Considering the nature of Shadows of Reach as a promotion for the next game, Halo Infinite, I don’t think I can really start with my thoughts on the novel before I talk about where my expectations and hopes are for the game.
I think I’m a bit of an anomaly in the Halo community in my thoughts Infinite. Most fans hated Halo 5‘s story and want Infinite to sternly right the course of the narrative.
My first deviation is that I didn’t hate Halo 5, at least not to the degree a lot of people do. Probably going to lose some readers there. The game’s campaign did have a lot of objective flaws, like Cortana‘s revival, the idea of the Created in general, and killing Jul ‘Mdama the way it did. But it also had several areas I enjoyed a lot, like the Sanghelios arc, the locations visited, and Fireteam Osiris (I’m sure I’ll lose some more readers there).
Regardless, it was obvious that 343 couldn’t fully commit to the Created arc of the series like they’d planned to. It was too unpopular. But with Guardians ending the way it did, Halo 6 was going to have to address the Created in one way or another. However, I always thought that 343 could easily use the next game in the series to pivot to a better antagonist while still wrapping up the Created arc in a way that wasn’t jarring. Because as bad as the Created are, I think it would do more harm than good for the series’ story as a whole to just off-screen every one of 5‘s elements rather than engage that baggage and try to right the ship.
“But surely 343 wouldn’t do that, it’d be too jarring” I can hear you say. “How could they just write off a major element of the previous entry?” Well, I’d like to remind you of Halo 4.
The Janus Key and Absolute Record ended up being off-screened in the Escalation comic series, the Didact was put in story jail, and Jul ‘Mdama really put the “die” in “Didact’s Hand.”
“But those were good story elements that got derailed, not bad ones,” you might say. And you’re right in that assessment. But I’m of the opinion that the quality of the plot element is irrelevant in terms of whether or not it should be sidelined, at least in the way that many of Halo 4‘s plot elements were. I’m sure there are some extremely poor ideas that deserve the treatment, but I don’t personally think the Created are. And even if they are, unfortunately they’re too entrenched in the direction of the series to fix it by just offing them.
But hell, I have no idea if I’m right about this. They’re just my thoughts on it.
So that was where my head was before Infinite was announced. Logically, when Cortana was in the Discover Hope trailer, I should have been allayed that Infinite wasn’t going to jarringly jettison all of Guardians‘ plot points. And since the novel Bad Blood had already further explored the post-Halo 5 storyline.
But the Janus Key, Didact, and Jul ‘Mdama kept clawing at the back of my mind.
Compounding my doubts about Infinite‘s direction are the fact that 343 are being ridiculously silent on it. To a degree, and moreso than the average person, I’d bet, I’m fine with a lot of details on a story not being shared before release. But Infinite‘s really pushing it with how little we know about the game at this point.
So I really hate what I’ve seen of Infinite, right? No, not at all. I loved Halo 4 and I overall still liked 5, so I’m sure I’ll like Infinite. An open world Halo has a lot of potential, and I love their inclusion of the Banished, even if I’m concerned about how they’ll accomplish that without awkwardly writing out the Created. Escharum seems like he’ll be a good antagonist, too.
If I had to pick one word to describe how I feel about Infinite right now, it’s “cautious.”
That’s where things stood before Shadows of Reach came out, the sole piece of EU material in the original year of Infinite‘s release. Which stands in stark contrast to the number of books and comics that came out in 2015 leading up to Halo 5. Regardless of how Halo 5 turned out, boy I was supremely hyped for it at the time.
The hope with this approach is that the quality of this single book will be extremely high to offset the quantity of the lead-up to 5. Which on paper, it could be. The book stars the Master Chief and Blue Team in a return to Reach, clearly paying homage to The Fall of Reach, the series’ first piece of media, which served as a lead-in to Halo: Combat Evolved. Blue Team is even arranged on the cover the same way they are on The Fall of Reach. It’s clearly trying to capture that same nostalgia and quality. And it’s penned by Troy Denning, who previously wrote Last Light, Retribution, Silent Storm, and Oblivion. Denning is by far my favorite current Halo author. And besides maybe Kelly Gay, he’s the only other author to come close to the quality of Eric Nylund‘s Halo books.
