| “ | 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. |
The Covenant, also sometimes referred to as the Covenant Empire, are one of the two main antagonists (alongside The Flood) of the Halo franchise.
They are a religious hegemony consisting of various alien races who are united in their reverence to the Forerunners, an ancient and powerful race who've long since disappeared and whom the Covenant worship as gods. Utilizing existing Forerunner technology, the Covenant instigated a galactic conquest in search for the Halo rings, Forerunner-made ringworlds which they believe are entryways into obtaining godhood.
They are the arch-nemesis of the United Nations Space Command and, by extension, humanity as a whole, as the Covenant believe them to be abominations and a grave threat to their mission and creed. This is because humanity are, in fact, chosen by the Forerunners themselves to inherit and continue their legacy, ordaining them as "Reclaimers". Deeming humans to be literal descendants of the Forerunners and, thus, upending their entire religion it was built upon, the Covenant leadership enact a genocidal campaign to exterminate humanity as means to safeguard their positions and prevent the Covenant from breaking apart.
History[]
Beginnings[]
Eons ago, the San'Shyuum witnessed a Forerunner Dreadnought crashing onto their planet. Believing it to be holy, they debated amongst themselves whether or not to enter the spaceship and learn from its technology. Competing factions arise, and a civil war erupted, which ended with the victorious Reformists entering the Dreadnought and fleeing their homeworld.
The surviving Reformists ventured the cosmos in search for Forerunner artifacts when they come across the Sangheili, another species who've also come to worship the Forerunners. The Sangheili, believing that artifacts should not be tampered with, declared war after learning that the San'Shyuum were planning to excavate Forerunner relics they were safeguarding. Although vastly outnumbered, the San'Shyuum withstood the onslaught after taking shelter inside the Dreadnought, then used the ship to retaliate and lay waste to their colonies. Facing certain annihilation, the Sangheili were forced to appropriate Forerunner technology to fight back against the San'Shyuum.
After decades of conflict, the two species reached a truce after realizing their shared beliefs in the Forerunners and the promise of a "Great Journey" by the San'Shyuum. Officially brokering peace with a treaty known as the Writ of Union, the San'Shyumm and the Sangheili formed an alliance in their search for the Halo rings that would bring upon salvation, thus forming the Covenant.
In the millennia that followed, the Covenant expanded its reach across the Milky Way, triggering bloody conflicts with numerous species in their efforts to assimilate them into their empire. The Lekgolo were the first to join, followed by the Yanme'e and the Kig-Yar. Following scant resistance, the Unggoy were incorporated into the Covenant. However, the Unggoy eventually rebelled following years of mistreatment and involuntary hard labor, as well as escalating tensions with the Kig-Yar. Although the rebellion was ultimately suppressed, the Unggoy's surprising ferociousness in combat prompted a complete overhaul of the Covenant military structure, allowing the Unggoy access to Covenant weaponry and be integrated into Sangheili units. Centuries later, the Covenant discovered the Jiralhanae waging a bloody civil war in their homeworld, and assimilated them into the Covenant.
Human-Covenant War[]
In the year 2525, while searching for Forerunner relics, the Covenant made contact with the human world, Harvest. Following a botched summit with an UNSC meeting party, the three Covenant Hierarchs – the Prophets of Truth, Regret, and Mercy – learned from a Forerunner AI that the humans are, in fact, the relics in question, proclaiming them as "Reclaimers". The Prophets, shocked by this revelation, misinterpreted the given data and deduced that humanity are living Forerunners who were left behind in their quest for transcendence. Fearing that this revelation would unravel the Covenant, the three Prophets declared that humanity have desecrated the holy relics and demanded their extermination, thus beginning the Human-Covenant War.
The war began with the orbital bombardment of Harvest. The Covenant’s genocidal campaign quickly spread through the galaxy, seeking out and eradicating entire human colonies, done mainly via mass plasma bombardments on human worlds from orbit (a process known as "glassing"). The war persisted for decades, with the UNSC constantly on the defensive and repeatedly outmatched by the Covenant’s superior numbers and weaponry, yet they remained successful in stopping the Covenant from finding Earth.
