HALO: THE FALL OF REACH Reaction 

The fact that the spartans were made to fight insurrectionists and not the covenant is one of my favorite twists in the lore. I can’t wait for Halo 2 which will give you that covenant lore you’re craving. I also cant wait for Halo Reach, you’re in for a wild ride.

Combat Evolved takes place 27 years after Sam's death. Just to give you a sense of the time line.

As far as why the Covenant are eliminating humanity, you're on track about them worshipping the Forerunners and viewing them as gods. There's a history there that's only hinted at in the games but the books will give detailed answers to the questions you posed.

Chief's origin story is by far the most important part of that book, but It's weird to me that the "Fall of Reach" animated adaptation just kinda stops before the final chapter. The original book ends literally minutes before Halo 1 takes place and explains why keyes was taking a random jump to nowhere in the first place. If memory serves, the book version also gives a lot of answers to the questions you have about what Cortana is and why she behaves like she does, too.

Trivia time: To continue with the tradition of referencing the number 7: -John's 117 tag number IS the number 7 because 1x1x7=7 -John-117 contains 7 numbers and letters. -When Hasley chose John for the program, she noticed "how special" he was, but she realized something else... With the coin test she wasn't testing his precisision, she was measuring his luck, and 7 is a lucky number, just like the Chief. -"Spartan" is a 7-letters long word. -Samuel-034's tag is also 7: 0+3+4=7 Spartans never die, they're just missing in action. And speaking about the Halo Iceberg, the only thing I'll say is "be careful not to dive too much into it this early" it could spoil some of the games. I think the safest moment to approach most of the lore is after playing (at least) Halo 1,2, and Reach. That's when we (at least I) will start recommending a bunch of complementary media full of awesome stories!

Halsey does care about the kids, but she's the character of the mindset of "the end will justify the means"

> "My name is pronounced 'George'!" > [ZAP] > "Don't you back talk me, [Spanishly] Jorge!" One of my favourite first chronological appearances with one of my fave characters in the series.

Halo Legends would be a fun reaction, it's an anthology of separate stories written by various writers and presented in different styles, though most of them are anime. Some canon some noncanon. Got some absolute classics in there! Halo Evolutions: Headhunters is also an official short story you can find right on youtube! Only 20ish minutes long but, pretty great content nonetheless

Halsey was commited to always call them as what they where ‘children’ to never forget the attrocity of her own actions and remind her that she has no humanity left to loose to make even more for the grater good of humanity 😢

Certain editions of Halo: Reach came with a copy of Dr. Halsey's diary that she wrote during the events of this film, which contains a lot of the technical science behind the Spartan augmentations and Mjolnir armor. It also contains deeper characterization of her, and shows how she coped with the acts she committed. An interesting read all around, and shows the moral complexities of her character. You can find a pdf pretty easily online.

If you want a good (but relatively long) deeper dive, definitely check out the audiobook version of the Fall of Reach. This movie is serviceable, but it’s an abridged retelling with major Spartan characters entirely missing from the movie, which is sad given the whole thing at the beginning about remembering their friends. Also Keyes is in the book, and it’s like THE primary source on Keyes as a person and how he handles the insanity around him, which compounds on his heroism in CE

You should read the fall of reach book. Goes into a lot more detail and is just a great book and most of the early halo books are great. Can’t comment on the newer ones as I haven’t read them yet but I’ve heard good things about some of them. (I would definitely recommend the audiobook version)

My biggest issue with the Fall of Reach movie is that they don’t capture the moral complexities of Dr Halsey’s character because they don’t really explain her reasoning.

God I love how much Lore the halo universe has

I sobbed. I haven't watched Fall of Reach in years, and thinking about something that Meg hasn't seen yet really hit me.

That's typical Dr Halsey. She always tries to suppress her emotion and the task and or mission is more important Edit: well, she was working for ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) during the Spartan program so there's that.

All UNSC AIs are created by flash-copying an actual human mind. So, yes, Dr. Halsey and Cortana do have the same voice, because Halsey created Cortana from her own mind. The novel has some amazing quotes, such as "I have no idea where they got the rope".

The movie doesn’t go into it much but Halsey cares for the Spartan IIs like they are her children, she tried as hard as she could to ensure those augmentations were as safe as they could be. Believe me when I say the Spartan II’s are the best and as stable as they could have been for the available tech. She cares but she also has a job to do. while she doesn’t regret her actions she does recognize they were horrific.

