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Hamish Beamish

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"He started as a young man with high hopes. This is what he became."
— Description[1]

Hamish Beamish[2][3] was a janitor at Corbulo Academy of Military Science on Circinius IV.[4]

Biography

According to The Ballad of Hamish Beamish, Beamish aspired to become a cadet at Corbulo Academy of Military Science at a young age, and embarked on a slipspace voyage to Circinius IV onboard the automated transport vessel UNSC Jamaica. However, his cryo chamber malfunctioned, causing him to be thawed out in the middle of the slipspace jump a decade before the ship was to arrive at its destination. With no spare cryotubes available and few resources at his disposal, Hamish kept himself warm by shaving and burning his own hair, and ate his own nails to avoid starving. Many years of such lonesome and gruelling existence left Hamish mentally disturbed. After ten years, the ship finally arrived at Circinius IV. Medics subsequently tried to rehabilitate Beamish, with little success. Finally, he was given the job of janitor at Corbulo Academy—the only work he was deemed suited for. Despite attaining short-lived fame, his story was eventually forgotten about by the academy's cadets.[5] Much of these events are based on Hamish's own recounting and are unreliable due to his questionable sanity.[6]

In 2526, Beamish was going about his duties as Corbulo Academy'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.[4] He presumably died when the Covenant assaulted Corbulo Academy during the Battle of Circinius IV.[7]

Beamish was awarded the "Golden Mop" award for his services at Corbulo Academy of Military Science.[8]

Trivia

  • Hamish is currently the only confirmed bisexual character in the Halo series.[5]
  • Beamish was of Scottish descent, and had a tattoo of a thistle, the national floral emblem of Scotland.[5]
  • He had a toy kazoo, which he would often play during his 10-year trip to Corbulo.[5]

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".[9]
  • Frank O'Connor was also responsible for developing Beamish's backstory. In a NeoGaf post, 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."[1] 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".[2] The Halo: Fractures story The Ballad of Hamish Beamish, also by Frank O'Connor, expands on this backstory.
  • 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.[10] 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.[11]
  • Beamish appears as an Easter Egg in Gravemind's intro cutscene in Halo 2: Anniversary.[12]
  • 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.[13]
  • O'Connor once again reprised the role in order to clean up between Breakout matches at San Diego Comic-Con 2015.[14]
  • 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."[3]
  • Frank O'Connor reprised his role once more on November 15, 2016. Taking part in 343's Mannequin Challenge following their Halo 15th Anniversary livestream on Twitch.[15]

Gallery

List of appearances

Sources

  1. ^ a b NeoGaf: View Single Post - Halo |OT10| The Calm Before The Storm
  2. ^ a b Halo Waypoint: The Halo Bulletin: 12.18.13
  3. ^ a b Halo Waypoint Forums: Per Curiam - Iunius 2015
  4. ^ a b Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, Episode 2
  5. ^ a b c d Halo: Fractures, The Ballad of Hamish Beamish
  6. ^ Twitter - Frank O'Connor response to if the Ballad was canon.
  7. ^ Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, Episode 4
  8. ^ Beamish easter egg in Cortana app
  9. ^ halo.bungie.org: Re: My Favorite Part
  10. ^ YouTube: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge - 343 Industries
  11. ^ YouTube: Steve Downes and Jen Taylor Ice Bucket Challenge
  12. ^ YouTube - Halo 2: Anniversary - The "Half-Naked Guy" Easter Egg (Classic & Remastered)
  13. ^ YouTube - Halo 3: ODST (Xbox One) - Dancing Beamish Easter Egg
  14. ^ San Diego Comic-Con 2015
  15. ^ YouTube - Halo Mannequin Challenge
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