SPARTAN-B312

"Noble Six. The team's most recent addition.... Hyper-lethal: there's only one other Spartan with that rating..."

- Catherine Halsey

SPARTAN-B312 was a SPARTAN-III commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command, attached to Special Warfare Group Three. This Spartan served during the Fall of Reach as a member of Noble Team under the call sign "Noble Six".

Early career
SPARTAN-B312 was taken out of Beta Company immediately after training, according to a communiqué from Kurt Ambrose to Franklin Mendez that was sent in May 2545, two months before Operation: TORPEDO.

Later career
"Six has made entire militia groups disappear."

- Dr. Catherine Halsey

Over the course of B312's career, the SPARTAN gained a reputation as an efficient lone-wolf assassin, having single-handedly broken organizations and made entire militia groups disappear. B312 was also a test pilot in a top-secret UNSC project, the Sabre Program, which resulted in the development of the YSS-1000 &quot;Sabre&quot;-class starfighter. B312 used these skills to great effect in a counter-insurgency operation on Mamore on May 10, 2552.

At one point, B312's superior allegedly used the SPARTAN as "his own private grim reaper", and because of this, he was reluctant to have the Spartan assigned to Noble Team. On July 24, 2552, SPARTAN-B312 was assigned to Noble Team as a replacement for its previous sixth member, Thom-293. Six, having recently arrived on Reach, joined the team just in time to participate in an operation to investigate a communications blackout at the Visegrad Relay, a mission which led to the first confrontation with Covenant forces on Reach.

Fall of Reach
"Beautiful, ain't it. Someone should paint a picture. Nice work, by the way."

- Jorge-052 "I aim to please."

- SPARTAN-B312

During the final weeks before Reach's eventual glassing, Noble Six partook in multiple operations against Covenant forces on Reach along with the rest of Noble Team, including a counter-offensive operation to retake an ONI base, a night-time reconnaissance mission with Jun-A266 (where the two Spartans forged a temporary alliance with some local militia), and a large-scale UNSC assault on a Covenant-occupied site and the neutralization of a Covenant tower.

On August 14th, Noble Team helped UNSC ground forces repel Covenant invaders from a UNSC base, which housed a Sabre launch facility. SPARTAN-B312 and Jorge-052 were then launched into orbit in a Sabre to assist the Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet in a space battle against the Covenant fleet, in a UNSC counter-offensive codenamed Operation: UPPERCUT. During the course of the operation, the makeshift slipspace bomb was damaged and unable to activate automatically. Jorge, volunteering to activate the bomb manually and as such sacrificing his life, forced B312 off the Covenant corvette. UPPERCUT was successful, with the Covenant fleet eliminated but at the cost of Jorge-052. However, a far larger Covenant fleet arrived mere moments after the successful operation.

Six, after being thrown from the ship by Jorge-052, headed to New Alexandria, where the Spartan assisted the UNSC infantrymen in repelling the invading Covenant forces and evacuating the civilian population. The Spartan managed to establish radio communication with Noble Team and participated in the removal of Covenant communication jammers to allow the evacuation of ONI personnel. Six finally reunited with Noble Team and reported the details of UPPERCUT. Not too long after, Noble Team was hailed by its commanding officer, Colonel Urban Holland, and was ordered to destroy Sword Base in a torch-and-burn op. The team was forced to enter a radiation bunker to shield themselves from the Covenant's glassing of New Alexandria. However, Kat-B320 was killed by a Field Marshall en route to the bunker, after neglecting to activate her shields.

Noble Six, along with the remaining members of Noble Team, proceeded to Sword Base and fought their way into the facility under heavy fire, only to have their course, and directives revised by an unknown UNSC AI. Within the facility, they encountered Dr. Halsey once more, and were informed that Six had been chosen to courier a package, and to deliver it safely to the. Using Pelicans as their mode of transportation, Noble Team was split into two; Jun-A266 escorted Dr. Halsey to CASTLE Base, while the others headed for the Autumn which, having undergone a refit in the shipyards of Aszod, was holding position ready to escape with the precious cargo now in Six's possession.

