Bungie Universe
This topic has moved here: Subject: Why did the Covenant want grunts?
  • Subject: Why did the Covenant want grunts?
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • of 3
Subject: Why did the Covenant want grunts?

In the beginning they didn't even want them to fight. They just let them do the hard civilian work. After the rebellion, where the elites noticed the grunts are capable warriors when together and motivated, some were let into the armed forces.

  • 11.21.2010 9:23 PM PDT

Brains beats brawn get used to it

Fear the Red Comet

Variety is the spice of life.
Long live games.
Death to all fanboys.


Posted by: Lord_Kittens
I bet there not even a intelligent species, kinda like how we use apes and monkeys for certain jobs and research.
it makes sense?


by the way by intelligent, I mean like near ours


They are quite intelligent...

  • 11.21.2010 9:26 PM PDT

I'm an Anarchist. I don't need a government to be a good person, but I'm glad it's here because some of you clearly do.


Posted by: StealthSlasher2

Posted by: Lord_Kittens
I bet there not even a intelligent species, kinda like how we use apes and monkeys for certain jobs and research.
it makes sense?


by the way by intelligent, I mean like near ours


They are quite intelligent...


They have a cultural language, and they speak the Covenants universal language, which I can guarantee would not be the language of the Unggoy, since the only thing lower on the food chain than a Grunt is an Engineer, which doesn't even speak with a tongue anyway.

They can operate machinery, such as ghosts and turrets, often with a high degree of accuracy.

They're not stupid.

  • 11.21.2010 9:38 PM PDT

Once I boil the vegetable, what do I do with the wheelchair?
Posted by: troll education
lol, I hated tomorrow. Wednesday too.

[url=http://www.google.com/]Use google.[/url]

Let me put it to you this way. Though could reproduce with binary fission and we wouldn't notice.

  • 11.21.2010 9:51 PM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

I heard someone say once (paraphrasing here) "Multiflag on Blood Gulch with your friends is what makes Halo, Halo." I GUARANTEE that more people agree with that sentiment than "Getting a 50 in MLG is what makes Halo, Halo." - Oboewan42
Meta | NHL | Kotor


Posted by: Acres 057

Posted by: StealthSlasher2

Posted by: Lord_Kittens
I bet there not even a intelligent species, kinda like how we use apes and monkeys for certain jobs and research.
it makes sense?


by the way by intelligent, I mean like near ours


They are quite intelligent...


They have a cultural language, and they speak the Covenants universal language, which I can guarantee would not be the language of the Unggoy, since the only thing lower on the food chain than a Grunt is an Engineer, which doesn't even speak with a tongue anyway.

They can operate machinery, such as ghosts and turrets, often with a high degree of accuracy.

They're not stupid.


Engineers are higher than grunts, maybe even elites. It was heresy to interfere with an engineer's work because they were the ones that reverse engineered forerunner tech after they were discovered.

  • 11.21.2010 9:57 PM PDT

I'm an Anarchist. I don't need a government to be a good person, but I'm glad it's here because some of you clearly do.


Posted by: LonE ZealoT

Posted by: Acres 057

Posted by: StealthSlasher2

Posted by: Lord_Kittens
I bet there not even a intelligent species, kinda like how we use apes and monkeys for certain jobs and research.
it makes sense?


by the way by intelligent, I mean like near ours


They are quite intelligent...


They have a cultural language, and they speak the Covenants universal language, which I can guarantee would not be the language of the Unggoy, since the only thing lower on the food chain than a Grunt is an Engineer, which doesn't even speak with a tongue anyway.

They can operate machinery, such as ghosts and turrets, often with a high degree of accuracy.

They're not stupid.


Engineers are higher than grunts, maybe even elites. It was heresy to interfere with an engineer's work because they were the ones that reverse engineered forerunner tech after they were discovered.


Engineers are undoubtedly respected because of their incredible usefulness, but I doubt they're high on the food chain the same way an Elite is. Consider the way the three Brutes in ODST were rigging Engineers to explode if you shoot them too much and laughing about it.

  • 11.21.2010 10:03 PM PDT

Posted by: Acres 057

Posted by: LonE ZealoT

Posted by: Acres 057

Posted by: StealthSlasher2

Posted by: Lord_Kittens
I bet there not even a intelligent species, kinda like how we use apes and monkeys for certain jobs and research.
thats because brutes have no idea what they are doing half the time they are like big talking gorrillas
it makes sense?


by the way by intelligent, I mean like near ours


They are quite intelligent...


They have a cultural language, and they speak the Covenants universal language, which I can guarantee would not be the language of the Unggoy, since the only thing lower on the food chain than a Grunt is an Engineer, which doesn't even speak with a tongue anyway.

