Characters / Halo: UNSC Navy

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CLASSIFICATION: TVTROPES
SUBJECT: UNSC NAVY

Index

• Main Index
• UNSC (Miscellaneous Personnel)
  • Artificial Intelligences
  • SPARTAN-I Program
  • SPARTAN-II Program
    • The Master Chief
  • SPARTAN-III Program
  • SPARTAN-IV Program
  • Navy
  • Marines and ODSTs
  • ONI
• The Covenant
  • Sangheili/Elites
• The Banished
• Forerunners
• UEG Civilians
• Other Factions

In General

UNSC Navy

The backbone of the UNSC military, the Navy is primarily responsible for spaceborne operations, making it the main line of defense for Earth's colonies.

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• Badass Navy: They may have been far outmatched on a ship-to-ship level during the Human-Covenant War, with most of their weapons only able to deal Scratch Damage to most Covenant ships (which in return could one-shot most human ships), but the Navy's skilled commanders, pilots, and crews (plus nukes and MACs) meant that it often held its own even against overwhelming odds.
• Cool Spaceship: Many, but the Prowlers, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, and the Infinity are among the coolest.
• Glass Cannon: All of their ships in comparison to the Covenant. Their kiloton-range MACs and megaton-range nukes were consistently capable of killing Covenant capital ships in one to a few hits, if they managed to connect. The problem was that their secondary and tertiary armaments (HE missiles and autocannons) were completely useless against Covenant energy shielding, while just about anything in the Covenant arsenal, even point-defense lasers, could blast through UNSC vessels like paper, as they were lacking both energy shielding and Unobtanium for armor (their armor is a rather mundane titanium alloy). This put them at quite a huge disadvantage: while it only took one or two MAC hits to knock out the shields of a large Covenant destroyer or cruiser, that's still one or two free hits that a UNSC ship could ill-afford against plasma torpedoes or an energy projector (which fire much faster to boot), and unlike the UNSC, Covenant ships didn't even ''need' their primary weapons to kill their opponents.
  • Prior to the war with the Covenant, the UNSC Navy didn't even bother putting MACs on their ships because it was unnecessary against their opponents, other humans with vessels similar to theirs; regular high-explosive missiles did the job fine, with a single Archer being able to cripple all but the most heavily armored ships, much less anything remotely nuclear-grade. In that regard their situation was pretty similar to modern naval warfare, where offense far exceeds defense and ships rely on active defenses (e.g. ECM, point-defense, maneuverability) to survive. They started mass-production of MACs in the 2520s because what used to be pointless overkill suddenly became the only way to stand a chance at hurting the enemy.
  • The sequel trilogy era has downplayed this a bit, as the UNSC does have some shielded ships now, but it's noted to still be uncommon.
• Magnetic Weapons: Outside of its nukes, the Navy's Magnetic Accelerator Cannons (MACs) are humanity's most powerful weapons, capable of potentially one-shotting unshielded Covenant ships and knocking out most shields in just one or two hits, with their main weakness being an incredibly long recharge time after each shot.^note The Fall of Reach has a sequence where two characters exchange several lines of dialogue that would last at least over thirty seconds, and the MAC has only charged up by 20% in that time. Another scene has a character explicitly say that a destroyer's MAC charges at 2% per minute, when the reactor is operating at half capacity (so presumably it's 4% per minute normally). The MACs equipped on Orbital Defense Platforms are even better, with enough power to one-shot shielded Covenant capital ships, and five second recharge times due to massive power generators located planetside.
• Pyrrhic Victory: While the Navy certainly made the Covenant work for each planet taken, their own victories against the Covies tended to be this, with even military geniuses like Admiral Cole often taking far more casualties than they inflicted due to the aliens' superior tech.
• Space Navy
  • The Battlestar: Most UNSC ships carry at least a small complement of fighters, and even dedicated carriers are armed to the teeth. The Infinity takes this even further by carrying not just fighters, but multiple frigates. Almost all UNSC ships also have a very impressive array of point-defence guns in addition to their standard armament.
  • Space Fighter: Several, with the Longsword being the most notable during the war.
  • Standard Human Spaceship: Everything except for the ONI Prowlers.
  • Standard Sci-Fi Fleet: They are basically this.
• Took a Level in Badass: By the Halo 4-era, due to tremendous technological advancements allowing them to close the gap with the Covenant.
  Thomas Lasky: For too many years, humanity was on the backfoot. Reacting to threats, rather than preventing them. Rest of the galaxy was bigger than us. Stronger than us. We were mice, hiding in the shadows, hoping the giants would not see us. No more. Humanity is no longer on the defense. We are the giants now.
• The Worf Barrage: In the novels, Archer missiles are only ever used to show a Covenant ship's shields pulling a No-Sell or (on rare occasions) to finish off an already damaged one. In one scene in The Fall of Reach, a dozen of them struck the unshielded hull of the Covenant flagship and only caused minor scarring. The only truly effective missiles the UNSC uses are ones with nuclear warheads, which are comparatively rare (Keyes states in The Fall of Reach that a ship is considered heavily armed if it has even three nuclear warheads, and Reach has the entire UNSC fleet just running out on August 14) and liable to get shot down by point-defense lasers before they get in range. The UNSC's post-war anti-ship missiles are far more potent: a hundred Howlers takes out a shielded Covenant destroyer in Thursday War.^note These aren't nukes either, as while discussing collateral damage, none of the characters make mention of nuclear fallout. Nor do the missiles cause any harm to the Vadam complex less than two kilometers below (for context, a ~25 kiloton detonation would have killed 100% of people and collapsed most buildings within a radius of 2.06 kilometers, and caused 3rd degree radiation burns on everyone within 2.3 kilometers).

FADM. Lord Terrence Hood

Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood (07960-48392-TH)

Homeworld: Earth
Birthdate: September 4, 2490
Debuted in: Halo: First Strike
Voiced by: Ron Perlman

"We will take our city back. And drive our enemy into the grave they've been so happily digging."

The Chief of Naval Operations and commander of the Earth Home Fleet at the start of Halo 2 and de facto leader of humanity in Halo 3.

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• Big Good: By Halo 3, he's effectively the de facto leader of what's left of humanity. His power has lessened in the post-war era, but he's still the most prominent individual among those opposing ONI's efforts to further dominate the UNSC, as he was the only person (besides Halsey) who stood up to Parangosky and got away with it.
• Blue Blood: He hails from British nobility, hence the "Lord" part of his title.
• Cincinnatus: Despite his political standing at the end of the Human-Covenant War, he's been a key figure in the effort to phase out the UNSC's emergency powers and cede power back to the civilians of the UEG.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • He seems to almost reach it after the Battle of Earth, when Earth was saved from the Flood by sheer luck.
  • It happens to him again after he's forced to flee Earth when Cortana and the Created begin their takeover; after several weeks in hiding with only Osman for company, he starts to drown his sorrows with liquor, as he blames himself for the whole disaster.
• Determined Defeatist: Still he's ready to fight to the bitter end against both the Covenant and the Flood.
• Four-Star Badass: Like the other major UNSC admirals during the war.
• Hero of Another Story: While Master Chief and crew are at Delta Halo and The Ark, Hood is leading the defense of Earth.
• I Owe You My Life: Spartans saved his life at least twice during the Covenant War. As a result, he's very loyal to the Spartans in general, and the Master Chief in particular whenever other officers criticize them.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Was this back during the Bungie era (as seen here◊), but his H2A redesign got rid of the resemblance.
• Mission Control: Provides some of this for the Chief in the original trilogy.
• Meaningful Name: He's a British naval officer and nobleman named Hood. It's not specified if he's descended from Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood or any of several other Hoods in Royal Navy service.
• My Greatest Failure: Halo: Escalation reveals that Lord Hood's first command was to recover the log left by the Spirit of Fire at Arcadia without engaging Covenant forces. However, by that point a young Captain Hood was fed up with retreating from the Covenant, so he ordered his ship Roman Blue to attack a pair of Covenant destroyers. Hood was ultimately forced to retreat without recovering the log. Hood blamed himself and spent years supporting both Cutter's wife and daughter, and his mistress and illegitimate son.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite being a British nobleman, he has no trace of a British accent.
• Officer and a Gentleman: He is a nobleman, after all.
• Old Soldier: As befitting of a Navy veteran who's seen the worst of the war.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Willing to listen to Chief's advice to go into the Portal, even though he's personally very skeptical about it.
• Supporting Leader: Particularly in Halo 3, where he's coordinating the last of Earth's defenses.

CAPT. Jacob Keyes

Captain Jacob Keyes (01928-19912-JK)

Homeworld: Earth
Birthdate: February 8, 2495
Debuted in: Halo: The Fall of Reach
Voiced by: Pete Stacker (games), Todd Haberkorn (Halo: The Fall of Reach)

"Men like him will save us, you know. We need more like Keyes."

