Correction. The brute had only just REDISCOVERED radio and rocketry. They had gotten to be pretty advanced, then nuked themselves back into the stone age in their own ww3.
Kinda makes you think of how the Brutes might be if the Covenant discovered them earlier. Certainly still very aggressive, but likely not nearly as bad as they were in canon, since they wouldn't be a bunch of mad max maniacs.
@@Saberfighterx Actually in a fair war humanity would have won, but they had the Flood behind, so they were fighting the Forerunners and at the same time destroying their own worlds to stop the Flood infection and in fact they could contain the flood for a lot of time, so much that later the forerunners believed that Humans had a cure or something, but no it was just the will to do what have to be done on time, not like the Forerunners which waited too much to get serious against the flood. (btw in my opinion the Human-Furerunner war is one of the biggest plot holes in Halo story, it just doesn't make sense that to species so advanced and civilizated will start a war without trying to understand each other, I mean even the UNSC tried to talk with the convenant before the total war started).
Well if i remember correctly some elites by the time of halo 2 were questioning why the prophets havent accepted humanity like they did to the elites the humans had proven themselves to have passed the elite martial test so this is why during halo 2 the elites were all disposed of.
When it came to the war, the Elites saw humans just as worthy as they are. Only Truth, Mercy, and Regret knew how bad it would be if we joined the covenant. Not to mention, humanity would have surpassed the prophets politically after discovery of the Halo rings. Everything would have been a nightmare for them.
I mean they kinda plot armored the UNSC on that one because there would be almost no point in the covenant even attempting ground battles. Like its an extermination just sit up there and glass lol
@@UnholyWrath3277 I think their reasoning for that is that the planets they glass might have forerunner artifacts that they would try to get first and then using glassing as a last resort
@@Sgil97 thats what i mean about the plot armor. The covenant literally cant take the best route of basically garunteed victory. It makes sense in the context of the story but all the same without that its not even a war just a massacre
I find it funny that the whole peace talks between the covenant and humans could've been settled diplomatically if they didn't bring along Tartarus because the moment he heard the gunshots he tried to kill Johnson instead of trying to figure out what happened
@@PROTOTYPEHALO so on harvest when the Covenant and humans met they sent in Tartarus to talk about peace and so the negotiations were going well until a grunt got anxious and mauled a militia man to death which another militia man responded by putting down the grunt and Tartarus and Johnson both heard the gunshots instead of figuring out what the hell happened Tartarus flew into brute rage
Fun Fact: The Brute Choppa was actually a gift for the Humans. When the covenant landed on harvest they didn't want to scare the Humans with a giant independence Day ship luiming overhead. So they landed in the countryside and since Harvest was a Farming planet. They found a tractor. Inspired by it, they made a covenant copy of it to give to the Humans as a peace offering. But that never happened. The Prophet of Truth thought it could be used in combat by adding spikes and putting Brute spikers on it. The High council disagreed but Truth secretly ordered there production and after the High council and the rest of the Prophets were dead. The Choppa came to Halo 3.
I wanna imagine what the High Council was saying about it now. "Ok Truth, this thing looks cool and all, but we already have ghosts. Why the fuck would we make a ghost with spikes and super loud engines? I swear, people are going to poke out their eyes when they do maintenence." "Ok, but is it cool?" "Well, yes, but-" "Done."
The Halo games do a horrible job at showing us the true scale of the War and how close humanity actually was to being completely annihilated. Only Halo Reach comes close.
To be honest I feel like Halo 3 wouldn't really fit the bill as showing how close Humanity was to be annihilated because they got a one up by becoming friends with the elites and the flood for a temporary moment as it was there one giant push and Halo wars kinda does a good job of showing battles
This guy can narrator. Obvious statement, but he really draws you into the story he is telling. And next to Star Wars(especially the Expanded Universe content), Halo has been one of my favorite sci-fi franchises since Combat Evolve. With Reach and 2 being my top favorites amongst the games.
@@HansDester omg thank you. Sometimes i feel like the only one capable of editing my comments for proper grammar and shit like this drives me insane. I'm not alone.
@@snodog00 I can't tell you how many times I have been called a Grammar Nazi. I'm proud of it. Now admittedly he only messed up narrate. Not that big of a deal. My real targets are the people who REFUSE to care about proper spelling and usage. You know the examples; there, their, they're etc. In my opinion if you don't practice proper grammar you will lose it. It's not just "the internet" is real life now
@@HansDester agreed. It's pretty abysmal how you can find grammar mistakes even in "professional" articles these days. It's sad. It's not hard to proof read your work. Why would you want to sound like an illiterate? I'm not saying OP is in any way, nor anyone else, you just come across that way when you can't proof read what you just wrote. If your intention is to sound like English is a second language to you, congratulations you're accomplishing that handedly. I prefer people read what I wrote and can tell I've actually been to school
You know, the Prophets declaring a holy war on humanity with the goal of complete genocide somehow becomes more depressing when you learn they did it for _political_ reasons.
Most holy wars have a political purpose. The crusades had a intended political purpose of uniting all of Europe's Christian kingdoms to stop fighting each other and focus on killing what they consider heathens. All religion does is give another reason to degrade the enemy
@@jonathanpalmer228 Well, I know that was the _official_ justification, but going by my comment I'm guessing it was mainly politics behind the scenes. (It's been two years, I don't recall the contents of this video.)
@@RelativelyBest Religious reasons were the excuse to justify the personal ambitions of the prophets. If the truth about the humans were to be revealed it could potentially cause an existential crisis and fracture the covenant. The high prophets could never allow that to happen so they declared the humans heretics to protect their positions of power. That’s the basic truth of the whole situation.
I've heard this lore a thousand times throughout the years, but that didn't reduce my enjoyment of this video in the slightest. Great video dude, you've earned a sub.
I’m not too fond of most of 343s additions to the original Halo story arc, but the CEA and H2A terminals are actually pretty good. They give a lot of context to the Covenants politics that imo doesn’t conflict with the story presented in game. Aside from maybe the Heretic leader supposedly knowing Thel’Vadam personally but not showing that in the boss fight at all.
Well he said "I doubt he'd respond to his former name." Which means he thinks he's to far gone. I think the Heretic leader thought that The'l had a trap set up or was willing to engage into conversation and then suddenly kill him. So that is why he opened fire, I could be wrong and that we have a plot hole on our hands.
