The Halo franchise is one of gaming’s titans, accruing tens of millions of players since the original title launched over two decades ago. With such a long-standing canon comes a barrage of questions from fans, one of which is: how does Master Chief go the bathroom? Halo Infinite‘s head of creative Joseph Staten revealed how the Spartan relieves himself.
“You know what? Master Chief just does it,” Staten told Polygon. “[Master Chief] doesn’t have time to worry about bodily fluids. He’s got more important things to do, and clearly […] he just does that in the suit.” He added, “We don’t actively think about it every day, but yes, at some point we did, and it was part of the design of the under-layer of the grayish sort of suit that you see beneath the armor plating.”
The idea of Master Chief peeing in his own suit may seem unorthodox to fans who have joined the Spartan on his explosive adventures that have spanned five games and 30 books. Writer Karen Traviss, who penned Halo: Glasslands and is considered a major contributor to Halo‘s canon said, “Everything I write is driven by the characters I create (or develop). I have to know what it feels like to be in their heads. Small details like their daily routine is part of building that, even if it never actually appears on the page.”
Traviss went on to discuss her creative process for Glasslands, stating that most of the lore was built upon consultations with the developers of the Halo video games.“ I’d ask the Halo team if there was already something in canon, and if there wasn’t, I’d say, ‘I plan to do this, then,’ and they’d OK it,” Traviss said. “That covered everything from ‘Do you already have a device/weapon/technology that does this?’ to ‘How long does it take to suit up in Mjolnir?’ and ‘How do they take a leak?'” Chapter 9 of Halo: Glasslands tackles this issue, revealing that Spartans are catheterized.
Frank O’Connor, creative director at Microsoft, also touched on the subject. “Everything that Chief secretes in a normal day goes into the suit and is recycled through capillary action powered by the Spartan’s body movement,” he said. “Catheter implies invasion but really is used in the Mjolnir sense to describe a hygienic valve system. Thank goodness for 26th-century supermaterials and bespoke tailoring. Capillary action happens after the voiding. Recycling is almost perfectly efficient,” concluded O’Connor.
The Halo franchise boasts an especially fleshed-out world, one that is set to grow larger in the coming months. Paramount+ recently released the first trailer for Halo’s first live-action series, and the franchise recently adopted the free-to-play model with Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer. The campaign for 343 Industries’ latest game has yet to release, but from what the developer has shared so far, the game looks like it will be iterating on the franchise’s formula.
Halo Infinite is set to release on Dec. 8 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.
Source: Polygon
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