"Fall of reach" or "First Strike"

Community Halo Universe
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Ok this bugs me because i read ever first canon novels (In the middle of Ghosts of onyx right now) And It bugs me because everyone sais that reach the game was different then fall of reach the book…However the fall of reach novel covered mostly masterchiefs origins and was not actually based on reach, However First strike was about Reachs demise and yet everyone mentions the novel fall of reach…correct me if im wrong but IT WAS FIRST STRIKE that was different then Reach the game not fall of reach.

This is Before the “rewrites” when i read them originally.

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I have heard that the novel has actually been revised since the game came out, in order to make the two consistent. So you may only encounter discrepancies if you read an older version of the novel (printed before 2010).

Part of the outcry might be because there was a need to revise the novel at all. Many people were not happy with Bungie’s choice to disregard existing fiction, dispite the guideline that “games supersede books.”

Anyway, it’s been a while since I read the books, but The Fall of Reach explores the history of the Chief and his various efforts, including the battle of Reach. Why else would they name the book like that unless it contained the battle of Reach?

First Strike essentially fills the gap between Halo 1 and Halo 2, so its narrative is well after the battle of Reach.

From what I can tell, you seem to have your books mixed up.

The Fall of Reach discussed… the fall of Reach.
First Strike took place between Halo 1 and Halo 2.

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wierd if i am incorrect then thats fine, but i thought linda and chief where in reach at the time of first strike unless of course that was the end of fall of reach which i read them back to back 4 years ago…so ya.

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First Strike also detailed Red Team’s struggle on Reach. The original edition of tFoR and FS have no place in Halo canon, for Contact Harvest (Brutes are seen by humanity as the beginning of the war, as opposed to being first spotted in 2552 by FS), Cole Protocol(Elites are already well-known prior to the Fall of Reach), Halo Wars( Hunters are also encountered prior to 2552) and ODST(the date on the Reach Memorial coincides with the game’s depiction of events) all contradicts them. Strange how the old canon was broken far before Reach was released , yet all people do is blame the most recent entry.

I know that the whole “Game > Book” rule can get iffy, but when it’s THREE games and two book against two novels that were written at Halo’s infancy, it’s no question which is true.

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> I have heard that the novel has actually been revised since the game came out, in order to make the two consistent. So you may only encounter discrepancies if you read an older version of the novel (printed before 2010).
>
> Part of the outcry might be because there was a need to revise the novel at all. Many people were not happy with Bungie’s choice to disregard existing fiction, dispite the guideline that “games supersede books.”
>
> Anyway, it’s been a while since I read the books, but The Fall of Reach explores the history of the Chief and his various efforts, including the battle of Reach. Why else would they name the book like that unless it contained the battle of Reach?
>
> First Strike essentially fills the gap between Halo 1 and Halo 2, so its narrative is well after the battle of Reach.
>
> From what I can tell, you seem to have your books mixed up.
>
> The Fall of Reach discussed… the fall of Reach.
> First Strike took place between Halo 1 and Halo 2.

The actual “Fall” in tFoR didn’t happen until the last 40 pages. It didn’t go into real depth, it just happened.

6

I think the problem lies in the Lack of physical story in games, the books give more story detail then the games ever did and thus i got more charactor develpment out of the novels…Which became canon in my eyes because of the indepth story.

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I’m relatively new to the fiction of Halo - played all the games for years but only began reading the novels this Summer - but here are a few “issues” I’ve noticed between The Fall of Reach and Halo: Reach:

  1. The timeline - In the game, the Covenant show up on Reach in July and the game takes place over 1 month until the end of August when you deliver part of Cortana to the PoA. In the book however, the Covenant only show up on August 30th. Also, in the game the Pillar of Autumn is docked on Reach on the 30th but in the book it is already in orbit near Reach when the Covies appear.

