The Battle of Reach - Complete Timeline

[@JC-Alan]

"Negative, I have the gun. Good luck Sir" "Good luck to you Spartan."

[@DeeonleeCobb373]

"Noble Six get on that Mass Driver and clear me a path!"

[@The_Master_Chief_117]

I’m in a tube

[@GLJ94]

I can hear Carter's last words as well, " you don't have the firepower." " I've got the mass."

[@mapleflag6518]

@@GLJ94 Nah his last words was "Carter out."

[@brianstabile165]

Jason Cocreham Wait what if “Spartan I have a gun to” Pulls out magnum

[@mosley_actual1924]

"It didn't take long for Reach to fall. Our enemy was ruthless. Efficient. But they weren't nearly fast enough. For you had already passed the torch. And because of you, we found Halo, unlocked its secrets, shattered our enemy's resolve. Our victory - your victory - was so close... I wish you could have lived to see it. But you belong to Reach. Your body, your armor - all burned and turned to glass. Everything...except your courage. That, you gave to us. And with it, we can rebuild."

[@leanmeangreenbeanmachine3347]

Fucking goosebumps every time

[@troopergames8173]

Lean Mean Green Bean Machine+ made me cry the first time... or 2

[@tartarussauce2498]

Everything? Nah, I see my helmet right there!

[@promptedleek4829]

Oh god the feels. You cant deny reach was great to play

[@Ark9278]

I have the goose flesh

[@maxawesom3850]

You can tell the fall of reach is the first real “expanded universe” book because *everything* happens in it

[@MrGibbs-cr9zs]

Well not the last spartan, but the last spartan II

[@gabrielm.942]

Mr. Gibbs when the book came out it was just spartan IIs. It wasn’t until onyx that the IIIs were came around and then halo reach made them more well known.

[@dr.boring7022]

I have no problem with either the book or game; I think they fit together perfectly. I just wonder why Earth was soo well defended, with 300 ODPs, while Reach only had 20.

[@lelouchvibritannia4028]

@@dr.boring7022 Probably because Reach is an Inner Colony at war with the Insurrectionists, and both sides were severely unprepared for a genocidal alien invasion. Inner Colonists/UNSC were arrogant pricks while Insurrectionists were childish psychotic terrorists.

[@weirdofromhalo]

Everything but the Flood.

[@Yorkington]

I know this may be off topic of talking about the timeline, but seeing that alien corvette gutted by the SMAC gets me rock hard everytime.

[@Grogritark]

Just finished Sword Base with some buddies on a legendary co op run and yep, awesome moment!

[@ZoruaMaster]

Someone should take a picture.

[@EL-ISS]

@@ZoruaMaster "Beautiful isn't it?" -Jorge claps 6 on the back.

[@derpynerdy6294]

@@EL-ISS ughhh 😬

[@agentbarron3945]

same here... then the next mission the mac has to get within 50 feet to fire... makes no sense

[@Doomed-pf5bc]

You forgot the part where Emile and Kat leave to go kill swarm and terminators on Sera with Marcus Fenix and friends

[@urriso7538]

Those Elites didn't kill emile or kat. It was an ONI/COG coverup all along.

[@kanden27]

Urriso Correct. Just like Oni had to coverup Kurt’s abduction to train the S-3s They had to compromise Emile’s and Kat’s position in Noble Team to assist the colony of Sera from an unknown threat.

[@urriso7538]

@@kanden27 Something I've pondered off and on is if maybe James was "rescued" by an Oni prowler during the mission on the Circumference. Or perhaps captured by Covenant troops and used as a big game hunting part by elites or jackles? It's a more solid end than he got in TFOR.

[@Doomed-pf5bc]

I wonder which faction would win in a ground based fight the swarm(gears 5 version since they are more fleshed out) or the UNSC(Let's say around the halo 2-3 era)

[@scorpixel1866]

@@Doomed-pf5bc While the UNSC has a decent combined arms ground military, the big stuff available to the swarm would make anyone without a Mammoth or Longsword shit their pants, as i doubt even Scorpions would have an easy time against those. However they do possess reasonably superior mobility compared to the Sierrans, so they can at least retreat/reposition if the ground suddenly shakes a bit too much for their comfort

[@DeeonleeCobb373]

So much things happens at August 30th that it gives a new light of the stakes for Noble Team delivering the Cortana fragment to the Pillar of Autumn.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Which would be around 12:52 PM Earth time?

[@VoidLantadd]

@@chrissonofpear1384 which "Earth time"?

[@chrissonofpear1384]

@@VoidLantadd the military standard time in the novels, rather.

[@ArmadaFan2003]

I like how this timeline really fixes Halo Reach’s campaign and the overall timeline of Reach. ❤️

[@DeeonleeCobb373]

@@Ranger_Brutus I never read the book but after years of reading the Halo wiki, the book makes Fall of Reach last a couple of hours during August 30th. The game however makes it to a prolonged campaign spanning weeks leading up to August 30th, and shows how the UNSC struggled and defended Reach with all their might.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Still some issues on how the Supercarrier can hide it's heat signature and other clues, BYPASS all those orbital platforms, and how whole continents can be kept (somewhat) in the dark about what happened. We do also need more on the Beta Red Spartans who died in battle. And where Naomi came into it all - possibly as an MIA member of Delta Red?

[@DeeonleeCobb373]

@@chrissonofpear1384 That'd be probably my biggest plot hole. On how the UNSC missed a 29km alien space rod penetrating Reach's defenses unnoticed.

[@Blade4952]

Nice GRAW 2 picture. And yeah, I agree, Reaxh left a really sour taste in my mouth when it first came out, but this really makes me enjoy it so much more.

[@Zecuu]

@@Ranger_Brutus I have mixed feelings on dishonored wolf. I'm ok with Wolf not liking it for that reason, what I dont like about him is that he describes his opinions as objective (while providing no evidence that value can be objectively measured in the first place). He just kind of asserts his standard to be the correct one, no questions asked, effectively shutting down any conversation that could be had. It's a shame because I think he is otherwise a very smart person.

[@SgtCandy]

The biggest jarring difference is how so much of Reach is fighting for its life while a lot seems completely fine.

[@falcongamer58]

That's until the planet is overly glassed

[@agchains78543]

It isn't actually all that jarring, we just think of it that way because of how Sci-Fi usually presents things, and because we think of Reach as a single place. Really though, I think the way that it is is quite a bit more realistic. Let's not forget that this is an entire planet that we're talking about.

