GT) is a SPARTAN-IV supersoldier and a member of the 's Spartan contingent. In early 2558, Thorne was assigned as the newest member of Fireteam Majestic, the team being deployed aboard in February. The next month, following the death of Paul DeMarco at Ealen IV, he was given command of Majestic.

Early life and military career
Thorne was born on July 5, 2534 on Earth to a pair of respected Army officers. He grew up beyond Earth until his sixth birthday, when his maternal grandfather convinced Gabriel's mother to move to New Phoenix, URNA. Thorne held disdain for New Phoenix; while he loved living around his grandparents, he thought that Earth and New Phoenix was too built up and too old. Around 2542, when he was eight years old, his parents died on Alluvion when the planet was attacked and glassed by the Covenant. After his parents' death, his grandmother began to teaching him to play violin, hoping that Thorne would join the New Phoenix Philharmonic and would not follow his parents' footsteps. Thorne lived in New Phoenix for ten years before enlisting with the UNSC Army at a young age, presumably when he was seventeen years old.

Thorne's earliest known engagement occurred on Criterion, where he single-handedly saved his entire platoon. He later fought on Tribute and Reach during the Covenant's invasion of the Epsilon Eridani system. A few months later he served under Colonel James Ackerson during the Battle of Mare Erythraeum on Mars. In 2553, his grandfather died and he was present in his funeral; it was the last time he saw his grandmother and visited New Phoenix. Thorne's courage tactical awareness allowed him placement into the SPARTAN-IV program in mid-2557. He was away on a recruitment deployment when the Didact's attack on New Phoenix killed his family and friends. Spartan Thorne was assigned to Fireteam Majestic in early 2558.

Second Battle of Requiem
Fireteam Majestic was deployed to the UNSC's flagship, Infinity, in February 2558. Sometime later, Fireteams Crimson and Majestic were sent north of the UNSC's area of operations in Requiem in order to shut down Forerunner power generators. Upon reaching their location, both Crimson and Majestic had their long-range communications jammed by Forerunner jamming devices. When DeMarco questioned why Infinity command could not hear him, Thorne joked they were probably ignoring him. After deactivating the jammers, their mission continued. Initiated by Commander Sarah Palmer, the mission became a competition for the fireteams to see who could complete their mission objectives first. Majestic took the lead at first, but were ultimately bested by Crimson.

Sometime later, Fireteam Majestic was being engaged by multiple Promethean Crawlers. Anthony Madsen started complaining about the Prometheans' ability to "pop up" anywhere, when a Promethean Knight translocated into the area and shot Madsen in the shoulder. Several others then translocated in the area and engaged Majestic. They survived the fight and were extracted back to Infinity.

Thorne later volunteered to guard Doctor Catherine Halsey while she worked on the Forerunner artifact recovered by Crimson. He questioned her about the use of children for the SPARTAN-II program. He also asked if she thought the current generation of Spartans were capable of being true Spartans. He later told her why he joined the SPARTAN-IVs, expressing his guilt that he was not able to do anything to save his family and friends during the New Phoenix incident. When asked about the Prometheans, he told Dr. Halsey they were nothing but trouble.

Sometime during the operation in recovering the "Didact's Gift" from Galileo Base, Majestic was pinned down due to Covenant air support. With the base air defenses offline, Thorne quickly hijacked a low-flying Type-26 Banshee and destroyed a nearby Type-44 Phantom dropship, allowing the Fireteam to return to the Infinity. As the device was being examined by Dr. Halsey and Roland, the matrix gave off an energy burst, it sent images of New Phoenix throughout the monitors within the room, which Thorne quickly recognized. He noticed that the translocation artifact appeared in one of the images; curious, he left the laboratory and later approached the artifact. Wondering how the artifact could have been present at New Phoenix prior to its discovery, Thorne touched it and was unexpectedly translocated to a Forerunner structure in the Cauldron, where he was immediately surrounded by Sangheili Storm forces. Thorne put up a fight, managing to kill most of the Sangheili before being knocked unconscious. Coming to, he pretended to stay unconscious as the Covenant forces led him to their base. After arriving, Dr. Henry Glassman—who had escaped at the time—arrived at the front entrance. Thorne chose then to get up and kill his two Sangheili captors. When Gek 'Lhar remotely activated Glassman's plasma charge-rigged vest, Thorne quickly disposed of it and the two fled.

