96-604: Jennifer Taylor is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cortana in Halo games and the intelligent personal assistant , the voice of Zoey in the Left 4 Dead franchise and formerly as Princess Peach , Toad and other characters in the Mario franchise from 1999 to 2008. Jen Taylor taught herself how to do voice work by recording the radio and imitating what she heard. She graduated from Northwestern University with
192-547: A cosmetic outfit in the battle royale game Fortnite . Fable II includes a medieval variation of Master Chief's armor, worn by a legendary hero named "Hal". The character is also referenced in Halo -based machinima parody series Red vs. Blue , created by Rooster Teeth Productions . When Team Ninja approached Bungie to use Master Chief in Dead or Alive 4 (2006), they declined due to storyline restrictions, resulting in
288-641: A "generic" action hero. The more character-focused portrayal of Chief in Halo 4 was positively received. Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times called Halo 4 a more introspective Halo game, and the first to explore the motivations and emotions of the Master Chief. While reviews found the game's story hard to follow, they praised efforts to flesh out Master Chief's personality and relationship with Cortana. Halo 5 received backlash from fans about Master Chief's reduced role in
384-450: A "sweet spot" where Master Chief's armor remained familiar but still new. The armor was redesigned to feel futuristic and heavy, weighing hundreds of pounds, with details inspired by real-world military vehicles. In contrast to newer characters, Master Chief and elder Spartan soldiers were designed with more utilitarian armor similar to a tank. Despite the visual differences between the character's armor in Halo 3 and Halo 4 ,
480-692: A Biblical reference. Comparing Halo to the Christopher Rowley 's novel Starhammer, IGN noted similar elements between Master Chief and the character Jon 6725416. Michael Nitsche of the Georgia Institute of Technology compared Master Chief to Half-Life protagonist Gordon Freeman , as both characters "are the independent, individualistic, and often lonely heroes that gain admiration by constantly proving their superiority ... in technology-driven, hostile, often closed spaces." Roger Travis, associate professor of classics at
576-564: A Covenant attack. Cortana, Chief and human forces travel to another Halo ring, Delta Halo, where Master Chief and Cortana encounter the Flood intelligence Gravemind . The Gravemind sends Chief and Cortana to the Covenant city-ship of High Charity to stop the Covenant from activating Halo; Cortana ultimately stays behind on High Charity to destroy the city and Halo should Master Chief fail in his mission. High Charity and Cortana are captured by
672-513: A Forerunner installation called Requiem. Hoping to prevent the UNSC ship Infinity from also being drawn into Requiem, Master Chief and Cortana attempt to activate what they believe is a communications relay. Instead, Master Chief awakens the Didact, a Forerunner with a grudge against humanity. Master Chief and Cortana pursue the Didact, stopping his attack on Earth when Cortana sacrifices herself. At
768-460: A degree in theater. Before starting in voice work, she worked as a radio DJ for KNDD . Taylor has voiced characters in video games, Princess Peach , Toad , and Toadette in Mario games between 1999 and 2006. She voiced the character Cortana in Halo games since the first game in the series, Halo: Combat Evolved (2001). Two decades following the original game, Taylor reprised the role of Cortana by voice acting and performance capture in
864-485: A fighter spacecraft with Cortana. Master Chief returns to Earth in Halo 2 (2004), defending the planet from a Covenant invasion. Pursuing a fleeing Covenant vessel, Master Chief and his crew discover another Halo ring. Master Chief is captured by a Flood intelligence known as a Gravemind , who forges an alliance between them and the disgraced Covenant commander known as the Arbiter . The Gravemind sends them to stop
960-449: A generally positive reception for his character design, with publications praising how the narrative allows players to inhabit the character, while others have criticized him as under characterized . In later Halo games developed by 343 Industries , the characterization of Master Chief earned praise for exploring his humanity and his relationship with Cortana . When game studio Bungie began developing Halo: Combat Evolved (2001),
1056-486: A limited-edition silver-plated statue by Weta Workshop . IGN noted in 2016 that Cortana toys were lacking among Halo ' s merchandising. Microsoft developed its virtual assistant for the Windows Phone operating system under the codename "Cortana" in reference to the Halo character. Though other final gender-neutral names for the final product were considered, positive developer and fan response to
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#17327796147421152-492: A lot of our younger players are going to struggle with that subtlety, that nuance, because they’re expecting Darth Vader ." Stephen Wilds of Polygon said that that "there aren’t notable antagonists, but that they tend to disappear after a couple games", and wondered if Cortana could have been a "full-fledged villain at the end of Halo 5 " and would be praised by fans. Master Chief (Halo) Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 , colloquially known as Master Chief ,