They can operate machinery, such as ghosts and turrets, often with a high degree of accuracy.

They're not stupid.


Engineers are higher than grunts, maybe even elites. It was heresy to interfere with an engineer's work because they were the ones that reverse engineered forerunner tech after they were discovered.


Engineers are undoubtedly respected because of their incredible usefulness, but I doubt they're high on the food chain the same way an Elite is. Consider the way the three Brutes in ODST were rigging Engineers to explode if you shoot them too much and laughing about it.
brutes are dumb they had no idea what they were doing

[Edited on 11.21.2010 10:15 PM PST]

  • 11.21.2010 10:14 PM PDT

I'm an Anarchist. I don't need a government to be a good person, but I'm glad it's here because some of you clearly do.


Posted by: ME4TB4LL
brutes are dumb they had no idea what they were doing


Even if that is true, their dumbness directly reflects the Covenant Food Chain. What are the chances that not even one of those three Brutes would know what they are doing? Of course they'd know. You don't get to the top of the Covenant chain by not knowing what's going on.

Their blatant disrespect or disregard toward the life of Engineers in Halo 3: ODST clearly depicts that despite the value of Engineers, they still aren't top dog.

  • 11.21.2010 10:52 PM PDT

On hiding dead bodies:
Posted by: Psuedo
Posted by: teh Chaz
Inside another dead body. It's the last place they'll look
A corpse within a corpse.
CORPSEPTION.
Win.

In the books, it was relatively common for Grunts to amass 'by the hundreds'.

When you consider Grunts are armed with usually a plasma pistol or needler (both weapons capable of OSK on a human), then put them in a horde of hundreds, they'd take out a lot of human forces, unless they had air support.

With the Covenant being as tactically inept as they are, having a species that you can hurl at the enemy by the billion before going yourself is obviously advantageous.

Contact Harvest states that after the Grunt Rebellion, some time before the events of the book, Grunts were 'elevated from cannon fodder to competent infantry'.
Sure, we see some special forces grunts (especially in the case of Rtas 'Vadumee's special forces team in Halo 2), but there are very very few grunts who fit this profile, and the seem to have reverted to cannon fodder.

  • 11.21.2010 11:10 PM PDT

You know, when you're having a bad day, you just gotta let yourself go!


Posted by: TOTESMAGOTES
The elites also use them when they had "needs" if you know what I'm saying


I just had to read that...

On topic: Most likely they used them as cannon fodder, like everyone else said.

  • 11.22.2010 11:29 AM PDT

@JosephBiwald
View my Art

Per Audacia Ad Astra

Like Guscon said "Partly manual labor". But as you can see Bungie made grunts seem very weak in the Halo games, but in the novels they aren't a waste of space.

  • 11.22.2010 11:58 AM PDT

On a related note, ******'s mom has really nice boobs, and it doesn't take much booze or encouragement to get her to let the puppies out of the pen...if you know what I mean...

For brutes to throw them like in halo 2

  • 11.22.2010 1:07 PM PDT

honestly, I think game cannon makes them so weak to make the brutes and elites look tougher. I think any covenant creature, if it were true to itself in a game, would kill us all. I don't think any game gives any of the species credit for the intelligence and brute strength they possess

[Edited on 11.22.2010 1:25 PM PST]

  • 11.22.2010 1:24 PM PDT

I am a monument to all your sins


Posted by: Acres 057

Posted by: ME4TB4LL
brutes are dumb they had no idea what they were doing


Even if that is true, their dumbness directly reflects the Covenant Food Chain. What are the chances that not even one of those three Brutes would know what they are doing? Of course they'd know. You don't get to the top of the Covenant chain by not knowing what's going on.

Their blatant disrespect or disregard toward the life of Engineers in Halo 3: ODST clearly depicts that despite the value of Engineers, they still aren't top dog.
the brutes generally dont give a -blam!- about the covenant religion. the engineers are high on the food chain for religious resons, they were literally created by the forerunners. An elite would never treat an engineer like that, but brutes like to pick on things weaker than themselves, especially when they cant fight back.

[Edited on 11.22.2010 1:28 PM PST]

  • 11.22.2010 1:26 PM PDT

On hiding dead bodies:
Posted by: Psuedo
Posted by: teh Chaz
Inside another dead body. It's the last place they'll look
A corpse within a corpse.
CORPSEPTION.
Win.

Posted by: Darthbill99
the brutes generally dont give a -blam!- about the covenant religion. the engineers are high on the food chain for religious resons, they were literally created by the forerunners. An elite would never treat an engineer like that, but brutes like to pick on things weaker than themselves, especially when they cant fight back.
You're wandering into complicated territory.

