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When it comes to Halo, many immediately think of the Master Chief and his vital role in humanity's fight for survival. However, we need to remember that before him, there were those who fought just as hard and more desperately, and they did it on a planet that was doomed to fall.
Prior to the events of the first Halo game, a war took place, one that is remembered as the biggest tragedy in human history: the fall of Reach. Those who survived it lived to tell the tale, with the pain of the loss lingering with them to this day.
However, as unfortunate as it was that lives were lost and Reach fell, it can be said that their destruction by the hands of the Covenant actually played a huge role in ensuring humanity's survival. As for how, we must first understand the purpose of the planet.
Reach was designed to be a major military stronghold and the last line of defense for Earth against the Convenant. To ensure its protection, it housed the results of the Spartan II and III programs, with Noble Team, a carefully selected group of Spartan-IIIs, acting as the planet's main guardians.
It was also where Dr.Catherine Halsey and the Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI for short, discovered traces of the powerful and ancient Forerunner race, leading to extensive research on obtaining information they believed could help them win the war.
The Covenant was aware of all this, and after finally discovering Reach's coordinates, it immediately began bombarding it to ensure it no longer consisted of any life, a process known as Glassing. Humanity's response was swift, but to no avail, as the planet fell, and the survivors scattered in the hopes of living to fight another day.
It was indeed one of the biggest tragedies in the Halo narrative, but if it hadn't happened, then we would not have had any of the games we've come to love. Reach's fall is the reason why Master Chief and Cortana were able to become who they are, and was the single event that allowed humans to uncover the rings, understand their true purpose, and eventually use them to end the war between them and the Covenant.
This is all because on the planet, Catherine Halsey and ONI managed to discover a Forerunner artifact, one that contained the coordinates leading to the first Halo ring. With such crucial information, Halsey implanted it into an AI brain clone of herself, which we all came to know as Cortana, and tasked the previously mentioned Noble Team to deliver it to the captain of the Pillar of Autumn, Jacob Keyes.
While every member of Noble Team met tragic ends, except for Spartan Jun, they completed their mission, handing over Cortana to the man in charge of the Halcyon-class light cruiser and seeing it escape the clutches of the Covenant. What the Spartan-IIIs didn't know at the time was that the ship also housed a Spartan-II, one that was still in cryo-sleep and would soon awaken to work together with Halsey's AI to start the events of Combat Evolved: the Master Chief himself.
The conclusion may have led to Reach's Glassing and millions of lives lost, but having it happen was essential, as it birthed the heroes and actions humanity needed to win the war. Halo: Reach, the game that will let you experience these legendary moments, is available as an additional add-on in the Master Chief Collection.
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