«Halo» әлемінің Мастер Чиф кейіпкері

Fictional character in the Halo video game series

Master Chief is the protagonist in the Halo game series and spin off media. Also known as Master Chief Petty Officer John 117, the character appeared in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, a science fiction first person shooter that became a long running video game series. The character also appears in spin off Halo media such as the 2012 film Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, the 2022 Halo television series, and several graphic novels and books. The Master Chief is a towering supersoldier known as a "Spartan", trained from childhood for combat. The designers intended for players to be able to project their own intentions into the character and thus reduced his voiced lines and concealed his appearance under his armor. In the video games, the character is voiced by former disc jockey Steve Downes, who based his performance on Bungie's description calling for a man of few words, similar to Clint Eastwood. In spin off media, he is portrayed by different voice and physical actors, most notably Pablo Schreiber on the 2022 live action TV series. A pop culture icon, Master Chief is widely regarded as one of the greatest video game characters of all time, with the character being seen as a mascot for Halo and the Xbox brand. His 2001 debut received a generally positive reception for his character design, with publications praising how the narrative allows players to inhabit the character, while others have criticized him as under characterized. In later Halo games developed by 343 Industries, the characterization of Master Chief earned praise for exploring his humanity and his relationship with Cortana.

When game studio Bungie began developing Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), the design of Master Chief was led by art director Marcus Lehto with support from artist Robert McLees. Shi Kai Wang was later hired as a concept artist, who created a sketch that became the basis for Master Chief. When the sketch was translated into a three dimensional model, the team felt that it looked too slim and anime inspired, The Chief's armor went through various changes, such as green tint, and the addition (and later removal) of an antenna. The character's two prong visor, intended to convey speed and agility, was inspired by BMX helmets. For much of the game's development, the character had no name. Master Chief was always intended to be a soldier in a difficult war, Looking to military ranks for inspiration, McLees, insisting on accuracy, wanted to make sure the character still had a plausible rank for his role. "Master Chief" was the highest non commissioned rank where the character would still be considered "expendable". Though "Master Chief" was intended to be a placeholder, and drew some internal disagreement, the name ended up sticking. The success of the game led Bungie to develop Halo 2, with the developers deciding to "tone down" the character's design, according to Mclees. In the sequels, the character received a new design including upgraded armor, with residual damage illustrated in the high definition graphics of Halo 3. For Halo 4, Bungie bought their independence from Microsoft, with Microsoft assigning further Halo development to 343 Industries. In contrast to newer characters, Master Chief and elder Spartan soldiers were designed with more utilitarian armor similar to a tank. Despite the visual differences between the character's armor in Halo3 and Halo4, the developers intended it to canonically be the same armor. With the development of Halo Infinite, Thomas returned to provide motion capture for the character, as he had in Halo4 and Halo5. 343 Industries redesigned Master Chief's armor once again, drawing inspiration from the character's previous appearances.

Bungie designed Master Chief as a man of few words, similar to Clint Eastwood. Joseph Staten felt that Master Chief was designed to promote immersion, as "the less players knew about the Chief, we believed, the more they would feel like the Chief." Bungie hired voice actor Steve Downes as the voice of Master Chief. and was recommended by Bungie musical director Martin O'Donnell, based on their rapport from working together on the game Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator. Downes noted that he was given creative freedom to develop the Chief's personality during recording. With the wide success of the Halo series, Bungie considered recasting a celebrity for the role before deciding against it. Downes felt that his audition for Halo 4 would need to demonstrate more emotional weight, and recalls that he felt like he could have lost the role. He became more involved throughout the development of Halo 4, giving input on advance scripts, and recording in longer sessions. Halo 4 creative director Josh Holmes cited the game Ico as an inspiration for the Chief Cortana relationship, noting how the game told a story without dialogue, while also balancing the protagonist's character development with his stoic nature. For years, Downes avoided appearances at Bungie or Microsoft events, believing that the character's identity "is really in the eye of the player." or one of the endings of Halo 4 briefly showing the character's eyes. O'Connor said in an interview that revealing the character's face is not as important as the events happening around him. In the 2003 novel Halo: The Flood, the Master Chief is described as tall with short brown hair, serious eyes, and strong features. His skin is unnaturally pale as a consequence of spending most of his time in his armor. He stands about 7feet (2.13m) tall and weighs 1,000 pounds (450kg) in armor; without it, he stands 6feet, 10inches (2.08m) tall and weighs 287pounds (130kg).

Master Chief first appears in Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in the series. Master Chief and the crew of the UNSC ship Pillar of Autumn discover an alien ringworld, called Halo. Master Chief is entrusted with safeguarding Cortana, the ship's artificial intelligence, from capture. While fighting the Covenant, Master Chief and Cortana learn that an ancient race known as the Forerunners created Halo as a last line of defense against an alien parasite called the Flood, which begins to spread across the ring. Learning that the Halo was designed to contain the Flood by killing all life in the galaxy, Master Chief detonates the Pillar of Autumn in order to destroy Halo, escaping in a fighter spacecraft with Cortana. Master Chief returns to Earth in Halo 2 (2004), defending the planet from a Covenant invasion. Pursuing a fleeing Covenant vessel, Master Chief and his crew discover another Halo ring. Master Chief is captured by a Flood intelligence known as a Gravemind, who forges an alliance between them and the disgraced Covenant commander known as the Arbiter. The Gravemind sends them to stop the Halo's activation, with Master Chief arriving at the Covenant space station High Charity, near the Halo's orbit. Cortana remains on the space station to ensure the ring is destroyed if activated. Master Chief pursues the remaining Covenant leader, the Prophet of Truth, who plans to activate the Halo Array from outside the galaxy. Halo 4 begins with Cortana awakening Master Chief from cryonic sleep, both drifting toward a Forerunner installation called Requiem. Hoping to prevent the UNSC ship Infinity from also being drawn into Requiem, Master Chief and Cortana attempt to activate what they believe is a communications relay. Instead, Master Chief awakens the Didact, a Forerunner with a grudge against humanity. Master Chief and Cortana pursue the Didact, stopping his attack on Earth when Cortana sacrifices herself.

