So the Jiralhanae(aka Brutes) are split in their society into two Skeins, or meta-clans, called the Rh’tol and Vheiloth. Tartarus belonged to the Rh’tol skein and most other Brute characters, and therefore we can assume that perhaps the Rh’tol skein was the majority. However, one brute, Cerebus, was from the Vheiloth skein. So, anyways, in relation to the games, I came up with a theory that perhaps in Halo Reach and Halo 2/Anniversary that you are fighting the Rh’tol skein while in Halo 3 ODST and Halo 3, you are fighting the Vheiloth Skein. What brought me this theory was that mainly the art styles of the brutes changed, but canonically speaking, this could be due to whatever Skein they belong to. It is known that the Rh’tol skein are more primitive and Brutish in nature as compared to the Vheiloth Skein, and so that can explain why the brutes in Halo reach and 2 are harder to kill, yet they don’t have the best armor and weapons as compared to the brutes in Halo 3/ODST, and those could be the Vheiloth skein. Why would the Prophet of Truth start using this skein however as his dominant military force in the last weeks of the war though? Why not just continue using the Rh’tol, the more loyal and “stronger” group? Probably because after Tartarus’s death, it showed that perhaps the Rh’tol weren’t as useful anymore, so once again, Truth power shifted the Jiralhanae and favored the Vheiloth skein more so than the Rh’tol skein. Anyways, this is a loose theory, but it could explain why there are two different looking brute models in the games(the Reach and 2 models look very similar, albeit a difference between shaved and nonshaved fur) of Reach/2 vs 3/ODST. What do you guys think?
I also think the “skein” concept is to be retroactively applied to Brutes from past games (although I wish 343i could give more details on them). However I wouldn’t pay too much attention to their physical resistance, this may be due to gameplay concessions. (Brutes in Halo 3 are the main enemy, and obviously they couldn’t be as dangerous as those from Halo 2)
also the brute led fleet that truth had was assembled way before tartarus was killed