Update: Steve Downes just thanked 343 Industries for being a part of Halo. A new Halo 5 commercial shows Master Chief is still alive. The ending might have leaked too.
Leaked Ending Spoilers
It appears that the ending to Halo 5 has been leaked. It confirms that Master Chief dies in the game. Either this is one of the biggest mistakes made in the history of video games or is an elaborate ploy by 343 Industries to throw us off. The page appeared in Halo 5: The Sprint’s teaser. The Sprint is a video series that follows the development of the game. In it a page is seen showing the following text:
“Chief laying face down in the snow, one leg turned at an impossible angle. Locke rolls Chief over with a…The Chief’s helmet is crumpled in from a frontal impact, his chest armour is ripped open from the Warden’s attacks. We can’t leave any doubt that the big guy is dead but for a PG-13 style, yeah? This is about the shock, that there’s nothing Locke can do. Locke to Osiris, he’s dead…the Warden”.
It seems like the Master Chief is dead but I don’t think so. When you watch gameplay from Halo 5, there’s a scene where Wardens don’t attack Master Chief. He’s somehow immune because of what the Librarian did to him. So the fact that a Warden harmed Master Chief doesn’t make any sense. Plus, the leaked trailer says that Master Chief is controlling the Forerunner machines. The scene in The Sprint is just meant to throw us off.
That trailer was epic. I can’t wait to play the game on October 27.
Additional Information
It has been nothing short of a galactic journey. Thanks for everything @343 @Xbox. #TeamChief #Halo5
— Steve Downes (@SteveDownes117) September 28, 2015
Spoilers
There’s no doubt now that Master Chief is alive and ONI have declared him dead because he’s disobeying them. From what we know, the Guardian attacks Meridian first because, during the opening mission of Halo 5, Master Chief encounters Cortana’s echo and she tell him, “The domain is open. Meridian is next. You only have three days. John, the Reclamation is about to begin.” These details were provided in Game Informer’s coverage of the game a few months ago. Master Chief most likely informs ONI about what he saw and they dismiss his vision of Cortana as a hallucination and probably use the “aging Spartan” dialogue again.
If we look at the timestamp in one of the Halo 5’s gameplay videos, it says October 27, 2558…the same day that Master Chief allegedly dies. From what I understand, the mission on Sanghelios takes place after the attack on Meridian where humanity first encounters the Guardians. Agent Locke mentions Guardians and the way they’re discussing it seems like they’re familiar with the attacks. Either ways, considering that Meridian takes place first, the Master Chief is definitely alive after the attack that takes place on October 27, 2558. He’s on Sanghelios when he’s supposed to be dead tracking the Guardian.
I’m guessing that ONI thinks Master Chief is somehow involved with the attacks because the Prometheans don’t really harm him. In another gameplay video, a Promethean boss said to Spartan Locke, “The Master Chief has called, but your passage is denied.” Seems like Master Chief is allowed to do whatever he wants around the Prometheans probably due to what the Librarian did to him in Halo 4. ONI assign Spartan Locke to take him out based on this suspicion.
We’ll see if I’m right or not on October 27, 2015 when the game releases exclusively on Xbox One.
Original Story
A new commercial aired tonight that features the death of Master Chief. Yes, you heard that right. The clip begins with UNSC press secretary Penelope Boren announcing the legendary hero’s demise. According to the press statement, Master Chief dies on October 27, 2560 while responding to an attack on the human colony of Meridian that is attacked by a Forerunner Guardian.
You can leave messages to mourn Master Chief’s death at a website set up by 343 Industries. The visualizer shows the Chief’s helmet and is composed of little triangles each containing a message left by a fan. Be sure to leave yours. Do you believe the news? What’s going on? Let them know.
Spoilers
I’m going to speculate a little about this footage. Stop reading now because some spoilers have been posted by sites like Game Informer which discuss the opening mission. These bits of information give us some clues as to what’s going on.
To me this seems like propaganda and misinformation spread by ONI. I think the date is just a placeholder. I remember a few months ago Game Informer came out with a preview and said that Cortana appears to Master Chief during the opening mission and warns him of an attack on the colony of Meridian. I’m going to guess that Master Chief talks to ONI about this and they dismiss this information as hallucinations of an aging Spartan.
His relationship is already strained with ONI due to an incident that occurs at the beginning of Halo 5. Master Chief takes Blue Team to Meridian and from there they embark on an unsanctioned mission. ONI probably sees this as a great way to further their war cause and get rid of the Master Chief. They declare him dead and send Fireteam Osiris after him. I also think Spartan Locke is given secret orders to kill the Master Chief.
I think Halo 5 features multiple stories. There’s obviously the threat the Guardians pose to the galaxy but there’s also the threat that ONI and its excessive warmongering poses to humanity. I think the political dynamics in the Halo universe are about to change too after Halo 5 releases. If you listen to Hunt the Truth, you will agree with me. The story will most likely also be about the downfall of ONI.
I don’t know if I’m right but based on the information available through preview articles, I think I am. We’ll see what happens. I can’t wait to play Halo 5 later this month.
As far as Steve Downes’ statement is concerned, I think he’s commemorating Halo 5 going gold because the final download is now available on Xbox One. It might also be a marketing tease to enhance the mystery of the trailer.
For those who read this, what do you think? Do you agree? What are your theories? Let us know in the comments below.
The opinions expressed belong to the writer and do not necessarily reflect that of ICXM as an organization.
Asher is a games journalist, former News Writer (Gaming) at Windows Central. They contributed 1110 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: wrote over 1,100 ICXM pieces on Xbox news, hardware reviews, and platform commentary before joining Future plc’s Windows Central in 2017.