Ok, i’ve been kinda confused about this for awhile now. People still say that Reach and FoR contradict eachother. What’s the story about the Autumn being on Reach in the game but in the book it was in space? I already know about Cortana being split, but what else do people say how Reach isn’t canon and doesn’t fit with the books?
There is one giant misconception that keeps going on in these discussions, and that’s that Reach (game) and FoR contradict each other because they take place at the same time. Fact is: Reach does NOT take place during FoR directly. Reach (the game) is a reconstruction (as being stated officially in the documents that come with Halsey’s Journal) made a long time after the Fall of Reach.
So basically what you have is this:
The actual events (some of them! will get back to this later on), told from the time they take place in Fall of Reach.
An ONI attempt to reconstruct the loss of Noble Team, some 20-30 years after.
Being a reconstruction, it’s inevitable that there are inconsistensies. That’s even more likely when you take in account that Noble Team fell of the grid at the end of the campaign, on a planet that was being invaded, where free flow of proper and complete information was not possible anymore.
What “is real” in Reach are those moments in the cutscenes that appear to be shot with security cams. The rest is ONI attempting to bridge the gaps with information they already had (like those ONI files released by 343 last autumn), imagination, and (not unlikely) a bit of wishfull thinking that would have made the events look more heroic and less desperate than they were (after all, ONI likes their propaganda) without straying too far from “reality”.
On the other hand we have the Fall of Reach, which is more trustworthy in the sense that it’s being detailed at the time these events take place.
But what a lot of people keep forgetting is that FoR does not give details on everything. It only has about 40 pages covering the actual Fall of Reach, and then it also only focusses on the events in space. The things going down on Reach are left largely unknown.
And thats where Reach and ToR compliment each other, even if they conflict in terms of dates/times/places where some people should be.
Thing is: instead of argueing how “bad” Reach is due to it being inconsistent, people should accept its reconstructive nature and also stop giving ToR more “weight” in this matter than it actually holds.
If we were to have gone into space again at the end of Reach, and would have brought Cortana to the dock where Chief and Linda ended up (and were to have died there), the inconsistensies would have been even smaller and even better explained. Sad thing Bungie never took that route.
However, the point still remains:
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Reach is a reconstruction, therefore inconsistensies are “normal”.
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ONI files plug a lot of holes.
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ToR was written before Halo even got big, and therefore is just as “inconsistant” as it wasn’t written with the bigger perspective we have now in mind.
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ToR doesn’t cover 90% of the events we have in Reach.
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Reach and ToR conflict but most of those conflicts can be explained and people should accept that.
^That’s just his idea and is, in no way, canon. Things like the Pillar of Autumn issue have not, as far as I’m aware, been commented on by any official sources. There have been a number of theories and, for the most part, things do fit together quite well. I suggest you look up the Data Drops that 343i released shortly before Halo: CEA. They explain a lot. I believe Halopedia has copies of all of them.
> An ONI attempt to reconstruct the loss of Noble Team, some 20-30 years after.
where is this said i don’t remember this ?
i have halsey’s journal can you tell me where i can read this ?
> ^That’s just his idea and is, in no way, canon. Things like the Pillar of Autumn issue have not, as far as I’m aware, been commented on by any official sources. There have been a number of theories and, for the most part, things do fit together quite well. I suggest you look up the Data Drops that 343i released shortly before Halo: CEA. They explain a lot. I believe Halopedia has copies of all of them.
It’s not my “idea”. It’s simply stating how things are. And the letters that come with the Journal say the package including the Reach “game” are (literally) “the most complete and accurate account anyone has been able to assemble”. And that package is official canon. Therefore, my statement that Reach (the game) is a reconstruction is “right” and not just an idea. Me saying it’s ONI (which is not very unlikely, as you should know as well! Besides, another letter sort of confirms it) is a theory.
But overall, if you take in account the Data Drops as well, what I said above is “true”. It’s not an “idea” that FoR doesn’t feature the events on the ground during the Fall of Reach in great detail. It’s a fact. It’s not an idea that Reach is a reconstruction, the official (canon) letters state it is. Etc.
But yes, I do agree on one thing: combine everything and most of it can easily be explained, hence the problems people make out of this are stupid.
> > An ONI attempt to reconstruct the loss of Noble Team, some 20-30 years after.
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> where is this said i don’t remember this ?
>
> i have halsey’s journal can you tell me where i can read this ?
It’s mainly this one
And the other letters also hint at it.
Things DO fit together, but IMO in a stupid and half butted way.
The Data Drops that were released are 343’s way of trying to correct the errors made in Reach.
http://www.halopedian.com/Data_Drop