Halo’s Covenant aliens, explained – Polygon

You now know what the Halo story is and how it fits into the timeline. You’ve played through the games and felled thousands of enemies. But have you ever wondered what that Elite’s deal is? Why do Grunts wear those backpacks? Those are great questions, and we’re here to answer them for you.

Let’s take a look at the eight Covenant races seen throughout the Halo series, and explain the religious organization’s primary motivation for destroying everything good in the galaxy.

What is the Covenant?

The Covenant, a religious organisation that is the antagonist in Halo 2, serves the Covenant as its main enemy. It’s a group of multiple species — some that came to the Covenant willingly and others that were conquered into it.

The Covenant are driven by their worship of the Forerunners, the race of aliens that built the series’ titular Halo rings. This worship informs “The Great Journey,” the ultimate goal of the Covenant. They believe the Forerunner activated the Halos — the “Sacred Rings” — and took the Great Journey, ascending them to godhood. However, it was actually the Forerunners who activated Halos to cleanse the universe, including themselves, of life. This also starved parasitic Flood creatures. But the Covenant don’t know that — initially, at least.

Prophets (San’Shyuum)

Image: Bungie/343 Industries via Halopedia

Although the Prophets are an alien species that dates back to ancient times, they were able to join humans during the first war against the Forerunners. Janjur Qom was their homeworld. This world had a lot of Forerunner artifacts which primed them to lead the Covenant.

The Prophets are mostly non-combative race and don’t show up in the Halo series until Halo 2

The Prophet of Truth, Prophet of Mercy and Prophet of Regret are three of the most prominent Prophets. Delta Halo: Master Chief defeats Prophet of Regret. Halo 2. Mercy is killed by High Charity because of a Flood invasion, and the Prophet, Truth, abandons him to death, assuring that Truth has complete control over the Covenant. Truth is the principal villain in the story. Halo 3He is then killed by the Arbiter in the Citadel of the Ark.

Prophets are known for their long necks and hunched shoulders. They apparently stand about 7 feet, and are even taller when riding around in their “Gravity Thrones,” sitting at 7 and a half feet. The Prophets have mostly disappeared outside of the Covenant Council.

Elites (Sangheili)

Image: Ensemble Studios/Bungie via Halopedia

These are perhaps the most famous and significant races in Covenant. They’re the primary military squad leaders for Halo Halo 2They are primarily Grunts and Jackals in combat, but also Skirmishers. All of them serve as Honor Guards under the Prophets, until the Prophets replaces the Elites by the Brute. Halo 2 (an event called “the Great Schism”).

The Elites, a combat-hardened race, are the fighter half of Covenant founders. (The Prophets act like the brain).

The Halo Universe has many notable Elites. The most significant Elite character is the Arbiter, Thel ‘Vadam. He’s a playable character in Halo 2And a companion co-op to Master Chief Halo 3Chief. He plays a crucial role in Chief’s story, and the two eventually form a friendship. Rtas ‘Vadum, the shipmaster with the badass nickname Half-Jaw, also played a major role in the Elite’s defection from the Covenant, helping to aid humanity at the end of the war. He and Thel ‘Vadam eventually helped form a new Elite government after the war.

Jul ‘Mdama was an Elite that maintained a Covenant cell after Halo 3, during Halo 4. He served the Didact until Spartan Locke murdered him. Halo 5

Elites are very tall, standing anywhere from 7 feet, 4 inches to 8 feet, 6 inches — making Master Chief himself (who stands about 6 feet, 10 inches without his armor and about 7 in full dress) look small in comparison. Each jaw has a row with teeth that line the interior.

Jackals/Skirmishers (Kig-Yar and T’vaoan)

Image: Bungie via Halopedia

Most of the other Covenant races aren’t nearly as important or complex as the Elites or Prophets.

The Kig-Yar (Jackals) and T’vaoan (Skirmishers) are actually the same race; the Skirmishers are just a sub-race that come from an asteroid colony.

Jackals, an avian-like bird with feathers and beaklike ears, are a Jackal species. Their primary function is to support the Covenant military’s shield-bearing troops as well as their sniper duties. They have impeccable smell and vision, which is why they’re usually the first enemy types to spot you — or kill you with a single headshot on higher difficulties.

Jackals are between 6- and 6-and a-half to six-foot tall, while hunching up to five feet.

