About

Master Chief, aka John-117, is the protagonist of the Halo video game series. As the face of one of the most successful video game franchises and arguably Xbox games as a whole, he grew into a staple of internet culture, inspiring multiple memes and a significant fandom.

History

In the Halo series, Master Chief petty officer John-117 is a SPARTAN-II commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command.^[1] He first appeared in 2001's Halo: Combat Evolved and has remained the protagonist of the series ever since. He stands 6'10" and weighs 290 pounds. He is no older than 46, though the effects of extended space travel make determining his exact age difficult. Master Chief has been voiced by Steve Downes, as well as David Wald in Halo Legends and Alex Puccinelli in Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. He has been the protagonist of every Halo game save for Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach.

Impact

Master Chief has been widely praised by critics online as the face of the Halo franchise, and by extension, Xbox as a whole.^[2] In 2015, IGN put out a video praising Master Chief and analyzing what made him an iconic character (shown below, left). He has also been widely praised by media outlets as one of the greatest video game characters of all time.^[4] A wax figure of Master Chief was included in Madame Tussauds' Las Vegas location^[3] (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Pretty Cool Guy

Pretty cool guy is a exploitable snowclone parody phrase used to show approval of a subject. The snowclone developed after a 4chan user used the phrase to describe Master Chief.

Welcome To My Tower Master Chief

Welcome To My Tower, Master Chief refers to a line said in the 2021 Halo game Halo Infinite by the antagonist Chak' Lok to Master Chief during an elite boss fight. The moment from the game was first revealed to fans in November 2021 and soon became an exploitable image macro in memes on YouTube and Reddit. In 2022, it also spread to Twitter and Facebook where meme creators continued to photoshop Chak' Lok, replacing words and symbols in the original screencap.

Master Chief, You Mind Telling Me What You're Doing on That Ship?

Master Chief, You Mind Telling Me What You're Doing on This Ship? is a memorable quote uttered by Halo 2 character Lord Terrence Hood. Online, the quote has been used as a setup for various jokes, with Hood asking Master Chief why he is doing something, followed by Master Chief explaining himself.

Arby and the Chief

Arby 'n' The Chief is a Live-Action Machinima Hybrid series created by Jon Graham, credited as Jon CJG or formerly Digitalph33r. About the lives of figurine versions of the Master Chief and the Arbiter. It is mainly based around the two playing Halo: Reach and Halo 3, and doing things related to Halo, but also will occasionally focus on the duo spending the remainder of their time pulling off various shenanigans.

Search Interest

External References