‘Halo’: Here’s Where Master Chief Was During the Battle of Reach

We’re halfway through the second season of ‘Halo’ and the live-action show is finally starting to adapt ‘The Fall of the Reach’ one of the most notable events in franchise history. The story involved lots of sacrifice, suffering, and general destruction. While the show did depict all of the above, the story is vastly different than the one shown in the games, or in the books as Master Chief was present the whole time. So, where was Master Chief during Fall of the Reach in the games?

In the show, Master Chief was on Reach from day 1

The live-action series is vastly different from games and the books, and although the books sometimes contradict the games which are still considered the main canon in the franchise, the series is something else entirely. From adding new characters to completely rewriting historical events, The Fall of the Reach wasn’t spared from being almost completely re-written.

In the show, not only was Master Chief present on the Reach from day 1 of the invasion, he was the one who predicted it. At the start of the season 2 Master Chief figured out that the Covenant started conquering the planets and then glassing them, meaning they were actually training for something as comm relays were mostly targeted. Then, when he arrived to the UNSC headquarters on Reach he was accused of being mentaly ill and put on indefinite leave with his permission to join action indefinitely rewoked. Master Chief also worried about his fellow Spartans when Cobalt team was dispatched to Visegrad and never returned.

Master Chief feared the worst, and as it turns out he was right since we saw their dead bodies being showcased to Jacob Keyes. When the Covenant invaded the Reach Master Chief was in the church with Coporal Lopez and both of them were ready to face what was coming, although they weren’t aware that “what was coming” is only seconds away.

Following this attack, Master Chief returned to UNSC headquarters to recieve the orders from Jacob Keyes. He helped clear the area so the civilians could evacuate and ultimately, he saw Vannak-134 die and got his confirmation that Makee was truly alive. This is drastically different than what took place in the games.

Where was Master Chief during fall of the Reach in the games?

Master Chief was in large part absent from the first part of the Reach battle, he and the rest of the Spartans were completely unaware of what has taken place as to not put their current mission in danger.

In July 2552, during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, John led a group of Spartans in Operation: OCEAN BREAKER to help the Marines on the planet. Leading Blue Team, John went into the city of Côte d’Azur to set off a nuclear bomb to get rid of Covenant forces. But he got suspicious when he saw a lot of Covenant near the Côte d’Azur Museum of Natural History. So, he led Blue Team into the museum where he discovered the Covenant were scanning a rock and sending the info to their ship in space. After dealing with two Mgalekgolo guarding the rock, John took it and left with his Spartans. They then blew up the bomb in the city and, along with other Spartans, Marines, and civilians they saved, they went back to the UNSC Valiant, which took them to Reach.

In July 2552, the Covenant also invaded Reach, but John and the other Spartans didn’t know about it because they were preparing for Operation: RED FLAG. This mission aimed to capture a Covenant ship and a leader to hopefully end the war. In August, John learned about the invasion and the mission’s objectives.

The next day, most of the Spartans went to protect Reach’s defense platforms. John, Linda, and James were sent to Gamma Station to destroy a Covenant database that could reveal Earth’s location. They succeeded, but James was lost, and Linda got badly hurt. John saved some Marines and they all got on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, which fled Reach.

Thanks to Cortana, they found a way to escape Covenant pursuit and ended up in a critical battle.

What happened after fall of the reach?

When the UNSC Pillar of Autumn arrived at Halo Installation 04, they found out they were being followed by a bunch of Covenant ships. Captain Jacob Keyes woke up John from cryosleep and told him to protect Cortana while he crashed the ship onto the ringworld. John landed on the structure using a lifeboat and, thinking he was the only Spartan left, fought the Covenant. He rescued the Captain and fought in battles to take control of important spots. Investigating a place where weapons were suspected to be, John met the Flood for the first time and Jacob Keyes got infected.

With the help of an AI called 343 Guilty Spark, he got the Index to activate the ring and destroy the Flood. But Cortana revealed that the ring would wipe out all life, not just the Flood. John and Cortana decided to blow up the ring by blowing up the Pillar of Autumn’s reactor. They got away in a Longsword fighter as the ring blew up.

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