John-117: Difference between revisions

After the end of Human-Covenant War, John became an icon as a soldier who had played a pivotal role in ending the decades-long war and in doing seemingly gave his life.  He was lauded as representing the ideal of a human soldier by UNSC [[propaganda]], a view embraced by many among the general population. Considering John his personal hero, journalist [[Benjamin Giraud]] attempted to find out about his background and personal history.{{Ref/Reuse|HTTS11}} When John was declared dead, on many human worlds statues were built in his honor.<ref name="TC">''[[The Cost]]''</ref> Private companies started selling [[Toy|action figures]] in John's likeness; [[Gabriel Thorne]]'s grandmother bought one after he was recruited into the [[SPARTAN-IV program]].<ref name="HE7">''[[Halo: Escalation]]'', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 7|Issue #7]]''</ref> During his military career John served as a source of inspiration and morale booster for others whenever he was on a battlefield. Chief's determination and selflessness made [[Thomas Lasky]], then a young, doubtful cadet, dedicate his life to military service, eventually reaching the position of commanding officer of [[UNSC Infinity|the most advanced human ship]]. With the development of [[SPARTAN-IV program]] many soldiers enlisted with Spartans to be like the legendary "Master Chief". Such as [[Gabriel Thorne]], who enlisted believing the Spartans were special, and that had he been one, he could have saved his family in [[New Phoenix]]. Years later, when the UNSC discovered that the Chief actually survived and managed to prevent the Didact from enslaving the entire human race, they decided to cover it up as a Covenant remnant attack which was successfully fended off via perfectly timed return of the UNSC's greatest hero, thus again underlining the Spartan's supposed invulnerability.{{Ref/Reuse|HE8}} However, when Chief decided to go AWOL the UNSC declared him KIA during Battle of Meridian in order to hide his status and preserve his reputation.<ref name="AHF">''[[A Hero Falls]]''</ref>

Because of his reputation and experience, John's ''de facto'' authority far surpasses his nominal rank, and UNSC personnel of all levels are known to defer to his experience and charisma.{{Ref/Reuse|H5GLED}} When Lord Hood offered John a commission, even suggesting he could be conferred the rank of admiral, the Master Chief jokingly replied, "'The Admiral' doesn't have quite the same ring to it".{{Ref/Reuse|HE8}} At the time of his going AWOL in October 2558, [[Sarah Palmer|Spartan Sarah Palmer]] implied that John and Blue Team had been operating essentially independently for some time, commenting that ''"He does what he wants"''.{{Ref/Reuse|H5GG}} When the Master Chief chose to defy orders to go after the Didact, Lasky and Palmer visibly made no effort to arrest him as ordered by Captain Del Rio and Lasky defied orders to help the Master Chief directly as he trusted him enough to not take the risk the Master Chief was wrong.{{Ref/Reuse|H4R}}{{Ref/Reuse|H4S}}