John-117

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The Master Chief (voiced by Chicago DJ Steve Downes) is a Spartan-II Super Soldier, a genetically and cybernetically augmented warrior designed to put down rebels and insurgents within the United Nations Space Command. When the powerful alien empire known as the Covenant attacked, the Master Chief and the other Spartan-II's had a priority shift. Extensive surgical alteration coupled with a ruthless lifelong training regimen has resulted in Master Chief being significantly stronger than even the strongest natural human, and his strength and fighting ability are further augmented by the advanced MJOLNIR power armor he wears.

Biography

In his early life, John lived in Elysium City, on the planet of Eridanus II. He was large for his age at the time, approximately a foot above his school peers - a sign of a "perfect genetic match" for a project codenamed "SPARTAN II".

Training

At the age of six, John and quite a few other children his age were covertly captured from their homes, and replaced with Flash Clones. Early on he seemed to be a leader among the Spartan children, and it was not long until he became the Spartan's squad leader.

Six years into Spartan training, John and his fellow Spartans were biologically modified and enhanced. The following procedures were done:

• Advanced carbide ceramic material grafted onto bones to make them much more durable
• Protein complex injections to increase muscle density and lower recovery time
• Body growth hormone pellet injected into thyroid, to boost skeletal and muscle tissue
• Occipital capillary reversal to increase bloodflow to the eyes, resulting in enhanced vision
• Superconducting fibers added to nerve endings, resulting in 300% increase in reflexes and increases in intelligence, memory, and creativity.

These procedures had substantial risks, and only 32 Spartans survived to functional status. 12 others suffered major problems, and were delegated to tactical duties. The rest died. John, during his time with the Spartans, was deemed the "luckiest" and was the first to test the MJOLNIR Armor.

Before The Battle of Reach, he had fought in 207 ground engagements against the Covenant, and garnered every major service medal except the Prisoner of War Medallion. It is also during this time that he is deemed the best Spartan candidate by Dr. Halsey to work with and protect Cortana. She explains that although he is neither the smartest, nor the strongest, nor fastest of the Spartans, he is the most well-balanced, having each of those qualites in equal measure; he is also the bravest of all the Spartans and quite possibly the "luckiest" as well.

Technically, when the events on Halo occurred, he is about 41 years old in "real time". However during the 27 years of war against the Covenant, UNSC ships had to make Slipspace jumps to get from system to system (ie. battle to battle). It is stated in the official website that "Faster-than-light travel is not instantaneous; "short" jumps routinely take up to two months, and "long" jumps can last six months or more." It is also known from the novels that UNSC personnel go into deep-sleep in cryochambers during FTL jumps. Therefore, since it is known that the Master Chief and/or his Spartans were present at hundreds of battles in Inner and Outer colonies, the Master Chief's actual biological age should be much younger, as he would have been in cryo-stasis while in transit from system to system and aged almost nothing in the process. This would also explain why Dr Halsey is not as old as she should be in the novels. However, these anomalies may be due to the spartans augmentations and/or perhaps that the human lifespan in that time period is possibly significantly longer and the onset of aging is delayed due to improved medical technology. The reason for these anomalies may be caused by none, some, or all of the before mentioned factors. Despite his age, Spartan 117 is still extremely combat effective, though his age raises a concern, how much longer can he remain effective against the covenant if his physical age is anywhere near his actual. His records are highly classified and data that may shed light on this issue remains elusive.

The Eridanus Rebellion

MCPO John-117's first mission was against Rebels in the asteroid belt of the Eridanus System, where his homeworld was located. He was minorly wounded while leading his squad to capture Colonel Robert Watts, leader of the rebels. He received a Purple Heart after the mission.

The Covenant War

Later on, he was briefed on the Covenant threat; he and his Spartans would fight at least the next 30 years against this new threat.

Alpha Halo

Master Chief and 343 Guilty Spark in the Halo's Control Room.

After many battles in the Human-Covenant War and surviving the Fall of Reach, he embarked with the Pillar of Autumn. The Pillar of Autumn was later attacked by the Covenant and was forced to to crash land on Halo, Alpha Installation 04. In the midst of fighting the Covenant, Jacob Keyes discovered the secret of Halo, that it was a ring-shaped construct created by the Forerunners as a last line of defense against a new species of alien called The Flood, which was released at some point by either the Forerunners or their legacy; a majority of the Covenant and UNSC troops who landed on Halo were infected by The Flood. Jacob Keyes and a small group of Marines were the first humans to encounter the Covenant-released Flood; Keyes was later captured by the Flood, soon after which he died. The Master Chief was then responsible for retrieving the Index for 343 Guilty Spark, a device which would activate Halo and destroy all life within a large radius. Later, Cortana informed him of the truth about the purpose of the installation (that it was a superweapon), which led him to keep the Index from 343 Guilty Spark as long as possible. While being attacked by many Covenant, Flood and Forerunner Sentinels, he later made his way back to the Pillar of Autumn and initiated the destruction of Halo. Very few other members of the UNSC forces survived, including Sergeant Major Johnson.

