The evolution of John-117 after halo CE to Halo 5

Community Halo Universe
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John-117 has evolved as a character throughout the halo games. I think most people are most familiar with how he was in halo 4, how he evolved and developed. However, I do not believe people are understanding of how he is in halo 5: Guardians. So let us begin.

Reveille on the rising horizon
John, the Master Chief. He awakens in halo CE, this is after meeting Cortana so he is already familiar with him, he has gone through a trial with her, trusting her during the trials of the mark V. But he’s not yet who he will become, and doesn’t have the attachment he has yet. For perhaps the first time in a really long time, John is operating alone, away from his squad for an extended period of time. The John we see? That’s not the regular one, because he is usually with the team. Many people do not like Halo: The Flood too much, and how it portrays John’s character. There is however this one interesting moment, that I am not the biggest fan of, but still, it goes well to show who he is. On his first minutes on the ringworld, John makes a mistake that could have been fatal. Why? Because he’s still used to having his other Spartans around, his family. He knows that he might have been the only survivor from Reach, active and well. But John does not display emotion as others, not even like other Spartans. Kelly might be the most expressive of the Spartans, emotionally speaking, but on the other side of the spectrum, John must take responsibility as a leader. He doesn’t show much in the way of emotion because he is the leader. He tries to maintain himself strong and stoic. Yes, stoic is the word that describes him, that’s how he learnt he had to be to lead his brothers and sisters.
So John fights, fights and fights on the ringworld with Cortana amplifying him. He forms the bonds with her, as she helps him out. Who does he usually rely? The other Spartans, but they’re not here. Instead, he must rely on Cortana as if he was relying on his family. It is not the same as being with a squad of marines, because John knows he has to protect them. But Cortana? Yes, he does have to protect her, but she also protects him. It’s a mutual bond, just like the other Spartans. They help each other, amplify each other. So he forms his bonds with Cortana in battle. Yet it’s her abnormal, by the military standards John has known, behavior that makes her stand out from a personality level. She may talk like a sassy witty civilian, but she is an extremely important ally. A big asset for John, for now.

Following orders

John follows the chain of command, he follows orders, that’s what he was trained to do, that’s what he is known for. As Mendez put it: “Your priorities are to follow orders, and to preserve your life and the life of your team”. And so far, he continues to do so. Having battled his way to the control room, confused, Cortana tells him to stop Keyes. John may not understand but he trusts her at this point, enough to do what she says. And so he goes. But what does he discover? The horror. The pressure was on. But he also found guilty spark shortly afterwards. And he did as he said, trusting the custodian. He is not infallible after all, as big as a hero he might be, he almost doomed all life in the galaxy. But what was guilty spark and John doing both? Following protocol, following orders. But then, at the control room. He was conflicted. “Is it true”? he asks Quick, get Cortana, stop the halo from firing. John once again finds himself in the care and trust of Cortana. As she does in him. Both have to fight together and trust each other, this is why they get so close to fast. And so they succeed. Halo, it’s finished? No, just getting started. …

Just getting started

John finds others who survived the event at alpha halo. He links up with them, but he still has orders to follow. That’s what he knows, and John is known to always make the right choice in difficult situations when he needs to. The reason why Cortana and John are together, OPERATION RED FLAG, he’s got a mission to complete. And so he assumes tactical command to accomplish his mission, yet he does his best to follow protocol even to get to where he wants, where he desires. Reach, all must be done by following orders and protocol. So they go, this is who John is. And he has hope that others survived, that’s why he goes. Once on Reach, they rescue the others. Linda is resuscitated. John’s choice was right. It’s a big relief for him to know that the people who he is closest with are still alive and around. He has followed protocol and orders to do what he wanted to. But now they have to stop the covenant fleet. He will experience more losses despite his recent relief of knowing his family is still alive. And through more trials does John get closer to Cortana. But they succeed. Of course, this is at the cost of the many lives lost at Eridanus Secundus, and the other heroes who sacrificed themselves as well. And this is one of the most interesting parts. John is supposed to follow orders and save the greatest number of lives at the sacrifice. To add a percentage of survival, John would have to do this. But, Halsey gave him the choice. And this is a big moment in his journey. John, after initially wanting to hand over all the data which would sacrifice Johnson for a minuscule chance for tomorrow, John decides instead to save those who are here and now. Enough dead heroes, he makes a choice that actually means a lot. Emphasis on this very moment is very important, this shows that John begins to change. The events at Alpha Halo and beyond shape him to what he will become. But also, the way he treats Cortana, it’s very important. She is equipment right? That’s how he thought, but after what they’ve been through, perhaps equipment is disposable but maybe not HER.

