Why This Halo Reach Mystery Is Still Unsolved 14 Years Later 

“Your body, your armor - all burned and turned to glass. Everything… except your courage”

I think its really damn cool how we uncovered someone's long lost discoveries. Its something straight out of Indiana Jones. These are relics lost to time itself, and we just discovered it. Its mystical. Nostalgic and mystical.

Dev - puts random symbolic thing on building ( laughs ) “ this random symbol with no meaning will keep them busy for decades “

The poster at 2:55 with 1 red Spartan is the successfully augmented Spartan II’s, with the red one being the Master Chief. There’s 36 figures, which accounts for the 36 successful augmentations!

I thought it was Quick Turn Around 12 - 6. On air, it's common to refer to your position like you see a clock: 12 is forward, 3 is right, 6 is back and 9 is left. So if you're going to you 12, a 'quick turn around' would be you quickly reverse to going to your 6

I can't believe you really baited me into watching 30 minutes of absolutely nothing, well done!

The circular symbols also appear in CE as well. They appear just before you enter the rooms where you cause the fusion reactors to malfunction in Two Betrayals. Those rooms are also circular, similar to the housing complexes on the first level of Reach.

5 sparrows... 5 sacrificed Spartans from Noble Team For 2 farthings... Chief & Cortana. Won't forget the 5 who died for the 2.

Marty already admitted in an article in an interview that bungie would put random things that meant nothing into the game just to create a sense Of mystery, qta means nothing specifically Gpt confirmed this

That strange machine at 3:14 is actually a protective box that's actually often used for manufacturing stuff or other situations where PPE in a sealed environment is necessary. Personally, I have used them for when I'm sandblasting metal parts, but I've also seen them used in chemistry labs and hospitals (when they are handling newborns in the NICU). They are usually made a little differently for their specific purpose, i.e. the NICU boxes would obviously be a bit different than a glovebox used for sandblasting. Looks like they're sometimes using the same technology 500 years later haha.

Print out all the circles and put them on one another and use it as a Cipher for...something

Guys. It's true. I can confirm this for you. Neko really did left without a warn. It was crazy.

So long as there are questions left unanswered, there will always be those seeking those answers. And Rocket Sloth will always bring us videos explaining what the possible answers are.

What about translating Covenant dialogue? Marty said that they're all translatable in Reach.

What if those disks are like visual representations of bits on a CD, and form a sort of circular QR code that is meant for quickly accessing information about the locations they are placed in?

I personally stand by the conclusion that QTA is Quick Turn Around. It makes the most logical sense to me. It's always fun to make connections and theorise, though! Great vid :)

Every time Elijah mispronounces "Neko" I die a bit inside.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, or is related at all, but way back when Reach first released I per-ordered the legendary edition which came with the large noble team statue. This statue depicted the members of Noble team standing around a stone pillar type structure, however something I always found strange was that if you turned the state around, at the base of the stone pillar was a large semi circular emblem design that is VERY similar to these circular glyphs. Not exact copies, but a similar fragmented, circular design. Like I said, it was just a weird little detail that I never fully connected to anything, but watching this video now it just reminded me of the statue and it's symbol. Could be completely unrelated but I thought it was an interesting observation nonetheless.

-describes random unconnected tidbits -proceeds to talk about some ancient teenage xbox drama -fills the whole video with it and sprinkles it with gpt -refuses to elaborate -leaves

The poster at 3:05 could simply be of Reach and her two moons Csodaszarvas and Turul.

5 members of Noble team died. Halsey and Cortana were saved. Two cents, five sparrows.

There’s a Matt Colville video about the (potential) links between Halo and Marathon that’s well worth a watch

I love this stuff, thanks for continuing to produce amazing content! I love Halo, especially Reach, and ARGs and your Halo mystery videos are amazing.

QTA is a short way of saying Quality Test Assurance. Which nowadays is often called QA Testing. Or Quality Assurance Testing. The roman numerals are likely a number assigned to a specific test where something of note occured in relation to the overall quality of the game while it was in development. Likely an internal update number. Since then the devs probably thought it was funny to tease the community with what amounts to an inside joke.

