Taming

For some time we have had two versions of the taming of the hunters.

• a rocky world version with strip mining and conflict over that - source: Halo Beastarium
• a gas giant version with Lekgolo scattered on the trillions of pieces of a gas giant's ring system, eating Forerunner artifacts - source: Contact Harvest

The H2A terminals suggest that the taming was a tame affair. There was no mention of strip mining or threat of orbital bombardment. An arbiter roamed over a minor moon of Te to learn Lekgolo ways, he discovered their MegaLekgolo form and that they were intelligent. He persuaded the Hierarchs to persuade the Lekgolo to join the Covenant.

The narrator is a San Shyuum. He said that the Lekgolo were persuaded via, "reason and much labour". Given that a San Shyuum is saying that - it is difficult to be sure that he meant that all parties sat down over a pot of tea and talked things over nicely. The truth may be that there was a threat to bomb them back into the stone age but it's not clear how that could be done to a gas giant's ring system.

Grim, has the 4g, rocky planet idea been abandoned?

It is a pity not to try to reconcile the two accounts.

For a start: Joe doesn't name the gas giant. Te could have been a large, rocky, 4G, moon of the gas giant.

First contact could have happened in the rings, the moon could have been investigated later. It may not have had any artifacts so may not have been of interest initially. Later surveys could have shown its great mineral wealth.

The strip mining and fighting could have happened on the rocky moon. The threat of glassing or orbital bombardment could have persuaded the Lekgolo to listen to terms.

Contact Harvest didn't mention where conflict took place or how MegaLekgolo were discovered. It only says that an arbiter persuaded the Prophets to tame the Hunters and put their habits to good use.

It is a pity to throw rocky Te under the bus.

Why did 343 decide to invalidate rocky Te?

Origins

Lekgolo were found in the rings but it appears that those rings were not a natural formation. They were the remains of a Forerunner orbital.

The Lekgolo couldn't have evolved there so it is NOT their home world.

So what is the origin of the Lekgolo?

• did they evolve elsewhere?
• were they Forerunner constructs like Hugarok?

How did they get to Te?

• were they a Forerunner client race marooned there by the Array activation?
• were they reseeded there?
• were they made there?
• did they get there via their own slip-space capable ships?

What was the origin of the Lekgolo like worms on Halo in Nightfall?

• were they Hunters who survived the destruction of the ring and turned native?
• were they already there - as Forerunner constructs or frozen and defrosted members of a Forerunner client race?
• are they non-Te Lekgolo who got there under their own steam post destruction?

Story Opportunities

What are the story possibilities of all those different options? It would be nice to have story options that wren't variations of:

• military honor and sacrifice
• Fight over Forerunner artifact of the week
• have we seen any other kind of halo story?

What if there was a Lekgolo home world? What if they built their own ships, went exploring, and found our worlds? They would be a political threat and opportunity. How would the known species react to them? What would their agenda be? Would it split ex-Covenant Lekgolo from their former allies?

If Lekgolo are useful for mining and since the war is over... would humans do deals with Te Lekgolo, could they do deals directly or via ex-Covies on venezia? Could they have a mutually beneficial, Horta style, arrangement? What would the Sanghelios Sangheli think of losing their special relationship with Te? How would they react? What would the UNSC do? Would they want in on that action or would they want to scupper any deal or otherwise undermine Venezia? What IS going to happen between the UNSC and its former colonies?

I think Nightfall could have been better. We got (feral?) solitary Lekgolo but no understanding of how or why they were that way.

In addition: weren't the Halo fragments known? Wasn't there a moratorium on landing there? Was it not blockaded? It might have been cool to have a Sangheli observer with them. When they found out that Lekgolo were the problem they could have called down an ODST style Hunter to communicate with them. I'm imagining a drop pod that is Hunter armor. It lands, embeds its nose in the ground then the plates that make it up start to open up and become a Hunter.

I duuno, I just want to see more Halo universe stories that aren't artifact based and that tell us more about the universe.

Is there anything that you want to see?