Flood

The Flood (sometimes called The Parasite by the Covenant) is a species of virulent, parasitic organisms that thrive by consuming other calcium-based, sentient life of sufficient biomass. The Flood appears to be a hive or communal mind, possibly under one leader. Next to nothing is known about their origin, but it has been revealed that the Forerunners discovered and then fought them until the Forerunners were overwhelmed. Faced with the Flood spreading throughout the Universe and consuming every sentient being the Forerunners activated the Halos killing all sentient life in order to stop the Flood from spreading. The Covenant view this activation of the Halo as their "Great Journey" and strive to activate the Halos again.

The Flood were kept by the Forerunners for scientific study on the Halos. Although the intention was to wipe out the Flood by destroying everything of significant bio-mass, therefore starving the Flood, the fact that they still exist indicates that the Forerunner's plan may have failed. (343 Guilty Spark does mention in passing in The Library that The Flood were kept after the activation of the Halos for study.)

Infection Form
The Flood exists as multiple organisms but the biggest it can get without using other bio-mass is the Infection Form. This form, while not a big threat from a distance or on its own is dangerous in large numbers and can therefore compensate for its fragility with sheer numbers to overwhelm larger creatures. They are able to infect any large enough (and smart enough) organism by latching onto it and penetrating down to its nervous system with tendrils and releasing spores. Their spores begin to alter the host, using its calcium stores to conjure additional flood super-cell biomass, and change the genetic structure of the host's anatomy, mutating and growing tentacles and whatever else is of use.

The infection Flood form is nearly harmless at first glance, but once it gains physical contact with a biological host it becomes highly virulent. Small tendrils underneath its "body" penetrate the skin and unleash an attack on the host's nervous system. First, it paralyzes the host's body. Once this is accomplished, it rewrites the neural pathways of the victim's brain with its tendrils, forcing a resonant frequency match between its neural signals, and the host's. When this is done, it starts to edge its way into the body, slowly moving organs out of the way so it can nest itself into the chest cavity of its host. If a match cannot be obtained, the host is left alone and cannot be used. After forcing a match, it begins releasing spores that mutate the host body with Flood DNA.

Over extended periods of time the Flood infection bacteria seems to become less powerful. These weaknesses allow for the host to control their thoughts and actions to a degree as the case was with Jenkins.

Combat Form


After an infection form has obtained a frequency match for the host's neural system, it begins to rewrite the very DNA of the body it's using. Once fully transformed, the Flood infection is in total control of the body. Unfortunately for the host, he or she stays alive for the duration of the transformation process and is even conscious of his environment as the Flood takes over the body. Once completely infected, the Flood becomes a combat form. Any body capable of carrying a weapon or that is still useful in combat becomes a combat form and is very deadly. The Combat form grows whip-like tendrils on its arms, and will use them as melee weapons in close range, or if it loses its weapon.

The Flood infection is capable of not only controlling the host's body, but of also tapping into its memories to find relevant information about using weapons and equipment. After enough damage has been taken and the combat form cannot function effectively, it becomes a carrier form that incubates more infection forms. Eventually a combat form will mutate into a carrier, regardless of damage, to perpetuate the Flood species.

Note: The Combat forms can take extensive damage before being neutralized. Arms, legs, even heads can be totally blown off their bodies before they are incapacitated. The only known weakness of a combat form is its sensory feelers that normally develop in the upper chest region. This is where the infection form has nestled, and once destroyed, the body is incapacitated. Taking control of the host body, the victim becomes a Combat Form of the Flood. Humans and Elites are used as hosts for this form of The Flood. Usually only strong host bodies are taken over. A weakened Combat Form may be used as an incubator for additional spores and more Infection Forms. Weaker races may also be used for Incubators - namely Grunts.

In Halo 2 you can instantly kill a Combat Form by shooting at its chest, where the tendrils come out. You will know that you have a perfect shot when the cross hairs turn solid bright red and a small red dot appears in the center. This destroys the Infection form, leaving only an empty shell of a corpse. You may have to do this multiple times, though, even though it may appear like you have a perfect shot. This also can be done with Sniper Rifles or Beam Rifles, but it is very hard to do so. Shotguns do not work, since they kill it anyway. This is best done on Sacred Icon (Level) with a Battle Rifle. In the later stages of Halo 2 some flood combat forms start utilizing the Energy shield from their victim. This makes them much more dangerous, as it takes roughly double the damage to take them out and needler ammo doesn't go near them.



