Halo characters

Fictional characters from the Halo series of video games that began with Halo: Combat Evolved.

UNSC Humans

Master Chief (Spartan-117)

The Master Chief is a cyborg created to fight for the UNSC and serves as the main protangonist in the Halo series. His military designation is Spartan-117, although most people refer to him by his rank within the military, Master Chief Petty Officer.

See the main article on the Master Chief.

Sergeant Banks

Sergeant Banks originally appears in the in the 2003 E3 preview for Halo 2. In the both preview and Halo 2, Sergeant Banks is in command of "A" Company after their original commander (an unnamed Lieutenant) was killed when they dropped in (in the E3 preview, his unit is identified as "the 405th out of Diego Garcia").

In the E3 preview, Sergeant Banks is at a forward position that is under Covenant attack and is rescued by the Master Chief. He appears to be wounded and calls for an airstrike on a nearby Covenant plasma artillery cannon, while the Master Chief protects him. he then gives the Master Chief his SMG in order to demonstrate the new dual-wielding feature. In Halo 2, Sergeant Banks (who has a different appearance and is voiced by Orlando Jones), is found on the roof a building being held by the Marines of "A" Company. This time, he calls on the Master Chief to help him take out the Scarab that has been on a rampage in New Mombasa. Sergeant Banks presumably is an ODST unit. In the E3 preview and in Halo 2, Sergeant Banks famously says, "When I asked for reinforcements, I didn't think they'd send a Spartan."

Chips Dubbo

Private Chips Dubbo (voiced by Andrew McKage) is an Australian Marine in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. His distinctive dialect, unmistakable smart remarks and laid-back attitude make him instantly recognizable. Chips is particularly good at manning the Warthog's main 12.7x88mm gatling gun.

There has been some comparison between Chips Dubbo and Steve Irwin. Observant players of Halo will notice that the character model for Private Dubbo is different between Halo and Halo 2.

Dubbo is a town in the state of New South Wales. Because of its unique name, this town is recognizable to nearly all Australians.

Fleet Admiral Harper

Fleet Admiral Harper commands the remnants of the UNSC fleet guarding Earth. He does not appear on screen in Halo 2, rather he is only heard over the radio. What is known about him is that despite his rank, he is still subordinate to Fleet Admiral Hood. The only other thing we know about Admiral Harper that he commands from the front, since in one of his transmissions he orders several ships to follow his flagship into battle. It is not known if he survived the first Covenant attack on Earth, but if he did, he may not have survived the Covenant second attack on Earth seen at the end of Halo 2.

Fleet Admiral Hood

Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood first appears in the novel, Halo: First Strike. He is a member of the UNSC Security Committee, and may even be the Chief of Naval Operations. He greatly respects the Spartans, not only because of their record, but on two occasions his life has been saved by the Spartans. Admiral Hood, alternatively known as "Lord Hood", is seen wearing the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal along with a number of service ribbons and citations.

When Halo 2 begins Lord Hood presents the Master Chief, Sergeant Johnson, and Miranda Keyes aboard the Cairo Station. Keyes' medal is posthumous and thus presented to his daughter, Miranda. Lord Hood was in overall command of the battle when Prophet of Regret's fleet attacked Earth (this is made clear when he orders Fleet Admiral Harper to defend the Cairo, Athens, and Malta stations instead of attacking the Covenant ships directly). Later, at the end of Halo 2, he is seen commanding the defense of Earth aboard the Cairo as he finds out that Master Chief is aboard the High Prophet of Truth's Forerunner flagship that is heading towards The Ark. He asks the Chief what he is doing and the Chief replies, "finishing this fight." With the end of Halo 2 at this point in the story, it is very likely Lord Hood will appear in Halo 3.

Sergeant Johnson

Sergeant Avery 'Slacker' Johnson is a Marine who leads a group of human marines against Covenant and Flood assaults throughout the first and second games. He is best known for his boastful, tough-guy attitude. He also seems never to die. In the beginning of Halo 2, a gunnery sergeant on the orbital station Cairo asks him how he survived and made it back to Earth [after the destruction of the first Halo]. He answers that the information is classified.

