Carter-A259

Carter-A259
Biographical information
Homeworld:	Durban, Biko
Born:	August 27, 2520
Died:	August 30, 2552 (aged 32)
Cause of death:	Sacrificed himself to destroy a Deutoros-pattern Scarab.
Personal details
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Height:	208.3 centimetres (6 ft 10.0 in)
Weight:	113.4 kilograms (250 lb)
Hair color:	Black
Eye color:	Hazel (augmented: blue)
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC Navy (formerly) Naval Special Weapons SPARTAN-III program UNSC Army Special Warfare Group Three (operationally under NOBLE Team)
Rank:	Commander
Service number:	S-A259

"In recognition of this, his steadfast resolution, we honor him as commander of Noble."

— Monument to Noble Team

Commander Carter-A259 was a SPARTAN-III commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command, attached to the UNSC Army's Special Warfare Group Three. Carter was the leader of NOBLE Team, an elite team of Spartans who fought during the Fall of Reach. His call sign in the team was Noble One.

Biography

Childhood and early career

A 16-year-old Carter immediately prior to undergoing augmentation on the UNSC Hopeful.

Carter was born in Durban, Biko on August 27, 2520. His parents were killed when Biko was attacked and glassed by the Covenant in 2526, though he survived the planet's fall. Before he could join the rest of the planet's refugee program, Carter was conscripted into the Spartan-III program's Alpha Company in 2532. From early on, he stood out from the rest of the group, and Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose and Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, taking note of his exceptional skill, deemed him too valuable to be wasted on suicide missions. Upon his graduation in 2536, Carter was assigned to lead a special fireteam composed of Spartans similarly extracted from Alpha Company's mainline population. Carter's team was subsequently transferred under the operational authority of Unified Ground Command (UNICOM) as part of an arrangement to secure the UNSC Army's support for the SPARTAN-III program within UNSC High Command (HIGHCOM).

Carter's leadership skills in and out of combat throughout his military career eventually earned him the rank of Commander in the UNSC Navy, becoming one of the few highly ranked Spartans to serve in the field. Later, after the special forces unit Noble Team was formed, Carter became the leader of the team, which then consisted of Catherine-B320, also known simply as "Kat", and several other Spartans. Eventually however only Kat and Carter would survive as the remaining members of the original team by 2552, and Carter was given a lot of freedom in selecting replacement personnel by his superiors due to his ability to build tight-knit teams.

Later career

Carter assassinates a Sangheili Ultra during the Battle of Fumirole.

Carter and the rest of Noble Team were present during the Defense of Concord on December 2551. During Operation: OFFSET EYE, Carter remained back in the village of Skathi in the Hinterlands region of the planet to direct the local planetary militias in the town's defence while a small force consisting of Kat-B320, Rosenda-A344, and Thom-A293 advanced forward to tackle the approaching Covenant armoured column head-on; eliminating a Zashk-pattern Draugr in the process. Upon the trio's return to Skathi, Carter, Jorge-052, and Emile-A239 had assisted in fending off Covenant attacks on the town, at which point Carter recieved new orders from Colonel Urban Holland. The Covenant were amassing a strike force close to Fumirole, and the team (sans Rosenda) were to be redeployed to the planet to prepare a defence.

During the Battle of Fumirole on April 22, 2552, Carter led Noble Team in an operation put together by Kat to destroy the Ket-pattern battlecruiser, Sanctity of Purification, maintaining position above the planet's capital city. The operation was successful, but at the cost of Thom-A293.

Both Carter and Kat took responsibility over the death of Thom, unable to admit that the death of the SPARTAN was his own decision. Thom was replaced on Noble Team by SPARTAN-B312 a few months later, just prior to the Fall of Reach.

Fall of Reach

Main article: Fall of Reach

Throughout the course of the Fall of Reach, Carter led Noble Team in multiple operations against Covenant forces, such as the investigation of a communications blackout at the Visegrád Relay, a mission which led to the first confrontation with Covenant forces on the planet, the counter-offensive operation on Sword Base, and a large-scale UNSC assault on a Covenant-occupied site and the neutralization of a Covenant tower.

