WMG / Halo: Reach

Noble Six isn't dead.

• If you look at the final cut scene, Noble Six is completely obscured by the Sangheili when they go down and we don't actually see the energy sword piercing anything, just the start of a thrust. And we know for sure that Six has dealt with that very situation before, back in the first level. There's enough room in there to argue about Noble Six's ultimate fate without resorting to an outright Retcon.
  • It's quite doable. Six is a Hyper Lethal Vector, and a "lone wolf" to boot. This is right up their alley. As for why everyone thinks they are actually dead, they could be hiding. Why? I dunno. Maybe Jorge survived too and they're doing Spartan stuff together?
  • It was probably for the sake of the developer that now controls the franchise. Besides, who wants to see their PC die? You have to admit, it was a pretty hopeless situation. Multiple Zealots and one unarmed spartan? I think even Master Chief would have a fun time with this one.
  • Except for the fact that Admiral Danforth Whitcomb was on the planet, had commandeered the remaining SPARTAN IIs he could find and they were, in his words "Performing guerrilla actions, and raising all kinds of hell." They could have easily Swooped in to save Noble Six at the last minute, having been rushing to aid the Pillar of Autumn's escape from Reach.
    • Possible, I suppose, but probably just wishful thinking. Noble Six is dead, even if we wished they weren't.
  • It's a nice thought, but I doubt it. Halsey makes it abundantly clear in her closing narration that they died on Reach. Though I do agree with you, and wish that they had lived.
    • At the same time, it could just as easily be explained that her belief that Noble Six died was an assumption on her part.
    • Or that speech might be non-canon, what with her being supposed to be stuck in the Micro Dyson Sphere that was Onyx's core.
    • Um that's likely the other way around.
    • It is. The game canon overwrites book canon. You can't change that.
    • Actually, its the other way. Books are the solid basis. Stuff in the games is flexable.
    • Nope. Word of Bungie is that games come first, canon-wise. Also, Glasslands and Halo 4 both show that Halsey managed to get out of the Dyson Sphere.
      • Word of Bungie does not matter when they leave the franchise.
  • Maybe 6 is is Cryo-chamber? Seeing as pointed above we never actually see 6 die. Reach fell August 30th 2552. The overall war was over March 3rd 2553. Being in suspended animation would explain why they weren't in the first three games. They were recovering.
    • If the above post is true and Six managed to get out just at the end of the war he would of been in stasis for 185 days. If that is divided by 6 which would be the six full months 6 was in stasis it gives us 30.83333333333332 according to my calculator. The main point is 30. Add the one day Six would've spent August 31st and the three in March for 4 days. Divide 4 by 30 and you get 7.5 the main number we're looking at is 7. What number does Bungie just love to pop out at every chance? 7.
• Except the entire purpose of the very first scene in the campaign is to show that Noble 6 dies.
  • Bungie pretty much says in their Legendary commentary that Six has died. Here, 8:32 or so. They place a lot of emphasis on "this is the very first time you legitimately die in a Halo game.”
    • Not to be rude, but at the end of the campaign, Six is only twenty feet away from their helmet when they "die". I don't recall seeing a body behind the helmet at the beginning.
    • Of course not, we're looking at the helmet, the helmet is looking at Six. We're inhabiting the body of Noble Six even then.
  • The biggest hole in this idea is that we see fifty years into the future. If Six survived, Halsey would've found out by then.
    • Unless, of course, Six doesn't want to be found. Reach is a big planet, and there's lots of places the Covenant didn't touch. And the UNSC can't exactly be looking. Maybe they met up with Soren-66 from the short story Pariah, and went into hiding together to avoid the Covenant.

The Zealot squads which bookend the main campaign are the same squad - a Covenant version of Noble Team.

• Halsey states that the Covenant's MO is to send Elite Zealot teams after important artifacts and data. The leader of this team, the Field Marshall, realized that the Spartans were somehow linked to the data from the relay and spent the rest of the game hunting them. Their armor isn't (entirely) a retcon of the Zealot design; it's customized for their missions, like Noble's own armor.
  • Actually, Halo Anniversary's Zealots all wear a gold colored version of the Reach Zealot armor; according to The Great Journey: The Art of Building Worlds and The Essential Visual Guide, what differentiates artifact hunter Zealots from command-rank Zealots is primarily the color of their armor.
    • Also, Word of God indicates that the Zealot armor in both the original trilogy and Reach are equally canon.
  • Actually, the Field Marshal's squad is implied to show up at least three times, given that the Marshal is the one who sniped Kat; it's also possible that some of the other Zealots you come across had split off from the Field Marshal's group.