In all actuality, Sergeant Johnson survived the explosion of the first Halo because (as detailed in the Halo novel First Strike) he escaped the explosion in a Pelican dropship with an ODST (Corporal Locklear), a Navy dropship pilot (Warrant Officer Shiela Polaski), and a lieutenant from ONI (Elias Haverson). The Pelican hid in the debris of Halo before being found by Master Chief and Cortana whilst they were still flying in a Longsword fighter. As for how he survived his encounter with the Flood in the first game, the novel First Strike details how the Sergeant has a rare medical condition called Boren's Syndrome, which results from a heavy exposure of the nervous system to the electromagnetic fields emitted by Covenant plasma grenade detonations (Sergeant Johnson obtained this condition when he used a crate full of plasma grenades in a past conflict against the Covenant during the Siege of Paris IV). This condition is what saved him from the Flood's ability to consume their hosts' minds, as the abnormal frequencies in his nervous system served as a buffer to keep the Flood out of his mind.

In Halo 2, he was awarded the Colonial Cross, led UNSC forces to drive the Covenant from New Mombasa and Delta Halo, was captured along with Miranda Keyes by the Covenant, but managed to escape when the Arbiter arrived and attacked his captors, allowing him to commandeer a nearby Scarab and convince the Arbiter to help defeat Tartarus. At the end of the game, 343 Guilty Spark takes him to the floor of the Control Room and is about to argue with him when Keyes asks the Monitor about a place where all the Halo installations can be activated.

Jacob Keyes

Captain Jacob Keyes was the Captain of the UNSC ship Pillar of Autumn that was supposed to find the Covenant homeworld and be crewed by the SPARTAN-IIs. Unfortunately, the fall of Reach on August 30th, 2552, cut the mission short (briefly until Halo 2), and Keyes was forced to use his ship to lead the Covenant Fleet away from Earth (in accordance with the Cole Protocol) – she in fact lead them to Halo because rather than using random jump coordinates Cortana used the coordinates she found on the quartz stone the Master Chief found during the SPARTAN-II deployment on Sigma Octanus III.

As a Lieutenant Junior Grade he helped Dr. Halsey to find the future Spartans, including John-117, the future Master Chief. He was later promoted from Commander to Captain after his actions during the Covenant invasion of the Sigma Octanus system in 2552 (July 17–18). Keyes was made most famous from his tactically magnificent "Keyes Loop", as it was dubbed, that was only performed at one time. It is also believed that a Covenant tracking device that attached itself to Keyes' ship (The Iroquois) lead the Covenant to Reach.

Soon after the PoA's arrival at Halo on September 19th, 2552, the PoA was abandoned and Keyes was captured by the Covenant and imprisoned in the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation. He was later rescued by the Master Chief on September 20th and became the leader of the human resistance on the ring. On the same day, he was captured and assimilated by the Flood and absorbed into a "command" form, a (probable) offshoot of Gravemind. The Spartan was forced to kill Keyes in order to retrieve the Command Neural Interface stored within his brain, which contained codes critical to Cortana's planned destruction of Halo.

For his actions at Halo, Keyes was posthumously awarded a medal, received by his daughter Miranda Keyes, the commander of the ship In Amber Clad. Fleet Admiral Lord Hood remarked about Keyes that "the Navy has lost one of their best".

Miranda Keyes

Commander Miranda Keyes is the daughter of Captain Jacob Keyes, and first appears in Halo 2. She is a Commander of the UNSC In Amber Clad in the UNSC Navy. She later turns out to be a Reclaimer, like the Master Chief. And like Sergeant Johnson, she cannot be killed in the single-player campaign. She asks 343 Guilty Spark about the Halo Installations and he said that all of them would have to be activated from the Ark.

