In the epilogue of Halo 3, Master Chief grabs an assault rifle soon after waking up. You can clearly see “00” on the gun indicating no ammo. However, moments later as he is plugging in Cortana, you can see the indicator now shows “01”.
It would seem the writers were trying to imply that Chief found one bullet so that if things came down to it, he could put himself out of his misery.
Thoughts?
Oof, I think that’s a bit of a stretch. I can’t speculate whether that was a mistake or there’s something to be implied, but I don’t think Bungie would characterize Chief as someone who would kill himself instead of facing the battles to come. Besides, his suit or the pod he’s in would probably have a more humane way of ending his life if that was somehow necessary.
If Chief only found one bullet, he’d put it in his gun, because that’s one bullet closer to a dead alien or a popped shield.
I also don’t see Master Chief as someone who’d shoot himself regardless of the circumstances.
The Assault Rifle also had 00 bullets when he was facing Truth in the Citadel. It’s most likely a sort of oversight.
The only option I came to about Chief killing himself with the last bullet would be if he became infected.