Jun will be the focus of 343 Industries' first game.

• At the end of Reach, Jun is given the job of escorting Halsey to CASTLE Base. As a result, Jun survives the Fall of Reach, eventually linking up with the Master Chief to perform Operation: FIRST STRIKE (in which most of the Covenant Fleet was destroyed), and making it back to Earth just in time to Fight For Her. Regret's two assault carriers were taken care of, but the thirteen cruisers made it to surface and were causing all kinds of havoc. He's gonna have his work cut out for him.
  • Perhaps he'll be part of the squad Linda was in an go to Onyx.
  • Original poster here. Since Jun is (supposedly) a Cold Sniper, the gameplay will focus mainly on stealth and making long-range precision kills, much as in ODST, where you had to more cautious and careful about how you approached combat.
  • Actually, there's been talks and a couple news articles that seem to indicate 343's first game will be a remake of Halo 1, with the Reach engine.
  • Turns out that 343i's first full game is Halo 4. The Halo: Combat Evolved re-make is largely being outsourced to Certain Affinity (a studio staffed primarily by Bungie alumni who previously made DLC maps for Halo 2 and Halo: Reach.)
• Jossed, as Halo 4 stars Chief.

Jun will be offscreened (paged, whatever!) in a throwaway paragraph of the Updated Re-release of Halo: First Strike.

• Look into your heart; you know it to be true! Halsey will describe how he died to get her to safety, and we will never hear of him again. It'll save effort on the rerelease.
• On the other hand, Halsey says everyone else evacuated when asked by the Spartan-IIs, in Halo: First Strike. This could include her Spartan protector who she felt would be of better use on the battlefield.
  • Jossed. He was never mentioned.
    • In fact, Initiation reveals that he survived.

Kat was killed by Yik, Slayer of Men.

• The only (known) Jackle with the skill to kill a running spartan with one hit from a non-sniper weapon from a moving phantom. plus, there was no scope light thing most jackle snipers use, and which Yik is known to avoid using.
  • Jossed, it was the Elite Field Marshall (Also seen killing Emile)
    • ^That was definitely a Zealot who killed Emile... though it is possible that the Field Marshall you have to fight after he dies is Kat's murderer.
    • Dude, Field Marshalls ARE Zealots. Field Marshall is a high Zealot-class elite rank.
    • Yes, but Emile's killer wears regular Zealot armor.

Co-Op Halo 1 and 2 are an AU where Emile wasn't skewered and sacrificed himself so Six could escape.

• During the time between 2 and 3 Six was killed.
  • He could have just got separated during the jump off of the Key ship. Much like in Long Night of Solace, he is dropped off in the boondocks and doesn't have time to make it back before the battle at Voi. Must... write... fanfiction!
  • Except in the Halo: Fall of Reach book from years ago they explicitly write an out with Linda-058 being the other Spartan possibility for Co-Op. She gets wounded just enough to be rushed into Cryo with the hope they can save her.
    • Then in that case, Linda is second player, Six is third, and Jun is probably fourth. Since co-op mode is non-cannon anyway, why not?

Firefight is the afterlife for Six.

• Six was KIA but they live on in another realm fighting Covenant soldiers in Valhallah. This eternity is not an unhappy one as Six is clearly enjoying theirself, evident by the laughs and chuckles. Even after death, Six continues on doing what Spartans do best.
  • Alongside the rest of Noble Team, fighting side-by-side for the rest of eternity. There are far worse fates than this.
    • But hang on, the Chief, Cortana and Buck are also Firefight voices. Does this mean they're dead too?!
    • Not quite, those still alive appear as dreamers, since it is impossible for them to appear in their true forms, only as self-created manifestations.
    • Everyone dies eventually.
    • That suggests that everyone's fate is to go to a place where they kill and die for eternity. Noble Team ends up there because, well, that's how they died. If all the others are there, it suggests they died in combat as well.
    • This theory could apply to multiplayer in general. Spartans doing the thing they were made to do for all eternity, as well as keeping a standing rivalry with the Elites. They didn't name that Halo 3 map "Valhalla" for nothing.
    • Well, it would handily explain griffball. How else could they invent a game that got them killed everytime they scored?
    • The SPARTAN-IIIs were trained as expendable suicide troops. They're just fulfilling their duty.

Emile is the son of Sargeant Johnson.

• It was the only time he beat the dog over the fence
• That would make him both a Spartan 1.1 and a Spartan III.

Jorge and Sadie are related.

