Solving John's Age and Birthday

Community Halo Universe
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Hello Halo Canonites! So, there have been a lot of threads over the years debating what John’s age is, and in fact there was a thread created very recently asking about it as well. I was going to respond to it, but I figured that my response would best be expanded into an entirely new thread talking about it in detail and figuring out his biological age and birthday entirely and solving it to the best of my ability. I am pretty confident in what I have figured out, but if I have made a mistake in either my lore or math, please call me out on it and I will see what I can do to fix my mistake. I apologize for its length, but I am pretty sure many you will find it interesting, as it pretty much solves John’s age and birthday by the end of Halo 5 Guardians. I hope this eases confusion on this topic. And the thread will be split into two parts due to character limitation and ease of reading. Enjoy!

Sincerely,
p1ay4OURFUN

John-117 was born on March 7, 2511. It is established that when one enters and remains in cryo-sleep, they do not age. Within the Halo Canon, there are several instances when John has entered cryo-sleep, and has prolonged his aging. This explanation will only be based on the established times he has entered cryo-sleep; meaning that while it is logical to assume realistically he has entered cryo sleep many times in his career other than the established times, because we do not know how long he was in cryo sleep during these assumed times, we can only base this age explanation on established times. Now, whenever you go into cryo-sleep, the amount of time you spend in it adds onto your biological birthday. For instance, since John’s birthday is on March 7, and lets say it will be his 20th birthday soon, and he went into cryo-sleep on February 5, 2531 (normal year, not leap year), and awoke on March 7, 2531, he would not be 20 years old when he awoke. He was in cryo-sleep for 30 days, so, his biological birthday is increased by 30 days as well. Therefore, his new biological birthday is April 6, 2531, 30 days after March 7. So, on April 6, he will biological turn 20 years old, and the next year on April 6, 2532, he will be 21. His yearly birthday does not change though. His yearly birthday is still March 7, while his biological birthday has been changed to April 6.

Now lets say he goes into cryo-sleep after his biological 20th birthday, which in this case has been turned back to March 7. He goes into cryo-sleep on August 30th, 2531, and wakes up from cryo-sleep 4 years later, on August 30th, 2535. Since his 20th birthday was on March 7, 2531, and he was 20 when he went into cryo-sleep on August 30th, he is still 20 years old when he wakes up in 2535. And so, he will turn 21 on March 7, 2536. But, in 2536, he will be 21 years old biologically, but 25 years old yearly, since it has been 25 years since he was born on March 7, 2511.

With these concepts in mind, we can begin to figure out what John’s age is by October 28, 2558 at the end of Halo 5 Guardians, strictly based on given information. There are several instances in the Halo Canon where John goes into cryo-sleep:
-Entered cryo-sleep sometime between August 17, 2517 and September 23, 2517, and woke up on September 23rd.
-Entered cryo-sleep on August 30, 2552 and woke up on September 19, 2552.
-Entered cryo-sleep on October 20, 2552 and woke up on November 2, 2552.
-Entered cryo-sleep on November 17, 2552 and woke up on December 11, 2552.
-Entered cryo-sleep on November 17, 2552 and woke up on July 21, 2557.

Now, since we do not know exactly when John entered cryo-sleep between August 17, 2517 and September 23, 2517 because we do not know exactly when he was kidnapped for the Spartan-II program, we cannot use that data for an exact measurement of his age based on given data. So, how long was he in cryo-sleep throughout his life, based on given information? Respectfully in order, based on exact information given above:
-20 days from Reach to Installation 04
-13 days from Earth to Installation 05
-24 days from Earth to The Ark
-4 years, 7 months, and 10 days from The Ark to Requiem

In total, John has been in cryo-sleep for a total of 4 years, 9 months, and 6 days based on exact given information. Add this to March 7, and we get December 13. So, his new biological birthday is December 13 at the beginning of Halo 4, meaning that since he was 41 years old biologically and yearly when he entered cryo-sleep at the end of Halo 3, based on exact given information, he was 41 years old biologically and 46 years old yearly at the beginning of Halo 4. He then turned 42 on December 13, 2557, and according to given information in current canon, he has not entered cryo-sleep since the beginning of Halo 4, thus meaning he is yearly 47 years old and biologically 42 years old on October 28, 2558. He will biologically turn 43 on December 13, 2558, and yearly 48 years old on March 7, 2559.