But the Janus Key, Didact, and Jul ‘Mdama are clawing at the back of my head.
Despite my great excitement at the prospects of this novel, part of me was afraid they were going to get rid of the Created here so they wouldn’t need to be in Infinite.
Illogical, I know, but it was a fear.
So did Shadows of Reach manage to overcome all of this unfair baggage I’m bringing into it?
Return to Reach
The premise of this story is clearly trying to cater to long-term fans. Another foray to Reach with Blue Team as they go to CASTLE Base to retrieve something of import. This plot summary quickly invited theories as to what it was Doctor Halsey wanted the Spartans to retrieve. The most widely agreed-upon theory seemed to be that Halsey wanted the flash cloned brains left over from when she created Cortana.
All of this was a good way to build hype, drawing off of longstanding lore and getting people theorizing. 343 has always been good about getting people to theorize.
Speaking of theorizing, part of me wants to plug my old theory about how the story would return to Reach in search of a way to stop Cortana (just ignore the parts I got wrong).
So how was Reach as a location to return to? One of the first locations of the series, and one at the center of so many events, featuring in the titular Halo: Reach.
Well… it worked OK.
But I want to talk about what I liked first. The spectacle of traversing a glassed world is cool. Halo 5‘s Meridian environment gave us a taste of this, but since you mostly stuck to the Meridian settlers’ structures, you couldn’t really explore the glasslands themselves that much. Shadows of Reach takes you on a pretty thorough tour of a glassed world’s ravaged landscape (though you may grow tired of the word “lechatelierite“). Seeing Blue Team tackle the terrain getting in their way did a good job of, in a way, setting Reach itself as an adversary to their progress. And the tunnels under the glass are very interesting settings. Part of me regrets we didn’t get any major skirmishes with the Banished in the tunnel system. I can only imagine they’d be pretty hectic and tense.
On paper, returning to an iconic location like Reach is cool. But the Reach we’re on isn’t the Reach we knew. The planet is a giant series of glasslands, and while many locations are revisited, they’re unrecognizable. Blue Team trudges across the Viery Territory and visit their old stomping grounds, but those are buried in glass.
But maybe that’s the point. To be denied the familiar locations we know as a testament to what the Covenant destroyed. The characters’ reflections on this certainly underline this thinking.
Some of the best moments of the book have the Master Chief reflecting on the glassing of his home. The Chief isn’t really materialistic, or overly sentimental, but Reach really was the only thing he had that he could consider a home. And him being intermittently bothered by the fate of his world throughout the book was a refreshing aspect of his character. He wants his world back so much he’s a pretty big cheerleader for the Viery Militia’s efforts, in spite of their annoying incompetence.
Their attachment to their home also offers an interesting contrast between the Master Chief and Linda at one point. Linda, pondering the fate of her world, comes to the realization that a part of her still wants to kill even the “friendly” ex-Covenant races. A completely understandable reaction for anyone to have after the Human-Covenant War. But the Master Chief, confronted with similar reflections, doesn’t even need to catch himself as he remembers the “noble aliens” he’s fought against as he directs his ire to the Banished.
It reminds me of a Master Chief moment from Silent Storm, where the Master Chief leads an assault on the Covenant city of Zhoist. When he and the Spartans kill what he realizes may be civilians, he has to rationalize the actions as OK since the Covenant are trying to eradicate humanity. The fact that the Master Chief even has that thought, despite the alien “other” that the Covenant are, says a lot about him. He’s the same guy who felt a hollowness after his first victory over Insurrectionists during Operation: TALON.
Inside the Helmet
Considering the subtitle of this book, “A Master Chief Story,” it’s probably prudent to tackle how the series’ protagonist is handled in this book. But if you’ve read Denning’s previous Master Chief stories and like what you got, you won’t be disappointed. Silent Storm has some of my favorite Master Chief moments in the series, showing a young Chief dealing with the realities of military politics. But obviously this is thirty-four years later. The Master Chief is older, but Denning still writes him exceedingly well. Though instead of navigating the waters of military hierarchy, the Chief has to deal with his own legend and what that means to those around him.
