The Spartan Problem, how 343i can fix this

Community Halo Universe
1

The Problem
A big problem over the years is the ever increasing number of Spartan-IIs that survived the Augmentation.
Here is a suggestion to adjust the canon and try to make it fit more appropriately.

There are a total of 18 unnamed Spartans (not including the ones from Team Black.) 17 of these participated in the Fall of Reach.
3 didn’t survive the fall from jumping out of the Pelican.
3 more Spartans were injured and were assigned to Red Delta which had William, Isaac and Vinh. It’s never quite stated what happened to them but that they most likely died as they weren’t rescued with Halsey and the others.

The other 11 are of Beta Red. Two are Beta-Red Actual, the leader, and Red-15. All we know about Beta-Red Actual is that the Spartan was a female. Even though Red-15 is designated as #15, Beta Red has only 11 Spartans. We can assume that this is Spartan-015.
It is presumed that Beta Red died during the Fall of Reach from a MAC blast but a Pelican was on it’s way to pick them up.

The unnamed 18 Spartan died during the Harvest Campaign. The Spartan’s death is very similar to that of Daisy’s.

With all of these unnamed Spartans, there are a total of 57 Spartan-IIs who survived the augmentation process (2 committed suicide) and were fit for battle. This is a significantly higher number than the original number, which I believe was about 33.

The Solution
There are several ways, within the canon, to fix this problem easily.

  • The Spartan that died during the Harvest campaign should be announced as Daisy.- The 11 Spartans of Red Team can be comprised of any of these Spartans: Naomi-101, Joseph-122, and Keiichi-047. Joseph and Keiichi can also be labeled as 2 of the 3 injured Spartans of Delta Red as their story does not go past the Harvest Campaign. Naomi could have been the leader of Beta Red and was picked up by the Pelican before the MAC round fired. The rest of the Spartans can be rehabilitated Spartan-IIs.
  • The better way would be to make the 17 unnamed Spartans of Reach Class-II Spartan-IIs. Naomi-458 is the only confirmed surviving candidate of Class-II. While the backstory of Class-II can be explained logically, it would be perfect in the canon to make all these unnamed Spartans of Reach as Class-II.
  • Or Red Team’s Spartans can be comprised of Naomi, Joseph, Keiichi and Class-IIs.

How the Class-II can help
While I wonder if 343i has come up with a backstory for Class-II I believe I have found a excellent way to explain them. Since the project was initially cancelled due to financial problems, it can be explained that the project was handed over to a private company. Something like a futuristic Blackwater or something like that. The UNSC already has private companies make MJOLNIR armor because it’s cheaper that way. It can be assumed then that it would be cheaper for a private company to train and augment the Class-II.

While the Spartan-III project was meant to be a replacement for the S-IIs, I’m sure that ONI knew that in the long run that S-IIs were more efficient. Hell, go ahead and make all Class-IIs wear Hayabusa armor variants since it’s probably cheaper than the MJOLNIR and is the counterpart.

Also Nicole is Spartan-458. This could be an add on to Spartan-150. In other words, there could be a total of 308 Class-II candidates with a varied range of ages. This would allow for possible more characters in Halo 5 and 6 that comprise of Spartan-IIs.

2

Interesting idea. I like it a lot! Real quick though , did we ever get an explanation of who or what kind of Spartans (2 or 3) were dead on the mission Lone Wolf at the end of Halo Reach?

3

Though you have some very intriguing ideas OP, I think the problem can be solved with one word.

ONI

It’s been revealed that ONI sort of FrankenFixed a number of Halsey’s broken Spartans, and to be honest, who knows what else they were doing. The more Spartans the better I say! As long as we’re not adding new ones to the original list and instead making them CLass IIs, fine by me.

Also Kool Aid, I’m not sure if those Spartans are canon or not, but they always creeped the hell out of me. It’s an intriguing idea, I’d like to see a backstory if they are canon. Maybe you could write one?

4

Hmm…

Not sure that the Spartan III program was ever meant to explicitly replace the Spartan II program. Both were fairly different in goals and methods.

