Jorge-052

“In recognition of this, his endless courage, we honor him as the fighting spirit of Noble. ”

Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052 was a SPARTAN-II commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command, attached to Special Warfare Group Three. He fought during the Fall of Reach in 2552 as a part of Noble Team under the call sign Noble Five.^[2]^[3]

Biography

“Carter may be the boss, but Jorge is a living, breathing death threat. Nobody messes with Jorge.”

— Jorge's description on Firefight Voice selection

Conscription

Jorge was born in Pálháza on Reach on March 5, 2511,^[3] and was abducted and conscripted into the SPARTAN-II program by Dr. Catherine Halsey in 2517 when he was six years old. While on Reach, he was trained by the AI Déjà and Chief Petty Officer Mendez along with the rest of the Spartan children.

In 2525, he and the other candidates underwent a series of augmentations to improve their overall combat prowess in several different fields.^[4] Jorge was among the candidates who survived the procedure.

Fall of Reach

Main article: Fall of Reach

“Jorge. Noble Five. It's good to see him home again. But the Fall of Reach will weigh heavily upon him, and this mission will test every last ounce of his strength.”

— Catherine Halsey.^[5]

Jorge served with Noble Team under the call sign "Noble Five" during the Fall of Reach in 2552. He acted in the capacity of heavy weapons specialist, and was the only SPARTAN-II on the team.^[3]

Prior to the Fall of Reach, Jorge-052 along with other members of Noble Team investigated an incident over at Visegrád Relay, only to discover that Covenant forces had bypassed Reach's defenses and infiltrated key installations and communications centers.^[6] During the preliminary stages of the Covenant invasion of Reach, Jorge and Noble Team partook in multiple operations against Covenant forces on the surface of Reach, including a counter-offensive operation to retake Sword Base and a large-scale UNSC assault on a Covenant-occupied site and neutralization of a Covenant Spire.^[7]^[8]

Realizing the presence of the Covenant supercarrier after the Battle of Viery as a great threat, the team devised Operation: UPPERCUT; a tactic which involved using a YSS-1000 "Sabre"-class starfighter to deliver a makeshift slipspace bomb to the supercarrier and destroy it via a slipspace rupture.^[9] After receiving authorization from Colonel Urban Holland, the team traveled to a besieged base and assisted the UNSC forces in repelling the Covenant forces. Jorge and Noble Six boarded a Sabre and launched into space to join the Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet.^[9]

After rendezvousing with the UNSC fleet, the Sabres helped in repelling the Covenant invasion force and escorted the UNSC Savannah in commandeering a Covenant corvette.^[9] The Savannah diverted the Corvette's fire, allowing Noble Six to infiltrate the ship's hull and allow a Pelican carrying Jorge and the bomb inside the ship. Jorge and Six then used the hijacked Corvette, which was on course toward the supercarrier to refuel, to transport the the slipspace device within range of the Supercarrier.^[9] After they had taken control of the Corvette, Jorge discovered that they were not only cut off from their Sabres, the thrusters on the Pelican were damaged during the firefight, and that in order for them to return to Reach, the SPARTANS would have to free-fall back to the planet's surface. He also found that the timing device that would have been used to activate the SFTE was also damaged, and the only alternative would be to trigger it manually.

“Tell 'em to make it count.”

— Jorge's final words to SPARTAN-B312.

Jorge resolved that he would stay to activate the slipspace device himself and presuming that doing so would cost him his life, he entrusted Noble Six with his dog tags before forcing Six off the Covenant Corvette. His last known words, which were to Six, were "Tell them to make it count." As Six drifted away from the ship, Jorge activated the bomb, opening a slipspace rupture that enveloped the Corvette and a large portion of the Supercarrier's mid-section, sending it into the slipstream with no way out.^[9] UPPERCUT had been a success, but at the cost of Jorge.

Traits and personality

“The big man was sentimental.”

— Emile-A239

^[10]

Jorge was the only member of Noble Team that has seen as much action, if not more, against human militants as Covenant forces. Described as being very difficult to read, he is free with his opinions, vocal in his support of provincial self-rule, and just as vocal in his condemnation of the separatist and insurrectionist movements.^[11] He is shown to be empathetic and caring toward civilians; a trait noticably rare among Spartans. He was also particularly attached to his home planet of Reach, going so far as to sacrifice himself in order to save it.

