Ex-Halo Director Calls Master Chief a Victim

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I can kinda see where he is getting at; the Spartan program did take John at a tender young age and warp and distort him into a monsterous, genetically enhanced, armour-clad killing machine. I don't know if that defines him more as a unwitting victim or a tragic hero.

It would be interesting if they had him as more of a secondary character, to see how ordinary troops react when a 8ft tall, fully armoured, super-soldier that can flip Scorpion battle tanks wades into battle with them.

 

[Cryo84R]

I feel he's more of the tragic hero type. For all he knows, his fellow Spartans, being his only family, died on Reach.

 

[Imat]

I thought the reason most people like Master Chief was because he had no depth or emotion.

"It's an awesome robot dude with a huge gun! YEEEAAH!"

He's both a floor wax and a dessert topping.

One of the reasons I grew to be such a fan of Bungie in general is that their games often work on multiple levels. Want a slam-bam actioner? Go ahead and skip the cutscenes; the game's still playable. Want a game with a deep backstory? Take a good, close look at the hidden clues in game and read the supporting media.

The Chief can be an empty vessel, if you want, or a heroic victim of sinister forces, if you want. (A look at the backing fiction shows that maybe us Humans aren't the "good guys" we appear at first glance...) And that's what I love about the series.

-- Steve

Ok. I'm sorry. One should not have to read several books in order to understand the story of a game. It's deep to you because you've read several novels all revolving around the same plot. It ain't deep to those people who just want to play the game and aren't forced to read novels to get it.

Just like how I see an incredibly deep and complex universe when I see Star Wars, while most people just see the movies (For the record, the Yuuzhan Vong are about a billion times as cool and as deep as the Covenant. And Jedi would destroy Spartan. No contest.). It's all well can good to have read all this extra stuff, but you can't say the plot of Halo is deep. The plot of Halo and supporting novels may be deep, but that ain't the same thing.

 

[fulano]

If one considers intent, then yes. The master chief is a victim and an enforcer of a quasi-totalitaristic military empire. His very creation was carried out with the purpose of quelching dissent, remember?

The Halo society is royally fucked up, and quite honestly, the Covvies were the best thing that could possibly happen to it. Tabula rasa, anyone?

 

[Rassan]

Master Chef was kidnapped by strangers with candy. He is a victim.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

It's great how he wanted to put his own interesting spin on a generally cliched character and universe, as opposed to pandering to the masses. Might have given the universe the depth and originality it seemed to have back when Halo 1 came out.

I think he sees the master chief as a victim in the same way that Kurt Russell's character in Soldier was: He's a tool of death and he can never have a normal life, even when war ends. Pretty much the only emotional beat he can have unless they have an awkward love interest. (Johnson?)

I agree totally that it was better he made District 9. It's like the second coming of Cameron

 

[Vrex360]

It really is a shame Neil isn't making the film because looking at his perpective and view of the Halo universe is honestly quite similar to my perception of the universe and the Masterchief (admittedly I still prefered the Arbiter), and a film presented in his perspective would have been interesting. Maybe even a masterpiece. But it does show that if one person can think like that about Halo then there must be others... I honestly think that District 9 was amazing and that Blomkamp could have made Halo just as much so.

 

[Vrex360]

In the games, they simply take his personality away, so that the gamer can replace his personality with their own.

And therefore in my case Masterchief was a wierdo who cracked strange and highly obscure jokes, talked back to people, was a coward one minute and a badass the next and spent a lot of time jumping around yelling 'WEEEEEEE!' like a six year old full of sugar and with a head injury.
I was a very strange Spartan....

P.S I agree entirely with your points by the way.

 

[Keldon888]

I'd believe that Spartans in general are victims.

But Chief? The fact that he's the player character makes him too much of a battlefield god to be truly a victim. Too many improbably situations and victories against impossible odds for him to really be anything but the UNSC Jesus.

Chief is too tainted by being the lead in a FPS to even register as a victim to me. Just like most other video game player characters.

I could definitely see another spartan in a movie though, as they wouldn't have any "what about that time where he singlehandedly beat the covenant/flood" baggage. That stuff works for games, not movies.

 

[Lord George]

I've always thought it sad that if there's ever peace in the halo universe then Master chief's life would have no purpose, he has been raised, trained and breathed war since he was a child, its all he knows how to do and can do. He works to create peace but if it were ever to be achieved he would be useless, who wants a massive genetic freak around in a perfect society.

Then again maybe he could become a farmer.

 

[OtherAlex]

Agreed, He is underdeveloped, but really how much emotion can you equip to a floating gun and crosshairs? Most of the time, this is all the player sees of chief. Arguably, the lack of character development shows him to be nothing more than the tool that he is. His image, is whats iconic not his towering persona.

 

[Osloq]

Like a lot of people have said, the novels really spice up the story in the game and make it a little more bearable. The reality is it's almost impossible to make a FPS that actually has good or even adequate character development. Halo the game series is very pretty, fun and smooth. The writing is fairly crappy but that's not the reason I play an FPS anyway. If I want to care about the character I'll play an RPG of some kind and then write fan fiction about them macking on Harry Potter. (Jokes. They'd mack on Ron)

 

[Mr. Shoggoth]

It's just good that he did District 9 instead of Halo. A Halo movie could really never be as awesome as D9. Master Chief is a bland pile of metal, especially when compared to Wikus van Der Merve, a really humanly flawed but sympathetic hero character.

 

[The Cake Is Annoying]

I thought the reason most people like Master Chief was because he had no depth or emotion.

"It's an awesome robot dude with a huge gun! YEEEAAH!"

Well, fanboys do get scared by their role models displaying weakness.