—Admiral Preston Cole

The captain of the Pillar of Autumn, Keyes is legendary for his unorthodox tactics and skill. He assisted Dr. Halsey in selecting candidates for the Spartan-II program, and later had his daughter Miranda with her. In 2552, he was selected to transport the Spartan-IIs on a mission to capture the Prophets, but the mission is scrubbed by the Fall of Reach, with the Autumn forced to make a blind slipspace jump that sends it to Halo.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: He's considerably more fresh-faced and handsome in Reach and Halo: Anniversary, whereas in the original Combat Evolved he was more of a typical grizzled military guy.
• Becoming the Mask: The beginning of Halo: The Fall of Reach has him and Halsey posing as husband and wife. Guess what happens later.
• Big Good: Of the first game, as he is the highest ranking officer available.
• Body Horror: When he gets infected by the Flood and turned into a proto-Gravemind.
• The Captain: Pretty much no one can match him in single-ship combat, even if they're commanding a ship much more powerful than his.
• Commanding Coolness: When he's introduced in The Fall of Reach.
• Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: An heirloom of his grandfather. He often likes to hold it and put it between his lips as a kind of Character Tic that helps him think. Regulations prevent him from lighting it on the ship, though he is known to bend them a bit when he is in command.
• Fate Worse than Death: Being mind-raped by the Flood, forced to forget everything whilst defiantly keeping the Gravemind from accessing memories privy to Earth's location. Luckily, Chief interrupts the process before the Flood can take Keyes fully, but damn...
• A Father to His Men: A caring man to those under his command.
• Heroic Willpower: Part of how he resists being mind-raped by the Flood.
• Meaningful Name: His name is Keyes and at the end of Combat Evolved you need to retrieve his cortical implants from his living corpse to access the Pillar of Autumn's computer system. In essence, his entire life boils down to becoming a set of keys.
• Mercy Kill: Received one from the Master Chief.
• Military Maverick: He comes up with tactics no one else can, and while he won't always follow orders and follow regulations, count on him to always do the right thing that will save the most lives. He does note at one point that if a student had proposed a maneuver like the Keyes Loop when he was a teacher at the Academy, he would have given it a C+ due to the sheer risk.
• Mr. Exposition: In Combat Evolved.
• Oral Fixation: Will chew on his grandfather's pipe.
• Out-of-Character Moment: His execution-by-proxy of Dowski in Halo: The Flood is a total 180 from his earlier actions in The Fall of Reach when he finds that he doesn't have the heart to court-marshal Lieutenant Jaggers, even though both were guilty of A) insubordination and B) being morons (specifically, Dowski was continually trying to pester the rest of the crew into surrendering to the Covenant, who are generally not the prisoner-taking sort). However, as he was extremely exhausted by the harrowing experience of the Fall of Reach and being forced to hide on foot from The Covenant for hours, he may have not wanted to see unnecessary death.
• Parents as People: Clearly cares about his daughter, but due to his job, he's unable to be as close to her as he'd like.
• Psychic Static: Keyes recites his name, rank, and service number constantly to resist Mind Rape by the Flood, which is stripping away his memories systematically. It works for a while, but he eventually is forced to forget his own name.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's very much the type of commander who's more than willing to listen to his subordinates and give them a chance to change his mind, at least outside of the heat of battle.
• Southern Gentleman: Debatably, while it is established that Captain Keyes was born on Earth, his specific place of birth and where exactly on Earth he grew up or resided the most as an adult isn't explicitly stated, however he is obviously meant to be American, Keyes speaks with a slight southern accent and is very formal in the manner he presents himself.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: It's against regulations to smoke on a UNSC vessel, but Keyes does it anyway if he's in command of it. But he never does it on the bridge.
• The Strategist: Possibly the best one in the UNSC Navy besides Admiral Cole.
• Violation of Common Sense:
  • The eponymous Keyes Loop weaponizes this, with two key elements revolving around firing a nuclear missile in the wrong direction and deliberately setting a collision course for an enemy ship. That the maneuver works is a testament to his skill as a ship captain.
  • As Combat Evolved shows, he owns a magnum and keeps it with him, and he provides it to the Master Chief as the Chief's very first weapon of the game. He then notes that he doesn't keep it loaded, and so the Chief has to snag some ammo elsewhere before making use of it. Why Keyes doesn't have ammo on hand is anyone's guess, though it's probably because he's an officer and most likely to be taken hostage; it denies an enemy from appropriating more firepower.
• Veteran Instructor: After being injured during a Covenant ambush, he was temporarily reassigned to a military academy on Luna before being brought back to the frontline.
• You Are in Command Now: Back when he was still a lieutenant, he was forced to take command of the UNSC Midsummer Night after his CO was killed by an Innie sympathizer among the bridge crew.

CDR. Miranda Keyes

Commander Miranda Keyes (15972-19891-MK)

Homeworld: Reach
Birthdate: February 28, 2525
Debuted in: Halo 2
Voiced by: Julie Benz (Halo 2), Justis Bolding (Halo 3)

"Until we kill Truth, stop the Rings from firing... nothing else matters."

The daughter of Jacob Keyes and Catherine Halsey, Miranda followed in her father's footsteps and joined the UNSC Navy, rising to the rank of Commander by 2552. When the Covenant attacked Earth, Miranda followed the Prophet of Regret's ship back to Delta Halo, where she forged an alliance with The Arbiter to stop the activation of the Halo Array. Upon returning to Earth, she joins the resistance against the occupying Covenant forces, leading a Human contingent through the portal at Voi to find the Ark.

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• Action Girl: Surprisingly good at handling herself in a firefight, and fairly athletic as well.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Despite being utterly stoic in the original cutscene, Halo 2 Anniversary shows her Trying Not to Cry when receiving her father's medal posthumously.
• Badass Normal: Takes down two Brutes by herself and wounds several others with just a shotgun and a pistol, and even briefly holds her own against the Arbiter.
• Calling the Old Woman Out: One of her last letters to Halsey was basically this.
• Character Death: In Halo 3, courtesy of Truth shooting five Spiker rounds into her back.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Tartarus, who is probably very good at it, threatens her with it to try and force her to activate Halo. She ignores him.
• Commanding Coolness: Her first engagement against the Covenant had her defeating a destroyer with an outdated and unarmed science vessel (though she was technically still a lieutenant back then).
• Dual Wielding: She wields two sub-machine guns against the Arbiter in Halo 2, and a shotgun and a pistol against Brutes in Halo 3.
• Dies Wide Open: Johnson closes them.
• Heroic Bastard: Is the result of Keyes's tryst with Halsey.
• I Am Not My Mother: Follows in her father's footsteps in large part to distance herself from Halsey, with whom her relationship is incredibly strained.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Though Miranda first appeared in 2004's Halo 2, it wasn't until the release of Halsey's journal in 2010 that we learned her mother is Catherine Halsey.
• Military Brat: Which sometimes got her accusations of nepotism.
• Murder-Suicide: Subverted. She was about to give Johnson a Mercy Kill and then commit Heroic Suicide, in order to prevent the Covenant from forcing them to activate the Halos. However, Truth manages to kill her first.
• Most Common Superpower: Combined with a rather tight uniform...
• Over Ranked Soldier: While an effective officer, she is way too young to have achieved her rank under normal circumstances. This can probably be chalked up to the UNSC being extremely low on manpower.
• Parental Issues: Halsey mostly stopped being involved in Miranda's upbringing after sending her to live with Jacob when she was six; Miranda strongly resents her mother for this. For her part, Halsey kept her distance because she felt she wasn't fit to be the mother her daughter deserved.
• Ramming Always Works: How did she defeat that destroyer with just an unarmed science vessel? By ramming it into the surface of a nearby planet through a fiery atmospheric descent while setting the engines to explode.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Like any commander worth their salt, she's willing to listen to both Chief and Cortana.
• Senseless Sacrifice: She attempts to rescue Sergeant Johnson before the Prophet of Truth can force him to activate the Halo Array, and finds herself outnumbered by his Brute escort. She then hesitates to kill Johnson and then herself when left with no other options, and is promptly shot in the back by Truth.
• Shed the Family Name: Changed her surname from Halsey to Keyes.
• Statuesque Stunner: Her official height is five-foot-ten.
• The Strategist: Just like her dad. She even served on Lord Hood's strategy team before being given command of the UNSC In Amber Clad.
• Turn Out Like His Father: Her father in this case. Halsey did her best to dissuade Miranda from following her father into the frontlines of the Human-Covenant War, even using her influence to forcibly assign her to a non-combat position. Obviously, that didn't quite work out.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Gal: Halsey believes that she joined the UNSC Navy and changed her last name to Keyes to impress her father, who was one mostly responsible for raising her. On Jacob's end, we know relatively little about how he felt, save for a few glimpses of what seemed to have been a reasonably loving and respectful, if inevitably distant, relationship when she was ten in Halo: The Cole Protocol.