Honestly Mendez was a good dude, he was trying to comfort John in the best way possible in Military terms. Because they were still children, he was afraid on behalf of everyone else, give them too much leisure and that childish disobedient phase will strike. And everything about them were enhanced besides their Sympathy. Every single emotion would be overcharged, so an angry 14 year old Spartan angrily attacking people was the biggest worry.

the one live action I would watch before halo 4 is forward unto dawn

Cant wait for the halo legends reaction

If you want to get into the minds of normal people and how scary the covenant are, contact harvest is a fantastic book. Follows Sgt Johnson in his earlier career at first contact

Cortana did not belong to Keyes, they were simply assigned to the same ship, the Pillar of Autumn. Halo: Reach explains Cortana’s creation and what makes her unique as an AI, as well as the significance of the Pillar of Autumn and why it was running from the Covenant at the beginning of Combat Evolved

I love the fact that you are intrigued by the Insurrection in Halo, it really is the most untapped potential in the lore and you were really on the mark about the UNSC and the government not being as good as you'd think for how utopian it appears.

The questions you ask make me so excited for your future Halo play-throughs. Many mysteries and many answers to come!

You definitely need to read The Fall of Reach too. This animated movie only covers about half of it. That book is one of the best I have ever read (including TLOTR) and it will have you on the edge of your seat.

the thing is that cortanas cerebral patterns are those of dr. halsey. she cloned herself and loaded the clones brain patterns into an artificial intelligence network, destroying the clones brain in the process. this is why her voice reminds you of cortana.

I heavily recommend the book Halo: Contact Harvest! it has little to no spoilers for future games, and gives a story which covers and explains the start of the human-covenant war and lore. if you read the books it would be cool to get your thoughts, if you had any you wanted to share. Hope you see this so I can let you know that I love your content! 10/10 best reactions and thoughts as you play through some of my favorite games!

Halsey is a genius, and her work was crucial to saving humanity, but ultimately she is still a war criminal. I wouldn't go so far to say nothing justifies the spartan program. If it weren't for what was done to those kids to make them into spartans, the human race, including them, would have been wiped out. That said, if the people involved with the program are going to argue that no cost is too high to avoid extinction, then part of that cost has to be their own when they're tried as war criminals after it's all done.

If you want more knowledge on why the covenant attacked humanity and aren’t against reading the books, I recommend “Halo: Contact Harvest”. Remember the planet they said they saw the covenant ship near? Well, this book covers what happened on the planet from the perspective of the humans, some Ais, and the covenant. And not just the perspective of any human, but Sgt. Johnson.

so glad to see you react to this a lot of halo playthroughs skip this short film. Looking forward to halo 2.

When they are in the "tubes" they were in cryo sleep. I think it is used to sleep off traveling long distances. AIs watch after the ship and the crews wake up from cyro once they are close to the destination.

Halo 2 is going to be very lore heavy compared to combat evolved. So pay very close attention to the cutscenes. :) can’t wait to see you play.

Before playing halo 4 watch forward unto dawn it’s a great live action halo movie

31:55 when the Covenant found harvest, their forerunner-based radars identified the humans individually across the planet. Originally the covenant thought that the icons were artifacts since they were labeled “reclamation.” When the future prophets of Truth, Mercy, and Regret presented the data to the forerunner AI in high charity, it identified the symbol as “Reclaimer”, the ones meant to inherit the role held by the Forerunners. The trio mistook this as humanity being forerunners who hadn’t ascended. If this knowledge got out, they feared that the covenant would be shattered. So they tried to wipe out humanity to cover up the truth.

at some point you will have to look at the Forward unto Dawn movie/miniseries. one of the better halo live action stuffs out there!

I really enjoyed your reactions to Halo: the Fall of Reach and I don't know to much about the Halo games except for the first two I really like this here Thanks very much Meg.👍💯💯👍

Wow I didn't expect you to dive deep into the Halo iceberg so fast, I mean, I know that was going to be the Halo content you would connect more with (and the coolest conversations on the subject). You've been asking about what would be the "awful" thing that humanity has done in this universe, this is the start of it. But without getting into too many details, I'm sure you'll love Halo (not an actual game, just me censoring the actual game I'm talking about)

Its been a pleasure watching you enjoy Halo, especially with this unusual order by watching this before playing Halo 2. I think this will set you up well for the rest of the mainline Halo games

Tiny misconception, at the start of the war, there were slightly over 30 Spartan IIs active. It increased slightly after they managed to to resuscitate and reaugment some of the "washouts". Currently, there are about 14 surviving Spartan IIs.

is the fall of reach book the 2011 version? cause that's the most updated with the lore, and text corrections, cause the 2001 version had a bunch of errors because the lore was new, such as the UNSC [humans] not encoutering elites until the last year of the war in 2552, which in the lore added after in the first years already contradicting it and retconning it to humanity already fighting them in the war's beginning in 2525.