We’ve seen the Master Chief’s status as a hero post-war through the eyes of others in several pieces of media. Hunt the Truth dealt with it extensively, and in the A Hero Falls trailer we even see a child holding a Master Chief action figure. But until now we haven’t gotten into the Master Chief’s head to see what he thinks of the UNSC‘s view of him. And while it’d be obvious that he wouldn’t be too hot on the idea, it’s interesting that in Shadows he doesn’t really try to fruitlessly play it down. Instead, he tries to use it in a way to benefit people.
One of the novel’s best moments has the Master Chief introducing one of his teammates, Chapov (more on him later), to a member of the militia on Reach. When the woman says “Any friend of the Master Chief’s is a friend of mine,” Chapov tries to awkwardly wave it off and clarify that he isn’t the Chief’s friend. And what does the Chief do? Just claps Chapov on the back and says “Sure we are.”
I really can’t tell you what a big grin I got on my face reading this section of the book. Seeing the Master Chief just being a good guy is always some of the best parts of Halo. I’ve always thought he’s the type of person who makes friends easy when given the chance, and this reiterates why I think that.
Chief and Friends
Spartans are only ever a piece of what makes a good Halo story. The “normal” people that surround and support the Master Chief and the other Spartans are a crucial part of the equation, too, dating back to CE‘s Marines. My favorite book in the series is First Strike (that’ll be relevant later, too), partly because it’s what I consider to be a perfect Halo story. The Master Chief and the Spartans are the necessary heroic element to save the day, but they’re supported by normal soldiers who have their own important parts to play.
While the members of Special Team don’t, as a group, reach the heights of Sergeant Johnson and company from First Strike, they make for an interesting dynamic with the Spartans, particularly Chapov. In terms of story structure, it keeps the Spartans from just being able to bulldoze through everything, since they need to factor in keeping Special Team safe, but they also help to inject new perspectives the Spartans may miss out on. Van Houte, Chapov, and Mukai aren’t idiots, and have plenty to contribute.
Of those three, Chapov is the most important in terms of the overall story, having an entertaining character arc in how he bounces off of the Master Chief. Because he’s in this situation with the hero of the galaxy, he keeps trying to impress him, which seems to work only half the time. The Chief alternates between being impressed by Chapov and annoyed by him. And I was, too, as I read the novel. There were times I wanted Chapov to shut up, only to ultimately enjoy how he proves himself to the Master Chief by helping win the battle for New Mohács. Ultimately it was a shame he died, but he went out like a champ, getting Blue and Special Teams to Menachite Mountain, shooting down several Banshees in his last stand, and being able to get over being intimidated by the Master Chief and give him an order.
Another key element of the novel is the Viery Militia that Blue Team stumble upon. Blue Team’s original mission to Reach isn’t to come in and help them reclaim the planet from the Banished, but boy does the militia go the extra mile to try to drag them into it. It was frustrating to read them dismiss the Master Chief’s advice and advocate for what were obviously foolish strategies. It was very similar to the Master Chief and the Mesrani military debating tactics in Oblivion. One thing I like about Denning’s writing is that in military discussions, the best idea isn’t always the one that wins, but what makes most sense to those in charge. Which is not always optimal.
Overall, I think that’s a very strong point of Denning’s writing. He writes flawed characters. And while saying “write flawed characters” is a truism, Denning writes those better than a lot of authors I’ve read, Halo or not. Less skilled authors will give a character a single flaw and drive that into the ground. In their quest to make a character more realistic, the vehicle they use to try to accomplish that ironically achieves the opposite. But Denning’s characters, while usually having a definable flaw, don’t let that dominate them. And they often have different flaws that arise based on the circumstances they find themselves in. It sounds like an obvious thing to do, but Denning accomplishes it with a lot of ease.
Another thing Denning makes feel extremely natural are the setbacks that the characters experience, either from other people, equipment malfunctioning, or an enemy getting one up on them. Often, such setbacks can feel artificial, a way for the author to draw things out by giving the characters an inconsequential roadblock to overcome. Think of when, forty hours into a video game, it says “the final boss is here,” but to get there you need to go get a key out of chest. It doesn’t add anything to the story, it’s just there to stretch out the time. But because Denning makes such problems occur so often, and in ways that make sense, it feels like part of the story’s natural style rather than something to help extend it. Like it’s part of the story’s natural fabric.
