The three leading Prophets of the time elected to bring forth an Arbiter to lead Covenant forces and bring an end to the war. While their forces weren't well trained and didn't have much access to weapons, that didn't stop them.Įventually, the fighting escalated to a point that the Prophets decided to act. Originally, the Elites believed the conflict would be easy to solve, but the Grunts proved to be intelligent and violent fighters when the need arose. The Grunts and Jackals broke into all-out conflict and began fighting each other. This lack of action and the rising tensions with the Jackals eventually led to an all-out rebellion. The plan was uncovered, but the Covenant high council did not care to investigate the matter. The Jackals planned to poison a chemical compound that the Grunts used recreationally and make the entire species infertile. Jackals and Grunts are the two lowest species in the hierarchy, and the two groups do not get along. The Jackals often tormented the Grunts, and eventually hatched a plan that would strike a major blow to the fate of the Unggoy as a whole. While the Elites saw them as nothing, other races were even harsher. If they were used in combat, they weren't equipped with weapons and expected to be little more than a blockage. Few of the other races, especially the Elites, saw them as anything other than a force for physical labor and as meat shields. However, the Grunts did not realize that they were essentially becoming slaves to the rest of the Covenant species. The Grunts were still recovering from this ecological collapse when the Covenant found them, and they were happy to join the alien alliance to save their species. The planet's atmosphere had been heavily damaged due to global industrialization, which had been massively increased due to the Grunt's rapid breeding and overpopulation.

When the Covenant encountered them, the Grunts were not doing well.

The Grunts were the fourth species to be integrated into the Covenant (sixth if Elites and the Prophets are included), hailing from the methane-rich planet of Balaho.

Halo 1 grunt