[@falcongamer58]

@@agchains78543 yeah

[@dr.boring7022]

I find Reach far more realistic than anything from Star Wars. Those guys "invade" a planet with 3 capital ships in just 2 days.

[@falcongamer58]

@@dr.boring7022 lmao

[@UnifiedEntity]

Gotta give 343 credit for not just throwing out Fall of Reach and merging it with Halo Reach story line.

[@JustinLaFleur1990]

Right I always viewed it as both stories were happening concurrently like how Halo Canon explained it.

[@centurymemes1208]

and smh bungie just doesn’t give a f about the books especially the one that started the expanded lore

[@commando7238]

​@@centurymemes1208 yeah do to a lot of discrepancies with them and Microsoft they considered a lot of stuff Microsoft's Halo that includes ODSTs until Bungie decided to make them a real thing in Halo 2

[@TheZamaron]

True, say what you want about 343 but they do care, they at least tried to make it work, whether it does or not is up to you.

[@lieutenantdiamond5601]

I like the idea that the conflicting information is part of the story. That the battle was so dire and messy that the conflicting accounts happen both in universe and out.

[@icyknightmare4592]

The video is even 25:52

[@HaloCanon]

Oh shit! Didn't even notice that. That's too perfect!

[@icyknightmare4592]

@@camronsever9526 For you, the storm has passed...the war is over.

[@fokjohnpainkiller]

@@camronsever9526 25:52 for me. Is it 53 for phones maybe?

[@tannerjordan3754]

Chris Fokjohn yeah I’m on iPhone. It’s 25:53

[@evaneverett6511]

@@fokjohnpainkiller think it is, I'm on phone

[@andrewmaderer1989]

I forget that there are halo fans that legitimately dislike Reach. I mean it’s all opinion so none of it matters, but I just can’t imagine seeing the beautiful vistas of Reach and hearing the incredible music and experiencing the tragedy of the story and then thinking, “Ah, this game didn’t happen.”

[@blackrose8418]

Those aren't halo fans of they just dismiss a whole canon game like that

[@cesar7429]

True, but in the context of the book, the first half of the game doesn't make sense. There is a lone Covenant carrier above Reach and rather than carrying out RED FLAG, ONI allow a pair of Spartans and some Marines to steal a whole other Covenant ship and blow it up

[@andrewmaderer1989]

@@cesar7429 Yeah for sure it’s all just a matter of preference and I could see if you grew up with the book why you might not like the game. But for me I think Halo Reach just has that perfect cinematic feeling that I LOVE from sci-fi stories. It’ll always be my favorite Halo game.

[@lucamckenn5932]

​@@cesar7429books are hyper canon. The games are true canon in the sense that that IS what Bungie wanted when they set out to make it so. 343 is dicey/non existent in my opinion. The books are really just what would have happened versus the cool kick ass way a bunch of nerds on a whiteboard thought would be bad ass.

[@Mincecroft]

I think those that dislike the story still enjoy the gameplay. Peak of the franchise IMO

[@f1ibraaa]

Fun fact (if you already didn't know): the Field Marshal Elite part of the Zealot class shown at 4:48 was the one who killed Kat and coordinated the death of Emile as well (but didn't directly kill him). This same Field Marshall is the one Emile asked to engage in Winter Contingency but his permission was evidently denied by Noble 1. Imagine how different things would have been on Reach if this Field Marshal was killed by Noble team in Winter Contingency... :(

[@nomad155]

Wait how are you so sure?!

[@Maelyn1337]

@@nomad155 It's the same group of Zealots that follow Noble the whole campaign

[@agentbarron3945]

im so glad Emile died tbh. i was literally screaming at him to do literally anything vs the hunters in the last mission. he just stood in a corner and hid like a fucking coward the entire fight while all i had was a shotgun and 4 plasma pistols, which unlike 1 2 and 3 hunters take like 1 million shots to the back of the neck

[@michaelandreipalon359]

For a Field Marshall destined to fight and die for the Great Journey, he sure was a bit cowardly, what with fleeing his first encounter and sniping Kat.

[@chuknukbubs6322]

You also kill this Field Marshall at the end of The Pillar of Autumn, he's with the team of zealots right before you get in the MAC

[@zebaguettefromfrance1287]

from how reach portrays it, i've always known that the battle of reach was a huge disaster and that humanity was on the ropes, but this video put into context just how badly humanity is losing. reach was the second most fortified planet the UNSC controlled and they got overrun in slightly over a month. The covies were so efficient half the planet wasn't even aware they were being invaded until a few weeks into the battle. This video puts into context how hilariously outmatched the UNSC actually is and how impressive it is that they managed to crawl out of this desperate struggle as the winners.

[@TheFirstCurse1]

By "desperate struggle" I hope you mean the Human Covenant War and not the fall of Reach, because humanity most certainly DID NOT win with Reach.

[@lucamckenn5932]

​@@TheFirstCurse1reach wasn't a covenant victory. Chief and Cortana slipped away. Had the spec ops team done its job proper, the Pillar of Autumn would've been ash and glass.

[@TheZamaron]

Honestly Humanity had NO CHANCE of winning, they only "won", because bigger events put in play kept cripping the Covenant, the destructon of Alpha Halo in Halo 1, making their greatest officer an Arbiter and thus not doing what he's best at, Truth conspiting to replace the Elites with the Brutes and Regret's moronic early unplanned attack on Earth gave Humanity time to prepare, his death shaking the leadership, Truth's betrayal of the Elites led to the Great Schism which would split the COvenant, but High CHarity would fall tot he Flood an the interfighting cost them so many ships and troops, plus the death of Tarterus, all of this kept crippling the Covenant until what was left was scattered Brute led fleets and a small fleet following Truth to Earth, Truth still had a large force but only strong enough to get to his goal, find the Ark portal, activate it, head tot he Ark, shich he did, the invasion of Earth was also never a full scale commited invasion like Reach was, this gave Humanity a better chance to focus their reactions. Eventually Truth taking the fight to the Ark plus the alliance of Humanity and Elites gave the good guys enough strength to push theough Truth's fleet and ground fprces to stop him, then stopped the Flood. ALL of this is mostly stuff out of Humanity's direct control, If Truth hadn't betrayed the Elites there was a very good chance the Covenant not being devided would have allowed them to commit to a full invasion of Earth, and it would have been lost eventually. THat is how bad the war went, that Humanity didn't really "win" the war, it actually survived as events widdled down the Covenant to be a more managable threat.

