i hate to spoil it for myself, but every time i say something about Elites being new allies with the UNSC, people are like “well glasslands disproves it”
what happens in Glasslands that has relevance to the aligence between the Sanghelli and Humanity?
There isn’t a real alliance. There are two sides, the Elites under Thel Vadam’s leadership, yet even it isn’t absolute and there are those within his own faction who disprove of his views towards humanity, which is somewhat favorable to neutral. Then we have 'Telcam’s side, he is a religious zealot and doesn’t particularly care for humanity either AND he wants to overthrow 'Thel.
So really, while Hood and Thel did meet formally, it doesn’t amount to much since ONI is funding the Elite rebels with weaponry.
A multitude of factors. The biggest one here is that there was no proper allegiance to begin with. That alliance in Halo 3? It was a temporary thing and both sides new it. They equally despised each other at the time but just focused on the task at hand. When Truth died and the Flood was defeated, the alliance was over. There was nothing more to it; no need and no want.
It is also down to psychology. For generations the Elites have been top dogs; unchallenged. Now they are overthrown and the prospect of having to scratch a living off rocks looms on the horizon. They have been used to dominating, but now they are about to get dominated. (Arguably already have been) So they feel bitter about it, especially towards the foe who caused it and especially because that foe is, in their myopic world view, martially inferior to them. So basically they are just butthurt that they could not defeat a foe; a foe like Humanity.
The two races are also of two mutually incompatible world views. The Elites view a direct, face-to-face course of action as both the only honourable and conceivable way of approaching an issue. Humans however employ a manner of tricks and deceptions to tackle an issue. Elites view this as cowardly and dishonest and makes them innately distrustful of Humans, at worst disgusts some of them. The fact that these deceptions were used to defeat them does not help. There has always been a theme of hypocrisy with the Elites; they have viewed dishonest tactics as acceptable for them to use but when such tactics are used against the Elites they cry afoul of their opponents. I guess the principle comes from the fact that it does not matter how low you go, so long as you are winning.
The lies of the Prophets have also failed to be lifted, and arguably most still view Humans as parasites like the Flood, who spread from world to world and steal from others. This combined with their view that Humans are deceptive fuels a paranoia that Humanity will one day either in the interests of expansion or revenge betray the Elites and wipe them out. Therefore most Elites believe that a gun should be pointed at Humanity’s head to keep it in check or more extremely, exterminated. And the fact that it is said by a character who is an expert on them that for all practical considerations, the Sangheili as a whole completely despise Humans for whatever reasons, probably because of what the Prophets said and how Humans behave. The bitterness from losing the war and not being able to wipe out Humanity I imagine will not want to make them change their mind about these prejudices either. It will close their minds. They will continue to tell their children that Humans are cockroaches that will stab you in the back first chance they get.
And then there is ONI who is gun running for a bunch of theocratic nutjobs who want to kill the Arbiter. This under-the-table work only strengthens the morally empty convictions of the character that the novel follows, and if he somehow manages to get proof of this back to his people: Bye-bye peace. Thel himself could retract his intentions of peace, and probably would. He does not seem to have much enthusiasm for Humanity and only proposes calling of the war because it is too costly to maintain, not because it is wrong or anything. The ultimate goal of ONI is to completely wipe out the Elites, and even though they have kept their actions secret from the UNSC at large they would probably have the full support of Humanity given how Phillips, the Sangheili expert and anthropologist, describes Human opinion on the whole subject.
The war will probably never be over, and at the very least the two will never be allies. The concept is completely deconstructed from a fundamental level in the book.
I disagree with the above posts since Traviss focused only on Telcam’s insurgency and some that were opinionated.
We really do not know enough to conclude that the entire Sangheili race hates humanity. Refer to Telcam’s wife for example…
> I disagree with the above posts since Traviss focused only on Telcam’s insurgency and some that were opinionated.
> We really do not know enough to conclude that the entire Sangheili race hates humanity. Refer to Telcam’s wife for example…
Well, yeah, not every Elite hates humanity. Honestly, if they did, there would be something wrong with the Halo lore.
That said, we’ve just spent the past thirty years killing each other and spending our free time figuring out how to kill each other faster. I’d say that a majority of Elite society is unfond of us.
> I disagree with the above posts since Traviss focused only on Telcam’s insurgency and some that were opinionated.
> We really do not know enough to conclude that the entire Sangheili race hates humanity. Refer to Telcam’s wife for example…
its not that they hate us in particular. its that we are a threat that bothers most of the non idiotic zealot elites. humans are not a very forgiving race. we will hold a grudge. and thats what most are worried about. personally if i actually had to listen to them rant about god this and that… id shoot him… seriously if you think about it their “faith” about the forrunners is a complete and utter insult to the forrunners. they think that they wiped themselves out to become gods, for personal gain? when in reality they did it so the rest of the universe could have a chance.
but anyways its the fact that they know that we will not forgive and forget. and that there is a very real possibility that if the humans regain their former strength (now with upgrades) we will attack them out of revenge.
It seems like ONI are the only ones engaging in war with the Sangheili. The UNSC may want an alliance.
> It seems like ONI are the only ones engaging in war with the Sangheili. The UNSC may want an alliance.
Phillips was used a number of times to describe the general situation of the two, first the Elites in chapter 4 then the UNSC when he confronts Jul. He implies that the vast majority of the two races just hate each other.
And even if the UNSC wanted it, the Sangheili want absolutely nothing to do with Humans. They did not hint at anything else either.
> I disagree with the above posts since Traviss focused only on Telcam’s insurgency and some that were opinionated.
And that isn’t a problem? Look at the meeting of the Kaidon. Did any of them say anything positive about humanity? No. In fact, they mocked the Arbiter for his “love” of us. Even he says he has no real attachment to us. From then on, every Elite we encounter seems to have a unfavorable view towards humanity.
> We really do not know enough to conclude that the entire Sangheili race hates humanity. Refer to Telcam’s wife for example…
The entire race doesn’t, but the major players in Elite politics seems rather uncaring regarding our well-being. Thel could care less, 'Telcam doesn’t trust us outside of giving him weapons and Jul downright hates us. I have to wonder where the human sympathizer movement is in all of this, N’tho 'Sraom is one of them. Do they no longer exist?
> The entire race doesn’t, but the major players in Elite politics seems rather uncaring regarding our well-being. Thel could care less, 'Telcam doesn’t trust us outside of giving him weapons and Jul downright hates us. I have to wonder where the human sympathizer movement is in all of this, N’tho 'Sraom is one of them. Do they no longer exist?
Yes it does seem that N’tho 'Sraom and the others seemed to vanish without a trace, not a single mention of them is in any recent books(as far as I can tell), including the Encyclopedia. However he may be in the visual guide.
Glasslands is completely biased and should not be taken as a representation of the whole… In fact, it’s one of the problems I have with the book.
> Yes it does seem that N’tho 'Sraom and the others seemed to vanish without a trace, not a single mention of them is in any recent books(as far as I can tell), including the Encyclopedia. However he may be in the visual guide.
He is not in the Visual Guide either. As far as things go right now, this is the only canonical source on N’tho 'Sroam.