The Banished are more dangerous than The Covenant

Games Halo Infinite
1

So this is purely on an observational perspective but with all that I have learned about the Banished so far in their existence in the universe I see them as a more dangerous threat than the covenant were in certain ways.

  • Playing the long game: While The Covenant certainly had massive amount of resources at their disposal they were never able to crush the Banished because Atriox and his followers were able to play smart and were not blinded by the religious ideologies of the covenant. They had big ambitions but used cunning and patience to acquire all they needed and not be defeated by either The Covenant or Humanity. Once the Covenant fell and the great schism occurred the numbers of the banished increased now that there was no huge threats in their way.

-They are more unified: The Covenant lost mostly due to the great schism which greatly affected their forces and allowed humanity a chance to strike back especially with the Arbiter and his swords as their allies. Jul’s Covenant was never truly unified to begin with as Jul was more of an opportunist than a leader wanting to achieve his own goals not caring for whatever his followers desires were. Atriox however has kept a hugely unified force of various species having made promising proposals and has stayed true to his word for most of them. While there are certainly some hateful views between the brutes and elites within the Banished they tolerate each other and Atriox has no quarrel with the elites as does his brutes for they never had a hand in slaughtering the elites during the great schism. How long they will remain unified is unknown but as it stands now it seems they are truly a strongly bonded faction.

-They are cautious and intelligent: They knew the dangers behind all forerunner tech they came across as well as the significant threat the flood posed that they were able to defeat it before it could become unstoppable which is something the covenant never accomplished. They knew what had to be done even if it meant losing valuable positions on the battle field. They are also not willing to lose life meaninglessly due to the pre-mentioned unity and also try not to waste resources on anything that proves to be too taxing. They actually think more strategically similar to Thel when he was still a part of the covenant and was also extremely dangerous.

-They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.

-They are efficient scavengers: The Banished use a lot of ingenuity when it comes to collecting what many assume would be junk and make them treasures. The Human-Covenant war left behind a lot of things that The Banished have taken and crafted for their own purposes whether it be new weapons or vehicles to add to their growing arsenal. Like vultures they take what they can use and be able to get something great out of it provided no one makes a mistake.

2

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> …
>
> -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
>
> …

There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):

During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:

  1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
  2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.

But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.

And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.

3

Are they really as recklessly dangerous as the faction who committed numerous genocides as well as attempted to end all sentient life in the galaxy? That seems pretty dangerous to me.

4

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> > 2533274858572140;1:
> > …
> >
> > -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
> >
> > …
>
> There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):
>
>
>
> During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:
> 1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
> 2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.
>
>
> But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.
>
> And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.

Well I am not to sure about that, in the first little teaser we go for Infinite before the reveal Eshurem, basically stated that “Humanity will burn” meaning that if the Banished succeeds in taking control of the ring, they may wipe out humanity with it, not just the UNSC.

5

> 2533274823423494;3:
> Are they really as recklessly dangerous as the faction who committed numerous genocides as well as attempted to end all sentient life in the galaxy? That seems pretty dangerous to me.

That may be true but in the end their blind faith was eventually their downfall and they were starting to lose their grip on things the more obsessed they became. Look at Regret for example he was so eager to get to Earth not expecting any resistance that he took such little amount of forces and seriously messed up to the point where the other Prophets looked down upon him. The Banished are smarter and more concentrated that they haven’t made any huge mistakes yet with the exception of Voridus but even his mistake was squashed as quickly as it began something the covenant wouldn’t have done unless under less deluded leadership. And the Bsnished can be just as genocidal as the covenant as proven with wiping out the human presence on the Ark and UNSC presence on Zeta Halo (although the only unknown factor is this Harbinger).

6

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> > > 2533274858572140;1:
> > > …
> > >
> > > -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
> > >
> > > …
> >
> > There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):
> >
> >
> >
> > During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:
> > 1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
> > 2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.
> >
> >
> > But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.
> >
> > And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.
>
> Well I am not to sure about that, in the first little teaser we go for Infinite before the reveal Eshurem, basically stated that “Humanity will burn” meaning that if the Banished succeeds in taking control of the ring, they may wipe out humanity with it, not just the UNSC.

And plus there is this mysterious Harbinger that they have partnered up with.

