- raptorgear
- |
- Noble Member
System Integrity Confirmed
Posted by: CavemanBCE
Here are my relatively brief thoughts on the SPARTAN-III, Emile-A239. Please, comment and add to the discussion. Disagree with me, agree with me, add whatever you can.
Emile-A239 attempts to embody everything that he thinks a SPARTAN should be. He has zero respect for civilians, anyone outside of the military circle. Why? Maybe he dislikes them for their weakness, and their questionable allegiance. He can, to certain extents, trust UNSC personnel (although he distances himself from even his own teammates) but is suspicious of civilians. This is underlined in Winter Contingency, when he brandishes his shotgun on frightened farmers. Even after Jorge-052 communicates with them and confirms this to the team, Emile is wary. On the same mission, he ridicules Jorge for empathizing with the civilian daughter of the dead scientist Sorvad, saying "Big Man forgets what he is sometimes", and even suggests that there is something mentally unhealthy about Jorge for reaching out to the young woman. The background information for the game also directly states that Colonel Urban Holland wants to replace Emile-A239 with Rosenda-344 if another insurgency mission is given to Noble, due to Emile's "excessive use of force".
The only emotion he shows is wrath. He is featured in the Noble Team memorial, and he is credited as the "merciless wrath of Noble". In the "A Spartan Will Rise" ViDoc, Halsey goes over the members of Noble Team to choose who will deliver the package. When she speaks of Noble Four, she says that while he is bold enough, the job will require "courage and patience in equal measure". A comment by concept artist Isaac Hannaford states that the skull carving in his helmet's visor isn't a macho symbol, but an insult to his enemies. He is spitting in their face and saying "you just got killed by a hunting trophy". He masks his other emotions with humor; when Jorge dies during Operation: UPPERCUT he tries to laugh it off, but when Noble Six offers up the fallen SPARTAN-II's dog tags, Emile drops that act and says that he'll honor him his own way.
Another aspect of Emile-A239's character is that in the attempt to live out his ideals of what makes a Spartan a Spartan, he is lost in his armor. This is an addition to his fear/hatred of non-military personnel, and his disconnect from other people includes his own teammates. Throughout the game, the other Spartans show their camaraderie by slightly touching each other. Carter-A259 pushes Catherine-B320 out of the way during the Zealot ambush and, I may be mistaken on this one, he reaches out and puts his hand on Noble Six's back at the beginning of the New Alexandria mission. Jorge picks Noble Six up, and throws him off the Covenant Super Carrier after saying his goodbye. Noble Six helps Kat off the floor during the glassing of New Alexandria. Though Kat does not, by my memory, directly touch any of the other Spartans, she does help Noble Six up when their Warthog crashes in Tip of the Spear (though this may go to the idea that she, like Emile, is distant. She doesn't want the others to see her as vulnerable). In the opening cutscene for Long Night of Solace, Jun-A266 wipes some burning embers off of Jorge's shoulder armor. Why would Bungie put this minor, insignificant detail in this cutscene? To establish that Jun is also a part of the team, touching Jorge, and Jorge is perfectly comfortable with it. It is also in the same cutscene, to draw a very discrete contrast, Emile recoils and acts defensively when Kat reaches for his kukri knife.
The Spartans only take off their helmets when they are around their fellow supersoldiers or when they speak to superiors or other important people (Holland, Halsey) with the notable and very important exception of Jorge, who removes his helmet and converses with the girl in Winter Contingency to show her that underneath the MJOLNIR armor and in spite of the supersoldier augmentations, he is still human. Emile-A239 doesn't even feel comfortable around his fellow Spartans. He doesn't just live in his armor, he is his armor. Aside from the skull carving being an act of defiance against his enemies, the skull is his face. That's all he wants people, including his teammates, to see him as. A Spartan. A warrior and a blade. could not have said it better most of this is what i thought of him... i love his last line in the game
"I'm ready!!! How 'bout you?!"
This shows he is not afraid of death and his duty and his job are all that matter to him