[@rileyoakley7196]

@@lucamckenn5932they weren’t after chief and Cortana😂 they were after artifacts and the destruction of the planet, both things that they succeeded in

[@zxylo786]

​@@rileyoakley7196Yeah why would the covenant fleet give priority to some fragate, a spartan and an AI. It makes zero sense. Even then the covenant had the upper hand when their were persuing them. Proof is that they had to crash land on Halo and they were fighting a war of attrition against a single carrier. It took the flood to make the covenant be distracted enough to not pay attention to the spartan. Hell. The covenant would have never thought the humans were attempting to destroy the ring. And there were basically no survivors. It was a complete victory for the covenant in every way that counts. The only thing that made the covenant lose was the schism and the flood. Both which have nothing to do with humanity.

[@KevinKoolx]

Even though I've played the Reach campaign multiple times I often lose the context in game. This was great!

[@Soundwave3591]

"Halo Reach and Halo the Fall of Reach are canon" "Worked to make the two stories work together" THIS is how you respect a fanbase and established fans when developing new products and story. take note, Star Wars writers.

[@dr.boring7022]

But Bungie created both The Fall of Reach and Halo: Reach. But those 2 stories can work well together. Lucasfilm created the original 2003 show, and then turned around and decanonized it with the 2008 show. (For example, Alpha 17 replaced with Rex, Ahsoka existing, Grievous nerf). Disney had no choice but to delete everything that wasn't the movies or tv show, because not only did much of it contradict eachothers, but there was soo much BS and OP shit in Legends (Abeloth, Starkiller, the Suncrusher, Durge) that had to go.

[@boiledsatan7395]

@@dr.boring7022 I think soundwave is talking about how Disney Star Wars responded to the genuine fan criticism of the plot in TLJ and ROS screwing over old characters *cough* Luke and Palpatine *cough* to hype up Rey in a really crappy manner.

[@dazzake7431]

@@dr.boring7022 Dumbass.

[@autumngottlieb3071]

To be fair, having everything be canon does naturally lead to stupid retcons when writers screw up. I really miss the old Keyminds, for instance.

[@leanmeangreenbeanmachine3347]

Dr. Boring I do agree

[@MistahFox]

"Linda is declared medically missing in action and is placed into cryostasis"

[@twojacksandanace3847]

And thus brave Leonidas and his brave 300 die... oh wrong battle.

[@sandmanlxv]

Funny you mention that as I’m sure there were originally 300 SPARTAN III’s as homage to the original 300 Spartans

[@twojacksandanace3847]

@@sandmanlxv There were around 300 in each company, Alpha, Beta and Gama, most of Alpha and Beta were wiped out and Gama barely saw action during the war. That's why the designation is B312 or A266.

[@human3213]

Well in real history There were around 7000 greeks in the army against xerves

[@twojacksandanace3847]

@@human3213 I know, I didn't say there wasn't. They were told to retreat while the Spartans made their final stand.

[@WolfBlade84-]

Honestly? How cool would it have been if there had been 300 spartans stationed on reach, and you, six, were the last one to fall in one act of defiance. Giving the time for the unsc (greece) to gather it's forces for it's last fight at earth

[@Litany_of_Fury]

Halo Reach, Halo 3 and Halo Wars are the only Halo games that really capture that struggle for survival against the odds. Halo 1 is more or less detached from the greater universe with the entire game plot revolving around the Halo Ring mcguffin, Halo 3 does not suffer from this as the stakes are truly too high and the plot well fleshed out at this point.

[@Tired-Merc]

What about odst or halo 2 dont they so some of the struggle?

[@Litany_of_Fury]

@@Tired-Merc I consider ODST is more of an expansion pack. Halo 2 had 2 main characters, so that split the tension.

[@Tired-Merc]

@@Litany_of_Fury really expansion and split tension, i mean if thats what u wanna think it is fine but its gives true struggle on both sides

[@Litany_of_Fury]

@@Tired-Merc Oh yeah, but that's where my bias comes into play. I don't care about the aliens.

[@Tired-Merc]

@@Litany_of_Fury eh that's fair their killable not really important

[@Crizzly122]

Carter: "Jun, escort Dr Halsey off-world" Jun: "But sir, Fred and Kelly are supposed to meet her on Reach in First Strike. This will fuck up the canon."

[@VegetaLF7]

Actually if you listen to Carter's orders in the game, he tells Jun to take her to Castle Base, the ONI facility Fred and Kelly find her at in First Strike.

[@Woopor]

Carter: “I don’t give a frick you get to survive this so do what you’re supposed to do”

[@skullerton9858]

They might have saved reach if Kat had a drivers license

[@collinb.8542]

Lmfao

[@scarecrow108productions7]

@@collinb.8542 never....I mean NEVER LET HER DRIVE!!!

[@M4teo.]

I've died like 20 times because of her terrible driving skills

[@physical_insanity]

There was a small enclave of Halo fanfic writers I was a part of for a time and a meme everyone kept in their stories was that Kat was an atrocious driver, whether by external perception or literally. Sad to see it get shut down, but the sheer humour and variety everyone had with it made me proud to be part of the community.

[@redhood1060]

Genuinely, the funniest comment I’ve ever seen in my life. I hope you’ve been well these past three years.

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

Everyone seemed to have forgotten Bungie's rules of cannon back when the games came out, most paramount being that the games supersede all of mediums in canonical authority, with only the word of Bungie employee surpassing the games in authority.

[@Matanumi]

Except the fall of reach was so good and so far back it pissed off enough people when the game reach came out

[@physical_insanity]

Remember how Bungie had a coat of arms which was basically a Spartan arm surrounded by sword grasping a bundle of lightning bolts with Latin text beneath it saying "Don't make us kick your ass"? Good times.