However, while in transit, they were ambushed by Banshees, damaging their Pelican and critically injuring Carter-A259. As a result, Noble Six and Emile-A239 were forced to proceed on foot, with Carter drawing fire to aid them. But, after encountering massive resistance from Covenant forces, they where eventually cornered by a Scarab, and only saved as Carter flew the now devastated Pelican directly into it, destroying the Scarab and sacrificing himself to save them; securing delivery of the package to the commander of the Autumn, Captain Jacob Keyes. .

Later on, the Covenant assaulted the area and Emile was stabbed in the back with an energy sword and died soon after, but not before killing the elites who attacked him. Then, Six manned the Onager and stalled the Covenant forces from overwhelming the Autumn. The Spartan destroyed the approaching Covenant cruiser, allowing the Autumn to depart into space.

With the Covenant successfully disabling Reach's defenses, and proceeding to glass the remainder of the planet, Six was among the last surviving UNSC soldiers left fighting the Covenant forces on the ground. Six continued fighting, and held off an entire army of Covenant single-handedly, including Wraith tanks and air support.

But the Covenant were relentless, and after countless hours of battle, an exhausted Six was eventually injured by plasma fire and, after triumphantly taking on multiple Ultra and Zealot-class Sangheili in hand to hand combat, was finally overwhelmed, disarmed and forced to the ground. Here, though mortally wounded, Six subdued a further four attackers, succumbing to death amongst a pile of his slain enemies, at the hands of an Energy Dagger wielded by a Zealot. Six's helmet would remain on Reach, even after the planet was glassed by the Covenant and after the planet was terraformed.

Personality and background
"I've seen your file. Even the parts the ONI censors didn't want me to. I'm glad to have your skill set, but we're a team. That lone wolf stuff stays behind."

- Carter-A259 to Noble Six.

Noble Six is remarked to be a skilled assassin and "...more of a hyper-lethal vector than a soldier," as evidenced from Noble Six's heavily redacted personnel file. Six has a tendency to "go solo", or, in other words, be a "Lone Wolf" during missions, much to the dismay of the Spartan's superiors.

Despite an obscure past, hyper-lethal skills and Lone-Wolf tendency, Noble Six is portrayed as having a human personality in the campaign, frequently assisting and befriending soldiers, civilians and other members of Noble Team in need (which leads to a friendship between Six and Jorge-052), and ultimately manning the Onager and staying behind on the doomed planet after Emile's death, in order to secure a safe passage for the UNSC Pillar of Autumn to escape Reach. Were it not for Noble Six's final actions, Jacob Keyes, Cortana, and John-117 would never have escaped Reach on The Autumn, and therefore SPARTAN-B312 is partially, if not equally responsible for Humanity's overall victory over both the Covenant, and the Flood.

SPARTAN-B312 is the main protagonist in Halo: Reach. To integrate player relation with B312, players can pick what gender they wish Noble Six to be, with separately recorded voices for each gender. Six is not the "strong, silent type", as Noble Six openly engages in conversations with other characters. Players' multiplayer and Firefight character models are also the same as in the campaign, adding further customization to SPARTAN-B312's character.