First Strike

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Chief is ready for action.

There were seven others that helped in capturing a Covenant ship, rendezvousing with the Eridanus Rebels, and destroying the Covenant space station, Unyielding Hierophant. Linda-058 was another Spartan on the Pillar of Autumn, stored in a cyrogenic state because of the body damage she sustained when she and Master Chief destroyed the data base containing the info needed by the Covenant to find Earth. Anton and Li were Spartans that died in an explosion after repairing the slipspace drive on the captured Covenant ship, the Ascendant Justice. Also, two other Spartans, Issac and Vinh, survived the initial attack on Reach with Fred, Linda, Kelly, Anton, Li, Grace, Will and Dr. Catherine Hasley but sacrificed themselves by running into the middle of an entire battalion of Covenant troops and detonating an explosive. This selfless act decimated the Covenant troops by more than half. Only Grace, Kelly, Will, Fred (Fredric), Linda and John were left. Grace dies on the Unyielding Hieophant leaving four other spartans with John-117 who returned to Earth. Dr. Halsey, head of the Spartan-II project sedates Kelly-087 and takes her on a mission that John and the others do not understand. John never knew of the others' fate. Prior to Halsey's disappearance, John faces a dillemna regarding the combat data on the Flood. Either give the regular data on the Flood, or give the complete data of the flood encounter, which would condemn Johnson to death from ONI's experimentations. After the First Strike operation, John made the decision to hand over the regular data and omit the explanation for Johnson's survival.

Return to Earth

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SPARTAN-117

Chief's Mark V MJOLNIR armor was switched by technicians aboard the orbiting defense station Cairo to a Mark VI model. He attended a brief awards ceremony aboard the station, which was interrupted by Covenant boarders, which he repulsed. He destroyed one of their ships with their own bomb intended to destroy the Cairo, and landed in New Mombasa, East African Protectorate to combat Covenant landing troops. He boarded and destroyed a Scarab with the nominal assistance of a small squad of Marines and followed the main Covenant invasion force aboard the In Amber Clad to Delta Halo.

Delta Halo

Chief learns Regret is going to activate Halo.

In Amber Clad exited slipspace in front of a new, blue planet, and a new ring. He killed one of the High Prophets, the Prophet of Regret, the Covenant invasion/occupation force commander.

He was captured by the Gravemind after barely escaping from the High Prophet's main temple and met his Covenant Elite counterpart, the Arbiter and the two set off to stop the Covenant from activating Delta Halo, John-117 infilitrating High Charity to stop the High Prophet of Truth while the Arbiter went to stop Tartarus from activating the ring.

Chief and Cortana plan their hunt for the Prophet of Truth on High Charity

In the end Cortana decided to stay behind aboard High Charity in order to ensure the destruction of Delta Halo by initiating the ship's self-destruct if necessary. Meanwhile the Master Chief followed the last High Prophet to a Forerunner-powered ship which launches and embarks for The Ark which is hinted to be on Earth. Upon arriving in the Solar System, Spartan-117 informed UNSC superiors and comrades who were still defending Earth that he intended "to finish this fight."

The Ark

Chief watches as the Ark is activated.

John walked through the desolate ruins of New Mombassa to the edge of a sheer cliff. He sat there and observed the large fleet of Covenant capital ships cruising around the massive facility known as the Ark. As he watched, the had to step back and cover his visor for the blinding flash of the Ark activating...

Biblical Reference

"John-117" is believed by many fans to be a reference to New Testament of the Christian Bible.

Bungie Studios is known to have placed many biblical references in their earlier Marathon video game series, and many other such references have been found in the Halo series.

Here are passages from the Book of Revelation (more formally known as The Revelation of St. John the Divine). Revelation in Greek is called "The Apocalypse", a title possibly shortened from "The Apocalypse of John."

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last."

I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Book of Revelation, NIV. Chapter 1 - verses 17 and 18.

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Revelation. 11:7

There are also references in one other book of the Bible. 1 John houses these:

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:7 (1 John 1: 7)

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

- 1 John 2: 1 7

And here are passages from the Gospel of John. These are thought less likely to be references:

Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

Gospel of John, 11:7

For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Gospel of John, 1:17

Altnernatively, others believe the number to be a reference to "site 117", an archeology site containing the first evidence of human battle. The site is near Jebel Sahaba, Nubia and dates from between 12,000-10,000 BC. The site contains 59 human remains of men, women and children who were clearly killed with primitive hunting implements. [1]

Images

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