[@centurymemes1208]

they didn’t give a f about the books. fcking lunatics

[@autumngottlieb3071]

The only part that still really bothers me is the Covenant ship armed with five energy projectors that the Autumn engages and destroys while John is on Gamma Station, and how that vessel remains canonically unidentified to this day. This is especially annoying because it's from the scenes involving this ship that we get the figures of a maximum range of 100,000 kilometers and a muzzle velocity of c for capital-grade plasma lances.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Seems like a tougher version of the 'super destroyer' seen at Harvest, vs Admiral Cole? Also, we have yet to have the CAR-class Frigate fully detailed, or to confirm if it is 1 km long...

[@LeonidProxy]

@@chrissonofpear1384 I thought it was established it was a Super Cruiser. But I agree it was a one-off kind of ship apparently because we never hear of such a frightening vessel again throughout the story.

[@autumngottlieb3071]

In what canonical source is it called a supercruiser? I've heard that name in several places, most notably the Halopedia page for the Fall of Reach, but I don't know where it comes from. And, for the record, the Halopedia page for the ship itself is titled "Unidentified Covenant Warship."

[@GalCon99]

@@autumngottlieb3071 In the comics we get a visual representation of the ship, and it looks very much like an ORS-class heavy cruiser and is more or less the same size, so it might be this ship but no source confirms it so far. And there is no such thing as a supercruiser, only Halo Alpha calls it a supercruiser but that's the same site that once claimed that the UNSC Cradle was 36 km long or something so I no longer trust that site.

[@autumngottlieb3071]

Also worth noting is that Warfleet retconning the Autumn from having 300 Archer missile pods to having 32 makes that scene impossible.

[@JLoughlen]

christ was that original battle of reach video 6 years old? im getting old...

[@JLoughlen]

John Smith I’m 20

[@JLoughlen]

John Smith bro what the fuck is your problem

[@GeneralissimoJiang]

@John Smith baby rage WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@VoidLantadd]

Same bro. I think we're the same age (by the age of your comment). I'm 21 now, and remember the good old days of Halo 3 & Reach like they were yesterday. Can't believe Reach is 11 years old. Hell, when CEA came out, the fact that Halo had been around for ten years seemed like a long time to 12 year old me. That was TEN YEARS AGO. Wtf, that just sounds wrong.

[@abdulbah2176]

@@JLoughlen wow he really deleted his comments, what a loser

[@TheGoldsSkullsClan]

Finally, a good sum up to the Reach confusing

[@ArtsyPuppy]

As someone who has only played the game, it’s very interesting to see how the events of the book and the game can basically merge together like this, I’m happy there are people who will actually try to make it work rather than just throwing the game out because “it breaks canon”, to me that was always insanely frustrating

[@TeenageMutantZuckerTurtle]

It’s actually impressive how the two stories can be made to mesh while keeping the essence of each story without too many retcons. Keeping the invasion a secret being folded into the Winter Contingency works well enough to explain why the invasion seemed so much shorter in the book, and the middles line up pretty well since they don’t contradict too much. The Spartan II’s also operating during this part of Reach’s campaign works pretty seamlessly since they don’t really get in eachother’s way. Halsey showing up at Castle works fine, and I assume Jun must have stayed behind at some point on the way there to draw enemy pursuers and somehow survived and escaped the planet. I actually like how the end works out. Keyes taking the Autumn back to Reach to get the Cortana fragment is a bit of a hoop to jump through, but Chief being in cryo at this point explains well enough why it wasn’t in the book. Then Reach’s ending happens, and the Autumn escapes as in the book. I actually like how frantic and sloppy this makes the end of the battle; the UNSC defense has collapsed and Keyes has to make an unplanned stop to get the Cortana fragment (which I assume holds valuable Forerunner data from the excavation) and only narrowly gets off of the planet again. The beginning of the invasion being more hushed with the Covenant fighting to quietly gain a foothold and gather Forerunner artifacts works well with the covert, Spec-ops nature of Noble and the Spartan IIIs. The middle of the timeline having the book and game happening simultaneously with naval battles and multiple groups of Spartan II’s and III’s running around is enjoyably chaotic, and goes together pretty well overall and fills out the events with multiple different perspectives. The end feels absolutely frantic and messy, which works out since the UNSC is rushing to gather retreat. They don’t work together perfectly, but I’m willing to excuse the times not lining up exactly and a few retcons here and there that don’t change the essence of either story. This video makes it so that both of the great Reach stories are overall preserved in canon instead of trying to push eachother out.

[@dominickefrim3088]

The 2 stories were always brilliant to me. Thanks for fitting them into a coherent timeline because i didn't want to give up on either one for the sake of the other.

[@elipsorange]

Wish you would've went into the return on the Master Chief after returning from Alpha Halo. With the use of the slipspace Crystal. The whole arc is confusing as shit with the time jump and/or different reality and how it effected the story line. Otherwise nice job piecing together this, with the book and game it can get jumbled. Great job man.

[@HaloCanon]

I do plan to talk about all that in time, particularly once CEA comes to MCC on PC and we're winding up for Halo 2.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Collecting the stars left by the giants... Also, if you are planning to review Oblivion, any thoughts on the mysterious 'lost beacon'?

[@NumericChaff]

@@HaloCanon I don't know if you've covered this, but how the hell did Johnson get to Earth before the Chief did? If my understanding of the timeline works, the keyship jumped to ftl before the battle of the control room had even finished.

[@TellisTorterra]

@@NumericChaff I could be wrong here, but IDT Johnson made it to earth before Chief did. I wanna say Chief was lying there for a few days before UNSC forces were able to retrieve him ..something like that...

[@MrAvakstone92]

@@NumericChaff It appears Truth arrived early to the Sol system in the Anodyne Spirit, but stayed still for more than a week after Chief attempt to kill him (and then Chief was captured, the Covenant tried to interrogate him, and then escape to the ship's exterior hull)

[@Dyatlov_iF]

So when are we gonna find out how Jun got off Reach?

[@SpartanK4102]

Sorry, Gunns it's classified. MY ASS! WELL YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT THE ADJUSTMENTS TO YOUR A2 SCOPE....

[@The_Master_Chief_117]

I’ll just stand here and be quiet

[@yub0]

That question has sort of been answered in the fan comic 'A Fistful of Arrows'. While neither Bungie nor 343 ever officially acknowledged it as canon, both made a conspicuous effort to never contradict it, which is good enough for me.

[@MrJH101]

@yub0 I enjoyed a Fistful of Arrows, but I still don’t think that actually addressed how Jun got off of Reach either. But it did show how he ended up splitting from Dr Halsey and it gave Noble Team a lot more character.