In 2552, the Covenant saw their biggest victory yet with their breach of the human Inner Colonies and the subsequent glassing of Reach – a strategic human world and a major military stronghold of the UNSC – after a bloody month-long battle. During bombardment, Covenant fleets formed a blockade around the planet to prevent human vessels from escaping, yet one UNSC vessel – the Pillar of Autumn – made a successful blind jump from Reach, bypassing the blockade. In response, a Covenant fleet known as the Fleet of Particular Justice pursued the fleeing vessel. The ensuing pursuit led the Covenant fleet to a surprising discovery: a Forerunner ring world known as Installation 04, subsequently christened by the Covenant as Halo.
While hunting down surviving UNSC forces that have crash landed on Halo, the Covenant dispatched several excavation units in search for a supposed Forerunner weapons cache that may prove decisive to the war effort. However, the Covenant search teams unknowingly breached a containment facility harboring the Flood, quickly succumbing to the infestation and releasing the parasites from quarantine in the process. This incident transformed the campaign into a three-way conflict, with numerous Covenant and UNSC forces falling to the Flood’s onslaught. By the end of the battle, Installation 04 was destroyed by the Master Chief in an effort to stop the Flood from leaving the ring world and spreading.
A Covenant Scarab engages with UNSC Pelicans on Earth.
Shortly after the battle, a small Covenant fleet led by the Prophet of Regret accidentally stumbled upon Earth while searching for a Forerunner facility known as the Ark. Although surprised to learn of humanity’s presence on Earth and the fact that his fleet is heavily outmatched, Regret nonetheless remained dedicated in finding the Ark. Regret gave the command to break through the UNSC’s orbital defenses and make landing on the East African city of New Mombasa. During the struggle, Regret’s forces seized control over much of the city, but quickly lost ground after a counter-offensive by the UNSC. Regret’s carrier was eventually forced to retreat by initiating a slipspace jump while still in Earth’s atmosphere, destroying much of the city in the process.
A Grunt manning a Shade turret attempts to shoot down ODST drop pods.
While the Prophet of Regret’s carrier retreated from Earth, a small number of UNSC ships pursued the carrier through a slipspace rupture and followed it to Installation 05, a.k.a. Delta Halo. There, the UNSC broke through Covenant defenses and launched an operation to locate and kill Regret. While holding sermons on the ring, Regret relayed an apology to Truth for his ill-fated assault on Earth, having failed to realize Earth was humanity's homeworld. Though highly displeased by his actions, Truth nonetheless had his fleet rush towards Delta Halo in an effort to save Regret. But as an armada of Phantoms approached Regret's location, the Master Chief had already dealt the killing blow on the High Prophet. The Phantoms were promptly called back by Truth, sending in instead an assault carrier to destroy the building where the Spartan was in.
Great Schism[]
Regret’s assassination sent shockwaves throughout Covenant society with major political ramifications. The Sangheili, one of the founding species of the Covenant, were replaced by the Prophet Hierarchs in favor of the Jiralhanae as the Prophets’ new Honor Guards. The Prophet of Truth gave his reasoning for the change, explaining that due to their failure in preventing Regret’s death, the Sangheili can no longer be trusted as the Prophets’ rightful protectors. In response, the Sangheili declared this decision as a direct violation of their Writ of Union with the Prophets and threatened to resign from the Covenant.
Amid brewing tensions within the Covenant, Truth began replacing en masse Sangheili Shipmasters with the Jiralhanae, giving them direct command of numerous Covenant fleets. Once the ‘Changing of the Guard’ was complete, Truth secretly gave the Jiralhanae the order to purge the Sangheili from the Covenant, beginning first with the massacre of the High Councilors. Fighting quickly spread throughout and around the Covenant’s capital, High Charity, as the surviving Sangheili resisted against the Jiralhanae and other loyalist forces hunting them down. Meanwhile, Truth and Mercy attempted to flee as they were being pursued by the Master Chief, who infiltrated the capital with the help of Gravemind.
As the fighting among splintered Covenant factions raged on, the UNSC vessel In Amber Clad made its sudden arrival into High Charity’s interior space via slipspace jump, crashing into one of its towers. The infighting reached a new, ominous phase as the Flood revealed themselves, emerging from the wrecked UNSC frigate and decimating both loyalist and separatist forces. Among the casualties was the Prophet of Mercy, who was attacked by a Flood infection form and left to die as Truth and his Honor Guards left for the Forerunner Dreadnought. By that point, much of High Charity had fallen to the Flood infestation.
