Minister of Etiology


 * Legate: An official emissary, especially an official representative of the pope.

This character is introduced in the Halo Graphic Novel when Rtas 'Vadumee's battle group boards the Infinite Succor. He appears to be a Minor Prophet and is called the Minister of Etiology.

In Context
The Legate appears in the Halo Graphic Novel in the story "Infinite Succor" when Special Ops Elite Rtas 'Vadumee and a Covenant Strike Team boards the ship in orbit over Installation 04 after a Covenant Spirit dropship filled with Flood-infected humans crashes into the ship's docking bay. The group fights its way through several new Flood types (as the ship contains an infected hunting ground) all the way to the bridge, only to find Infinite Succor's controls disabled.

Here they meet the Prophet Legate, Minister of Etiology who reveals to them that he has disabled the controls, and locked-out the self-destruct sequence over-ride from another part of the ship. The Minister orders the entire group medically scanned before he will meet with them, due to the situation of Flood outbreak aboard the ship.

The group meets with the Legate in a secret location on the ship, where a plan is devised to get everyone off of the ship and have the ship vaporized by the nearby Covenant Fleet. During this time it also becomes apparent that the Flood have gained the access codes to Infinite Succor through one of the infected Elites from Rtas' party. As the Flood continue to spread throughout the ship, they gain access to the bridges and engineering room, and have begun fortifying the engineering room - The Flood were attempting a Slipspace jump to escape the system. At this time Rtas realizes the Legate is only concerned with his own safety, which has been costing the group precious time. In anger, 'Vadumee slams the Legate into the floor, telling him that their prime concern is the Covenant's safety, not his.



Although the Minister is eventually absorbed by Flood, 'Vadumee is able to set Infinite Succor on a Slipspace course directly into the nearest star (Threshold System). It was also here that 'Vadumee, in a fight against the Flood-infected Elite Kusovai, lost his left mandibles to Kusovai's energy sword. Rtas somehow manages to escape the Succor just prior to the doomed Slipspace jump, and is apparently the only survivor of the mission.

Rtas 'Vadumee goes on to eventually become the Leader of the Covenant Special Operations in Halo 2, and a Shipmaster in Halo 3.

Trivia

 * The word "etiology" means "the study of causes, origins, or reasons", meaning he most likely is associated with studying the history of the Covenant races, the Forerunners, or even the Flood.