Hamish Beamish

Hamish Beamish was a janitor at Corbulo Academy of Military Science on Circinius IV.

Biography

A member of the Corbulo Academy of Military Science staff circa 2526, Beamish was going about his duties as the facility's janitor in the school's mess hall when a fight broke out between two freshman cadets, Thomas Lasky and Walter Vickers, with the former assaulting the latter as a response to verbal agitation by Vickers. Joining the crowd of spectators that quickly gathered around the brawl, Beamish froze in place and stared at the quarrel with a blank, inscrutable expression while firmly gripping his mop in a ready posture. He presumably died when the Covenant assaulted Corbulo Academy during the Battle of Circinius IV.

He was awarded the Golden Mop award for his services at Corbulo Academy of Military Science.

Production notes

• Beamish was portrayed by 343 Industries Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor in the second episode of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Beamish is a predominantly Scottish surname, which alludes to O'Connor's heritage. Commenting on his role, O'Connor revealed that the mop Beamish is holding is actually a prop, jokingly referred to as a "space mop", that was specifically designed for the scene; while there was a real mop on the set, the production designer did not think it looked "sci-fi enough".
• Elaborating on the backstory of the character, Frank O'Connor stated that "His name is Hamish Beamish. Ended up aboard a transport headed to the colony where Corbulo was established, with no Cryochamber. To stay alive, he kept himself busy by going insane and kept himself warm by shaving hair from frozen colonists and burning it. He started as a young man with high hopes. This is what he became." In response to queries about Beamish's fate during the attack on Corbulo Academy, O'Connor stated that "He survived a massive Slipspace jump outside of a cryotube, with nothing legal to eat. He'll survive a glassing. In fact, being Scottish, he's probably already been glassed".
• O'Connor reprised the role as part of 343 Industries' commitment to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in August 2014. After several 343 Industries employees have buckets of ice water poured on them, Beamish appears from a shed and begins to mop up the ice while a gloomy musical tune from Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn plays. When undertaking the challenge, Steve Downes (the voice actor of John-117) called O'Connor out on avoiding the challenge and nominated him to take it next.
• Beamish appears as an Easter Egg in Gravemind's intro cutscene in Halo 2: Anniversary.
• Beamish also appears as an Easter Egg in the version of Halo 3: ODST featured in The Master Chief Collection. He replaces the Dancing Marty Easter Egg in the level Kikowani Station.
• O'Connor once again reprised the role in order to clean up between Breakout matches at San Diego Comic-Con 2015.
• When queried about the possible canon status of Beamish's recurring tongue-in-cheek appearances since Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, Catalog replied that "[Human?] Hamish Beamish is classified as [ferae naturae] and outside the purview of current investigations."

Gallery

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  An unused shot of Beamish from the Forward Unto Dawn blooper reel.

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  Director Steward Hendler and Frank O'Connor on the set of Forward Unto Dawn.

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  Beamish cameo in Halo 2: Anniversary level Gravemind.

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  Beamish easter egg in Cortana for Windows devices.

List of appearances

• Halo 3: ODST (Halo: The Master Chief Collection only) (non-canon appearance)
• Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (First appearance)
• Halo 2: Anniversary (non-canon appearance)