- RKOSNAKE
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- Exalted Legendary Member
"I may not be perfect, but always been true."
There is some confusion concerning the number of SPARTAN-IIs throughout the series. For example, in Halo: The Fall of Reach, it is cited on page 46 that there are 75 children on board a pelican for a training mission; however, on page 47, it states that there were 67 children on the training mission out of 75 that were originally on board. No mention is made of the whereabouts of the missing eight. After the augmentation process all 75 reappear, with 33 surviving, 12 surviving but crippled, and 30 being killed as a result of the procedures.
In Halo: The Fall of Reach, it is stated that all of the 33 surviving SPARTAN-IIs, with the exception of Gray Team, who had been "...on a mission far outside the confines of UNSC space, now missing for over a year.", were gathered at Reach. Dr. Halsey states that in the last decade, prior to 2552, only three SPARTAN-IIs had been confirmed KIA between 2542 and 2552, and one had been wounded too severely to continue active duty. This ostensibly places the number of surviving SPARTAN-IIs at 28, with only 25 assumed present at Reach. However, this assumption does not take into account possible KIAs, MIAs, or WIAs for the time between Samuel-034's death in 2525 and 2552. In Halo: First Strike, three SPARTAN-IIs were diverted from defending Reach's Orbital Defense Generators to destroying the UNSC Circumference's navigation database while the rest of the SPARTAN-IIs proceeded to Reach's surface. Later in the book, it is revealed that a total of 27 SPARTAN-IIs headed for Reach's surface. This puts the number of SPARTAN-IIs present at Reach at 30. This is consistent with Halo: Fall of Reach's number of active SPARTAN-IIs that were said to be present on Reach but does not take into account of the KIAs, MIAs, or WIAs that occurred between 2525 and 2552. The status of SPARTAN-IIs is muddied further in the later novels. For example, Kurt-051 is listed as missing in action presumed dead in 2531 when, in reality, he was recruited into the SPARTAN-III program until his actual death in 2552 on Onyx. Three SPARTAN-IIs designated Gray Team were said to have been on "fields of battle too distant to be easily recalled" and apparently had made no contact with the UNSC prior to the Fall of Reach.
Halo Wars' timeline mentions that a total of 25 out of 28 surviving SPARTAN-IIs were present at Reach. The three absent SPARTAN-IIs are the members of Gray Team. This timeline also confirms that five SPARTAN-IIs were no longer in active duty since the augmentation of the SPARTAN-IIs. Samuel-034, Kurt-051, Randall, Sheila, and another SPARTAN-II mentioned to be "too wounded to continue active duty" are part of this count. The wounded SPARTAN-II could be Maria-062, who, by the Battle of Earth, had "retired" with the intent of starting a family. It should be noted that Samuel-034 died in 2525, and Kurt-051 and Randall went missing in 2531 and 2532, respectively. This does not line up with Halsey's statements about the SPARTAN-IIs that no longer serve because of events between the years of 2542 and 2552. Although the Halo Wars timeline feature appears to clear up the confusion, the plot of the game causes a new discrepancy, as three new SPARTAN-IIs are introduced: Douglas-042, Jerome-092, and Alice-130. These SPARTAN-IIs were aboard the Spirit of Fire, which was lost with all hands in 2531. To maintain the number given in the timeline, all three of these SPARTAN-IIs would have had to have made their way back to Reach by the time of the battle.
The status of the SPARTAN-IIs is even further skewed by Halo Legends. In the anime series, seven (excluding Ralph, who was discharged from the program) SPARTAN-IIs are introduced: Cal-141, Solomon-069, Arthur-079, Daisy-023,Joseph-122, and two unnamed SPARTANs. Seven of the eight SPARTAN-IIs are killed in their respective episodes: Cal-141 is killed by a Jiralhanae chieftain in The Babysitter, putting her death between 2540 and late 2551. Solomon-069 and Arthur-079 are killed in a mission that takes place in 2544, as seen in The Package. The two unnamed escapees from the SPARTAN-II Program commit suicide in 2525. Daisy-023 and Ralph-303 are killed during the Harvest Campaign between 2526 and 2531, but at this time Ralph was no longer a SPARTAN. Joseph-122 is recaptured into UNSC custody, although he is not mentioned again during the episode. This completely contradicts Halsey's statements about about three SPARTAN-IIs being KIA between 2542 and 2552, and it further skews the total number of SPARTAN-IIs present at Reach.
If Samuel-034, Randall, Sheila, Kurt-051, Maria-062, Douglas-042, Jerome-092, Alice-130, Cal-141, Solomon-069, Arthur-079, Daisy-023, the two unnamed SPARTANs who committed suicide, and the three members of Gray Team are removed from the count of 33 surviving SPARTAN-IIs mentioned in The Fall of Reach, only sixteen SPARTAN-IIs could have been present at the Fall of Reach. Furthermore, because Jorge-052 served with Noble Team during the Fall of Reach, the Pillar of Autumn could have deployed no more than fifteen SPARTAN-IIs: three to Gamma Station and the remaining twelve to the surface of Reach.
Bungie.
Alright, this was not written by me, but it raises a really good point in my opinion, like the possible return of Alice, Jerome and Douglas (something that is possible, specially due to the Mona Lisa story in Evolutions).