Halo is without a doubt the most iconic video game franchises in history.

Of course, its main protagonist, Master Chief, is an industry legend. If you never owned an Xbox, then you probably don't understand what makes Master Chief so badass. Or why he has become such a legendary video game character, but nevertheless, he most certainly is. Master Chief is widely known as one of the most iconic video game characters ever, up there with Nathan Drake and Kratos.

Unlike most iconic video game characters, Master Chief is shrouded in mystery. You virtually never see his face throughout the entire series. We have next to no information about what he actually looks like under his armor. Because of the books, we have information of what he looked like as a kid, but that's pretty much it. Along with his appearance being a mystery, Master Chief also likes to keep to himself. Some people believe that his quiet nature easily allows players to assume his role when playing Halo, offering a more immersive experience. Others take it as a sign of weakness. Either way, Master Chief is by no means weak, as you'll find out at the end of the list. For an old guy, he kicks more alien ass than any video game character in history.

Master Chief is the hero that Earth needs, and we've grown to love him. If you know every fact in this list, then you are without a doubt a hardcore Halo fan.

15 He Is Very Pale

Master Chief is very much a mystery, but between the games and the books, there are a few moments where to get to learn about how he looks under the mask. Throughout the whole Halo franchise, we only ever see the chief's eyes close up and with it some skin. It's pretty pale, and it looks fairly scarred/damaged. What you probably didn't know, is that Master Chief is supposedly unnaturally pale due to lack of exposure to the sun. I guess there's no time for Vitamin D pills when you're fighting a war for humanities survival. Who woulda thought?

14 He Had A Nemesis

Many great video game characters have a nemesis (or several for that matter). Master Chief is no different, but his rival is widely unknown to most of the community unless you're a hardcore fan.

During the Covenant boarding of the Pillar of Autumn at the begging of Halo: Combat Evolved, Master Chief shoots and wounds an elite. This elite, named, Zuka 'Zamamee, is dragged off and rescued by a grunt (Yapap). Filled with anger and a thirst for revenge, Zamamee, and his grunt sidekick follow Master Chief throughout the game, setting traps for him along the way. Obviously, all of them fail, and Zamamee dies from a grenade throw when attempting to ambush the chief from an elevator. Poor Zamamee.

13 He Has Team Killed Before

Master Chief didn't get so strong from lying around all day; he hit the gym regularly.

After completing his augmentation process like all Spartans do, he spent his recovery time in the gym. You know you're strong when you lift weights to recover. Anyway, after pumping some iron, he forgot to put away some equipment and evidently angered an ODST. The trooper and his friends picked a fight with Master Chief, and they decided to settle it in the facilities' boxing ring. They brutally attack the chief with their fists and weapons, and Master Chief absolutely wrecks them, leaving their dead bodies on the ring's floor. It was rumoured that this was an orchestrated experiment to test the power of the Spartan augmentation. It obviously went horribly wrong.

12 He's Older Than You Think

Many iconic video game heroes are relatively young and for a good reason. Beating up and killing bad guys can get pretty tiring, and it requires a superb physical condition. Take Nathan Drake for instance. He definitely could not be swinging around on ropes and rock climbing if he was 20 years older.

Master Chief, on the other hand, was born in 2511 and is already well over 40 years old at the start of the first game. With another four main entry games in the franchise, it's safe to assume we're dealing with a grizzled Spartan by Halo 5: Guardians. Although he might be on the older side of video game heroes, he definitely kicks ass like he's still in his prime. Maybe in the future 40 is the new 20.

11 He Loves His Assault Rifle

John 117's favorite gun was without a doubt the assault rifle. It's probably the most iconic weapon in the Halo series, and John is pretty much inseparable from his rifle.

In every single book, John is depicted with his assault rifle. Almost all of the Halo games let the Master Chief mow down enemies with his assault rifle. In Virtually every cutscene, Master Chief hangs onto the gun — even in situations where he didn't even have a weapon in his hand, or if you were holding another weapon before the cutscene. The only major exception to this is when Master Chief is seen duel wielding SMGs in a Halo 2 cutscene. Anyway, I'm pretty sure we can safely assume that Master Chief loves the assault rifle, maybe a little too much. Variation, John. Variation.

10 He Loves Crash Landing's

Okay, maybe Master Chief doesn't necessarily enjoy crash landings, but he has been in a pretty unusual amount of them. How many times do you think somebody can survive a crash landing from space? You think surviving one is lucky enough, but no, Master Chief is involved in at least one crash landing in every single Halo game. Good thing his bones are virtually unbreakable, or else I'm pretty sure he would have been reduced to a puddle of flesh by now. Where can I get some of these augmentations?

From the series' debut, Halo: Combat Evolved, to the Chief's latest adventure, Halo 5: Guardians, Spartan 117 manages to crash land over and over again. I'm not sure why Bungie, and 343 Industries, decide to put a crash landing in every game, but I guess cinematic crash landings look too cool to complain.

9 His Face Is Never Shown

Master Chief's face has always been one of the biggest mysteries of the Halo franchise. Along with Master Chief's silent nature, his appearance is kept a secret — unless you've read the books.

In Halo 4, if you beat the campaign on legendary, you are given a tiny glimpse of what John looks like under the mask. The problem is that it's only a close up of his eyes. There's no way to know if 343 Industries will ever let players see the series' protagonist in full, but we would love a chance. The studio says Halo will go on fro another 10+ years, so I think it's a possibility. We'll always wonder what Master Chief really looks like — we hope one day we'll find out.

