just a question about the prophets, the covenant and such
if elites are so powerful, strong, and…Elite, how did they fall under the command of the weak, frail Prophets?
During their war, the Prophets had the Dreadnaught. Enough said.
That ^^^ and because they forged a Truce among themselves saying that if they don’t stop they will destroy themselves.
Henceforth they became the Covenant.
I think the ratio was 1 prophet for 4 elites.
They had a single deity (Forerunners) and reached an agreement to understand them further. Then the Covenant was born.
This happens after the Sangheili - San 'Shyuum war.
Dreadnaught,
also, the prophets had higher technical knowledge than the elites and knew how to use the technology better, they supported each other.
Well, the prophets were way more intelligent and they had better technology yes.
But they did not force the Elites into creating the Covenant, the simply influenced them with the whole religious and enlightenment ideas. The were smarter then the elites, but the weren’t the warrior-type, which is why the need them.
In ground combat, 1 Elite was equal to 10 prophets.
San 'Shyuum had a significant technological advantage,
It wasn’t enough to subdue Sangheili military prowess.
Result → Stalemate (mutually assured destruction)
Until they formed an alliance known as the Covenant.
Actually, Prophets weren’t always as frail and weak as we see them now, they were once more average of a race similiar to humanity. It was inbreeding after the war with the Sangheli that caused them to become weak and frail, there genes began to degenerate over the years. The only reason the Sangheli was forcd to form a truce was because of the San 'Shyuum discovering the Forerunner Dreadnought/Key Ship from Halo 2, 3. The Dreadnought simply annihilated the Sangheli’s ships and technology, and nothing the Sangheli were capable of doing damaged the Dreadnought, this led the Sangheli to surrending and wanting to form a truce because the San 'Shyuum were using a power passed down from their gods/Forerunners in their eyes. They believed together they would be capable of expanding and finding out more about the Forerunners and this would stop the bloodshed and hatred between them if they were become a alliance. They were first races to form the Covenant and together began their conquest of the galaxy, and search for Forerunner Artifacts.
I wouldn’t say the San’Shyuum were smarter. The Sanghelli were able to have spaceships before the San’Shyuum came, and they were against using Forerunner tech (which is what started the whole war). So they gained a spacefaring tech level on their own, whereas the San’Shyuum used the dreadnaught.
The San’Shyuum went out in search of more Forerunner tech, in order to become more powerful. They came across the Sanghelli. It would have been a mutually assured destruction since the San’Shyuum could attack from space. They couldn’t win on the surface and they wanted the Forerunner tech. The Sanghelli could win on the ground but were getting beat in space battles. To gain more of an advantage the Sanghelli decided to start examining the Forerunner artifacts on their planet. Since the reason for the war was to keep the San’Shyuum from touching these artifacts, the Sanghelli had no reason to continue fighting. And a truce was formed, that truce then turned into the Covenant.