Emile-A239

"In recognition of this, his warrior's spirit, we honor him as the merciless wrath of Noble."

- The Monument to Noble Team

Warrant Officer Emile-A239 was a SPARTAN-III commando of the UNSC Special Warfare Command, attached to Special Warfare Group Three. He fought as part of Noble Team with the call sign Noble Four, during the Fall of Reach in summer 2552.

Early life and military career
Emile was born in Luxor on Eridanus II in 2523, where he most likely lived until 2530 when the planet was glassed by the Covenant. Orphaned, he was conscripted as a part of SPARTAN-III Alpha Company. However, he was pulled out of the unit by Kurt-051 and Franklin Mendez before Operation: PROMETHEUS in 2537, which resulted in the deaths of most members of Alpha Company. Later, he became a member of Noble Team, with whom he fought during a battle on an unidentified human colony in April 2552 and during the Fall of Reach in the summer of the same year.

Fall of Reach
On July 23rd, 2552, contact with the Visegrad communications relay on Reach was lost. After losing contact with the Army fireteams that he had deployed to investigate the disturbance, Colonel Urban Holland sent Noble Team to find the cause of the communications blackout. Soon after arriving at the relay, Noble Team encountered a Covenant incursion force. Soon, the team split in half, with Emile, Jun, and Kat flying directly to the relay and Carter, Jorge, and Noble Six proceeding on the ground. After the team battled their way inside and fighting a team of Sangheili Zealots, Carter informed Holland that the WINTER CONTINGENCY was in effect, as Covenant forces were on Reach.

On July 26th, Noble Team helped defend the Office of Naval Intelligence's Sword Base from a Covenant attack spearheaded by an overhead corvette. Near the end of the battle, Emile took position near the top of the structure. From this position, he engaged several Phantoms and Banshees to allow some of the base's remaining Longswords to get airborne. After the corvette was destroyed by one of Reach's Orbital Defense Platforms, Noble Team met Dr. Catherine Halsey, with whom they discussed the Zealot team they had previously encountered.

On August 23rd, Noble Team rendezvoused inside ONI's now-compromised Olympic Tower in New Alexandria. During this meeting, Emile tried to mask his sorrow for Jorge's death through humor. Moments later, the Covenant began glassing dangerously close to Noble Team's position. As the SPARTANs fled, Kat was killed by a waiting Sangheili marksman. The survivors attempted to kill the Elite to no avail. On August 26th, Noble Team emerged from a fallout bunker beneath the ruins of the Olympic Tower.

On August 29th, the remaining members of Noble Team were sent to the Covenant-occupied remnants of Sword Base; they were to demolish in Sword Base order to prevent Halsey's excavation data from falling into Covenant hands. Emile, Carter, and Jun remained in a UH-144 Falcon while Noble Six and a team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers eliminated a pair of Covenant anti-aircraft cannons. After the cannons were disabled, Noble Team fought their way into the interior of the base. After the team arrived at the pre-arranged coordinates, which seemed to be a dead end with no load-bearing structures, Auntie Dot revealed that the team had been given a new objective. They were to rendezvous with Dr. Halsey over a kilometer away and 2,000 feet below ground.

The team soon arrived at a Forerunner complex beneath the Babd Catha Ice Shelf. Halsey insisted upon the importance of the site and demanded Noble Team's support while she completed transferring critical data in her laboratory. Emile and the other SPARTANs defended Halsey's lab from several waves of Covenant forces, who had found an entrance to the ruins. Eventually, Halsey ushered the SPARTANs inside, where she revealed the data she had transferred: a fragment of the AI Cortana that carried a "latchkey" discovery found in the ruins. She ordered Noble Team to escort the "package" to the, a that was drydocked at the ship-breaking yards in Aszod. Jun escorted Halsey to ONI CASTLE Base, while Emile, Carter, and Noble Six flew to rendezvous with the Pillar of Autumn. As the group parted ways, Halsey detonated explosive charges within the ice shelf, burying the ruins.

On August 30th, as Noble Team neared the Pillar of Autumn ' s location, their Pelican was damaged, and Carter was severely wounded, by pursuing Banshees. Emile attempted to hold the pursuers off to little avail. Carter ordered Emile and Noble Six to escort the package to the Pillar of Autumn on foot. The two SPARTANs leapt from the Pelican and fought their way two the mouth of a ravine, where they were cornered by a Scarab. Fortunately, Carter arrived, though the Pelican's weapons were not powerful enough to damage the Scarab. As the commander told his plan to ram the Scarab, Emile encouraged Carter to "Hit 'em hard." With their leader dead and the Scarab destroyed, the two remaining SPARTANs continued toward the Pillar of Autumn. Eventually, they reached the drydock's landing platforms, where Captain Keyes would take possession of the package personally. Emile mounted an "Onager" mass driver that the Pillar of Autumn ' s Marine contingent had installed, using it destroy several approaching Phantom dropships.

Death
"I'm ready! How 'bout you?!"

