Our beloved John may be going insane

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Before you attack me for making this statement, just hear me out. I think Halo 5 should (and probably will) touch on John’s mental state. I really think he may be going crazy. First of all, there’s the trauma of being kidnapped as a little kid. Yes, he has become the perfect soldier, but even Halsey and Deja have noted that it may have a profound effect on the Spartans’ psyche in the future, if not kept occupied by conflict. The trauma may have been suppressed a little by having Halsey as something of a mother figure. Imagine the toll it will take on his mind when he finds out she’s been branded a war criminal and he may never see her again.

Next, I just reread the Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike. John as been sort of “suppressing” a lot of memories. He kind of forced himself to simply ignore the fact that he has killed fellow humans (ODSTs, Insurrectionists) and he has witnessed the death of many of his friends (more like family actually; the only family he had after being kidnapped). He’s moved on, and done a great job of keeping it together. But how much death and loss can one man, even a Spartan, take? How many memories can one man suppress before they resurface to haunt him?

If you’ve read Glasslands, you know that the Spartan IIs have gotten the chance to read their personal files. I’m sure Osman will give Chief the same choice. If he does read it, what will he find out? Will it make him despise the UNSC, or wonder for the rest of his life what could’ve been? Or, will he simply suppress those memories too? Either way, it will have some effect on his mental state, minor or otherwise.

And then, of course, there’s the death of Cortana. This could be the breaking point. Cortana is based off of the mind of Halsey herself (a mother figure and friend). She has literally been inside John’s mind. She problably knew him better than he knew himself. She has saved his life in countless occasions. Most importantly, she had brung out the Chief’s human (and more comical) side. As seen in Halo 4, her death had a profound effect on him. Imagine if your best friend, someone who was with you for all this time, someone you can always depend on and be yourself around, was suddenly gone. And if the theories of John ditching the UNSC to search for Cortana are true, well, we would see how his judgement may be a little broken. Cortana may have represented more than John’s humanity; she may have also symbolized his sanity. Thoughts?

NOTE: When I say “going crazy” I don’t mean it too literally (i.e straight jackets and all that). I mean his values and judgement kind of being impaired (like the Didact, or Kahn from Star Trek: Into Darkness). I think he will go rogue (not evil, just rogue). This could have been hinted at in Halo 4, as he disobeys direct orders from Del Rio. Imagine how far he’d go after becoming slightly insane. The story is supposed to get darker, so John struggling with his sanity isn’t too farfetched.

2

This is an interesting read. I think cheif can hold himself together through halo 5 but perhaps barely. There is also the fact that cheif at the end of halo 4 is 42 years old technically. (idk if you age in cyrosleep). With that said cheif will have the opprotunity to retire soon. It takes 30 years of service to retire and john was technically part of the unsc at age 5 but wasnt exactly active until 16 so cheif has 4 years until retirement.

(with cheif’s popularity he wil have some huge villa in the Mediterranean sipping smoothies under a palm tree somewhere. After all he did save humanity from extinction… twice I’d imagine that would earn him a large pension)

3

> This is an interesting read. I think cheif can hold himself together through halo 5 but perhaps barely. There is also the fact that cheif at the end of halo 4 is 42 years old technically. (idk if you age in cyrosleep). With that said cheif will have the opprotunity to retire soon. It takes 30 years of service to retire and john was technically part of the unsc at age 5 but wasnt exactly active until 16 so cheif has 4 years until retirement.
>
> (with cheif’s popularity he wil have some huge villa in the Mediterranean sipping smoothies under a palm tree somewhere. After all he did save humanity from extinction… twice I’d imagine that would earn him a large pension)

Chief definitely deserves a good retirement, but I actually think it’s war that’s keeping him sane. In battle, he’s focusing purely on the mission, but it’s in his down time where he can reflect on everything bad that’s happened.