Grunts

Image: Bungie/343 Industries via Halopedia

The Grunts are interesting little creatures and serve as the — pun intended — “grunt” infantry of the Covenant army.

The most interesting fact about the Grunts is that they breathe methane thanks to their home world’s atmosphere. That’s why they wear breathing machines in all the Halo games, and wear a backpack that steams any time it gets broken.

The Grunts caused quite a bit panic in terms of their Covenant tenure. After being bullied by the other races — and getting threatened with chemical castration — the Grunts incited a Covenant rebellion, which ultimately failed.

Grunts are the smallest of the Covenant; they’re about the size of an adolescent human or short adult. Grunts are 5ft 6ins tall, while they stand only 4ft and a half feet shorter.

Combination of Hunters (Lekgolo, Mgalekgolo)

Image: Bungie via Halopedia

In secret, the Hunters are one of the coolest Covenant races. While they look like giant, walking tanks, they’re actually a collection of worms all connected together by a suit.

That’s right, the Lekgolo are worm-like creatures from the planet Te. They’re mildly intelligent individuals that can pilot machines. The worms may combine and form a single personality, or even a community. Combining them makes them more powerful and intelligent.

When more Lekgolo join together, they become Mgalekgolo and can transform themselves into the Hunters the Covenant use. One fun fact about Hunters: They always travel in pairs due to the special bond they have. Mgalekgolo split when they get too big but keep in touch with their old worm pals. At one time, there were two Hunters.

The Hunters can also be very large. Although each Lekgolo measures only a few inches tall, hunters can reach 12 feet in height and weigh as much as 11,000 pounds.

Drones (Yanme’e)

Image: Bungie via Halopedia

Drones, four-winged flying insects with four wings that eat meat, are called Drones. It’s gross! These people are numerous enough to almost defeat the Covenant in numbers.

Drones didn’t make an appearance in the Halo series until Halo 2Drones are a type of drone that flies around shooting at people with their plasma pistols. Drones operate in a similar fashion to Grunts and use a lot of combat strategies. Their only skill, aside from their size and bulk, is mechanics.

While drones might sound horrible, it’s actually not that bad when you consider they can reach heights of anywhere between 5ft 8inches and 6ft 7inches. They’re big enough to pick up a UNSC marine and carry them away.

Brutes (Jiralhanae)

Image: Bungie via Halopedia

The Covenant’s Brutes were latecomers, however they quickly rose up the ranks due to their sheer ferocity. They’re big, hairy, and don’t play well with others — even those in the Covenant, as evidenced by their longtime feud with the Elites.

Brutes is one of Covenant’s most prominent races. They play a significant combat role in several titles, and are heavily featured in the story. They don’t show up until Halo 2, but the Prophets quickly used Master Chief’s assassination of the Prophet Regret as reason to replace the Elites with the Brutes, as the Prophet’s guards This caused The Great Schism, which led to the Elites leaving the Covenant to join humanity’s cause. It’s also why Brutes are the primary enemy type in Halo 3.

The Halo series has a number of important Brutes. Tartarus acts as the principal antagonist. Halo 2He is attempting to activate Delta Halo. Tartarus is killed by the Arbiter, and the ring stops firing. Atriox is Atriox’s primary antagonist. Halo Wars II, but he wasn’t killed off. Escharum is the villain of the next film. Halo Infinite, evacuated Atriox, so it’s likely we may see both in Infinite

The Brutes, a race that is physically the largest outside the Hunters, are most imposing. The Brutes can stand between 8 and half feet and a little more than 9 feet high, and weigh as much as 1,500 pounds.

Engineers (Huragok)

Image: Bungie via Halopedia

Engineers are mysterious, ancient beings created by the Forerunners for their role as mechanics. They are more combat-focused than they are combat-focused and more docile, which makes their inclusion in militaristic Covenant very sad.

In reality, engineers only appear in four Halo games. Halo 3: ODST Reach Halo Halo WarsPlease see the following: Halo Wars IIIt is. That means Master Chief never comes face-to-face with one of these things in a Halo video game, as they “mysteriously disappeared” sometime into the human-Covenant conflict. The end sequence does include a key role for one engineer. ODSTThey are primarily used to provide Overshields for their Allies, until they are destroyed.

Engineers look a lot like floating snails or rocks with snakes poking through them. They can be nearly six feet tall or barely eight feet high.