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Now, if we were to apply the theoretical amount of time he was in cryo-sleep from when he was kidnapped on Eridanus II and brought to Reach, then we would need to come up with a theoretical time frame. He was conscripted into the Spartan II program on August 17, 2517, and brought to Reach on September 23, 2517. We are going to take the mean, or halfway point in this situation, of the time between these two dates. There is a 37 day gap in between these dates, and 37/2 is roughly 19 days. So, based on this, we can guesstimate John was kidnapped on September 4, 2517, 19 days before he arrived on Reach. He was then in cryo-sleep for 19 days and woke up on September 23, 2517. Adding these 19 days to the date of December 13 established above, we now get January 1, 2558 as his new biological birthday after he woke up in the beginning of Halo 4. This still says he was 42 at the end of Halo 5 Guardians, as he turned 42 on January 1, 2558, and would not be 43 until January 1, 2559. This new information does not change that he 47 years old on a yearly basis at the end of Halo 5 Guardians.

He is 42 years old by the end of Halo 5 Guardians, strictly based on given information.

But are those his correct new biological birthdays?

While the above information is true based on given information from the Halo Canon pertaining to cryo-sleep, there is one other instance that would have changed his biological birthday that isn’t cryo-sleep. This instance actually would have brought his biological birthday closer to his current time, rather than farther. In other words, we would have to subtract a certain number days from his birthday rather than add to it. John at one point in his life went “back in time,” and remained in that timeline until the two timelines of when he left and when he arrived joined together again. This is referring to the incident in Halo First Strike with the Forerunner Crystal, which was somehow able to manipulate dimensional timelines. Because John went “back in time” in real time to another timeline previous to the one he was in when he left, this brought his biological birthday of March 7 closer to him. We can figure out just how closer to him by using the dates given in the canon. He left Installation 04 on September 22, 2552 and arrived at Reach 15 days later, but on September 7, 2552. He had entered this new timeline, and remained in it until the two timelines intersected and melded together on September 23, 2552. So, we have to subtract 15 days from his biological birthday to figure out his new birthday.

So, taking the two dates I figured above, December 13 and January 1, we subtract 15 days from these and get two new, more correct dates that can accurately reflect his true birthday in present canon. His new biological birthday when pertaining to only exact dates of cryo-sleep is November 28, meaning that he would turn 42 on November 28, 2557 and 43 on November 28, 2558. He is biologically 42 at the end of Halo 5 Guardians and yearly 47. His new biological birthday when including all events, is December 17, meaning that he would turn 42 on December 17, 2557 and 43 on December 17, 2558. He is still biologically 42 at the end of Halo 5 Guardians and still yearly 47. However, neither of these dates can be taken as 100% accurate as to what his biological birthday is now. The reason for this is because November 28 is figured by leaving his kidnapping out of the equation, and is exact based on true given data, but does not include all instances. December 17 includes all given instances, but since we do not know when John was kidnapped, it is still conjectural. As such, the most realistic date is still December 17 since it includes all given instances.

As stated in the beginning of this article, this explanation is only based on given instances in the Halo Canon, and does not assume any other instances of cryo-sleep. Because of this, the dates figured here still cannot be correct, but are closer to being correct than in the past. With given information, it seems as though John’s biological birthday is sometime in December, probably somewhere near December 17, while his yearly birthday still remains as March 7, and is 42 by the end of Halo 5 Guardians on October 28, 2558.

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Wow I had figured out he was in his forties but never got any further than that so the calculations are nearly complete now we just need to know exactly the amount of time he has really been in cryosleep ever since he first went into cryosleep as a child. #chiefis42

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> 2535420168891026;3:
> …
> Wow I had figured out he was in his forties but never got any further than that so the calculations are nearly complete now we just need to know exactly the amount of time he has really been in cryosleep ever since he first went into cryosleep as a child. #chiefis42

Yeah I wish we knew how long he was in cryo-sleep in total throughout his career. It would provide us the exact date his biological birthday is now, and perhaps even change his age, but he most likely would still be 42 by the end of Halo 5. Glad you liked it, and I appreciate the effort of reading it! :slight_smile:

Sincerely,
p1ay4OURFUN

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Cryosleep makes age get more technical than it needs to be sometimes. I just like to say that Chief is in his early to mid forties. Much easier to remember for me. Good work though. I’d have gotten really confused when trying to do all this.

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It is important to remember that human lifespans would be increased 500 years into the future, so while he very well could be, for example, 60, that could only be middle aged.

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> 2533274925633740;6:
> It is important to remember that human lifespans would be increased 500 years into the future, so while he very well could be, for example, 60, that could only be middle aged.

While that is all true, it doesn’t change anything stated in this article. His biological age is still 42. What is changed, from our perspective as 21st century people, is his age group in Society in the 26th century, on multiple colonies.