Fight for her, for Earth…

Earth, he now has to fight for it, he knows his family is alive, Halsey may have fled but he has to defend Earth. They will come, and this is what he’s been fighting for all these years. He receives his honours. Folks need heroes. By circumstance, he fights without the rest of blue team. Cortana is there by his side again, and together they are so close to the end, they must kill the prophet, those are his orders and he goes through, to Delta Halo. There, he will fight and fight. killing the Prophet of Regret. But the gravemind… he takes him… And he meets with the Arbiter. He must trust in those who where his enemies, and in some ways still are. “This once is machine and nerve, and has his mind concluded”. Quick, stop the Prophet of Truth. But he has to leave Cortana, “Don’t make a girl a promise, if you know you can’t keep it.” At this point, John and Cortana have fought together enough to form a close bond. They trusted each other and they know each other. He must leave her at the heart of the enemy. Stopping truth, that’s all that matters.

2

"Where is she? Where is Cortana?"
John has fought on the dreadnaught and is back at Earth. He’s fought enough with Johnson too to form a good bond with him. He asks him the question. “She stayed behind”. He must follow through however, he must save Earth, go to the Ark and stop truth. And so he does. But things are looking different now. He is fighting besides his old enemies, and John can put that aside, and he does. That shows part of his character too. And again, through battle, a reoccurring theme, he forms bond with the Arbiter. While others seem to mostly reluctant, John is rather quick to put aside the past conflict between the sangheili. He knows there is more, more to know, more than simple answers.

Covenant’s End

Truth is dead, Miranda too. It’s done, the Covenant as it was known is finished. Alongside Johnson, Thel 'Vadam, Ntho 'Sraom and Usze 'Taham, they have witnessed the end of the Human-Covenant war as they knew it. Like the end of the second world war and being there. But the flood must be stopped now, everything in priority. And so he must go to the heart of the hivemind for two things. He needs the activation index… and he needs Cortana. He can rescue her now, now that his desires and objectives align. It makes sense, so he follows through with his plan.
John and Cortana reunite, and this is after getting strange visions and messages from Cortana and the gravemind. He left her behind once, look at what happened to her. He rescues a friend. Together once again, but things are different this time, the galaxy is, different, even outside of it. “When I make a promise…” He keeps it. He escapes with her, and they both go. Cortana is invaluable once again, she manages to save the galaxy once more, with John. But they also witness the death of Johnson. Johnson? That life he decided not to sacrifice for “the greater good”. That life he kept around. Yes, it’s extinguished. An ally, a friend. He lived to fight another day. But what did he tell him? “Don’t let her go, don’t ever let her go.” The dying command and wishes of his friend, Johnson. Survive, go! Thel, John and Cortana must escape the Ark, and so they do.