1248-453: A man of few words, similar to Clint Eastwood . In spin-off media, he is portrayed by different voice and physical actors, most notably Pablo Schreiber on the 2022 live-action TV series. A pop culture icon, Master Chief is widely regarded as one of the greatest video game characters of all time, with the character being seen as a mascot for Halo and the Xbox brand. His 2001 debut received
1344-687: A natural leader and leads his peers over eight years of grueling training and dangerous physical augmentation. In the 2003 novel Halo: The Flood , the Master Chief is described as tall with short brown hair, serious eyes, and strong features. His skin is unnaturally pale as a consequence of spending most of his time in his armor. He stands about 7 feet (2.13 m) tall and weighs 1,000 pounds (450 kg) in armor; without it, he stands 6 feet, 10 inches (2.08 m) tall and weighs 287 pounds (130 kg). Master Chief first appears in Halo: Combat Evolved ,
1440-536: A plausible rank for his role. "Master Chief" was the highest non-commissioned rank where the character would still be considered "expendable". McLees also felt the shortened "Chief" sounded more colloquial and less like a modern military designation. Though "Master Chief" was intended to be a placeholder, and drew some internal disagreement, the name ended up sticking. Halo was considered a success. Writer Joseph Staten recalled that early on in Halo ' s development, they had not considered how to engage players in
1536-500: A relationship that was under-appreciated in much of the franchise. Professor Monica Evans called Cortana the most human character in the original game, and one of the most developed. Cortana has also been recognized for her sex appeal ; the character has been included on multiple lists of attractive video game characters. Feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian argues that Cortana had gotten increasingly sexualized in subsequent appearances; 1UP.com noted that as Cortana's sanity waned in
1632-435: A seven-year lifespan, after which they begin to dissemble and think themselves to death in a process known as rampancy. As an artificial construct, Cortana has no physical form or being. Cortana speaks with a smooth female voice, and projects a holographic image of herself as a woman. Cortana is said to resemble Halsey, with a similar attitude "unchecked by military and social protocol". In Halo: The Fall of Reach , Cortana
1728-414: A walking tank. The Chief's armor went through various changes, such as green tint, and the addition (and later removal) of an antenna. The character's two-prong visor, intended to convey speed and agility, was inspired by BMX helmets. For much of the game's development, the character had no name. Master Chief was always intended to be a soldier in a difficult war, and the team first referred to him as
1824-553: A wax sculpture of the Chief. At the ceremony, Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy called the Master Chief a hero of the times as much as characters like Spider-Man and Luke Skywalker were for previous generations. Master Chief has also been called the de facto symbol for Microsoft, their Xbox console, and a generation of gamers. BusinessWeek listed the Master Chief among several video game characters who have been branded beyond their respective video games, "helping them transcend
1920-436: A way of guiding players while keeping missions open-ended, and avoiding players from feeling they were being herded through the game. Said story writer Joseph Staten , "we needed a character who could consistently guide the player through the game, and an onboard AI was something that could always credibly accompany [them]." Cortana's role grew from pure gameplay considerations to serving as a way of characterizing and humanizing
2016-527: A well-known role. The change in appearances was left unexplained in the show. Bungie introduced the Halo series publicly in 1999 by sending the Cortana Letters, a series of cryptic email messages, to the maintainer of marathon.bungie.org, a fan site for one of Bungie's other game series . The strategic use of cryptic messages in a publicity campaign was repeated in I Love Bees , a promotion for Halo 2 . Although Bungie does not consider most of
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#17327796147422112-468: A whole, Cortana and her story was often considered a strong point of the game. IGN called Halo 4 "really Cortana's story", as saving the galaxy is of lesser importance to the Master Chief than saving Cortana, and Cortana's humanity is ultimately the game's focus. The Daily Telegraph ' s Tom Hoggins agreed, calling Cortana "the flickering blue heart of the game's plot", and Hoggins and reviewers for The Globe and Mail and Eurogamer singled out
2208-410: Is a towering supersoldier known as a " Spartan ", trained from childhood for combat. The designers intended for players to be able to project their own intentions into the character and thus reduced his voiced lines and concealed his appearance under his armor. In the video games, the character is voiced by former disc jockey Steve Downes , who based his performance on Bungie's description calling for
2304-493: Is described as slender, with close-cropped hair and a skin hue that varies from navy blue to lavender, depending on her mood. Numbers and symbols flash across her form when she is thinking. Halsey sees Cortana as a teenage version of herself: smarter than her parents, always "talking, learning, and eager to share her knowledge". Cortana is described as having a sardonic sense of humor and often cracks jokes or wryly comments, even during combat. Cortana's first game appearance
