So since my last post about master chiefs characterization did pretty well I felt it wouldn’t hurt to make a follow up just to further emphasize and appreciate the character. The point that maybe I didn’t express well enough last time is that chief is definitely a character where “less is more” with all of his backstory being established, it makes too much for sense for his character to be quiet and emotionally stunted, he was raised in an environment where he wasn’t given much freedom to speak and where any emotional turmoil he was experiencing would not be catered or supported(at least not substantially) Also despite being heavily sheltered and only being told what the UNSC wants him to know, he is by no means ignorant, he still knows about life outside of being a soldier, and he’s aware of himself well enough to know just how much being a soldier has dominated his life, enough to joke about it and acknowledge it. “thought I’d try shooting my way out, mix it up a little”, “asking is not my strong suit” When the pilot asks him why he continues to do what he does despite not having much to care about, he replies “it’s all I know” the man is aware of how limited his skillset is, but also how gifted it is too. When Cortana or the weapon tells him the deathly odds of facing whatever baddie he’s going up against he always shows unshakable conviction that he’s going to come out on top, in a completely unbragging way like it’s just a matter of fact, another symptom of his carefully constructed upbringing. Things like pessimism and doubt would be hinderances to his battlefield performance so he was trained to not give into those concepts, also his confidence is undoubtedly a side affect of his incredible history, defying odds and succeeding in places where no other soldier could (also being told by the librarian that he was basically engineered over the course of thousands of years to be perfect probably helped too lol) so the man really believes in himself, not to mention, his allies. He believes in himself just as much as the people around him, he believes in Cortana undoubtedly, half of the things he’s lived through would’ve ended differently if not for her, and also by the end of halo 3, he trusts arbiter to the point that they’re in sync with each other as they’re escaping the ark. Also I know I briefly touched on this already but he has a good sense of humor, and one that seems to be most present whenever he’s around Cortana which I love. literally the first thing he ever says to her in halo ce is a joke at her expense, and so many of their interactions are brimming with friendly banter (which again I think 343 did well with in halo 4) which just goes to highlight that chief clearly trusted Cortana the most and felt the most comfortable around her. And that gets us to his grief, something that’s present throughout all the halo games is chief’s deeps sense of regret and loss, even towards marines and Spartans he probably hardly knew, in his body language he is so visibly distraught, you can see this when he inspects private Jenkins helmet in halo ce, to when he sees dead Spartans in halo infinite. Also the fact that when sgt johnson died Cortana felt the need to console him because she knew him well enough to know that Johnson meant a lot to him :’) Every life that chief loses weighs on him so heavily, and what hurts him most is that he feels he could’ve easily saved everyone he lost if he had just done something different, it’s clearly how he felt about Cortana’s death (and subsequent resurrection and all that shit lol don’t get me started) Taking that all into account it’s again so easy to see why this guy is the way he is, you have what was intended to be just your run of the mill video game protagonist become this haunting tale of man with decades of trauma behind him, whose few sources of solace and comfort were taken away from him, yet in spite of all his suffering has the most truly indomitable and unyielding spirit of anyone, because to keep going is not just the best, but the ONLY thing he knows how to do.

the man I just described is not present in halo the series, he’s simply been replaced with someone who was deemed more fit for television audiences, and if you like his character and the show in general, absolutely no hate here, power to you, but its one of the reasons why most halo fans just don’t connect with this show.

also again he fucking had sex like what