• I'm not sure how, maybe they are cousins, maybe they were really good childhood friends, hell, maybe they were pen-pals. T don't know.
  • This seems to be a pretty poor troll. Sadie is African, Jorge is Hungarian. Jorge was born on Reach, Sadie was born in East Africa. Sadie is nineteen, Jorge is in his forties. Spartans don't have pen pals, their whole world is the other Spartans. So no, they never met or were related to each other in any way, shape or form. Ever.
    • More likely, if this true at all, is that Jorge is related to Sara Soravad. After all, they both are from Reach, possibly the same area (Jorge mentions a couple territories on the planet during his conversation with her, possibly one of which he himself was from), and Sara's dad Laszo Soravad was a little older than Jorge. But still highly unlikely.

Noble Six committed genocide against the Skirmishers

• That's the reason there aren't any in any of the other Halo games. Every single one died on Reach trying to hunt down Noble Six and the other Spartans during their last stand. Or if not all, enough so that staying with the covenant was no longer practical.
  • That's reallllly impressive, considering how much of a fucking pain in the ass they are to kill.
  • Jossed by the Kilo-Five trilogy and Escalation, which feature Skirmisher characters; Mortal Dictata even shows that entire clans of them are still alive and kicking.
    • You do kill a lot of them on Reach though, which might explain why there are none are encountered by the Chief or Buck's Squad for the remainder of the war.

Skirmishers and Jackals are males and females, respectively.

• Since they are a bird-like species, we can assume that they evolved similar behavior and colorations. While male birds tend to be colorful for courtship and distracting predators, female birds tend towards dull coloration for camouflage. If this is the case for the Jackals and Skirmishers, it would make sense, as the Skirmishers are colorful close-combat specialists, while Jackals are good at providing covering fire from hidden locations.
  • So you're saying that Jackals have a preference for sniper nests?
    • Jossed by Contact Harvest. Female Jackals don't have plumage on their heads.
    • Also jossed by the Kilo-Five Trilogy; Sav Fel is male, and Skirmishers are basically considered a separate ethnic group.
    • Race technically, they are significantly different physiologically but are apparently of the same species.

one or more of the prophets was personally present when reach fell

• im geussing, most likely, mercy, because he seems the type who would enjoy watching something like that.
• My money would be on Regret, who tends to be the most aggressive of the Hierarchs, often accompanying Sanghelii conquest fleets (as he did in Halo 2.)
• Probably jossed in expanded universe lore, which implies the Hierarchs were still on High Charity.
  • That said, it's possible lesser Prophets were attached to the fleets that destroyed Reach.

Cortana would have chosen to be assigned to Noble Six.

Noble Six had one thing most Spartans didn't have... A Hyper-Lethal Rating! He also had more advanced armor capable of using armor abilities, and was capable of functioning as a lone wolf or as a team member. However, since she was cloned from Dr Halsey she would share her distrust for ONI and Noble Six's shady background involving his participation in ONI activities, and would not trust him because of his file having so much black ink. Hence she chose The Master Chief John-117 despite his outdated equipment, because she had worked with him before and could bring herself to trust him,and he also had a Hyper-Lethal Rating. However, to justify the choice of a less superior Spartan, she made up something about "luck"...