I'd like to think that this war could've been avoided when the two sides encountered each other on Harvest. But, in the end, humanity would not have agreed with the so-called Great Journey that the Covenant were obsessed with.
The whole point was that the Prophets had to destroy humanity to maintain the Covenant since humans being forerunners or their descendants clashed with the idea of the great journey.
If we ignore all the other reasons as to why the alliance would never have worked, there would absolutely have been a lot of humans who not only would have believed about the great journey but also 200% be all onboard, willing to join for the cause.
It honesty would’ve made a great deal of sense if the ungoy got treated better by humans during the human covenant war and rebelled, due to their history.. but their little heads are so fun to shoot, and so fundamental to the halo game experience that it would never happen
The Grunt rebellion was an event that happened decades ago, in which Ungoy rebelled against the covenant. They fought for weeks, and only gave up after the covenant glassed their home world. But the Sangheli, seeing their commitment and bravery, offered them a position in the covenant military. From that point onwards the Sangheli and the Ungoy have felt an intense brotherhood. It’s why so many Ungoy protested the Sanghelis demotion in the covenant
I wanna write a crossover of 40k humans accidentally crossing and helping halo humans but I've little to no clue for halo lore. So you can just imagine how much of a godsent this vid is.
One of the things I always thought set Halo apart from other science fiction was the fact that the Covenant were genuinely alien. There was no negotiation with them. No understanding of why they were after Humanity. No chance of surrender. They were mysterious and brutal and that made them terrifying. Aliens and conflicts from Star Wars or Star Trek or even the Battlestar had understandable goals and reasons for doing what they were doing, so the conflicts were just space versions of human ones.
I was 8 when halo 1 came out and I remember playing it and being so intrigued by the forerunner I wouldn’t constantly think and speculate on them. Then halo 2 came out and answered some of my questions and further intrigued me. Not to mention halo 2 was just the best had some great times online with that game. And to top it all off the forerunner saga really did me in I loved those books.
FANTASTIC video my guy, love how you used the music. Got chills when you were narrating the events that took place right before Reach. As a Halo lore junkie, I even learned some new things! I didn’t know that the Sangheili wanted Humanity to join the Covenant.
Contact Harvest is honestly one of the best published works in the Halo lore and the fact that it's Joe who wrote it makes it no surprise it's as good as it is. I actually wonder now if Al Cygni had a hand in naming or constructing the training base in Infinite after Sarge for the Spartans. It would seem like something she would do to honor the man she grew close to during the Harvest conflict and to forever honor one of the wars greatest heroes.
It's crazy that if mendicant bias never told the prophets of humanity's involvement with the forerunners, they might've actually joined the covenant and started the great journey killing them all
I'd doubt it, Humanity 500 years into the future? Humanity would be largely non-religious and they would reject their offer if it did came. But then what? Would the covenant force them into submission? Or just outright leave them be?
@@bnk3rmk259 Atheism is growing in the developed world because there is no evidence of god, If we were in the Halo universe, and the Covenant presented us with their religion, there's pretty damn good evidence that their religion is true. They think the forerunners ascended to godhood and left their tech behind, and well, their tech IS left behind, and given how advanced it is, it doesn't sound too outlandish to think they ascended to godhood, after all, what could possible kill them?
@bnk3r mk2 humanity would definitely join even if they don't believe fully in the great journey. The covenant would offer them knowledge on their technology something humanity would obviously be interested in. The jackals didn't really believe in the journey but were allowed to join bc of their love of money. Humanity definitely would've joined
We could've had a TV show that showed all of this, from start to finish and even in the before times, with the precursor, etc. Alas, we got a Halo show in name only. It tips it's hat to the base material but remains a husk of what it was, made simply to bring in money. Halo's lore and back story is why I fell in love with the games in the beginning. In 2001 when I played Halo CE I was fascinated by who the forerunner were and if humanity were the forerunner. Especially after Halo 3 with 343's line "You are the child of my makers, inheritor of all they left behind. You are Forerunner! But this ring is mine." - Halo 3 - Halo (Send Me Out With A Bang...) And then Halo 4 happened.
One plot hole I’ve always noticed since reading contact harvest is, if all the covenant saw the glyph for reclaimer as reclamation, and that glyph showed up for all human tech (it’s supposed to be for all the stuff humans have and are supposed to inherit), then how didn’t any covenant go “hey wait a minute, ALL of the human’s stuff shows up as holy relics.” Wouldn’t it be a very easy leap of logic that they’re killing forerunners? (Granted, they’re killing the forerunner’s chosen successors, but that’s a longer leap of logic.) How did the Prophets explain that away? And if all the human tech shows the same glyph as forerunner tech, why would they glass human worlds. For all they know they’re glassing holy relics the humans are squatting in.
This has already been explained. Only the Prophets had the ability to read Forerunner language perfectly and continue to lie about what humanities role for the Forerunners was.
@@Seriona1 yes, but if yesterday that glyph meant “reclamation” then when you see a human ship show up with that symbol, I’d imagine you’d probably hesitate when the space Pope says blow it up.
@@loganb7059 The Elites had zero reason not to trust the Prophets. The Prophets simply justified anything about humanity as simply "you're right Elites however..." and the Elite had zero reason to distrust them until it was forced. The Elites wanted humanity in the Covenant and the Prophets said no, they had zero reason to disobey after that. The Prophets lied and the Elite followed blindly.
Even tho this topic has been covered many times its always refreshing to hear it from a different voice with a different yet similar description. Keep going with this series, you have my sub.
The Covenant thought that Spartans were simply recovered and resurrected to be sent back out to fight. Funnily enough, the only spartan (that I know of to my knowledge) to do that was Linda XDDDD
could you imagine if say the elites met with humanity first rather then grunts and jakels..... i imagine the encounter would of been much more diplomatic and maybe even resulting in a peaceful dialogue
Very nice, The expanded universe of Halo was always more interesting to me, as the author of the original book series declared the Halo universe is roughly 550 years in the future of our own timeline. Humanity was in the midst of the second age of exploration amongst the stars, and first contact with a sapient alien species is the covenant, a religious hierarchical hegemony that worshipped ancient technology, once they realized humanity was the true heir to the mantle of responsibility they warped it to fit their religious views. "Humans, your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments, the ninth age of reclamation has begun!"
