I’m not absolutely sure this is the correct place for this topic, but I think it belongs to the Halo universe itself and not only to one single game. So, it’s well-known that there are several references to actually existing Hungarian places in Reach. Because I’m Hungarian, these names has a double meaning for me: not only parts of my favorite video game but also parts of my homeland. So I decided to describe the Hungary-related parts of Reach, what and where they are in real life. I hope that you’ll enjoy it, and if you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
So, start where it all began:
Visegrad: Visegrad is a town and a castle in the middle of Hungary at the banks of Danube, 30 km north from Budapest. The castle and the fortress was built around 1000 AD, but it became more significant between the 1300s and 1400s, during the reign of King Carl Robert and King Matthias. There took place the meeting of the Hungarian, the Czech and the Polish king in 1335, where they allied in both military and economical means. During the reign of King Matthias, Visegrad become a cultural centre of the european renaissannce. It lost its importance by the time the Turks invaded Hungary and the country was split into 3 parts. Today the town and the castle are famous tourist attraction, as many historical buildings remained in good state. I can say, it deinitely worth visiting 
Aerial view of the Visegrad fortress
The Royal Castle in Visegrad
Aszod: Aszod is a town in the middle of Hungary, but in the oppsoite direction of Budapest than Visegrad. Its main spectacles are the two castles built in the 1700s by Hungarian noble families. There are several churches in the town which were built in baroque style.
Eposz: Eposz is simply the Hungarian world for saga or heroic epic. It’s usually used for literary works from historical ages, like the Odyssey.
Ütközet: Ütközet is a Hungarian word for battle, used for small- or mid-scale engagements.
Szurdok ridge: Szurdok is a Hungarian word for a canyon-like, but somewhat vaster valley. The difference is between ‘Szurdok’ and ‘Kanyon’ (canyon) is that a canyon is usually impassable or could be reached only using ropes and other special equipment, while in a szurdok one can simply walk with basic hiking equipment.
The moons of Reach:
Turul: Turul is a mythological bird, which in the Hungarian legends is the father of the great Hungarian leader Álmos (his name is thought to refer to the dream in which his mother had foreseen his birth), who led his people to the Carpathians, but he died before they crossed the mountains, so his son took the leadership.
The Turul was also a military insignia of the Hungarian tribes.
In real life, Turul is believed to had been some kind of hawks or falcons.
A statue with a Turul holding a sword
Csodaszarvas: Csodaszarvas is a ‘magic deer’ in Hungarian mythology with a dual role.
On one hand, it was said to be the ancestor mother of all the Hungarian and Hun tribes.
On the other hand, a well-known Hungarian legend tells that the ancestor fathers of Hungarian and Hun tribes, Magor and Hunor once set off for a hunt with their men. They had a good prey, but they sighted this deer and started to pursue it. They rushed after it, but they couldn’t catch it anyway until dusk, so they set up their camp for the night. At the morning, they saw the deer again and they continued to pursue it. Finally the deer led them to a rich new land, where they decided to settle down. This place was somewhere near the Ural mountains, and not in the Carpathian Basin.
(Note: this is a very short and simple version of the story, and is not entire in any means)
Ancient Hungarian jewelpiece showing the Csodaszarvas
Siófok: Siófok is a famous beach town at Lake Balaton. It si most known because the beach, but cultural events are also held there. The name of the town means ‘Cape Sió’, the Sió is an artifical river nearby, built to control the water depth of the lake.
Lábatlan: Lábatlan is a town at the river Danube, near the Northern borders of Hungary. The place is inhabited since the Stone Age, though not these ancient artifacts made the town well-known. Before the phylloxera-infection in the 18-19th century, most residents were wine-growers, then quarries were opened near the town. Today Lábatlan is a famous place of hikers, and a significant ethnographic collection also can be visited.
I hope you enjoyed it, and as I wrote: ask without hesitating. I’ll be happy if I can answer any questions.