Fall of the Covenant[]
In the wake of the Great Schism and the Flood’s takeover of High Charity, the Covenant was left significantly fractured, and their military greatly diminished. Despite this, they still imposed a deadly threat as the Prophet of Truth gathered what remained of the Covenant forces and launched an all-out assault on Earth, overwhelming UNSC orbital defenses and bombarding the planet’s surface, killing swathes of Earth’s population in the process. The East African country of Kenya was their main focal point, learning earlier that underneath Kenyan land lay a massive Forerunner construct that would open a gateway to the Ark, a location pivotal to their Great Journey.
Having consolidated much of Kenya under their control, Covenant loyalists began excavation work in the city of Voi, over a large area where the Forerunner artifact was buried under. After unearthing the construct, Truth’s Dreadnought made landing over the structure, using the keyship to power to activate the artifact. Despite an UNSC counter-offensive to stop it, the Dreadnought successfully activated a portal to the Ark, revealed to be Installation 00. The keyship and the surviving Covenant fleet entered the portal just as a Flood-controlled Covenant battle-cruiser emerged from slipspace and crashed into a factory nearby. After dealing with the surprise Flood outbreak on Earth, the UNSC and a Sangheili fleet, the Fleet of Retribution, joined forces and entered the portal to give chase and hunt down Truth and the remaining loyalists. Truth’s fleet immediately engaged with the combined UNSC-Sangheili fleet as soon as they exited slipspace, but some were able to break through and make landing onto the Ark. Despite putting up fierce resistance, the Covenant were unable to stop their advances, and the opposing alliance eventually learned of Truth’s location at the Citadel, where he planned to activate the Halo Array.
Increasingly cornered by the UNSC-Fleet of Retribution’s advances along with the sudden appearance of the Flood via High Charity, Covenant loyalists made their final stand at the Citadel, where they were eventually overwhelmed. The Master Chief and the Arbiter formed a short-lived alliance with the Flood just as Truth managed to activate the Halo Array at the eleventh hour. But soon after they fought through what’s left of Truth’s loyalist forces inside the Citadel, Chief managed to deactivate the Ark’s initiation sequences, while the Arbiter approached Truth, who was already dying from a Flood infection. Arbiter dealt the final blow to the fallen Prophet, killing him with his energy sword and putting an end to the Covenant threat at last.
After the events in Halo 3, the collapse of the Covenant led to the formation of multiple new remnant factions such as the Swords of Sanghelios, Jul 'Mdama's Covenant and the Banished.
Species[]
The Covenant is comprised of at least 8 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 3 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.
Ranks, Titles and Positions[]
Prophets[]
- Hierarch: Hierarchs serve as the leaders of the Covenant's High Council.
- Lesser: Representatives of the High Council.
- Minister: Management of the Covenant's government ministry.
- Vice Minister: Assist Ministers.
- Senior Staffer: Assist Ministers and Vice Ministers.
- Junior Staffer: Entry level Ministry workers.
- Philologist: Leader of the Ascetic priests who tends to the Oracle on High Charity.
- Cleric: Performers of religious and medincinal duties.
- Vice Cleric: Subordinates of Clerics.
Grunts[]
- Ultra: Field Officers to their comrades and wear distinctive white-lilac or silver armor. While they have some authority over lesser-ranked Grunts, they have no control over other Covenant members except for Jackals.
- Spec Ops: Experienced and specially-chosen, usually commanded by Spec Ops Elites, they are given jet-black armor. They are part of the Covenant Special Operations division of the Covenant Special Warfare Group. They are able to use Active Camouflage and are extremly skilled in combat compared to the lower-ranking Grunts.
- Heavy: Being similiar to the rank of Corporal, these specialized Grunts wear green colored armor and are often deployed for defensive actions. Their primary purposes are to give heavy support for their group and their most common weapons are Fuel Rod Guns.
- Unggoy Major: Similiar to the rank of Lance Corporal, they are more experienced than Minors, and wear crimson/red colored armor. They command several Minors and are slightly more skilled in combat and courageous.
- Unggoy Minor: The Covenant equivalent to a Private, they wear orange colored armor and are often the least dangerous.
Jackals[]
- Shipmaster: Commanders of Covenant ships.
- Sniper: Snipers are the Covenant's foremost long-ranged combatents. They wield weapons like Beam Rifles, Needle Rifles, Focus Rifles and Carbines to snipe enemies with.
- Major: Majors are more experienced Jackals and are issued stronger point-defense gauntlets which can be colored Gold, Red and Purple.
- Minor: These are the lowest ranked Jackals and are armed with standard strength. They can have point-defense gauntlets colored Green and Blue.