QTA in radio means: "Cancel message as if it had not been sent". Could this refer to an elite military team focused on enemy interception? Also notable is that military use suggests the phrase could mean "Quick Target Acquisition" which does fit well with the ODST response team. But I have no theories behind the numbers, which seem to be the most important part of the puzzle.

The symbols really remind me of Binary. If you look at the "recent" Mars rover landing and keep an eye out for the parachut as it lands, it has a similar pattern. If the circle is straightened out into columns, they can be deciphered using binary. I personally probably can't do it. So I hope someone sees this 😅 and gives it a shot.

“I tell you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more” ; In relation to the halsey quote, They can kill your body, but nothing can kill your soul. AKA “everything except your courage”

Great premise for the video :)

You can find the symbol that was in the thumbnail of this video in the hallways of the Level "Assault on the Control Room" in Halo CE with classic graphics. I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned in the vid

The symbol on the cleaning supplies is different enough for me to think it could be coincidental. It actually reminds me of a QR Code a bit so it could just be an artist trying to create a futuristic looking type of QR Code. 12/6 being a date makes a lot of sense. Possibly it was a planned date for something which Bungie had to delay or cancel so now it doesn't make sense. (Edit: As you can see I type my comment before I finish the video.) The Luke 12:6 reference the other channel makes is probably referring to the Noble team Spartans as sparrows. That verse is actually talking about how God cares for all his creations, even the most insignificant sparrow, so he certainly cares for people. I think they probably cited the King James Version of the Bible for this which makes things line up a bit closer. Personally I suspect they just went through 12:6 in each book of the Bible until they found something interesting, so I don't think there's a connection unless someone can explain why Luke (or even the Bible) specifically from hints in the game. Also worth noting only four members of Noble team died (though Jun's fate was never known tp Noble 6). Again with Luke 12:4 it does sound like there could be a connection until you mull over what the Bible is trying to say, and then it doesn't really match the game dialog then. Luke 12:4 is talking about how Christians should not fall into the trap of seeing other people as their enemies, but instead Satan/demons. For the 12/6/09 video upload theory, did you check the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine?

I like the theory of "Quick Turn Around 12-6" as in army talk, turning around would have you face 12, then 6.

The "symbols" on the cleaning spray, cheeseburger lid, and at 0:21 appear to just be some form of qr code. If you don't know what I mean look up the wikipedia page for shotcode. There was also an xbox blog post in 2006 where they partnered with shotcode for a promotion. The stuff on the buildings is significantly different, though.

for the "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents" perhaps the old researcher was referencing the fact that 5 spartans died so that Cortana and John could make it off of reach. Might be a stretch but ya know.

@Rocketsloth I think I've figured it out, I believe QTA is an equation. Specifically a section of the Gram-Schmidt equation, where QTA is sort of a placeholder, sort of like x in many equations. Taking that into account I took 12/6 as inputs and T as ^T for tangent. I took the 12 and multiplied it by a tangent of 6 to get a quite long decimal. I simplified the decimal by rounding, the decimal ended up as 1.25, or 5/4, May 4th. I got confused here, but looked at Halo Reach's Halopedia page. Apparently May 3rd was Halo Reach's Multiplayer beta flight testing of sorts. I thought maybe the planned this testing on May 4th, but decided to start the testing a day early.