There should be more spin-off prequel games that take place in the earlier days of the Human-Covenant War. Let us play in the boots of some important characters during critical moments, like Spartan Grey Team, SGT Avery Johnson during Harvest, The Spartans on Arcadia.
As this video loads on this day of remembrance. Halo and it's lore comes to view. The truth is here. May more people see this video and see a well done video. This game has many things lore wise and game wise that are still being discovered. To use a quote from this game. To kill the Master Chief, where it so easy. Standing by 5-5.
Thanks so much for this video! I recently bought Halo MCC + Halo Wars 1 & 2 cheap from sales. With all the Halo Infinite buzz I decided to dive into the games and the lore as well. Already watched some Forerunner saga synopsis videos, already understood that to play the games in timeline order I’d have to start with Wars, then Reach, then CE. I just finished Wars yesterday (loved the cutscenes and the voice acting!) but I felt like I had a lot of blanks in the timeline preceding Halo Wars. Your video fills these in perfectly! Fantastic job on the narrative and images as well!
@@thesuperintendent4290 I got halo 5 for 7.99 EUR during Black Friday so even if the game is not so good, it’s a steal and it completes the collection. And yeah I know H3 ODST comes before H3. I will get Infinite eventually yes but certainly not at full price. I’ll wait 1 or 2 years until it drops below 20 EUR.
I definitely enjoyed this! Not only the origin of the war but of the whole Covenant! That was some impressive editing and research. I have a lot of fond memories playing Halo with friends at LAN parties and have always really enjoyed that universe. Well played!
Been playing the MCC on game Pass, this is a sick thing to show a few friends; glad I was subbed. If anyone has an issue where the games in the Master Chief Collection are locked (they obviously shouldn't be and are included), hmu I gotchu.
This video was really well made, the narration is good, and works really well as an introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the lore. Great job! Although, there were a few inaccuracies. Yes the Grunt home world was glassed. But not entirely. It still has life, and probably recovered by now. The Covenant just glassed it enough to get them to surrender. The fleet of Kigyar ships didn’t actually put up that good of a defense. It was mostly comprised of pirate, and merchant ships. They lost badly, but we’re offered a place in the Covenant. Also, they don’t care much for the Covenant religion. They’re just a part of it because they get better technology, are allowed to pirate other species (unfortunately we’ve only ever seen a few like the Yonhet, and Sharquoi), and some other benefits. The alternative would have been extinction. The rest of the stuff with the Jackals was accurate though. You also missed the part where the Covenant discovered the Engineers on a shield world. Other than those few things the video is mostly accurate.
Good video. Did not realize the Elite vs prophet war was as close as it was. Also just a very good summarization of facts and major battles in the early years of the Human-Covenant war
I loved this video! I love halo but I never knew how coherent and interesting the plot was pre-game. I'd love for you to do an in depth analysis of the rest of the war. Thanks for the video man.
Cod/battlefield single player: simple one-and-done affairs. Little backstory. Might not even have a campaign. Halo single player: “so there’s this combat sandbox and skull thing to make it infinitely replayable, but first, let me tell you about space jihad and a morally questionable super soldier program.”
This was probably high on my list of halo lore vids that I have seen and you did a spectacular job of sharing the lore with people who would be unfamiliar with it. You're pretty up there in terms of quality and accuracy with halo youtubers such as hiddenXperia, halo follower, and halo Canon which I would suggest watching some of their lore vids for inspiration and to better understand the lore. But again awesome job with this 👍
@Victor Romero I’ll have to disagree with you on HaloFollower. His older videos are good. But now the supermajority of his content is just bad clickbait where he’ll make a dumb theory that gets people hyped. Then when that’s proven false he’ll just move onto the next thing, and pretend that he never made a mistake. Xperia and Halo Canon are really good though. I’d also include people like Instalation00, Sametoken, and Covenant Canon. All of those guys make great content.
If you want to learn about the equipment weapons the science behind spartans and tech. Installation 00 is the best. Goes into extreme detail that seems more educational than storytelling.
I’ve just recently found your channel and I’ve been binging vids for the past week or so. You explore so many things that I already love so your channel really is a Godsend. That being said, I have to ask. Is there ANY possibility of ever getting some Warhammer 40K/Fantasy lore videos in the future???
Definitely my favorite part of Halo lore, none of the post-Halo 3 wars/enemies weren't as nearly as threatening as the Covenant were. Side note, really wish they didn't retcon the lore about humans being forerunners. Makes the genocide against humanity make more sense as the prophets were scared of losing religious power.
awesome!!! This is so helpful to someone like me. Not a gamer, didn’t know much about Halo but getting into the show which has its shortcomings but based on pure cinematography, visuals and acting it’s very good. Story wise, it’s not so good and that’s coming from a guy who doesn’t know that backstory. This will help understand even more as the years go by. I’m hoping the show gets better. I’ll tune into more of your videos to get myself clear on this stuff. I had no idea Halo was so deep
I would like to know what would happen if the Sangheili found out that the prophets lied to them from the start, causing a lot of Sangheili to die in a war that was based on a lie.
Brilliantly explained and edited. Thanks for the quick refresher before in pop in Infinite. Actually, wait, isn’t there like 8 other games I need to know about? Oh well….
@abdulansari3666 dude, it's revealed in lot of Halo lore channels that at least 60-65% of covenant manpower is wiped out during this war and lot of resources were also depleted. Combine that with species discontent plus questioning why the higher ups didn't allow humanity to join Covenant and you get great schism. For the covenant, this war was very costly
Well yea now that they made staggering scientific breakthroughs on learning about the covenant and being pushed into a corner i'd say yes. Eventually they'll be the ones running.
I’m thankful you did this thank you. This is good for us halo fans. A lot of info and we learned about the first encounter with the covenant. Great story telling and your a great narrator. Thanks for making this video.👍👍
15:32 Minor Transgression was not a raider ship. It was a missionary ship that had barely any crew and barely any weaponry. Also the unggoy wasn't called "Deacon" he was a deacon which is a rank.
The human vs covenant war had battles in every part of the galaxy that they inhabit. There is still so much to cover, but the majority of it was shown as best as it can. The most saddest race of the covenant were the Grunts. They deserve better.
Just started watching the Netflix series. I’m not into gaming but I love extensive storytelling. Without the books and videos like these I wouldn’t be able to understand some of the episodes elements and details as there just too vast of a plot to follow in an hour. Thank you!!
