On March 15th, 2529, 504 years from now, on the faraway UNSC colony of Jericho VII, a man made Jameson Locke would be born, but to most Halo fans, this man was known as Agent Locke of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). Since 2014, Locke has remained a complicated and often controversial figure in the Halo franchise despite only physically appearing in two Halo games. While Locke was set up to be a new headline protagonist in the same vein as Master Chief and Arbiter, his future remains unknown following the mixed reception of his playable debut in Halo 5: Guardians. With Jameson Locke turning -504 years old this year, here’s an in-depth look at Agent Locke’s life, impact, and potential future in the Halo universe.
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The Life and ONI Career of Jameson Locke
Locke was born in a time of unprecedented panic and chaos among Earth’s colonies as the war against the multi-alien-species religious hegemony known as the Covenant had only begun four years prior. Worlds would be glassed by the dozens and billions of people appear to have died constantly by the Covenant’s mission to wipe out all of humanity for apparent “heresy”. Like many children at this time, Locke would witness the Covenant’s merciless wrath upclose at only six years old when the aliens attacked and glassed Jericho VII in 2535. Locke was the only survivor in his family and was subsequently put into an off-world orphanage.
As an ONI agent, much of Locke’s past remains classified, but what is known before he joined ONI, Locke operated as a freelance tracker and assassin. This caught the attention of ONI, who offered to recruit him and hone his skills as a field operative. Locke accepted the offer and by the end of the war in 2552, he had become one of ONI’s most lethal, non-augmented agents. In September 2552, Locke, now a Lt. Commander, submitted a target profile on Fleet of Particular Justice Supreme Commander Thel ‘Vadamee, volunteering to lead the Sangheili’s immediate assassination. However, this assassination plan was stopped when the Covenant Separatists, led by the now Arbiter Thel ‘Vadam, aligned themselves with the UNSC and helped end the Covenant War following the Great Schism.
Locke’s Live-Action Debut in Halo: Nightfall
Agent Locke first spoke and appeared helmetless in the digital series Halo: Nightfall, played by Mike Colter. Set in 2556, Nightfall first follows Locke and his ONI team deployed to the UNSC colony Sedra to investigate reported terrorist activity. There, they encounter a suicidal Sangheili bioterrorist who deploys the weapon, infecting dozens of people in Sedra City. After interrogating a Covenant Fringe Yonhet who supplied the Sangheili materials for the attack, Locke and his team, now including former Spartan-II Colonel Randall Aiken, tracked the bioweapon’s origins to a fragment of Alpha Halo left adrift after Master Chief destroyed it in 2552. Only Locke and Private Talitha Macer survived the excursion, with Aiken staying behind to denote a nuke, destroying the Halo ring fragment.
Agent Locke wasn’t the only notable survivor of Jericho VII as Spartan-B312, otherwise known as Noble Six, was also born on the planet in 2530 before he was enlisted in the Spartan-III program’s Beta Company.
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The Spartan-IV Career and Disappearance of Jameson Locke
Following the escape of Alpha Halo’s fragment, Locke was implemented into the Spartan-IV program in 2556 and participated in many confrontations against Insurrectionist, Jiralhanae, and Kig-Yar forces such as Operations MAD HATTER, EASTERN AZURE, and DAWN ECLIPSE. Due to Locke’s successful and decorated career as an ONI agent and Spartan-IV, he was assigned as squad leader to Spartan-IV Fireteam Osiris composed of Olympia Vale, Edward Buck, and Holly Tanaka. Osiris’ skill led UNSC Infinity Captain Lasky to order the fireteam to rescue Dr. Catherine Halsey from the clutches of Covenant remnant leader Jul ‘Mdama on the Forerunner world of Kamchatka in 2558. Here, Locke himself assassinated ‘Mdama, ushering the end of his Covenant faction.
Shortly thereafter, Osiris was tasked with recovering the Spartan-II Blue Team, who had gone rogue searching for the artificial intelligence Cortana, who had somehow survived her death aboard the Forerunner Didact’s ship Mantle’s Approach in 2557. This mission initially had Osiris travel to the glassed human colony of Meridian where Locke defeated the Forerunner ancilla Warden Eternal, lost a fight against Master Chief, and survived the destructive awakening of a titanic Forerunner Guardian. In an effort to follow Blue Team, Osiris traveled to Sanghelios and aided Arbiter’s victory over ‘Mdama’s remaining Covenant forces in order to hitch a ride on a Guardian to the Forerunner shield world Genesis.
Locke’s Conflicts Against The Created and The Banished
Here, with the help of Genesis’s monitor, 031 Exuberant, Osiris managed to free Blue Team from Cortana but failed to stop her from unleashing Guardians across the galaxy. Now united by the goal of defeating Cortana, Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris escaped Genesis and returned to Sanghelios to rendezvous with the Infinity as depicted in the novel, Halo: Bad Blood. Locke authorizes Buck to rejoin and lead his old ODST-turned-Spartan-IV squad Alpha-Nine and, after the Created invasion of Cassidy III, witnessed Buck’s marriage to fellow ONI operative Veronica Dare aboard the Infinity. In 2559, Locke was considered to lead the mission to eliminate Cortana on Zeta Halo if Master Chief was unavailable. However, Locke was instead sent to complete Operation: BREAKER TRIP, though the details of that operation and Locke’s status post Halo Infinite are currently unknown.
Agent Locke’s Mjolnir GEN2 Hunter helmet and chestplate can be seen worn by Hand of Atriox member Hyperius as shoulder decoration in Halo Infinite.
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Agent Locke’s Impact and Potential Role in Halo Games
When Agent Locke was first revealed in Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s announcement trailer alongside the Arbiter in 2014, many fans were intrigued by this mysterious Spartan researching and tracking down Master Chief. However, once Halo 5: Guardians released in 2015, many expressed disappointment at the lack of stealth, espionage, and substantial conflict between the Spartans teased throughout Guardians’ marketing. Others expressed further frustration when they discovered Osiris headlined 12 of Guardians’ 15 total missions, with several seeing this as 343 Industries preparing to sideline or replace Master Chief in mainline Halo titles. This, in turn, along with the Guardians’ lack of an in-game explanation of Osiris’ complete past, led many players to be confused by Locke’s character and role in Halo next to Master Chief.
While Halo 5: Guardians’ gave Locke a bit of a rocky start for a multitude of players who only play the Halo games, there’s still a lot of potential for the ONI agent-turned-Spartan-IV to appear and even lead future games, spin-offs, and expanded material. Locke hasn’t been mentioned since 2021, but he may pop up in a Waypoint Chronicle story to coincide with Guardians’ 10th anniversary in October 2025. However, Locke could still appear in Halo 7 to aid Master Chief in fighting the Banished or appear in a spin-off game depicting his confrontation with Hyperius or following him finishing the fight against the Created. Buck and Vale have already had their stories continued beyond Guardians and Locke deserves to appear in one more Halo game or at least a book of his own to truly round out his character.
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- Released
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December 8, 2021
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Publisher(s)
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Xbox Game Studios