Brutes were in fact one of the most devout species of the Covenant, after the Prophets and Sangheili. They had recently been converted before the events of Contact Harvest.
Whilst Engineers, being technically Forerunner machines, it was heresy to admit that they greatly aided the Prophet's work of unlocking the secrets of Forerunner technology.

A Sangheili, if they saw it, would probably execute the 3 Brutes in question on the spot. Grunts are ordered not to interfere with the Engineers, for example.

  • 11.22.2010 1:43 PM PDT

Marathon:Durandal is amazing add me if you got it :)
From The Begining You Know The End
Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence.

1. That scene in ODST with the 3 brutes hooking up that engineer with the explosives was pretty much one of the coolest thing I think I ever saw in the halo games. (Which ive played them all online and offline.)

2. Im pretty sure but I cannot remember but isnt ther a scene in halo 3 wear a brute rips a marine in half pretty much like on the 1st mission? Therefore showing the true strength.

3. I was just wondering what exactly you guys mean by when you say the grunts (Unggoy) were "cannon fodder".

[Edited on 11.22.2010 1:44 PM PST]

  • 11.22.2010 1:43 PM PDT

On hiding dead bodies:
Posted by: Psuedo
Posted by: teh Chaz
Inside another dead body. It's the last place they'll look
A corpse within a corpse.
CORPSEPTION.
Win.

Posted by: Kade974
3. I was just wondering what exactly you guys mean by when you say the grunts were "cannon fodder".
Cannon fodder is where infantry are ordered to just charge at the enemy lines solely for the point of depleting enemy ammunition.

A tactic instantly familiar to the Grunts, their Sangheili commanders, or any human WWI infantry commander.

  • 11.22.2010 1:46 PM PDT

Marathon:Durandal is amazing add me if you got it :)
From The Begining You Know The End
Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence.

Thank you thats what I thought you guys were going for I just wasnt fully sure

  • 11.22.2010 1:50 PM PDT

2. It's a long time since I played H3, but i can assure that there were no such event. The game isn't that gory. However, we often see Brutes brutally harm and harass marines, like when you save the marines in the barracks, on Crow's Nest. There's alot of blood, but no dismemberment. I should add that in the Halo novels however, everything is much more graphic. For example, in the novel Ghosts of Onyx, a human being is seen being literally vaporized by two fuel rod shots. Also, the true effects of a plasma burn is demonstrated. The Plasma Pistol is, to put it lightly, much more barbaric than in the gameplay canon.

3. The higher ranked races in the Covenant like Elites and Brutes use the expendable Grunts basically as a shield. If a squad made up of elites and grunts engage some enemies, the grunts always go first, making the elites safe from enemy fire. And by having big squads of grunts sent to the frontline, they also act as bullet sponges, depleting enemy ammunition so the elites can be even more safer when attacking..

I think the grunts have a rather tragic story in the Halo universe. Although they serve as comic relief in most of the games, they are harassed, spit on and ignored by the superiors in The Covenant. Despite their sheer numbers, they have no resistance to The Covenant, demonstrated during the Grunt Rebellion. They are forced to be members of The Covenant, to be used as expendable bullet sponges. It's just a game, but it shows how good story tellers Bungie's writers actually are.

  • 12.10.2010 12:14 PM PDT

As a general worker force I think. Plus, someone needs to be the cannon fodder, but then there was a rebellion.

  • 12.10.2010 12:16 PM PDT

Wake me when the jews are gone.

The grunts control the covenant with the Gruntiness

  • 12.10.2010 12:23 PM PDT

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Halo3/PlayerModel.ashx?p1=0&p 2=2&p3=2&p4=2&p5=2&p6=0&p7=0&p8=0

i think they have them in case they get bored nothing says were bored like a suicide grunt

[Edited on 12.10.2010 12:40 PM PST]

  • 12.10.2010 12:39 PM PDT

I'm the Almighty Breadstick

Posted by: TOTESMAGOTES
The elites also use them when they had "needs" if you know what I'm saying

Bow Chicka Bow Wow
But back on topic, it was once mentioned in Ghosts of Onyx that some grunts are used as corvette/dropship pilotes; proving that they are smarter than they appear. This may be wrong but I think the grunts were the first to learn english in the covenant, but as I said before, I could be wrong.

[Edited on 12.10.2010 2:14 PM PST]

  • 12.10.2010 2:00 PM PDT

I am a monument to all your sins

hard labor and cannon fodder

  • 12.10.2010 3:17 PM PDT

  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • of 3