Spartan breastplates

[PillarofAutumn]

quick random question for those who've built Spartans already: do you put a number on your breastplates in Braille? I know 343i did that to John in H4

 

[Sean Anwalt]

... I'm sorry? Pictures?

 

[PillarofAutumn]

It's not the correct Braille for "117", but this is about the best photo I could find on Google from an official or semi-official source. I don't know if John was unique in having the Braille number or if that was something all surviving S-IIs used by that point.

 

[PillarofAutumn]

Here's another, that shows John, Kelly, and Linda; John and Linda both have Braille characters on their breastplates

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Hmm. Weird. I've never noticed that before.

 

[PillarofAutumn]

I hadn't noticed it until I read it in an article somewhere at one point. I cross-referenced, and I do stand corrected on the characters being wrong; they're right, it's just that the character indicating that what follows is a number isn't there

 

[topless68]

I've noticed the "bumps" before, but had no idea what purpose they served. I learned something new today, all thanks to the 405th.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Why braille? I mean, blind people wouldn't need to know it was specifically "Spartan 117" that killed them... I guesses that's yet another thing about halo that makes no sense.

 

[topless68]

wouldn't an RF id tag make more sense, you just walk around with a handheld device, read out the tag and voila! we have that tech now....just think what would be different in 500 years from now.

 

[PillarofAutumn]

May have been for quick ID of a corpse on the field? I recall in some of the books (and in the games) that the neural interface stops broadcasting an FOF tag after a soldier's death. Marines, ODSTs, and deck crew can have their dog tags pulled; maybe this is the S-II equivalent?

 

[Cadet]

There is no in universe explanation because it was first used as an Easter Egg on Chief in Halo 4, that they then carried over into Halo 5 with the rest of Blue Team.

 

[PillarofAutumn]

Okay. Just thought I'd ask!

 

[mumgoot]

Yeah, must be one of those things. It looks cool, and they didn't bother with giving us a logical explanation. I would go for it if you think it looks cool though. Any gaps in canon just gives us all the more reason to say "heck with it, I'll do it my way".