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  • Subject: Noble Six isn't fully Canonical and the Subjective Universe
Subject: Noble Six isn't fully Canonical and the Subjective Universe

Something that I've been thinking about is that Noble Six isn't fully canonical. Before you jump me let me explain. Bungie designed Noble Six to be a largely blank slate, both in personality and in his/her armor so that we can really get "under the helmet" as it were. The things that we know is that Six is a lone wolf, a gifted pilot, and a highly effective, hyper-lethal warrior. We also know that there is some degree of humanity to Six in the largely non-verbal interactions between him/her and the rest of Noble, other soldiers, and civilians. Other then these facts, which are part of canon, Noble Six is just a shell. No name, no personality, no face.

So then at this point the "real" Noble Six is you. You are Spartan B312. The face and personality under the helmet is you.

However, this can never be truly part of canon so in this instance the canon of the Halo Universe can be subjective.

Part of the inspiration for this thread is the whole Master Chief vs. Noble Six argument. But since you are Noble Six, at the end of the day you get to decide the answer to the Question: Who is better Master Chief or Noble Six?

My answer: Sky-B312 is the only other Spartan to share the hyper-lethal rating with the Master Chief, but at the end of the day I'm not better then the Master Chief and am just a Spartan who willingly sacrificed my life for the survival of humanity.

  • 05.06.2011 3:24 PM PDT

Let's be honest, it could be a lot worse.

I fully agree

  • 05.06.2011 3:30 PM PDT

If there was a "Like" button I would press it.

  • 05.06.2011 3:43 PM PDT

Excellent thought OP, you summed my thoughts on Six rather accurately. Though frankly I don't see Six as "myself", though there probably is some of my in her, I've rather shaped my own character around her (hence why I almost always refer to Six as female). I love it how Bungie didn't create any official canon for Six other than the basics that you listed, and I really hope Six stays that way.

  • 05.06.2011 3:52 PM PDT

http://www.halo-forum.com

There is a canon N6 appearance as far as I can tell; male, all deault armour, steel colour, Mk. V B helmet with UA attachment.

This is the image most comonly used in Bungie's videos as well as for he official N6 action figure.

  • 05.06.2011 4:38 PM PDT
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Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit

Posted by: switch 104 sv
There is a canon N6 appearance as far as I can tell; male, all deault armour, steel colour, Mk. V B helmet with UA attachment.

This is the image most comonly used in Bungie's videos as well as for he official N6 action figure.


Also implied within the campaign that 'canon' 6 has a wrist attachment, during the opening of Exodus N6 checks his wrist - either consulting GPS or the TacPad.

  • 05.06.2011 4:40 PM PDT

http://www.halo-forum.com

Posted by: Snake Archer
Posted by: switch 104 sv
There is a canon N6 appearance as far as I can tell; male, all deault armour, steel colour, Mk. V B helmet with UA attachment.

This is the image most comonly used in Bungie's videos as well as for he official N6 action figure.


Also implied within the campaign that 'canon' 6 has a wrist attachment, during the opening of Exodus N6 checks his wrist - either consulting GPS or the TacPad.

Makes sense.

Unless he's counting how many shotgun shells he still has :P

  • 05.06.2011 4:43 PM PDT
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"Awesomeness will ensue..."

BEN SPARTAN120

This guy has a point, similar to the one I raised in said thread.

However.

I disagree with you on the basis of your argument.

The Blank Slate method of character creation has no impact on canon whatsoever. The exact same method was used in every Halo game, save for Halo Wars.

By your logic, Master Chief is also to be considered 'technically-non-canon'.

You raised a good point about how you can't correctly compare Noble Six with the Master Chief, though. :)


One of the possible threads in question

  • 05.06.2011 4:51 PM PDT


Posted by: spartan120
This guy has a point, similar to the one I raised in said thread.

However.

I disagree with you on the basis of your argument.

The Blank Slate method of character creation has no impact on canon whatsoever. The exact same method was used in every Halo game, save for Halo Wars.

By your logic, Master Chief is also to be considered 'technically-non-canon'.

You raised a good point about how you can't correctly compare Noble Six with the Master Chief, though. :)


I would argue that while they do keep Chief's personality to a minimum in the games to help up step into his boots, his personality is fully fleshed out in the Novels and other media.

I do see where you're coming from though as far as the blank slate thing is concerned and my argument could be made for the Rookie as well. The only question I have though is: Did Bungie make the Rookie a blank slate so that we could step into his shoes or to be the face behind the helmet.

I believe that Bungie wanted us to be the face behind Noble Six's visor, whereas maybe just wanted us to step into the Rookie's and obviously the Chief's boots.