7

> 2533274858572140;5:
> > 2533274823423494;3:
> > Are they really as recklessly dangerous as the faction who committed numerous genocides as well as attempted to end all sentient life in the galaxy? That seems pretty dangerous to me.
>
> That may be true but in the end their blind faith was eventually their downfall and they were starting to lose their grip on things the more obsessed they became. Look at Regret for example he was so eager to get to Earth not expecting any resistance that he took such little amount of forces and seriously messed up to the point where the other Prophets looked down upon him. The Banished are smarter and more concentrated that they haven’t made any huge mistakes yet with the exception of Voridus but even his mistake was squashed as quickly as it began something the covenant wouldn’t have done unless under less deluded leadership. And the Bsnished can be just as genocidal as the covenant as proven with wiping out the human presence on the Ark and UNSC presence on Zeta Halo (although the only unknown factor is this Harbinger).

People said the same thing about Jul 'Mdama when he was the prominent villain in Halo 4 back in 2012. I don’t think that argument has changed and we see how 343 treated Jul.

The Banished have no motive for exterminating humanity. It actually makes more sense for the Banished to offer whatever factions of humans they deem worthy positions in the organization such as mechanics, engineers, soldiers, doctors, etc.

I still don’t buy the whole story about how the Banished managed to fight off the Covenant. All it would have taken was a single fleet to eliminate them early on in the war.

Humanity just needs an enemy and 343 has decided that it will be the Banished.

8

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> > 2533274858572140;1:
> > …
> >
> > -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
> >
> > …
>
> There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):
>
>
>
> During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:
> 1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
> 2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.
>
>
> But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.
>
> And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.

Atriox does certainly having a sense of honor but in the case with that offer he gave I think he would have most likely have hunted the crew down anyways just like he did to the colonists on the Ark.

9

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> > 2533274826620064;2:
> > > 2533274858572140;1:
> > > …
> > >
> > > -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
> > >
> > > …
> >
> > There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):
> >
> >
> >
> > During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:
> > 1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
> > 2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.
> >
> >
> > But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.
> >
> > And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.
>
> Well I am not to sure about that, in the first little teaser we go for Infinite before the reveal Eshurem, basically stated that “Humanity will burn” meaning that if the Banished succeeds in taking control of the ring, they may wipe out humanity with it, not just the UNSC.

Going off by the trailer it seems like they did find their reason for a possibly genocidal campaign. We’ll have to wait and see what it entails exactly.

> 2533274858572140;8:
> > 2533274826620064;2:
> > > 2533274858572140;1:
> > > …
> > >
> > > -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
> > >
> > > …
> >
> > There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):
> >
> >
> >
> > During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:
> > 1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
> > 2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.
> >
> >
> > But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.
> >
> > And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.
>
> Atriox does certainly having a sense of honor but in the case with that offer he gave I think he would have most likely have hunted the crew down anyways just like he did to the colonists on the Ark.

Under normal circumstances this might’ve been the case, but (if I’m not mistaken) this offer was made after (HW2 spoilers ahead)

Enduring Conviction was destroyed, giving the Banished little means to properly chase the Spirit of Fire in the event that it did have a slipspace drive. The Banished had no reason to not believe the Spirit of Fire had one at that point, and as such, Atriox expected them to be off in the event that they did accept the offer.This leads me to believe that this ‘mercy offer’ from Atriox was actually fairly genuine.

10

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> > 2535436352478403;4:
> > > 2533274826620064;2:
> > > > 2533274858572140;1:
> > > > …
> > > >
> > > > -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
> > > >
> > > > …
> > >
> > > There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:
> > > 1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
> > > 2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.
> > >
> > >
> > > But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.
> > >
> > > And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.
> >
> > Well I am not to sure about that, in the first little teaser we go for Infinite before the reveal Eshurem, basically stated that “Humanity will burn” meaning that if the Banished succeeds in taking control of the ring, they may wipe out humanity with it, not just the UNSC.
>
> Going off by the trailer it seems like they did find their reason for a possibly genocidal campaign. We’ll have to wait and see what it entails exactly.
>
>
>
>
> > 2533274858572140;8:
> > > 2533274826620064;2:
> > > > 2533274858572140;1:
> > > > …
> > > >
> > > > -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
> > > >
> > > > …
> > >
> > > There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:
> > > 1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
> > > 2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.
> > >
> > >
> > > But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.
> > >
> > > And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.
> >
> > Atriox does certainly having a sense of honor but in the case with that offer he gave I think he would have most likely have hunted the crew down anyways just like he did to the colonists on the Ark.
>
> Under normal circumstances this might’ve been the case, but (if I’m not mistaken) this offer was made after (HW2 spoilers ahead)
> Enduring Conviction was destroyed, giving the Banished little means to properly chase the Spirit of Fire in the event that it did have a slipspace drive. The Banished had no reason to not believe the Spirit of Fire had one at that point, and as such, Atriox expected them to be off in the event that they did accept the offer.This leads me to believe that this ‘mercy offer’ from Atriox was actually fairly genuine.