The destruction of the UNSC Grafton by the Covenant Sh'wada-pattern supercarrier Long Night of Solace after the Battle of Viery prompted Carter and Kat to review the situation. Recognizing the presence of the supercarrier as a large threat, Noble Team decided to utilize a "non-existent" space vessel and launch a makeshift slipspace bomb at the Covenant vessel. Carter, along with Kat-B320, Jorge-052 and Noble Six, helped UNSC ground forces repel Covenant invaders from a UNSC base, which housed the Sabre launch facility. Noble Team was separated at this point, with Jorge and Six participating in Operation: UPPER CUT with the rest focusing on the groundside.

On August 23, Carter and the remaining members of Noble Team assisted the UNSC in protecting the planet's civilian population from the Covenant. They reunited with Noble Six in New Alexandria and helped in the neutralization of Covenant jammers and evacuation of ONI personnel from the ONI HQ. Not too long after, Noble Team was hailed by its commanding officer and was ordered to destroy Sword Base. The team was forced to enter a radiation bunker to shield themselves from the Covenant's glassing of New Alexandria. However, Kat was killed en route to the bunker by a Covenant sniper.

Carter rams his Pelican into a Scarab.

Carter, along with the remaining members of Noble Team, proceeded to Sword Base and fought their way into the facility, only to have their directives revised by an unknown UNSC AI. In the facility, they encountered Dr. Halsey once more. Noble Six was urged by the science officer to become the courier of a package and to deliver it safely to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Using Pelicans as their mode of transportation, Noble Team was split into two; Jun-A266 escorted Dr. Halsey to CASTLE Base while the others headed for the Autumn.

"Six...that AI chose you. She made the right choice."

— Carter to Noble Six.

Sometime during the transport of the package to the Autumn, Carter was gravely injured in the Pelican. Knowing that the delivery of the package was of the highest priority, he ordered Noble Six and Emile-A239 to drop out of the Pelican and proceed by ground while he diverted the Covenant aerial forces' attention. During the journey groundside, the two SPARTANs encountered a Scarab blocking their path. Carter, still in the Pelican, sacrificed his life by ramming into the behemoth, allowing the two SPARTANs to accomplish their objective.

"You're on your own, Noble. Carter out."

— Carter's final order to Noble Team, and last words.

Traits and personality

Carter steps in and intervenes when tension rises between his Spartans.

"Spartans never die, Jorge, they're just missing in action."

— Carter-A259

Carter is described as charismatic and reassuring, as well as a born leader, inspiring confidence in those under his command. He is said to be cool under pressure, with laser-like focus, even while maintaining adaptability and flexibility. Carter is also noted as being capable of interacting with non-SPARTAN personnel effectively and efficiently with low-to-no expected stress issues, and was said to be at his best while building a team. As a result, he was given considerable freedom by his superiors in picking replacement personnel for his team; an exception to this was when Colonel Holland personally selected SPARTAN-B312 as a replacement for Thom-A293 after the latter's death in the Battle of Fumirole.

As team commander, knows the challenge of losing members of his command, but a master of building tight-nit teams. However, he was said to have "minor trust issues" due to the death of Thom-A293 under his command; Carter attributed S-A293's death to his own "inadequate team preparation" while it was evidently due to enemy action or Thom-A293's own lapse in situational awareness. Carrying the guilt over Thom's death may have also been the source of Carter's hesitation to commit to one of the replacements. Despite this, Carter grew to trust Noble Six and even informed his subordinate that Cortana had made the right choice by picking him.

Equipment

Carter wore a Mark V[B] armor with a Commando helmet (equipped with a HUL[3] attachment) and an Assault/Commando chest piece. He wore a Commando shoulder piece for his left shoulder and a Mk. V shoulder piece for his right shoulder. Carter also had a Tactical/TACPAD wrist piece on his left wrist and FJ/PARA knees guards. He tends to favor the M392 DMR or the MA37 assault rifle as his main weapons and is sometimes seen carrying a M6G magnum as a sidearm.

In the post-war era, Carter's armour configuration was revived by Chalybs Defense Solutions for integration with MJOLNIR GEN2 as the NOBLE-class Mjolnir suite - named in reference to NOBLE Team.

In-game information

Halo: Reach

Carter can be unlocked as a custom voice for use in the Firefight component of Halo: Reach multiplayer. In Halo: The Master Chief Collection, he can be unlocked as part of the Series 1: Noble progression track. Carter's helmet was additionally made available as an avatar award on the Xbox 360, unlocked by finishing a campaign mission on Legendary difficulty without dying.