2400-586: Is in the 2001 first-person shooter Halo: Combat Evolved . Humanity is locked in a losing war with the alien Covenant. Cortana plots a course for the human ship Pillar of Autumn to escape the Covenant. This heading leads to the discovery of a massive ringworld, Halo, built by a mysterious race known as the Forerunners . Cortana defends the ship from the Covenant until she is given to the supersoldier Master Chief to prevent her from falling into enemy hands. Cortana helps direct human survivors scattered across
2496-592: Is named after the legendary sword Durendal . Curtana's inscription reveals that the sword has the same "temper as Joyeuse and Durendal". After assuming development duties from Bungie, 343 Industries decided to explain Cortana's established appearance as a reflection of her personality. "So one of the reasons she [appears as she does] is to attract and demand attention," Franchise development coordinator Frank O'Connor explained. "And she does it to put people off so that they're on their guard when talking to her and she has
2592-436: Is the protagonist of the Halo video game series and its spin-off media. The character first appeared in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved , a science fiction first-person shooter that became a long-running franchise. The character also appears in spin-off Halo media such as the 2012 film Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn , the 2022 Halo television series , and several graphic novels and books. The Master Chief
2688-415: The Halo franchise is in the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach , a prequel to Combat Evolved . Dr. Halsey allows Cortana to choose which SPARTAN-II soldier to accompany on an upcoming mission; Cortana picks the Master Chief, whom she believes is her best match. Cortana helps the Master Chief to survive the near-lethal exercises designed to test the Chief's armor. Afterward, she plants incriminating evidence in
2784-494: The Halo games' story. Cortana has been recognized for her believability and character depth, as well as her sex appeal . The character was the inspiration for Microsoft's intelligent personal assistant of the same name . Cortana is an artificial intelligence (AI) found in the Halo science fiction franchise . In the video games, Cortana often serves as an advisor and assistant to the player character, hacking alien computer systems and decoding transmissions. She speaks most of
2880-493: The Halo series, including lines by McFarlane, Jazwares , 1000toys, and Mega Bloks. One2One collectibles also produced 1:2 scale busts of the Master Chief. Xbox marketing director Ed Ventura explained, "We want to be in the hearts and minds of our fans as much as we can." Master Chief has been described as "iconic" in multiple media outlets, including IGN , Kotaku , Glixel , GamesRadar , and The Sydney Morning Herald . The character has appeared on lists of
2976-491: The Halo television series' first season, Cortana was created digitally. Initially the character was to be portrayed by Natascha McElhone , who also plays Halsey in the series, but scheduling difficulties resulted in Jen Taylor taking on the voice acting and motion capture duties. The character's more human and less blue appearance met with backlash after the series trailer released. Producer Kiki Wolfkill explained that
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3072-472: The Halo universe's futuristic setting still grapples with systemic sexism. Mike Rougeau of Complex noted that Halo 3 balanced a large conflict with a more personal one—that while the galaxy was imperiled by aliens, "more important to fans was the rescue of Cortana." While Cortana's role was greatly expanded in the game, Stuff.co.nz noted that the character "has inexplicably had a sexy makeover". Despite mixed opinions of Halo 4 ' s campaign as
3168-514: The University of Connecticut , compared Master Chief to the epic hero Aeneas , as both settings involve superhuman characters protecting civilization against militaristic enemies. Matthew Stover compared Halo to the Iliad , due to the shared theme that "war is the crucible of character". Stover also argues that the cyborg is an apt characterization for the Master Chief, since the character
3264-412: The "Future Soldier" or "The Cyborg". Eric Nylund established the character's birth name as "John" in the tie-novel Halo: The Fall of Reach , but Bungie preferred to avoid using this in the game. Looking to military ranks for inspiration, the developers were attracted to naval ranks as "different" from other game characters. McLees, insisting on accuracy, wanted to make sure the character still had
3360-437: The 2022 Halo television series , the character is played by Pablo Schreiber . Master Chief takes off his helmet in the series in an effort to make the audience empathize with the character. Master Chief is a major character in the novels Silent Storm (2018), Oblivion (2019), and Shadows of Reach (2020), written by Troy Denning . The character also appears in the 2010 animated anthology Halo Legends , as well as