That could also be the case but he does have other forces that are not on the Ark since he has another ship (which I assume Escharum has) that could come and take out the spirit of fire if Atriox is able to communicate with them.

11

The Banished are not more dangerous than the Covenant.

The Covenant was a massive interstellar empire. The Banished are a mercenary group. Ex-Covenant factions can never be as dangerous as the Covenant, they’re only a fraction of what it used to be. Even if an Ex-Covenant faction magically reunited all the Ex-Covenant, it would still be smaller than the Covenant was as many have been killed off during the war. Ex-Covenant factions cannot and should not be the main enemy in the post-war era. The Banished is no where close to being the size of the Covenant.

Furthermore a genocidal campaign would be a horrible motive as the Banished doesn’t care for species feuds, and from a meta story perspective it would result in a much less exciting Human-Covenant war 2.0 with a smaller faction that won’t be able to top the epic storytelling of the Human-Covenant war. They should take the story in a different route than that. There are far more intelligent and sophisticated ways to implement the Banished as an enemy instead of a childish “Grrrr kill all humans”. Atriox even said “Vengeance is petty, vengeance has no reward” to the genocidal Silent Shadow Elites in the midst of massacring his species and his crew. Wasting resources on an extremely expensive and lengthy genocidal campaign surely would not be Atriox’s will.

12

> 2533274826620064;2:
> > 2533274858572140;1:
> > …
> >
> > -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
> >
> > …
>
> There is one documented case where the opposite is shown, namely (Halo Wars 2 spoilers ahead):
>
>
>
> During Halo Wars 2, after prolonged combat with the Spirit of Fire, Atriox offers them a free passage out of the conflict without repercussions, presumably out of respect for his stronger than anticipated foe. Captain James Cutter declined this offer due to two reasons:
> 1. The UNSC posts on the Ark were not offered the same deal, they were simply slaughtered and wiped off the map.
> 2. The Spirit of Fire did not have its slipspace engine, so even if they wanted to, they could not get a meaningful distance away from the Ark.
>
>
> But yes, I agree on many fronts that the Banished pose a greater threat than the Covenant. Although the Covenant committed religious genocide, I don’t see the Banished doing something similar. They’ll conquer and attempt to wipe out UNSC opposition for sure, but I see humanity as a species survive in the event that they get rid of the UNSC. Only if they have a very solid reason why they’d want humanity gone in its entirety I see a second genocial campaign happening.
>
> And, like they stated in Halo Wars 2, the Covenant was fighting two wars at the same time. They nearly got us, but they never got close to getting the Banished down.

And thats why I think the whole Banished stuff is just stupid: Finger snipping, saying there is a even greater threat now for reasonz that the covenant never got Atriox down [I mean hey, it’s not like that Ripa Moramee could easily handle him] but who need a good story if you can milk a franchiose til’ it’s death

13

> 2533274861263132;12:
> And thats why I think the whole Banished stuff is just stupid: Finger snipping, saying there is a even greater threat now for reasonz that the covenant never got Atriox down [I mean hey, it’s not like that Ripa Moramee could easily handle him] but who need a good story if you can milk a franchiose til’ it’s death

Ripa was dead before Atriox even rebelled, he also lost to one human ship in the early covenant war when he had the greatest advantage…and lost to an unaugmented human at that.

