Taming of the Lekgolo

"While some were shortsighted and chose to reject the promise of our union, all were eventually swayed by the knowledge that those who joined the Covenant would be welcome on our Great Journey."

- Prophet of Truth

The Taming of the Lekgolo was an event in the history of the Covenant.

The Taming occurred during a Covenant Age of Conversion, during their galaxy-wide search for remnants of Forerunner technology. Such technology was discovered on the planet Te, where the Covenant first encountered the native Lekgolo worms.

History
After the formation of the Covenant, early experiments with the Luminaries reverse engineered from the Dreadnought in High Charity lead the Covenant to the planet Te. While the San 'Shyuum and Sangheili hoped to find a treasure trove of Forerunner artifacts, they instead found hives of Lekgolo were in orbital rings surrounding their planet. The rings were in fact the destroyed remains of an ancient Forerunner installation in orbit. The relics had been the Lekgolo's food for millennia, and the orbital rings around the giant were actually composed of digested-and-destroyed Forerunner relics that some of the Lekgolo had been consuming. Strangely, the Lekgolo colonies had very differing diets, as some would eat only Forerunner alloys, while other would eat everything except Forerunner materials.

Appalled by this desecration, the Prophets ordered the Sangheili to exterminate the Lekgolo. Covenant Fleet commanders soon found that indiscriminate destruction would have unacceptable consequences: since the Lekgolo lived in the sacred relics that the Sangheili were trying to preserve, simply annihilating the Lekgolo would have resulted in the destruction of some or all of those relics. The Arbiter that was created during this crisis suggested that they could be tamed and put to better uses as part of the Covenant Hierarchy.

Thus, those Lekgolo colonies which preserved Forerunner relics were incorporated into the Covenant, while those that destroyed relics were eradicated. This extermination campaign proved to be difficult, as the Lekgolo were able to combine into powerful Mgalekgolo; consequently, the Lekgolo won most, if not all, ground engagements. The Covenant's forces were completely overwhelmed by the sheer size and ferocity of their foes. On the verge of defeat, the Covenant took desperate measures, threatening to orbitally bombard the planetary surface of Te unless the Mgalekgolo surrendered.

Aftermath
Facing the complete annihilation of their race, the Lekgolo submitted, and joined the ranks of the Covenant. The compliant Lekgolo were incorporated into the Writ of Union in 784 B.C.E. Impressed by the Mgalekgolo fighting prowess, the Sangheili incorporated them into the Covenant Military. Individual Lekgolo worms were used by San 'Shyuum priests to explore the electrical pathways deep inside the Dreadnought on High Charity.

Trivia

 * The Taming of the Hunters is pictured on one of the seven Covenant Murals in the Mausoleum of the Arbiter.