Gek quickly picked up their trail and pursued them. Some time later, Gek ambushed the pair as they were resting. Thorne quickly disarmed Gek of his Type-1 energy sword and engaged him in a close-quarters brawl. Gek, however, managed to gain the upper hand from Thorne after smashing a large rock over his chest and head. Just before Gek could kill Thorne, the rest of Fireteam Majestic arrived. DeMarco shot the Elite dead, saving Thorne's life. Afterwards, Thorne searched the dead Sangheili for anything significant, giving DeMarco the energy sword in gratitude, as well as Gek's personal collection of UNSC dog tags. Thorne also took Gek's personal Type-3 active camouflage module for himself, while Madsen only found a map of Requiem. Later, with Thorne's help, Glassman had Crimson head to certain locations to ensure the map was accurate.

As a Pelican landed to bring Glassman back to Infinity, Captain Lasky contacted Majestic via hologram, ordering them to rescue Halsey, who had been taken by the Covenant and had a kill order placed on her by CINCONI, Admiral Serin Osman. Returning to the Librarian's shrine, Thorne got the guards' attention, before Majestic opened fire from the high ground. DeMarco ordered Thorne to proceed inside and rescue Halsey. He caught Jul 'Mdama off guard and killed two of his bodyguards. As Jul grabbed Halsey, she passed him one half of the Janus Key given to her by the Librarian. As Palmer turned up, Jul summoned Promethean Knights to cover his escape. By the time the Spartans managed to destroy the Knights, Jul teleported away, with Halsey in tow. After yelling in frustration, Palmer demanded to know why Majestic was there. DeMarco explained that they were on a rescue mission, to which Palmer retorted that Halsey was a traitor. Thorne did not believe so, and showed the Commander that Halsey had given him one half of the Key.

After Jul 'Mdama set Requiem to a self-destruct trajectory with its sun, Thorne and the rest of Majestic were dispatched to deactivate one of the artifacts keeping Infinity locked in the shield world's orbit. Though they faced heavy resistance, the Spartans were successful in their mission and were evacuated on Infinity via a Pelican dropship at the last moment before Requiem collided with the star.

Freighter ambush and Oth Lodon


Sometime after the Second Battle of Requiem, Palmer transferred DeMarco to Fireteam Bailey and put Thorne in command of Fireteam Majestic, which led to the death of DeMarco in the Battle of Ealen IV. In March 11, 2558, six days after DeMarco's death, Thorne and the rest of Fireteam Majestic were deployed along Fireteams Colossus and Fenrir to repel an attack to the Infinity and prevent the freighter Pilgrims Pride from self-destructing on the ship. Leading the fireteams, Thorne ordered teams Colossus and Fenrir to secure the ship while Majestic made their way to the core. As the Spartans advance through the freighter, they encountered automated defense turrets. With the enemy going into retreat, the freighter was tugged out into space, where Grant ejected the ship's core before it exploded. The Spartans survived the detonation and requested extraction.

Following the attack, Infinity learned that the assault crafts from the freighter belonged to the long-lost. Roland discovered that the freighter was launched near Oth Lodon, a gas giant located deep in Jiralhanae space. With the Spirit's possible location found, Lord Hood authorized Commander Palmer to conduct a search and rescue mission. Equipped with OF92 Booster Frames, Fireteam Majestic and Palmer scouted the planet's system. During the expedition, Thorne asked Madsen to restrain himself from pushing the limits of his booster frame. Madsen retorted that Palmer was in command, at which point Palmer told him to listen to Thorne as leader of Majestic. Exploring the system's asteroid field, the Spartans came across not the Spirit of Fire but instead a Covenant station under control by New Colonial Alliance insurgents.

The NCA station disabled Infinity using its powerful energy projector, prompting Commander Palmer to lead Majestic in an effort to take control of the station. After evading oncoming missiles, the Spartans quickly boarded the station and secured the bridge, ordering everyone to freeze. Clayton told his crew not to listen and asked the Spartans if they knew who he was. Madsen responded saying he knew who he was and knocked Clayton down for being responsible for DeMarco's death. The Spartans then turned their attention to Shipmaster Vata 'Gajat, who was preparing to assault the crippled Infinity. With the station's cannon back online, they fired on 'Gajat's flagship, destroying it and saving Infinity.

Homecoming
By March 22, Fireteam Majestic was stationed aboard the orbital defense platform Oaxaca Station over Earth while Infinity underwent repairs. Aboard the station, Thorne was having problems sleeping due to nightmares about the attack on New Phoenix eight months ago and the death of his grandmother. He was awoken by Grant—who was unable to fall asleep herself, as she does not feel at home—and the two discussed attending the reopening of New Phoenix. Thorne was at first reluctant to return to the city. However, Grant insisted that he visit his home and offered to accompany him as "backup", seeing as they had nothing to do for the next three weeks. Two days later, on March 24, 2558, they attended New Phoenix's Rebirth ceremony presided by UEG President Ruth Charet. Thorne then took Grant to his family's home and showed her around.

