Halo 5: Guardians Comic Suggests Master Chief’s Cracked Helmet Means More Than It Seems

A sneak peek at the latest issue of the Halo Comic might be hinting at an untimely end to the story of Master Chief.

The comic makes an abrupt flashback to a scene from John’s childhood, before he was picked up to train as a soldier. He and a group of other children played ‘the game’. In this game, everyone went after John, who would beat all the other kids at fighting. We don’t know the context of this activity the kids were involved in. So, we don’t know if this is ‘play’ or some kind of ritual in John’s social circle.

The scene is intended to make fans remember that John has always been fighting, ever since he was six.

At this point, the comic jumps back into a scene that has been depicted in a prior issue. The Didact grabbing onto John by his helmet, and cracking the visor open, exposing his eye. At this point the Blue Team arrives, and they try to neutralize the Didact and secure John.

However, in the last few panels of this preview, the story returns to that flashback, in a scene where John raises his hands in victory, but the other children are already recovered from their beatdown and surrounding John. John seems to say to himself while remembering this that he always knew he would die in a battle.

Agent Locke investigating John’s actions would make sense in context of John unexpectedly passing away. It would be consistent with Locke’s own actions, trying to figure out what John was up to, but also learning more about how to be the man himself.

However, while John’s passing is heavily hinted at, it may simply be a cliffhanger for the comic itself. Of course, the E3 trailer would seem to dedict that Master Chief is still alive.

Would you be OK with Microsoft deciding to off Master Chief to start over? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. Halo 5: Guardians is set for release in 2015, exclusive to the Xbox One.