: Any death from Reach doesn't count IMO, because the whole point of that story
: is that Reach is screwed and everyone is going to die, so gratuitous
: deaths are necessary to tell that kind of story.

: Halo 3 only sort of counts because it is the climactic end of the trilogy, so
: big character deaths are kind of expected. The big climax is when things
: go to hell and everyone plays their best cards, so some collateral damage
: is not only expected, but necessary, in order to raise the stakes.

: That leaves Halo 1 and 2.

: IMO, Keyes' purpose in Halo 1 was to die. He was written as an authority
: figure and a general badass specifically so that his death would have a
: greater impact. His narrative purpose was fulfilled in death, so it felt
: entirely necessary.

: For me, Halo 2 is the only game that has an unnecessary death. Regret and
: Tartarus are boss battles, so Bungie set them up to die, but I feel like
: they could have gotten more mileage out of the Heretic Leader, and Mercy's
: death feels wasted. (Although it does serve to highlight Truth's
: back-stabbing nature, back when he was still a scheming political
: mastermind, before Halo 3's character re-write.)

: That's just my opinion, of course.

: Meanwhile, many of 343's deaths feel very sudden, like they happened before
: the character had a chance to fulfill their potential, and are
: questionable from a narrative perspective.

I don't think that's fair to immediately discount 3 and Reach, but more to what appears to be your point, Halo 1 and 2 had deaths that felt more meaningful to you because of your investment in them correct? From your forum posts, I don't believe you to be invested in the current universe of Halo as you used to be and that makes it hard to have any attachment or even appreciation for the deaths in Halo these days.

It's a little hard to know the impact of these characters' passing when you don't appreciate the stories that are told, right? And just so we're clear, these are questions and statements asked for clarity, not accusatory or pointed in anyway...just wanted to say that cause I know inflection and tone in text gets warped online..

- MacGyver10