I hope you guys can understand where I'm coming from, between stepping into someone's boots and actually being the face behind the visor. :D


In reference to the armor worn by Six in the various trailers. IMO that armor is essentially placeholder. It seems like they went "What is the most vanilla looking spartan we can create while still advertising the fact that our game allows you to heavily customize your Spartan's appearance?" That's why you have a very neutral colored Spartan in those trailers (Grey) and the majority of his armor is Default. (Mark V[B])

  • 05.06.2011 5:22 PM PDT

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You can envision some sort of aspirational and "subjective" canon, but it is not the True Halo Canon if it is not the one and only concrete and objective Halo Canon. In that canon, I agree that Master Chief is "better" than Noble Six, but it is useless to justify a dissenting opinion by saying that one's "subjective" personal canon fits his view better. In that case, it is just not Halo anymore. There is no subjective Halo canon that is at the same time Halo and not one's own imagination.

  • 05.06.2011 5:24 PM PDT


Posted by: switch 104 sv
There is a canon N6 appearance as far as I can tell; male, all deault armour, steel colour, Mk. V B helmet with UA attachment.

This is the image most comonly used in Bungie's videos as well as for he official N6 action figure.


Bungie just used all the default settings for advertising in Reach, because it is the most neutral appearance there is in the armory. They've even stated that there is no canon appearance for Noble Six.

  • 05.06.2011 5:37 PM PDT

You ever wonder why we're here?

Posted by: OrderedComa
Excellent thought OP, you summed my thoughts on Six rather accurately. Though frankly I don't see Six as "myself", though there probably is some of my in her, I've rather shaped my own character around her (hence why I almost always refer to Six as female). I love it how Bungie didn't create any official canon for Six other than the basics that you listed, and I really hope Six stays that way.

Agreed! It really felt like Six was my own character!


And at most, afaik, the only canonical armor piece that Six owns is that wrist attachment. And even that is a small, minor detail.

  • 05.06.2011 5:58 PM PDT


Posted by: WilliamK
Posted by: OrderedComa
Excellent thought OP, you summed my thoughts on Six rather accurately. Though frankly I don't see Six as "myself", though there probably is some of my in her, I've rather shaped my own character around her (hence why I almost always refer to Six as female). I love it how Bungie didn't create any official canon for Six other than the basics that you listed, and I really hope Six stays that way.

Agreed! It really felt like Six was my own character!


And at most, afaik, the only canonical armor piece that Six owns is that wrist attachment. And even that is a small, minor detail.


I'm really not sure about this, but I could have sworn that I heard Six looking at her wrist in certain cutscenes was a left over vestige from before Bungie decided to make Six completely customizable, so there would have been a canon gender and appearance at that point most likely, and the tac pad or gps thingy would have been part of Six's design.

  • 05.06.2011 6:07 PM PDT

Posted by: paulmarv
You can envision some sort of aspirational and "subjective" canon, but it is not the True Halo Canon if it is not the one and only concrete and objective Halo Canon.
That's why I think Noble Six is the black sheep in that he/she isn't really a fully concrete character in the universe.
In that canon, I agree that Master Chief is "better" than Noble Six, but it is useless to justify a dissenting opinion by saying that one's "subjective" personal canon fits his view better. In that case, it is just not Halo anymore. There is no subjective Halo canon that is at the same time Halo and not one's own imagination.
Furthermore I'm not saying you can justify, in any sort of debatable way, who is better because of that fact that Noble Six doesn't fully fit into the concrete and objective canon. Then I believe it is a personal thing to reconcile Noble Six into the canon.

  • 05.06.2011 6:09 PM PDT

You ever wonder why we're here?

Posted by: OrderedComa

Posted by: WilliamK
Posted by: OrderedComa
Excellent thought OP, you summed my thoughts on Six rather accurately. Though frankly I don't see Six as "myself", though there probably is some of my in her, I've rather shaped my own character around her (hence why I almost always refer to Six as female). I love it how Bungie didn't create any official canon for Six other than the basics that you listed, and I really hope Six stays that way.

Agreed! It really felt like Six was my own character!


And at most, afaik, the only canonical armor piece that Six owns is that wrist attachment. And even that is a small, minor detail.


I'm really not sure about this, but I could have sworn that I heard Six looking at her wrist in certain cutscenes was a left over vestige from before Bungie decided to make Six completely customizable, so there would have been a canon gender and appearance at that point most likely, and the tac pad or gps thingy would have been part of Six's design.

Oh yeah. I never heard about that but then I wasn't reading any interviews or anything about Reach beforehand. That does make sense though!