Defiance

Of course, mendicant bias sends him to requiem… But it will take a while… John is now under the watchful eye of Cortana. And most people here should be familiar with his change in halo 4. How he changes, grows. His friend is dying, the galaxy is different. He must save Cortana, save those that are in the now, save her. The bond they have is big now. He also tries to save the crew of the infinity from being pulled in, but yet again he is tricked, this time it works. John awakens the Didact. He has to save Cortana, but he must save humanity first. And for John, that’s what comes first. But now, John is not the same. After meeting the Librarian, meeting the Goddess. Things change. He understands more now, even if he has questions. He understands his destiny more, he is, the Reclaimer. He must save, Humanity. He plays along with orders so far though, he does what is asked… But then, he is faced with a pivotal choice. Del Rio wants to run away, John knows he must not, to save humanity. And Cortana’s fate is endangered. John takes the most pivotal and probably iconic change in himself. “No Sir”. For Cortana, for Humanity. John disobeys direct orders. And it won’t be his first time. This is the moment where John starts becoming, independent. Cortana has challenged him, John has had some time to think. And he will have more. Perhaps I do not need to elaborate too much here as most will be familiar. So let’s skip forward. John must continue on without Cortana. He has carried her far, and she has carried him far. He desperately needs to stop the Didact and wants to save Cortana. His duty comes first, his duty to humanity. And he has kept with her. But so, Cortana saves him. And the didact is thwarted temporarily. But he must now stop this from happening, and there is only once choice: detonate the nuke. Yet now, without Cortana, John would be dead. But she saved him. Teleported him away. And this is when she says Goodbye, “Welcome home John.” He thinks she’s dead.

“Our Duty, as soldiers is to protect humanity whatever the cost”
“You say that like soldiers and humanity are two different things. Soldier’s aren’t machines. We’re just people.”
“She said that to me once, about being a Machine”.

She’s gone… but he has changed

John has lost his best friend, the one who he trusted. "We were supposed to take care of each other, and we did. I think most people here know that I think halo 4’s campaign was, beautiful. The story was beautiful. So I’ll skip that part. John has now time to think, and he links up with Blue Team once again, this time though, a lot of time has passed, for others and less for him. He has the support of his family again, but they must go on. The Didact has to be stopped once again. And there is one particular line which defines what John is now very well. But that for later. As blue team battles the didact, John is on the verge of death. He knew he would die in battle… but strangely… he finds himself not yet ready to die… No, don’t die yet. Not yet. And he does not. When he confronts the Didact once again, he notes that he killed his friend, or so he thinks. Perhaps in a way he is right. But the Ur-Didact is thwarted, and after the loss of even more Spartans, John remains with blue team. And he is ordered to take some RnR. But how does John deal with loss? He keeps going, on missions, on and on and on. And now that important line… Where is John headed to? "Wherever they’re needed’. Not wherever they are ordered, but wherever they are needed to help preserve humanity. John is a warrior and he grieves on by working himself on and on. But in that time he has time to ponder. “Wherever they are needed.” John becomes unbound. His purpose and commands align for now. But the most important thing is that he follows his purpose. And he even asks, back on Reach, blue team if they will follow him. And they do. His brothers and sisters will follow him. John is unbound, he serves humanity. Not just the UNSC, John is the reclaimer. Biko? Was he acting according to others? Maybe yes, maybe not. But whatever was needed, John will do. As Palmer put it. “Nobody lets the chief do anything, he does what he wants”. This is who John is now. This line seems to have gotten overlooked. The UNSC and John both have common interests, so John for now has been mostly on mission, doing what he needs. Biko might have very well been a test to see John’s growing independence. And the reaction is more than likely why they declare him AWOL and try to retrieve him.

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Dealing with loss

But John misses Cortana, you can see that in the opening cutscene of halo 5 for blue team. Feeling the slot on the back, he grieves and misses her. She helped him be who he is now. But now duty awaits as Fred worries about him. Argent moon is next, one in many missions they have embarked upon. And so it goes… until John gets another message from Cortana. She’s alive? What is going on? So many questions? But John has a task at hand, he will deal with that later. And that is another point in halo 5. John has become independent, he does what he wants, but when he’s on duty, he completes it. That’s why he puts Cortana’s matter for later. And this is important in John’s new character. As they finish up, blue team decides to go with him. He doesn’t want them to get in trouble, he knows what he’s about to do. He doesn’t care, he does what he wants. And he has questions, his best friend, the one who he has such a close bond to, might be alive. "Negative infinity, I don’t like it.

