Eridanus II/Silver

Eridanus II is a planet in the Eridanus system.

Locations

 * Reach for Life installation
 * Elysium Fields

History
Originally uninhabited, Eridanus II was settled as a part of the Reach for Life project. The Reach for Life installation on Eridanus II was one of only six to survive its pilot stage, becoming a fertile forest built into an otherwise hostile planet. It was where John-117 was born and lived for the first several years of his life, at one point discovering a Forerunner keystone in a cavern near his home. His parents were the leaders of the Eridanus II colony.

However, the program was abruptly terminated when an unauthorized transport brought a plague with no cure to Eridanus II. The plague spread quickly and killed off most of the population with the survivors being relocated to Ehilend. In accordance withe Emergence Contact Protocol Upsilon, the planet was subsequently sealed off to contain the virus. The Reach for Life project's operational files were lost following this.

In 2552, after touching the Madrigal keystone, some of John's blocked childhood memories from his life on Eridanus II were unlocked. With the help of Cortana and the FLEETCOM Central Database, John eventually identified Eridanus II as the planet from his memories after recalling Eridanus II's visible ice rings which greatly narrowed his search parameters. Cortana revealed what little information she could find about the disaster on Eridanus II, but the Reach for Life project's operational files had been lost when it was abruptly terminated following the fall of the colony. John decided to return to Eridanus II himself to find the second keystone with Dr. Catherine Halsey accompanying him.

John, Halsey and Adun Saly visited the ruins of the Reach for Life installation and John's childhood home where John uncovered his drawings of the keystone and its location. At John's request, Cortana digitally recreated his ruined house which triggered more of John's memories of finding the keystone in a cavern outside of the installation during a family picnic. It also caused John to remember meeting Halsey on Eridanus II before their first supposed meeting at an orphanage on Ehilend. John was then able to lead Halsey to the cavern where the two found the keystone.

Led by Halsey, the UNSC set up a camp on the planet as they attempted to recover the keystone from the caves. Although Saly succeeded in freeing the keystone from the crystal, it sent out an energy pulse that alerted Makee and the Covenant to its location. During his time on Eridanus II, John became more and more suspicious of his "adoption" with Cortana warning him that all of the records about the plague had been lost and there were no records on the Spartan program. Touching the keystone once again, John recalled that he had been kidnapped by Halsey and the UNSC who had replaced him with a flash clone.

The Covenant subsequently attacked Eridanus II for the keystone, destroying the in orbit. During the battle that followed, Atriox successfully stole the keystone and Makee was deployed from a in an effort to infiltrate the UNSC and get the Madrigal keystone.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Television Series
 * Contact
 * Unbound
 * Emergence
 * Homecoming
 * Reckoning
 * Solace