  2. The Spartan III’s - In the game, everyone on Noble team is a S-III except for Jorge, however they all have Mjolnir. In Ghosts of Onyx it says the S-III’s were only given SPI armor, not the better Mjolnir. I don’t know if there is another source that could explain this but I haven’t found anything on it yet. In addition, every Spartan in Noble team has shields on their armor by late July, but in the book John only gets his upgraded Mjolnir with shields on August 29th - one day before jumping from Reach to Halo. Again I have not seen an explanation for this.

As far as everything in First Strike, that all takes place after the Reach game ends on August 30th.

I myself would like to discuss this part of the Halo canon with someone more knowledgeable than me.

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> 1. The timeline - In the game, the Covenant show up on Reach in July and the game takes place over 1 month until the end of August when you deliver part of Cortana to the PoA. In the book however, the Covenant only show up on August 30th. Also, in the game the Pillar of Autumn is docked on Reach on the 30th but in the book it is already in orbit near Reach when the Covies appear.
>
> 2. The Spartan III’s - In the game, everyone on Noble team is a S-III except for Jorge, however they all have Mjolnir. In Ghosts of Onyx it says the S-III’s were only given SPI armor, not the better Mjolnir. I don’t know if there is another source that could explain this but I haven’t found anything on it yet. In addition, every Spartan in Noble team has shields on their armor by late July, but in the book John only gets his upgraded Mjolnir with shields on August 29th - one day before jumping from Reach to Halo. Again I have not seen an explanation for this.

1 - The Covenant invasion in Reach is an advance force confined to the Viery Territory, even when the reinforcing fleet of battlecruisers showed up at the end of Long Night of Solace. This attack was kept hidden from most of the planet, until the Fleet of Particular Justice showed up on August 30 and made the invasion global. A change from the novel The Fall of Reach is that the Pillar of Autumn landed in Aszod to receive the Cortana fragment from Sword Base instead of remaining in orbit the entire time. Presumably it set down after engaging in combat with the Fleet of Particular Justice but that’s not entirely clear.

2 - The Spartan-IIIs of Noble team were removed from the larger Spartan-III companies at some point (right after graduation probably) and given superior equipment to fight as “proper” Spartans. Mjolnir Mark V was first issued sometime in 2551, I believe it’s in-game descriptions of armor in Reach that states this.

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> I have heard that the novel has actually been revised since the game came out, in order to make the two consistent. So you may only encounter discrepancies if you read an older version of the novel (printed before 2010).
>
> Part of the outcry might be because there was a need to revise the novel at all. Many people were not happy with Bungie’s choice to disregard existing fiction, dispite the guideline that “games supersede books.”
>
> Anyway, it’s been a while since I read the books, but The Fall of Reach explores the history of the Chief and his various efforts, including the battle of Reach. Why else would they name the book like that unless it contained the battle of Reach?
>
> First Strike essentially fills the gap between Halo 1 and Halo 2, so its narrative is well after the battle of Reach.
>
> From what I can tell, you seem to have your books mixed up.
>
> The Fall of Reach discussed… the fall of Reach.
> First Strike took place between Halo 1 and Halo 2.

Bungie created and was soley responsible for the fiction, no matter what media (games, books, comics, ect…). The fact that they ignored previosly established fiction to make a game that contridicted that is irresponsible IMO.

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> Bungie created and was soley responsible for the fiction, no matter what media (games, books, comics, ect…). The fact that they ignored previosly established fiction to make a game that contridicted that is irresponsible IMO.

The changes from the novels are minor, there is only one specific contradiction (the Pillar of Autumn landing in Aszod). Furthermore, the rereleased The Fall of Reach doesn’t actually change much from the original text other than replacing one Pelican with an Albatross and adding a consistent date typo. Seemingly the only purpose of the reprints was to have Tor Books’ logo on the side rather than Del-Ray’s, though the Adjuncts they added are pretty interesting.