Firefight Voices
Firefight voice	Unlock (Halo: Reach)	Unlock (Halo: The Master Chief Collection)
Carter S-259	100,000 cR	Series 1 Tier 67, 1

Halo Infinite

A Carter-themed armour kit is available for unlock as part of Season 01: Heroes of Reach, in Halo Infinite multiplayer.

Armor Kits and Kit Items v • d • e
Kit	Manufacturer	Lore	Rarity	Unlock Requirements	Amor Coating	Helmet	Visor	Chest	Left Shoulder Pad	Right Shoulder Pad	Gloves	Wrist	Utility	Knee Pads
Carter-A259 Kit	Materials Group	Are you cool under pressure and inspire confidence in your team? If so, take on the appearance of Noble Team's legendary CDR Carter-A259.	Legendary	Season 01: Heroes of Reach Battle Pass level 20	Noble Principle	Commando - HUL[3]/BNR/COURIER PEARL	Noble	TAC/MAT-2519C communicator	SAP/CDO	SAP/MKV	Mark V [B]	TAX/MC5 TACPAD	N/A	UA/Type FJ

Production notes

Kat as depicted by Jordan Konkel at PAX.

As shown in an early production note at PAX 2010, Kat was originally intended to have been born in 2529 and to have been a member of Alpha Company. In this version of the story, she and Carter were the last remaining members of a SPARTAN-III team known as "Blue Team", (not to be confused with the SPARTAN-II unit). This is apparent in the similar coloration of their armor in early concept art. During the event, model and Halo fan Jordan Konkel was hired by 343 Industries to attend suited in a cosplay recreation of Kat's armour.

In the Halo: Reach Legendary Edition developer commentary, Lee Wilson jokes that Carter was upset by Kat's death because "She was cute." Martin O'Donnell responds, "We know there was some relationship between Carter and Kat at some point."

In the final release of Halo: Reach, Carter was voiced by Freddy Bosche.

Trivia

	Check out our collection of quotes related to Carter-A259 on its quotes page.
	Browse more images in this article's gallery page.

• As a Commander, Carter was one of the highest-ranked SPARTANs.
• Carter's date of birth made him one of the oldest SPARTAN-IIIs. The majority of the trainees for Alpha Company were four, five, and six years old when the project began in 2531; Carter would have been eleven at that time, making him nearly as old when he was conscripted as most other Alpha Company members were when they graduated from the program. Given his rather extreme deviation from the otherwise consistent age range as well as the risk of complications in the augmentation procedures for those outside the ideal age group, it is possible that Carter had spent considerable time in cryosleep prior to his induction to the program; as individuals effectively do not age in cryo, Carter's biological age may have been closer to the SPARTAN-III standard than his chronological age.
• In the Halo: Reach Video Games Awards trailer, Carter had a shaved head and a lighter skin tone. In the final version of the game, his hair is styled in a high-and-tight cut and his skin is noticeably darker.
• Carter is the only member of Noble Team who does not work as part of a duo with Noble Six at some point in the Campaign.
• Carter's SPARTAN tag, A259, may be a reference to the element Nobelium. Nobelium has a standard atomic mass of 259 and is linguistically similar to Noble.

Gallery

Development images and illustrations

• 

  Early concept art of Carter's face for Halo: Reach.

• 

  Concept art of Carter's Commando helmet.

• 

  Concept art of Carter-A259.

• 

  Carter with Noble Six and Jun-A266 onboard a Falcon on the EDGE Magazine cover for Halo: Reach.

• 

  An older render of Carter-A259 from the Video Games Awards trailer.

• 

  Carter-A259 on the Halo Legendary Crate #13 poster.

Screenshots

• 

  Carter at age sixteen in Birth of a Spartan.

• 

  Carter looking at a Holo-Still of his parents before undergoing the augmentation.

• 

  Carter after Project CHRYSANTHEMUM.

• 

  Carter facing a prototype of his MJOLNIR armor.

• 

  Carter from A Spartan Will Rise ViDoc.

• 

  Carter in his MJOLNIR armor.

• 

  Another view of Carter.

• 

  Carter in his COMMANDO-class Mjolnir

• 

  Carter in a Falcon, looking at a Covenant corvette.

List of appearances

• Halo: Reach announcement trailer (First appearance)
• Remember Reach
  • Birth of a Spartan
  • Deliver Hope
• Halo: Reach
• Halo 5: Guardians (Indirect mention)
• Halo: Ground Command (Mentioned only)
• Halo Mythos
• Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual
• Halo Infinite (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Winter Contention