Like all SPARTAN-IIs, Jorge has seen almost thirty years of action and shows no signs of breaking or slowing. In a performance report, he is noted as "inspiring confidence in those around him" and being "rock solid" despite his long military career; this is credited to the fact he is a SPARTAN-II, and is thus considered superior to conventional soldiers in every respect.^[11] According to Colonel Holland, Jorge was an excellent card player.^[11]

Jorge seems to have been fluent in the Hungarian language; he speaks Hungarian at various points in the game, including one instance where he introduces himself by saying, "A nevem Jorge" ("My name is Jorge"). This is likely due to the fact that Reach, Jorge's home planet, seems to have a significant population of Hungarian descent, and Jorge himself being from Pálháza, a city on Reach that shares its name with an actual Hungarian town.

Equipment

Jorge wore a MJOLNIR Mark IV grenadier helmet, the Collar/Grenadier[UA] chest piece and knee pads with his Mark V MJOLNIR armor. He used the Grenadier shoulder for the left shoulder, EVA shoulder for the right shoulder, and UA/bracer supplementary armor for both forearms. His weapon of choice was a modified variant of the M247H Heavy Machine Gun. Dr. Catherine Halsey made a statement of how Jorge modified his MJOLNIR armor plating.

Trivia

Jorge is one of a few SPARTAN-IIs to get past enlisted ranks.

Jorge-052 Scorpian SMG90 — S-052 on a Scorpion Tank in *Halo: Reach*

Jorge was voiced by Hakeem Kae-Kazim, who also provided the voice of Dr. Endesha in Sadie's Story.^[12]
Jorge could be named after Jorge Lorenzo, a professional motorcycle road racer who wore an ODST-themed helmet in one of his races.^[13]
Jorge and Kurt-051 are the only known SPARTAN-IIs involved in the SPARTAN-III Program.
Jorge-052 and SPARTAN-B312 are one of the few humans to ever destroy a CSO-class supercarrier. This occurs when Jorge remains on board the Corvette-class Covenant warship (containing an unstable slipspace drive) during it's docking with a Covenant supercarrier, causing a third of the entire ship to be "transported into atomized bits".
Jorge's blood type was shown to be B+ on the upper left corner of his chest plate, similar to the MEDREF patches on ODST shoulder guards.
Jorge's helmet is available as an Avatar Award and can be obtained by earning a Killtacular in multiplayer matchmaking.
S-052, a shortening of SPARTAN-052, can be seen on a Scorpion Tank in Halo: Reach.
He and Emile are to some extent, rivals. In the end of Winter Contingency, when Jorge reaches for the Sara's hand she slaps him and Emile chuckles. After Emile tells Six that Jorge forgets what he is, Jorge walks up to Emile like he's going to hit him, and when Jorge tells Carter the girl needs a full psychiatric work-up Emile remarks, "She's not the only one," implying he thinks Jorge has mental problems or just an insult for showing compassion to Sara on her father's death. Jorge gives Emile the look of death again. Also in the New Alexandria after Six shows Jorge's dog tags to Emile he says: "Keep ‘em. He gave them to you. (points at himself with his kukri) I'll honor him my own way." However, their rivalry does not mean that Emile dislikes Jorge and in fact, Emile proclaims that his destruction of the Covenant vehicles with the Onager is for Jorge and Kat showing that he cared greatly for his comrades, Jorge and Kat in particular.
The player would need to be at least a General to fully replicate Jorge's armor (excluding his two UA/BRACER's, backpack, shin guards and height). If a player were to recreate Jorge-052's concept art armor, they would need Grenadier helmet, Grenadier left shoulder, EVA right shoulder, Collar/Grenadier [UA] chest piece, Grenadier knee guards, Gold visor, and Yellow as Primary color and Brown as Secondary color.
Jorge appears to have a red/orange visor color which, so far, is not available in the armory.
Jorge and Six seem to have a close friendship. In the end of ONI: Sword Base, Jorge walks up to him/her and starts a friendly conversation with him/her. In the end of Long Night of Solace Jorge gives Six his dog tags. Afterwards, Six seems to be saddened by his apparent death.
According to the Halo: Reach Legendary Edition Developer Commentary, Jorge is MIA, not dead, in compliance with the ONI Directive and the tradition of Spartans "never dying". Jorge may indeed be MIA, provided that the Corvette remained intact, this would make him one of only two SPARTANs to survive a slipspace catastrophe, the other being John-117.
Jorge's helmet, the Grenadier helmet, was thought to be the Halo: Reach version of the usual SPARTAN-II helmet, the Mark V, which is probably what Bungie originally intended it to be.
It is possible that Jorge was ambidextrous; in-game, he wields his machine gun right-handed, whereas in the Deliver Hope trailer he is seen wielding it left-handed.
052 can be a reference to Bungie's favorite number 7. 5+2=7.
Although his armor is available in the Armory, it is impossible to completely emulate the coloring of his armor.