11

Fall of Reach, First Strike, and Halo Reach are all canon. Now, a lot has changed in the canon since Fall of Reach was released (when Brutes, Elites, and Hunters were first encountered for example), but the core of the story is still true. Now, the Fall of Reach is told primarily from the point of view of the Master Chief. As such, he is unaware of the Covenant invasion force on Reach in July and August (until August 30, of course). Halo Reach, on the other hand, if told entirely from the point of view of Noble 6, who has a very different experience and never meets the Chief or any Spartan-IIs (Jorge not withstanding).

The reason people have a problem is because they cannot see how the two stories can take place in the same timeframe. I’ve addressed that issue here.

> I have heard that the novel has actually been revised since the game came out, in order to make the two consistent. So you may only encounter discrepancies if you read an older version of the novel (printed before 2010).

The books are mostly the same. The reprints address issues such as when Elites, Brutes, and Hunters were first encountered, but overall, the books are the same. However, the reprints contain extra stories at the end.

> 2. The Spartan III’s - In the game, everyone on Noble team is a S-III except for Jorge, however they all have Mjolnir. In Ghosts of Onyx it says the S-III’s were only given SPI armor, not the better Mjolnir. I don’t know if there is another source that could explain this but I haven’t found anything on it yet. In addition, every Spartan in Noble team has shields on their armor by late July, but in the book John only gets his upgraded Mjolnir with shields on August 29th - one day before jumping from Reach to Halo. Again I have not seen an explanation for this.

The existence of Noble Team and them wearing Mjolnir is addressed here.

As for shielding: Mjolnir mk. V was first issued in November of 2551. Data from these early suits was used to make the final suits used by the majority of Spartan-IIs. The armor the Chief’s received also featured something Noble’s did not: the ability to carry an AI such as Cortana.

12

Another thing that trips me up is the idea of how the Covenant found Reach. Chapter 23 says that on July 18th the Covenant tagged the Iroquois with a tracking probe. It implies that they used the info from this probe to locate Reach. It doesn’t tell how long it took for the Iroquois to jump to Reach, but 5 days later on July 23 the first units are sent to investigate the loss of Visegrad, meaning according to the game the Covenant are on Reach by then.

Then in chapter 32 (August 30th) when the Spartans are on the PoA, Keyes comes down to tell them that, "I don’t know how they found Reach - they bypassed a dozen Inner Colonies to get here. It doesn’t matter. They are here. And we have to do something.
“Sir? ‘they’?” (John speaking)
“The Covenant.”

It goes on to say John’s mission to board a Covenant ship, get a leader, and buy some time to negotiate a possible cease fire is now being scrubbed because they can’t let Reach fall(even though according to the game the Covenant have been on Reach for weeks - and the mission was still a go then).

It seems if the Covenant were already on Reach, the UNSC would have been fully alerted that their most important world besides Earth was known, and thus massed every asset to repel the inevitable mass invasion. However it seems they were still caught off guard by the approaching fleet on Aug. 30th.

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Agreed OP.

For some reason FoR blinds a lot of people on these forums. There are the constant claims of Reach (game) conflicting with FoR, with the implication that FoR is the “know all” book about Reach.

What people forget is this:

  • FoR only covers the actual Fall of Reach in about 40 of its 300+ pages
  • FoR only covers the battle from Chief’s perspective
  • Chief happens to be in space…so we knew basically NOTHING about the ground battles

And then there is FS which covers the wake of the battle in FAR more detail than anything FoR does on the topic.
Its a shame really, because not only is FS a really good book, it also somehow fell of the bandwagon of those who claim to know about Reach. And that last results in half truths and false assumptions in many of the discussions about Reach (the game).

14

I noticed the following changes in the 2010 revision to First Strike:

  1. When Blue Team encounters Halsey, she now says the Covenant showed up in “full force” that morning, as opposed to showing up for the first time.