4

> This is an interesting read. I think cheif can hold himself together through halo 5 but perhaps barely. There is also the fact that cheif at the end of halo 4 is 42 years old technically. (idk if you age in cyrosleep). With that said cheif will have the opprotunity to retire soon. It takes 30 years of service to retire and john was technically part of the unsc at age 5 but wasnt exactly active until 16 so cheif has 4 years until retirement.
>
> (with cheif’s popularity he wil have some huge villa in the Mediterranean sipping smoothies under a palm tree somewhere. After all he did save humanity from extinction… twice I’d imagine that would earn him a large pension)

I don’t think John could live like that.
Everything he knows is battle.
If given the choice, I think John would rather continue fighting until his eventual death than live that way.

Change is hard.
Especially for Spartans.

5

> we would see how his judgement may be a little broken.

Judgment of wanting to leave the UNSC and ONI because they apparently no longer trust other species and want to dominate the galaxy just as the Forerunners did on the brink of a complete Flood takeover?

6

I do not think John is going insane in the series, but I do think his mental state is crumbling. I think if anything, John may be getting depressed, of all the Spartans he’s lost in combat, and the death of Cortana, a huge one. You can tell that he’s emotionally broken in the trailer, by the cracked visor, it symbolizes he is broken.

7

> I do not think John is going insane in the series, but I do think his mental state is crumbling. I think if anything, John may be getting depressed, of all the Spartans he’s lost in combat, and the death of Cortana, a huge one. You can tell that he’s emotionally broken in the trailer, by the cracked visor, it symbolizes he is broken.

Really interesting point on the cracked visor. He is broken, and it’s only a matter of time before he realises that. But what does that mean for the campaign in the rest of the saga?

I just hope they put focus on chief finding out “which one of us (Cortana and himself” is the machine". That could lead down a deep spiral for Mr. Chief, and I think it’d be a really interesting one to explore.

8

> > we would see how his judgement may be a little broken.
>
> Judgment of wanting to leave the UNSC and ONI because they apparently no longer trust other species and want to dominate the galaxy just as the Forerunners did on the brink of a complete Flood takeover?

The UNSC and ONI are completely justified in their actions. Of course they don’t want to be the underdogs anymore, and of course there would be a lot of mistrust. The Sangheili only sided with humanity when their -Yoinks!- were on the line. I honestly think John couldn’t care less about them being a little xenophobic (except in the Arbiter’s case). ONI’s only unjustifiable action is branding Halsey a war criminal.

9

> This is an interesting read. I think cheif can hold himself together through halo 5 but perhaps barely. There is also the fact that cheif at the end of halo 4 is 42 years old technically. (idk if you age in cyrosleep). With that said <mark>cheif will have the opprotunity to retire soon.</mark> It takes 30 years of service to retire and john was technically part of the unsc at age 5 but wasnt exactly active until 16 so cheif has 4 years until retirement.
>
> (with cheif’s popularity he wil have some huge villa in the Mediterranean sipping smoothies under a palm tree somewhere. After all he did save humanity from extinction… twice I’d imagine that would earn him a large pension)

Doubt it, Johnson was like 70-80 years old and he didn’t retire

10

Bear with me for a second…
So, you brought up the point that John is going insane… Like Khan in Star Trek. Wouldn’t it be cool if the Chief is the bad guy of Halo 5? and you play as the UNSC’s enemy? I guess that wouldn’t really make him evil, but from the UNSC’s standpoint, he would be the enemy. What if that Forerunner sphinx he awakens in the trailer is his doomsday device (like in Star Trek). 343 did say Halo 5 is darker than any other Halo…
IDK, kind of let my thoughts run away with me a little.
But still.
I want to fight Spartan IVs. and not just in some Easter Egg.

11

> I do not think John is going insane in the series, but I do think his mental state is crumbling. I think if anything, John may be getting depressed, of all the Spartans he’s lost in combat, and the death of Cortana, a huge one. You can tell that he’s emotionally broken in the trailer, by the cracked visor, it symbolizes he is broken.

The Trailer makes a perfect point about John’s mental state in a purely symbolic way.