• Never mind that in canon, the Spartan-IIs are physically more powerful than the Spartan-IIIs. Cortana might've figured that a dependence on finding specialized armor abilities in a combat zone wouldn't necessarily be superior. Plus, she knew that the UNSC was developing Mark VI armor for the Spartan-IIs, allowing for dual-wielding and eliminating the need for medical kits, as well as factoring in things like the invisibility and overshield pickups in 1 & 2, or the deployable equipment in 3 (which do serve similar purposes as the armor abilities). Perhaps she figured the Chief was a better long-tern investment?
  • Nah, she picked good ol' 117 because he was 'noble, in a primal sort of way' and 'Lucky'. That last one is important, very important.
• Cortana only chose Noble 6 to carry her, not to be assigned to him.
• Keep in mind Spartan-III's also eventually succumb to some sort of mental derangement that hinders their ability to function. That makes selecting any of them a huge risk, especially since Noble 6's derangement was manifesting already, causing him to take "lone wolf" actions during missions.
  • For reference, on Noble Team, Jun is effectively the most functional Spartan III and that is because his derangement does not impede his abilities in any way. He is just emotionally detached from his actions to the extreme.
    • I have never heard of this "derangement". And I'm sorry, but Jun is the most functional member of the team? What about Carter? Or Kat? Hell, Carter's little speech to Six about need to work as a team and his "Lone Wolf" tendencies don't indicate that his mental state isn't what it should be, it's just that Six has worked on his own for most of his career.
    • The "derangement" is only for Gamma Company, thanks to additional mental augmentations they received. However, all of Noble Team are from Beta and Alpha Company, which never received those. And as for S-IIIs being weaker than S-IIs, they actually aren't. It depends on the individual, but Kurt-051's file on Noble Team says they were selected specifically because they were equivalent to the cream of the crop Spartan-IIs. This poster is correct, if you look on Halopedia, the augmentations giving to both Spartan-II's and III's (the three's given much safer and slightly less powerful augmentations) includes some dendrite something or another that supposed to theoretically triple one's reaction time. However since all two's had the best genetics imiginable, their reaction time is increased fourteen times. Noble Team is composed on individuals except for Jorge, who have these superior genes as well but were not born yet. The augmentations make them as good or almost as good as two's, which is why they were given Mark V armor. Six specifically is probably better than most two's since only he and Chief are hyper-lethal.
• Perhaps the 'Luck' part comes from the book 'Fall of Reach' in response to how John was chosen for the Spartan II program, by the flip of a coin. Perhaps Six was originally a possible candidate for the Spartan II project, but unlike John, their final consideration for acceptance was decided on the flip of a coin as well and as we know Six is a Spartan III, we can take that as them being 'unlucky'.
  • The S-III program started in 2531, the S-II program sometime during 2517. Six is likely from Beta company, which was approved in 2539 - all S-IIIs are between the ages of 6 and 12 when they're recruited so unless Six was in cryo for nearly 20 years, it's unlikely they were ever a candidate for the S-II program.

The AI Noble 6 takes is not Cortana.

First, according to the books, MC had Cortana before the Covanent ever invaded (not to mention that the Autumn never left orbit in the book). Second, Halsey refers to the AI in a way that suggests it is of forerunner, not human, origin. In referring to the forerunner ship she says "this ai is it's custodian" which almost definitely confirms this WMG. The shot of a holo-figure resembling Cortana was only a bone Bungie threw to the fans who did not read the books. As far as the humans know, the Autumn's jump was random and finding the Halo was luck, but the forerunner AI actually guided their "randomized" slipspace jump to the Halo. The only bump in the theory is how such an important package simply doesn't exist in Halo 1. Either 1) Cortana (to a lesser degree) assimilated the forerunner AI or 2) the forerunner AI terminated itself after guiding the Autumn to Halo.

• Yes and no. The AI was a fragment of Cortana who lacks her personality, and was used by Halsey for desk work and data storage. Once it got on the Autumn, the two became one.

Kat was really Harbinger.

"DIRECT INTERVENT- er, action may be necessary."

Noble 6's Armor really is...

This will lead to some interesting plot speculation...

• Helmet: Pilot w/ Attachment
• Visor: Silver
• Chest: Parafoil R
• Left Shoulder: Multithreat
• Right Shoulder: N/A
• Wrist: Tactical UGPS
• Utility: Tactical Softcase
• Knee Guards: FJ/Para
• Color: Rust

One thing the ONI did not specify, was that Spartan B312 had been absent for a long long time following a severe injury. Losing his arm and nearly loosing the armor to an explosion. Noble Six flat out denied refreshing the metal after a prosthetic was installed. Haunted Helmet, Multithreat, UGPS, and FJ/Para Knees mainly support this theory. We basically have more than one horribly wounded soldier. What Six survived was what also made him Lethal Vector in the first place.

• Or Noble 6's characteristics are not canonically specified, or if they are they are the default black armor he is seen wearing in every promotional piece.

Reach was settled by Magyars.

Judging from Jorge and the prevalence of Hungarian, it's likely that the colony might have been part of a nationalist resettlement plan by the UNSC in the same way Katagalugan on Mars was to Filipinos.

Jorge is alive and in space somewhere

Before you all get mad at me, think about this; Jorge was inside a Slipspace capable vessel during Long Night of Solace. And the rip enveloped the entire ship. Meaning it's in one piece. All he has to do is get it working again, something not impossible for a Spartan to do, and Slip back to UNSC space.

Emile is not who he says he is.

Just something I though up while reading Emile's profile on here. We never see him take his helmet off, and his voice seems...artificial at times, like he's wearing some kind of voice masking tech in his helmet. My theory; Emile-A239 does not exist. Whoever is wearing that helmet doesn't want Noble to know who he is. My personal theory; he's actually Shane from Spartan-III Alpha Company, who somehow survived Operation PROMETHEUS and made it back to UNSC space. Why he's hiding, I don't know.