Trivia

 * Even though, generally, the most widely accepted canon by the fans is that Noble Six died on August 30 at the hands of Sangheili, Bungie has never stated either way the exact date of Noble Six's death, which could've been at any point between August 30, 2552 and July 7, 2589, Bungie most likely did this to leave the way Noble Six died up to the imagination of the player.
 * The male Noble Six was played by Philip Anthony-Rodriguez, while Amanda Philipson provided the character's female voice.
 * According to Dr. Halsey, Noble Six and John-117 are the two most hyper-lethal SPARTANS, most likely meaning both SPARTAN IIs, and IIIs
 * SPARTAN-B312 is not shown on the box art of Halo: Reach, nor featured in any promotional image of Noble Team. This is most likely done to avoid portraying Noble Six as outside the player's control, preventing them from building a definitive mental image for the character, as Noble Six's armor and even gender varies depending on the player's choice. However, he/she can be seen on the back cover, disembarking from a Falcon, wearing the default grey Mark V helmet.
 * When displayed in most recent promotional material, SPARTAN-B312 is portrayed as having the default MJOLNIR Mark V armor with the Mark V[B] helmet and gray coloration. This is also done to avoid portraying Noble Six as a character outside the player's control, as Noble Six's appearance depends on the player's armor customization and gender choice.
 * Bungie originally portrayed Noble Six as male, with the Beta version HUL attachment on his helmet and FJ/PARA knees. This can be seen in the Halo: Reach Video Games Awards Trailer, and many early screenshots released by Bungie depicting Noble Six in the campaign. As it became apparent that Noble Six's appearance and gender would be entirely customizable, the SPARTAN's armour was reverted to the default Mark V[B] armor in most promotional material afterwards. Indeed, to prevent a definitive image from being formed, recent wallpapers even portrayed him in completely different combinations of armor, e.g. with a CQC helmet and a GUNGNIR shoulder pad.
 * In the Video Game Awards Trailer,Jorge-052 remarks "Didn't think anyone survived Pegasi, sir" upon seeing Noble Six for the first time, in reference to Operation: TORPEDO, a mission on Pegasi Delta which led to Beta Company's near-total annihilation. This line is not present in the final game, likely due to the fact that SPARTAN-B312 never took part in the operation, having been taken out of Beta Company directly after training. It is possible, though not likely, that Jorge may have been making a joke.
 * SPARTAN-B312 is the only member of Noble Team whose helmet is not available as an Avatar Award. Instead, the SPARTAN's helmet was only obtainable from Comic-Con 2010 and for a limited time through a special Xbox Live Gold offer.
 * Noble Six is one of four characters in the Halo series whose face is not shown, the others being John-117, Emile-A239, and The Rookie. While briefly helmetless at the beginning and end of the game, the SPARTAN's face is outside the frame of the screen, though Bungie probably only did what they did at the end of Halo: Combat Evolved and was actually just the helmet currently equipped.
 * SPARTAN-B312, along with SPARTAN-052, is one of the few personnel in the UNSC to destroy, or assist in the destruction of, a Covenant supercarrier.
 * Noble Six's voice is available by default as a Firefight voice, however, SPARTAN-B312 has little dialogue to say. Only the occasional laugh and chuckle is heard as the player performs various feats, such as acquiring multi-kills and getting headshots. An annoyed groan is also heard when Six is stuck with a plasma grenade. Six also, very rarely, will whisper "Does it hurt?" followed by a rather psychotic-sounding laugh.
 * The numbers in SPARTAN-B312's service tag add up to 6; whether this is an intentional reference to the SPARTAN's callsign of "Noble Six" is unknown.
 * It seems as though Noble Six, like Kat-B320, had never seen a glassing prior to Reach, as when they share an elevator in New Alexandria, Kat openly inquires if that was Six's first glassing, and stated "Me too." shortly after, possibly indicating Six had never seen a planet glassed prior to the events of Reach, though she never gave Six a chance to respond.
 * Noble Six is the only playable protagonist in a Halo game to die, unless one counts John Forge of Halo Wars.
 * Noble Six is the only member of Noble Team to witness each member of the squad die (Excluding Jun, who, according to Legendary Edition commentary, remains alive).
 * Noble Six is the only person to be called "Six" and "Lieutenant" while the rest of Noble Team are called by their names except Carter because he is to be called "Commander". A very reasonable explanation to this is that Noble Six is supposed to be you so to speak. Also, it removes the dilemma of gender. Example: Instead of having to switch between John and Jane, it is easier to refer to him/her as "Noble Six", "Lieutenant", or "Spartan".
 * If a player were to recreate Noble Six's concept art armor, they would need Mark V(B)Helmet w/ UA Attachment, Commando Left Shoulder, FJ/PARA Right Shoulder, Tactical/LRP Chest Piece, UA/Buckler Wrist Armor, FJ/PARA Knee Guards, Default or Gold Visor, and Silver as Primary color and Steel as Secondary color.
 * Six seems to sport the MA37 and M392 DMR as those are the only guns the Lieutenant wields in cutscenes outside of Kat's M6G at the end of New Alexandria, and the M6G in Exodus.
 * Noble Six's gender is mentioned in the campaign mission "Exodus" and "ONI Sword Base". In Exodus a female trooper says "A Spartan? Where the hell did he come from?" or if the character is female "A Spartan? Where the hell did she come from? In ONI Sword Base, after the player enters the atrium, Carter will say "Six, head upstairs and assist Emile. Jorge, make sure he/she gets there"

List of appearances

 * Halo: Reach