3456-767: The Arbiter to stop the Prophet of Truth. Master Chief and Arbiter pursue the Prophet through a portal to the Ark, a place located beyond the Milky Way . On the Ark, the Flood-controlled High Charity crashes into the installation. Master Chief stops the Halo Array from firing and rescues Cortana by battling through the wreckage of High Charity . Together, they activate a replacement Halo being built on
3552-528: The Ark, stopping the Flood and sparing the galaxy at large. While the Arbiter reaches Earth, Master Chief and Cortana escape aboard the UNSC ship Forward Unto Dawn before setting adrift in space. Master Chief returns as the playable protagonist in Halo 4 (2012) after his omission from Halo 3: ODST (2009) and a brief Easter egg in Halo: Reach (2010). Halo 4 begins with Cortana awakening Master Chief from cryonic sleep , both drifting toward
3648-534: The Banished leader Atriox, and destroyed his homeworld when he did not submit. Atriox uses the Weapon to capture Cortana and tries to force her to surrender Zeta Halo to him. Realizing her mistakes, Cortana destroys herself to damage the ring and stopped the Banished from using it. In a final message, Cortana apologizes to Chief for her actions and encourages him to work with the Weapon. Cortana's first appearance in
3744-534: The Chief and stop the Didact's plan. Cortana's survival is revealed in Halo 5 , when she calls Master Chief to the Forerunner world Genesis. Cortana explains she survived the destruction of the Didact's ship and her own rampancy by entering the Domain, an ancient repository of knowledge. Granted an infinite life span by the Domain, Cortana believes that she and other AI (the "Created") should enforce peace through
3840-523: The Chief-Cortana relationship. Holmes and the team drew inspiration from the relationship in the game Ico , where the main characters share a strong bond, as well as the many layers to the two characters' relationship; "In some ways they’re friends, in some ways she’s almost like a mother, in others they’re skirting that line of lovers, and so all these different elements come into the relationship, making it complex and interesting to explore." For
3936-452: The Flood. In Halo 3 , Cortana appears to the player in broken transmissions. On the Forerunner installation known as the Ark, the Master Chief travels through the ruins of High Charity to rescue Cortana. Chief and Cortana are successful at stopping the Flood, but become stranded in deep space aboard the human ship Forward Unto Dawn . Cortana activates a distress beacon, while Master Chief goes into cryonic sleep to await rescue. At
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4032-536: The Forerunner planet Genesis. Cortana reveals that she survived thanks to the Domain, a repository of ancient Forerunner knowledge. A degenerating and thus newly evil Cortana reveals her authoritarian plans for the galaxy and imprisons Master Chief and his team in stasis. They are rescued through the efforts of Fireteams Osiris but forced to retreat as Cortana mobilizes the Forerunner Guardians and other human AIs as her enforcers. Master Chief returns as
4128-465: The Halo's activation, with Master Chief arriving at the Covenant space station High Charity , near the Halo's orbit. Cortana remains on the space station to ensure the ring is destroyed if activated. Master Chief pursues the remaining Covenant leader, the Prophet of Truth, who plans to activate the Halo Array from outside the galaxy. The story continues in Halo 3 (2007), when Master Chief reunites with
4224-549: The Mantle of Responsibility), Master Chief and Cortana learn that an ancient race known as the Forerunners created Halo as a last line of defense against an alien parasite called the Flood , which begins to spread across the ring. Learning that the Halo was designed to contain the Flood by killing all life in the galaxy, thus killing all potential hosts, Master Chief detonates the Pillar of Autumn in order to destroy Halo, escaping in
4320-483: The Master Chief, and in subsequent games the Chief-Cortana relationship became a focus of characterization. The character was designed and modeled by Bungie artist Chris Hughes, with the model's face based on a sculpture of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti . Cortana's name is a variant of Curtana , the sword used by the legendary Ogier the Dane , just as the titular AI character of Bungie's previous game Marathon 2: Durandal
4416-560: The Paramount+ TV series. At GalaxyCon Columbus in December 2023, Taylor stated her favorite line as Cortana is "Welcome home, John" from Halo 4. Taylor has played Salem in the web series RWBY , since 2013. She voiced an episode of the radio series The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Taylor has narrated nearly 30 audiobooks , and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards . Her narration of Tami Hoag 's Mismatch
4512-515: The Spartans and Forerunners on top of her previous look, including a Forerunner glyph. "Having her wear [the Mantle] was a nice way of having her own it too, from a symbolic standpoint," Reed said. The character was modeled and animated using motion capture and talent at 343 Industries and Axis Animation. 343 Industries intended the character's normal role in gameplay to be filled by Blue Team. For
4608-430: The beginning of Halo 4 Cortana wakes the Chief as Forward Unto Dawn drifts towards a Forerunner installation called Requiem. Cortana begins displaying aberrant glitches and behavior, and reveals that she is suffering from rampancy as she has already exceeded her seven-year "natural" lifespan. She assists in the battle against the Didact, a rogue Forerunner who hates humans. At the end, Cortana sacrifices herself to save