  2. Brutes are no longer referred to as ceremonial figures.

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[deleted]

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> Another thing that trips me up is the idea of how the Covenant found Reach. Chapter 23 says that on July 18th the Covenant tagged the Iroquois with a tracking probe. It implies that they used the info from this probe to locate Reach. It doesn’t tell how long it took for the Iroquois to jump to Reach, but 5 days later on July 23 the first units are sent to investigate the loss of Visegrad, meaning according to the game the Covenant are on Reach by then.
>
> Then in chapter 32 (August 30th) when the Spartans are on the PoA, Keyes comes down to tell them that, "I don’t know how they found Reach - they bypassed a dozen Inner Colonies to get here. It doesn’t matter. They are here. And we have to do something.
> “Sir? ‘they’?” (John speaking)
> “The Covenant.”
>
> It goes on to say John’s mission to board a Covenant ship, get a leader, and buy some time to negotiate a possible cease fire is now being scrubbed because they can’t let Reach fall(even though according to the game the Covenant have been on Reach for weeks - and the mission was still a go then).
>
> It seems if the Covenant were already on Reach, the UNSC would have been fully alerted that their most important world besides Earth was known, and thus massed every asset to repel the inevitable mass invasion. However it seems they were still caught off guard by the approaching fleet on Aug. 30th.

When the Covenant scouting parties were first discovered in late July of 2552, Winter Contingency was declared. Under this declaration, most of the planet would remain unaware of the Covenant presence, as it was kept to the Viery Territory near Espoz. Add to that the damage to the Visegrad relay, which of was one of Reach’s 3 primary communications relays. With the Relay down, Communcations across Reach were difficult at best, and Reach was cut off from the rest of the UNSC at large. Due to the plasma damage to the Relay, little could be done in the way of quick repairs.

Now, the Covenant forces that showed up prior to August 30 were small fleets. The fleet that showed up after the super carrier was taken out (this was actually around August 17th or 18th, not immediately after like the game implies) was a small support Fleet. However, on August 30, a full fleet of over 300 ships appeared in the Reach system.

And, some of the bonus content in the 2010 edition of The Fall of Reach explained how Reach was discovered in mid July of 2552.

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> > I noticed the following changes in the 2010 revision to First Strike:
> >
> > 1. When Blue Team encounters Halsey, she now says the Covenant showed up in “full force” that morning, as opposed to showing up for the first time.
> >
> > 2. Brutes are no longer referred to as ceremonial figures.
>
> One thing that got me was that Halsey knew about the Spartan III program on Reach but really, she didn’t find out about them until GoO which was during H2 when Humans found a second Halo ring.

In The Fall of Reach, she finds hints of another Spartan or similar program. Her journal also shows she had suspicions about said program for year before 2552. However, it wasn’t until the events of Ghosts of Onyx that she knew the exact nature of that program. The reason she kidnaps Kelly in First Strike is that she found definitive proof of the existence of the Spartan-III program operating on Onyx, and wanted to try and save them and her Spartans from the war.

18

> It goes on to say John’s mission to board a Covenant ship, get a leader, and buy some time to negotiate a possible cease fire is now being scrubbed because they can’t let Reach fall(even though according to the game the Covenant have been on Reach for weeks - and the mission was still a go then).
>
> It seems if the Covenant were already on Reach, the UNSC would have been fully alerted that their most important world besides Earth was known, and thus massed every asset to repel the inevitable mass invasion. However it seems they were still caught off guard by the approaching fleet on Aug. 30th.

Toa covered most of your post but concerning these paragraphs…

There’s a continuity nod to the Spartan-II’s mission to capture a Covenant ship. In one of the Data Drops there’s mention that the Long Night of Solace “could have been ours if SpecWar wasn’t so damn trigger happy.” Furthermore the Spartans weren’t prepped for RED FLAG when the LNoS was destroyed, that was weeks before they received their Mjolnir Mark V suits.

Within the actual game Auntie Dot mentions that “60% of the UNSC Fleet are on route to Reach,” which indicates that FLEETCOM was indeed massing every asset to repel the inevitable mass invasion. Again, the ground invasion was kept quiet so it makes sense that many would be surprised by the Fleet of Particular Justice.