Master Chief is a man of few words who is more likely to do something cool than talk about it. A recent iteration of the Halo series reminded me that the Chief is often used as a badass line delivery system or comedic relief – with a dry, quick joke. In gloriole Infinite, he’s more talkative – and just as dry. But most players remember him as a largely silent hero – or, as Frank O’Connor, director of Halo franchise development, describes him as “laconic”.
We spoke to O’Connor and Creative Director Joseph Staten about the show’s iconic quiet man.
Master Chief was born in a strange era for video games where the protagonists are either silent like Half-life‘s Gordon Freeman or loudmouths like the eponymous Duke Nukem. Master Chief, aka John-117, can speak but usually chooses not to. It’s an interesting mix that originally left him suspended between hero and player avatar.
“It’s a really easy decision to go one way or another and say, ‘He’s going to be a completely silent protagonist’ or ‘He’s going to be wise,’ sort of Duke Nukem style,” said O’Connor. “[Bungie] wanted him to have a personality. And they wanted him to have a feature that worked in the movie scene so they made him laconic. So he speaks briefly. “
Staten said he believed the Master Chief’s actions were more powerful than his words. Big, powerful guy like Chief doesn’t have to speak when he can just do it. This is how Master Chief usually works in the Halo games: through action. And not just when the player is in control. Even in cutscenes, John tends to speak less and do more while his AI companion Cortana (and in Halo infinite
One of Staten’s most popular halo scenes – and one he specifically mentioned in our interview – doesn’t include any dialogue from Master Chief at all. In the original gloriole, Cortana, and Master Chief teleport back to the Truth and Reconciliation ship after it was taken over by the tide. As soon as they arrive, the camera turns to show that the couple came in upside down. Master Chief falls to the ground. While Cortana, fascinated by her own mistake, explains how she misunderstood the math, Chief just slaps his hand against his helmet and walks on.
But my favorite cut scene has a more talkative chief and comes at the beginning of Halo 2, at the end of the Cairo Station mission. After deactivating an Alliance bomb set to blow up the human base, Master Chief pulls the explosives into a nearby airlock, opens it, and drives the device Dr. Strangelove-Style in the room. Chief floats the bomb into the hub of an Alliance ship, where he reactivates it and destroys the enemy cruiser.
It’s one of the coolest video game cutscenes I’ve ever seen – made even better with the remaster of 343 – but John only has five lines in it. First he asks Cortana how much time is left for the bomb; then he asks Lord Hood’s permission to leave the station. When Lord Hood asks why Chief wants to leave, John delivers one of the most iconic video game action hero series of the early 2000s, “To Give the Covenant back their Bomb.”
If you only look at how seldom John speaks in the first gloriole, this chief scene makes him seem downright chatty – although every line is concise. Compared to the characters around him, he’s still the strong, quiet type. He speaks in response or when he has an idea that can only be expressed in words and not in actions. That’s because Bungie didn’t want to take players out of the moment.
“Well there were many factors [contributing to Chief’s quiet nature], but I think the most important thing in the end was our commitment to making sure the connection between you as a player and this character is as strong as possible, “said Staten.” And we wrote more lines for the Master Chief than we saw Halo: Combat Evolved. But we continued to remove them through an editorial process. Because the more he says, the greater the likelihood that we will do something wrong for you, whoever you are. “
Both Staten’s most popular cutscene and mine serve unique purposes, and that makes Bungie’s execution of a most of time silent protagonist so clever. Master Chief banging his head straight is a normal reaction – it’s a universal move no matter who is in the suit. On the other hand, the bomb scene characterizes Chief as a competent, self-confident soldier. When Cortana asks him what he’ll do if he misses it, he simply says, “I won’t.” And he doesn’t. When I take control of the chief again and he falls silent, his trust is transferred to me. I’m losing myself in Chief’s identity as both a character and an avatar.
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Image: 343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios
When I play a character like Nathan Drake, I feel like I’m witnessing incredible events from the perspective of an incredible character. While calm, player-created avatars make me feel like I’m living through the events for myself. When Chief hides behind a mask and speaks sparingly, it offers the best of both worlds. I can immerse myself in a character’s accomplishments and then forget they exist.
When I don’t always know what he’s thinking and never know what he looks like, I can imagine my own reality.
“People who like Master Chief, each and every one of them has a very different version of who that Master Chief is,” said O’Connor. “And the good thing is, he doesn’t speak enough or show his face in the game to get you out of this fiction. If you are a middle-aged black man or a young girl with red hair, there is no visual reminder that you are not in this universe, even if you say something dry and funny every now and then, given the great danger. “
John-117 was never the deepest character, at least in the games – but he wasn’t supposed to be. The Cortanas and Sgt. Johnsons around him are the characters that should grab our attention and carry the weight of the story. Instead, Master Chief has a much more important role: showing me how cool I can be in his shoes and then getting out of my way.