4704-407: The best video gaming characters by UGO , Empire , GamesRadar , Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition , Complex , and Time . IGN speculated that the dramatic death of the character would become one of the most powerful events in gaming. Voice actor Steve Downes realized the character was such a huge hit only after children lined up around the block for his autograph a year after
4800-423: The character one of the greatest female characters for the character's determination and fearlessness, which meshed perfectly with the game's protagonist, while Glixel staff described Cortana as one of the most iconic video game characters of the 21st century. Den of Geek ' s Megan Crouse called Cortana one of the Halo series' most important characters, and her relationship with her mother figure Halsey
4896-577: The character's eyes. O'Connor said in an interview that revealing the character's face is not as important as the events happening around him. The Master Chief's backstory is revealed in the 2001 novel The Fall of Reach . Born "John" in 2511, he is covertly taken from the human colony world of Eridanus as a child and conscripted into the SPARTAN-II super-soldier project by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC). John proves
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#17327796147424992-461: The character's writing and performance as high points of the game's campaign. Justin Clouse wrote that the interactions between Chief and Cortana as the latter loses her hold on sanity were "perhaps the best it's ever been". Complex ' s review praised the use of motion capture for Cortana, as they were given "new life" and new depth from the technology and performance. David Their wrote that
5088-420: The character, Bungie originally wanted Cortana to have a British accent . O'Donnell recalled that Taylor's British accent was good, but felt it was too similar to her work for No One Lives Forever . The accent was dropped, but British colloquialisms remained in the character's dialogue. Taylor recalled that a key directive from Bungie about the character was that she not come off as nagging, despite her role as
5184-452: The choice for Cortana to return in Halo 5 and turn her into an antagonist provided the game "with a well earned sense of drive" and that her appearance in Halo 5 gave players another side of the character to see. "There's something unknowable about Cortana in her new role as AI God, but we've spent enough time with her throughout the series that we stick with her through the reinvention." Similarly, Patrick Dane of Bleeding Cool defended
5280-480: The clutches of the Gravemind. She also appears in the Halo television series , created by Dr. Halsey as a means of keeping Master Chief and other Spartans in line. By cloning herself and then copying her clone's brain patterns (which also kills her), Halsey is able to bring Cortana to life and then implant her directly into Master Chief's neural pathways. Cortana was developed to provide Combat Evolved with
5376-576: The comics The Halo Graphic Novel , Halo: Uprising , Halo: Collateral Damage , and Halo: Tales from Slipspace . Peter David 's graphic novel Helljumpers contains a cameo by Master Chief "before he actually was [the Chief]". The character also appears in games outside the Halo series. This includes a guest appearance as a playable character in Super Bomberman R for the Xbox One and
5472-488: The decision was influenced by the need to adapt the character to a live-action environment, and for her to feel real. For the second season, Cortana was portrayed by a live-action actress, Christina Bennington, as the producers felt they were missing on the subtle acting nuances with a digital character. Taylor still voiced the role, and she and Bennington collaborated on set to make sure the performances were in sync. Bennington credited Taylor for making her feel welcome in such
5568-406: The design of Master Chief was led by art director Marcus Lehto with support from artist Robert McLees. Shi Kai Wang was later hired as a concept artist , who created a sketch that became the basis for Master Chief. When the sketch was translated into a three-dimensional model, the team felt that it looked too slim and anime-inspired, and Lehto asked for a bulkier character design that felt more like
5664-422: The developers intended it to canonically be the same armor. Halo 4 also made extensive use of motion capture for character animation, with Bruce Thomas portraying Master Chief while interacting with multiple actors in studio. Even without his face or voice appearing in the game, Thomas was credited by creative director Josh Holmes for conveying Master Chief's physicality and emotions, and for influencing
5760-442: The files of Colonel Ackerson , the operative who nearly killed both of them, as revenge. Cortana makes a small appearance in 2010's Halo: Reach , set shortly before the events of Combat Evolved . A fragment of Cortana carrying information gleaned from a Forerunner artifact combines with Cortana's main self on Pillar of Autumn before the ship escapes the planet, leading to the events of Combat Evolved . Cortana also appears in