Skirmishers[]
- Champion: Champions are a specialized group of shock troopers comprising of more heavily built Kig-Yar, deployed on the ground for their viscousness and fierce tactics. They appear as leaders, not being specialists nor infantry.
- Commando: Members of this rank wear green armor and occasionally use holograms.
- Murmillo: Champions are a specialized group of shock troopers comprising of more heavily built Kig-Yar, deployed on the ground for their viscousness and fierce tactics. They appear as leaders, not being specialists nor infantry.
- Major: Majors have reddish brown armor.
- Minor: Minors are the lowest.
Hunters[]
- Regular: Basic Infantry
- Gold: Hunter Officers
Drones[]
- Ultra: Higher-ranked Officers
- Major: Commanders of Minor Drones.
- Minor: Lowest of the Drones.
Brutes[]
- Chieftain of the Brutes : The leader of the Brutes overall, Tartarus was the last known person to hold this position.
- Brute War Chieftain: The second highest rank in Brute social and military hierarchy, they command packs of Brute Stalkers and serve as commanding officers aboard Scarab. They wield heavy ranged weapons to eliminate foes.
- Chieftain: The third highest rank a Brute can achieve, Chieftains command packs and tend to lead packs comprised of half-a-dozen or more Brutes as well as several lower caste species.
- Brute Captain Major: Brute Captain Majors are the second highest ranking Captains in the Covenant military and the fifth highest rank overall, they wear in golden power armor and lead lances of Grunts and Jackals.
- Captain: A rank equivalent to UNSC Land Captains, Brute Captains lead groups of lesser Brutes, Grunts and Jackals into battle. Their rank is on the same level as an Elite Ultra.
- Brute Honor Guard: The replacement of Elites in the Covenant Loyalists, the serve as the protectors of the Hierarchs (Truth and Mercy) along with the rest of the High Council and high ranking officials such as Tartarus. They work in pairs or packs consisting of two or three guardsmen.
- Bodyguard:: Resembling a Brute Captain, they are responsible for guarding their pack's Chieftain and enforcing trible law and/or military law. They typically appear in groups of two to four.
- Stalker: Secret police of the Covenant, Brute counterparts to Stealth Elites.
- Jumper: Brute counterparts to Elite Rangers.
- Ultra: Leaders of lesser Covenant troops.
- Major: Leaders of Covenant Lances.
- Minor: The lowest ranked Brutes, they are the most common and inexperienced. They are the most common enemies in the Halo 3 campaign.
Elites[]
- Councilor:
- Arbiter: Bestowed upon an Elite by the Hierarchs during a time of great need. It is said that the Arbiters appear to be the will of the Hierarchs as well as their blade. Arbiters are sent on various important missions such as, taming the Hunters, eliminating the Grunt rebellion, obtaining the Index, assassinating the Heretic Leader alongside his followers and re-activating a Forerunner fleet. Thel 'Vadam is the current holder of this rank.
- Ascetic:
- Honor Guard Ultra:
- Honor Guard: Hand picked, they serve as the guards of the Covenant High Council, mainly the Prophet Hierarchs. They typically hold Energy Staves but fight with Plasma Rifles, Covenant Carbines and Energy Swords. This position was later taken away from the Elites given to the Brutes as punishment for failing to prevent the murder of the Prophet of Regret.
- Field Marshall: Besides commanding large scale operations, Field Marshals are known to lead small strike teams of Zealot Officers into battle as well as commanding Covenant Task Forces.
- Zealot: High Commanders in the Covenant Empire, there are four sub-ranks: Field Marshal, Field Master, Shipmaster and Fleet Master.
- General:The highest ranking infantry soldiers for the Sangheili race within the Covenant Empire. They lead hundreds and even thousands into battle. Multiple Generals will often coordinate with each other during large-scale campaigns. They typically use Heavy Weapons but sometimes wield Energy Swords.
- Ultra:
- Major: Officers who command groups of Minors as well as lesser races in ground combat situations. Majors can also take on the role as "second master" which allows them to become a Sangheili Shipmasters second in command of their ship. They appear to be equivalent to UNSC Lieutenants.
- Sangheili Minor: The lowest of all Sangheili soldiers. Despite being common and inexperienced they outrank the highest position of many alien races. They often seen leading squads of Grunts. Their armor is blue and have the weakest overshields of all Elite warriors.
Gallery[]
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.