CAPT. Andrew Del Rio

Captain Andrew Del Rio (90302-75627-AD)

Homeworld: Earth
Birthdate: May 28, 2500
Debuted in: Halo: Glasslands (Mentioned only), Halo: The Thursday War (First direct appearance)
Played and voiced by: Mark Rolston

The captain of the UNSC Infinity, the most powerful warship ever built by humanity. Del Rio is known as being a competent by-the-book captain, but not being very good at inspiring loyalty among his crew. In 2557, Del Rio commands the forces of the Infinity after it crash lands on the Forerunner shield world of Requiem and finds Spartan John-117 fighting a radical faction of the Covenant and Forerunner Prometheans. After returning to Earth, Del Rio retired from service and became a UEG Senator representing the Jovian colonies.

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• 0% Approval Rating: None of his subordinates like him, to the point where when the Master Chief straight-up ignores Del Rio's orders right to his face, the Infinity's entire crew refuses to listen to their captain's order to detain the Spartan. As an added insult, when Infinity makes it back to Earth, Del Rio is instantly removed from command by the Security Council for picking a fight with a war hero. Even ONI doesn't think much of him, which is really saying something. Perhaps most notably, Admiral Margaret Parangosky herself was said to have had no faith in him as a commander. It makes one wonder how he was ever made commander of the most powerful warship in the UNSC fleet.
• Armchair Military: He spent most of the Covenant War building the Infinity at a secret shipyard in the Sol system. During the Requiem mission, he preferred to stay aboard the Infinity and bark orders from the bridge, leaving ground command to Cmdr. Lasky and the Master Chief, unlike Jacob and Miranda Keyes who directly led missions on the Halos and the Ark.
• Badass Bureaucrat: Despite his flaws as a field commander, he did do a solid job as project manager during Infinity's construction, and is considered one of the UEG Senate's most competent bureaucrats.
  • While he spent the Human-Covenant War behind the desk he shows himself to be a technically competent, but not experienced Captain.
• Bullying a Dragon: Attempts to strong-arm and intimidate the Master Chief, arguably the most dangerous man alive. It does not work in the slightest.
• The Captain: A subversion of the typical type; he's an excellent administrator and bureaucrat, but not a particularly adept leader of men in battle.
• Dirty Coward: He's more focused on escaping Requiem than following John's words about the Didact's master plan, dismissing the SPARTAN's warnings as a result of PTSD-induced hallucinations.
  • Averted at the beginning of the game he risks getting UNSC Infinity closer to Requiem to try and rescue the Master Chief and for his troubles his ship is sucked into the planet's gravity well. Afterwards he just wants to get off the planet ASAP.
• Evil Is Petty: One gets the very strong feeling that his Fantastic Racism speeches against Spartans after trading in his position of captain as one of a senator were less because he was genuinely convinced the older models were obsolete, and as a whole comes off more as a protracted hissy fit at Chief for upstaging him.
• Fantastic Racism: According to his political speech, Spartan-IIs are pieces of obsolete, malfunctioning, clanking relics that should be all executed immediately, while Spartan-IVs are direct upgrades and amazing super soldiers. He obviously has not heard of the IVs that have actually joined the Insurrection.
• General Failure: Cortana and Chief not only repeatedly question his tactical decisions even before they meet the guy, but are proven right at every turn as Del Rio's orders continually are shortsighted as he makes technically competent, but inexperienced decisions. He does not pay attention to the expertise and experience of Master Chief and Cortana in dealing with the Forerunners and their motivations. This culminates with his decision to flee Requiem, which lets the Didact reach the Composer and use it to wipe out the entire population of both a UNSC research station and later the city of Phoenix, Arizona.
• Hate Sink: Is very much this in Halo 4, where he's presented as a far more hatable figure than the actual Big Bad. He retains this role after becoming a senator by the time of HUNT the TRUTH, where he launches an anti-Chief campaign following Chief's alleged attack on the Biko peace conference; just listen to his speech, which had the whole fanbase frothing in rage.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He immediately loses his command of the Infinity once FLEETCOM learns of his decision to abandon the Master Chief on Requiem, and is replaced by his Executive Officer Thomas Lasky.
• Hypocrite: He dismisses Master Chief's concerns as coming from an "aging Spartan." This is despite the fact that Del Rio is himself more than a decade older than Chief, on top of Chief being physically younger than his actual chronological age due to his extended time in cryosleep. Combined with the many augmentations that Spartans go through to greatly surpass normal humans in strength and mental acuity, and Chief's age is far less of an issue than it is for Del Rio.
• Informed Attribute: We are told (in appended materials) that Del Rio has decades of effective management and command under his belt, making him "a relatively easy choice" for commanding the Infinity when it was first commissioned. None of this is evident from his role in Halo 4 though. He has an inability to keep his emotions in check, and as a manager he easily alienates everyone who works for him, while as a commander his every decision just makes the situation worse.
• Jerkass: Pretty much everything the man says drips with condescension and contempt for those around him, and everything he does is marked by incompetence. He doesn't have a single scene in the game where he doesn't come off as completely unlikeable.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • He wants Cortana dismantled due to her rampancy, believing her a risk to the entire crew. In Halo 5, Cortana comes Back from the Dead as a megalomaniac obsessed with conquering the galaxy, proving him totally correct, though to be fair no one could've foreseen her actually surviving her Heroic Sacrifice at the end of 4, much less her insane corruption.
  • Del Rio is not entirely wrong in Halo 4. Yes, stopping the Didact is every bit important and he never denies this in Halo 4, but he is also responsible for the Infinity and its crew and they need to warn others about the Didact. While not the best command decision, it is a legitimate one, and Del Rio DOES warn the UNSC about the Didact.
• Karma Houdini: Despite losing his position as captain, Del Rio was promoted to UEG senator, giving him the power to launch a propaganda campaign against all Spartan-IIs as well as bad mouthing Chief, calling him a "false Spartan" and "broken bastardization of a soldier." Fortunately, when Chief's actions in Hunt the Truth turned out to be justified by uncovering Cortana's conspiracy, he quietly retracts his comments and leaves for a "family vacation."
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: His main role in Halo 4 is to get in the way of John-117 and Cortana saving the day.
• The Peter Principle: He was good at managing the construction of the Infinity, but when he was put in command of the ship he came lacking.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He refuses to listen to the Master Chief about the threat the Didact represents and instead leaves Requiem to return to Earth for orders, abandoning the Chief and Cortana to stop the Didact on their own. FLEETCOM is not happy with his decision, and promptly removes him from command.
• Sleazy Politician: After being removed from command, he spins his connections into a comfortable political career in the Jovian colonies. A good working example of his sleaziness is how quickly he changes his tune when the Chief is found to be innocent of the Biko massacre, followed by taking a leave of absence, officially due to unrelated family matters, but unofficially to avoid the political shitstorm his statements will undoubtedly cause.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Del Rio has absolutely zero respect for the Chief's proven tactical expertise, despite the fact that virtually every UNSC commander worth their salt understands that you ignore a Spartan-II's advice at your own peril.
• Too Dumb to Live: Very, very narrowly averted when he demands Master Chief hand over the chip. When Chief refuses, he tries to shout the seven-foot-tall, fully armored supersoldier into submission, to which Chief responds with a dangerously cool, "No, sir." Had Rio read the room, first, he might have noticed no one was willing to back him up on his order, and the only thing holding Chief back from snapping Del Rio's spine like a stick was that Chief doesn't make a habit of defying superiors, save for his flat refusal to give Cortana's chip to Del Rio.^note Going even further, the fact that he didn't even seem to notice or care that the normally Blindly Obedient Chief was refusing an order is a good sign of how up-his-own-ass he is.

CAPT. Thomas Lasky

Captain Thomas J. Lasky (77698-41073-TL)

Homeworld: Mars (Tricode Village, Mare Erythraeum)
Birthdate: August 15th, 2510
Debuted in: Petra (Mentioned only), Halo: The Thursday War (First direct appearance)
Voiced and portrayed by: Darren O'Hare (games, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn), Tom Green/Ty Olsson (Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn)

The executive officer of the UNSC Infinity in 2557, Lasky was an officer cadet at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science in 2526. While initially unenthusiastic about being part of the UNSC military, Lasky's life was changed when the Covenant attacked the academy, resulting in an encounter with Spartan John-117. After surviving the Human-Covenant War, then-Commander Lasky became the executive officer of the Infinity, and fought alongside John-117 once more on the Forerunner shield world of Requiem. Afterwards, he was promoted to Infinity's captain.