5856-419: The first action figure was supposed to convey an older appearance than was depicted in the games. This was accomplished by making the figure more buxom; despite McLees' request to revert the change, the sculptor was unwilling and time constraints left the design intact. The character is also featured in the first series of Halo 3 action figures, distributed by McFarlane Toys , Funko vinyl figurines, and in
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#17327796147425952-423: The first game in the series. Master Chief and the crew of the UNSC ship Pillar of Autumn discover an alien ringworld, called Alpha Halo. Master Chief is entrusted with safeguarding Cortana, the ship's artificial intelligence, from capture to ensure that the Covenant don't learn about Earth and attack the human colony. While fighting the Covenant (a cult attempting to light the halo rings thinking it will give them
6048-597: The first game shipped. In 2024, a poll conducted by BAFTA with around 4,000 respondents named Master Chief as the eighth most iconic video-game character of all time. In an article in Time , Lev Grossman called the Master Chief a "new kind of celebrity for a new and profoundly weird millennium", as well as a sign of video games becoming a more legitimate art form. The recognition of Master Chief has spread to mainstream culture; Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas has developed
6144-475: The first game's dialogue, and serves as a talkative foil for the quieter Master Chief , as well as a way of relaying information and objectives to the player. According to her backstory, Cortana was derived from the cloned brain of Dr. Catherine Halsey , the creator of the SPARTAN-II supersoldier project ; Halsey's synapses became the basis for Cortana's processors. Cortana and other AIs are subject to
6240-584: The first game's experience as lonely, to reinforce the backstory that Chief's friends had been largely killed. Master Chief rarely spoke in the early Halo games, making him an almost- silent protagonist . Joseph Staten felt that Master Chief was designed to promote immersion, as "the less players knew about the Chief, we believed, the more they would feel like the Chief." Even with the tie-in novel The Fall of Reach , some at Bungie were against its release because they felt that Master Chief should remain less characterized. Bungie hired voice actor Steve Downes as
6336-478: The first time in the series, Taylor performed her lines in the same room as Steve Downes , the voice of Master Chief. She credited the change for making the dialogue feel more authentic and real. Cortana's new appearance for Halo 4 was one of the game's most dramatic changes. Early in production, concept artists created a variety of "crazy ideas" and explorations for how Cortana might look. Promising 2D designs were turned into simple 3D maquettes to prototype them in
6432-578: The galaxy. Cortana begins using ancient Forerunner constructs known as Guardians to enforce the Created's will throughout the galaxy. In Halo Infinite , Master Chief travels to the Zeta Halo and recovers the Weapon, a copy of Cortana designed to trap her for deletion. Traveling across a damaged Halo's surface and fighting the Banished, the pair recover data fragments left behind by Cortana that fill in what occurred six months earlier; Cortana threatened
6528-416: The game engine. Character artist Matt Aldridge recalled that Cortana was one of the hardest characters to envision in the game because of how beloved the character is by players; one of Aldridge's goals was to create a character where scrolling lines of code would flow uninterrupted from her feet to her head. Art director Kenneth Scott was responsible for Cortana's final design. The character's motion capture
6624-603: The game's divisive campaign and Cortana's turn to antagonist as an "inspired choice", driving a wedge between the most important character relationship in the games. Conversely, Matt Peckham felt that the plot twist of Cortana's actions "feels strangely underwhelming", while Ars Technica and Kotaku considered Cortana's return, and her plans to use alien technology to remake the galaxy, unbelievable and unearned. Responding to criticism that 343 had turned Cortana "evil", franchise director Frank O'Connor said, "my question back to them is, 'What makes you say they’re evil?' Certainly
6720-645: The inclusion of another Spartan super-soldier named Nicole (Spartan-458) . The Halo video games have emphasized Master Chief in their marketing. This includes campaigns such as " The Museum " and "Believe" for Halo 3 , a trailer for Halo 4 , the "Hunt the Truth" for Halo 5 , and "Become" for Halo Infinite . The character has also been featured on several physical products, including Slurpees , Mountain Dew , branded controllers, and clothing. Several Master Chief action figures were marketed around
6816-500: The leaked codename led to it becoming permanent. Deborah Harrison, one of Cortana's 'personality designers', met with 343 Industries and added more confidence to the personality. "As a result of the meetings we ended up coming back and baking this into the DNA of the digital assistant speech pattern, her approach to jokes and her approach to chit chat, and we decided to dial up her sense of self possession," Harrison recalled. Jen Taylor voiced
6912-433: The letters to be canon , Cortana speaks many of the same lines in Halo 3 . According to C. J. Cowan, Bungie's director of cinematics, the studio used the character here to give story clues without actually revealing the story. Cortana is featured in a variety of Halo merchandise. The character's first action figure was a miniature released as part of the Halo: Combat Evolved series of action figures. McLees noted that
