SPARTAN-B312

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“Noble Six. The team's most recent addition... my, my. So much black ink...”

^[3]

SPARTAN-B312^[4] 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".^[5]

Biography

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.^[6]

Later career

“Six has made entire militia groups disappear. Curious... "hyper lethal"... there's only one other Spartan with that rating.”

— Dr. Catherine Halsey^[7]

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.^[4] B312 was also a test pilot in a top-secret UNSC project called the "Sabre program," which resulted in the development of the Sabre space fighter.^[8]^[9]

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.^[4] 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 the planet.^[10]

Fall of Reach

Main article: Fall of Reach

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, and a large-scale UNSC assault on a Covenant-occupied site and the neutralization of a Covenant tower.^[11]^[12]^[13]

At some point in the battle, Noble Team helped UNSC ground forces repel Covenant invaders from a UNSC base, which housed a Sabre launch facility.^[14] 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.^[8] During the course of the operation, the makeshift slipspace bomb was damaged and unable to activate automatically.^[14] 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.^[14]

Six, after reentering Reach from space, headed to New Alexandria, where the Spartan assisted the UNSC infantrymen in repelling the Covenant forces and evacuating the civilian population.^[15] 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 and was ordered to destroy Sword Base. 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 en route to the bunker.^[15]

Noble Six, along with the remaining members of Noble Team, proceeded to Sword Base and fought their way into the facility, only to have their directives revised by an unknown UNSC AI.^[16] In the facility, they encounter Dr. Halsey once more. Six was urged by the scientist to become the courier of a package and to deliver it safely to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Using Pelicans as their mode of transportation, Noble Team was split into two; Jun-A266 escorted the science officer to CASTLE Base while the others headed for the Autumn.^[16]

Six and Emile-A239 departed from Carter-A259's Pelican and, on foot, successfully delivered the package to the captain of the Autumn, Captain Jacob Keyes.^[17] However, Covenant forces assaulted the area and killed Emile. Six manned the mass driver cannon and stalled the Covenant forces from overwhelming the Autumn. The Spartan destroyed the approaching Covenant cruiser, allowing the Autumn to depart into space.^[17]

With the Covenant successfully disabling Reach's defenses, Six was among the few surviving UNSC soldiers left fighting the Covenant forces on the ground. The Spartan was eventually overwhelmed by the Covenant, and killed by Sangheili warriors.^[1]

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.

^[18]

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" during missions, much to the dismay of the Spartan's superiors.^[4]

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.^[2] Six is not the "strong-and-silent type", as he openly engages in conversations with other characters.^[19]^[10] Players' multiplayer and Firefight character models are also the same as in the campaign, adding further customization to SPARTAN-B312's character.

Trivia

The male Noble Six was played by Phillip Anthony Rodriguez, while Amanda Phillipson provided the character's female voice.^[20]
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 will vary depending on the player's choice.
When displayed in 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 will depend on the player's armor customization and gender choice. Despite this, Noble Six's helmet has the HUL attachment in the Halo: Reach Video Games Awards Trailer; however, it has been changed to fully default equipment in all material since then.
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 in the first place, having been taken out of Beta Company directly after training.
SPARTAN-B312 is the only member of Noble Team whose helmet is not available as an Avatar Award. Noble Six's helmet was only obtainable from Comic-Con 2010. It is currently available through a special Xbox Live Gold offer.
SPARTAN-B312 is one of three playable characters whose face is not shown, the others being John-117 and The Rookie. While briefly helmetless at the beginning and end of the game, the frame of the screen doesn't display Noble Six's face.
Noble Six is the first playable protagonist to die; no matter what the player does in the level Lone Wolf, Six will still be killed eventually by Sangheili in the final cutscene of the game.