Corporal Locklear

Corporal Locklear is an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who was involved in the battle on Installation 04 in the first Halo. Not much is known of his efforts or achievements in the fight. In Halo: First Strike, it is revealed that he escaped Halo on a Pelican with Sergeant Avery Johnson, Lieutenant Elias Haverson, and Warrant Officer Shiela Polaski, who he seemed to have been attracted to. He met his death when he blew up Dr. Halsey's Slipspace-altering crystal, destroying him and protecting the rest of the crew on the Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice from the Covenant, who would undoubtedly track the crystal's radioactive emissions in Slipspace.

Corporal Perez

Corporal Perez is a fictional character who originally appears in the 2003 E3 preview for the first-person shooter game Halo 2, and appears in Halo 2.

In preview he meets the Master Chief when his Pelican lands in the human controlled areas of New Mombasa. He serves as the Master Chief's guide until they reach Sergeant Banks' position, which is under attack. In Halo 2, the Master Chief meets Corporal Perez inside a building in New Mombasa where a bunch of Marines are holed up. He leads the Master Chief to Sergeant Bank's position on the roof, and then he simply becomes another background Marine.

According to both the E3 preview and dialogue in Halo 2, Corporal Perez is with "A" Company. The E3 preview states that his unit is the 405th out of Diego Garcia. Corporal Perez was killed by the Flood on Installation 05 with a fellow Marine named Mackenzie.

In comparison to the E3 demo dialogue shown above, the in-game cut scene on the level "Quarintine Zone" in which the humans and the Arbiter race against each other and the Flood to gain posession of the Index, which the Covenant call the "Sacred Icon". The cut scene shows Miranda Keys reaching for the "Sacred Icon" with Sergeant Johnson saving her after the Flood tenticle fails to hold. He says a short comment to her, and then he yells out, "Mackenzie? Perez? How's our exit? Marines, do you copy?" That's the last link to them from the game. It is possible to speculate that they are two of the Marines that the Arbiter saves from the Brutes on the last mission. It is also possible that they were killed by the Arbiter for at the end of the cut scene where the Arbiter—in Active Camouflage—storms the room, knocking out Johnson and Miranda but getting shot down a pit in the Library by Tartarus.

Admiral Whitcomb

Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb is a high-ranking officer in the UNSC. He is known for his tactical brilliance, resembing that of Captain Keyes. He was rescued by Gamma Team, a division of the Spartans sent to defend Reach from the Covenant invasion. He was later picked up by the Master Chief and escaped in Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice. He met his untimely death when luring a hundred Covenant warships into a tremendous explosion, caused by the destruction of the Covenant command-and-control center, the Unyielding Hierophant. The station exploded, destroying several hundred Covenant ships, and Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Elias Haverson. He had delayed the Covenant's attack on Earth.

Human and Forerunner Machines

Cortana

See the main article on Cortana (Halo).

343 Guilty Spark

See the main article on 343 Guilty Spark.

2401 Penitent Tangent

See the main article on 2401 Penitent Tangent.

Covenant and Flood

The High Prophets

See the main article on the High Prophets.

The Arbiter

See the main article on the Arbiter.

Spec-Ops Command Leader Half-Jaw

A veteran Elite who is missing his left mandibles. He wears the white armor of a Special Operations (Spec Ops) commander. He has experience fighting the Flood (he even comments that their stench is familiar), meaning he fought on and escaped from the first Halo and fights beside the Arbiter throughout Halo 2. However, he often leaves the Arbiter on his own or with lesser Elites to go fight other (unseen) battles throughout the game. At one point Tartarus references this pattern of behavior and calls the Spec Ops Commander a coward.

In the beginning of Halo 2, Half-Jaw sees the Arbiter as servant of the Prophets, meaning he doesn't care for the Arbiter's life. But later after the Heresy on Threshold was quelled, he started to respect the Arbiter for his actions.

He is apparently holds a position on the High Council since he is the one that speaks to the Hierarchs about the Brutes replacing Elites as the bodyguards for the Prophets. "Half-Jaw's" final fate is unknown, but it is highly probable that he survived the events of Halo 2, but was last seen leaving the Arbiter to confront Tartarus and going off to capture a Covenant Cruiser belonging to the Brutes.