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• Ace Pilot: During the early years of the Human-Covenant War, he served as a fighter pilot for the fleet.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: With just a shotgun in Episode 7 of Spartan Ops, he holds his own against Prometheans.
• Badass Normal: He's a good close combat combatant.
• The Captain: After Del Rio is removed from command of the Infinity, Lasky is promoted and given the ship.
• Career Ending Allergy: Lasky almost gets this while attending Corbulo Academy, as he turns out to be allergic to an important fluid needed for the cryosleep process. His superiors offered to release him from the academy on a medical discharge, but the Covenant attack the academy before he can make a decision. Because of the Covenant, though, he decides to remain in the Navy, taking the pain of his allergy every time.
  "Apparently I'm allergic to war."
• Chekhov's Gunman: First mentioned offhand in the short story "Petra" (from the 2010 Halo: First Strike reprint), two years before his first actual appearance.
• Commanding Coolness: Before being promoted to the captain's seat himself.
• A Day in the Limelight: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn serves as his Origin Story.
• The Determinator: He's allergic to the compounds used to induce cryosleep, but he's been powering through the pain and discomfort for more than a decade because he's committed to serving.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn reveals that Chief and Lasky first met in 2526 when the former rescuses Lasky and fellow cades from a Covenant invasion. 30 years later, Chief doesn't seem to recognize him though Lasky does.
• The Good Captain: He's a lot nicer and more reasonable than his predecessor, and is something of an idealist to boot.
• Good Is Not Soft: He's probably the nicest character in the entire franchise. And when he loses patience with Halsey, he decides to stick her in a cryotube.
• Heroic BSoD: The death of his brother Cadmon is implied to be one of the main causes of his lackluster scores at Corbulo.
• Hero-Worshipper: Towards John-117, due to their meeting at Corbulo Academy.
• The Lancer: He is this to Captain Del Rio by the time he is assigned to the Infinity, so much so that Parangosky herself only conceded to making Del Rio captain of the UNSC's most powerful warship after Lasky had been assigned as Infinity's executive officer. After Del Rio's actions at Requiem, Lasky is immediately made his permanent replacement.
• Leeroy Jenkins: During training at Corbulo Academy, at least when he's not in charge of his squad.
• Military Brat: His mother was an important Marine colonel.
• Military Maverick: He's mostly a professional, but he will disobey orders that he believes are just plain wrong. In Halo 4, he disobeys Del Rio in order to help the Chief and Cortana accomplish their mission, and in Spartan Ops, he disobeys his orders to kill Halsey; instead, he sends in Fireteam Majestic to rescue her.
• Missing Mom: His mother was not around often due to her duties as a colonel.
• Nice Guy: Apart from having a strong moral compass, Lasky is just plain friendly to almost everyone; this is especially apparent when he and John-117 meet again in Halo 4.
• Number Two: To Infinity's captain Andrew Del Rio. That is, until Lasky is given full command of the Infinity after Del Rio is arrested.
• Officer and a Gentleman: He is one of the most honest characters in the Halo universe, and strongly dislikes ONI thanks to their utter lack of a moral compass, to the point where he refuses to do their dirty work.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Infinity's Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer; even after Lasky is promoted to Captain, the two still speak with each other in familiar terms.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Even before he replaces Del Rio as the captain of the Infinity, Lasky is much more reasonable with listening to John-117, and even helps him against his captain's orders. This continues after he takes charge, actively helping him to infiltrate the Didact's ship to save Earth.
• Reluctant Warrior: As a cadet, he really did not want to fight the Innies, thinking that they had legitimate complaints against the UNSC. This was in large part due to his brother Cadmon being killed while fighting them. He's still a good strategist and warrior despite this.
• The Strategist: Forward Unto Dawn shows how he really is a good commander in the field.
• Tragic Keepsake: His brother's and Chyler Silva's dogtags.
• You Are in Command Now: Due to his position aboard the Infinity, he's the only individual available to take up command of the ship after Del Rio is relieved of command.

CAPT. James Cutter

Captain James "Jim" Gregory Cutter (01730-58392-JC)

Homeworld: Reach
Birthdate: June 12, 2478
Debuted in: Halo Wars
Voiced by: Gregg Berger (Halo Wars), Gideon Emery (Halo Wars 2)

"Where you see half a crew, Isabel, I see family, courage. And a thousand heroes who swore to fight their way through hell before they'd ever... EVER turn their backs and run. And where you see one old ship, I see home. And that is always worth fighting for!"

A well-respected naval officer and a veteran of fighting against the Insurrection, Cutter was placed in charge of the UNSC Spirit of Fire during the campaign to retake the colony of Harvest. He was also charged with investigating Covenant activity on the planet and protecting Professor Ellen Anders, which led to a discovery that sent him pursuing a Covenant fleet across the galaxy.

---

• A Father to His Men: Even walking the ship at night to check on his crew.
• Badass Armfold: When he confronts Atriox in the Halo Wars 2 "Know Your Enemy" trailer.
• The Captain: To the point where he sometimes uses archaic nautical terms (despite having never seen a waterborne military vessel in his life).
• Happily Married: Has a wife and daughter who both live on Reach. Whether they survive the war is unknown.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Played with. He agrees to sacrifice the Spirit of Fire's slipspace engine to destroy Shield World 0459 before the Covenant can use its stored Forerunner fleet against humanity, despite this effectively dooming him and his crew to being stranded in space. They ultimately survive the experience, though.
  Serina: "That's the weak part of this plan, if you ask me. We've no way home without that reactor."
  Cutter: "One problem at a time, Serina. If the Covenant get their hands on these ships it will mean the end of the war. We'll take our chances here, to give humanity some hope."
• Ink-Suit Actor: In Halo Wars 2.
• Legally Dead: The UNSC officially considers the Spirit of Fire "lost with all hands".
• Limited Advancement Opportunities: It's specifically noted that his lack of personal ambition is the only reason why he hasn't been promoted to Admiral already.
• The Mentor: Lord Hood once served as the executive officer for the Spirit of Fire and regarded Cutter as his mentor.
• Officer and a Gentleman: He's more pragmatic than the typical example, though, given the enemy he's fighting.
• Old Soldier: Was already a seasoned veteran before the Covenant War began.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Is not only willing to listen to the advice of his noncoms, but enjoys "talking shop" with the enlisted.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: By the time Halo Wars 2 rolls around, James and his entire crew had been officially declared KIA. Lampshaded by Isabel when she first meets him.
  Isabel: James Cutter, Captain of the Spirit of Fire. You're supposed to be 'lost with all hands'.
  James Cutter: Not so lost, it seems.

ADM. Preston Cole

Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole (03956-26127-PC)

Homeworld: Earth (Mark Twain, Missouri, United Republic of North America)
Birthdate: November 3, 2470
Debuted in: Halo: The Fall of Reach (Mentioned only), Halo: The Cole Protocol (First direct appearance)

"They told me to fight, and that's what I've done. Let historians sort through the wreckage, bodies, and broken lives to figure out the rest."

The most brilliant UNSC Admiral, Cole was Earth's greatest hero during the early years of the Insurrection before being forced to retire in disgrace after the discovery of his second wife's true identity. He was asked to return to active duty when the Covenant began their war against humanity, leading the largest UNSC fleet ever assembled in countless battles against the Covenant, becoming the only fleet commander to routinely win against the alien menace. His fight came to an end at the Battle of Psi Serpentis, where his tactics destroyed around three hundred Covenant ships at the cost of his vessel and life.

