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Posted by: CowPieSky32
Posted by: forthnback
He's also, according to the novels, entirely mediocre as a Spartan. He is not the strongest, fastest, best marksmen, smartest, most agile, etc. He is average, in literally every regard. He is exceptional in only one regard, and that was leadership. He was one of four Spartan selected to be leaders (and even then, Kurt's team frequently outperformed John's team because Kurt was the better commander).
Bungie's stance, not mine, is that John is an average Spartan who excells at only one thing. Leadership. And he isn't even the best at that.
For those familiar with the definition of average, this means John was in the middle of his class as far as terms of abilities went. That means that 50% of the Spartans, roughly, would have performed as good as he did in Halo 1-3, if not better.
Here's my question has Bungie ever said John is just average? To my knowledge they've just said hes not the best at anything he could very well be in the 80+th percentile in every "quantifiable" category couldn't. It could be a very Fred like situation where Fred always got second place. Fred was one of the best (he could have possibly gotten first in nearly every category) and I don't see anything specific in the literature that says that John always finished the middle of the pack.
Another problem I have is that people are always saying how much better the other Spartans could have been at completing the challenges that the Chief accomplished. If that's the case why have so many of them died.(I know he had Cortana, but still) I think the Chief was truly special being able to complete the challenges he did throughout the course of the war. Unless someone can point out to me specifically that Bungie/343i have said that Chief is in the 50th percentile I'll continue to believe that the Master Chief, while not the best at anything, was one of the best at everything.
All of the Spartans were the best at everything. Their so called "specialities" were of a fractional difference compared to their piers, but a phenomenal difference to a standard human. When people say the Chief is "average" it is relative to the Spartans. The Spartans themselves are super human at all and every task and ability required of a soldier. Any single Spartan is a master of any weapon and any tactic. That is their sole purpose. They are the ultimate soldiers.
The fact that Kelly is faster, Linda is a better marksman etc. does not detract from the fact that all Spartans are masters of all things war. The Chief being "average" among the Spartans doesn't mean he isn't awesome, more that he has no specific attribute that he excels in more than the rest. That is what people mean when they say he isn't the "best" Spartan, because realistically there is no "best Spartan". Put any other Spartan in the Chief's shoes and the end result would probably have been the same.
[Edited on 05.04.2011 8:22 PM PDT]