But the heart of a story’s opposition comes from its antagonists.
A Banished Legacy
First appearing in Halo Wars 2, the Banished quickly found popularity in the fanbase, thanks to their awesome art style, their distinctiveness from the Covenant, and a return in prominence to Brutes as an enemy. They were also helped by 343 selling the community on Atriox, a Brute as smart as he is strong, contrasting with the dumb muscle reputation they had as part of the Covenant.
So when the Banished were announced as the primary enemies for Halo Infinite, many in the fanbase were elated. I was certainly excited to see the faction brought into the main series’ spotlight, but I was concerned, as I wrote in the introduction, what that would mean for the Created and the direction of the story going from Halo 5.
But while I was concerned (wrongfully, I’ll freely admit) that Shadows of Reach would basically “off-screen” the Created to set up the Banished as the main antagonists, Shadows actually offers up a proof-of-concept as to how the Banished can be the main antagonists of Infinite while Cortana and the Created are still a part of the equation.
What Shadows of Reach shows is that, while Cortana’s reach is wide, she isn’t everywhere at once. She doesn’t have any reason to keep an eye on Reach until something alerts her. Which plays into a key point of conflict between Blue Team and the Viery Militia, when the latter want to detonate a nuke that will be sure to attract a Guardian. It’s almost comical how the threat of using it basically forces the Spartans to assist in the assault on New Mohács.
But the real draw of the book is the view it offers into how the Banished work. Most of it flows from implications made in Halo Wars 2‘s Phoenix Logs. The Banished is made up of several groups, who operate independently and are liable to come into conflict with each other in order to show each other up and come out on top. The glue that holds the organization together is the legend and cult of personality Atriox has accrued. Even with his extended absence on the Ark, his presence is continually felt, as important members like ‘Gadogai and Escharum continue to profess their loyalty to him.
Ironically, the Banished are similar in this aspect to the Covenant. Despite being a seemingly homogeneous organization, the Covenant’s Ministries were not as synergistic as one may assume. They never shared information, and would often try to one-up each other.
Our PoV in the Banished is Castor and his group, the Keepers of the One Freedom. They’re frequent in Denning’s books, particularly in Last Light and Retribution. It’s an interesting inclusion, since the Keepers are a religious organization, and one of the Banished’s defining traits compared to other ex-Covenant factions is that it’s a secular organization. But it also makes sense since, as Retribution and Silent Storm established, Castor has a past with Atriox, having been in the Bloodstars together. Another example of Atriox being the glue that holds the Banished together.
Castor himself has always been a favorite character of mine, and his actions in this book help reinforce that. He isn’t someone that has a positive character arc. He never becomes a better person. But, since he’s still religious, the way he interprets what happens to him, and how that informs his actions, are always interesting to me. On Gao, confronted with acquiring an Engineer capable of repairing organic life, he lets it go, as he sees it having saved him as a gift from the Forerunners. On Meridian, his forces in tatters, him barely surviving, and stranded on a glassed world, Castor reflects on Veta Lopis saving him, completely misunderstanding her reasoning for doing so.
But despite him not having an accurate view of things, Castor isn’t an idiot. He’s actually pretty smart. And despite the fact that he draws the wrong conclusion as to what the Spartans are on Reach for, his plan to find them makes a lot of sense, and works to weaken his Banished rivals. And his scheming to reach the Ark to start the Great Journey is a great way to give him more agency. While loyal to Atriox, Castor doesn’t let that shackle him, and now on the Ark, he’s in an immensely interesting place right now.
Speaking of him, the big ten-ton gorilla in the room is obviously that Atriox is back in the Milky Way. Which completely re-frames what we thought we knew about Infinite. We had assumed Escharum’s talk about “Atriox’s will” meant that the Banished leader was still on the Ark, where Halo Wars 2 had left him. But, well… he’s back.