The Spec Ops Commander is to the Arbiter what Sergeant Johnson is to the Master Chief. Also, he cannot be killed, just like Johnson.

Tartarus

Tartarus is the most prominent of the Brute commanders of the Covenant, easily recognized by his white hair and distinctive mohawk. He represents his entire species as their Chieftain: rough, arrogant, disdainful of the Covenant Elite, and totally dedicated to the Prophets' "Great Journey".

In Halo 2, Tartarus branded the Arbiter with the Mark of Shame and took him to the Mausoleum for an execution. When the Arbiter was pardoned and promoted, Tartarus was obviously displeased, but kept silent out of respect for the Prophets. Tartarus provided aerial support for the Arbiter during his mission to kill the Heretic leader near Basis, and reappeared when the Arbiter tried to retrieve the Index of Delta Halo. While he mocked the Arbiter, he himself flew in a Phantom and never sets foot on Flood-infested ground. On the Prophets' orders, Tartarus eventually took action against the Arbiter, stealing the Index and pushing him to his (supposed) death in an endless pit. The Brute then returned with the Index and captives Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Avery Johnson to Delta Halo.

While trying to get the Reclaimer (Miranda Keyes) to cooperate, Tartarus was confronted by the Arbiter. Blind to the Prophets' deception, he activated Delta Halo and prepared to guard the Index from all comers. In the final showdown, Tartarus puts up a difficult fight with his massive one-hit-kill electromagnetic "Gravity Hammer" (The Fist of Rukt) and his unique fog-like energy shield that is almost impervious to damage (it can be taken out with a Particle Beam Rifle), but ultimately is killed through the combined efforts of the Arbiter, several Elites, and Sergeant Johnson, successfully delaying the destruction of the galaxy.

The Gravemind

The Gravemind appears in Halo 2 and seems to be a highly intelligent and extrememly aware form of The Flood. He resembles a large plant, but can move and talk. He speaks in verse (14 syllables), and seems to be aware of what is happening throughout the Halo. Describing John-117 and the Arbiter, he says:

  This one [Master Chief] is machine and nerve, and has his mind concluded. 
  This one [the Arbiter] is but flesh and faith, and is the more deluded.

Gravemind revealed to the Arbiter that the Forerunners died when the Halo fired once before. But since the Arbiter does not accept the truth, Gravemind sends Chief to High Charity and the Arbiter to the Control Room of Halo Installation 05. Gravemind uses this to its advantage; it spreads the Flood on High Charity and "suffer the progress of infinity."

At the end of the game, Gravemind says to Cortana:

  Silence fills the empty grave now that I am gone, 
  But my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on.
  Now I will ask and you will answer.

This is in imperfect meter, suggesting that Gravemind is angry or worried.

Heretic leader

Little is known about the Heretic Leader seen in Halo 2, though it can be assumed that he or someone he knew recovered 343 Guilty Spark from the wreckage of Halo 04. He and those around him learned the truth about the Halo network and rebelled against the Covenant shortly prior to the Civil War phase of the Human-Covenant War. They established their base, an independent nation on a Forerunner Research Station in the atmosphere of Threshold, the gas giant that Halo 04 orbits. When Covenant Special Ops units led by the Arbiter attacked, he used the Flood against the Arbiter's units. The Heretic Leader and the Elites under his command did not wear normal Elite armor, rather they wore a chest plate with a jet pack (for himself), a respirator worn in the mouth, and special "goggles," perhaps to protect themselves against gases in Threshold's atmosphere. Also, the Grunts under his command did not wear the large pointed airtank that Covenant Grunts normally wear, rather they wear a much smaller X-shaped backpack with several methane tanks attached and they have less cowardice and stupidity than their Covenant counterparts. The Heretic Leader was fond of using holodrones to both communicate and serve as distractions in combat. However, the Arbiter managed to defeat him despite these tricks.