Atriox’s guys do have a number of advantages for survival against the covenant that humanity didn’t. First of all, they’re the same species, so they can blend in if they need to, they also know the covenant, how it works, how its tech works. They aren’t some alien people who suddenly got ambushed by a technologically superior civilization, that said civilization has a device which specifically points you out.

14

> 2535419587718390;11:
> …
>
> Wasting resources on an extremely expensive and lengthy genocidal campaign surely would not be Atriox’s will.

But having tactical control over the Halo’s and the Ark, and so basically keeping the Milky Way system hostage? My money’s on that at this point.

With the Covenant, you’d know they would light the rings, even if they didn’t know what they actually did.
The Banished? They might just light a single ring to make a point to the survivors.

And that’s the key difference between the two factions I think. The Covenant were zealous and blind, the Banished know what they’re doing in that regard. It makes them a lot less volatile and in-your-face dangerous, but still very dangerous nonetheless.

15

you missed 1 important thing that sets the banished apart, less restrictions on innovation. the covenant technological advances were handled by the san’shyuum and had a lot of bureaucracy, guidelines, ideologies and politics getting in the way of certain advancements or widespread use of certain things. the banished way of making and distributing new equipment is just “if there’s extra resources, do with it as you please” and we end up with a ton of experimental and extremely dangerous stuff like voridus’ infusion based weapons.

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> > > 2533274823423494;3:
> > >
>
> People said the same thing about Jul 'Mdama when he was the prominent villain in Halo 4 back in 2012. I don’t think that argument has changed and we see how 343 treated Jul.
>
> The Banished have no motive for exterminating humanity. It actually makes more sense for the Banished to offer whatever factions of humans they deem worthy positions in the organization such as mechanics, engineers, soldiers, doctors, etc.
>
> I still don’t buy the whole story about how the Banished managed to fight off the Covenant. All it would have taken was a single fleet to eliminate them early on in the war.
>
> Humanity just needs an enemy and 343 has decided that it will be the Banished.

the covenant didn’t beat them because they weren’t their priority which is something I think a lot of people over look. humans were the biggest issue for the covenant at the time (or atleast in the prophets eyes because of the implications their existence had towards the religion that held the covenant together) so much of the covenant’s efforts were towards eradicating mankind, not to mention the search for the halo rings which they ultimately did find and took all of their attention and resources from everything else. it’s not that the banished were too powerful, it’s that the covenant was too busy with so much else.
As for their view on humanity I completely agree with you. their sudden “humanity should burn” goal seems a little out of no where, even if they just didn’t like humans to begin with. for the time being we’ll have to assume something happened between h5 and infinite that the banished blames humans for or that this new goal has more to do with escharum and the harbringer than atriox who has been disconnected from the rest of his forces. to be fair though, they could easily blame mankind for cortana’s creation and rise to power which I’m sure threatens the banished since they stand for everything cortana is currently against.

> 2535419587718390;11:
> The Banished are not more dangerous than the Covenant.
>
> The Covenant was a massive interstellar empire. The Banished are a mercenary group. Ex-Covenant factions can never be as dangerous as the Covenant, they’re only a fraction of what it used to be. Even if an Ex-Covenant faction magically reunited all the Ex-Covenant, it would still be smaller than the Covenant was as many have been killed off during the war. Ex-Covenant factions cannot and should not be the main enemy in the post-war era. The Banished is no where close to being the size of the Covenant.

this would be true if it weren’t for the fact that the banished currently control a halo ring. also, numbers aren’t always the most important thing when it comes to being a threat to the galaxy, otherwise humans would be the antagonists in halo. it largely comes down to what the factions have access to and what they’re willing to do to accomplish their goals, which does back up your point when it comes to most ex-covenant factions given how little they actually control and how all over the place they are when it comes to accomplishing their goals which is why the banished stand out, the control of both zeta halo and the ark poses a significant threat to anyone that opposes them and because atriox is more careful and transparent about how he goes about things there’s less of a chance he’ll slip up or have some self brought downfall like the covenant had.