I can’t really say what that means for Infinite, but this development was unexpected, and I’m a bit conflicted on it. I’m not someone who thinks things in games should always be handled in games every single time, necessarily. But there are obvious things that should be resolved in games, like the Janus Key and the Absolute Record. And this? Eh…I think it maybe should have been resolved in a game. But frankly, who knows if we were ever going to get a Halo Wars 3. But the sequel being unlikely makes the way Wars 2 ends even more annoying. So while I don’t think Atriox’s return is worth flaying 343 over or anything, I question the merits of the decision. At least the Banished forces on the Ark are, for the most part, still there, fighting the Spirit of Fire.
Speaking of the games, Escharum’s presence in Shadows of Reach should be worth a note, but frankly there’s not a lot to say. Besides the revelation that he’s Atriox’s mentor, Escharum’s appearance doesn’t elucidate much about his character. It’s mostly a cameo, which is fine. But I am excited to see the Brute in Infinite, so I was hoping for a bit more to go off of here.
The last Banished character prominently featured is former Silent Shadow member Inslaan ‘Gadogai. His relationship with Castor is always entertaining, because often it’s difficult to tell if the two like each other or not. ‘Gadogai obviously doesn’t believe in the Forerunners’ divinity, but Castor still clearly respects the Elite. And despite making it clear he’s there to keep an eye on Castor for Escharum and Atriox, ‘Gadogai makes it clear he does respect Castor. And while I do wonder if maybe the Silent Shadow are a bit too hyped up as unstoppable badasses, it made the end scene where ‘Gadogai is forced to join the Keepers all the funnier. Because all it takes to put him in a no-win situation is for some Ferrets to have some good sight lines on him. His defection shows an entertaining self-preservation.
Oh, and the Ferrets! I was not expecting Lopis and the Spartan-IIIs to show up. But as soon as Castor talked about his four human Keepers, three of which call the one woman “Mom,” I swear my eyes came close to popping out of my sockets. Lopis is probably one of my favorite characters, and while Denning often cross-polinates his characters in several books, I didn’t expect them to show up here. Them being undercover in the Keepers/Banished is an immensely interesting story waiting to be told. And in 2015, would you have believed me if I told you that Veta Lopis was going to go to the Ark?
Holy Light
I mentioned before that Shadows of Reach feels, in many ways, evocative of First Strike. But obviously the revelation of the Holy Light, the Forerunner crystal from First Strike, represents a pretty clear continuation of a plot point from literally seventeen years ago that I never thought would be addressed again. 343 seemed, rightly, to want to avoid anything that had to do with First Strike‘s brush with time travel. And considering how much I hate time travel, I wasn’t really heartbroken about that.
But the Forerunner crystal coming back, being given a name, it being revealed as how Atriox could return from the Ark, and that it was in the Forerunner Dreadnought? I’m not exaggerating when I say that it’s one of the biggest “Oh shit” moments I’ve ever experienced in the series. The only other moment that even compares is Cryptum‘s reveal of the Flood‘s Precursor origins. Frankly, showing what happened to the Forerunner Dreadnought would have been big enough. But all the rest of the deep lore wrapped around it makes it look like an N64 and me like that kid in the YouTube video screaming about it.
With the Holy Light actually brought back, the list of plot elements I doubt 343 would ever touch again has been reduced to almost nothing.
What’s in the Box?
The last element of the book I want to talk about is the ultimate goal of the plot: the cryo containers and SWORD Base box in CASTLE Base. Back when the book was first announced, smarter lore people than me remembered Halsey’s flash cloned brains, and the possibility that Halsey would use those as a way to defeat Cortana. And, frankly, it seems pretty clear that’s what the cryo containers are for.
But the new element no one could have predicted (because it didn’t exist yet), was the SWORD Base box that Halsey kept. Is it possible that my theory about using the Forerunner ship under SWORD Base to find Maethrillian was accurate?
No.
But frankly, there isn’t much else it could be, unless the contents of it are a real curve ball. I think the most likely candidate is that the box has something to do with Cortana’s fragment that we see in Halo: Reach. A more off-the-wall possibility, however, could have to do with the missing pages from Halsey’s journal.
