So... The planet didn't blow up..? 
 
I played through it on normal... Just want to make sure there isn't a "true" ending if you beat it on Legendary or something like that

In the books they nuke the planet. In the books the pillar of autumn is in orbit when the attack starts. So I think they are non cannon now? Anyways they don't blow up the world, they just hit it with so much plasma that it literally turns everything to glass.

" In the books they nuke the planet. In the books the pillar of autumn is in orbit when the attack starts. So I think they are non cannon now? Anyways they don't blow up the world, they just hit it with so much plasma that it literally turns everything to glass. "

"Anyways they don't blow up the world, they just hit it with so much plasma that it literally turns everything to glass. "

" @tankintheair315 said:

"Anyways they don't blow up the world, they just hit it with so much plasma that it literally turns everything to glass. "

This is all that happens. No secret endings once you beat legendary or anything like that. The planet is pummeled and abandoned, except for a small Covenant force that remained in the system for a time. I believe some years later the planet was recolonized. "

Yeah, you see the glassing going on at one point - the heli mission where you're taking down the jammers. If you watch the background, you can see the Covenant ships glassing the city. 
 
As for Reach as a world... it gets glassed so they can get at the Forerunner ruins underneath, which is the actual reason they'd gone to Reach in the first place.

Want to know what happen to Reach after the glassing? Read the Novel " First strike"

After playing through Lone Wolf there is a short cutscene showing your helmet, surrounded by what is the recolonized Reach, on July 7th, 2589. 
 
-GT