Who are the Covenant? The Halo universe's alien alliance explained

Still from sci-fi video game Halo. Point of view is from the bridge of a fancy alien spaceship with a massive window. An important figure is sitting in a chair flanked by a guard on either side. They are overlooking the top of a planet and a space station.

Whether you're following Master Chief and the United Nations Space Command (UNSC)'s fight against the Covenant by watching the Halo TV series or playing the Halo games in order, you might be wondering what's the deal with the religious alien hegemony that threatens humanity. We've collected the main points of their history here to give you a quick rundown of who they are and what their goals are.

While much of Halo's iconography comes from the UNSC, Halo vehicles and troops, and, more importantly, the Spartans (not just Master Chief), the Covenant might be one of the most unique hostile alien factions ever conceived for a sci-fi story. The fact that the Halo franchise has been quite successful with novels and comic books definitely helped flesh out its universe. However, the games did a great job on their own by painting a complex picture of the big extraterrestrial menace.