Reach Utterly Destroyed After Fierce Battle in Halo Lore
I‘m often asked by fellow Halo aficionados – "Is Reach destroyed in Halo?" As a hardcore fan who has studied the lore inside and out, I can definitively state that yes, the planet Reach and its orbital defenses were ultimately laid waste by the Covenant onslaught during the tragic events of Halo: Reach. However, far from going quietly into the night, Reach lived up to its reputation as humanity‘s staunchest military bastion outside of Earth. Let‘s break down the bad news and pay our respects to those brave souls who stood tall even in the face of impending doom from a relentless alien invasion.
The Jewel in Earth‘s Defensive Crown
To understand the true gravity of Reach‘s downfall, one must first comprehend what a lynchpin it was for the United Nations Space Command‘s interstellar defense network. As the largest and most heavily armored world beyond the Sol system, Reach safeguarded untold billions on inner colony planets. It constituted one of our main ship-building hubs and housed the ultra-secret SPARTAN-II program.
Losing Reach was akin to tearing out the very heart of Earth‘s defenses – our frontline fortress and guard dog all in one. Its formidable orbital MAC platforms could one-shot even the heftiest Covenant capital ships. Marines endlessly drilled in simulated environments mirroring infamous battles like the Outer Colonies. Reach was designed to be unbreakable, and give the Covenant hell if they even dared attack. Pride comes before the fall, as the saying goes. When the Covenant did arrive in 2552 spoiling for the fight of their lives, they found the planet‘s vigilant defenders more than ready to give it to them.
An Unexpected Onslaught
At 0534 hours on July 24th, 2552, a dozen Covenant warships blinked into the Epsilon Eridani system, bypassing early warning beacons and catching UNSC forces off-guard. By late August, that fleet had ballooned to over 300 capital ships teeming with fuel rod-toting infantry. They advanced behind pulsating waves of Seraph fighters, choking the skies while troops and armor poured onto the surface from Spirit dropships.
It was a battle that raged nonstop across all theaters – from vast orbital engagements to gritty ground warfare. Outnumbered three to one, UNSC forces used every resource at their disposal to wage asymmetric warfare: everything from strategic stealth cruisers like the UNSC Prowler to the trouvaille of a Forerunner crystal capable of downing multiple ships simultaneously.
Yet even Spartan super soldiers wielding experimental MJOLNIR armor and the rallying bravado of Colonel Urban Holland couldn‘t plug all the gaps. Day and night Covenant plasma scorched the planet‘s surface, as if entire oceans were being flash-boiled into scalding steam. 45.2% of Reach would undergo plasma bombardment from low orbit under the Covenant‘s merciless "glassing" doctrine – fusing soil and infrastructure into layers of molten silica.
By August 30th, humanity could withstand the blistering assault no more. Their mighty fortress among the stars had cracked and broken. Surviving UNSC ships turned tail for Earth – last redoubt of a species whose extinction seemed inevitable. In their vengeful wake, they left a Covenant armada orbiting a world that now resembled a smoldering, radioactive graveyard.
Aftermath & Holdouts
Yet even Hell itself hath no fury to match a Marine with nothing left to lose. Pockets of resistance dug in below glassed surface zones or found themselves stranded far from extraction points. Using guerilla tactics, these holdouts remained a constant thorn in the Covenant‘s paw – buying vital hours for evacuation efforts even as they faced insurmountable odds. Vertical geographies with large cave networks, like the Babd Catha Ice Shelf, shielded subterranean complexes from immediate glassing. Installations like CASTLE Base hunkered down to fight a different kind of war in the shadows.
Meanwhile, 147 escape craft made it off-planet carrying key personnel like Dr Catherine Halsey and at least one Spartan, Jun-A226. Their survival meant the enduring legacy of Reach – including valuable intel and materiel for constructed humanity‘s next-gen savior in the form of the Master Chief.
Yet for every soul who escaped that crucible, thousands more burned. And the State of Reach remains uncertain for those few still waging frosty guerilla campaigns against all hope. They fight on with the conviction the Covenant failed to extinguish the planet‘s spiritual flame. That one day when Earth pushes their advance back, we can begin to make Reach bloom again and reclaim our lost colonies. It starts with remembering Reach‘s undying sacrifice.