7:20, He's not watching the coin... he's lucky.

4:38 Yep. Cortana was basically "flash-cloned" from Halsey's brain and converted into an AI, so they share a voice, and, therefore, a voice actor.

No spoilers here, but if you want more covenant lore, the reason, not much is explained in Halo:CE, Is that the game was never planed to have a sequel. Bungie didnt take it very seriously. But when Halo:CE broke records, Bungie got kicked into high gear, and made lore, narratives, and story elements, that Halo 2 will finally give you. Because Halo:CE was never really meant to have a story. But halo 2, 3 and 4 explain about 60% of what is going on through out the games. However, most of the lore is in books, and spin off series like, Fall of reach and Halo CE anniversary, Halo 2 anniversary , Halo 3 ,Halo 4 terminals... The original Halo 1 and 2 did not have terminals. The remaster versions do. And btw Halo 3 terminals, were the first, terminals ever. But they are super cryptic, you will not know what is being said. Unless you read Halo Cryptum and some other book. Most of it, is gibberish frankly. So dont feel bad if you dont understand them. Nobody, who didnt read the two books, understood the Halo 3 terminals.

Ok now I can officially ask: Would you rather go through the Spartan 3 Training or through the Trials to become a Witcher?

8:48 it was a necessary to make those kids into spartans the sacrafice of few kids saved all of man kind

I don't think you should read the book and react to it on screen but I do think giving a recap and your thoughts after you read the book would be a good idea. The fall of reach is a good book and dives it to more of the lore and will give you a good understanding of the halo universe.

The thing that bugged me the most about Sam's death was that it didn't have to happen. He would have survived if they'd known more about the suit.

Another Halo movie you could watch right now is "Halo Evolutions: Mona Lisa" I honestly can't recommend it enough along with the other Halo Evolutions stuff, though the others might contain spoilers

During the operation though, Kelly was hit by the Fuel Rod Gun of two Hunters as she tried to protect Dr. Halsey. Once again, she was critically wounded. With burns on seventy two percent of her body, she required Dermacortic steroids to recover.

Definitely read The Fall of Reach and First Strike. Halsey cares. A _lot._

And this animated movie is just a portón of the book and the comic adaptation of the book

let's goo REMEMBER REACH

33:29 fun fact: in the original book, the covenant ship was Much smaller than the Commonwealth. Still did as much damage, though.

Halo 2 is my favorite campaign and maybe the OST i consider the best one. It’s a game that have everything, the only thing I regret is don’t play it when it was at his prime and the fact that is (even for the long the game is by itself ) incomplete or some of the content was cut due to lack of time

They still never answer why some spartans are enlisted and others are commissioned lol

I’m sure someone else mentioned it but in case it hasn’t been said, the movie only covers the first half of the book. The 2nd half has not been adapted into any video esc media sadly : (

The great thing about talking to us o.g. Halo fans is that we've been in it for 20+ years now - which is also a detriment: we see you forming your Halo envelope and putting the right things in it, but there is a lot you've misinterpreted that we're dying to correct you on... though we know you'll get things straight as you go forward, so we don't want to spoil things (well, true fans don't since we believe in the Halo story fabric) What I worry about is the stray DudeBros who only ever treated the game as a shooter and will blurt out things that your wonderful, curious mind should have discovered for itself 😥

Wonderful reaction. I can't wait to see your thoughts on the future games and other side pieces. 💚

I don't know if anyone's recommended it, and I've seen people recommend Headhunters and Evolutions, but there's a short series called Halo Legends. Basically it's a series of unique episodes done by anime artists. All of them, minus one (commenters know the one), are cannon to Halo and keep the desperate spirit that Halo is known for.

the MAC is probably much more powerful then a nuke. when a mass reaches almost lightspeed, its delivered kinetik energy skyrockets.

Bungie, the original creators of Halo, decided not to ever show Master Chiefs face so that players could imagine themselves as him.

29:38 "Then, everything changed when the Covenant attacked."

That would be cool if you read the book.

any thing halo related I'm here

In ONIs defense had they allowed John to continue his life in the colonies he would have gotten glassed by the covenant like his birth parents.

Yeah… we dont talk about the TV show.

Halsey is a complicated person and certainly not a good person, she didn’t make the Spartans to fight the covenant but as you saw in combat evolved humanity would be in a far worse position without them. It’s like if someone made the cure for cancer trying to make a bio weapon.