---

• Badass Boast: "Listen to me, Covenant. I am Vice Admiral Preston J. Cole commanding the human flagship, Everest. You claim to be the holy and glorious inheritors of the universe? I spit on your so-called holiness. You dare judge us unfit? After I have personally sent more than three hundred of your vainglorious ships to hell? After kicking your collective butts off Harvest - not once - but twice? From where I sit, we are the worthy inheritors. You think otherwise, you can come and try to prove me wrong."
• Badass Bookworm: Kept up on his reading on theoretical physics and military history while retired.
• Big Good: He was this to the UNSC for many years, until his likely faked death at the Battle of Psi Serpentis.
• The Chains of Commanding: The stress of being the main man the UNSC was counting on to defeat the Covenant would eventually start to overtake him, to the point where he likely faked his death to get away from it all.
• Combat Pragmatist: His highly unconventional and often lethal tactics in the heat of battle have certainly been responsible for some of humanity's greater victories against the Covenant.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: He lures the Covenant fleet at the gas giant Psi Serpentis to attack his flagship, then nukes the core so that the planet explodes into a brown dwarf star, destroying the entire fleet. AND there are hints he may have survived that!
• Faking the Dead: The ONI report which compiled his biography and the events of Psi Serpentis all but confirm that Cole faked his death and fled with his estranged second wife to a colony outside UNSC and Covenant space. ONI is currently searching for him to ask him to once again return to the UNSC following the end of the Human-Covenant War.
• Famed In-Story: While he was the UNSC's greatest admiral, he's perhaps even better known for his "Cole Protocol", a directive designed to prevent the Covenant from discovering the location of human core worlds, particularly Earth.
• Four-Star Badass: He was this before the Human-Covenant War. Afterward, he got even more badass.
• Good with Numbers: Despite being an indifferent student as a child, his mathematical skills were undeniable. In fact, it was him formulating a new way of calculating slipspace input parameters that got him accepted to Luna's Officer Candidate School in the first place.
• Heroic BSoD: Upon learning that his second wife, who was pregnant with his child, was the captain of an Insurrectionist ship that Cole had spent years hunting.
• I Surrender, Suckers: How he made his initial fame: after the ship he was serving on was crippled and the rest of the bridge crew killed or incapacitated, he surrendered to the attacking Insurrectionist ship, but sent a Archer missile through the docking tube they extended to gut them from the inside out. Indeed, Cole's faked distress signal was both a stroke of genius and breach of protocol so severe that UNSC CENTCOM dithered over whether to award him the Legion of Honor or to have him court martialed. Ultimately they did neither, to avoid setting precedent. However, from that point on Cole resolved to never again send a distress signal in enemy territory; no one would believe it. As he stated in his personal log: "Surrender, quite literally, is no longer an option for me.”
• The Lancer: To the entire UNSC Navy, so much so that his checkered past means nothing to them once the Covenant first emerged, and he is immediately called back for active duty and goes on to lead humanity's charge during the entire first half of the nearly thirty-year conflict. Indeed, the number of aliens he has killed rivals that of the entire Spartan-II program.
• Military Maverick: A highly unconventional tactician/strategist, to the point where committing an incredibly severe breach of protocol was key to his first notable victory.
• Old-School Chivalry: While he would certainly hit (and even kill) a girl, he had a lifelong habit of refusing to do or say anything that would incriminate the women in his life, much to the detriment of his career.
• Old Soldier: Was already an aged veteran of the war against the Insurrectionists when he was recalled to service during the Covenant War.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Though several UNSC officers had reservations about Jacob Keyes helping the Rubble's Insurrectionist-leaning inhabitants evacuate to an Inner Colony, Cole himself fully supported Keyes's decision (despite it being a potential violation of his own namesake protocol); in fact, it helped convince him to promote the man from Lieutenant all the way to Commander. Additionally, the Halo Wars in-game timeline states that Cole was the one who stood up for Forge when the latter was being charged for fighting a superior officer who had assaulted Forge's daughter.
• Retired Badass: After his wife was revealed to be an Insurrectionist captain. He was convinced to return when the Covenant threat was discovered. If his supposed death at Psi Serpentis was indeed faked, he can be considered this a second time.
• Shotgun Wedding: Twice, but the first time he wasn't actually the father.
• Teen Genius: While serving aboard the CMA Season of Plenty as a crewman apprentice, Cole was forced by a superior officer to do the calculations for a slipspace jump following the onboard AI shutting down for maintenance. After slaving away at the calculations for most of the day, the ship's lieutenant commander and AI discovered that not only had Cole formulated a new, if crude, way of calculating slipspace jumps but also he done it entirely by hand when all calculations are usually performed by the ship's AI.
• The Strategist: The UNSC's greatest.
• The Unfettered: His military career was marked by a perfect willingness to sacrifice himself and any number of subordinates and ships in order to achieve a greater victory.

VADM. Hieronymus Stanforth

Vice Admiral Hieronymus "Harold" Michael Stanforth (00834-19223-HS)

Homeworld: Earth
Birthdate: July 3, 2486
Debuted in: Halo: The Fall of Reach
Voiced by: Ethan Sawyer

The head of ONI Section Three from 2512 to 2530, he resigned his post at ONI to fight on the frontlines against the Covenant fulltime. It was partly under his direction the Spartan-II project came about, and Section Three was at is busiest under his command. He was killed during the Fall of Reach.

---

• Dirty Business: Comes with the territory of working at ONI, and he was still involved in some pretty shady business even after he left the organization. His own feelings about this can be summed up in this message to Parangosky:
  "Some days I really get the feeling that we’re going to burn in hell for the things we do."
• Four-Star Badass: One of the few admirals to have some success fighting the Covenant.
• Killed Off for Real: He died along with most of his fleet at Reach.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He tried to help salvage Admiral Cole's reputation after the latter's wife was outed as an Insurrectionist, and managed to prevent him from being court-martialed.
• Supporting Leader: In Halo: The Fall of Reach, he's Halsey's main overseer during the early years of the SPARTAN-II Program, and is the one leading UNSC naval forces at the battles over Sigma Octanus IV and Reach.

VADM. Danforth Whitcomb

Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb (11113-32871-DW)

Homeworld: Earth
Birthdate: July 3, 2489
Debuted in: Halo: First Strike

The Deputy Chief of Naval Operations in 2552, Whitcomb was trapped on Reach when the planet fell. He sought refuge with a group of surviving Spartan-IIs, directing hit-and-run raids on occupying Covenant forces until they were rescued from the planet by John-117. Also, he claims to be descended from Russian Cossacks, despite speaking with a Texas drawl.

---

• A Father to His Men: Made particularly apparent when he orders Halsey to remove a badly injured Kelly off the bridge, because he's so worried about her condition he can't concentrate on the battle.
• Badass Boast: Two: The first is a transmission to the Covenant fleet after crashing the Ascendant Justice into Unyielding Hierophant. The second one is delivered posthumously:
  • "We're here in the middle of your fleet with your 'holy of holies'. Come and get it!"
  • "This is the prototype NOVA Bomb, nine fusion warheads encased in lithium triteride armor. When detonated, it compresses its fissionable material to neutron-star density, boosting the thermonuclear yield a hundredfold. I am Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, temporarily in command of the UNSC military base Reach. To the Covenant uglies that might be listening, you have a few seconds to pray to your damned heathen gods. You all have a nice day in hell..."
• Badass Normal: Survived for three weeks on Reach after it fell, despite being the only non-Spartan in his group of survivors. Later, just before the Unyielding Hierophant blows up, the Chief sees a feed of Whitcomb fighting off dozens of Elite boarders with just an SMG.
• The Chains of Commanding: He knows that his primary duty is the UNSC first and foremost, but the suffering and death his subordinates and allies have to endure because of it constantly wears on him. When he's forced to abandon the Insurrectionists at Eridanus Secundus to the Covenant, he still believes that doing so is unforgivable:
  "Duty be damned. I am still going to Hell for this."
• Four-Star Badass: A highly accomplished leader whose feats and heroics were studied by the Spartans themselves.
• Heroic Sacrifice/Dying Moment of Awesome: On the way back to Earth, he and Haverson crash the Ascendant Justice into the just-about-to-self-destruct Unyielding Hierophant, using a Forerunner artifact to lure in a Covenant fleet of over 500 ships. When the station explodes, only twelve Covenant ships survive.
• Manly Facial Hair: A definite candidate for the UNSC's physically toughest admiral, and has an impressive horseshoe mustache to match.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Tries to live up to this ideal as much as he can; when Haverson questions his decision to try to rescue what's left of Red Team instead of immediately heading back to Earth, he responds:
  "I won't leave a single man or woman behind on this planet for the Covenant to tear apart for sport. No way."
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He and Red Team don't start off on the greatest of terms, but Whitcomb turns out to be a pretty straight example; he approves of the Master Chief's request to initiate Operation: FIRST STRIKE once they come up with a way to execute it without jeopardizing Whitcomb's main mission. In fact, Whitcomb later decides to sacrifice himself in order to ensure FIRST STRIKE's success.
• The Smart Guy: Was in charge of a number of high-tech R&D projects, including the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL projects (which produced both the Mark 1 Prototype and Mantis Mini-Mechas) and the planet-destroying NOVA bombs. He even had some involvement in the SPARTAN-II Program.
• You Are in Command Now: After the Covenant destroys Reach's UNSC HQ, Whitcomb is forced to assume command of all remaining ground troops on the planet. He tries his best, but terrestrial warfare is clearly not his forte.

RADM. Musa Ghanem

Rear Admiral Musa Ghanem (formerly Musa-096)

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: c. 2511
Debuted in: Halo: Initiation

A former Spartan-II candidate, Musa was permanently crippled by the augmentations, but found his place as an officer in the Navy. After the end of the Human-Covenant War, he founded the SPARTAN-IV program, with himself as head of the newly created "Spartan" branch.