[@thebandoffice53]

Pretty sure somewhere it says he found a pelican and a ship in orbit about to leave. He hitched a ride to earth.

[@billygranzow1331]

13:24 Kat's shield wasn't up because her armor wasn't sealed, you can see her neck in the cutscene when she and 6 are in the elevator

[@Kevin-yq7ei]

Is there lore that says this somewhere? I can see why that could be it, but it seems weird that a Spartan’s shield wouldn’t immediately activate

[@billygranzow1331]

Kevin in, I think the book First Strike, one of the Spartans has some damaged body part flashcloned and the text states that the shields won't come on unless every piece of the armor is sealed

[@_Siptah]

I thought it wasn’t on because they were EMP’ed?

[@asspills]

There's also some piece of text in either the game or the game-manual that states that Kat had a bad habit of not engaging her shields when things seemed safe, and how that's a liability she needed to address.

[@jeffbezos3501]

Their shields were down because of the EMP. Some people got to pay attention to the cutscenes 🤦‍♂️

[@Powner37]

This is an extremely well done video.

[@gabe9125]

To paraphrase Tex Talks Battletech: "The UNSC knew the cost of this. They climbed over the bodies of their fallen. And. Kept. On. Fighting." So many Spartans, IIs and IIIs. So many ships. So many UNSC troops. All thrown into the meat grinder and lost to buy the smallest amount of time or the tiniest toehold for humanity to push back against the Covenant. One of the things that Halo: Reach does so well is give the player a sense of desperation. Noble team wins every battle and the UNSC gives as good as they get, but it just doesn't matter in the big picture. The Covenant is still unstoppable, and Reach is still overrun. But you keep fighting because there's always this glimmer of hope that's hanging just out of reach (no pun intended).

[@ethanwagner6418]

I'm glad 343 takes greater care in keeping the games and extended lore connected.

[@skylerambrose9269]

Halo 5 says otherwise

[@ethanwagner6418]

@@skylerambrose9269 Halo 5 was true to the established lore. Its main issue was its disconnect to Halo 4, or any game for that matter.

[@skylerambrose9269]

Ethan Wagner it was true to lore but you had to play every single game, watch all the tv shows and read all the comics to understand. Gameplay wasn’t bad besides the singular path that you had to take constantly everytime. Plus that spartan fight between Locke and chief was shit.

[@ethanwagner6418]

@@skylerambrose9269 I don't understand which part of my comments you're trying to refute.

[@citizenvulpes4562]

@@skylerambrose9269 idk man, when star wars didn't have everything connected everyone started spazzing out and started screaming.

[@dajhier1]

That moment when your original Reach Timeline video is the first video I've ever watched on your channel all those years ago 👴🏾👴🏾👴🏾👴🏾👴🏾 23 never felt so old

[@chewyward]

I'm just sitting here waiting for another spinoff game about S-III's Ghosts of Onxy was always my favorite book. (I've read most of them)

[@holden_7597]

A Ghosts of Onyx game would be great!

[@SplazerSplaze]

Agreeable

[@ICEMAKERM14]

Operation torpedo would break your xbox.

[@spyczech]

Reach was a spinoff game about spartan 3s

[@chewyward]

@@spyczech this is a fact, but I want another game based on three's maybe based around headhunters.

[@Antipathy6]

Canonically, Noble Six held out for several hours and the last stand eventually involved an entire Covenant army, complete with Wraiths and a variety of air support. He was kept alive for so long cause he was seen like such a threat, and Elites REALLY love their honor so thats why they didn't simply glass the hell out of him. Lone Wof is just there to be there. He did still die to the overwhelming ammount of elites or just got glassed in the end.

[@Blackfyre117]

Getting me on that hype train for reach on MCC.

[@ea2631]

that was epic, reach was big sad

[@DrEdRichtofen]

That's why I like 343i, even if they failed some things, they are doing things like this. Nice update.

[@HaloTheroist117]

Reach was such an important battle from the lore perspective of the Halo Universe. The demoralizing hit the UNSC and humanity took from losing it was incredibly devastating, but at the end of Reach and the campaign slogan "Deliver hope" couldn't have fit the in Universe lore perspective any better. It's awesome that you have all of this in compiled and now updated in one place for a full understanding of this huge piece of the Halo Universe.

[@dannymartial7997]

Halo Reach was MADE BY BUNGIE. So unless they say it’s non-canon, it’s automatically canon.

[@_krumble_3053]

Could that include destiny1-2? It could be argued that destiny’s plot is just halo maybe 1000+ years in the future where humanity has integrated forerunner technology and even improved it to a degree where even a forerunner wouldn’t recognize it.

[@dylanjwagner]

@@_krumble_3053 that’s intentional obfuscation. Unless otherwise officially stated, Halo games have been the primary canon of the series. The books were initially supplemental, and Reach is a solid blending of the two.

[@dannymartial7997]

@@_krumble_3053 It's a different franchise, so you're just talking out your ass and wasting everyone's time.

[@carteljameson8395]

Bungie's thoughts on Halo are now irrelevant as they're not the caretakers of the lore. Reach absolutely is canon, but that's because 343 says it's canon. If Bungie came out today and said that Halo Reach isn't canon, that wouldn't matter. It'd still be canon because 343 says so. They run Halo now. Bungie doesn't.

[@afish8985]

@@_krumble_3053 there’s a few Easter eggs in destiny about halo like how ghost was gonna pick master chief as a guardian but he said he’s been fighting a war for to long and there was a poster in halo 3 odst that said destiny awaits but besides that there not really related and destiny actually happens closer to now than when halo takes place

[@yawcomplex927]

The Spartan II mission is the hardest thing to fit back in between the game and books. John is getting the Mark 5 armour and Cortana also escaping death from a admiral while a bunch of Spartan 3s with well worn Mark 5 B armour already with shields engaging the enemy on reach soil.

[@OniLink147]

Your original Reach timeline is actually what made me subscribe to you in the first place. I love seeing it updated with the newer information about the battle.

[@triplebog]

Despite how this timeline fixes a lot of the conflicts, I still feel like there is a major hole in the story where the covenent are found on reach and its not like the biggest deal ever. Like, there was a mac canon that fired on a corvette from space. But then like 2 days later the admirals are just having a conversation like there is no big deal. Idk, maybe I've missed some literature here. Like I know the winter contingency was in effect, but like stanforth and parangosky both would have far outranked that I presume. Its things like this that still bother me. Sure the timeline is "fixed" but the characters are not.