• Artificial voice, you say? Alternate theory- he's a robot!
• Or he's a colony of Lekgolo (the worm-creatures that make up Hunters). He/it/they are animating the suit, just like Leklogo do the Hunter armor.

In Beta-testing, it was originally possible to weaponize forklifts

• The Achievement for successfully running over an enemy would have been "They tried to kill me with a foklift!"
  • Sort of; Bungie confirmed that the forklift used to have the ability to raise and lower its forks, but cut it out because it had a tendency of launching players high into the sky.

The Covenant advanced fleet's main purpose was to deliberately lure in as many outside UNSC reinforcements to Reach as possible

• It seems sort of strange that the Fleet of Valiant Prudence (the one with the supercarrier Long Night of Solace) had about a month to dick around before the main fleet finally came in to support them, even though they probably figured out the location of planetary headquarters and the MAC generators fairly quickly. But then I figured that:
  • 1. The Covenant were in this war not to conquer, but to exterminate.
  • 2. The Cole Protocol limited their knowledge of the locations of human worlds.
  • 3. It wouldn't take a genius for Covenant military analysts to figure out that the UNSC Navy, already incredibly inferior to their own, was not looking so hot come 2552 (despite their Pyrrhic victory at Sigma Octavius IV).
  • 4. Therefore, it sort of makes sense that the Covies would want to increase the number of humans they could kill in a single go, regardless of whether said humans were armed or not. Additionally, wiping out a good chunk of humanity's fleet at one location would make it more feasible to further split up the Covenant fleets to search for the remaining UNSC worlds.
  • 5. So, once Valiant Prudence relayed the info that Reach was a very important human world, Covie high command might have decided that instead of overrunning the planet immediately (and therefore giving UNSC HIGHCOM an incentive to keep their fleets back to protect the worlds they still have), they would let their advanced force make a lot of noise, hopefully drawing in tons of UNSC reinforcements from outside the system, which they would proceed to wipe out with the main fleet.
  • 6. If that's the case, it did work; Auntie Dot mentions at the beginning of "Long Night of Solace" that 60% of the remaining UNSC fleet already were en route to Reach, well before the rest of the Covie fleet revealed itself.
  • Additionally, the Data Drops explain why it took over a month for said plan to come to fruition; ONI and HIGHCOM were deliberately holding their forces back in order to lure the Covenant to a position where they could capture one of their ships. They didn't take the bait immediately, so the Covies had to wait to spring their trap.
  • New info: Waypoint and the Fleet Battles game indicate that Valiant Prudence suffered a similar situation to Regret's fleet in Halo 2; it was an artifact-hunting fleet that stumbled across a human world, with Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee taking a while to even realize Reach's importance. That said, it's still possible Covenant high command figured it out quicker, and let him stumble about while they gathered a second fleet.

Noble Six was a sociopathic mass murderer before becoming a Spartan

After getting caught with murder, Noble Six was sentenced to "death" by the UNSC by being forced to be a Spartan, whose entire purpose is to fight to the point of sacrificing their lives. This explains Six's rating of "Hyper-Lethal", as well as why no one knows their name, as the UNSC knew that Noble Team would not be too accepting to Six if they knew they was an infamous murderer.

• It also explains why Six dies instantly if they kill a civilian, as the UNSC monitors them to make sure they does not return to their murderer tendencies, and have installed a kill switch into Six's armor.
• Jossed; the IIIs were all recruited as young children, making it unlikely that Six (who was from Beta Company) would have had the chance to have become an infamous mass murderer before being picked up by ONI at the age of 4-9. Then again, Enfante Terrible and all that...

The Master Chief Collection will eventually add a proper map suited for space combat.

Putting this here, due to the presence of space combat in Reach.When Reach was added to the MCC, 343 added in extra Forge items, such as the Target Designator, additional scenery, and props from maps that were added as DLC in the original game.

But the most obvious addition is that of drivable Sabres and Seraphs. They can only be spawned on Forge World and Tempest, and neither map is conducive for an aerial dogfight, due to all the obstructing scenery. As such, there may be a new map added that allows space combat. Perhaps an assault on Anchor Nine, a la Long Night of Solace, or an attack on a Covenant space station.

To balance out the UNSC having only one space-capable plane compared to the Covenant's three, two new UNSC vehicles will be added: the Booster Frame, as a parallel to the Banshee Interceptor and a Pelican gunship, as a counterpart to the Phantom gunboat.