---

• Almighty Janitor: Had enough pull even as just a commander to openly call out his superiors in the Admiralty and turn his Spartans into an independent branch.
• Benevolent Boss: Often comes off as stern, but will go out of his way to have a personal conversation with his Spartans if he needs to set their minds at ease.
• Foil: To some degree, he seems to be what Serin might have become had she not fallen under Parangosky's sway.
• Genius Cripple: Rose to the rank of Rear Admiral before he turned 50.
• Good Counterpart: To Osman; both are Spartan-II washouts who detest Halsey and rose through the ranks to eventually lead their respective military branches. However, unlike Osman, Musa believes in interspecies cooperation and seems to rather disdain ONI's amorality (much of his motivation for making the Spartan branch independent was to get them away from ONI); he indicates to Buck at the end of Halo: New Blood that he wants the IVs to be human enough to be able to show mercy even to their foes.
• The Mentor: Has a little bit of this dynamic with Buck in New Blood, despite being about the same age.
• Rank Up: Is a commander when we first see him in Initiation and New Blood, but by the time of Halo 5: Guardians, he's been promoted to rear admiral.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Is willing to overlook people disobeying his orders if they had an understandable reason for it, and can tolerate backtalk as long as he gets the final say. When Buck requests to not lead a fireteam after the Talitsa mission, Musa easily grants it despite his own plans to eventually promote him.

SCPO. Franklin Mendez

Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez (22926-11908-FM)

Homeworld: Sigma Octanus IV
Birthdate: March 21, 2492
Debuted in: Halo: The Fall of Reach
Voiced by: Stacy Keach (HUNT the TRUTH), Richard Cansino (Halo: The Fall of Reach)

The man who made the Spartans what they are. Mendez was recruited by Dr.Halsey to train the Spartan-IIs, and became a legend among them. He later was called back to train the Spartan-IIIs alongside Kurt-051, and assisted him in doing whatever it took to keep as many Spartans alive as possible. He came to hate himself for ever getting involved in the Spartan program, but still regards it as having been necessary.

---

• Badass Normal: He is just a regular man, but he can more than hold his own when fighting alongside his Spartans.
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: The "Sergeant Rough" in both the II and III programs, with Mendez's role as hardass drill instructor contrasting both Halsey's role as Motherly Scientist and Kurt's role as fatherly commander.
• Cool Car: A custom rocket warthog.
• Determinator: He is not the type of man who surrenders. And he made sure the Spartans were the same.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: But only because it's his job. Though it's occasionally suggested he enjoys the role.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Was a decorated NAVSPECWEP operative before becoming a drill instructor.
• Living Legend: Among the Spartans.
• Memetic Badass: In-universe, to the Spartans.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Eventually develops a great amount of regret towards his own role in the Spartan programs.
• Old Soldier: Joined the military when he was 16, and didn't retire until he was older than 60, he was still capable of keeping up with the Spartans, who have come to the conclusion that regular Marines and Army troopers a quarter of his age couldn't keep up with him.
• Parental Substitute: To the Spartan-IIs, being the closest thing they have to a surrogate father.
• Retired Badass: Played with. He left the service after the war due to both pressure from the UNSC and his own guilt about his role in the Spartan programs, but was uncomfortable with retirement and decided to become a civilian contractor. A civilian contractor who's in charge of all of security for one of the biggest joint-research projects between the UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Especially with the Spartan-IIIs. The first thing he has the candidates for Alpha Company do is a night jump from a Pelican. Bear in mind that they were on average between four and six years old!^note To be fair, it was Kurt who decided to have them do that, as Mendez was actually a little worried about it! He nonetheless was the one who gave the order to the kids, but only because it fit his role.
• Smoking Is Cool: Like a lot of other characters in the franchise, he enjoys Sweet William cigars.
• The Stoic: Rarely displays much in the way of genuine emotion.

CDR. Richard Lash

Commander Richard Lash

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

The acting commander of the prowler UNSC Dusk in late 2552, Lash was one of the few humans to witness the beginning of the Covenant's Great Schism.

---

• The Chains of Commanding: Feels overwhelmed by his new responsibilities as the Dusk's commander, but refuses to let his nervousness show, no matter how much of a fraud he feels like.
• Greek Chorus: He and his crew primarily play the role of outside observer in both the Great Schism's opening salvos and the battle between Battle Group Omnicron and Voro Nar 'Mantakree's Sangheili fleet. They do play a brief but major role in the latter by laying nuclear mines.
• Military Brat: Sort of; his father was a wielder on the UNSC refit station Cradle.
• The Sneaky Guy: He and his crew have this role once joining up with Admiral Patterson's Battle Group Omnicron.
• Stealth Expert: Like all good prowler commanders, Lash is a master of keeping his ship hidden.
• Tragic Keepsake: An old-fashioned spring-and-gear wristwatch given by his father, who was killed during the battle of Sigma Octanus IV.
• You Are in Command Now: The only reason he's in command is because the Dusk's actual commander, Captain Iglesias, had to undergo radiation treatment.

Jacob Keyes's Bridge Crew

Jacob Keyes's Bridge Crew (Dominique, Ellen Dowski, Hall, Aki Hikowa, Jaggers, William Lovell)

Homeworlds: Unknown
Birthdates: Unknown
Debuted in: Halo: The Fall of Reach (Dominique, Hall, Hikowa, Jaggers, Lovell), Halo: The Flood (Dowski)

The men and women who served under Jacob Keyes on the UNSC Iroquois during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, with the remaining members later transferred along with Keyes to the Pillar of Autumn. Lieutenant Dominique is the communications officer, Lieutenant Hikowa is the weapons officer, Lieutenant Hall is the operations officer, and Lieutenant Jaggers was the navigation officer before being replaced by Ensign Lovell, with Ensign Dowski joining the crew by the Fall of Reach.

---

• The Ace: Keyes initially notes Dominique to be the most impressive officer by far, though he's later even more impressed by Lovell.
• Agent Scully: Dominique proposes that Halo might be a naturally occurring phenomenon.
• Almighty Janitor: Despite being a mere ensign, Lovell becomes Keyes's navigation officer; as it turns out, Lovell actually has a lot more combat experience than the higher-ranking members of the crew, with his troubled past being the only reason why he's not been (re)promoted to a higher rank.
• Boom, Headshot!: The fates of Lovell and Dowski, courtesy of the Covenant.
• Communications Officer: Dominique.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Lovell was a highly promising officer who displayed remarkable talent and bravery early in his career, but eventually broke under pressure and ended up being demoted several times for insubordination and gross incompetence.
• Decoy Protagonist: A lot of attention is given to William Lovell's reassignment to Keyes, and you'd expect him to be an important character. He dies unceremoniously with the rest of the bridge crew on Installation 04.
• Doomed by Canon: In Halo: The Flood, since we already knew by the book's release that almost none of the Autumn's crew will make it off Alpha Halo.
• Dismotivation: When we first meet Lovell, his sole motivation is to not get in trouble with either the Covenant or his superiors. He grows out of this after being reassigned to Keyes's command.
• Dirty Coward: Both Dowski and Jaggers prove worthless in dangerous situations.
• The General's Daughter: Lovell was involved in an incident with a civilian woman whom Keyes suspects was the daughter of a vice admiral.
• Hate Sink: Jaggers is bad at his job, cowardly, and is given no redeeming features at all.
• Karma Houdini: Jaggers's reward for being a Dirty Coward, freaking out, and committing borderline mutiny? A transfer to a safe location that saves his life.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: We never do find out what Hikowa was going to do to Dowski in response to the latter betraying the rest of the crew to the Covenant.
  Hikowa: You little bitch! I'll—
• My Greatest Second Chance: Lovell clearly regards his reassignment to Keyes as this, and does his best to prove himself worthy of his captain's faith.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Dowski seems genuinely horrified when her actions result in the Covenant executing the rest of the bridge crew.
• Number Two: Dominique is given control of the bridge when Keyes is off-duty.
• Pacifism Backfire: Dowski's insistence on surrendering angers the crew, and they briefly consider killing her. They point out that the Covenant don't take prisoners, and it would have been better to keep running. However, Keyes decides to spare Dowski and leaves her tied up for the Covenant to find. Ironically, the Covenant squadron searching for them would have spared them all because they did not know who was the Captain. Finding Dowski and letting her tell them who the Captain was led to the Covenant executing all of them except Keyes.
• Reassigned to Antarctica:
  • What happens to Jaggers after he loses his nerve during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV.
  • Before being assigned to the Iroquois, Lovell had previously reassigned himself to a remote sensor outpost, taking up a relatively safe job watching for Covenant activity.
• Remember the New Guy?: Dowski suddenly turns up in The Flood, despite being nowhere to be seen in Halo: The Fall of Reach.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Dowski betrays the rest of the Autumn's bridge crew to the Covenant in the hopes that the Covies will choose to keep them all alive as prisoners. Instead, the Covenant execute everyone except Keyes, with Dowski herself receiving a bullet to the head.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Hikowa might be this; Keyes wonders if her unenthusiastic demeanor and tendency to move with "all the deliberation of a sleepwalker" is the result of "battle fatigue" from surviving several battles against the Covenant. She regains some of her spirit after the UNSC's victory at Sigma Octanus IV.
• Sole Survivor: Jaggers is probably the only one of them still alive after the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.
• The Stoic: Dominique is all business and almost never cracks a smile.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Despite being relatively important supporting characters in The Fall of Reach, all of them are killed off with relatively little fanfare near the beginning of The Flood.
• Team Prima Donna: Hall is initially a downplayed version of this; she's so eager to impress Keyes that she's not averse to showing up her fellow officers. She grows out of this by the time the crew is reassigned to the Autumn.
• Token Minority: Hikowa, who's of Japanese descent.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The final fates of Dominique, Hall, and Jaggers are never disclosed. While Dominique and Hall are almost certainly dead, Jaggers' fate is a true mystery.

