: Also, while thinking about the original question, the Covenant failed in ever
: stopping the Flood or cleaning up their mess. For all we know, the
: destruction of the Halo at the Ark didn't actually take out the Gravemind
: or the Flood there, potentially still leaving them as a threat with a
: potential ability to get off of there and do something later.

: Within Halo 4's own campaign, at least for now, Master Chief and Cortana
: dealt with the Didact. Like the vampire he is, Master Chief thrust a stake
: (grenade) into his chest and took him out. Sure, I don't believe he's dead
: for a second, but at least in that campaign alone he's been dealt with. To
: parallel H1, Master Chief also dealt with the Flood right there in that
: campaign, too, effectively cleaning up the Covenant's mess. Unfortunately,
: in Halo 2 the Covenant screwed up again at Delta Halo and let more Flood
: out. I think Master Chief's got this, and I don't think comparing his fail
: to the Covenant's works at all.

I suppose we don't really know the Didact's intent, but it seems likely that he was going to go after all of humanity - or at least to me. Yes, the covies never took care of the flood in a way that the chief did the Didact, so kudos to chief for being able to right the wrong to this point.

I just find the way we blindly unleash the Didact to be a bit of a change in roles, i mean "there must have been signs!"