The rub of what happened there is that Halsey basically uploaded an AI to Slipspace, it grew extremely powerful, and the result scared the usually unflappable Halsey. Now, I’m sure there are holes in this possibility that smarter lore people could poke holes in. But I don’t know. With the Holy Light coming back, something like this resurfacing doesn’t seem so crazy.
Regardless, the fact that what’s in the box and cryo containers are not revealed does annoy me. It’s the second big negative point I have with the book. If the contents of it are what creates “the weapon” that we see in Infinite, then maybe this will be revealed in the game. And if Infinite had released when it was originally going to, the wait for these answers wouldn’t be that long.
But that’s not where we are. So my annoyance is exacerbated.
No matter how I feel about it, though, that’s just about everything about Shadows of Reach that I have to say.
Except for one more thing…
Sacrifice
Let’s address the elephant in the room, first. Making a short story exclusive to Walmart with no assurance that it’ll be more widely available later is fucking stupid. So far as I can tell, my normal Walmart never got copies. I was lucky enough to get a Walmart copy off of its website.
So please, 343, never do this again. It sucks ass.
But what about the story itself? It’s OK.
Unlike Shadows of Reach itself, Sacrifice isn’t written by Denning. Someone (or someones) at 343 created the story. I wish the author(s) had actually gotten credited.
The story itself is a prequel to Shadows of Reach, showing how the Banished acquired the Holy Light from the Forerunner Dreadnought. Our PoV character is a Brute named Manis, and his number two is Choros, Tartarus‘ nephew and a former attendant to the Prophet of Truth (Tartarus’ family really has no luck). An Elite named Okro ‘Vagaduun, who will be in Infinite, also makes an appearance, making an impression of being pretty badass, if nothing else.
Seeing the Forerunner Dreadnought again is a real treat, as its ultimate fate was never elaborated on once Mendicant Bias‘ exodus from it left it stranded. It really does bring me back to the last time we saw it in Halo 3. And so do the surviving Covenant who survived the… firing of… Installation 08…
Wait, what?
I’ll be honest, as eerie as it is for the Banished to run into Covenant survivors, seeing so many survive Installation 08’s firing is a little silly. It was one thing when some Flood survived to give us the cool premise of Awakening the Nightmare (which is also relevant to Sacrifice, as it’s where the Banished found the Dreadnought’s codes). And back then, I was willing to go along with the copout we got about Installation 08 being unfinished, allowing a small number of Flood to survive. But all these Covenant surviving, too, is just too silly to me. At least absent an explanation. Even Grim’s Installation 08 explanation for Awakening the Nightmare was never present in-game. I think it’s long past an in-series explanation, at the very least.
But honestly, the rest of Sacrifice, in spite of not being amazing, is still more than enjoyable. Manis is a lot more of an empathetic Brute than we usually get. You can really feel how sad he is when Choros loses his life. Getting more varied characters is something the Elites have gotten for years. With the Brutes returning to prominence, it’s very welcome that they get more, too.
To Infinite and Beyond
If the game hadn’t been delayed, we’d be playing Halo Infinite by now. And despite how necessary the delay is, finishing Shadows of Reach really made me want to play Infinite. So I think it’s safe to say that the book accomplished its goal in the same way that The Fall of Reach did for Halo 1. Like I said above, the book showing how a Banished conflict can happen with the Created still in the equation gave me more confidence that 343 will finish that storyline the right way. I look forward to seeing if they’ll stick the landing in the Reclaimer Saga‘s final chapter.
Denning, meanwhile, continues to make a case for being the best Halo author in quite a long time. And if he keeps going, he has a chance of toppling Nylund for my personal favorite. And I’m very much looking forward to seeing him continue Veta Lopis and her Ferrets’ story on the Ark. While Shadows of Reach doesn’t reach the heights of Denning’s own phenomenal Silent Storm, I feel pretty confident that this is a solid number two.
Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since we’ve gotten any new contributions to the Halo story. Or maybe it just has to do with my expectations for the series being in flux for a while. But Shadows of Reach certainly reminded me why this universe always occupies some corner of my mind. And I don’t think just any Halo book could have done that.
We’ll just have to wait to see how the series advances with its next installment next year. And if there’s something Halo fans can do, it’s wait.
Alexandria Before the Fire 