I have always been confused after the ending of Halo 3. I understand that Chief was sent to earth to stop the covenant from firing the ark, but after 4B was fired prematurely and it was destroyed along with the ark, what kept the covenant from firing the remaining halo rings? If they are on standby are they impossible to fire? Also, I want to know why the end of halo 3 hints at the end of the covenant. The fleet wasn’t destroyed, right? I thought only high charity and the prophet’s cruiser was destroyed. If someone could help me answer this that would be helpful.
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> I have always been confused after the ending of Halo 3. I understand that Chief was sent to earth to stop the covenant from firing the ark, but after 4B was fired prematurely and it was destroyed along with the ark, what kept the covenant from firing the remaining halo rings?
> **Because the Ark was destroyed and the Ark was the only place where they could fire the rings, and that most of the remaining Covenant know that the Ring would kill them.**If they are on standby are they impossible to fire? Also, I want to know why the end of halo 3 hints at the end of the covenant. The fleet wasn’t destroyed, right? I thought only high charity and the prophet’s cruiser was destroyed. If someone could help me answer this that would be helpful.
> The entire fleet was destroyed and the Prophets all went into hiding, leaving the Brutes to battle the Elites.
Wow this is awesome…lore is amazing anyway yep.
The halos came together and made a tube.
Chief takes the Halo array out of stanby mode when the Arbiter kills Truth (right after that portion where you work with the Gravemind) so the firing process was terminated. Also when Truth died, the Covenant kinda did end as his leadership was the only thing keeping it together. With him gone, it fragmented into numerous warring factions.
The remainder of the surviving halos can still be fired potentially as long as one has the activation index and is a reclaimer or an entity like the didact.
The arrays are made in the Ark.
The Rings would only be on standby until someone got to the Ark and set them to fire, which is what Truth did in Halo 3. After Chief shut the firing sequence down, there would be absolutely no reason why they would remain on standby. There’s nothing stopping the Covenant or anyone else from finding a Halo and activating it with that specific installations Index though.
The Covent though was completely destroyed in Halo 2, it ended with the Great Schism. Truth’s forces though were all wiped out at the Ark by the Elites, any other remaining Loyalists weren’t there and were already scattered throughout the Covenant’s territory fighting with the Separatists, or out fighting amongst themselves for power. Truth was the main thing holding it all together, and with his death any remaining Loyalists had no leadership.
Literally everyone I asked before said the rings could still be activated anywhere.
But I knew better. I knew that with the Ark heavily damaged/destroyed, the rings could no longer be activated at all.
And that theory was confirmed in Hunters in the Dark. I outcried with joy when I discovered my theory was right.
The rest of the covenant forces broke up… Brutes went back to their clan warfare… Elites broke into open civil war… Kig yar resumed piracy… Grunts went back to breeding…and some joined various factions along with select Kig yar.