PO1. Healy

Petty Officer First Class Healy

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: Halo: Contact Harvest

A hospital corpsman with a lighthearted demeanor and a fondness for jokes, Healy is one of the soldiers assigned to help train Harvest's Colonial Militia, and is responsible for providing medical care to anyone injured during training.

---

• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As much of a irreverent clown as he may be, he's a capable medic.
• The Face: Friendly and sociable, he's by far the most personable of Harvest's UNSC trainers, quickly becoming well-liked by the recruits.
• The Medic: Responsible for the health of the Harvest recruits, and saves many lives during the Covenant invasion.
• Mr. Vice Guy: A pick-up artist who's fond of alcohol, but is ultimately a well-meaning guy who proves himself a hero when Harvest is attacked.
• Plucky Comic Relief: In-universe; while Johnson and Byrne are Drill Sergeant Nasties to the recruits, Healy prefers to keep their spirits up with jokes.
• The So-Called Coward: Johnson initially dismisses him as a "navy squid who has never been once shot at", but Healy ends up showing significant courage under fire.

CDR. Dmitri Zheng

Commander Dmitri Zheng

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: Halo: The Cole Protocol

A veteran frigate commander, Dmitri Zheng was assigned in 2535 to lead the UNSC Midsummer Night in enforcing the newly-enacted Cole Protocol.

---

• The Cynic: Firmly believes that trusting others is a fool's gambit; not even his own crew are above his suspicions.
• Determinator: Even after being mortally wounded by an Innie spy, he's still able to stay alive long enough to ensure his ship follows the Cole Protocol (even personally disposing of the ship's nukes himself) before passing on command to Keyes.
• Doomed Hometown: His homeworld was glassed while he was out on patrol, and it's rumored he's never been the same since.
• Icy Gray Eyes: A hardened veteran who's described as having piercing gray eyes.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: After an incident where he rammed his previous frigate into a Covenant destroyer, he gained a reputation for being a bloodthirsty maniac set on revenge. As it turns out, he genuinely believed he had no other choice in that battle, and his last act is to surrender his ship in order to spare his crew.

HM. Ngoc Benti

Corpsman Ngoc Benti

Homeworld: Earth
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: The Mona Lisa

Benti is a medic stationed aboard the UNSC Prowler Red Horse, and often accompanies Sgt.Lopez's Marine squad on missions, including one to the prison ship Mona Lisa.

---

• Action Survivor: Holds her own alongside her squad despite being a medic.
• Cloudcuckoolander: A bit of one.
• Horrible Judge of Character: She is the only one who finds Clarence to be fine and trusts him completely, and he turns out to be a ONI Section 3 operative.
• The Medic
• Odd Friendship: With Clarence, whom the other squad members find creepy.
• Taking You with Me: After being infected, she tackles Clarence before he can shoot her and knocks them both into a group of Flood to give Lopez and "Henry" a chance to escape.
• Zombie Infectee: She becomes infected by the Flood during the escape attempt from the Mona Lisa.

CDR. Tobias Foucault

Commander Tobias Foucault

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: The Mona Lisa

The commanding officer of the UNSC Prowler Red Horse, Foucault reluctantly follows ONI's directive to investigate the prison ship Mona Lisa in the debris field of Installation 04.

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• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He gained his command through being a excellent Marine and creative use of extreme tactics.
• The Chains of Commanding: He wishes he were a private again so he could just shoot his problems instead of having to hold the lives of others in his hands.
• Commanding Coolness
• Heroic BSoD: He is clearly on the verge of one after Rebecca reveals the existence of the Flood to him and he realizes that he will likely have to sacrifice the lives of all the marines he sent aboard the Mona Lisa.
• No One Gets Left Behind: He holds this opinion and is about to send reinforcements to rescue Lopez's squad on the Mona Lisa despite his orders, but then Rebecca showed him videos of what the Flood can do and he reluctantly agrees that he cannot risk sending another ship to help them.

CDR. Yao

Commander Yao

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: Halo: Collateral Damage

An officer stationed on board the Persian Gate who served as Blue Team's commanding officer during the Battle of Alpha Corvi II.

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• General Ripper: Towards Insurrectionists, who she refuses to assist for the vague reason that Blue Team's survival takes priority.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Ignores the vital assistance Whitaker's Insurrectionists gave to Blue Team, and strands them on Alpha Corvi II as the planet is overrun.
• 0% Approval Rating: Halo: Oblivion reveals that her actions on Alpha Corvi II made her a pariah among the Spartan-II's.

Pelican Pilots

CAPT. Carol Rawley

Captain Carol "Foehammer" Rawley

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: Halo: Combat Evolved
Voiced by: "Tawnya Pettiford-Waites"

A Pelican pilot and flight officer in the 23rd Naval Air Squadron who flew Echo-419 during the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, working closely alongside the Master Chief.

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• Always Someone Better: Memory Agent reveals that she doesn't feel completely up to the task of being the Master Chief's main Pelican pilot, and that she was determined to prove the Chief's hesitation wrong. Tragically, this leads to her fatal risky rescue attempt at the Pillar of Autumn crash site.
• Danger Deadpan: Almost always maintains a professional tone.
• Gunship Rescue: Pulls this off this several times in Combat Evolved. Except at the very end, when she's shot down by Banshees while trying to rescue John from the exploding Pillar of Autumn.
• The Lancer: As the best gunship pilot on the Autumn, she is very much this to the Chief and the Marines during the battle on Halo, despite not taking part in direct combat during the campaign. If not for the untimely intervention of two Covenant Banshees upon the destruction of the Autumn, she almost certainly would have survived.
• Mauve Shirt: The only Pelican pilot in Combat Evolved to have characterization of any kind.
• No Name Given: In the game; it's given in the novelization Halo: The Flood.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Only referred to as "Foehammer" in the game.
• Sassy Black Woman: Well, she sounds like one, anyways.
• Team Mom: She certainly has her moments of this, and is constantly looking out for the men she is protecting at any given time, saving their lives on numerous occasions. Even in the worst circumstances, she can always be counted on to be there for her comrades.
• Vocal Dissonance: Despite sounding like a Sassy Black Woman (and being played by a black voice actor), her character model in Anniversary is about as pasty white as you can get (as it is just the default Pelican pilot model, which reuses the model from the escape pod pilot from the first mission). This is probably just a case of reusing character models rather than her canonical appearance, but still...
• The Voice: You see her Pelican plenty of times, but Foehammer herself makes no direct appearance in CE. Despite her prominence in the first game, Foehammer has never received a visual representation of any sort to in any Halo media production to date.

LT. Hocus

Lieutenant "Hocus"

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: Halo 3
Voiced by: Debra Wilson

A Pelican pilot who flew Kilo-023 during Halo 3.

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• The Faceless: The only time we see her she is wearing a helmet.
• Gunship Rescue: Her Establishing Character Moment is blasting a pair of Phantoms out of the sky with her Pelican's missile launchers while rescuing Johnson and the Chief.
• No Name Given
• Only Known by Their Nickname
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Foehammer; though Hocus' role is much smaller, both characters share a clear African American accent and serve as their respective games' recurring Pelican pilot.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: She has not appeared in any Halo media post-Halo 3.

Echo-216, "The Pilot"

Echo-216

Homeworld: Charybdis IX
Birthdate: May 7, 2518
Debuted in: Halo Infinite
Voiced in English by: Nicolas Roye

A dropship pilot from the UNSC Infinity who was left stranded aboard his Pelican for nearly 6 months, following a massive UNSC defeat at Installation 07. By sheer luck, he encountered the Master Chief floating through the debris, pulling him out of his armor's stasis system just in time for the Spartan to save him from a Banished patrol... and to rope him into a new mission on the ring.