7008-570: The main protagonist in Halo Infinite (2021). The story has him work with the Weapon, an AI modeled after Cortana, to stop another Halo from being activated by space pirates known as the Banished . Initial plans for a Halo film were abandoned around 2008, which would have featured a faceless depiction of Master Chief. The character made his live-action debut in the 2012 film Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn , portrayed physically by Daniel Cudmore , with voice acting from Alex Puccinelli. On
7104-473: The novelization of Combat Evolved , Halo: The Flood , and the following novels Halo: First Strike and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx , as well as the animated series Halo Legends and live-action television series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn . She is also a main character in "Human Weakness", a short story written by Karen Traviss for the Halo Evolutions anthology that details Cortana's time in
7200-421: The other actors' performances. With the development of Halo Infinite , Thomas returned to provide motion capture for the character, as he had in Halo 4 and Halo 5 . 343 Industries redesigned Master Chief's armor once again, drawing inspiration from the character's previous appearances. Bungie designed Master Chief as a man of few words, similar to Clint Eastwood . The game designers crafted
7296-456: The player's guide and aid. "They wanted her to be like the girl next door, your best friend that you want to hang out with," she said. For years after the first game was released Taylor remained distanced from the character. She attended only one fan convention in six years after the release of Halo: Combat Evolved , and never saw many of the finished cutscenes with the character until a Halo 3 launch party. Starting with Halo 3 , Taylor felt
7392-425: The player." He has called the role the most rewarding of his voice acting career. In every Halo game, the Master Chief is rarely seen without his armor. Cutscenes were designed to avoid revealing the character's face in order to aid players in identifying with the character. Some games have teased a reveal, such as the first game ending with him removing his helmet or one of the endings of Halo 4 briefly showing
7488-437: The prequel Halo: Reach , as well as in several of the franchise's novels, comics, and merchandise. During gameplay, Cortana provides backstory and tactical information to the player, who often assumes the role of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. In the story, she is instrumental in preventing the activation of the Halo installations, which would have destroyed all sentient life in the galaxy. Cortana's original design
7584-406: The ring and assists the Master Chief in his missions. Inserted into Halo's Control Room, Cortana realizes that the ring serves as a prison for the parasitic Flood ; activating Halo would mean destroying all sentient life in the galaxy to prevent the Flood's spread. Cortana assists Master Chief in destroying the ring and escaping. In Halo 2 , Cortana assists in the defense of Earth in the wake of
7680-399: The role involved more drama and less jargon , and over time, her relationship with the character changed. "At first I was just excited to have a job and then I became more and more familiar, comfortable with and interested in her as she was developed," she recalled. "And I've sort of fallen for Cortana as far as characters go. She's remarkable." Cortana and the Master Chief's relationship
7776-476: The role. He became more involved throughout the development of Halo 4 , giving input on advance scripts, and recording in longer sessions. Where Master Chief began the first game with an artificial intelligence companion named Cortana , designed as a gameplay tool to guide the player, Cortana also became a narrative tool to reveal the protagonist's humanity. As such, Halo 4 became the first game to have Downes interacting with actress Jen Taylor (Cortana) in
7872-405: The same space. Halo 4 creative director Josh Holmes cited the game Ico as an inspiration for the Chief-Cortana relationship, noting how the game told a story without dialogue, while also balancing the protagonist's character development with his stoic nature. For years, Downes avoided appearances at Bungie or Microsoft events, believing that the character's identity "is really in the eye of
7968-399: The start of Halo 5: Guardians (2015), Master Chief is contacted by Cortana, presumed to be destroyed in the previous game. She directs him to the human colony of Meridian. By leading his Blue Team to the colony against UNSC orders, Master Chief provokes a rival group of Spartans, Fireteam Osiris. The Blue Team boards a buried Forerunner construct known as a Guardian, which transports them to
8064-426: The story, as he appeared in fewer story missions compared to Fireteam Osiris. Kotaku ' s Stephen Totilo wrote that the confrontation between Locke and Master Chief felt "under-cooked", preferring how Hunt the Truth presented the story of a rogue Master Chief. O'Connor responded by promising to refocus on Master Chief in future media. Reviewers have suggested that Master Chief's birth name John-117 could be