AWOL

John goes AWOL, but he did not desert his mission did he? He completed it before going. Of course, John isn’t all too stable, which is more than likely why he gets triggered to fight when Locke mentions her. Locke knows things he doesn’t? Has the UNSC been hiding things from him? I think he gets angry at that, and that’s why he throws the punch. He might have felt a bit betrayed. That’s quite a possibility. But he does not wish to kill a fellow Spartan. Because he thinks of Osiris as Spartans, as fellow soldiers. And so John goes to Genesis to seek answers about Cortana. He must confront the ugly possibilities of Cortana’s actions but he wishes for them not to be true. So he pursues on, keeps going to find answers. He keeps going on this path. Perhaps he closes off a bit here to his family as a defensive mesure.

Stop her

Eventually, they meet Warden. And the Warden too presents another obstacle, another trial. Not of the body and fighting prowess, but of the mind. He helps him discover who Cortana is now. And John learns about Cortana’s purposes more. He asks her to challenge him. “Try me.” He will think about it, not simply accept her. She seems different now, why is her best friend so different now? But maybe, maybe if they talk, maybe once they are together, maybe then he’ll convince her. They’re friends right? She’ll listen to him right? He is convinced of that. Yes, I have to admit that in this regard, I sort of found this part to be a relatable moment for me. Thinking of reaching out and having dialogue to try and fix things, to try and convince someone of something. Maybe by talking, we can fix things. And that’s John’s mindset during this. He goes on and on, until he knows what he must probably do. But he wants to talk to Cortana to stop her, using his words. And this is probably a moment of beauty in halo 5’s campaign. When the warrior John tries to use words to stop Cortana, instead of brute force and arms. During this time, he’s had support of his family, blue team. and as Fred puts it… “All the way to the end Brother.” They’re a family, and John has their support. But he has failed. In trying to stop her, and in doing so, It seems like he has permitted Cortana to ascend into this world. He has changed, but the changes come… at a cost. Remember the live action trailers? “Is this, is this what you wanted? Is this what you were looking for, was everything you’ve compromised, everything you’ve done, worth it? Was it.” Perhaps this is most appropriate to himself. John has changed. Now he follows his own path. His duty is broadened and through his actions now, through his independence, he tries to do what he thinks is the right choice to accomplish his purpose, his duty. He is the Reclaimer. And he is unbound. But in his trials, he has allowed Cortana to transcend and assume the mantle. What will he do next? Who knows. John follows his path. John has evolved. This is who John is now.

- END NOTE

So there we go, this is my piece (most stuff is from memory although I did replay his missions on halo 5 to refresh me). I probably could have done a better job with more thorough research, but this piece is what it is. So, share your thoughts and I hope you learnt more about John and how he has evolved up until halo 5, from halo CE. Yes, I think halo 5’s story could have been greater and I do understand and see how people might have missed John’s change and growth as a character. So yes, there was character development in and surrounding halo 5, but it wasn’t too obvious sadly. It might not have been as beautiful as halo 4, but it is what it is and hopefully they’ll do a more elegant job next time. So hope this was productive!

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wat

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It’s called “character development.” It’s primarily the reason the novels existed, as the original trilogy (CE-3) had negligible character development, if at all (Cortana being the only true exception).

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> It’s called “character development.” It’s primarily the reason the novels existed, as the original trilogy (CE-3) had negligible character development, if at all (Cortana being the only true exception).

What about the arbiter?

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> > It’s called “character development.” It’s primarily the reason the novels existed, as the original trilogy (CE-3) had negligible character development, if at all (Cortana being the only true exception).
>
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> What about the arbiter?

More or less, but his character didn’t really change besides rebelling against the Prophets after they betrayed him.