The only indication we’ve been given that there hasn’t been a Class-II is that Mendez ended up working on the Spartan III program and that Halsey never mentioned any in the briefing in TFoR.
Glasslands, I think, gave us an ‘in’ for a Class-II; Halsey killed any attempts at reproducing her Spartans, which is why Mendez ended up with the Spartan IIIs. If ONI made a Class-II, it was private and well hidden from the Doctor.

Of course, Halsey not knowing about a Class-II (even in Glasslands) kinda kills any involvement the Class-II might have in The Fall of Reach or First Strike.

Anyhow, here’s my math:

75 original subjects
-30 dead from augmentations (Possibly including two who committed suicide shortly thereafter)
-12 washouts (A number of which could have returned to active duty)
-33 survivors

The twelve washouts consist of five who could not return to active duty: Soren-066, Serin-019, Ralph-303, Fhajad-084, Cassandra-075.
Assuming the other seven were rehabilitated, that means that there are a total of 40 Spartans who were active-duty at one time or another.

Of these 40 Spartans, the following died prior to or were unavailable for Red Flag:
-Grey Team: Jai-006, Adriana-111, Mike-120
-Black Team: Black One, Black Two, Black Wishing he actually had a name, not just a number.
-Red Team: Missing along with Spirit of Fire.
-Sheila-065
-Samuel-034
-Jorge-052
-Daisy-023
-Cal-141
-Solomon-087
-Arthur-079
-Unnamed Spartan on Harvest

That means that twenty-three Spartans were alive and kicking for Red Flag, when Halsey stated that twenty-five of the surviving twenty-eight Spartans were present, with Gray Team being absent.
Honestly, that ain’t too bad.

If we pull the oldest trick in the book and pretend that Red Team somehow managed to make it back to UNSC space and was quickly reorganized as Black Team, that brings the total of surviving Spartans up to twenty-six, and explains why Halsey apparently didn’t know about Black team.

Huh. The Spartans are actually in better shape than I thought.

The most important solution, of course, is for 343i to quit killing off Spartans like a kid playing with firecrackers and toy army men. Unless they do that, adding a Class-II only postpones the problem.

Better yet would be a gradual nullification of Legends as canon. Story and art issues aside, seeing Spartans reduced to redshirts made me want to break something.
Don’t see that happening anytime soon, unfortunately.

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> The Spartan that died during the Harvest campaign should be announced as Daisy.

So long as they change the name. Perhaps reference it as a nickname, but even that’s pushing it. I refuse to call a Spartan - a supersoldier killing machine - Daisy. It’d be like calling a pet wolf “Spot,” or a Bengal Tiger “Mr. Jingles.”

6

I was lead to believe these are the fallen Spartans of Red team that were defending CASTLE base, but that weren’t able to retreat into the base with Halsey Fred Vinh William Issac and Kelly.

> Interesting idea. I like it a lot! Real quick though , did we ever get an explanation of who or what kind of Spartans (2 or 3) were dead on the mission Lone Wolf at the end of Halo Reach?

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At the end possible echo and gauntlet teams.

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> Interesting idea. I like it a lot! Real quick though , did we ever get an explanation of who or what kind of Spartans (2 or 3) were dead on the mission Lone Wolf at the end of Halo Reach?

They were S3’s.

Hey MrATCG, You should make a thread about Spartan4’s and what is revealed about them and what you think about them. Also, what makes you think that the armor in the Halo4 teaser is the MkVII? How would it be if it has the MkVI’s cosmetic battle damage?

9

> At the end possible echo and gauntlet teams.

I assume noble wasn’t the only S3 team outfitted in mjolnir, so I wouldn’t be surprised if gauntlet and echo were other S3 teams.

I expect rally point omega as it were, is where all the remaining S3’s were ordered to go for extraction off the planet once it was deemed completely lost. Of course the covenant caught on to this and basically used it as a trap.

I don’t like S-IVs because its dilluting the value of the spartans. There’s too many of them and they aren’t feeling as special.

