Anyone who has played the Halo games knows the Covenant as the primary antagonist throughout the trilogy. But like many aspect of the Halo universe the games do a poor job of explaining why the Covenant hate humanity and why they want them wiped out of the universe. Sure, you probably know they were trying to fire the Halo rings and if you were paying attention during a few cut scenes you may have heard some rumblings about the “great journey”. You may have even gotten a sense of the division within the Covenant Empire that first begins to surface in Halo 2. But if a casual halo fan was asked to describe either of those things I bet they would be at a loss. Hopefully, after reading this post the answers to those questions will be clearer.
At a basic level the Covenant is a fanatical religious empire led by the Sha’ Shauum or theProphets. The Covenant worships the Forerunners as Gods. They believe the Forerunners had discovered a way to transcend the physical world and become omnipotent beings of the universe. The Prophets believe the Forerunner achieved this state of being by firing the Halo rings. Moreover, they believe that they – the Prophets – had been chosen by the Forerunners to be the Inheritor of the Forerunner technology and were destined to carry on the Forerunner legacy. The Prophets believed firing the Halo rings would initiate the “great journey” that would allow them to transcend the physical world just as the Forerunner before them.
The prophets were an ancient and very powerful civilization, who initially existed along side the Forerunners. They had been traveling the Galaxy for tens of thousands of years searching for and utilizing Forerunner technology in their pursuit of the Halo rings. In their travels they would encounter other races and using the Forerunner technology they had uncovered would subjugate the races and fold them into the covenant. Is these societies resisted, the forerunner would threaten to “glass” their planet (literally incinerate the planet so thoroughly, that the topsoil would turn to glass). Most races would willing give in rather than risk extinction and would quickly adopt the Prophets view of the Forerunners and of the Great Journey.
However, the Elites were aware of the Forerunner and held a different view of the technology they had left behind. The Elites viewed the technology as sacred, and its use was equivalent to sacrilege. When the Elites first came into contact with the Prophets and the Covenant they were appalled at their use of Forerunner tech. Being a proud warrior race, the Elites refused to bow to the Covenant and the two sides fought a long war of attrition. Eventually they came to a truce and the Elites adopted the Covenant’s view of the Forerunner and reluctantly accepted the belief in the Great Journey. In return the Elites were given a place of prominence as the military leaders of the Covenant Empire. Other races incorporated into the Covenant include (in order of rank): the Brutes, Hunters, Jackals, and finally Grunts.
When the Covenant first discovered humanity their plan was to fold them into the Covenant just like they had with every other race they had discovered. However, before initiating contact with human the prophets uncovered a forerunner secret – it was humanity, not the Prophets that the Forerunners had chosen to be their inheritors. The prophets feared that their authority and place within the Covenant would be at risk if humanities role as inheritor was ever uncovered. With that, their plan for humans changed. They would no longer offer humanity a place within the Covenant. Instead they convinced the rest of the Covenant that Humanity’s very existence was an affront to their Gods. As worshipers of the Forerunners, it was the Covenant’s duty to eradicate humanity from the universe. Soon after, the Covenant attacked the planet Harvest.
The Elites were always suspicious of the motives of the Prophets, but during the events of Halo 2 one of the more influential Elites -the Arbiter - discovered the truth about the Halo rings and the truth about humans being the true inheritors of the Forerunners. These discoveries led to a splintering within the Covenant. A large segments of Elites led by the Arbiter and segments of other species in the Covenant turned on the Prophets. In turn the Prophets appointed the Brutes to take the place of Elites. The resulting conflict became known as the "Great Schism".
Though their feeling towards humanity had not changed entirely, the Elites recognized the they and the humans shared a common enemy - the Prophets. That is why, during the events of Halo 3 the Arbiter fights at humanities side.
As Halo 3 concludes the Covenant is no more. The different species returned to their home world and began to rebuild. However, as I am sure we will see in Halo 4, there is still a segment of the Covenant that remains and is dedicated to destrying humanity in the name of their Forerunner gods.
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