- Emile's last words. After Noble Six had cleared Platform Delta, Keyes arrived in a Pelican to take possession of the package. While Noble Six met with the captain, a Phantom flew the emplacement and dropped off a group of Zealots. Emile dismounted the emplacement and killed the first Elite with his shotgun. However, a second Elite managed to impale him with a stab from behind using an energy sword. Defiant to the end, Emile pulled out his kukri and stabbed the Elite through the throat, causing both of them to fall from the platform. When Noble Six ascended the stairs to the mass driver, the bodies of Emile and the Elites who ambushed him were slumped against the railing, lifeless.

Traits and personality
"He may say that what he wants is to win the war, but what he really wants is for the enemy to die."

- In-game description

Respected by his peers, Emile was described as being detail oriented and unbreakable, being an effective member of the unit while in the field and maintaining strict discipline off the field. He was, however, noted to have had the most trouble interacting with non-SPARTANs than any other member of Noble Team.

Emile was particularly bold and aggressive. Colonel Holland noted that Emile-A239's excessive use of force made it hard to field him against insurrectionists due to the resulting reaction in civilian media; to this end, Holland decided to replace him with Rosenda-344 if another counterinsurgency operation was scheduled. He also treated regular civilians with suspicion and disregard, which led to confrontations between him and Jorge. Despite his hard outlook, he held a deep respect for his teammates, as well as readiness and loyalty to sacrifice himself in order to allow the Pillar of Autumn to escape. Emile handled the loss of teammates by masking his emotions with humor.

He possessed an "impressive" collection of Covenant contraband. While in direct violation of Subsection Seven of the Cole Protocol, his superiors ignored this, due to them being part of the Army.

Equipment
Emile typically wielded an M45 Tactical Shotgun and occasionally used an M319 Individual Grenade Launcher, for which he always carried grenades. His signature weapon was a large kukri knife that he sheathed on his right shoulder pauldron.

Emile's armor consisted of the Assault/Sapper chest piece, the Assault/Breacher wrist utility, Security right shoulder piece, Operator left shoulder piece, Tactical/SOFT CASE utility, and FJ/PARA knee guards. The most distinct piece of Emile's armor was his helmet, a MJOLNIR EVA helmet with a HUL attachment, featuring a skull Emile had carved into the faceplate.

Trivia

 * Emile was voiced by Jamie Hector.
 * Emile shares his homeworld, Eridanus II, with John-117.
 * Emile was one of the oldest known SPARTAN-III candidates at the time of conscription, being age eight. Carter-A259, the oldest known candidate, was eleven.
 * Emile's voice can be used in Halo: Reach's Firefight mode.
 * The name Emile means "eager", which reflects upon his bold nature.
 * Emile is the only member of Noble Team, aside from SPARTAN-B312, and the only non-playable character in the series, whose face is not seen throughout the game. He is also the only one who does not remove his helmet at any time in the game. However, Emile's face is depicted in a piece of concept art to the far left. The faces shown in the same concept art piece are seen in one of the screens in the Tribute Room, but Emile's face is largely obscured.
 * Emile's helmet is available as an Avatar Award and is obtained by earning a Bulltrue Medal in either multiplayer or Firefight matchmaking.
 * In campaign co-op, Emile's helmet is a standard EVA helmet, missing its usual skull due to a glitch. In cutscenes however, the skull is unaffected. This sometimes happens to the EVA[C] helmet in split-screen multiplayer as well.
 * Emile bears a resemblance to the character Ghost from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as both sport skull visages on their headgear. Taylor "Dutch" Miles from Halo 3: ODST also had a partial skull pattern on his helmet.
 * Emile's carved helmet, the EVA [C], is available for purchase within the Armory, becoming visible at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and with the purchase of the EVA helmet, and becoming available for purchase at the rank of Commander.
 * Emile's right shoulder pauldron, including his kukri, is available for purchase in the Armory, though it is missing his tag (S-239), which is inscribed on it in the campaign.
 * When Emile stabs the Zealot with his kukri, he stabs the Elite on the right side of its neck. However, after the cutscene, the knife is on the left side of the Elite's neck. It is possible though that he might have stabbed the Elite a following time after falling offscreen during the cutscene.
 * Due to an oversight, Emile's shields, as well as those of the Elites who ambush him, still function normally after they are dead. His body also can not be shifted through meleeing or teabagging.
 * Emile's service tag references to 7, 2+3+9=14. 14/2=7.
 * Emile's service tag initials are also printed on the base of the Onager as S-239, much like Jorge's tag is printed on the cannon of the Scorpion tank as S-052.
 * Emile is the only SPARTAN in the whole game who wears his wrist attachment on his right wrist, though Jorge wears the same wrist attachment on both wrists.
 * It seems that Bungie originally planned for Emile to be silent, as his profile on Game Informer regularly refers to him as "the silent Spartan" and states that he "does not speak", in heavy contrast to the "gung-ho" attitude he possesses in the final game.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Reach
 * Deliver Hope