where do i start? chronologically? or is there a specific title i should read first?
i know the basic plot points for some of the major stories, enough to hold a conversation about events thus far, but i want to know more!
i read that they re-released Fall of Reach with new story pages and apparently to fix Bungie breaking canon (again.) so is that where i should start?
halp plz
This is the order they go in… I think.
Contact Harvest
The Cole Protocol
The Fall of Reach
The Flood
First Strike
Ghosts of Onyx
Glasslands
- Cryptum (This is first chronologically, but it’s probably best you read the others beforehand).
Personally, I’d start reading tFoR first and skip Contact Harvest / Cole Protocol. 
> This is the order they go in… I think.
>
> Contact Harvest
> The Cole Protocol
> The Fall of Reach
> The Flood
> First Strike
> Ghosts of Onyx
> Glasslands
> - Cryptum (This is first chronologically, but it’s probably best you read the others beforehand).
>
> Personally, I’d start reading tFoR first and skip Contact Harvest / Cole Protocol.
Why would you skip Contact Harvest and Cole Protocol? Contact Harvest is the first contact between the UNSC and Covenant. It explains how and why the war started. Pretty important if you ask me. Plus it gives everyone’s favorite Sergeant Avery Johnson some back story as well as some insight into Brute Culture and relation to the Covenant.
Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
I wouldn’t skip them if I were you.
> i read that they re-released Fall of Reach with new story pages and apparently to fix Bungie breaking canon (again.)
Well, you’re half right.
> > i read that they re-released Fall of Reach with new story pages and apparently to fix Bungie breaking canon (again.)
>
> Well, you’re half right.
Indeed. Canon remains unbroken.
> > This is the order they go in… I think.
> >
> > Contact Harvest
> > The Cole Protocol
> > The Fall of Reach
> > The Flood
> > First Strike
> > Ghosts of Onyx
> > Glasslands
> > - Cryptum (This is first chronologically, but it’s probably best you read the others beforehand).
> >
> > Personally, I’d start reading tFoR first and skip Contact Harvest / Cole Protocol.
>
> Why would you skip Contact Harvest and Cole Protocol? Contact Harvest is the first contact between the UNSC and Covenant. It explains how and why the war started. Pretty important if you ask me. Plus it gives everyone’s favorite Sergeant Avery Johnson some back story as well as some insight into Brute Culture and relation to the Covenant.
>
> Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
>
> I wouldn’t skip them if I were you.
Well it’s what I did. The Cole Protocol wasn’t written as well as the others (Though I guess CH was alright) and really felt quite ‘meh’.
I still think that tFoR is probably one of the better books to start off with. It gives a decent history to the SIIs and helps cover one of the biggest battles in the Human - Covenant war, Reach.
Actually, Cole Protocol would come after the Fall of Reach. Well, to get technical, it’d be in the middle of FoR. So, if you were to plan on reading Cole Protocol, which I high suggest, OP, I wouldn’t read it until after you read FoR.
As for FoR being reissued. It was to add some new stories and fix some dates as well as Brutes having already been discovered. There was no reason to fix canon - if you’re referring to Halo: Reach - when it was never broken. =/ It fits together fine. People are just too arrogant and/or ignorant to the concept of putting two and two together.
EDIT:
This is how I would suggest to read the books at this point:
Contact Harvest
Fall of Reach
Cole Protocol
The Flood
First Strike
Ghosts of Onyx
Glasslands
Cryptum
You guys are missing Halo Evolutions. Doesn’t have a specific timebase since its all over the place but still a great book with some really good stories.
Make sure you get Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 if you want ALL of the stories. Don’t just get the basic Halo Evolutions (what I did) and miss out on 3-4 stories.
> Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
…I thought you firmly believed that it meant nothing of the sort?
You gotta love in the CP where Adriana is all like “I’m Spartan 111, here is my face. Now you remember, you never saw me, I was never here…”
Contact Harvest
the Cole Protocol
A Fist Full of Arrows 
Bloodlines
the Fall of Reach
the Flood
Evolutions
First Strike
Uprising
the Ghosts of Onyx
Evolutions II
Glasslands
Cryptum followed by Primordium (later, soon to be released) can be read at any time if you’ve played the Trilogy.
> > Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
>
> …I thought you firmly believed that it meant nothing of the sort?
Just because I said Elites doesn’t mean I meant the ENTIRE race as a whole. I had mentioned the Arbiter by name just before I said Elites.
> > > Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
> >
> > …I thought you firmly believed that it meant nothing of the sort?
>
> Just because I said Elites doesn’t mean I meant the ENTIRE race as a whole. I had mentioned the Arbiter by name just before I said Elites.
Ah, so it is just an inconsequential development then.
You;d think they would understand the lie of the Covenant AFTER getting betrayed. Nope.
> You guys are missing Halo Evolutions. Doesn’t have a specific timebase since its all over the place but still a great book with some really good stories.
> Make sure you get Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 if you want ALL of the stories. Don’t just get the basic Halo Evolutions (what I did) and miss out on 3-4 stories.
I didn’t include Halo: Evolutions because really, if the OP is looking to dive further into the Halo Universe, they’re probably going to want to check out the main storyline before getting into the short stories.
> > > > Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
> > >
> > > …I thought you firmly believed that it meant nothing of the sort?
> >
> > Just because I said Elites doesn’t mean I meant the ENTIRE race as a whole. I had mentioned the Arbiter by name just before I said Elites.
>
> Ah, so it is just an inconsequential development then.
No, the Great Schism was about the collapse of the Covenant as an organization. If the Catholic church fell apart with the Pope and all his Cardinals dead, it doesn’t mean every single Catholic would stop believing in an all mighty God and become Atheist overnight. Some would still keep the faith regardless if the Church was gone.
> > > > > Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
> > > >
> > > > …I thought you firmly believed that it meant nothing of the sort?
> > >
> > > Just because I said Elites doesn’t mean I meant the ENTIRE race as a whole. I had mentioned the Arbiter by name just before I said Elites.
> >
> > Ah, so it is just an inconsequential development then.
>
> No, the Great Schism was about the collapse of the Covenant as an organization. If the Catholic church fell apart with the Pope and all his Cardinals dead, it doesn’t mean every single Catholic would stop believing in an all mighty God and become Atheist overnight. Some would still keep the faith regardless if the Church was gone.
Except in this case the church fell because the Pope decided to kill a certain group of Catholics. And so these Catholics decided to side with Muslims or Atheists to fight the Pope who turned on them. Coincidentally, this Pope tried killing the Muslims and/or Atheists too. So these Catholics and Muslims/Atheist unite against the Pope. But after the Pope is dead, the Catholics decide to finish the job and continue his work despite him trying to kill them earlier.
> > > > > > Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
> > > > >
> > > > > …I thought you firmly believed that it meant nothing of the sort?
> > > >
> > > > Just because I said Elites doesn’t mean I meant the ENTIRE race as a whole. I had mentioned the Arbiter by name just before I said Elites.
> > >
> > > Ah, so it is just an inconsequential development then.
> >
> > No, the Great Schism was about the collapse of the Covenant as an organization. If the Catholic church fell apart with the Pope and all his Cardinals dead, it doesn’t mean every single Catholic would stop believing in an all mighty God and become Atheist overnight. Some would still keep the faith regardless if the Church was gone.
>
> Except in this case the church fell because the Pope decided to kill a certain group of Catholics. And so these Catholics decided to side with Muslims or Atheists to fight the Pope who turned on them. Coincidentally, this Pope tried killing the Muslims and/or Atheists too. So these Catholics and Muslims/Atheist unite against the Pope. But after the Pope is dead, the Catholics decide to finish the job and continue his work despite him trying to kill them earlier.
It’s happened a few times to the Popes. The people the not so nice Popes were oppressing sided with the enemy long enough to eject/assassinate the Pope in power.
Once that occurred, a new Pope was elected and the religious fighting went back to what it was.
> > > > > > > Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > …I thought you firmly believed that it meant nothing of the sort?
> > > > >
> > > > > Just because I said Elites doesn’t mean I meant the ENTIRE race as a whole. I had mentioned the Arbiter by name just before I said Elites.
> > > >
> > > > Ah, so it is just an inconsequential development then.
