The Halo franchise has brought fans some of the most celebrated FPS experiences of all time and Master Chief is one of the most iconic protagonists in gaming. Even those who haven’t played any of the Halo titles surely recognize the enigmatic warrior. However, the courageous and seemingly invincible super soldier makes a series of questionable decisions, ones that put his life and the lives of his allies danger.
The highest rated Halo titles are Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3, each packed with fantastic little easter eggs and nods for fans to enjoy. However, with each title, Master Chief steadily declined as a protagonist and soldier, forced to commit worse and worse deeds in the name of survival. With the release of Halo: Infinite looming (what a story it has to tell already), then, fans can only hope that the Master Chief of the future hearkens back to the original titles.
10 He Blindly Trusted 343 Guilty Spark
Master Chief first met the artificial intelligence named 343 Guilty Spark in Halo: CE. It claimed that it was a protector of the installation overtaken by the Flood. Without questioning this, Chief followed it though hordes of hostile creatures. 343 revealed that the installation was created to study and contain the Flood, seemingly pleased that the Flood survived to reproduce. The AI also mentioned sterilization protocols, which should have been a red flag to the preoccupied Chief. 343 then persuaded Chief to deliver the index to the core, a function 343 could not complete.
Thankfully, Cortana arrived to save seemingly all organic life in the galaxy. Without Cortana, Master Chief could have initiated a universe-wide atrocity. Chief should have known better.
9 He Left Sergeant Johnson For Dead
In the final mission of Halo: CE, Chief raced to get off the craft before it detonated. He scarcely had time to get his ship in the air before the Maw exploded. Despite knowing that Sergeant Johnson was fighting on the ground, Chief accelerated out of the gravitational pull of the ring and into space.
The cutscenes do not indicate how much time elapses between Master Chief’s departure and the Halo ring exploding. However, many fans would have expected the super soldier to have at least made an effort to locate and extract Johnson from the ring. Instead, Chief and Cortana made no mention of Sergeant Johnson, appearing to have no remorse as they looked back at the destroyed Halo installation. The intense SPARTAN program hardened him, but this much?
8 He Was Lesser Without The Arbiter
The Arbiter was a welcome change to the series in Halo 2. In Halo: CE, Chief was essentially a lone solder on many of his missions. With Cortana nearing the end of her life span in Halo 4, Chief did not have a side kick to fight side by side with. After Halo 3, Chief was not the same character without the Arbiter by his side. Alone, they were great warriors, but together, they were unbeatable.
7 He Was Repeatedly Fooled
The infamous 343 Guilty Spark made another appearance in Halo 3 (a franchise highlight with its arsenal of incredible weapons), where it presented itself once again as an ally of Chief and the Arbiter. 343 claimed that he had returned to help Chief, one of the Forerunners’ creations. Once again, the treacherous little AI turned on Master Chief, killed Sergeant Johnson and nearly killed the Arbiter. 343 would not let Sergeant Johnson fire the arc’s weapon, because the Halo ring was not yet complete. The AI stated that the ring was its own.
Master Chief must have forgotten the events of Halo: CE. If Sergeant Johnson did not conveniently have a Spartan Laser, Chief and the Arbiter would have been lost too. Chief should have destroyed 343 when the AI appeared early in the Halo 3 timeline. A lot has changed in the FPS genre since the original game’s release, but Chief clearly hasn’t learned anything.
6 He Was Just Going Through The Motions Against The Prometheans
The Prometheans are arguably among the most uninspired enemies in the series. Master Chief needed a new alien race to fight after conquering hordes of Covenant and Flood. The enemies in Halo: CE were well designed and felt like realistic enemies, but the series could only rely on them for so long.
The Prometheans could have been great foes too, but Chief did not feel like the same warrior here. He was no longer taking down towering scarabs or flying gigantic bombs through space. Instead, he was simply mowing through uninspiring hordes of sheer numbers.
5 He Couldn’t Keep Up With Enemies Like The Didact
At the end of the Halo 4 storyline, Chief faced off against the Didact and –for the second time– he was easily defeated. No enemy had ever been too large or powerful for the Master Chief to overcome before. Without Cortana sacrificing herself, Chief would have perished and the planet would have been destroyed.
After Cortana helped Chief defeat the Didact, she reappeared. Chief was emotional and begged Cortana not to leave. His connection with Cortana proved to be a recurring vulnerability. It made sense that the Didact was powerful, but Chief was no match for the mighty being.
4 He Ignored Direct Orders
Part of the Halo 5: Guardians campaign portrayed Chief as a rogue soldier facing off against Agent Locke. Chief bested Locke in hand to hand combat and ignored direct orders. Instead of fighting with his fellow soldiers, Chief and his team went AWOL, leaving to pursue Cortana, who had suffered from rampancy since Chief was hurled into space in Halo 3.
After everything Master Chief had persevered through, it was hard to see him as the bad guy. After 15 years of fighting for peace and survival, Chief didn’t seem to really be the person fans thought he was.
3 He Let Cortana Become The Villain
Cortana became the antagonist in Halo 5: Guardians. As her rampancy took over, she used ancient Forerunner technology to achieve immortality. The average life span of an AI is seven years. Chief knew that she was deteriorating at the end of Halo 3, while Cortana told Chief at the beginning of Halo 4 that she was nearing the end of her life. Master Chief should have let her go and end her suffering rather than prolonging it, hoping that Dr. Halsey could cure her.
Cortana went rogue after entering the Domain. She convinced herself that artificial intelligence should enforce peace throughout the galaxy. Chief’s inability to let Cortana go displayed an irrationality that persisted throughout the storyline. At the end of Halo 5: Guardians, Cortana was still alive in an unidentified location, poised to take over the universe by any means possible.
2 He Took A Back Seat To Fireteam Osiris
After the dramatic end to the story in Halo 4, the follow-up seemed to shift its focus to a new team of Spartan-IVs, Fireteam Osiris. While Chief does still play a large role in the story, the majority of the game focuses on the new team.
Master Chief’s character development stalled, as he was almost exclusively focused on finding Cortana. The Master Chief in Halo: CE could take on entire armies, but the Chief in Halo 5 needed a team of Spartans to accomplish his missions. The introduction of seven other Spartans made Chief less significant.
1 He Couldn’t Save Himself
At the end of Halo 5, Master Chief and the Blue Team were imprisoned by Cortana on Genesis. Cortana immobilized the entire Blue Team without much effort, and without the intervention of Fireteam Osiris, Chief and his allies would have remained imprisoned.
Fireteam Osiris were able to transfer control of Genesis back to Exuberant Witness, the AI created to watch over the planet. Master Chief is usually the one risking his life to save others, but instead he was lured into the Cryptum by Cortana, helpless without Osiris. After Chief was rescued, he simply demanded again, “where is Cortana?”
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