16

> 2533274858572140;1:
> So this is purely on an observational perspective but with all that I have learned about the Banished so far in their existence in the universe I see them as a more dangerous threat than the covenant were in certain ways.
>
> - Playing the long game: While The Covenant certainly had massive amount of resources at their disposal they were never able to crush the Banished because Atriox and his followers were able to play smart and were not blinded by the religious ideologies of the covenant. They had big ambitions but used cunning and patience to acquire all they needed and not be defeated by either The Covenant or Humanity. Once the Covenant fell and the great schism occurred the numbers of the banished increased now that there was no huge threats in their way.
>
> -They are more unified: The Covenant lost mostly due to the great schism which greatly affected their forces and allowed humanity a chance to strike back especially with the Arbiter and his swords as their allies. Jul’s Covenant was never truly unified to begin with as Jul was more of an opportunist than a leader wanting to achieve his own goals not caring for whatever his followers desires were. Atriox however has kept a hugely unified force of various species having made promising proposals and has stayed true to his word for most of them. While there are certainly some hateful views between the brutes and elites within the Banished they tolerate each other and Atriox has no quarrel with the elites as does his brutes for they never had a hand in slaughtering the elites during the great schism. How long they will remain unified is unknown but as it stands now it seems they are truly a strongly bonded faction.
>
> -They are cautious and intelligent: They knew the dangers behind all forerunner tech they came across as well as the significant threat the flood posed that they were able to defeat it before it could become unstoppable which is something the covenant never accomplished. They knew what had to be done even if it meant losing valuable positions on the battle field. They are also not willing to lose life meaninglessly due to the pre-mentioned unity and also try not to waste resources on anything that proves to be too taxing. They actually think more strategically similar to Thel when he was still a part of the covenant and was also extremely dangerous.
>
> -They are more violent: While the Covenant wasn’t exactly that merciful they retained some honor in their path of destruction (mainly the elites). The Banished only have honor among themselves and give no mercy to their enemies. They love to conquer and destroy which is something the elites they hire sometimes disagree with but are willing to go with it for the sake of survival and their contract. Nothing holds this group back making them rather unpredictable in their chaos. They also employ new tactics and weaponry such as deadly infusion gels, the deadly blisterbacks and even throwing suicide grunts at the occasional victim.
>
> -They are efficient scavengers: The Banished use a lot of ingenuity when it comes to collecting what many assume would be junk and make them treasures. The Human-Covenant war left behind a lot of things that The Banished have taken and crafted for their own purposes whether it be new weapons or vehicles to add to their growing arsenal. Like vultures they take what they can use and be able to get something great out of it provided no one makes a mistake.

Aaaand that’s exactly what I dislike about them. It’s like halo 3 never happened. The covenant just became more powerful instead of being next to nothing like in halo 4. If they were to stay because the gameplay needs them, at least they had to be weak and incompetent in the story. I could look at the infinity completely owning them and think “yeah, you can’t threat anyone now, you are a dying headless cockroach trying to run”. This also reflected on their inferior equipment. They even had to be the allies of the prometheans to not get all killed, they were dissappearing with truth being dead. Even sticking only with the original 4 species I feel helped to show how barebones they were. Note I’m tlking about 4, nit 5 or external media.
As for the banished… The banished is just the covenant renamed and red to try pretending it’s different. I just can’t take them seriously. They made them up out of thin air because H5 cornered the story. Without nothing to work with, the nostalgia had to be taken out of it’s grave to be reheated.
After the banished get defeated then what’s next, there was a splinter faction of them that you never saw but they are orange instead and called the rebels or something?

17

> 2535412225166773;16:
> Aaaand that’s exactly what I dislike about them. It’s like halo 3 never happened. The covenant just became more powerful instead of being next to nothing like in halo 4. If they were to stay because the gameplay needs them, at least they had to be weak and incompetent in the story. I could look at the infinity completely owning them and think “yeah, you can’t threat anyone now, you are a dying headless cockroach trying to run”. This also reflected on their inferior equipment. They even had to be the allies of the prometheans to not get all killed, they were dissappearing with truth being dead. Even sticking only with the original 4 species I feel helped to show how barebones they were. Note I’m tlking about 4, nit 5 or external media.
> As for the banished… The banished is just the covenant renamed and red to try pretending it’s different. I just can’t take them seriously. They made them up because H5 cornered the story. Without nothing to work with, the nostalgia had to be taken out of it’s grave to be reheated.
> After the banished get defeated then what’s next, there was a splinter faction of them that you never saw but they are orange instead and called the rebels or something?

