I’ll let that title sink in for a moment. Don’t ruin Sarah Palmer? But Cobra, isn’t she already a bad character? Ah, that is your first mistake, I am asking for 343 to not ruin the Escalation Palmer as opposed to the Spartan Ops - Initiation Palmer. You see, the comic series known as Halo: Escalation is currently doing something amazing for Sarah Palmer as a character. No longer is she the overbearing, catchphrase repeating, faux-action girl character we saw in Halo 4 and Initiation.
So why is it that so many people hated her in Halo 4 and Initiation? For one, I think she was pushed too much on the fanbase early on. She had a brief appearance in the main Halo 4 campaign and she wasn’t bad in it. Yet in Spartan Ops she had a much more prevalent role and, as stated above, came off as really overbearing. Between her infamous hatred of “eggheads” and use of “bad guys” constantly, it really felt like the character was trying too hard to seem badass. Throw in her cartoonishly powerful pistols laying waste to everything they hit, her shocking emotional outbrusts, ie hitting the holographic table on the bridge and her mini-meltdown after Jul 'Mdama and a now unconscious Halsey got away and bashing of Halsey in general, admittedly more of a personal issue for me, she didn’t have much of a chance.
Her role only expanded after she got her own comic mini-series and a lead role in Spartan Assault. I know Initiation was meant to shed some light on the origins of the Spartan-IVs, but it really felt like a superhero comic book trying to act like a Halo story. We are talking about a story whose main antagonist was a “prototype” Spartan-IV who went insane because of her augmentations, that is one of the most cliche supervillain origins in and of itself. The whole story was juts ridiculous and pretty much was set out to make Palmer look more impressive. It didn’t exactly work out too well if reviews and opinions from those who read it are to be believed.
I mean, the comic tries to rationalize her hatred of scientists with this gem: “Soldiers don’t act like they’re smarter than me just because it took them eight years longer to get out of school.”
Is that supposed to make us sympathize with her? To me it just feels like projection. And to top it all off, this comes after we are told she is giving her doctors a hard time after she was injured in a previous battle. They are trying to get you healed and keep you alive, being a -Yoink- to them because at some point some scientist made you feel dumb is not something to be admired.
So what has Escalation done? Well, it has made her seem like a decent person who actually has empathy. As I said in a previous thread: “She put her own career on the line when she lied to Admiral Osman about Lasky sending Majestic to save Halsey by saying they were back up to help terminate Halsey. She then goes on to kick a fair amount of -Yoink!- during the Battle of Ealen IV to boot. Yet the thing that really got me was when her ideology got challenged. She had to leave DeMarco and Fireteam Bailey behind so the Elite, human and Brute delegations could escape the planet with Covenant forces coming in hot. Somehow I doubt she’ll be so gung-ho about “Orders are orders, so we much follow them”. The fact she was standing and staring out into space, just like Master Chief did when he lost Cortana, and told Lasky to leave her alone really show how tore up she was over losing good Spartans and how powerless she was to prevent it.”
So with good things coming out of Escalation regarding Palmer, why am I asking 343 Industries not to ruin her? In my opinion, they’ve had a bad habit of trying to make excuses for her more “controversial” aspects. Consider what her avatar item says about her: “Once an ODST, Sarah Palmer was hand-picked by former Spartan-III Jun A-266 to be one of the first candidates in the new Spartan IV program. Quickly proving herself during the defense of the UNSC Infinity from a hostile takeover by Insurrectionists, Palmer was soon called upon to lead a Spartan strike team during the historic Battle of Draetheus-V. Now the senior Spartan aboard Infinity, <mark>Commander Palmer went on to be instrumental in the recovery of the Master Chief and the defeat of Jul ‘Mdama at Requiem.</mark>”
That sounds like they are trying to make her seem better than she actualyl is. Instrumental in reocvering Chief? He literally walked up to where they were hiding and helped them get off of Requiem? Instrumental in defeating Jul 'Mdama? Seriously? He managed to hold Requiem for six months, launched regular attacks on UNSC science bases, kidnapped numerous Spartans, nearly destroyed the Infinity twice, kidnapped Dr. Halsey, holds the other half of the Janus Key, destroyed Requiem and continuous to be a threat to humanity. How is that “defeating” him?
Something I saw on Twitter also reinforced my problems with this kind of damage control. When asked why she did not arrest Chief when ordered by Del Rio, it was said that: “Palmer’s branch (& rank) = Spartan. Del Rio ordered a Navy Lt, not Palmer. W/Halsey, she was doing what Lasky could not.” Sorry, but that is such -Yoink-. He looked right at her. It is just a cover to try and make her “Orders are orders” mentality seem not as hypocritical. Unless I am reading the statement wrong of course, but I don’t think I am.
That said, it doesn’t have to be this way. Palmer doesn’t have to be thrown at us in all directions across several forms of Halo media to the point that fans are annoyed about it nor do excuses for bad writing or exaggerations about her actions need to be made. Escalation shows us that with quality writing and real character depth, even a character as negatively received as Palmer can be redeemed and seen in a good light and Escalation has only had three issues. If she can be improved in that short a time, imagine what an entire campaign with similar quality could do for her.
So please, stay on the example that Escalation has set, don’t go back to the old ways and ruin what is shaping up to be a good character.
