Covenant Empire

"Creatures of the Covenant, the path is broad, and we shall walk it side by side."

- The Prophet of Truth, one of the leaders of the Covenant Empire (The Covenant).

The Covenant, also known as the Covenant Empire, are a religious alien empire who are the main antagonists of the Halo series.

This theocratic military alliance of multiple alien races is obsessed with activating the titular "Halo" space stations, believing that they will send them on a "Great Journey" into godhood, when in reality they were intended to be a last-resort defense against The Flood and would destroy all life in the galaxy if successfully used. They worship the ancient "Forerunner" race, which created the Halos, but are oblivious to the true purposes of their creations even when Forerunner robots such as 343 Guilty Spark are still around who would gladly inform them. They are at war with humanity because humans are actually the descendants of the Forerunners, and since the Covenant religion states that all the Forerunners went on the Great Journey and ascended to a higher plane of existence, this means that their prophecy is wrong and the leaders of the Covenant want to exterminate humanity so the other Covenant won't find out about this and cause the organization to fall apart.

One major practice of the Covenant is the orbital bombardment of enemy planets by their larger spaceships, known as "Glassing", which has an effect similar to a nuclear holocaust. This most notably happened to the planet Reach, which fell shortly before the first Halo game and was shown in the prequel game Halo: Reach.

The Covenant is comprised of at least eight different alien races:


 * Elites/Sangheili: The most skilled warriors of the Covenant, the Elites themselves are grey humanoid creatures with strange squid-like mouths, but they wear a variety of elaborate armor that always covers their bodies. They have a highly sophisticated culture and ranking system, and served as the highest-ranking zealots of the Covenant army. That is, until Halo 2, where an Elite named the Arbiter learns the truth about the Halo rings and the Prophets and leads his race away from the Covenant, joining the humans and later killing the Prophet of Truth personally. They only appear as allies in Halo 3.
 * Grunts/Unggoy: The lowest and weakest of all the Covenant, these small creatures are identified by the large breathing apparatus they wear on their backs to survive in human environments, which resemble a shell. They have squeaky, high-pitched voices and their lines often provide comic relief during gameplay. They are usually deployed in as cannon fodder and even the highest Grunts fall under the leadership of the lowest Elites and Brutes.
 * Jackals/Kig-Yar: Skinny orange bird-like creatures with very long heads who are relatively low in the Covenant hierarchy and usually serve as "scouts" and "snipers" in military operations. They usually carry round energy shields on their arms and often are trained as snipers. In Halo: Reach, a new variation of the species called Skirmishers are introduced, which are stronger and black in color as well as more agile and dangerous.
 * Hunters/Mgalekgolo: Large blue mechanical monsters made up of a colony of small worm-like creatures called Lekgolo. They always fight in pairs. Hunters appear in all Halo games. The Hunters have shields and assault cannons, and are quite high in the Covenant hierarchy.
 * Brutes/Jiralhanae: Hairy, barbaric, ape-like humanoids with incredible physical strength and powerful weaponry. They are led by Chieftains who wield powerful melee weapons called Gravity Hammers. Brutes are introduced in Halo 2, where they serve as the main enemies of the Arbiter after he turns good, become the personal bodyguards of the Prophets during the game's storyline and replace the Elites as the main enemies in Halo 3.
 * Drones/Yanme'e: Relatively small flying insect creatures that rarely appear in battle and are always found in large groups when they do. Drone packs usually serve as isolated filler sequences that help break up the action during lengthier levels. Introduced in Halo 2. They willingly joined the Covenant by request, as a reward, the Drones were placed higher than the Grunts and Jackals. They were originally engineers of the Covenant, but become air units within the military when the Forerunner Engineers joined.
 * Engineers/Huragok: Floating slug-like creatures that were actually created by the Forerunner and now serve the Covenant as slaves. A peaceful and simple race, they do not directly participate in combat and usually just provide psychic shields for other Covenant units, but are sometimes used as suicide bombers. Engineers were created for the original Halo: Combat Evolved but were cut from the game, and later appeared in the tie-in novels before being featured in the spinoff game Halo Wars and then in the Bungie-developed Halo: ODST and Halo: Reach. Since the Prophets and high ranking individuals speak to these creatures, they are very high in the hierarchy even though they serve as slaves.
 * Prophets/San'Shyuum: The leaders of the Covenant religion, the Prophets are frail, old creatures who use floating chairs to move around. They are very few in number, and there are three main Prophets: The Prophet of Truth, the Prophet of Regret and the Prophet of Mercy. Ironically, all three of their personalities are actually the opposite of their names. Only one prophet is actually fought in the entire Halo series: The Prophet of Regret in Halo 2.

Prophets

 * Hierarch:
 * Lesser:
 * Minister:
 * Vice Minister:
 * Senior Staffer:
 * Junior Staffer:
 * Philologist:
 * Vice Cleric:
 * Cleric:

Grunts

 * Ultra:
 * Spec Ops:
 * Heavy:
 * Major:
 * Minor:

Jackals

 * Shipmaster:
 * Sniper:
 * Major:
 * Minor:

Skirmishers

 * Champion:
 * Commando:
 * Murmillo:
 * Major:
 * Minor:

Hunters

 * Regular:
 * Gold:

Drones

 * Ultra:
 * Major:
 * Minor:

Brutes

 * Chieftain of the Brutes:
 * Army Commander:
 * War Chieftain:
 * Chieftain:
 * Captain Ultra:
 * Captain Major:
 * Captain:
 * Honor Guard:
 * Bodyguard:
 * Stalker:
 * Jumper:
 * Ultra:
 * Major:
 * Minor:

Elites

 * Councilor:
 * Arbiter:
 * Ascetic:
 * Honor Guard Ultra:
 * Honor Guard:
 * Field Marshall:
 * Zealot:
 * Imperial Admiral:
 * Supreme Commander:
 * Weapons Master:
 * Spec Ops:
 * Spec Ops Officer:
 * Spec Ops Commander:
 * Ossoona:
 * Ranger:
 * Commando:
 * General:
 * Ultra:
 * Major:
 * Minor:
 * Kaidon:
 * Oracle Master:
 * Aristocrat:

Trivia

 * In a Biblical reference, the Ark of the Covenant represented the will of God, in connection with the quote: "Your destruction is the will of the Gods...and we are their instrument!" This references the Covenant's belief that they carry through the will of their Gods, the Forerunners.
 * 343 Guilty Spark often refers to the Covenant as "meddlers" due to their constant disregard for containment protocols, and the misinterpretation of Forerunner language and technology.
 * The Covenant have several similarities to the Hierarchy from Universe at War. For example, the Hierarchy leader, Kamal Re'x, is eerily similar to the Prophet of Truth, saying things of comparison: (Kamal): "The universe does not abide by weakness, and we are its ambassadors" (Truth): "Your destruction is the will of the Gods...and we are their instrument.".
 * Members of the UNSC armed forces will often refer to the Covenant member species as a whole as "bugs" or "Covies". This can be heard in the quotes "Covie scum." and "The only good bug is a dead bug."
 * The latter quote is taken from Starship Troopers and Aliens.
 * Early concepts of the Sangheli resemble the Xenomorphs from the Alien film series, as with many other things such as Pelicans and Sgt. Avery Johnson.