Link to article.
> “It only takes one mistake, kid. You went a long time before you made it.”
In the Halo community, there are certain topics you can always count on to rise to the surface every few months.
“What’s the deal with that mysterious ship in the Halo 1 Terminals?” is one that’s been going for eight years now, proving just how resonant this form of storytelling for Halo’s more esoteric lore can be for all kinds of fans.
“Why didn’t the Forerunners reseed themselves?” is one of the oldest long-running questions that has been asked of the series – older, even, than the fabled Secret of Sandtrap…
Now, it’s been over four years since Matt Forbeck’s Halo: New Blood, the then long-awaited sequel to Halo 3: ODST, which added another oft-asked question to that roster.
“Dude, why’d you kill the Rookie?!”
No, if there’s one thing you can count on here on Waypoint, it’s for years old threads being bumped to the front of the forum because new users apparently cannot read dates or the forum rules about thread bumping.
Aside from that, are you asking a question, or just looking to make a commentary about it? Because A: It’s been asked before here and B: Does anyone still care at this point?
EDIT: Oh, I see, you’re just plugging your blog.
People don’t like losing named characters because they lack the understanding of story narratives. That’s why you continually see people want Sergeant Johnson to be brought back to life. And when game developers do it, it’s typically because they don’t have anyone on their creative development team with the imagination or skill to create new bad guys and new characters and give them enough personality to make the player invest in hating/liking them.
If anything, concerning the Rookie and the rest of the ODST squad, I’m more upset about making Mickey a terrorist, and making Buck a Spartan IV.
That was a heart wrenching scene in New Blood, but I definitely see the merits. The Rookie was more or less just an empty shell for the player to step into. So in keeping with that story telling mechanic, it would be hard to suddenly add a bunch of character development to a character with virtually none to start with. At least with the Chief, we had the Fall of Reach and other ancillary material that gave him a personality to build on.
When the Rookie died, I interpreted that as “hey reader, you aren’t a part of this story. You’re just reading Buck’s debrief”. So now we can focus on Buck and his story instead of feeling like we should be focusing on the Rookie and his story.
His death also drove the story forward by planting the seeds that ultimately broke up Alpha-9, thereby leaving room for Buck’s transformation into a Spartan to not seem clunky and ham-fisted into the story just to justify his appearance in H5.
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> I remember reading New Blood and coming across that part. I remember being confused at first, then that confusion quickly became anger thinking they just wasted a potentially good character for later Halo games.
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> As I went in through the book though, I came to release that unlike Black team, Rookie’s death actually served the narrative and affected our characters in the story. Aside from Rookie and Buck, Mickey is my third favorite and Rookie’s death deeply affected him.
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> With the Rookie’s death, It caused Mickey to defect to the rebels and betray Buck and Romeo. Then later with the sequel book Bad Blood we read both sides of the argument. Mickey claiming the UNSC changed while Buck argues Mickey didn’t have to betray them the way he did.
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> That all being said I think it’s safe to daybreaks Rookie’s death did serve a greater purpose for story purposes.
This is the reason I like his death. It serves as a catalyst for many of the characters.
I was so upset when the Rookie died, not gonna lie. But when Mickey became an Insurrectionist, I kinda just forgot about the Rookie for a while simply because of how upset I was at Mickey’s plot twist. (Also, Buck is getting a lot of heat, but personally, I love Nathan Fillion thought he did an exceptional job. Buck is literally my favorite character in all of Halo.)
Yes the Rookie’s death was sad, yes I wish it could’ve been different, but I understand that it did serve a purpose (looking at you Black Team >:\ cough cough) and it was deeply impactful and so I can at least respect it. I don’t see why so many people ask that question, especially if they had just read the book.
Negative, Rookie was an awesome character. They shouldn’t have killed him off in a book, if they were to do it they should have killed him off in a game.
Sadly, necessary. Rookie is us, effectively. For the novels to move forward and grab the readers, the element of personal choice has to be muted. And it makes a compelling hook for readers. And as people talk about it, it draws new readers to the novels as well. Which is good.
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> I was so upset when the Rookie died, not gonna lie. But when Mickey became an Insurrectionist, I kinda just forgot about the Rookie for a while simply because of how upset I was at Mickey’s plot twist. (Also, Buck is getting a lot of heat, but personally, I love Nathan Fillion thought he did an exceptional job. Buck is literally my favorite character in all of Halo.)
Buck is a very relatable character, both as an ODST and a SPARTAN. Because of Halo 3: ODST, the development of the characters made their continued development in novel form much more fun for the reader. (Particularly if one is a Firefly fan.)