Halo: Reach, and the Death of the Spartan

16:53 Fun fact: Carter isn't bleeding from his mouth because he's been wounded by Banshee fire, it's because he doesn't floss. Also, something I always appreciated was how appropriate or ironic each Noble's death was. Jorge loves Reach, but is the only one who dies off-planet. Kat, the brains of the team, is shot in the head. Carter, the captain of Noble Team, goes down with his ship alone. Emile is aggressive and confrontational, but his mortal wound came from behind. And Six, who's only recently learned to be a part of a team, dies a lone wolf. Really rubs that salt nicely into the wounds.

I read The Fall of Reach in school long before I ever got the chance to play any Halo games. So Halo Reach was my favourite, and remains there

It was different, watching my buddy Baker play Reach for the first time, a few months ago. He was a solider, fought in Afghanistan against the Talaban and has unfortunately seen some of his own squad mates make the ultimate sacrifice. I won’t forget the way he sighed and smoked a cig, the first in a while. I felt guilty for recommending the game but he told me he loved it. For all the sci-fi, it was a more true to life view of war. Not everyone gets to make it “Never has a game gotten the difference between a Medal of Honor (Jorge’s death) and a statistic (Kat’s death.) so right.” I don’t think I’ll ever forget his observation. His doing ok, for any wondering TLDR; Reach is a different experience for veteran.

Kat's death has always stuck with me as one of the most impactful turning points in a game for me. Kat's death really sets it in that feeling of "im not gonna make it all the way back home, but ive gotta make it to my objective"

20:52 I think Emile was talking to the Elite. Emile was basically a savage in combat. He was kind of a psycho brute, but he was always scared to die. He was always scared to risk himself for others. It's why he carved the skull into his mask. It wasn't just to look scary but also a projection of his fear. That changed when Jorge died. He was always picking fights with Jorge. He was Jorge's antithesis. Jorge cared and risked and when Jorge died, it started to change Emile's perspective. When Jorge is alive and caring for one woman he mutters "He's not the only one (that needs a psych eval)." After Jorge dies it's "*reminiscing laugh* The Big Man was always sentimental." He lived for himself, but inspired by Jorge's example, Emile died for humanity on Reach. He started to accept the skull. To accept death, not as a giver of death, but a participant which he directs to the Elite. I understand the interpretation that the line was meant for Noble-6, but I think it's more likely that this is an indirect, secondary meaning. One that's focused on the narrative. The upper layer is Emile making peace with himself to the Elite. With his ghost that's been following him this whole time (alluding to his helmet and the Elites literally drop off a"Phantom", the same one that killed his teammate Kat, has come for him). The second layer is Bungie to the player. "Are you ready for our time with Halo to be over. Are you ready for your character's fate to be sealed? This is the turning point. Are you ready to lose, so he can win? Are you ready to pass that torch? Are you ready for us to pass this torch? We are ready, because Destiny awaits." Now, it could be all of the above. Emile to the Elite, Emile to Noble-6, Narrative to Noble-6, and Bungie to the player. Layers.

I never understood why so many people hated Halo: Reach when it came out. I think it being a completely different narrative, a tragedy vs. being a heroic story and video games (especially of the time it coming out) oftentimes telling you that you are the protagonist and therefore will win the fight, was a part of that. Sentiments and feelings around video games have changed since then, but I think a lot of people at the time were not prepared for stories where you will lose and were destined to from the beginning. Especially a fps like Halo where you had played the single most important soldier in the game's history across multiple games. This is a lovely video and I appreciate the love for my favorite game in the Halo series.

"Negative, I have the gun, good luck sir."

The first Halo game I played was Halo: Wars. I watched the intro cutscene, cool battles, explosions, carnage, but then as more and more people started dropping I distinctly remember the sad music kicking in and the voiceline closing with: "... It was hell...but at it's ours now." (Probably slightly off but it's a memory) And my friend going:" I thought this was a war game, why is it so sad?" We were just teenagers back then. We got the game because it promised big muscular dudes shooting at each other but we still felt the melancholic emotional core immediately hitting us.

When you're going through some shit, sometimes all it takes to get through is that you know you can lose on your own terms. Love the video. Love the message.

Man, even knowing the lore behind Reach before the game released, it was rediculously upsetting, but in a good way, you KNEW what was going to happen but the game still made you hope right up to the end, to the point where there were people making theorys and trying to explain how 6 actually made it out alive because we never actually see a body and we technically never see the blow that finishes them... Games that can do that are far too rare these days and I wish devs would go back to focusing on the story rather than graphics and monetization

One of the things I love about Halo Reach are the character animations. I learned about it from The Body Language of Halo Reach by Core Ideas, but just all the little details of character movement and mannerisms just make everything subtly work. The best example is probably from Kat's death scene, where, as the door is closing, you can see Carter stumble back in shock and despair from losing the teammate he was probably closest to

Halo reach was the first halo game I ever played and from there on out I was addicted. I now play every Christmas, because l that’s when I first played reach.