[@punctuationman334]

Your overuse of “like” at the beginning of sentences bothers me.

[@mattboy5296]

@A L P H A Ok so the plan was to use Reach as bait to lure the Covenant so they could steal a Super Carrier, they just never expected The Fleet of Particular Justice to show up on August 30th to glass the whole planet. But if Red Flag involved securing a Super Carrier why did the UNSC/ONI authorize Operation Uppercut and the destruction of the Long Night of Solace? In that case wouldn't it make more sense to either leave the ship alone for the 48 hours needed for the UNSC fleet and Spartan II deployments to arrive on Reach, or instead have Noble Team/other Spartan III's or ODST's instead try to capture the ship so it would be ready for Red Flag once the Spartan II teams arrived? I don't know if I'm missing anything here or if this is just a case of a plot hole between the game and the book.

[@mattboy5296]

@A L P H A Yeah that makes some sense honestly, as lore shows just how screwed up ONI was. Not only were they immensely immoral, but also extremely arrogant to the point of doing incredibly stupid shit that made the Human-Covenant War much harder than it needed to be because they thought they knew better than the UNSC and United Earth Government (the Mona Lisa incident comes mind). Pretty much the only things that ONI did that could be considered smart or "good" (within the context of everything that happened) was 1) the authorization of the SPARTAN-II program, as ethically wrong as it was it still was a major gamechanger of the war despite being made for stopping Insurrection, and 2) the study of Forerunner artifacts which led to the discovery of the Halo Array and ultimately led to winning the war.

[@justinlacek1481]

It's about red flag. Presumably, up until August 30th, the UNSC was still banking on that operation to save the day ultimately, and this is why they were hoping to bait the Covenant. They recalculated at some point that it wasn't worth the effort and decided to unleash the rest of their forces, though this was obviously too little too late. But when you think about it at the in-universe context, you have to remember that they legitimately thought red flag was the only real way to save humanity. The decision to can that operation would have been a difficult one to make, as the loss of Reach was probably considered worth it if they could end the war.

[@andyfriederichsen]

@A L P H A _ W A V E A super carrier is massive and the size of a city. Also there's no way it would be able to sneak up that close to Reach's surface without at least SOME regular people seeing it before getting cloaked by the Covenant spire sit up on the surface. In fact, it's amazing ANY Covenant ships were able to sneak up to and deploy their cultist forces on Reach without many people noticing them since Reach is a very militarily important planet. Also it would be nice if ONI got reformed or something so it's still the secret intelligence agency the UNSC needs, but without the incompetence or very immoral actions.

[@DivineHellas]

“ It didn’t take long for Reach to fall, Kats driving was ruthless, inefficient, and she didn’t really drive fast enough “ ~ Catherine Halsey, July 7, 2589, Reach

[@angelite143]

Noble Team aside from Noble 3 the OG suicide squad

[@thedeekabides]

Check out Operation TORPEDO. Absolute sh*t show.

[@VoidLantadd]

Rogue One has the same story as Reach. (Obviously Reach came first)

[@Aristocles22]

I like Exodus. It's when Noble 6 gets to come down to Earth - or Reach- and gets to spend some time with the common people and save some of them. There's no contact with Noble Team until the very end, and as far as everyone else is concerned, you just fell from the sky. Which you did.

[@ECHOFOXTROT289]

23:56 PRESUMABLY KILLED! .. SPARTANS NEVER DIE! Hic.. THEY ARE JUST MISsingg.. *hushed crying*

[@SameToken]

Fantastic video idea, really clear and intuitive execution!

[@Oreomeister]

Personally, I'd just retcon it so the whole fleet of particular justice arrives on aug 14, and extend main battle to two weeks rather than one day. Seems outright silly that so much of the planet could remain in the dark when a whole fleet is invading the planet, and a whole 60%+ of the UNSC fleet is aware of what's going on. There are other things I'd do to facilitate the Spartan-IIs battle lasting two weeks as well, but I won't get into that here. Everything ends in the same spot, but, imho, much more sensibly.

[@Oreomeister]

Obviously this means things like John receiving Mk V would have to happen before Aug 14, but I feel that has almost no effect on the story compared to what they'd have us believe. The weeks beforehand would still be about trying to lure the covenant in by making reach seem weak (if they knew how important reach was to humanity, they wouldn't have sent a single ship or whatever to investigate.), but when on Aug 14 the whole covenant FOPJ arrives, the battle begins.

[@DeeonleeCobb373]

@@Oreomeister I didn't read FoR but didn't the scene where the supposed FoPJ appears after LNoS was destroyed included one of the lines from the book?

[@Oreomeister]

@@DeeonleeCobb373 Looking at the scene where the fleet shows up in Halo Reach, you sure would think that the whole fleet has arrived, but no, there's technically no overlap between the two, as silly as it is. Keep in mind, 99.999% of my knowledge comes from the pre-updated version of the book.

[@adamjames1149]

This just became my new headcanon

[@MCHellshit]

Personally I just pretend the game doesnt exist, because it sucked anyway, both story and gameplay

[@StrikeAxl]

Even though I love Halo: Reach, long ago I gave up retconning it with TFoR. The planet is been overrun by the covenant, but wait, we still want to use it as a decoy for red flag. Let's have a lot of experienced soldiers and captains sit not knowing about the invasion while population centers are been glassed. Oh, so, the spartan IIIs received shielded Mjolnir before the IIs, perfectly reasonable("What have you done to my armor, George"). The timeline you put together is PERFECT. Everything fits. Some things sadly just don't make.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Well, Keyes mostly seemed to be the one out of the loop, although starting to suspect.

[@StrikeAxl]

@@chrissonofpear1384 chief and all the other Spartans were out of it too until late August. At this point I know it's childish from me to complain like this, but I rather love both individual stories separately than creating a massive cluster f of events (most of them straight up hard to believe) trying to retcon them

[@GalCon99]

@@chrissonofpear1384 Did you mean that Keyes was the one out of the Keyes loop? Get it??

