It’s not an opinion. It’s a fact in the lore that the Banished was small during the time of the Covenant. Here are more logs, these are objective descriptions.
“Used by the Banished to hide from wrathful Covenant eyes in their early days… Long years of evading the Covenant’s enforcers has made Atriox an adept master of stealth warfare when it serves his needs.”
“The Banished were raiders and reavers for years. Until the breaking of the Covenant allowed them to consolidate and build themselves into a true power in their own right.”
Banished humans are no more a reluctant deal than Banished Elites, who are still hated by many Brutes and sent on suicide missions by Decimus.
You’re not up to date with the lore, there were many official Banished humans on the Ark like the ones in the Long Shields, as well as entire human-led Banished clans like the Order of Harmony or the mercenary clans in New Mombasa.
The Keepers of the One Freedom were not the only instance and certainly not the majority.
His intentions are to gain power with all useful assets at his disposal. The lore states he sees humans as useful, so they are welcomed into the Banished the exact same way Elites are.
Yes and I would want a very good explanation for why:
How could the Banished covertly construct a war fleet with thousands of capital ships? Without any of the major powers intervening? How could they afford to do that but humanity can only afford one carrier?
How could the Banished avoid such a fleet suffering colossal casualties against the Created (especially considering we see Cortana destroy Doisac). If the omnipotent AI with Forerunner technology actually wanted to exterminate the Brutes; well that’s that. I don’t see how a random Brute Chieftain could deal with that without plot armour.
Why is Atriox waging war on the UNSC beyond being a Brute who gets off on killing things? If he wants the Brutes to be safe maybe he should stop being a power hungry worm.
How come the UNSC loses one ship and it’s crippled but the Banished can lose battle after battle and hundreds of thousands of soldiers (billions if we count Doisac); but be the rulers of the Galaxy?
How were the Banished not destroyed by the Flood on the Ark? Nothing can beat the Flood in a straight fight. Nothing. Having Atriox crush a Flood Spore is dumb and more obnoxious nonsense to make them seem badass by trashing a much cooler faction.
Why are a gaggle of mercenaries fanatically loyal to a corpse? If Atriox was all that’s holding them together why do the Banished not immediately implode? He has no ideology.
How are the hundreds of Spartans on the Infinity not able to butcher the trash Banished. Covenant species are weaker than Spartans. Chief killed tens of thousands of them and he’s just one Spartan.
Why are the Elites suddenly okay working alongside Brutes. They hate eachother. Without religion to bind them they should at best want nothing to do with one another and at worst want to exterminate the Brutes. They have no reason to make common cause with brutes and make them more powerful. Zero.
Why is 343 retconning the Brutes as victims of the Covenant? They were it’s most loyal followers and fanatically stayed with the prophets to the end.
Why would any human want to serve the Banished? Help them get a Halo Array so a barbarian warlord can kill innocent women and children. Join a species who literally eat people and hunt them for sport. They are animals and I d want a good explanation why the UNSC wouldn’t put traitors like that up against a wall.
Why do Halo fans not get the memo that a faction who are introduced to us by massacring and probably eating innocent civilians are not misunderstood good guys. Who are called “monsters” by the main characters without any qualification or redeeming characteristics. Where one characters whole arc is getting payback on them for killing her charges. Isabel actually says “please kill him for me” at one point.
Like what is it going to take? Do you have to see the Banished eat people rather than talk about it every five seconds? Do you have to see them dash the bodies on the flagstones? Do you have to see Atriox fire Zeta Halo at a human world rather than threaten to do convoluted sci fi stuff? At what point do you accept that he’s the villain and killing him and his army is a good thing? It’s not just business and it’s not a normal or acceptable thing for the Banished to exist.
Dumb faction. Overpowered. Fans think they’re good guys for some reason. Can’t stand them.
I agree with most of your points, but I feel like you’re off about the brutes’ relationship with the covenant.
Brutes were victims of the covenant. Contact harvest, which was staten in the bungie days, made it clear the brutes were oppressed by the Elites. The brute’s loyalty to the prophets in 2 and 3 is likely largely due to the fact the Prophets had allowed them to butcher their oppressors.
It doesn’t excuse all the stuff they did. But the brutes didn’t drink the prophet coolaid for no reason.
Heck arguably all races save the Prophets were victims of the covenant, since they were all misled and manipulated. Even the elites would have probably happily gone along glassing planets had the Prophets not turned on them.
Most the brute v elite conflict was the prophet’s fault really, or oddly enough, the elites’. It was the elites that kept the brutes down for most of their time in the covenant, and the war between the elites and brutes only sprung up because the Prophet of Truth…was really dumb.
If the elites are so wise and noble like the fans like to think they are, the elites should realize this.
You said it yourself, they felt they were oppressed by the Elites; not the Covenant. 343 conflates both in Atrioxs backstory and distorts the canon as a result. They didn’t object to the Covenant system or faith. They took issue with their place within it because they believed they were the strongest race and should not be subservient to the Elites. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been so okay with going along with the Great Journey.
I don’t think any of them could claim to be victims. Even the Grunts willingly participated in these atrocities. In Divine Wind, the main Brute character describes that they actually know the Halo will kill all the non believers in the Galaxy; but that the chosen will ascend. Kind of evil and selfish to put getting what you think is Godhood over the lives of the rest of the Galaxy. Quite aside from all the massacres and eating people that went on.
Plus, how does Atriox know the religion of the Prophets is fake and how is he so easily able to convince people of this? It took Spark to convince those Elites and the excuse that he’s just a smart dude who sees through the lies of the Jedi isn’t good writing. They genuinely believe this stuff.
Well, when I say Elite Nationalists should hate all Brutes and the Banished; I am not saying they’re all “the good elites”. It’s fairly consistent that these aliens hate eachother and are only held together by faith. But it’s noticeable that we have seen prominent instances of good elites but no examples of good Brutes. If your main characters are calling them monsters and saying “please kill him for me”; seems pretty clear cut.
The problem with the Banished is that it’s a Brute centric organisation which should push away the non Brute elements. I can, maybe get why the Brutes think taking a Halo Array would be them taking their new home back; but that motive should mean nothing to the none Brute members.
Atriox reminds me a lot of Perturabo from the Horus Heresy. Bitter and petty man who whines and moans that his men are being sent to die in pointless wars; that he lead them to. Then once he’s free, proceeds to send his men into pointless attritional wars in which he punishes generals with low casualty rates for not showing commitment to victory. I don’t think the Emperor is the problem here Perturabo; maybe it’s you. Same goes with Atriox. It’s difficult to like a character who claims to be the victim when he’s the problem. Although that’s being a little unfair on Perturabo and the Iron Warriors are a lot cooler than the Banished.
The day the Elites met the Brutes, there was rivalry due to their strength. The Elites oppressed them and limited their access to technology to keep them as lesser. The Prophet of Truth benefited from the feud, but he did not start it.
The Elites in the Banished are not wise and noble. They are greedy mercenaries that have been dishonored for joining the Banished.