Yoooo, you did it

If you’re looking for more great halo content, you can’t go wrong with the halo:evolutions animations. My favorites are the Mona Lisa animation, and The Return animation.

So I didn't read all the comments, but I haven't really noticed many people talk about it as I was going through them. Humanity before the Covenant war had already begun a fair bit of colonization, with various planets, moons, asteroid bases and such, numbering in the high couple of hundreds thresholds, a little under a thousand. The inner colonies were the earliest ones and closest to Earth and its unified power of influence. While the outer colonies were further away and created later. The insurrectionist movement was basically born in the outer colonies, who were seeing the UEG as a draconian, oppressive entity keeping them down when they were far away from them. Seeking by many means, sadly often violent. To get their independence. And by violent, I mean taking over UNSC military vessels and using them against the inner colonies kind of violent. That's why the people in charge, though they needed to create something like the Spartan-II program, so they could have a very small group of elite shock troops they could deploy in any situation, that could overwhelm the odds and take over no matter how bad said situation was. Also, Ha! The idea of Cortana having been created from Keyes is kinda funny! But you'll know more about all that as you continue to play! I've certainly enjoyed watching someone new playing through such a classic as Halo:CE from my teens, took me and friends a bit to get through this thing on Legendary of all things. We wanted a challenge and we certainly got it! For now, on to watch your trials in Halo 2!

Halsey is and will always be my favorite Halo character. I can't go into it but she's the best. Also this movie isn't the most accurate representation of her. Regardless she has committed atrocities in name of humanity.

4:44, I can't remember if it mentions it in the show, but Cortana is an AI that was made from the brain of a clone of Halsey I believe, so it's essentially an AI Halsey.

halo reach is my favorite of the games, i would talk about the things that make it so unique and great but i dont wanna spoil anything

There is also a videogame called Halo: Reach, which I'm sure you will get to eventually. Unlike this movie (which is based off the novel: fall of reach) the game will actually show the fall. This movie only covers roughly half of the book.

I can't wait for you to watch Forward unto Dawn!!

You really need to watch Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. It doesn't spoil anything in the games and it's one of the best pieces of Halo media (along with Halo: Legends) outside the games and books.

Can’t wait for Halo 2! See you soon!

3:06 yea this short film only adapts the first third of the book if only this wasnt made as marketing material for halo 5, otherwise we could of gotten more but its fine its interesting enough to get people to read the book themselves to find out more if they care for it

I cried too Meg... I did

Cortana is a clone of Halsey’s mind so yes, they share the voice

In halo 2 there will be a lot of lore brake downs of the covenant in the campaign and in the terminals I'm so excited when you play halo 2 one of the best games in the Frenchies 😂

I do believe once they became full fledged spartans they were given the files of who they were. They new they were taken but still chose to stay they could have revolted rebelled but they didnt.

Hello, will you play far cry 4 and 5 later? I already saw that you played 3, it was incredible:)

The book is so good

There are flaws but i would 100% reccomend Halo: Forward Unto Dawn. Started as a web series and edited into a feature length movie. It's also set at a time where humanity was in a civil war. UNSC Vs The Insurrectionists I reccon you'd definitely enjoy it. Great music, good acting, live- action, and it has some horror elements into it that works so well. Not a huge budget but the showrunners worked with that they had and used that to their advantage in many ways. Look forward to you reacting to that 100%

You should watch the halo legends series.

I'm wasn't in the military, so I wouldn't know how things work, and I didn't even know Halo was bigger than the games until about 10 years ago(24 now), but higher ups had to sign off on the program if not the kids would never have been taken, she wouldn't have had the Resources so really it was mostly military Halsey was just the figurehead so to speak idk just a thought

By 29:25 I cant remember if the show version skipped the part where sam was utterly ruthless and brutal. Once they already got away, he like, did something lol. 31:52 would it be spoiler if it was answered? 40:25 forward unto dawn

You definitely gotta check out Halo Evolutions: Mona Lisa

"What if we miss?" "We won't." Oof, that hurts a lot after having played Halo 2 🥲

You 100% should read the book. :D I would love to see you read the book.

"I need more covenant lore" oh trust Halo 2 will bring it

wanna know how bad oni is jenkins from halo 1

This was sooo good I cant believe how long its been since i last saw this

you should react to the terminals they give a lot of info

You would love halo legends I 100% recommend it

Cortana was made in Halsey's Voice and Image

Contact Harvest fills in some these gaps

we need that halo 2 vid already lol