You forgot that the san shuem were a splinter group that was run off their own homework by their own peoples for the religious oppression they caused. They stole the dreadnought on escape.
It's funny if you think about it, just an ever so minor shift in the claims of the Prophets, with statements from Mendican Bias would have saved the Covenant. Since they would be interpreted as "reclaimer" it would be easy for the prophets to explain why humanity was "left over" from the "great journey". That the Humans where designated to be the race to usher in the next "great journey" by the Forerunners. Making the claim that the Forerunners would have left himans without any artifacts so that when they understood and reached the Rings, or the Arc, that since they where compatible with Forerunner tech, that they would activate the rings and usher in the next "great journey". Vuala, you have a religious reason to integrate the humans, the Covenant isn't broken, and you now have, at least part, of the human population genuinely believing in the great journey, so that if the prophets actually cared to fire the rings, at least some humans would activate the rings.
It does make me wonder what would've happened if the Prophets had come to a different conclusion. What if one of them had decided that, instead of a long and costly war, it would be easier to claim that he was the one who discovered the Forerunners/Reclaimers, humiliate the other Prophets, bring humanity into the Covenant, and become all-powerful. That would involve a lot of intrigue and backstabbing, but it would be interesting. Of course, none of it would last once everyone found out what the Great Journey really involved...
Reach wasnt completly glassed. They left a few Spots so they can search for Artifacts. This allowed a few humans incl. Halsey and some Spartan 2s to survive. And when the Master Chief returned from Halo he rescued them and got the Artifact.
10:00 you can actually play the interplanetary war conflict! Its a game called Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare The story is about the same pretty much. Frigate and fighter combat and boots on the ground combat with older tech weapons. Check it out if you are a halo fan who wants to see the interplanetary war
I always thought the Covenant secretly have the Primordial hidden away somewhere - and it told them to war against humanity as both "sweetness" and to see if Humanity was worthy of further trials (possibly from The Flood).
Hope you guys enjoyed this first dive into the Halo universe. Let me know what you thought and what videos you’d like to see on this series!
You should go on you tube channel call,Institute 00
@@bloodmax7476 yes I’ve spoken to him a few times
Part 2?
O
I always wondered if master chief is a virgin, cause surely he doesnt have time to get down and dirty😂 i need answers plz
Correction. The brute had only just REDISCOVERED radio and rocketry. They had gotten to be pretty advanced, then nuked themselves back into the stone age in their own ww3.
Kinda makes you think of how the Brutes might be if the Covenant discovered them earlier. Certainly still very aggressive, but likely not nearly as bad as they were in canon, since they wouldn't be a bunch of mad max maniacs.
@@downrangecash2418 humans were also extremely advanced when fighting the forerunners/flood, until the forerunners sent them back to the stone age
That sounds eerily similar to the Krogan from Mass Effect.
@@RandomC360 in fact they matched the forrunners themselves in technololgy
@@Saberfighterx Actually in a fair war humanity would have won, but they had the Flood behind, so they were fighting the Forerunners and at the same time destroying their own worlds to stop the Flood infection and in fact they could contain the flood for a lot of time, so much that later the forerunners believed that Humans had a cure or something, but no it was just the will to do what have to be done on time, not like the Forerunners which waited too much to get serious against the flood. (btw in my opinion the Human-Furerunner war is one of the biggest plot holes in Halo story, it just doesn't make sense that to species so advanced and civilizated will start a war without trying to understand each other, I mean even the UNSC tried to talk with the convenant before the total war started).
Love the fact elites were honorable race that tried to give human some chances.
Well if i remember correctly some elites by the time of halo 2 were questioning why the prophets havent accepted humanity like they did to the elites the humans had proven themselves to have passed the elite martial test so this is why during halo 2 the elites were all disposed of.
@@blackouthorus1519 It was also because the elites “failed” to protect one of the prophets from the parasite
@@hailarwotanaz5848 Even though it was Truth who oh so conveniently stopped and called back the legions of phantoms sent as reinforcements
When it came to the war, the Elites saw humans just as worthy as they are. Only Truth, Mercy, and Regret knew how bad it would be if we joined the covenant. Not to mention, humanity would have surpassed the prophets politically after discovery of the Halo rings. Everything would have been a nightmare for them.
@@bossshun9 Especially when they put up such a fight against a superior foes
I always thought it was funny the UNSC actually won most land-battles but the Covenant basically said, ‘nah’ and glassed their planet
I mean they kinda plot armored the UNSC on that one because there would be almost no point in the covenant even attempting ground battles. Like its an extermination just sit up there and glass lol
@@UnholyWrath3277
I think their reasoning for that is that the planets they glass might have forerunner artifacts that they would try to get first and then using glassing as a last resort
@@Sgil97 thats what i mean about the plot armor. The covenant literally cant take the best route of basically garunteed victory. It makes sense in the context of the story but all the same without that its not even a war just a massacre
@@UnholyWrath3277 Forerunner artifacts was the *reason* that they fought on land because it was deemed important to their beliefs.
@@deaconfetundes7888 yes. Plot armor as explicity mentioned above.
So, Johnson was one of the first to face both the covenant and the flood, and the floating lightbright is what took him down
famous last word: "send me out ... with a bang"
He was also the first spartan-1 and survived some insane stuff
The Monitors where basically the most powerful machines left behind by the forerunners.
@@Gabronthe not even close
@@Gabronthe Mendicant Bias and Offensive Bias.....
This is humanity in one sentence: “I didn’t hear no bell”
If we were to be sumarized by one characteristic: Humans REALLY don’t like going extinct.
@@Ballin4Vengeance It really tends to kick our asses into gear to the point we even wow ourselves with our capabilities
@@StegoAquaAdrenaline, primal instincts and human condition is one hell of a drug.
If the covenant discover us in the 21st century we are really fvcked.
humanity is going down with their enemy or they aint going down
I find it funny that the whole peace talks between the covenant and humans could've been settled diplomatically if they didn't bring along Tartarus because the moment he heard the gunshots he tried to kill Johnson instead of trying to figure out what happened
What, when are you talking about?