Carrier Form
When an Infection Form takes over a body that is unsuitable for combat, or once an infected form is damaged beyond usefulness, it becomes a Carrier Form. Grunts, and Jackals are immediately turned into this form upon infection. Due to their small size they do not become Combat Forms. Eventually when a Combat Form has lived long enough, it too will mutate into a carrier, regardless of damage taken. Carrier Forms perpetuate the Flood species by acting as incubators for new Infection Forms and keeping them safe until they're fully developed. Once the Infection Forms are ready, the carrier simply explodes spontaneously, sending the new Infection Forms flying into the air. As soon as they are released, they begin searching for new hosts.

Brain Form
One of the rarest types of Flood is the Brain Form. A Brain Form is unlike all other Flood forms because it lacks any sort of mobility. While the Infection, Combat, and Carrier forms are dangerous and always hostile, the Brain Form is passive in a tactical sense. When the Flood attempt to control a starship or interface with a computer system, the Brain Form is used. It normally contains the body of someone who has knowledge of the computer systems necessary for operation. Like the combat form, it can read the thoughts and memories of its host provided he or she is still alive, and it will sift through every memory until it finds what it needs. If it cannot find the information it requires, it will direct other Flood to bring it a new body to search while it consumes the last body. It interfaces with computers the same way an Infection Form infects a host, through tendrils that attach themselves to the computer's "neural" system.

Prophet Form
Prophet Form is a term to describe Covenant Prophets that have been infected by the Flood. Due to their unusual nature, they are not thought of as Combat Forms in the way infected Humans and Elites are (Note that the term "Prophet Form" has not been officially used as canon to date). It is also worth noting that both "prophet forms" seen had only just been infected, and may not have been assimilated in the conventional way. Prophet of Mercy was the only prophet to be seen being taken down by an infection form and the result of his infection was never shown.

It can be concluded based on the concepts illustrated in the halo novel "The Flood" and the Halo Graphic Novel that such figures such as a prophet or a military commander would be spared the common assimilation into a combat form to preserve the individuals knowledge for the use of the community itself such as a commander being preserved for his leadership and organizational skills or a prophet for his superior knowledge and information useful to the faction's maneuvers or objectives.

Gravemind
No one truly knows the Gravemind's purpose, but it is comprised of a huge mass of flesh and bio-matter that the Flood combat forms have brought it to absorb. It has a "mouth" through which it communicates, and has many far-reaching tentacle-like appendages.

It is theorized that the Gravemind may in fact control other Flood forms, or at least influences them via telepathy. It is also speculated that the Gravemind may be a highly evolved Flood Brain form.

The Gravemind was discovered on Delta Halo in October of 2552. It "saved" Spartan-117 after he fell into the lake under which the Gravemind resides. It also captured the Arbiter, and forced the two of them to work together to stop the Prophets of Mercy and Truth from activating Delta Halo's primary weapon.

Cortana later deduced that Gravemind had in fact duped everyone. Gravemind needed to get off of Delta Halo and while the Master Chief, The Arbiter, Sgt. Maj. Johnson and Commander Keyes were trying to stop Truth and Mercy it had the Flood take over In Amber Clad, Keyes' ship. It used the ship to move itself from Delta Halo to High Charity, the Covenant holy city.

Spartan-117 boarded the Forerunner ship that fled High Charity with Truth, and in the process left Cortana at the mercy of Gravemind.

Gravemind is the supposed leader of the Flood. Its origin of infection is unknown. Due to its short appearances in Halo 2, only a small amount of data about it and the nature of the Flood parasite can be inferred. Gravemind is either made of countless bodies that were unsuitable as Combat or Carrier forms or maybe the last Forerunner Flood form in existence. The Art of Halo: Creating a Virtual World states that Gravemind is “literally built from the bodies of its enemies and its own fallen warriors reassembled into a massive, tentacled, and intelligent entity." It is not known how that Gravemind managed to survive the first Halo activation, as he(or it) being a sentient life form should have died with the rest of the Forerunners as well.

