With Master Chief removing his helmet in Episode 1 of the new Halo TV series, fans are wondering if he ever removed his helmet in the games, and if so, what did he look like? The big move has been shared in previews and trailers, so although it wasn’t a big surprise to viewers in general, it still remains a big point of discussion among game players. So we decided to dig deep into HALO lore to see when (or if) Master Chief took off his helmet before.
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Yes, Master Chief Has Taken Off His Helmet in the Games
The answer is yes, he did remove his helmet in the games. But we only kind of know what he looks like.
Beating Halo 4 on Legendary gave you a special ending that shows a part of MC’s face.
You can watch a video of that moment below or at this link. The moment comes near the end of the video, but it’s worth watching the entire thing to get the full context.
But as you see, this leaves much to be desired. Similarly, Chief takes off his helmet in the closing moments of Halo 1, but it shows us nothing. You can watch that scene in the video below or at this link.
So we’ve long known that he can remove his helmet, but we’ve had little idea on what his face looks like. As we’ve just seen in HALO episode 1, the TV show version is noticeably less bald than the Halo 4 cutscene version. But quite a bit of time has passed since his augmentation, so maybe that was a temporary drawback of the procedure.
Why Was It Removed in the Show?
The official website, HALOWaypoint, explains why they decided to remove his helmet so quickly in the show.
Kiki Wolfkill explained, “The decision to remove Chief’s helmet was not a decision made lightly, nor was it a foregone conclusion when we set out to make the show. That said, it was always a goal of the show to deliver a differentiated experience from the games, not a carbon copy.”
Wolfkill continued: “In our games, you as the player inhabit the armor – that experience makes both the mystery and the understanding of who the Master Chief is very personal and sacred… With the television series, we want to take you on John’s journey and let you experience, as a viewer, his story and evolution from an external, subjective viewpoint; for that, it felt important to see John outside of his armor.”
Wolfkill added that Master Chief has removed his helmet in some of the books too, but “this is by far the most visually rich example.”
She added, “For us and the show, it felt critical to explore the human within the armor and present a deep set of character stories that gives the audience a different way to experience the Halo universe.”
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