I went back to ChatGPT and asked the question, "what does QTA VII/VI mean halo reach" the AI responded _"QTA VII/VI" is a code that appears in the game Halo: Reach, and it refers to a specific location on the planet Reach._ _According to the game, QTA VII/VI is a section of the planet's surface that was designated for excavation by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), a human military intelligence agency. The exact nature of what was being excavated at QTA VII/VI is not explicitly stated in the game, but it's implied that ONI was interested in uncovering some kind of artifact or technology that had been buried on Reach._ _Players encounter the QTA VII/VI location during the campaign mission "New Alexandria," when they must fly through a portion of the city and avoid enemy fire while attempting to reach a landing pad. The code appears on several of the buildings in this section of the city, which suggests that ONI had a significant presence there."_ When asked to expand it wrote _"While the exact nature of what was being excavated at QTA VII/VI on Reach is not explicitly stated in the game, there are a few additional details that can provide some context._ _In the game's official novelization, "Halo: The Fall of Reach," it's mentioned that the Office of Naval Intelligence had been conducting "classified research" on Reach for several years prior to the events of the game. This research reportedly involved the study of Forerunner artifacts and technology, which ONI believed could be used to help win the war against the Covenant._ _It's possible, then, that the excavation at QTA VII/VI was part of this larger Forerunner research project. Some fans have speculated that the code may refer to a specific Forerunner artifact or site that ONI was attempting to uncover. However, without further information from the game's creators, the true nature of the excavation remains a mystery."_ I asked it if there was anything else I should know or it could tell me and it replied _"There is not much additional information available about QTA VII/VI beyond what is mentioned in the game and its related media. However, it's worth noting that the code itself is likely a reference to the military practice of using alphanumeric codes to designate specific locations._ _In real-world military operations, these codes can be used to identify everything from individual buildings to entire regions of a country. For example, during the Vietnam War, the U.S. military used a system of alphanumeric codes to designate different areas of the country for operations and logistics purposes._ _It's possible that the code "QTA VII/VI" is meant to imply that this is the seventh area designated for excavation in region six on Reach. While this is just speculation, it would be in keeping with the way that military forces in the real world use alphanumeric codes to identify specific locations."_ What could all of this mean? In the video there was no speculation of involvement from ONI or from Forerunners, it also didn't mention anything about New Alexandria. I believe the AI's referring to the excavation site underneath the ONI base that we go into in one of the last missions _The Package_ . I did some further research on the military code ChatGPT was talking about and it said _"Assuming that the "QTA" in "QTA VII/VI" stands for "quadrant," it's possible that it's referring to a specific 100-kilometer square on the planet Reach. The "VII/VI" could then represent a coordinate within that quadrant, indicating a specific location within that 100-kilometer area."_ Could this actually be in game coordinates or does anyone think this could be a reach? Personally, if it does have any correlation with ONI and the excavation site, I believe that is where the forerunner artifact they're excavating is. Nevertheless, I believe you should keep looking into this, maybe see if ChatGPT was right in saying there are marking of QTA XII/VI on the buildings.

This is the type of content I subscribe for. Loving every moment of it!

If QTA stands for "Quick Turn Around" then it seems most obvious that 12/6 would be referring to directional callouts, specifically going from 12 to 6 as you turn around

They went so Insane with ODST they know need to go down rabbit holes and I’m all for it

hey rocket sloth, was watching the video '117 things you may have missed about halo reach' by the channel EBR and he mentions at the start of the video how the symbol found at the first compound is also the same symbol in the mission assault on the control room from halo combat evolved. This would make sense the easter egg may have something to do with the previous games seeing as it was bungies last game

Yo this music slapps

It’s the glyphs all over again.

Those circles are like a binary code. Look into the Opportunity drop on mars. I believe its parachute was adorned with one of those symbols. Scott Manley has a video on it.

QTA is QTA rotary airlock in 12 inch and 6 inch sizes.

QUESTION THE AUTHOR (QtA) is a question answering and generating strategy that improves comprehension by helping students pose questions while reading a given text, helping to solidify their knowledge and challenge their understanding. QtA is used during reading.

The circular glyph is similar to the Halo 2 loading screen, and kind of reminds me of the layout of the Halo firing mechanism where the Tartarus fight happens, with rotating platforms around a central circular core.

I mean "quick turn around 12/6" just makes me think "quick, turn around!" And that your 12 and 6 would be a literal turn around (12 being in front and 6 being behind you) thats about as far as my monkey brain gets with analysing this 😂 More over, when reach originally came out i had always assumed those glyph symbols were basically top down views of those structures as you had suggested, with inclusion of some of the inner structure as well. Then having the orientation of the symbol being relative to some significance to the devs (either the perspective from which they were placed on the map in orientation to each other or something such like) though i had never noticed the symbol on the smaller objects through the maps as well like the cleaning spray. Although now looking at it and with the additional context of the qta thing and numbers i do have to say they mildly remind me of the inner structure to a combination lock 🤔 with the rotating pins having to match up to correctly unlock. Anyway, good luck figuring out this one.

