Civilian

Civilians run past a Marine while they attempt to escape the Covenant.

A Civilian, according to international humanitarian law, is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agencies, which often use rank structures similar to those of military units. Often, the military's main purpose and occupation is to defend the civilians from invaders. However, many civilians, such as Dr. Catherine Halsey are involved with the military.

In the Halo universe

So far, extremely few have been seen in any of the Halo games. Except for the factory workers in Voi, the civilians in Arcadia, and the civilians on Reach, no civilian characters appear in any of the games, besides the meta-game Sadie's Story in Halo 3: ODST. However, civilian characters appear more frequently in materials outside the games.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Both civilians and civilian vehicles have an increased role and appearance in Halo: Reach. For example, in "Exodus," the player can save civilians that are being slaughtered by Jiralhanae.

Civilian identification number

Several civilians are known to possess civilian identification numbers which functions similar to a UNSC Service Number. It is unknown whether all civilians are supplied such a number, or just those affiliated with certain industries or groups.

Known civilian ID numbers

Inna Volkov: 9081-613-7122-P^[5]
Frank Welker: 8813-316-0955-G^[6]

Trivia

Killing a civilian in Halo: Reach results in the immediate death of the player with the message, "You killed a civilian!"
Alternatively on co op if you kill 2 civilians after respawning, Noble Team will turn on you and kill you instantly with one shot like the Arbiter and Sgt. Johnson from Halo 3.

Gallery

Concept 03.jpg

Civilians, UNSC Army infantrymen and Spartan-IIIs of Noble Team in a concept art piece for Halo: Reach.
16872968-Medium.jpg

Civilian factory workers in the Halo 3 level, The Storm.
Noble Team with a civilian of Reach.
A civilian on the campaign level Exodus.

Sources

^ Halo 3
^ Halo 3: ODST
^ Halo Graphic Novel, Second Sunrise over New Mombasa
^ Halo: Uprising
^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe,The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole, page 447
^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe,The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole, page 430