8160-416: The upper hand in those conversations." Voice actress Jen Taylor voices Cortana in the majority of the character's appearances. Despite her role in voicing other video game characters, including Princess Peach , she is not a gamer. Taylor was a college acquaintance of Joseph Staten, and he recommended her as a possible voice for Cortana to audio director Martin O'Donnell . When choosing a voice actor for
8256-604: The very medium in the process". The faceless nature of the character has alternatively been praised and criticized. Writing for The Artifice , Sam Gray argued that the character's lack of conflict made him uninteresting, as he uncomfortably straddles the line between silent and active protagonist. O'Connor noted that players invest the character with much of his meaning, creating a conflict between players who prefer more personality and those who prefer "a sort of paragon of useful emptiness". Jesse Schedeen of IGN has called him gaming's most overrated character, due to his status as
8352-481: The video games, her clothing appeared to decrease as well. Time ' s Matt Peckham described Cortana's character as a controversial figure, with a tension between being well-rounded character and being trapped as "[an] adolescent male's fantasy notion of a Campbellian hero figure ," and that this tension had increased commensurately with the game series' graphical fidelity. Media critic Maddy Myers suggested that O'Connor's explanation for Cortana's look implies that
8448-506: The virtual assistant. Microsoft released a beta for Cortana in April 2014 with the developer release of Windows Phone 8.1. Microsoft also released Cortana virtual assistant on the Xbox One , Windows 10 , iOS , and Android platforms. Cortana is one of Halo ' s most beloved characters, and has appeared in numerous lists of video game's best sidekicks. Tom's Hardware named
8544-463: The voice of Master Chief. Downes had begun his career as a Chicago disc jockey, and was recommended by Bungie musical director Martin O'Donnell , based on their rapport from working together on the game Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator . Septerra was the first time Downes had performed as a voice actor for a game , and he had never played a video game until Halo . According to Downes, he
8640-438: The wide success of the Halo series, Bungie considered recasting a celebrity for the role before deciding against it. 343 Industries took over development of the series with Halo 4 , which designed Master Chief as a more fully realized human being instead of just a vessel for the players. Downes felt that his audition for Halo 4 would need to demonstrate more emotional weight, and recalls that he felt like he could have lost
8736-557: The world, and Master Chief's character was what drew people in. The success of the game led Bungie to develop Halo 2 , with the developers deciding to "tone down" the character's design, according to Mclees. In the sequels, the character received a new design including upgraded armor, with residual damage illustrated in the high-definition graphics of Halo 3 . For Halo 4 , Bungie bought their independence from Microsoft, with Microsoft assigning further Halo development to 343 Industries . Art director Kenneth Scott aimed to find
8832-437: Was a core part of Halo 4 , part of a desire to feature a more human story. Creative director Josh Holmes noted that Cortana was in ways more human than Master Chief, and the idea that Chief would grapple with his humanity at the same time he was losing Cortana spoke to him. Holmes' mother was diagnosed with dementia during development, and his real-life struggles informed the characterization of Cortana's descent into rampancy and
8928-405: Was accepted for the part of Master Chief over the phone, without an interview or audition. Downes noted that he was given creative freedom to develop the Chief's personality during recording. Still, many of the character's lines in the first game were eventually cut, as Bungie felt that the more the character spoke, "the more chances there are that we’ll get it wrong for you, whoever you are." With
9024-457: Was based on the Egyptian queen Nefertiti ; the character's holographic representation always takes the form of a woman. Game developer Bungie first introduced Cortana—and Halo —through the Cortana Letters, emails sent during Combat Evolved ' s production in 1999. The relationship between Cortana and Master Chief has been highlighted by reviewers as one of the most important parts of
9120-643: Was nominated for an Audie Award in 2009. As a stage actress, Taylor has played Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Eliza Doolittle in a Seattle Shakespeare Company production of Pygmalion . Cortana (Halo) Cortana is a fictional artificially intelligent character in the Halo video game series . Voiced by Jen Taylor , she appears in Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2 , Halo 3 , Halo 4 , Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite . She also briefly appears in
9216-551: Was performed by Mackenzie Mason. For Halo 5 , Cortana's appearance changes significantly. Describing her previous appearance as soft and "deceptively vulnerable", 343 Industries took the story opportunity provided to change her look to reflect her new role as self-declared ruler of the galaxy. "In the first draft of the ending she was going to wear a flowing gown, have long hair, etc. She'd be very regal, very “powerful high queen." Very obviously different than she was," writer Brian Reed recalled. Her final design incorporated elements of
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