The circular symbols look a lot like QR codes in our world. Its possible that these r simply forms of world building as they appear on not only buildings for logistical production, energy production as well as various civilian items. Maybe in universe people could scan this symbols with their data pads and review information on whatever they scanned. Its possible that this was a minute bit of set dressing that one artist was very passionate about that never really came to fruition.

I'm only halfway through the video, but did you ever consider it could be akin to a QR code? For example, symbols on the bottles symbolize it comes from a cleaning facility and the buildings with that same symbol are for janitorial and cleaning services?

Sorry for the comments But maybe 12 is for the 11 reach missions, and the scrapped one where you go across the glasses ground and 6 is for the people on the team

It's not anything super exciting buy Captain Cutter was born June 12th 2479. That's 12/6 with the European Date format and honestly it's the best i have so far. Although I have no idea what the QTA is about. Quite possibly it might have something to do with Captain Cutter and Halo Wars being released in 2009 which was before Reach while the theory of it being a teaser for the release of reach is around. Halo Wars was a Bungie Era game after all and Cutter was born on Reach. Probably would have been on Reach if the Spirit of Fire's FTL Drive was still in one piece and not used to blow an artificial star and planet into 5,000,000 pieces. Honestly that's my best guess

I hate that they shut down the servers but they also removed armor from being used online

When i saw the symbols on the buildings in Reach, I immediately thought of the irl easter egg hidden inside the parachute of the perseverance Mars rover. It uses several layers of binary to say "Dare Mighty Things" and comes out looking similar to these Reach symbols.

The circles on the building and on the detergent box reminds me if the DHARMA Initiative sites from lost, each site had their own logo....thats all I could add to the discussion

My theory on the circular symbols is that they are round "bar codes" or QR-like codes. There's probably even a way to decode them if you look carefully at the higher detailed ones.

The circle symbols are Binary QR, if to look at it, space is 0, block is 1. Just need to decipher what the Binary is.

Reminds me of a parachute used on a recent Mars landing…

Five sparrow are the five Spartans of noble team that died

There is a game design philosophy that boils down to this. Add mystery and they will speculate and speculation leads to engagement and engagement leads to more players. Puzzles that are puzzling leads to a tighter community does it have to have a conclusion. You would like it to to give the community a feeling of success but you don’t have to sometimes the mystery should be kept a mystery

These symbols could be the Halo universe equivalent of a QR code, indicating building numbers, laundry products, etc.

Also I feel like we’re over complicating this, let’s focus on the panel being 2-3 weeks before the launch of the Reach and Joe saying “let’s see if y’all can figure it out by the time the games out” what tools would we have had at our disposal at that time???

Awe the way he takes us to the beginning here! I miss this game very much

"You thought the Great Journey was boring? You were wrong." - The Prophets to the Arbiter.

That one box thing could just be a relatively mundane box for potentially hazardous or noxious materials. I forgot what they are called.

Thanks for putting verses in this most people would just be to scared to do this

The verse and dialogue can be made out as a teaser for halo Reach’s noble team of 6 Spartans. I believe

I always thought they were some more futuristic version of a QR code. Maybe something for augmented reality where the code triggers a more complex headset display.

The circular markings look like they may have a function similiar to a QR code, maybe technichians/engineers have a way to interpret them to see which building has the components that they have been ordered to maintain/fix/retrofit, or something.

May be someone has said it but I'm more blown away for the presence of Buck in New Alexandria, what was his mission?

