Minister of Etiology

Were you looking for the Ministry of Etiology? "I see you never studied Commander. They are the Flood, one of the many test and obstacles we must pass to activate the holy rings and begin the Great Journey."

- The Minister of Etiology to Rtas 'Vadumee and Bero 'Kusovai

The Legate, formally Minister of Etiology, was a San'Shyuum Minor Prophet in the Covenant during the Human-Covenant War, stationed aboard the agricultural support ship Infinite Succor during the Battle of Installation 04.

Fall of Reach
At some point before the discovery of Installation 04, the Minister supported Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree while he led the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose during the Covenant assault of the human colony world of Reach.

Battle of Installation 04
During the Battle of Installation 04, the Infinite Succor was in orbit over Installation 04 along with the rest of the Fleet of Particular Justice, when a Covenant Spirit dropship filled with Flood combat forms crashed into the ship's docking bay. Soon after, the Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee led a Covenant Strike Team on board the ship. The team fought through a multitude of Flood infected creatures, including human combat forms and infected animals from the ship's hunting grounds, all the way to the bridge, only to find Infinite Succor's controls disabled.

Here they met the Prophet Legate, Minister of Etiology who revealed to them that he had disabled the controls, and locked-out the self-destruct sequence override from another part of the ship. The Minister ordered the entire group medically scanned before he would meet with them, due to the situation of Flood outbreak aboard the ship.

Death
"We..have the command codes. Will soon leave, spread."

- Etiology as the Proto-Gravemind

The group met with the Legate in a secret location on the ship, where a plan was devised to get everyone off of the ship and have the ship vaporized by the nearby Covenant Fleet. During this time it also became apparent that the Flood had gained the access codes to Infinite Succor through one of the infected Sangheili from 'Vadumee's party. As the Flood continued to spread throughout the ship, they reached the bridge and engineering room and begun fortifying the engineering room. The Flood were attempting a Slipspace jump to escape the system. At this time, 'Vadumee realized the Legate was only concerned with his own life, which had been costing the group precious time. In anger, Rtas 'Vadumee slammed the Legate into the floor, telling him that their prime concern was the Covenant's safety, not his. The Minister was later absorbed by the Flood, becoming part of the growing Proto-Gravemind in the engine room of the ship. The infected Legate taunted 'Vadumee, before the latter destroyed the Infinite Succor by sending it on a Slipspace vector with the system's star.

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 Forerunner, or even the Flood. This can be confirmed by the fact that he explained the complete history of the Flood to the Commander, implying he has studied the matter deeply.
 * His hands have four fingers each, instead of three like the other San'Shyuum, probably an oversight from the artist.
 * In one scene of the Graphic Novel, the Legate is grabbed in a choke hold by Rtas 'Vadumee, then slammed to the floor. In the next "slide" he is seen just fine, his headpiece unbroken and his being is robustly frail as any other Prophet. This is just a simple printing glitch, meant to be in a prior page.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Flood
 * Adjunct
 * Halo Graphic Novel
 * The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor
 * Halo: Fleet Battles