Psychological Assessment of SIERRA II/John-Ident#117 SPARTAN 'super soldier' project

[Cadet]

Just some more food for thought.

I lent my copy of Halsey's Journal from the Legendary Edition of Reach to a friend, but she has a quote in there from hen she meets up tih John immediately before the events of Reach, and she says something to the effect of "I was amzed, he had never internalized all the horror and pain he had seen in his service, like so many worn out veterans had. No, he was still that young boy, innately understanding his role in all this this."

And then there are the excerpts from the Halo:Encyclopedia, which one would think would stand as 343 Industries definitive word on the situation, where John is described as:
-"Having high regard for his brothers at arms and does not see himself as superior."
-"Respects life and does not waste lives if he can avoid it."
-"Believes strongly that his actions are working towards a greater good."
-"Is aloof from social situations."
-"Processes emotions tactically"

 

[alix965]

Just some more food for thought.

I lent my copy of Halsey's Journal from the Legendary Edition of Reach to a friend, but she has a quote in there from hen she meets up tih John immediately before the events of Reach, and she says something to the effect of "I was amzed, he had never internalized all the horror and pain he had seen in his service, like so many worn out veterans had. No, he was still that young boy, innately understanding his role in all this this."

And then there are the excerpts from the Halo:Encyclopedia, which one would think would stand as 343 Industries definitive word on the situation, where John is described as:
-"Having high regard for his brothers at arms and does not see himself as superior."
-"Respects life and does not waste lives if he can avoid it."
-"Believes strongly that his actions are working towards a greater good."
-"Is aloof from social situations."
-"Processes emotions tactically"

I have certainly moved away from the notion that the Chief suffers from any form of psychopathy.

And I might add, I do not have "real hard on for making Master Chief sound like an emotionless tactician" . As a matter of fact the romantic, albeit implausible notion that one man standing stoicly against all odds and surviving physically, and more importantly emotionally, intact is a belief that I hold dear. One man can prevail. Perhaps not in his physical form but more in the form of the myth that the spooks at ONI successfully advanced by NEVER listing a SPARTAN as KIA. You can easily exchange John-117 with Ulysses or Perseus or Beowulf and never see anything amiss.

Like all of these legendary heroes, John is human. How can someone stare into the abyss without having the abyss look back into him? This whole thread has been to try and discover why it is that "he had never internalized all the horror and pain he had seen in his service" within the context of the Haloverse. To think of SPARTAN 117 as a character with no foibles would be to detract from the very thing that makes him so heroic. His humanity.

Personally or (out-of-character) I think that the mention of John's unnatural 'luck' is what is used as an tool to gloss over any deep thinking when it comes to this particular iconic character, as with Clark Kent's eye-glasses and his trademark clumsiness is used to ignore the fact that this 'man' is a god amongst men.

So if it sounds like I'm concentrating on the negatives in John's personality/actions/history, rest assured 40fifies, that this is not the fact. The good things are easy to examine. The motivations behind fighting for your life and the very existance of your species are not hard to express. How a child can remain emotionally stable after being taken from his parents and introduced into a harsh and emotionally sterile environment...a young person exposed to DECADES of almost endless combat, all for the purposes of advancing a super-weapon program run by individuals who have a vested interest in one-upmanship and the bottom line, and emerge...Human. That to me is a fascinating subject that holds many paralells in the world we now live, and one worth visiting.

 

[Peagis01]

Alix what's the story behind that pic???

 

[Sithslayer78]

I see the chief as a Spartan-Klingon. Dedicated to the art of war, and all that comes with it. no questions asked.

 

[Trooper114]

Dang, looks like a spartan got shot in the head, chief wants to help him out, and is being held back by the ODST's. John may want them to take his comrade to the sick bay so that he could have some slight chance to live, but that sargent looks like he is trying to keep that Spartan dead to make Spartan's look weak. As most of us know, ODST's and Spartans do not get along very well, so this guy is trying to put the Spartans down.
That is not cool!!!!!!!! I like this picture because it shows how Spartans care for each other but i hate it for what the sargenant and the other ODST's are trying to do.

By the way, I noticed that the sargenant has a Pistol, which makes me think. Maybe after the Spartans had finished fighting, one of them decided to take his helmet. The sarge told him something, maybe a order he would rather not comply with, and the sarge shot him fo not following orders, Maybe thats why John is ticked off.

 

[Garland]

Looks more like plasma damage. There's a perfectly round chunk missing out of that Spartan's head (which is still smoking), and a matching hole melted into the helmet (which is also still smoking). They're also in the back of a Pelican, so they just got extracted from an op that went bad. What I don't get is that the ODST appears to be desperately trying to pry that helmet out of John's hand, and nobody is paying any attention to him, which makes it seem like the ODST is having some kind of mental breakdown (and Chief ain't worried 'cause nothing but another Spartan is anywhere near strong enough to take that helmet from him.

Now is this actual Bungie artwork, or is just something awesome from DeviantArt? It's a cool piece, but it's a little pointless to psycho-analyse fan art. . .

 

[alix965]

Alix what's the story behind that pic???

Gosh I wish I knew what is making that SPARTAN so furious.
I would like to lie and pretend it is something I made but it's too fricken awesome for me to steal. I got it from the bungie forums, someone posted it with a comment, but I don't know where HE got it. Although It looks like a piece of authentic concept art, there are so many excellent artists on Deviant that this could easily be either.

As far as the backstory, that Gunny is sadly mistaken of he thinks a thinly veiled threat in the form of a pistol is enough to keep this Mk V from rippin' that f**ckin smug look off his skull. The three Helljumpers holding him back seem to be part of an exfil security team and may be trying to keep the SPARTAN from going to the brig by convincing him that fratricide is not the answer. Perhaps it was a logisitcal/tactical error on the part of the Pelican crew/Gsgt. Perhaps it was some ridiculous order the non-SPARTAN soldiers were forced to follow that allowed the surviving SPARTAN's teammate to be killed. Whatever it is this Spartan is showing extreme restaraint. I mean look at the size difference. This artwork does a good job of conveying mass. He LOOKS heavy. That GIANT armored hand so close to my face would probably make my bowels loosen.

The curious part is how the armor on both Sierra is smoking. Maybe a a Wraith plasma round was used to overload their shielding and was followed by covie assualt. I see more troopers boarding in the background and the LZ doesn't seem too hot, for them to be arguing like that.

And why wouldn't the non-SPARTAN leader/Gsgt just order his ODST to draw down on the SIERRA? Maybe he doesn't have cause? Could it be something personal, a careless comment during a time of heightened emotion, that just brought things to a head?.

Something like "Hmm, looks like this one won't be listed as MIA."

 

[SchizophrenicMC]

I interpret it as those SPARTANs were sent on a more-than-suicidal mission, then had their stay, let's say protracted, by that Marine's orders, and it ended with the dead one's death. That death really upset the surviving one because, perhaps, the original mission objective was complete and his life didn't have to end?

 

[Tyvern]

I interpret this painting as a Spartan trying to lock it down and not punch the living **** out of that Marine N.C.O. after a Op gone SNAFU. ODSTs are trying their somewhat pointless best to prevent a Spartan brawl out in the back of a pelican while the Crew chief of the pelican and probably door-gunner haul the Dead Spartans body into the troop bay.