@@PROTOTYPEHALO so on harvest when the Covenant and humans met they sent in Tartarus to talk about peace and so the negotiations were going well until a grunt got anxious and mauled a militia man to death which another militia man responded by putting down the grunt and Tartarus and Johnson both heard the gunshots instead of figuring out what the hell happened Tartarus flew into brute rage
@@commando7238 Thats actually a really cool piece of lore
@@commando7238 just proprably another plan of the prophets to derail peace talk
That a thing that cause peace talks to actually fail
Fun Fact: The Brute Choppa was actually a gift for the Humans.
When the covenant landed on harvest they didn't want to scare the Humans with a giant independence Day ship luiming overhead. So they landed in the countryside and since Harvest was a Farming planet.
They found a tractor. Inspired by it, they made a covenant copy of it to give to the Humans as a peace offering. But that never happened.
The Prophet of Truth thought it could be used in combat by adding spikes and putting Brute spikers on it. The High council disagreed but Truth secretly ordered there production and after the High council and the rest of the Prophets were dead. The Choppa came to Halo 3.
So by definition, the choppa is a technical…
@@kreimer1702 Yes, yes it is
"Choppa" I see what you did there ;)
That’s a cool fact
I wanna imagine what the High Council was saying about it now.
"Ok Truth, this thing looks cool and all, but we already have ghosts. Why the fuck would we make a ghost with spikes and super loud engines? I swear, people are going to poke out their eyes when they do maintenence."
"Ok, but is it cool?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"Done."
The Halo games do a horrible job at showing us the true scale of the War and how close humanity actually was to being completely annihilated. Only Halo Reach comes close.
I dunno, ODST did a great job too. Especially with the audio files.
@breaking the 4th wall like So? Even a tweak of the H3 sandbox proves that you can turn the perspective of a supersoldier into a normal person.
To be honest I feel like Halo 3 wouldn't really fit the bill as showing how close Humanity was to be annihilated because they got a one up by becoming friends with the elites and the flood for a temporary moment as it was there one giant push and Halo wars kinda does a good job of showing battles
@breaking the 4th wall like you mean like a common brute having a bright glow around them cuz if that's the case you didn't an kill engineer
@breaking the 4th wall like it's lowered because we were no longer a killing machine but just a normal (yet highly trained) human.
This guy can narrator. Obvious statement, but he really draws you into the story he is telling. And next to Star Wars(especially the Expanded Universe content), Halo has been one of my favorite sci-fi franchises since Combat Evolve. With Reach and 2 being my top favorites amongst the games.
Narrate*
@@HansDester omg thank you. Sometimes i feel like the only one capable of editing my comments for proper grammar and shit like this drives me insane. I'm not alone.
@@snodog00 I can't tell you how many times I have been called a Grammar Nazi. I'm proud of it. Now admittedly he only messed up narrate. Not that big of a deal. My real targets are the people who REFUSE to care about proper spelling and usage. You know the examples; there, their, they're etc.
In my opinion if you don't practice proper grammar you will lose it. It's not just "the internet" is real life now
@@HansDester agreed. It's pretty abysmal how you can find grammar mistakes even in "professional" articles these days. It's sad. It's not hard to proof read your work. Why would you want to sound like an illiterate? I'm not saying OP is in any way, nor anyone else, you just come across that way when you can't proof read what you just wrote. If your intention is to sound like English is a second language to you, congratulations you're accomplishing that handedly. I prefer people read what I wrote and can tell I've actually been to school
Dude same here, I think I like CE more than reach but I think I like them both the same. Halo 2 is definitely my favorite game though
You know, the Prophets declaring a holy war on humanity with the goal of complete genocide somehow becomes more depressing when you learn they did it for _political_ reasons.
Most holy wars have a political purpose. The crusades had a intended political purpose of uniting all of Europe's Christian kingdoms to stop fighting each other and focus on killing what they consider heathens. All religion does is give another reason to degrade the enemy
@@RelativelyBest I'd say religious reasons instead of political
@@jonathanpalmer228 Well, I know that was the _official_ justification, but going by my comment I'm guessing it was mainly politics behind the scenes. (It's been two years, I don't recall the contents of this video.)
@@RelativelyBest Religious reasons were the excuse to justify the personal ambitions of the prophets. If the truth about the humans were to be revealed it could potentially cause an existential crisis and fracture the covenant. The high prophets could never allow that to happen so they declared the humans heretics to protect their positions of power. That’s the basic truth of the whole situation.
Halo’s lore is so dang cool
It was until 343 Industries got involved.:(
@@Seama327 Make me the head of 343 and I will revive Halo
I've heard this lore a thousand times throughout the years, but that didn't reduce my enjoyment of this video in the slightest.
Great video dude, you've earned a sub.
Fun fact the Covenant called the war the War of Annihilation. Also the Covenant called the ODSTs imps.
I’m not too fond of most of 343s additions to the original Halo story arc, but the CEA and H2A terminals are actually pretty good. They give a lot of context to the Covenants politics that imo doesn’t conflict with the story presented in game. Aside from maybe the Heretic leader supposedly knowing Thel’Vadam personally but not showing that in the boss fight at all.
Well he said "I doubt he'd respond to his former name." Which means he thinks he's to far gone. I think the Heretic leader thought that The'l had a trap set up or was willing to engage into conversation and then suddenly kill him. So that is why he opened fire, I could be wrong and that we have a plot hole on our hands.
I never really got the impression that the Heretic knew Thel personally, only that he had served under him and had a great amount of respect for him.
@Color Blue no lies detected.
Yeah, no. The terminals also suggest that the humans might not be forerunner. And that's not true.
@@paperclip6377they are on a technicality
I'd like to think that this war could've been avoided when the two sides encountered each other on Harvest. But, in the end, humanity would not have agreed with the so-called Great Journey that the Covenant were obsessed with.
There would have been an alliance since humans are the only ones who can interact with forerunner tech but they definitely wouldn't have joined
The whole point was that the Prophets had to destroy humanity to maintain the Covenant since humans being forerunners or their descendants clashed with the idea of the great journey.
@@nutyyyy That is true yeah.
@@commando7238 Should ask the ancestors how did the alliance with the San Shy'um went last time the humans were friends with them.
If we ignore all the other reasons as to why the alliance would never have worked, there would absolutely have been a lot of humans who not only would have believed about the great journey but also 200% be all onboard, willing to join for the cause.
