My understanding is Johnson was going to die so they made up some quick story seeing he was rapidly becoming popular then put it into book for to give him a flimsy escape plot. On Legendary on CE he hugs an Elite then it explodes as Master Chief flies off in his Longsword. So now they put him into HALO 2 with a story that he made it off etc. Did not officially kill him till H3 when 343GS blasted him with its eye beam weapon. Its kinda flimsy he made it off but hey i do like Sgt. Johnson. [Edited on 01.07.2013 10:13 AM PST]