To summarize it:

  1. We first notice the Master Chief masks himself behind a tattered cloak, we can infer that this is showing his lack of humanity and how he can only exist during a time of war. "Wake me, when you need me"

  2. The Master Chief then pulls an empty AI Chip that he wears like dogtags, we then see him hold it tightly as if it still drives him forward. Clearly, this shows how the Master Chief stoically believes that Cortana still survives, even though the truth states otherwise.

  3. When the War Sphinx/Seeker rises from the sand, the hood of the cloak his blown away, finally revealing the Master Chief to the audience. This restates how he is only relevant when danger approaches, it shows how his only shred of humanity is through combat.

  4. Finally, as how Avenged FADE said, we see that the Master Chief’s visor is broken… He is emotionally fractured, his is ancilla dead, and the closest thing he ever had to a mother is now siding with the enemy.

12

> > I do not think John is going insane in the series, but I do think his mental state is crumbling. I think if anything, John may be getting depressed, of all the Spartans he’s lost in combat, and the death of Cortana, a huge one. You can tell that he’s emotionally broken in the trailer, by the cracked visor, it symbolizes he is broken.
>
> The Trailer makes a perfect point about John’s mental state in a purely symbolic way.
>
> To summarize it:
>
>
>
>
> 1. We first notice the Master Chief masks himself behind a tattered cloak, we can infer that this is showing his lack of humanity and how he can only exist during a time of war. "Wake me, when you need me"
>
> 2. The Master Chief then pulls an empty AI Chip that he wears like dogtags, we then see him hold it tightly as if it still drives him forward. Clearly, this shows how the Master Chief stoically believes that Cortana still survives, even though the truth states otherwise.
>
> 3. When the War Sphinx/Seeker rises from the sand, the hood of the cloak his blown away, finally revealing the Master Chief to the audience. This restates how he is only relevant when danger approaches, it shows how his only shred of humanity is through combat.
>
> 4. Finally, as how Avenged FADE said, we see that the Master Chief’s visor is broken… He is emotionally fractured, his is ancilla dead, and the closest thing he ever had to a mother is now siding with the enemy.
>

These are really good points.

13

Also it isn’t too far fetched that, with whatever the Librarians changes did, he COULD be losing his organic state.

This is what can be called a “Marathon Treatment”. Which is a long story I don’t wanna hijack the thread with.

14

I think you may be right; I just hope they don’t go too far with it and I hope that his sanity can eventually be reclaimed.

15

I never thought MC was sane.

When i first played Halo Ce in 2002 after surviving the Pillar of Autumn crash and not giving a damn about all of the crew who died. I knew from there that this guy wasn’t right in the head. He was the sole survivor of a crash landing and didn’t even give any words for those who had fallen.

I know the Covenant were moving on him but that made it worst. Even after killing unknown numbers of Aliens trying to wipe out humanity, everyone dying around him, HYPER SPACE NINJA ZOMBIES, finding out that 100,00 years ago all life was whipped out in a mass suicide, crazy AI Ball, punching in his friends face and leaving unknown number of marines behind to die as he blows up the ring without even taking moment to even say sorry, He just sets his head down when he hears that no one survived and flies in a void of space.

I was too young to understand it but my older brother was laughing through out half the game. Not from the funny ways you get to dominate aliens but on how many -Yoinks!- MC didn’t give about anything going on. Same for Halo 2 until he lost Cortana.

Halo is probably my favorite series ever made and this to me is what MC was doing until Cortana died. :frowning:

16

> I never thought MC was sane.
>
> When i first played Halo Ce in 2002 after surviving the Pillar of Autumn crash and not giving a damn about all of the crew who died. I knew from there that this guy wasn’t right in the head. He was the sole survivor of a crash landing and didn’t even give any words for those who had fallen.
>
> I know the Covenant were moving on him but that made it worst. Even after killing unknown numbers of Aliens trying to wipe out humanity, everyone dying around him, HYPER SPACE NINJA ZOMBIES, finding out that 100,00 years ago all life was whipped out in a mass suicide, crazy AI Ball, punching in his friends face and leaving unknown number of marines behind to die as he blows up the ring without even taking moment to even say sorry, He just sets his head down when he hears that no one survived and flies in a void of space.
>
>
> I was too young to understand it but my older brother was laughing through out half the game. Not from the funny ways you get to dominate aliens but on how many -Yoinks!- MC didn’t give about anything going on. Same for Halo 2 until he lost Cortana.
>
> Halo is probably my favorite series ever made and this to me is what MC was doing until Cortana died. :frowning:

I think Chief seeming heartless in CE was due to the lower storytelling standards for video games at the time (plus the fact that he only talked in cutscenes). If you read The Flood (a novelization of CE) then you will see that John actually cared greatly for any wounded or dead soldiers. He even gives Mabuto a eulogy. And he was very distressed when he learned no one survived the Halo explosion. John is just able to contain his emotions really well, although I think this will at some point have repurcussions on his psyche. The books have always done a better job of portraying John’s personality than the games, at least until Halo 4.

17

^ Regardless of storytelling standards, it actually makes sense for chief to be “heartless” in Halo CE. He’s supposed to be the perfect soldier. A soldier who can quickly move on from an ally’s death is ideal.

18

> > I never thought MC was sane.
> >
> > When i first played Halo Ce in 2002 after surviving the Pillar of Autumn crash and not giving a damn about all of the crew who died. I knew from there that this guy wasn’t right in the head. He was the sole survivor of a crash landing and didn’t even give any words for those who had fallen.
> >
> > I know the Covenant were moving on him but that made it worst. Even after killing unknown numbers of Aliens trying to wipe out humanity, everyone dying around him, HYPER SPACE NINJA ZOMBIES, finding out that 100,00 years ago all life was whipped out in a mass suicide, crazy AI Ball, punching in his friends face and leaving unknown number of marines behind to die as he blows up the ring without even taking moment to even say sorry, He just sets his head down when he hears that no one survived and flies in a void of space.
> >
> >
> > I was too young to understand it but my older brother was laughing through out half the game. Not from the funny ways you get to dominate aliens but on how many -Yoinks!- MC didn’t give about anything going on. Same for Halo 2 until he lost Cortana.
> >
> > Halo is probably my favorite series ever made and this to me is what MC was doing until Cortana died. :frowning:
>
> I think Chief seeming heartless in CE was due to the lower storytelling standards for video games at the time (plus the fact that he only talked in cutscenes). If you read The Flood (a novelization of CE) then you will see that John actually cared greatly for any wounded or dead soldiers. He even gives Mabuto a eulogy. And he was very distressed when he learned no one survived the Halo explosion. John is just able to contain his emotions really well, although I think this will at some point have repurcussions on his psyche. The books have always done a better job of portraying John’s personality than the games, at least until Halo 4.

I know, i have The Flood right here actually. I’m saying when i first played Halo that is what hit my brother and later me. HOw he was just blowing his way through countless foes losing troops and moving on like it didn’t happen. I say in Halo 5 give MC dialogue when a marine dies or something like he when you look at them he tells them to get behind me or take cover rather than looking at them die.

If you have played Star Wars republic Commando you might know what i mean. Boss was a silent guy but he didn’t just watch clones die. Well…besides the guy in the Torpedo bay but yeah other then that he tries to want troops of their imminent death ha he talks to those around him to ensure they are safe. Wookies, CT’s and even when droids taunt him.

But eitehr way i have been waiting for a game like SW RC to come up again with squad commands. Reach made it clear that we can assemble squads of troops of i think 5 we should be able to use the D-Pad for extra commands. MC is an CO.

19

if 343i was going to shatter the mold of how Halo’s story was going they would of done it with Halo 4. most likely Master Chief is going to be a little more PTSD and emo in Halo X1 while running the same routine in campaign as in all the other Halos.

20

> ^ Regardless of storytelling standards, it actually makes sense for chief to be “heartless” in Halo CE. He’s supposed to be the perfect soldier. A soldier who can quickly move on from an ally’s death is ideal.

Of course, but my point is he still feels sadness, even if he does a great job of seeming his usual stoic self.