This series is not your personal power fantasy of being a super soldier… it’s a power fantasy of the whole human race. I love it
It honesty would’ve made a great deal of sense if the ungoy got treated better by humans during the human covenant war and rebelled, due to their history..
but their little heads are so fun to shoot, and so fundamental to the halo game experience that it would never happen
I think they’re cute
The Grunt rebellion was an event that happened decades ago, in which Ungoy rebelled against the covenant. They fought for weeks, and only gave up after the covenant glassed their home world. But the Sangheli, seeing their commitment and bravery, offered them a position in the covenant military. From that point onwards the Sangheli and the Ungoy have felt an intense brotherhood. It’s why so many Ungoy protested the Sanghelis demotion in the covenant
I wanna write a crossover of 40k humans accidentally crossing and helping halo humans but I've little to no clue for halo lore. So you can just imagine how much of a godsent this vid is.
humanity in halo was really depressing they were annihilated and barely won
One of the things I always thought set Halo apart from other science fiction was the fact that the Covenant were genuinely alien. There was no negotiation with them. No understanding of why they were after Humanity. No chance of surrender. They were mysterious and brutal and that made them terrifying.
Aliens and conflicts from Star Wars or Star Trek or even the Battlestar had understandable goals and reasons for doing what they were doing, so the conflicts were just space versions of human ones.
And then there’s wh40k; “we’re slaughtering everyone because everyone is also slaughtering everyone”
That's not entirely true. Humanity has talked to the covenant several times.
I was 8 when halo 1 came out and I remember playing it and being so intrigued by the forerunner I wouldn’t constantly think and speculate on them. Then halo 2 came out and answered some of my questions and further intrigued me. Not to mention halo 2 was just the best had some great times online with that game. And to top it all off the forerunner saga really did me in I loved those books.
FANTASTIC video my guy, love how you used the music. Got chills when you were narrating the events that took place right before Reach.
As a Halo lore junkie, I even learned some new things! I didn’t know that the Sangheili wanted Humanity to join the Covenant.
Some suggested it but overall they rather gleefully carried out the genocide.
Great, the first species we met in the war: Jackal pirates followed by Brutes and Drones. It’s no wonder the war escalated so quickly
jackals, grunts, bigass space monkeys and the drones, yeah the only ones who may have given us the light of day would have been the elites
Contact Harvest is honestly one of the best published works in the Halo lore and the fact that it's Joe who wrote it makes it no surprise it's as good as it is. I actually wonder now if Al Cygni had a hand in naming or constructing the training base in Infinite after Sarge for the Spartans. It would seem like something she would do to honor the man she grew close to during the Harvest conflict and to forever honor one of the wars greatest heroes.
Could have done without the forced sex scene with johnson and the asian girl side character. Rather have read more fights and lore than that
Only one I've read fully
Fun fact: Sgt. Avery Johnson was a Spartan 1. It's how he survived the Flood on the OG Halo and why his Flood infection gave him enhanced healing.
The Unggoyy Rebellion and Insurrectionists are some of my favorite topics in all of Halo honestly
It's crazy that if mendicant bias never told the prophets of humanity's involvement with the forerunners, they might've actually joined the covenant and started the great journey killing them all
I'd doubt it, Humanity 500 years into the future? Humanity would be largely non-religious and they would reject their offer if it did came. But then what? Would the covenant force them into submission? Or just outright leave them be?
@@bnk3rmk259 Atheism is growing in the developed world because there is no evidence of god, If we were in the Halo universe, and the Covenant presented us with their religion, there's pretty damn good evidence that their religion is true. They think the forerunners ascended to godhood and left their tech behind, and well, their tech IS left behind, and given how advanced it is, it doesn't sound too outlandish to think they ascended to godhood, after all, what could possible kill them?
@bnk3r mk2 humanity would definitely join even if they don't believe fully in the great journey. The covenant would offer them knowledge on their technology something humanity would obviously be interested in. The jackals didn't really believe in the journey but were allowed to join bc of their love of money. Humanity definitely would've joined
Thank you for uploading a long video it helps my shifts go by faster
We could've had a TV show that showed all of this, from start to finish and even in the before times, with the precursor, etc. Alas, we got a Halo show in name only. It tips it's hat to the base material but remains a husk of what it was, made simply to bring in money. Halo's lore and back story is why I fell in love with the games in the beginning. In 2001 when I played Halo CE I was fascinated by who the forerunner were and if humanity were the forerunner. Especially after Halo 3 with 343's line "You are the child of my makers, inheritor of all they left behind. You are Forerunner! But this ring is mine." - Halo 3 - Halo (Send Me Out With A Bang...) And then Halo 4 happened.
One plot hole I’ve always noticed since reading contact harvest is, if all the covenant saw the glyph for reclaimer as reclamation, and that glyph showed up for all human tech (it’s supposed to be for all the stuff humans have and are supposed to inherit), then how didn’t any covenant go “hey wait a minute, ALL of the human’s stuff shows up as holy relics.” Wouldn’t it be a very easy leap of logic that they’re killing forerunners? (Granted, they’re killing the forerunner’s chosen successors, but that’s a longer leap of logic.)
How did the Prophets explain that away? And if all the human tech shows the same glyph as forerunner tech, why would they glass human worlds. For all they know they’re glassing holy relics the humans are squatting in.
idk proprably because it a bunch of fanatic who follow order
denial and fnatic
This has already been explained. Only the Prophets had the ability to read Forerunner language perfectly and continue to lie about what humanities role for the Forerunners was.
@@Seriona1 yes, but if yesterday that glyph meant “reclamation” then when you see a human ship show up with that symbol, I’d imagine you’d probably hesitate when the space Pope says blow it up.
@@loganb7059 The Elites had zero reason not to trust the Prophets. The Prophets simply justified anything about humanity as simply "you're right Elites however..." and the Elite had zero reason to distrust them until it was forced. The Elites wanted humanity in the Covenant and the Prophets said no, they had zero reason to disobey after that. The Prophets lied and the Elite followed blindly.
The crew of the Spirit of Fire were humanity's best.
Great video as always!!! Anyways, I'd really recommend that you delve into the origins of Ancient Humanity
Deffo gonna look into all the older lore soon :)
@@WiseFish looking forward to it :D
Ancient humans are true chads. Lol
Even tho this topic has been covered many times its always refreshing to hear it from a different voice with a different yet similar description. Keep going with this series, you have my sub.