[@AnakinSkywakka]

@@GalCon99 heh

[@GalCon99]

@@AnakinSkywakka Jacob Keyes was most famous for performing the Keyes Loop. A manouver he executed over Sigma Octanius IV in which he managed to destroy 2 Covenant frigates and a destroyer with the use of only 1 UNSC destroyer. I'm not going to explain the whole manouver but it was one of the largest UNSC victories odds-wise in the history of the human-Covenant war.

[@Ryebread8373]

Loved this format and update. I'd be interested in watching a video like this covering the massive battle for earth seen in Halo 2, Ghosts of Onyx, comics, and Halo 3.

[@premiumheadpats4150]

This was really interesting and informative. I played Reach on release, but wasn't even aware until now about the existence of "The Fall of Reach" or the retcons in the game that aggravated some of the fans. As a result, it's potentially my favorite game in the franchise.

[@IamCanadian3333]

Did you miss the part where the Covenant "super cruiser" sniper ship sniped a bunch of UNSC ships, only to be destroyed by the Autumn (though received heavy damage as a result)?

[@snoogle20]

Much respect for this. It’s way more comprehensive than my lazy way of dealing with the inconsistencies. For nine years I’ve simply been ignoring the dates at the bottom of the screen of the game. I pretend its events take place from a few days before up to concurrent with the book’s timeline. Noble missions that needlessly happen days apart in the game’s timeline take place hours apart in my head canon. So finding out Covies took out the relay is the same day as defending Sword Base, etc. The big Winter Contingency secrets need only be kept a day or two at that point. Once glassing begins, I reject that any secrets could be kept and anything in the game that takes place after that point is simply concurrent with the fall we read about in the book. I know 343 and community sources like Halo Canon have put a lot of effort into trying to make it work, but ignoring Bungie’s timeline is the only way I stay sane. But this video will be invaluable when my rejection of reality cannot be maintained. Sometimes it’s necessary to know the official series of events.

[@124thDragoon]

exactly this.

[@sG_Paradise]

It makes reach feel so different knowing that noble team isn’t the only spartan team trying to fend off reach from the covenant.

[@VolcanicDecay]

Halocannon, you should do more of these type of videos, the Halo community has been lacking new interesting content for a while now, and this video explaining Reach and the fall of Reach were very interesting to watch and I learned alot of new things I didn't before. You should continue up with what happened to the pillar of Autumn after it left reach, and things we might not know of during its time on the first discord Halo ring, this would be somthing very interesting to watch, for the majority, everyone knows what happened on the first halo installation when playing the games, but perhalps talk about things that happened during the same time of the game thats not mentioned in it. Id love to watch somthing like that.

[@dycon1323]

No game has ever made me feel so much or given me so much nostalgia... God I wish I was back then

[@digunder14]

I feel that, for the part about kat's shields failing, one possible factor is her cybernetics, it would give her less organic tissue and more metal on her than most other spartan threes, the kind of radiation the covenant used, potentially having an easier time traveling through metal or at least what ever type of metal it was made out of after all, the armor, least in chief's case and presumably for other spartan armors, it was ment to work in combo with their enhancements of drugs, implants, and even basically being wired to their brain in some way somehow, plus spartan 3s being the discount version of the gen before hand, they would have been useing gear and being implanted and drugged with cheaper and likely inferior stuff compared to the spartan 2s so there is a chance that kat having a cybernetic arm especially one that doesn't match the bulk and mass of it pre-accident, could have made it more difficult for her to use her armor properly at least at all times, plus any potential tamping she might have done like I recall hearing in a story her achieve a goal by modifying the Mjolnir armor in a way that basically made it stronger and more effective but was risky to the health of the user in such a state

[@DJWixel]

Actually it was cause of the radiation of the glassing

[@disownership]

I don't think I've ever read a sentence with that many commas. Jesus Christ.

[@tallestmidget8618]

Pov you've never touched a woman

[@relentless7124]

@@tallestmidget8618 😐

[@1th_to_comment.]

@@tallestmidget8618 neither have you

[@NotARangerBoy]

Nice job, really put all the parts together from the battle!

[@___Nobody__]

Tbh imo the Fall of Reach and the game doesn’t need to line up perfectly. All that matters is that both have the major events occur

[@Matanumi]

Except some things contradict each other.... seemingly favoring covey

[@BLitzRunner77]

This does a great job. Its unfortunately still unbelievable that the people like Keyes wouldn't have known about the glassing of a major Reach city days before the main covenant fleet show up. It takes a big chunk out of the books story line, where Keyes figures out that the covenant are coming.

[@Nick-bk7es]

By all ends the Lore of Reach has to be my favorite, the dark realistic atmosphere of Reach to a true real halo experience is perfect for me. I love how the UNSC used all the resources available in ways that make sense.

[@thedeekabides]

19:46 It bothers me that James doesn't have his prosthetic arm in these panels. He lost it to a Hunter bolt on Sigma Octanus defending John.

[@derekmensch3601]

He very well could have a different model of prostheses than Kat has.

[@space_racc]

@@derekmensch3601 probably has one, but has the full armor covering it rather than having it exposed like kat

[@derekmensch3601]

@@space_racc which makes a lot more sense than having Kats, which seems super exposed to the elements. Oh and plasma fire

[@JJumper8888]

@@derekmensch3601 maybe he had complete arm made out of mjolnir armor. But that would be heavy af and not sure if it would've been praticle

[@derekmensch3601]

@@JJumper8888 or he just has an uparmored model.

[@Greco-Canadian]

Contact Harvest and Fall of Reach are my favorite Halo books. This video validates all my love for the books and the Reach game.

[@Theveshinpillay]

Been getting into Halo lore recently and you've been a great help👍 Reach was my first Halo game😄

[@adeadphish7931]

I forgot how split people were about Reach way back when but I am glad here in 2019, we are more united as a fandom about the battle of Reach

[@robbiepatrick6251]

"Give 'em hell, Spartan!" "They sure gave it to Reach..."

[@jamesjay11]

I've watched this video about 12 times and only now am I noticing that it lasts for 25 minutes and 52 seconds. 2552. Nice touch.

[@HaloCanon]

That was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!

[@johnsteele3760]

Much much better timeline. And thank God you didnt try and drop the tone of your voice for dramatic effect. Lol

[@DiehardMechWarrior]

I love that this is 25:53 exactly. Because it’s incredibly poetic that we learn how the story *starts* in year the war *ends.*

[@gub4941]

15:55 “then how did I lose all my fingers?”

