Covenant (Halo)

The Covenant is a fictional military alliance of alien races who serve as one of the main antagonists in the Halo science fiction series. The Covenant are composed of a variety of diverse species, united under the religious worship of the enigmatic Forerunners and their belief that Forerunner ringworlds known as Halos will provide a path to salvation. After the Covenant leadership – the High Prophets – declare humanity an affront to their gods, the Covenant prosecute a lengthy genocidal campaign against the technologically inferior race.

The Covenant were first introduced in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved as enemies hunting the player character, a human supersoldier known as Master Chief. Not realizing the Halos were meant as weapons of destruction rather than salvation, the Covenant attempt to activate the rings on three separate occasions throughout the series, inadvertently releasing a virulent parasite known as the Flood in the process.

To develop a distinctive look for the various races of the Covenant, Bungie artists drew inspiration from reptilian, ursine, and avian characteristics. A Covenant design scheme of purples and reflective surfaces was made to separate the aliens from human architecture.

Overview[edit]

In the primary 26th century setting of Halo, humanity and the Covenant meet for the first time in the year 2525. Searching for relics left behind by their gods, the Forerunners, the Covenant stumble across humans at the colony world of Harvest. The Covenant leadership discovers that the Forerunners designated humanity "reclaimers" of their legacy, and that the Covenant religion is built on falsehoods; to prevent the truth from being uncovered, they instigate a genocidal war against humanity.^[1]

The Covenant's superior technology gives them a distinct advantage in the war. In 2552, the Covenant discover and destroy Reach, one of humanity's greatest military strongholds. A human ship fleeing the battle discovers a Forerunner ringworld, Halo. The Covenant believe the activation of these rings are key to bringing about salvation, but the ring is destroyed by the human supersoldier Master Chief. Soon after, the Covenant falls into civil war as the truth of the Halo rings' purpose is revealed: they are actually weapons of mass destruction built to stop the spread of the parasitic Flood. The disgraced Covenant commander known as the Arbiter allies with the Master Chief to stop the Covenant and Flood, ending the Human-Covenant War. In the post-war era, various factions replace the power vacuum left by the Covenant; these include the Banished, who feature as primary antagonists in Halo Infinite.^[2]

Sangheili (called Elites in Human language) who stand nearly 8'6'' (2.6 m) and feature recharging personal shields. The Sangheili initially had simple mouths, which developed into pairs of split mandibles substituting for the lower jaws. Bungie concept artist Shi Kai Wang noted that project lead had been insistent on giving the Sangheili a tail.^[4]^: 37 While Wang thought it made the aliens look too animalistic, the idea was dropped due to practical considerations, including where the tail would go when the Sangheili were driving vehicles.^[4]^: 38 According to Paul Russel, when Bungie was bought by Microsoft and Halo was turned into an Xbox launch title, Microsoft took issue with the design of the Sangheili, as they felt that the Sangheili had a resemblance to cats that might alienate Japanese consumers.^[8]

Jason Jones

Unggoy or Grunts, are commonly depicted as basic foot soldiers. Squat and cowardly fighters, Unggoy panic and run if players kill their leaders.

[9]

Kig-Yar or Jackals carry energy shields or ranged weaponry. In some cases, such as with the Kig-Yar, the overall design was honed once the enemy's role was clearly defined.^: 28

[4]

Mgalekgolo or Hunters are collectives of alien worms encased in tough armor.^: 4–5 Initial concepts were less humanoid-looking and softer than the final shape, with angular shields and razor-sharp spines.^[4]^: 33

[10]

San’Shyuum or Prophets serve as the supreme rulers of the Covenant, and were primarily designed by Shi Kai Wang and Eric Arroyo. Originally, the San’Shyuum were built in a more unified way, with the gravity thrones they used for flotation and movement fused with the Prophet's organic structures. The characters were also designed to be feeble, yet sinister. The three Prophet Hierarchs were each individually designed.^: 55–56

[4]

Jiralhanae or Brutes are even more physically imposing than the Sangheili, with their society organized around tribal chieftains. Inspired by the animators watching biker films, the Jiralhanae incorporated simian and ursine elements while retaining an alien look. Wang's final concept for the creatures in Halo 2, replete with bandoliers and human skulls, was simplified for the game.^: 37–38 Jiralhanae were meant to typify the abusive alien menace of the Covenant and in the words of design lead Jaime Griesemer, to serve as "barbarians in Rome".^[11]

[4]

Analysis[edit]

The Covenant serve as one of a number of religious allusions in Halo. Their name refers to sacred agreements between the people of Israel and their God in Jewish and Christian tradition, and could be used to indicate the attitude of superiority complex the aliens have to the inferior and sacrilegious humans. The Covenant's ships bear names referring to elements of Judeo-Christian religion.^[14] A review of religions and religious material in video games noted that the Covenant's invented religion had many similarities to those in similar games, and would likely be called a cult in the real world.^[15] The thematic parallels of religious zealots fighting an American military metaphor was not lost on Microsoft's content review team, who forced a name change of the holy warrior "Dervish" to Arbiter before the release of Halo 2.^[3]^[14] Theologian P.C.J.M. Paulissen notes that while on the surface the Halo games present a conflict between rational humans and religious alien fanaticism, the comparison is complicated by the technical superiority of the Covenant (they wield energy weapons compared to primitive human ballistics) and the games seem to reject the idea science and religion are rigidly disconnected.^[14]

Cultural impact[edit]

Merchandise[edit]

Microsoft has commissioned multiple sets of action figures and merchandise featuring Covenant characters for each video game. The Halo 3 action figure sets have been made by McFarlane Toys, and include Brutes and Jackals.^[16] The Covenant's weaponry has also been adapted into large-scale replicas.^[17]^[18]^[19]

Reception[edit]

The Covenant were positively received in Combat Evolved, with their artificial intelligence praised and the different tactics needed to defeat each enemy type commended.^[20]

The ability to experience the storyline of Halo 2 from the Covenant perspective was described as a "brilliant stroke of game design". Allowing the player to assume the role of a Sangheili who was described as providing an unexpected plot twist, and allowing the player to experience a "newfound complexity to the story".^[21] In addition, some reviewers thought that this provided the series with a significant plot element – IGN referred to it as the "intriguing side story of Thel 'Vadam and his Sangheili" – and its elimination in Halo 3 was pointed to as responsible for reducing the role of the Arbiter within the series plot.^[22] Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition listed Covenant as 16th in their list of top 50 Villains.^[23]

on Halopedia, the Halo wiki