8 He Started Training When He Was 6

Hopefully, involuntary military training isn't something to worry about in the future — especially not so early!

Sadly, John was taken at a very young age to become a potential Spartan due to his physical condition and superior intellect compared to other kids. In addition to being very strong and smart, above all else, John was also incredibly lucky. John was the first candidate to be studied and among the 74 other children that were "conscripted" (more like abducted) into the Spartan-II Program. Dr. Catherine Halsey described John as the perfect candidate for the Spartan-II Program, both physically and mentally. He was a head taller than most of his schoolmates and was far superior in his physical proportions. All of John's attributes, from strength and reflexes, to his drive for success were unparalleled.

7 He Wasn't The Nicest Child

While Master Chief is the brave, intelligent, heroic, selfless hero that we know and love, he wasn't always that way as a kid. As we all know, kids can be fairly selfish and irrational, and young John was no different.

When we first met John, he was casually tossing kids off a hill as they are playing. He also stole a girl's crackers off her plate (her entire meal) and neglected to help up his team-mate so he could finish first in a race. What a dick, eh? That being said, after being abducted as a child, it's fair to say John has his reasons. The child soldier didn't have access to counseling, but he desperately needed it. Regardless, he transformed from that dick of a kick, into the hero of humankind.

6 He Goes On His First Mission At 14

After receiving his augmentations and recovering from them, John aka Master Chief went on his first live mission at age 14. The mission was against insurrectionists in the asteroid belt of his home system, Eridanus. He was shot in the side but avoided any serious injury. They successfully captured a rebel front leader and evacuated without any friendly casualties. Although no Spartans died, 11 rebel soldiers were killed along with countless rebel civilians. John received a purple heart medal as he was injured in battle. From this point, John fought with his fellow Spartans, and today, we know him as Master Chief. It's hard to think of a 14-year-old soldier, but in this case, he was hardly human.

5 He Destroyed 500 Ships In One Mission

Master Chief is probably the most badass video game soldier ever created, so this may or may not come as a surprise to you. He's definitely a super soldier, but taking out 500 ships in space is a pretty impressive feat. Between the time of Halo 1 and Halo 2, Master Chief and some other Spartans blew up an entire Covenant fleet. This act bought Earth enough time to prepare for the inevitable invasion. The fleet was said to have the capability of easily overwhelming Earth's defense forces, whether or not they had sufficient time to prepare. It would have obliterated any defense they had before Earth even had a chance to return fire. So you could say it was a pretty successful mission.

4 He Was A Natural Born Leader

When the Spartans were eight years old, they were given a training mission to reach an extraction pelican after being dropped in a snow-filled forest on a mountain. The band of cadets was instructed to arrive at the extraction point safely and board the Pelican. Damningly, they had to leave the last Spartan to reach the objective behind or else they would receive a painful punishment. Master Chief knew he would never leave a Spartan behind, and the group followed him as their leader. They reached the Pelican and mistook the Marines guarding the ship for potential enemies. John (Master Chief) came up with a plan: they would knock out the guards with rocks, badly wounding them and successfully capturing the ship. It worked. While his superiors were mad with him, John was promoted to squad leader for his bravery and natural born leadership capabilities.

3 He Could Have Died At 14

Before becoming an official Spartan, all candidates had to go through a painful augmentation process. These augmentations were designed to improve their strength and endurance.

John underwent this surgery when he was 14, Obviously, the Spartan survived, but the odds were pretty scary at the time. The Spartan-II Augmentation surgery killed many potential Spartans, who weren't physically suited for the procedure. John was one of the lucky 33 Spartans who survived the process.

John was said to have the body of an eighteen-year-old Olympic athlete at just 14 years old. The procedure increased his strength, agility, speed, endurance, eyesight and also rendered his bones virtually unbreakable. Apparently, the whole boxing ring disaster incident (see #3 on the list) was orchestrated to test how well the augmentation worked. It went out of control and was quickly regretted since soldiers died in the process.

2 He Is Lucky More Than Anything

While Master Chief was chosen as the combat leader Earth needed, it wasn't because he was actually stronger that all the other Spartans. He definitely was among the strongest, and bravest, but more than anything, else, it is the hero's luck that sets him apart.

Cortona chose Master Chief not because he was the strongest, fastest, or the bravest, but because he was incredibly lucky. And Earth needed all the luck it could get. He was without a doubt a natural born leader, but so were many of the Spartans. Luck may not seem like a very common physical trait, but considering everything that Master Chief has been through, I think it's safe to assume he was born lucky.

1 He Had A Normal Childhood Up Until He Was Abducted

Master Chief is definitely the hero that earth needs: there's no questioning that. However, Master Chief aka John 117 didn't volunteer for military service. Quite the opposite actually. He was noticed because of his physical condition and superb intellect. Therefore, it was decided he would be a prime candidate for the Spartan-II Program — this lead to him being abducted from his home.

Before being forced into military service, John was a normal boy just like any other kid. He had a mother which he loved, and friends he played with like any normal, healthy boy does. Some nights, John would lay in the fields with his friends and stare at the stars. Sadly, John was robbed of his childhood, but in return, he was prepared when the earth needed him the most. It's a sacrifice that was ultimately necessary