Have you checked the overlook firefight map? Also the circles could fit into eachother, like legos or puzzle pieces

there was that achievement called "KEEP IT CLEAN" in winter contingency

13:25 maybe its saying how 5 members of noble team died for master chief and cortana to save humanity idk

My step-dad watching this theorized that the glyphs may be a circular Barcode. And that they just need to un-wrapped and decoded. And that it appearing on Soap may be a hint that that's what it is, because you use barcodes to buy items. He also noticed that the clear spacing shrinks as you near the punch hole in the center, making him think it's just a wrapped code. He also thinks maybe for the QTA it might just be a mystery designed for ODST and a Reach reveal that a new designer didn't know the importance of and just put it in the game as a call-back.

One thing that can be said for sure with out hesitation is that Bungie's passion and creativity in making games is unmatched. I mean we are still going back 10 years later and finding interesting things. Thank you Bungie. Halo misses you

All that and you DIDN'T ASK MARTY FIRST? He'd probably tell you if the secret was still active or not. Especially if this was something cancelled.

It's the last place the traveler touched, the machine God that is actually a certain ai, and the source of the digitizing powers that the Halo rings expel

well obviously the 12 was for the months till the next release and the 6 was for the amount of people in the team in said next release

3:20 could be just a sand/hydro blaster for cleaning stuff. Use one everyday myself

I believe QTA does stand for Quick Turn Around as ODST’s were known for their highest death rate and the fact that in ODST you are the new recruit and they don’t even take time to learn your name because you’ll probably die and be replaced aka “Quick Turn Around”

3:20 so it's worth mentioning it's not just nuclear stuff that those are used for, in fact idk if it is used for nuclear stuff. That mainly is used for isolated research, where you require what ever you are working with to remain sealed. This is usually to prevent viruses or toxins from being released into the air and infecting the person performing the research, or it could also be the other way around, keeping the research clean of any outside contamination. These are also used in industry, mainly sand blasting small metals. You can see this be used on some RU-vid restoration videos where people take apart old rusted objects and sand blast the old paint and rust off inside machines like this. Also, the round symbols. Are those not just something scannable? Not by us currently but those seem to be something that is meant to be scanned by a device in universe, like a QR code or a barcode, but rounded. That to me looks like physical data like qr codes

The yellow poster works as both an Destiny easter egg, and a model of Reach and its 2 moons. Not sure what the 12 pine tree-shaped things on the bottom are supposed to be though.

18:50 Why did you put divorce papers?

2:35 - Pretty sure that poster is referencing one of the old Bungie forum's built-in profile pictures, unless they're both referencing some third thing.

i think XII means the number of years that bungie worked in halo and VI the number of years that bungie worked in marathon

While I like the whole theory, this 110% was some dev just slapping random symbols down

There is some lore in Destiny lore about this mysterious Oxta, and they break down how there was a mistranslation and dilects affect how it was meant to be said, Oxa. An AI that named Sundaresh. And she's intertwined into another AI copied into Destiny's universe, a Clovis Bray

2:26 maybe it’s the same type of code as the nasa parachute which was a circle with a bunch of lines and could be changed to decipher it

The poster with all the people except one of them red might mean theres an enemy among them, because red means enemy in Halo and most video games

Oh boy, here we go again

The circles are futuristic QR codes, they should be deciphered as such. They could be in a CD format as well or in a twisted rectangular format.

I feel it could mean “quitting time already?” And a date

The fact it's been 14 years just makes me depressed

QTA could be something like QRF or quick reaction force and 12/6 could be the division and then platoon. I don't know what QTA could stand for though.

the circular symbol is also on the back of the reach game manual

The symbols reminded me of some depictions of a scomp link in star wars. You know, the computer holes the droids stick their little arms into

It’s interesting that QTA XII/VI is only on the Major’s tactical hard case (UA/NxRA), but I’m not sure if that means anything.

It's Morse code the Mars rover parachute used the same thing Just need to add the lines in and it looks like the "fan" with the arrow is a key

the circular symbol look like a Binary Rotary Encoder Wheel.

Those symbols resemble rotary encoders, if you are able to read them they create I binary sequence but I don't have the time to photo shop them and try and read them

The circle symbols look like round QR codes. Maybe they could be like in-universe future QR codes.

I wonder if the one red spartan is a call to John 117 having that unique gene that allows him to use forerunner tech.