10

I think Bungie (and maybe 343i) have said that the Spartans in Lone Wolf are not canon, and are more an “Easter Egg” and possibly somehow symbolizing or referencing that other customized Spartans (other players) died before you did, so you’re the longer “survivor.”

I don’t think they are actually canon, either way.

11

> I think Bungie (and maybe 343i) have said that the Spartans in Lone Wolf are not canon, and are more an “Easter Egg” and possibly somehow symbolizing or referencing that other customized Spartans (other players) died before you did, so you’re the longer “survivor.”
>
> I don’t think they are actually canon, either way.

I remember no comment of that sort.

12

It must not have been Bungie then. I don’t remember where I heard it, but I also can’t recall any notion of the Spartans being canon. There may be more answers on the Bungie forums.

13

I vaguely remember reading they were resuscitated. I believe that the Spartans who died were kept in cryo until they could be revived with better equipment.

14

> The Problem
> A big problem over the years is the ever increasing number of Spartan-IIs that survived the Augmentation.
> Here is a suggestion to adjust the canon and try to make it fit more appropriately.
>
> There are a total of 18 unnamed Spartans (not including the ones from Team Black.) 17 of these participated in the Fall of Reach.
> 3 didn’t survive the fall from jumping out of the Pelican.
> 3 more Spartans were injured and were assigned to Red Delta which had William, Isaac and Vinh. It’s never quite stated what happened to them but that they most likely died as they weren’t rescued with Halsey and the others.
>
> The other 11 are of Beta Red. Two are Beta-Red Actual, the leader, and Red-15. All we know about Beta-Red Actual is that the Spartan was a female. Even though Red-15 is designated as #15, Beta Red has only 11 Spartans. We can assume that this is Spartan-015.
> It is presumed that Beta Red died during the Fall of Reach from a MAC blast but a Pelican was on it’s way to pick them up.
>
> The unnamed 18 Spartan died during the Harvest Campaign. The Spartan’s death is very similar to that of Daisy’s.
>
> With all of these unnamed Spartans, there are a total of 57 Spartan-IIs who survived the augmentation process (2 committed suicide) and were fit for battle. This is a significantly higher number than the original number, which I believe was about 33.
>
>
> The Solution
> There are several ways, within the canon, to fix this problem easily.
>
> - The Spartan that died during the Harvest campaign should be announced as Daisy.- The 11 Spartans of Red Team can be comprised of any of these Spartans: Naomi-101, Joseph-122, and Keiichi-047. Joseph and Keiichi can also be labeled as 2 of the 3 injured Spartans of Delta Red as their story does not go past the Harvest Campaign. Naomi could have been the leader of Beta Red and was picked up by the Pelican before the MAC round fired. The rest of the Spartans can be rehabilitated Spartan-IIs.
> - The better way would be to make the 17 unnamed Spartans of Reach Class-II Spartan-IIs. Naomi-458 is the only confirmed surviving candidate of Class-II. While the backstory of Class-II can be explained logically, it would be perfect in the canon to make all these unnamed Spartans of Reach as Class-II.
> - Or Red Team’s Spartans can be comprised of Naomi, Joseph, Keiichi and Class-IIs.
>
> How the Class-II can help
> While I wonder if 343i has come up with a backstory for Class-II I believe I have found a excellent way to explain them. Since the project was initially cancelled due to financial problems, it can be explained that the project was handed over to a private company. Something like a futuristic Blackwater or something like that. The UNSC already has private companies make MJOLNIR armor because it’s cheaper that way. It can be assumed then that it would be cheaper for a private company to train and augment the Class-II.
>
> While the Spartan-III project was meant to be a replacement for the S-IIs, I’m sure that ONI knew that in the long run that S-IIs were more efficient. Hell, go ahead and make all Class-IIs wear Hayabusa armor variants since it’s probably cheaper than the MJOLNIR and is the counterpart.
>
> Also Nicole is Spartan-458. This could be an add on to Spartan-150. In other words, there could be a total of 308 Class-II candidates with a varied range of ages. This would allow for possible more characters in Halo 5 and 6 that comprise of Spartan-IIs.

So there is there is a Haloverse version of Weyland-Yutani? Sounds intriguing.