[@Couch_Banana]

"What?"

[@RubenHernandez-ub6kh]

LOL

[@teeboogie3237]

I love the game and the book about the Fall of Reach. It really sets the scene for the Human v Covenant War and how the UNSC came across the first halo ring and subsequently, the Flood.

[@JJAB91]

Been looking forward to this, great job Ian! I hope for an eventual Installation 04 and Operation FIRST STRIKE timeline one day, you do these very well.

[@HaloCanon]

I plan to do both when CEA and H2A are about to come to PC, respectively.

[@Synpathetix]

I knew what the story line was based on the game, but this whole timeline pieced together really makes it feel like a proper war. This was really well done. While you're playing Reach, you tend to forget that there are other Spartans doing operations at the same time that you (Noble 6) is on his mission.

[@Servellion]

The supercarrier wasn't cloaked by the canopies, they were cloaking the deployed armies. The ship had it's own stealth systems which is how it entered the Reach system and got under Reach's defense systems without alerting anyone.

[@michaelirizzz121]

10/10. This update was amazing, thank you for enhancing our Halo: Reach experience !

[@cz.gazz.]

Crazy how Halo: Reach is as old now as TFoR was when Reach the game came out

[@ozpin8329]

Absolutely onboard with the idea of that behind-the-scenes livestream!

[@fw.Dallas]

Imagine if bungie released campaign dlc after launch where you get to play as the spartans during operation red flag.

[@MG_SW]

I always knew that the whole Cortana thing could be explained away by "fragmenting" herself. I always knew Noble 6 was transporting a fragment of the AI with invaluable data, rather than "a newly born Cortana" as the game might have people thinking. As for the rest of the massive plot holes, I'm happy to finally have answers that bridge the gap between the books and the games. Thank you, this has made my day

[@maycontainnuts3127]

You're in my light, Commander.

[@SyntheticHuman01]

Definitely enjoyed watching this. Lot of research went in to getting the timelines right.

[@Misterbitties]

Honestly I think Reach is the pinnacle of Halo and one of the best games in the series.

[@silvy3047]

Dare i say this is your best video? You put a lot of work into this and it shows

[@FRIEND_711]

This was an absolute blast watching ^^ thanks for making this as always. I love the visuals you added they are fantastic! your videos keep getting better and better. Stay awesome Halo Canon :3

[@zekkyauditore3021]

Reach was the first game with a story I ever played. It influenced me so much I cannot even begin to describe it. I daresay that almost all of my life would be different without this masterpiece of a game.

[@joeyvitale24]

I have a theory that kat’s shields were completely disengaged due to the fact that they had plenty of time to charge and showed absolutely no signs of engaging. Especially since the energy bolts gently off of the armor when shields are active and depleted

[@terrellfair9812]

Considering they were meters away from what was basically an atomic explosion in the the glassing beam the radiation is probably what fried her shields shields onlY Show when they stop projectiles

[@christianmarin6657]

This video reminds me on why I love reach so much. The story is just amazing

[@AutumnOnFire]

For anyone interested, that last track is called "We Remember". It's a bonus track on the soundtrack.

[@DeeonleeCobb373]

If you guys didn't know yet, We Remember - and the acoustic version that plays at the beginning of New Alexandria - is actually Unforgotten/Never Forget playing at a different key.

[@TnZAustin]

I always thought when playing Halo Reach that the Spartan II's where stationed elsewhere on Reach. This video confirms it. Thanks

[@chun-bonntang5391]

If I'm not mistaken, Linda was severely injured at that time and put into a cryptube. Master Chief was evacuating and also put into crytube on the pillar of autumn. I have no idea where the other blue team members Kelly and Fred were at that time. From noble team, Jorge was the only spartan-2.

[@autismwithavoice5507]

My question is Cortana was still already active during the human-covenant war. So she could have assisted Noble team with going to the shipyard. She would also be a lot safer plugged into a Spartan but if the members of Noble team was never augmented to handle AI's then it's understandable

[@Bmuenks31]

Yeah but Cortana couldn't talk I guess because she was on Six's back

[@BubbaGunShrimp]

I was young when I played reach for the first time so I didn’t understand how tragic the fall of reach was, with each level getting darker and more hopeless. Truly a masterpiece of a game

[@van_fanel_117]

This was majestic and sad. Long live Noble Team

[@Swaggs907]

Still got the Journal, all the packaging and all the extras that came in the limited edition with the game. The journal itself is packed with lore.

[@josephlarkin7524]

There are still thinks that annoy me from narrative standpoint. But I appreciate the effort to make the timeline into as streamlined as possible. Would love an updated S-II video to include S-II's known to not be apart of the orginal deployed 33 that became operational.

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Yes, and those crippled but who recovered, or were out of service for a while. And maybe the new TV series Spartan IIs?

[@DDK20284]

@@chrissonofpear1384 they aren't canon so they dont count

[@hecticryry]

Thanks for explaining. I just fished Reach on MCC on Steam. Originally completed when it was released in the UK on Xbox 360

[@smokedeuch4039]

This is a great video presenting years of hard work by lore enthusiasts and fans alike in an informative 25 minute video. Yet Reach still cant perfectly fit in canon due to the cloaking technology discrepancy and how much of a plot hole it creates.

[@HaloCanon]

Yep. Like I said, "narrative scotch tape".

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Any more thoughts on where Naomi fits in? Delta Red member?

[@Betito1171]

You know what they say. Glassed planets have bad records

[@TheZamaron]

Well, Reach is canon, games canon comes first. Bungie is to blame for this, but the inconsistencies shouldn’t blind you to how good a game Reach is. Simply I will believe that ONI made sure to keep the rest of the planet in the dark about the Viery assault only trickling in reinforcement slowly to insure the area doesn’t fall, Halsey helped ready Red Flag as well as use a Cortana fragment to get as much info from the artifact below Sword Base as she could. Luckily defenses held till August 30th when Red Flag would be implemented and a huge Covie fleet arrived to take Reach. Keys at the last second turned around and Spartan 2s deployed for defensive ops. The Autumn barely made it to get the fragment and escape. Inconsistent, but I except HC’s explanation as official

[@Frog9er]

What cloaking technology discrepancy?

[@bake4795]

Reach is my favorite halo game because it was the only halo game I had before I got mcc it’s nice to know the whole story