The Prophets, known also as the San’Shyuum, are as much intelligent as they are manipulative. The Prophets helped rise one of the largest and most powerful galactic empires in history… the Covenant. In time the once mighty empire collapsed and the Prophets found themselves in a very unfavorable position. The Prophets were hated and even slaughtered because of what transpired during their years of ruling the Covenant. The last of their dwindling population were last seen fleeing and hiding after the fall of the Covenant. The current whereabouts and state of the Prophets are unknown.
It has been 10 years since we have seen the Prophets in Halo 3. This post is to discuss the potential 343 has in bringing the Prophets back into the picture. We will discuss about theories on where they are, how they could come back, and in what way they would be used in the Halo lore.
First, let’s discuss what the Prophets could bring in their return to Halo…
New Species:
There has been discussion and debate on whether 343 should be introducing new species. I’m mixed on bringing new species into Halo but if they have purpose, their background is fleshed out, and their entrance into the Halo Universe makes sense then I would be in favor of new species being introduced.
The Prophets could create a perfect bridge into bringing new species into Halo.
How?
Look no further for a reason/example than the Covenant. The Covenant was basically a collection of many different species. The Prophets were a big part of that in understanding that they could be much more powerful by having other species join their empire.
The Prophets build off this understanding by once again knowing that they have a better chance of claiming galactic dominance by gathering other species into their empire as opposed to going about it alone.
The Milky Way galaxy is roughly 100,000 thousand light years across and consists of roughly 100,000,000,000 billion stars. We could assume that planets would be around every, if not most, stars and satellites/moons around each planet. There could be billions upon billions of potential places for life. The key word is ‘potential’ so that doesn’t mean there would be an abundance of life because as we know everything has to be just right for life to exist. Still, by that huge number and the vastness of space, it could be plausible that other species exist that simply have not been found yet.
The prior point would be a fantastic explanation as to why new species could be introduced because we simply didn’t know they existed yet. This would be a believable explanation as opposed to just a simple “Ya here is this new species out of nowhere… ahh ya they were actually around this whole time but we didn’t see them or hear about them because of blah blah blah…”
The Prophets bring about a very unique opportunity to bring new species into Halo in a believable way.
Next, we will discuss the state of the Prophets and where they’re at in the Halo Universe…
Population and Location:
The population for the Prophets doesn’t look well. It’s a big reason why they go in search of new unfound species since they wouldn’t stand a chance with their current numbers alone.
After the Flood invasion of High Charity, the majority of their species was consumed and it was estimated that less than a thousand members of the species still lived.
It has been rumored that ships escaped High Charity with thousands of Prophets aboard each ship. So from that we can assume that the Prophets population isn’t as low as we thought but we would still be sitting at just roughly 10,000-100,000 Prophets. Still a pale amount compared to other species.
What about Janjur Qom, the Prophet home world? Supposedly, Janjur Qom was devoured by their own star when it went Supernova. This was one of the reasons why High Charity was built because they had nowhere else to call home. This report of the Prophets homeworld being destroyed is actually not confirmed. The only evidence of this is from the Prophets themselves claiming this.
Rumor has it that the Prophet homeworld, Janjur Qom, was actually not destroyed. The Prophets lied because they still felt uneasy in their relationship to the Elites (Sangheili) and that way nobody would have a reason to go there. The Prophets are reportedly the only ones too that know of the true location of Janjur Qom because they didn’t want others to know.
I believe that Janjur Qom wasn’t destroyed and that’s exactly where the Prophets went after the fall of the Covenant holy city of High Charity.
So from Janjur Qom not being destroyed, we can predict that the Prophets numbers could be in the millions and possibly even billions.
One curveball about the Prophets returning to their homeworld, is the Stoics. The Stoics are the same species (San’Shyuum) as the Prophets but they had separated during a civil war over how Forerunner artifacts should be treated/used. I believe that the Prophets create peace with the Stoics and they join forces. This could be a great opportunity to bring, with the help of augmentations possibly of which they have already done to some for their species, a warrior class for the Prophets we could fight in game…
Finally, what would the Prophets return be like?…
Return of the Prophets:
From the end of Halo 3, with Prophet population numbers dwindling and nowhere to go, the Prophets have no choice but to go back to their home world of Janjur Qom. They make peace with the Stoics and begin their journey of rising back to power.
The Prophets know they won’t be able to rise to galactic dominance on their species alone so they understand the need for other species to join them. With all prior Covenant species having negatively strong feelings toward them, recruiting them wouldn’t be an option. The Prophets have no choice but to go in search in the Milky Way galaxy for species not yet known to join their empire.
As years go by, the Prophets gain a collection of different species that fight alongside their own Stoic warriors in their newly created empire.
The Prophets have not forgotten about the fall of their once powerful Covenant empire. With lessons learned and a desire to reclaim their dominance, the Prophets bring in new species and a powerful new empire.
Tell me your thoughts, theories, and other ideas on the ‘Return of the Prophets’.