While exploring the house, Thorne discovered a violin belonging to his grandmother in the backyard of her house. He concluded that his grandmother had been practicing it when the attack occurred. Distraught, Thorne decided he wanted to leave but Grant told him the story of how she was on her home planet when it fell. Grant told Thorne that he should be happy to still have a home to return to and that his dreams were trying to tell him to relieve all the pain he had inside. Grant then left Thorne as he decided to honor his family by playing Mozart on his grandmother's violin. Three weeks later, they returned to Infinity and departed from Earth. His brief visit to New Phoenix eased his psyche, freeing him from the nightmares about the attack that had plagued him for months.

Bioweapon
On May 9, 2558, Thorne and Spartan Naiya Ray were hand-picked by Captain Thomas Lasky for a classified mission to capture and interrogate a Sangheili in possession of a new bioweapon on the desolate planet of Ven III. After making landfall, the Spartans encountered several disorganized Kig-Yar before passing into a communications jamming field. The duo discovered a Covenant structure where they were ambushed by the target Sangheili and a group of Kig-Yar. In the ensuing skirmish, the Sangheili managed to incapacitate Thorne with a shock device he affixed on the Spartan's armor and captured him. Thorne was taken into a subterranean Kig-Yar pirate stronghold by the Sangheili agent on a Type-32 Ghost; Ray pursued Thorne's captor into the hideout where she witnessed the Sangheili and a Kig-Yar carrying him into a hangar bay. However, Ray was attacked by a Kig-Yar that ambushed her.

Personality and traits
Thorne was selected into the SPARTAN-IV program on the basis of his courage and tactical acumen. Even before becoming a Spartan, Thorne had a strong sense of responsibility; he believed he could have somehow prevented the deaths of his loved ones in New Phoenix if given the chance. After his re-enlistment, Thorne was determined to make sure that there would be history for the SPARTAN programs, as proven in a journal entry he had written and his curiosity of the original Spartans. Though Doctor Catherine Halsey is mostly dismissive of the SPARTAN-IVs (regarding them as inferior to her SPARTAN-IIs), she appeared to regard Thorne as embodying to the ideals of the original program more than his peers during their brief interaction. In combat, Thorne has shown creativity and innovation. For example, he hijacked a Type-26 Banshee during the Requiem campaign—despite fireteam leader Paul DeMarco's orders—to help eliminate surrounding Covenant forces. Later in the campaign, used Doctor Henry Glassman's explosive vest to kill a group of charging Sangheili Storm when Thorne realized the vest was about to explode. Thorne is also very skilled in combat. He was able to defeat several Sangheili warriors after he was teleported to the Cauldron despite being unarmed, before being knocked unconscious. During his encounter with Gek 'Lhar, he was temporarily able to hold his own against the assassin despite being ambushed and Sangheili's strength.

Thorne was close with his family and felt guilty that he was unable to prevent any of their deaths. When he discovered that the Prometheans that he was battling on Requiem contained the essences of those composed in New Phoenix, he stormed out of the room in anger. Thorne is close friends with fellow fireteam member Tedra Grant and the two are comfortable confiding in each other. She accompanied him to New Phoenix's Rebirth ceremony and encouraged him to honor his family in memory, instead of feeling responsible for their deaths. Thorne also formed a bond of sorts with DeMarco after the latter killed Gek. Prior to the event, the two rarely spoke and Thorne seemed to hold little respect for DeMarco's leadership capabilities. After Thorne became the commander of Fireteam Majestic, Anthony Madsen was disrespectful of Thorne to some extent, likely grieving over DeMarco's recent death. Although he initially lashed out on Thorne during a training exercise in a fit of rage over DeMarco's death, Madsen seemingly came to respect Thorne's leadership abilities. Thorne has also developed a friendship with Spartan Naiya Ray.

Equipment
Thorne wears the Recruit variant of the MJOLNIR GEN2 armor, and carries an MA5D assault rifle. Like the rest of Majestic's armor, Thorne's suit was painted blue. After Paul DeMarco killed Gek 'Lhar, he took the Sangheili's Type-3 active camouflage module. During the mission to Ven III, he was equipped with a M805X thruster pack.

Behind the scenes

 * Thorne is voiced by and modeled after Ethan Peck, a grandson of the famous actor Gregory Peck.
 * Some of Thorne's effects, including his Infinity Briefing Packet, a War Games scoresheet, his MJOLNIR requisition sheet, and a classified message, are included with the Halo 4 Limited Edition.

List of appearances

 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops
 * Halo: Initiation
 * Halo: Escalation