Juggernaut Form
The Flood Juggernaut is the large Flood form found encoded in the Halo 2 disc the same way as the Engineers in Halo 1. The Juggernaut Flood is very large, perhaps twice as tall as the Master Chief and has tentacles that can kill the Master Chief in one blow. The Juggernaut was created for Quarantine Zone as a means to stop the Sentinel Enforcers, as it would have little problem snatching an Enforcer out of the sky and tearing it apart. The Flood Juggernaut can leap twice as far as the already ridiculously far jumping Combat Form.

History
Next to nothing is known about their origin. Some think that they are some kind of primitive life form accidentally discovered by the ancient Forerunner race. Many also think that they were a Forerunner attempt at cloning or resurrection. However, their destructive ability is not to be doubted.

The Flood were kept by the Forerunners for scientific study on the Halos. Although the intention was to wipe out the Flood by destroying everything of significant bio-mass, therefore starving the Flood, the fact that they still exist indicates that the Forerunner's plan may have failed.

Assimilation
Flood take over the bodies of hosts and assimilate them into Flood. This is done by the Flood Infection Forms. Infection Forms have long tendrils that pierce the skin of the host and find their way to the spine. They synchronize with the host taking over the brain functions to prevent resistance or cries for help. After this time, the original mind is erased memory by memory, till nothing is left but a "hungry" flood form. Separate tendrils release aggressive Flood DNA into the host, causing the body to mutate into a Combat Form or a Carrier Form.

They use the Combat Form for the most obvious reasons, to have a "military" to attack and later capture more able bodies. The only known way to effectively stop a Flood infection is to have Boren's Syndrome, the radiation-caused disease that Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson has. Boren's Syndrome does not completely deny the infection, however, which is proven by the fact that Johnson has an increased, but still limited, regeneration ability.

Of the many species in Halo, only two are known to produce fully matured Combat Forms; the Humans and the Elites. The Grunts are believed to be mutated into Carrier Forms because they are too small and weak to be effective as Combat Forms. While there has been no evidence as to why the Flood have not shown assimilation of other species, many theories abound. Jackals are believed to have a too porous, bird-like bone structure. Brutes are believed to lack sufficient neural function. Drones are also supposedly ignored for their deficiency of calcium. Some believe that the Flood have certain "tastes", similar to those of Humans. Hunters cannot be successfully assimilated by the Flood due to their bodily makeup consisting of multiple, possibly hundreds of invertebrate entities. It is speculated that other, larger races, such as Drinol or Huragok become larger Flood organisms, such as Flood Juggernauts. Flood Juggernauts have already been encountered by modders who have made them spawn at High Charity during Cross-purposes in Halo 2, although the Drinol, Sharquoi and Huragok speculated to create them have yet to be seen. It is also possible that the Flood has, in fact, assimilated these species, but has yet to exhibit their respective "Forms". The lack of any corpses of any kind after a Flood attack adds even more suspicion as to the real abilities of their assimilation process.

Assimilation's Effects on the Body
The book Halo: The Flood describes the effects of assimilation on the human body in great detail. First the host's extremities grow numb and their lungs feel heavy. Then the greater Flood intelligence begins to take over the mind. The host's vision seems to be "a gauzy white haze" but, the host can make out shapes. The host can hear a low droning through the ordeal. The limbs feel to the host as if they are made of a spongy liquid. Their lungs itch as well. The Flood controlled Combat Form can generate "tentacles" at a rather rapid pace, in total disregard for the host's skeletal structure. There also seems to be an agent released into the host's blood stream that softens bone tissue. Combat forms also seem to resemble their host before the infection to a degree.

Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2
Though the Flood can survive in environments that are suitable to both Covenant and Humans, they prefer to alter it to their own preferences. This happens when the Flood release deadly spores that only they can breathe. Only someone wearing a gas mask or other protective garment can survive through the change. The Flood can alter the atmosphere of a planet transforming it so non-Flood life forms cannot survive,thus they become easy prey for the Flood. After the Flood was released on Halo they began to change it, but thankfully they did not succeed.