> > >
> > > No, the Great Schism was about the collapse of the Covenant as an organization. If the Catholic church fell apart with the Pope and all his Cardinals dead, it doesn’t mean every single Catholic would stop believing in an all mighty God and become Atheist overnight. Some would still keep the faith regardless if the Church was gone.
> >
> > Except in this case the church fell because the Pope decided to kill a certain group of Catholics. And so these Catholics decided to side with Muslims or Atheists to fight the Pope who turned on them. Coincidentally, this Pope tried killing the Muslims and/or Atheists too. So these Catholics and Muslims/Atheist unite against the Pope. But after the Pope is dead, the Catholics decide to finish the job and continue his work despite him trying to kill them earlier.
>
> It’s happened a few times to the Popes. The people the not so nice Popes were oppressing sided with the enemy long enough to eject/assassinate the Pope in power.
> Once that occurred, a new Pope was elected and the religious fighting went back to what it was.
Unfortunately, I don’t think electing a new Prophet will be possible for the Covenant.
> > > > > Cole Protocol fills in some back story for Thel 'Vadam who is the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3. It also gives some back story into Captain Keyes and introduces us to the doubt the Elites had about the Covenant which eventually evolved into the Great Schism.
> > > >
> > > > …I thought you firmly believed that it meant nothing of the sort?
> > >
> > > Just because I said Elites doesn’t mean I meant the ENTIRE race as a whole. I had mentioned the Arbiter by name just before I said Elites.
> >
> > Ah, so it is just an inconsequential development then.
>
> No, the Great Schism was about the collapse of the Covenant as an organization. If the Catholic church fell apart with the Pope and all his Cardinals dead, it doesn’t mean every single Catholic would stop believing in an all mighty God and become Atheist overnight. Some would still keep the faith regardless if the Church was gone.
Inconsequential; Adjective
What you just described was largely inconsequential, because no ones beliefs changed. (As you seem think) I guess your post was also inconsequential, because not only is it a false analogy, it only backed up my point.
The original statement remains: An entire third of the Cole Protocol’s purpose was effectively retconned by Glasslands. OP, read it to find out about the Insurrection, or Keyes’ character, or the Jackals but the Sangheili story in it means very little now. Or you can skip it, but you would miss important details regarding the motives of the Insurrection. (And how 343 - Along with much of this forum - lack a basic understanding of social psychology when they allowed Glasslands to be published)
> Having no consequence; of little importance.
But it was of importance. The Great Schism fractured the Covenant and prevented Humanity’s destruction. The Elites led by the Arbiter sided with us out of necessity and are willing to sign a cease fire. However there are still those within the Elite race who want to continue the war because they fear Humanity will seek revenge once they are given time to heal.
> What you just described was largely inconsequential, because no ones beliefs changed. (As you seem think) I guess your post was also inconsequential, because not only is it a false analogy, it only backed up my point.
The Arbiter’s beliefs changed and so did a lot of other Elites who no longer see the Forerunner as Gods. But they do not speak for everyone and there is clearly a faction that do believe in the Forerunner’s Godlike status, regardless of the truths they have been told.
> An entire third of the Cole Protocol’s purpose was effectively retconned by Glasslands.
No it wasn’t because that third of the story is about the Arbiter. He sees his friend question the Prophets and their goals but he refuses to listen. However the thought planted in his mind remains when the Great Schism finally happens. He is there when the Elites are replaced by the Brutes and he witnessed Tartarus’ betrayal first hand.
However those back home on Sangheilios who did not witness any of this first hand are still motivated by what they have always known: Humanity’s destruction. It’s now up to the Arbiter to convince them that this is not in their best interest. This does not retcon the events of the Arbiter’s past.
> (And how 343 - Along with much of this forum - lack a basic understanding of social psychology when they allowed Glasslands to be published)
Coming from the guy who thinks that because a handful of Elites thought Humans were tenacious that must mean the majority of their race must share the same opinion. Those who fought Humans personally may have had a glimmer of respect for their adversaries but that doesn’t mean all 8 Billion of them had the opportunity to form this same opinion. Nor does it mean that respect for their fighting skills means they wouldn’t still wish to continue the fight against them. This is why the Arbiter wishes to convince them otherwise.