: Today I noticed this post on Reddit, and found a discussion people were
: having about if Locke could beat the Chief in a fight, which in itself
: probably deserves its own thread, but the thing that struck me in
: particular was how people were referencing Chief's " current mental
: state " as a weakness he would have.

: I know i343 is trying to portray the loss of Cortana as a big hit to the
: Chief's emotions, but has there been any discussion (which I'm sure there
: has) on why the loss of Cortana would impact his performance in such a
: major way, while losing several of his fellow Spartans doesn't seem to
: have affected his performance in a noticeable way during the events of
: Halo 1 through 3?

: Is the reasoning that he cannot function properly without Cortana? Which he
: seemed to do fine during the events of Halo 3?

: Is it the fact that it was his mission to protect her and he failed? In that
: case, wouldn't coping with a failed mission be a part of a Spartan's
: training? Or is it that they can cope with the loss of a fellow Spartan
: because they know that's a cost of some missions, but not losing Cortana
: WAS the mission, and they never trained for that?

: Or does it simply come to down to the new version of the Chief i343 is trying
: to portray?

I think what it really comes down to is that pairing between AI and Spartan that increases their capabilities that much more. She augments his armor and mental capabilities in ways that he just couldn't do on his own. For all his awesomeness, he's still just a human, whereas she's a robotic being capable of thinking and acting at hyper speed compared to a human's perspective.

Remember that scene in The Fall of Reach where Chief first pairs with Cortana and is able to deflect an incoming missile with his hand. That would have been extremely unlikely to work had Cortana not been in his head.