The Covenant thought that Spartans were simply recovered and resurrected to be sent back out to fight. Funnily enough, the only spartan (that I know of to my knowledge) to do that was Linda XDDDD
could you imagine if say the elites met with humanity first rather then grunts and jakels..... i imagine the encounter would of been much more diplomatic and maybe even resulting in a peaceful dialogue
Very nice,
The expanded universe of Halo was always more interesting to me, as the author of the original book series declared the Halo universe is roughly 550 years in the future of our own timeline.
Humanity was in the midst of the second age of exploration amongst the stars, and first contact with a sapient alien species is the covenant, a religious hierarchical hegemony that worshipped ancient technology, once they realized humanity was the true heir to the mantle of responsibility they warped it to fit their religious views.
"Humans, your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments, the ninth age of reclamation has begun!"
There should be more spin-off prequel games that take place in the earlier days of the Human-Covenant War.
Let us play in the boots of some important characters during critical moments, like Spartan Grey Team, SGT Avery Johnson during Harvest, The Spartans on Arcadia.
I NEED MORE!
I CAN’T JUST REWATCH THIS AMAZING VIDEO OVER AND OVER!
As this video loads on this day of remembrance. Halo and it's lore comes to view. The truth is here. May more people see this video and see a well done video. This game has many things lore wise and game wise that are still being discovered. To use a quote from this game. To kill the Master Chief, where it so easy. Standing by 5-5.
Thanks so much for this video! I recently bought Halo MCC + Halo Wars 1 & 2 cheap from sales. With all the Halo Infinite buzz I decided to dive into the games and the lore as well. Already watched some Forerunner saga synopsis videos, already understood that to play the games in timeline order I’d have to start with Wars, then Reach, then CE. I just finished Wars yesterday (loved the cutscenes and the voice acting!) but I felt like I had a lot of blanks in the timeline preceding Halo Wars. Your video fills these in perfectly! Fantastic job on the narrative and images as well!
Some advice from a Halo fan.
Don't by Halo 5 but do buy Halo Infinite. Also play Halo 3 ODST after Halo 2 and beware of the Gravemind.
@@thesuperintendent4290 I got halo 5 for 7.99 EUR during Black Friday so even if the game is not so good, it’s a steal and it completes the collection. And yeah I know H3 ODST comes before H3. I will get Infinite eventually yes but certainly not at full price. I’ll wait 1 or 2 years until it drops below 20 EUR.
@@Breyzipp Take your time, avoid spoilers as it will be worth the wait.
I definitely enjoyed this! Not only the origin of the war but of the whole Covenant! That was some impressive editing and research. I have a lot of fond memories playing Halo with friends at LAN parties and have always really enjoyed that universe. Well played!
Been playing the MCC on game Pass, this is a sick thing to show a few friends; glad I was subbed.
If anyone has an issue where the games in the Master Chief Collection are locked (they obviously shouldn't be and are included), hmu I gotchu.
Played most of the halo games and didn’t really care about the origins, but wow. That’s a great origin story.
This video was really well made, the narration is good, and works really well as an introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the lore. Great job!
Although, there were a few inaccuracies. Yes the Grunt home world was glassed. But not entirely. It still has life, and probably recovered by now. The Covenant just glassed it enough to get them to surrender.
The fleet of Kigyar ships didn’t actually put up that good of a defense. It was mostly comprised of pirate, and merchant ships. They lost badly, but we’re offered a place in the Covenant. Also, they don’t care much for the Covenant religion. They’re just a part of it because they get better technology, are allowed to pirate other species (unfortunately we’ve only ever seen a few like the Yonhet, and Sharquoi), and some other benefits. The alternative would have been extinction. The rest of the stuff with the Jackals was accurate though.
You also missed the part where the Covenant discovered the Engineers on a shield world.
Other than those few things the video is mostly accurate.
Good video. Did not realize the Elite vs prophet war was as close as it was. Also just a very good summarization of facts and major battles in the early years of the Human-Covenant war
amazing video, your commentary also helps me fall asleep with all the scores and sound effects through footage 💀🙌
I loved this video! I love halo but I never knew how coherent and interesting the plot was pre-game. I'd love for you to do an in depth analysis of the rest of the war. Thanks for the video man.
Wow, loved this! This really helped explain a lot of the backstory that I missed by not reading the books. Thank you!
Ive seen probably hundreds of hours of halo lore but ive never heard a lot of the stuff you explained in this video, good job!
Thanks for this awesome and insightful video! Great writing, narration style, pacing, editing, music!
Cod/battlefield single player: simple one-and-done affairs. Little backstory. Might not even have a campaign.
Halo single player: “so there’s this combat sandbox and skull thing to make it infinitely replayable, but first, let me tell you about space jihad and a morally questionable super soldier program.”
That's not 100% accurate but I do appreciate this comment.
This was probably high on my list of halo lore vids that I have seen and you did a spectacular job of sharing the lore with people who would be unfamiliar with it. You're pretty up there in terms of quality and accuracy with halo youtubers such as hiddenXperia, halo follower, and halo Canon which I would suggest watching some of their lore vids for inspiration and to better understand the lore. But again awesome job with this 👍
@Victor Romero I’ll have to disagree with you on HaloFollower. His older videos are good. But now the supermajority of his content is just bad clickbait where he’ll make a dumb theory that gets people hyped. Then when that’s proven false he’ll just move onto the next thing, and pretend that he never made a mistake.
Xperia and Halo Canon are really good though. I’d also include people like Instalation00, Sametoken, and Covenant Canon. All of those guys make great content.
If you want to learn about the equipment weapons the science behind spartans and tech. Installation 00 is the best. Goes into extreme detail that seems more educational than storytelling.
I heavily disagree. He thinks 343i lore is canon 🤣
imagine if mendicant bias actually brought humanity to the ark, and they advanced into what the forerunners wanted
Or that’d probably just unknowingly light the rings killing everything
I know well the Halo classic Lore, but this video was such a terrific summary! Great work 🍻
I’ve just recently found your channel and I’ve been binging vids for the past week or so. You explore so many things that I already love so your channel really is a Godsend. That being said, I have to ask. Is there ANY possibility of ever getting some Warhammer 40K/Fantasy lore videos in the future???