I think you’re overselling the banished still if you think them covenant 2.0. Atriox got pretty crippled by the loss of a single assault carrier on the Ark, and his forces were reasonably well dealt with by an old ship with half its crew.

They’re likely targeting the halos and other installations specifically because they need to make up for manpower and ship issues.

We don’t know how infinity got destroyed. For all we know they’re leaning heavily on the Harbinger which we haven’t been introduced to yet.

18

The Banished = The Covenant

It’s just another excuse to recycle the same enemy. And I very much doubt that they pose a larger threat than the Covenant since they were glassing planet after planet and the Banished have been in the sidelines doing their own thing. I guess that could change in Infinite but, so far, color me uninterested

19

> 2533274823423494;7:
> > 2533274858572140;5:
> > > 2533274823423494;3:
> > > Are they really as recklessly dangerous as the faction who committed numerous genocides as well as attempted to end all sentient life in the galaxy? That seems pretty dangerous to me.
> >
> > That may be true but in the end their blind faith was eventually their downfall and they were starting to lose their grip on things the more obsessed they became. Look at Regret for example he was so eager to get to Earth not expecting any resistance that he took such little amount of forces and seriously messed up to the point where the other Prophets looked down upon him. The Banished are smarter and more concentrated that they haven’t made any huge mistakes yet with the exception of Voridus but even his mistake was squashed as quickly as it began something the covenant wouldn’t have done unless under less deluded leadership. And the Bsnished can be just as genocidal as the covenant as proven with wiping out the human presence on the Ark and UNSC presence on Zeta Halo (although the only unknown factor is this Harbinger).
>
> People said the same thing about Jul 'Mdama when he was the prominent villain in Halo 4 back in 2012. I don’t think that argument has changed and we see how 343 treated Jul.
>
> The Banished have no motive for exterminating humanity. It actually makes more sense for the Banished to offer whatever factions of humans they deem worthy positions in the organization such as mechanics, engineers, soldiers, doctors, etc.
>
> I still don’t buy the whole story about how the Banished managed to fight off the Covenant. All it would have taken was a single fleet to eliminate them early on in the war.
>
> Humanity just needs an enemy and 343 has decided that it will be the Banished.

I agree. The Covenant and Jul 'Mdama Covenant were actually the biggest threat to humanity. The Banished are a group of mercenary, I would have consider them a second threat if they end up working with the insurrectionist.

20

> 2535465515137096;19:
> > 2533274823423494;7:
> > > 2533274858572140;5:
> > > > 2533274823423494;3:
> > > > Are they really as recklessly dangerous as the faction who committed numerous genocides as well as attempted to end all sentient life in the galaxy? That seems pretty dangerous to me.
> > >
> > > That may be true but in the end their blind faith was eventually their downfall and they were starting to lose their grip on things the more obsessed they became. Look at Regret for example he was so eager to get to Earth not expecting any resistance that he took such little amount of forces and seriously messed up to the point where the other Prophets looked down upon him. The Banished are smarter and more concentrated that they haven’t made any huge mistakes yet with the exception of Voridus but even his mistake was squashed as quickly as it began something the covenant wouldn’t have done unless under less deluded leadership. And the Bsnished can be just as genocidal as the covenant as proven with wiping out the human presence on the Ark and UNSC presence on Zeta Halo (although the only unknown factor is this Harbinger).
> >
> > People said the same thing about Jul 'Mdama when he was the prominent villain in Halo 4 back in 2012. I don’t think that argument has changed and we see how 343 treated Jul.
> >
> > The Banished have no motive for exterminating humanity. It actually makes more sense for the Banished to offer whatever factions of humans they deem worthy positions in the organization such as mechanics, engineers, soldiers, doctors, etc.
> >
> > I still don’t buy the whole story about how the Banished managed to fight off the Covenant. All it would have taken was a single fleet to eliminate them early on in the war.
> >
> > Humanity just needs an enemy and 343 has decided that it will be the Banished.
>
> I agree. The Covenant and Jul 'Mdama Covenant were actually the biggest threat to humanity. The Banished are a group of mercenary, I would have consider them a second threat if they end up working with the insurrectionist.

They have actually worked alongside some humans in criminal enterprises on some worlds. They also welcome humans into their group should they choose to join.