[Edited on 05.06.2011 6:12 PM PDT]

  • 05.06.2011 6:11 PM PDT

I prefer Commander Shepard, personally.

  • 05.06.2011 7:09 PM PDT

Posted by: ThePredkiller2
I prefer Commander Shepard, personally.


You'll never be better then Commander Shepard.

  • 05.06.2011 7:19 PM PDT

Posted by: CowPieSky32
Posted by: ThePredkiller2
I prefer Commander Shepard, personally.


You'll never be better then Commander Shepard.


You are Commander Shepard. I made one, David Shepard, that looks damn near exactly like me, acts like me, even thinks the way I do!

I am Commander Shepard!

*Whispers* Not Noble Six! *Whispers*

  • 05.06.2011 7:20 PM PDT
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hi

This is my problem with your argument.

It's not that parts of Noble 6's characteristics aren't canonical; It's that those characteristics are not defined by canon. It's important to make that distinction.

In order to say that characteristics are not canonical it is required for you to believe that the game attempts to pass of those subjective characteristics you mention as canon. You're not supposed to treat your subjective ascriptions as canon, and the game doesn't expect you to. Canon cannot be subjective, as you have stated. There's just no canonical explenation for his missing characteristics. Lack of objective canonical explanation is not reason to insert your own subjective explanation and treat it as canon. The Halo universe is separate from reality.

  • 05.06.2011 9:33 PM PDT

"Concise and devoid of elegance...what I have come to expect from human communication"-Endless Summer

Spartan B312 and 117 are practically equal in combat effectiveness. The one thing B312 has on his side is the better, more refined augmentation process of the Sierra Threes. Even then same combat effectiveness, 117 has better tactics and B312 has better physical traits. On the subject of NOBLE 6 being the player...I agree, OP wrapped it up nicely.

  • 05.06.2011 10:00 PM PDT

I started up the heated debate on whether the SPARTAN-II in the cryo tube near the end of Reach is really Linda.
I created the Moa XING avatar pic.
Also I earned the All Star nameplate with this submission to Week 14 All Stars http://www.bungie.net/images/News/Inline11/bwu_0415/art/likea boss.jpg


Posted by: ThePredkiller2
I prefer Commander Shepard, personally.


Actually this is a good example. Think about it. Commander Shepard is a fully customizable character and Shepard is canon to the Mass Effect universe. Marketing just lables Shepard as the default, just like Noble Six is shown in just default Mark V armor with the Mark V [B] helmet.

  • 05.06.2011 10:20 PM PDT


Posted by: moofant
This is my problem with your argument.

It's not that parts of Noble 6's characteristics aren't canonical; It's that those characteristics are not defined by canon. It's important to make that distinction.
I absolutely agree and it's good of you to bring this up.In order to say that characteristics are not canonical it is required for you to believe that the game attempts to pass of those subjective characteristics you mention as canon. You're not supposed to treat your subjective ascriptions as canon, and the game doesn't expect you to. Canon cannot be subjective, as you have stated. There's just no canonical explenation for his missing characteristics. Lack of objective canonical explanation is not reason to insert your own subjective explanation and treat it as canon. The Halo universe is separate from reality.
All good points. Here's the problem I have. Noble Six will never be fleshed out. He/she will always remain the Shell that Bungie wanted you to get behind the visor of. So even though a lack of objective canonical explanation is not reason to insert your own subjective explanation and treat it as canon, the question still remains, Who is Noble Six? In this universe he/she has to be somebody right? But since he/she will never be fleshed out he/she won't be somebody. So that's what I'm saying, in order to make Noble Six "real" you have to project yourself onto Noble Six. This would inevitably alter, in some way at least, who Noble Six is. Maybe canon isn't the right word for it but your "influence" on Six does alter the universe in a small way, at least for you.

  • 05.07.2011 12:10 AM PDT


Posted by: ImmortalJoshua

Posted by: ThePredkiller2
I prefer Commander Shepard, personally.


Actually this is a good example. Think about it. Commander Shepard is a fully customizable character and Shepard is canon to the Mass Effect universe. Marketing just lables Shepard as the default, just like Noble Six is shown in just default Mark V armor with the Mark V [B] helmet.

Now that I think about it this is actually quite interesting. Who Commander Shepard is depends on how you play Mass Effect. For me, I play as the default Shepard and my experience of the game is similar to me playing the Chief: I am guiding an already existing character through their experiences in the game. However, if you create a custom Shepard the experience is much more like that of Noble Six: you are moving yourself through the Mass Effect universe. So really your approach to gaming affects the experience.

  • 05.07.2011 12:16 AM PDT