Definitely my favorite part of Halo lore, none of the post-Halo 3 wars/enemies weren't as nearly as threatening as the Covenant were. Side note, really wish they didn't retcon the lore about humans being forerunners. Makes the genocide against humanity make more sense as the prophets were scared of losing religious power.
awesome!!! This is so helpful to someone like me. Not a gamer, didn’t know much about Halo but getting into the show which has its shortcomings but based on pure cinematography, visuals and acting it’s very good. Story wise, it’s not so good and that’s coming from a guy who doesn’t know that backstory. This will help understand even more as the years go by. I’m hoping the show gets better. I’ll tune into more of your videos to get myself clear on this stuff. I had no idea Halo was so deep
This could have been such a great series of films the best video game ever
Loved all the lore videos you have done. You should do more halo lore videos.
The elites didint surrender…. They made a Covenant
Exactly the war was at a stalemate
Your Halo lore vids are fire. Well done!
I would really love to see a Halo game made like Dreadnaught where you’re fighting on a frigate or something and fighting the ships of the covenant
You absolute madlad, I thank you for this amazing content
I would like to know what would happen if the Sangheili found out that the prophets lied to them from the start,
causing a lot of Sangheili to die in a war that was based on a lie.
WiseFish, you are very good at what you do
Brilliantly explained and edited. Thanks for the quick refresher before in pop in Infinite. Actually, wait, isn’t there like 8 other games I need to know about? Oh well….
I think it's funny that a Alien race 1000 times more advanced feared Humanity.
It was mainly political and religious fears
Hummanty bever best. That's why hunnty b aned
There were weak, all that tech superiority and they still lost battles. Embrassing af
@abdulansari3666 dude, it's revealed in lot of Halo lore channels that at least 60-65% of covenant manpower is wiped out during this war and lot of resources were also depleted. Combine that with species discontent plus questioning why the higher ups didn't allow humanity to join Covenant and you get great schism.
For the covenant, this war was very costly
What a fantastic video. Thank you so much!
“They were just getting started” gave me chills.
Well yea now that they made staggering scientific breakthroughs on learning about the covenant and being pushed into a corner i'd say yes. Eventually they'll be the ones running.
The banished are cool and all but i still miss the original covenant.
I miss the flood
Wow I never knew that the elites wanted humanity to join the covenant. The more you know
I’m thankful you did this thank you.
This is good for us halo fans. A lot of info and we learned about the first encounter with the covenant.
Great story telling and your a great narrator. Thanks for making this video.👍👍
15:32
Minor Transgression was not a raider ship. It was a missionary ship that had barely any crew and barely any weaponry. Also the unggoy wasn't called "Deacon" he was a deacon which is a rank.
That's. What chef. Say. Mercaor ship. With irsens some m I ny
The human vs covenant war had battles in every part of the galaxy that they inhabit. There is still so much to cover, but the majority of it was shown as best as it can. The most saddest race of the covenant were the Grunts. They deserve better.
Really hope elites are made prominent enemies again, more interesting than brutes in my opinion
I simp for WiseFish Halo content
Just started watching the Netflix series. I’m not into gaming but I love extensive storytelling. Without the books and videos like these I wouldn’t be able to understand some of the episodes elements and details as there just too vast of a plot to follow in an hour. Thank you!!
Talk about an eargasm my dude.
Dope vid.
Dope work.
Glad I found you
Again.
The halo universe was so cool. So many opportunities for stories to be told. And every tv or movie attempt has been completely squandered.
I'm sad that you're not going to make more halo content. I would watch!
Aw hell yeah, he’s doing Halo videos now!
Being a massive fan of the halo books I just was thinking ah yes something I actually already know and understand haha
You forgot that the san shuem were a splinter group that was run off their own homework by their own peoples for the religious oppression they caused. They stole the dreadnought on escape.
Great video! The UNSC also contained the UNSC army, not just the navy and marine corps.
Humanity was so great. The wanted them apart of the covenant. That’s scary
It's funny if you think about it, just an ever so minor shift in the claims of the Prophets, with statements from Mendican Bias would have saved the Covenant.
Since they would be interpreted as "reclaimer" it would be easy for the prophets to explain why humanity was "left over" from the "great journey". That the Humans where designated to be the race to usher in the next "great journey" by the Forerunners. Making the claim that the Forerunners would have left himans without any artifacts so that when they understood and reached the Rings, or the Arc, that since they where compatible with Forerunner tech, that they would activate the rings and usher in the next "great journey". Vuala, you have a religious reason to integrate the humans, the Covenant isn't broken, and you now have, at least part, of the human population genuinely believing in the great journey, so that if the prophets actually cared to fire the rings, at least some humans would activate the rings.
It does make me wonder what would've happened if the Prophets had come to a different conclusion. What if one of them had decided that, instead of a long and costly war, it would be easier to claim that he was the one who discovered the Forerunners/Reclaimers, humiliate the other Prophets, bring humanity into the Covenant, and become all-powerful. That would involve a lot of intrigue and backstabbing, but it would be interesting. Of course, none of it would last once everyone found out what the Great Journey really involved...
I'd highly doubt Humanity would be brought into the covenant because Humanity are innovative/scientific by nature. It wouldn't work well at all.
Fuck yes. I would love to hear more of the early years of the human covenant war
Forgot how good halo lore actually is.
bro i got goosebumps at the end, what a video...
Fuck yea. I love humanity in Halo so much.
Reach wasnt completly glassed. They left a few Spots so they can search for Artifacts.
This allowed a few humans incl. Halsey and some Spartan 2s to survive. And when the Master Chief returned from Halo he rescued them and got the Artifact.
10:00 you can actually play the interplanetary war conflict!
Its a game called Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare
The story is about the same pretty much. Frigate and fighter combat and boots on the ground combat with older tech weapons. Check it out if you are a halo fan who wants to see the interplanetary war
I played infinite warfare and the story is not similar at all the only similarity it has is its a Scifi universe
@@commando7238 is it not a war between Mars and Earth?
I always thought the Covenant secretly have the Primordial hidden away somewhere - and it told them to war against humanity as both "sweetness" and to see if Humanity was worthy of further trials (possibly from The Flood).
Been waiting for this
21:49 - yes, we call that "Load last save"
Hope to see the part 2 of this how humanity defeated the covenant
I love your videos. They are like watching the history channel but its video games which is awesome!
I want more videos like this.
The creation of the Spartans is the single most best decision humanity has ever made.