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• Ace Pilot: He's pretty handy at the controls of his Pelican, at one point even picking up Chief in midair after the latter jumps from a Forerunner tower. It's especially impressive in hindsight, considering that he is actually a civilian maintenance tech.
• Ambiguously Brown: The Pilot is clearly Hispanic, as his accent, Gratuitous Spanish and real name would imply. However, it's not clear if he's a lighter-skinned Latino or if he's specifically a Spaniard.
• Audience Surrogate: He essentially serves as one, being a totally ordinary individual roped into Master Chief's mission and reacting accordingly.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: When Chief asks him for a weapon, Echo-216 gives him a pistol with a single bullet. One can guess what Echo-216 was saving it for.
• Big "YES!": He's ecstatic when he's able to get Master Chief powered back up and out of emergency stasis.
• Character Development: He starts off wrecked with self-doubt and Survivor Guilt, and slowly regains his confidence and belief in his own abilities.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: As the Chief's non-powered ordinary sidekick and closest human friend during the events of the campaign, he serves much the same role as the late Sergeant Avery Johnson - but in terms of personality and general ability, the two are almost exact opposites. Johnson was a smack-talking Boisterous Bruiser and Scary Black Man in the UNSC Marine Corps who was never afraid to charge into combat alongside Chief and threaten aliens twice his size, Echo-216 is a shellshocked white Spanish Non-Action Guy who would much rather prefer not to be involved in dangerous situations and isn't even a Marine, but a civilian who stole the Pelican.
• Didn't Think This Through: His only goal for most of the Halo 4 storyline is to find a slipspace-capable ship and fly back to UNSC space, even though by his own admission he has no idea where Zeta Halo is in relation to Earth and the colonies, or how he'll survive the voyage.
• Dude in Distress: An extremely straight example, as Escharum uses him as bait for Master Chief, and Echo-216 begs Chief to please save him after her program is wiped.
• Everyone Has Standards: He's a cowardly guy who opted to run like hell from the threat of the Banished than stick around to die or worse, but the moment he stumbles across the spaced and unconscious Master Chief in the orbit of Zeta Halo, he completely forgoes his own safety to get Chief aboard, and then uses the Pelican's primary reserve of energy to boot his MJOLNIR armor up again.
• Given Name Reveal: In the game's final cutscene, he reveals his true name. It's Fernando Esparza.
• Gratuitous Spanish: He sometimes mutters to himself in Spanish.
• Happily Married: He carries a hologram of his wife and daughter with him. Sadly, given his response to the Weapon, they have long since passed away during the conflicts as he says he "has nothing to go back to".
• I Am Not Shazam: In-Universe. "Echo-216" is the designation of his Pelican, but (much like the case of Foehammer from Halo: Combat Evolved), he is referred to by the Pelican's callsign, or just "Pilot." It is only until the end of the game that he actually gives his real name.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Says this to Chief twice, once when he's in despair over just how much destruction the Banished managed to do to the UNSC armada when he spots two UNSC Condor wrecks and another when he's captured and being held in a torture device prison that occasionally electrocutes him at short-but-agonizing intervals in order to not kill him.
  Echo-216: Leave... me... RUN...!
• It's All My Fault: A major part of his Survivor's Guilt is his belief that by stealing Echo-216, he hindered the efforts to evacuate soldiers from the Infinity and got people killed as a result. Given that all of the evacuation Pelicans were shot down, it probably wouldn't have made a difference.
• Knight in Sour Armor: He's an ultimately heroic soldier who loyally follows the Chief on his mission, but is nonetheless quite vocal about the fact that he doesn't enjoy it and wants to flee back to UNSC territory.
• Last of Their Kind: Background chatter and broadcasts imply that Echo-216 is the last intact Pelican on Zeta Halo, the rest being shot down in the six months between the Infinity's abandonment and Chief waking up.
• Man Hug: Gives a big, earnest hug to the Master Chief at the very end of the base game after all they've been through.
• Mission Control: His in-game function is to provide status updates and deliver vehicles in the Pelican for Chief.
• The Name Is Bond, James Bond: How he finally reveals his name: "Esparza. Fernando Esparza." The Weapon cheekily replies, "Nice to meet you Esparza Fernando Esparza!"
• No Name Given: He is never referred to by name, just his callsign of Echo-216 or "the Pilot". It's only revealed at the very end of the base campaign that his name is Fernando Esparza.
• Outliving One's Offspring: He has a wife and daughter he apparently hasn't seen in months, as indicated by his recording device playing holographic messages of them, and it initially appears that he's afraid he'll never see them again. Until he tragically reveals that they're actually both dead.
• Phony Veteran: Downplayed in that it was a lie of omission more than an outright deception on his part. Esparza was a civilian contractor assisting with aircraft maintenance on the Infinity, and escaped its destruction by commandeering Echo-216 in an attempt to flee; he elects not to bring this detail up until late in the game, leading Chief and the Weapon to assume he's an enlisted man. Despite this, Master Chief says, "Good job, soldier" during the Dénouement.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When he heard that the Chief was defeated by Atriox during the attack on the Infinity, he knew the battle was lost. He commandeered a Pelican and escaped the Infinity before it was destroyed by the Banished.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: The UNSC's defeat over Installation 07 and the long period of time he spent marooned in the debris left him deeply scarred, and he is initially terrified at the prospect of facing the Banished again.
• Spanner in the Works: Far as Atriox and the whole of the Banished knew, Master Chief was dead along with the rest of the UNSC, and Zeta Halo was firmly theirs. The Pilot stumbling across, reawakening and then supporting the Chief results in the latter rapidly disassembling the Banished operations, meaning that for as much as he hates himself, the Pilot is directly responsible for humanity's Heroic Second Wind.
• Survivor Guilt: The Pilot's rant at Chief, after finding the wreckage of three Condors from the UNSC Total Party Wipe.
  Chief: Enough!
  Pilot: When is it enough, Chief?! When we're in there? Because that's where I belong. In there. With them.
• Time-Passage Beard: He grows one during his time of isolation on the Pelican. It doubles as a Beard of Sorrow as well.
• Took a Level in Idealism: By the end of the story, he's grinning broadly and anxious to take on the rest of the Banished with Chief.
• Tragic Keepsake: It turns out, the holographic recording of his wife and daughter is this, as they died sometime before the battle at Zeta Halo.
• Tuckerization: He is named after two of his voice actor's childhood friends.
• Walking Spoiler: Not only is his real name kept a secret until the final cutscene, there are aspects of his backstory (namely, being a civilian contractor rather than an enlisted pilot, and his wife and daughter actually being dead) that are treated as mid-story twists.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He's on the receiving end of this from Chief when he hits his Despair Event Horizon.

PO2. Sheila Polaski

Petty Officer Second Class Sheila Polaski

Homeworld: Unknown
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: Halo: First Strike

A Pelican pilot in the 23rd Naval Air Squadron, Polaski was one of the few survivors of Installation 04, joining up with Master Chief during the events of the novel Halo: First Strike.

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• Ace Pilot: And not just with a Pelican; while piloting a Longsword, she manages to evade the fire of both the Covenant carrier Ascendant Justice and its fighter escort, and successfully board the former. Later, she learns how to fly a Covenant Spirit dropship pretty well too.
• Badass Normal: She did survive Halo, which says something. At one point, she even manages to beat an Elite in a Quick Draw pistol duel, despite infantry work not being her forte.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Variation. She volunteers to fly the Spartans to fix Ascendant Justice, despite the huge risk to her life, because she knew it would increase the chance of success. It does get her killed when a stray Covenant plasma charge hits her dropship while she's providing cover for the Spartans attempting to repair the Ascendant Justice.
• Nerves of Steel: Is as levelheaded a pilot as one could wish for.
• No Body Left Behind: The plasma charge completely vaporizes her.
• Ship Tease: Between her and Locklear. Too bad they both die. Before Locklear she seemed to have a brief one towards Master Chief, concerned for him after his fight with a plasma sword wielding Elite, offering to tend to his wounds, before he shuts her down, with her reacting with some coldness.

Eric Santiago

Eric Santiago

Homeworld: Madrigal
Birthdate: Unknown
Debuted in: Dirt

A member of the Colonial Military, he became fast friends with Gage Yevgenny and Felicia Sanderson. He fell into a coma after suffering brain damage in an Innie bombing in 2524, waking up five years later and learning of the Human-Covenant War and the glassing of his home planet. He became a Pelican pilot and was eventually reunited with Gage and Felicia, and plotted with them and other CMA veterans to steal a vault of gold on New Jerusalem as the Covenant attacked it.

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• Ace Pilot: Survived 18 years of constant war as a Pelican pilot.
• Doomed Hometown: Madrigal was one of the many colonies to fall to the Covenant during the war.
• What You Are in the Dark: He fails, betraying Gage and Felicia in order to side with the other rogue ODSTs instead of rescuing the civilians hiding in the bank.

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