Initial plans for a Halo film were abandoned around 2008, which would have featured a faceless depiction of Master Chief. The character made his live action debut in the 2012 film Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, portrayed physically by Daniel Cudmore, with voice acting from Alex Puccinelli. On the 2022 Halo television series, the character is played by Pablo Schreiber. Master Chief takes off his helmet in the series in an effort to make the audience empathize with the character. Master Chief is a major character in the novels Silent Storm (2018), Oblivion (2019), and Shadows of Reach (2020), written by Troy Denning. The character also appears in the 2010 animated anthology Halo Legends, as well as the comics The Halo Graphic Novel, Halo: Uprising, Halo: Collateral Damage, and Halo: Tales from Slipspace. Peter David's graphic novel Helljumpers contains a cameo by Master Chief "before he actually was [the Chief]". The character also appears in games outside the Halo series. This includes a guest appearance as a playable character in Super Bomberman R for the Xbox One and a cosmetic outfit in the battle royale game Fortnite. Fable II includes a medieval variation of Master Chief's armor, worn by a legendary hero named "Hal". The character is also referenced in Halo based machinima parody series Red vs. Blue, created by Rooster Teeth Productions. When Team Ninja approached Bungie to use Master Chief in Dead or Alive 4 (2006), they declined due to storyline restrictions, resulting in the inclusion of another Spartan supersoldier named Nicole (Spartan 458).

The Halo video games have emphasized Master Chief in their marketing. This includes campaigns such as "The Museum" and "Believe" for Halo3, a trailer for Halo4, the "Hunt the Truth" for Halo 5, and "Become" for Halo Infinite. The character has also been featured on several physical products, including Slurpees, Mountain Dew, branded controllers, and clothing. Several Master Chief action figures were marketed around the Halo series, including lines by McFarlane, Jazwares, 1000toys, and Mega Bloks. One2One collectibles also produced 1:2 scale busts of the Master Chief. Xbox marketing director Ed Ventura explained, "We want to be in the hearts and minds of our fans as much as we can."

Master Chief has been described as "iconic" in multiple media outlets, including IGN, Kotaku, Glixel, GamesRadar, and The Sydney Morning Herald. The character has appeared on lists of the best video gaming characters by UGO, Empire, GamesRadar, Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition, Complex, and Time. IGN speculated that the dramatic death of the character would become one of the most powerful events in gaming. Voice actor Steve Downes realized the character was such a huge hit only after children lined up around the block for his autograph a year after the first game shipped. In an article in Time, Lev Grossman called the Master Chief a "new kind of celebrity for a new and profoundly weird millennium", as well as a sign of video games becoming a more legitimate art form. Master Chief has also been called the de facto symbol for Microsoft, their Xbox console, and a generation of gamers. BusinessWeek listed the Master Chief among several video game characters who have been branded beyond their respective video games, "helping them transcend the very medium in the process". The faceless nature of the character has alternatively been praised and criticized. Writing for The Artifice, Sam Gray argued that the character's lack of conflict made him uninteresting, as he uncomfortably straddles the line between silent and active protagonist. O'Connor noted that players invest the character with much of his meaning, creating a conflict between players who prefer more personality and those who prefer "a sort of paragon of useful emptiness". Jesse Schedeen of IGN has called him gaming's most overrated character, due to his status as a "generic" action hero. The more character focused portrayal of Chief in Halo4 was positively received. Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times called Halo4 a more introspective Halo game, and the first to explore the motivations and emotions of the Master Chief. Halo 5 received backlash from fans about Master Chief's reduced role in the story, as he appeared in fewer story missions compared to Fireteam Osiris. Kotakus Stephen Totilo wrote that the confrontation between Locke and Master Chief felt "under cooked", preferring how Hunt the Truth presented the story of a rogue Master Chief. O'Connor responded by promising to refocus on Master Chief in future media.

Reviewers have suggested that Master Chief's birth name John 117 could be a Biblical reference. Michael Nitsche of the Georgia Institute of Technology compared Master Chief to Half Life protagonist Gordon Freeman, as both characters "are the independent, individualistic, and often lonely heroes that gain admiration by constantly proving their superiority in technology driven, hostile, often closed spaces." Roger Travis, associate professor of classics at the University of Connecticut, compared Master Chief to the epic hero Aeneas, as both settings involve superhuman characters protecting civilization against militaristic enemies. Matthew Stover compared Halo to the Iliad, due to the shared theme that "war is the crucible of character". Stover also argues that the cyborg is an apt characterization for the Master Chief, since the character is more relatable than a pure machine, but still not fully characterized as a human being.