Hey, long time no post (not that I ever posted regularly), but I was looking through the extra materials in the special edition of Halo Reach the other day, and something clicked after I looked at the Orion Candidate 047 document. It hit me that the Rookie within Halo 3 ODST has a distinct chance of being Candidate 047. Allow me to explain my reasoning based on a very small amount of information.

We know that the Rookie’s background is sanitized (key details are blacked out due to their presumably "sensitive" nature). I find that strange, given his rather basic background in the short story “Dirt.” I also find his shift from talking fairly openly to a total mute to be strange, and don’t accept PTSD as a valid excuse for an active ODST. It is my belief that the Dirt story is just a cover story to give him a background for his fellow ODSTs, while in reality he is actually a much more important asset to ONI. Obviously, Dare wants the Rookie on her clandestine mission; would you trust a mute with no specific skills as part of an important secret mission? Regardless, having been a candidate (and possible member) of the Orion project is a pretty valid reason to sanitize a person's background, huh?

Another piece of evidence that there is more to the Rookie than meets the eye (even if it doesn't have anything specifically to do with Orion Candidate 047) is his killing ability. Brace yourself for this next part because it’s kind of meta, but the Rookie is obviously a killing machine. How do we know this? Because he single handedly, by himself, solo, kills entire squads of Covenant forces. How many ODSTs can pull that off? I realize the player is in control of the Rookie, so he's only as good as the player, but even if we take the events in Halo 3 ODST in the most sterile way possible, the Rookie still managed to survive all by himself through a very dangerous mission.

Another piece of evidence (and I know this is all a stretch, but just bear with me) and the only other thing we know about Orion Candidate 047 is their exposure to a dangerous level of dioxins. Now there’s a good reason to be mute! If the Rookie is Orion Candidate 047, perhaps his exposure to these dioxins (that were likely inhaled) left him with vocal cord damage or perhaps a decreased lung capacity, both of which could leave a person without the ability to communicate properly. Furthermore, this may also have left him with a chemical imbalance, which may explain the Rookie’s constant sleeping habits when he isn't “in the field.” I mean, he’s right there at the epilogue of Halo 3 ODST, on board a top-secret orbital ONI facility, sleeping. You would think that an actual Rookie, even an ODST rookie, would be excited to find out what's going on. But the Rookie is indeed asleep, perhaps not only due to the possibly of a side effect of deadly dioxins, but also his status of being an ONI asset who has no reason to be especially excited over various secret things, since he’s likely already in the know.

Another possibility aside from Orion Candidate 047 that popped into my head regards the possible name of James. If James is the Rookie's actual name (as some evidence seems to indicate), maybe he is Spartan-005 after a clandestine recovery from orbit. Perhaps he suffered from exposure before being rescued/revived, and that left him a sleep-prone mute. It also isn't unprecedented for ONI to allow the surviving Spartan IIs to believe their comrades are dead; see Kurt-051. Not only does the "death" of a fellow Spartan motivate the survivors, but it allows ONI to remake these "secret" Spartans as they see fit. Perhaps this is the reason the Rookie is able to carry a flame thrower without any trouble.

Or perhaps I’m wrong and the Rookie is just a mute ODST who likes to sleep a lot, got picked to be a part of a top-secret mission, and got really lucky killing lots of baddies...and also has a scrubbed background because…???

I don't know, just some food for thought. Regardless, all this talk of Halo 3 ODST has me yearning for a sequel that may never come. I want to know what those Huragok found, dangit! (Also I want a Halo Wars sequel. WHAT happened, Serina!?)