Excellent use of the siege of Madrigal soundtrack. I really like your thesis about how so much of halo is about losing on our terms and trying to keep moving through the fire. Wonderful work as always and I look forward to more of your content!

New Alexandria is my favorite mission. You’re in the heart of a siege and all around is evidence of how poorly it’s going. You do everything you can but it’s never enough. The feeling of genuine desperation with no happy ending is a welcome change from the monotonous rampage most games have your main character take. Instead of being in an isolated ring, Your with humanity as it crumbles around you.

Ah yes, I spent so many hours playing Reach with my grandpa. I loved this game.

Me and some buddies have been playing through the entire Master Chief Collection again recently to experience games we missed and to re-experience the ones we loved but forgot. Following the entire story back to back has been amazing and we just started Reach last night. The game is a masterpiece. Knowing that no one makes it out, knowing that Cortana needs to escape and get to Chief, knowing that we lose the battle but win the war is so powerful. The game was the first Halo game that ever made me feel something. But now that I know what Reach cost us, it has made each other game that much better. Great video essay

imma need a whole halo series from you. this is amazing

I realize this is some high-purity cope, but I always imagined Noble 6 survived. My headcanon/fanfic is that they stumble through a forerunner portal after finishing off the headhunters, and a forerunner medical facility patches up their otherwise-mortal wounds. Completely isolated for years, kept from suicide only by the thought that they might be the last surviving human and they don’t want to be responsible for the death of their species, they spend the time reflecting on their life. Eventually they come to the conclusion that the original Spartan program represented the loss of the Mandate of Heaven for the UEG… so when the UNSC finally reaches wherever they’ve been holed up, and tries to bring them back into the fold, they refuse. They’ll answer to their name, but insist that Noble 6, B-312, died on Reach if they’re ever so addressed. In my fanfic, this is a rewrite of Halo 5, with Chief played by 6 and Locke played by Chief. 6 is running around the galaxy trying to support insurgents, overthrow the UNSC, and help people wherever they can. Chief is following, trying to fight insurgents, save the UNSC, and… help people wherever he can. It climaxes with a confrontation between the two. John has already been called away to fight some other threat - nothing close to Covenant-scale but enough that they don’t want to leave John chasing shadows - but has Six cornered. It’s now or never. As John navigates the station, Six thanks John for saving humanity, but points out all the evil the UNSC did and is still doing. They say they knew Chief was on their heels, so took him on a walking tour of the grounds zero of all the worst crimes of the UNSC. Then they reveal that, while Noble 6 died on Reach, this place was where they broke. Since they were one of the few Spartans, let alone headhunters, who can pass as an unaugmented human (Noble 6 is half a head shorter than the next shortest Spartan in Noble Team), they were sent to this base to infiltrate it to get some MacGuffin. Per Phantom Liberty, they befriended the insurgents, grew to like them, then murdered them. After that, they gave their handler an ultimatum: assign them to a normal Spartan unit or... They didn’t bother to finish, and their handler wasn’t dumb enough to force Six to make a threat they’d have to carry through on. They were assigned to Noble Team, where they’d be out of the way and well guarded if they went rogue. Chief… is in too deep, though. He hasn’t had the prolonged isolation which was necessary for him to deprogram himself like 6 did, or maybe he’s just to thoroughly rationalized the suffering he went through during his own recruitment. He kicks down the door to the room where 6 notionally was, to find a comms relay patched into the station intercom. “Please, John. I’m good, but we both know who’d win in a straight fight. I’m at least good enough to avoid getting cornered. Still, I’m sorry we couldn’t work together. sighs I hope I’ve given you some food for thought. Fighting against the end of humanity is one thing, but it’s time to start thinking about what you want to fight *for*. Seeya ‘round, John.” Legendary completion scene: Serin Osman, CinC ONI, is in her office contemplating space. Her door opens. “Leave the reports on my desk.” She says, not turning from the window. “Sarin.” The camera pans around to show Six in an ONI uniform, not their Mjolnir armor. A fleck of blood on the collar shows its former owner didn’t part with it willingly. “We need to talk.”

Jeorge being the first death spelt the doom for the rest of the squad since he was the only Spartan 2 and 2s are nigh invincible compared to spartan 3s that the rest of the squad consists of.

PLEASE do an essay on Exodus and maybe New Alexandria too that would be amazing!