The Flood is a very intelligent race, gaining the knowledge of the hosts they infect. In addition, they are under the control of the Flood "puppet master" Gravemind (this is revealed in the Halo 3 plot summary on bungie.net). The UNSC, tends to use firepower rather than numbers, preferring a tactic of using a few strong, well trained units, with a lot of firepower, to achieve their goals. The Covenant, tend to outnumber and overrun their enemies, relying more on the bravery and courage of their loyal soldiers rather than pure firepower. The Flood on the other hand have no obvious strategy. They fight without fear of death or injuries, as a lone Combat Form will sometimes sacrifice itself for the further case of the whole. They attack by finding a group of enemies and send everything they have with whatever weapon they have, sometimes no weapon at all. They seem to prefer close combat. Their poor weapons skills make them poor shots. But they have powerful whipping tentacles that cause great damage at close range. They also have been known to kill their own by accident. They can do this and not worry, as disabled Flood bodies can be reanimated by Infection forms. Dead Flood can only be permanently disabled by being completely destroyed. Methods of destruction can be high-powered explosions, the form taking too much damage, high-speed collisions with vehicles, sharp objects like the Energy Sword, extreme heat, decomposition, or, once it is dead, shooting off both of its arms to prevent reanimation.

Halo Graphic Novel
It should be noted that the Flood assimilation and behavior in HGN was somewhat different from the games. It is stated by the Legate that the Flood is mentioned in the holy texts of the Forerunner and they are one of the tests before the Great Journey. He also stated that the Flood were gathering bodies and body parts,giving them to the larger organism which demonstrated some form of intelligence and the general consumption of animal matter. This is similar to the events in Halo 1 where the Master Chief boards a Covenant ship to find Captain Keyes. Cortana notes the Flood are gathering bodies and it is most likely for the Brain Form that was found on the bridge.

Also, the rate of infection in the Covenant forces was extremely fast. Within minutes of contact, many Elites and Grunts were mutated quickly into Flood forms. The mutations occurred randomly and were not uniform in any way. Sometimes the Elites were transformed into larger forms than the Combat Form. Other times they developed a Flood-like carapace and on many occasions on the Infinite Succor, the Flood used tentacles as their primary weapon similar to the Gravemind. However, when Rtas 'Vadumee battled his comrade Kusovai, Kusovai over the duration of the battle continued to mutate, suggesting the possibility that over time any infected host can mutate further and further.

In addition, the Flood can instantly absorb knowledge from an infected host into their collective mind. When Rtas' teammates were assimilated, the Flood could open any doors and access any system on the ship right after the teammates were assimilated. When the Flood then assimilated the Legate, the Flood reflected the knowledge of him to Rtas while he was in engineering, mocking him and stating that that "The Forerunner not defeat us...what chance you?" It would appear that the threat of the Flood is far greater than previously assumed.

Trivia

 * The first known Human to be infected by the Flood was a UNSC Marine named Private Riley.
 * An error in the flood animations in both Halo and Halo 2 is that Combat forms are always seen wielding two-handed weapons, such as the Shotgun, with one hand, and never seem to need to reload them. Just like other AI, the Flood never run out of ammo.
 * It could be said that the one responsible for releasing the Flood is 'Qualomee, because he accidentally told Captain Keyes of the Covenant "weapons cache". However, it could be argued that the Flood escaped earlier, since the Marines found dead Covenant throughout the installation including an Elite with a hole in its torso. Though, if this were caused by an infection form, it seems odd that it did not remain in the Elite, turning it into a combat form. Kappus adds that the Covenant worked hard to seal the door where the Master Chief first encounters the Flood. Also, 343 Guilty Spark tells Master Chief that he believes the Covenant responsible for releasing the Flood.
 * You can kill the infection form with a sword and you wont lose any of its battery power.
 * In halo 2, if you destroy both arms of the combat form, for some odd reason, they will walk in one direction very slowly then explode leaving the infection form there. The reason this happens is unknown, but it might be a process for the infection form to get out of a damaged body.