SPARTAN-B312: Difference between revisions

|death=[[2552#August|August 30, 2552]]{{Ref/Book|Id=evg|EVG|Page=130}}{{Ref/Level|Id=lonewolf|HR|Lone Wolf}}{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TwitterHaloNobleSixDead|Halo|1035311842833260545|Halo|Y=2018|M=8|D=31|Quote=#TodayInHalo, 2552 – Noble Six gives their life in defense of Reach, the culmination of a desperate attempt to aid humanity's efforts in the war against the Covenant.}}

|gender=Male{{Ref/Reuse|TwitterHaloNobleSixDead}}{{Ref/Reuse|TwitterHaloNobleNA}}

SPARTAN-B312 was born in the city of [[Damask]] on the [[human]] [[Human colonies|colony]] of [[Jericho VII]] on [[2530#January|January 30, 2530]].{{Ref/Reuse|Background}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22P99}} B312 ultimately survived the colony's [[Battle of Jericho VII|glassing]] by the [[Covenant]] on [[2535#February|February 12, 2535]],{{Ref/Novel|TFoR|Page=22-23}} presumably becoming orphaned like many of the [[Spartan-III]]s. Circa [[2539]],{{Ref/Anthology|Id=LL|Fra|Story=Lessons Learned}}{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22P106|Enc22|Page=106}}{{Ref/Note|Id=Beta|''[[Lessons Learned]]'' establishes that Beta Company members Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091 were six years old when they started their training. Page 106 of the ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)]]'' establishes that Tom and Lucy were born on April 14, 2533 and January 28, 2533, respectively. This makes Beta Company's start date somewhere between April 2539 and January 2540.}} B312 was one of the 418 candidates recruited in the Spartan-III program's [[SPARTAN-III Beta Company|Beta Company]] by ONI's [[Beta-5 Division]] with the promise of revenge. During their training, B312 and a few other Spartan-IIIs (designated "cat 2") outshone their teammates well enough that these select few were handpicked by Lieutenant Commander [[Kurt Ambrose]] to be assigned to separate special force units outside the general population of Beta Company. Thus, these Spartans did not participate in [[Operation: TORPEDO]], the suicide mission that resulted in the deaths of almost all of Beta Company. Because of the concealed nature of their survival, B312's existence became classified and the Spartan was deployed as a black operator and assassin under the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Jun-A266 mentioned SPARTAN-B312 while trying to recruit [[Edward Buck]] into the [[SPARTAN-IV program]] in [[2553#February|February 2553]], with both soldiers reminiscing about how they fought alongside Noble Six on Reach. Jun remarked, "Noble Six was a good man".{{Ref/Novel|Id=NB|NB|Page=82|Quote="That I did. Spartan-B312 helped me out of a pinch in New Alexandria." Jun bowed their head. "Noble Six was a good man."}}

Bungie staff, including ''Halo: Reach'' design lead [[Christian Allen]], concept artist [[Isaac Hannaford]], and environmental artist [[Vic DeLeon]] have stated that B312's gender is determined by the player, and no canon gender exists for B312.{{Ref/Twitter|Serellan|1626429882954842112|Quote=So, let's get a simple statement that Noble Six's records are redacted in canon, and Noble Six is whatever gender YOU played them as. Noble Six is all of us. "But you belong to Reach. Your body, your armor, all burned and turned to glass. Everything...except your courage."|Quotee=Christian Allen}}{{Ref/Twitter|Isaac_Hannaford|1624294040610164737|Quote=You are absolutely correct Christian.|Quotee=Issac Hannaford}}{{Ref/Twitter|vicdeleon|1624318828086964224|Quote=Aye. The ayes have it, periodt.|Quotee=Vic DeLeon}} Additionally, ''Halo: Reach'''s creative art director [[Marcus Lehto]] also agreed that either gender was "technically correct" in response to a comment about it on an official ''Halo'' Twitter post.{{Ref/Twitter|game_fabricator|1035335254590930944|Quote=Technically correct!|Quotee=Marcus Lehto}} However, supplementary material produced by [[343 Industries]] the year after the release of  ''Halo: Reach''—the ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2011 edition)]]'' and ''[[Halo: The Essential Visual Guide]]''—explicitly used "he" pronouns for B312, thus suggesting B312 as male. ''Halo'' community member [[Stephen Loftus]], who served as a consultant on the production of ''Halo: The Essential Visual Guide'', stated that both Bungie and 343 Industries regard Noble Six as canonically male,{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.halopedia.org/index.php?title=Talk%3ASPARTAN-B312&type=revision&diff=1045056&oldid=1045055|Site=Halopedia|Page=SPARTAN-B312 discussion page|D=17|M=2|Y=2023}} and care was taken to refer to S-B312 using masculine pronouns in ''The Essential Visual Guide''.{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.halopedia.org/index.php?title=Talk%3ASPARTAN-B312&diff=1045242&oldid=1045238|Site=Halopedia|Page=SPARTAN-B312 discussion page|D=17|M=2|Y=2023}} Additionally, the Spartan was explicitly referred to as a man by Jun-A266 in 2015's ''[[Halo: New Blood]]'',{{Ref/Reuse|NB}} though the novel's author, [[Matt Forbeck]], would later agree that Jun's statement may not serve as an indicator of B312's canon gender.{{Ref/Twitter|mforbeck|1626413254594420736}} Between 2018 and 2019, posts from the official Halo Twitter account also explicitly used "he" pronouns for B312.{{Ref/Reuse|TwitterHaloNobleSixDead}}{{Ref/Twitter|Id=TwitterHaloNobleSixNA|Halo|1164900347619364865|Halo|Y=2019|M=10|D=23|Quote=#TodayInHalo, 2552 – Noble Six makes their way to New Alexandria to help the city evacuate its citizens as the Covenant assaults it. #FictionFriday}} However, by [[2022]], 343 Industries seems to have withdrew the stance on an established gender for B312; care was taken to ensure no pronouns were used in reference to Noble Six in the ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)]]''.{{Ref/Twitter|haruspis|1624175374404911105|Alex Wakeford|Y=2023|M=2|D=10|Quote=On this, I would point to the more up to date 2022 Halo Encyclopedia where care was taken to ensure no pronouns were used in reference to Noble Six.}}