Unggoy - Yes or No? · 4:58pm Nov 16th, 2016
When I first started writing On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, I decided to kill the the Unggoy (aka Grunts) on board of the Last Sunset to better focus on the Sangheili and show how their society had adapted after the fall of the Covenant Empire. This, however, was over two years ago, when our knowledge of the post-war Halo universe was still fragmentary (Halo 4 had long since been released, but it didn't showed in dept the state of the galaxy, the Kilo-5 trilogy was still in progress, and the first issue of Halo Escalation was published just a month before the opening chapter), with a vague reference to the conflict between the Sangheili and the Jiralhanae after the Great Schism in the story The return
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, and I'm planning to update some parts of the story to make it better fit with the actual canon. However, there's still a detail (the topic of this post) that causes me some indecision: the Unggoy. Should I keep things as they already are, killing them in the explosion of their compartment, or should I 'save' them instead? I originally thought they would be a nuisance at worst and a comic relief at best, but the more I think about it, the more I realized how they may have a role in the story, even if little (do not expect a Grunt marrying Luna or something like that... ), maybe helping the ponies better understand how alien the Sangheili are.
My trusty editor thinks that it would be a good idea. What's your opinion? Let me know what you guys think 
I keep forgetting the time period, but Unggoys, Jackals, Yan'me, Hunters, and Jiralhanae if possible would be nice. I was thinking of Jiralhanaes loyal to Chieftain Lydus.
I mean... Unggoy Quotes.
How could you not want these little bastards
In all honesty though, I still stick to my opinion. With how you write I'm positive they will play a good role.
4304923 You mean the Chieftain that accepted to open negotiation with the Arbiter?
Anyway, the only species that would be introduced outside the flashbacks would be the Grunts: the Shipmaster's colony was destroyed by the Brutes, so there's no way that they would be part of his crew, the Jackals are mercenaries and would only cause problems, and the Yanme'e... well, with the Changelings in the story there's no point of another species of overgrown bugs.
The Hunters are already in the story, they make a brief apparition in Chapter 4.
4304925 Thank you for the trust
in my opinion, no unggoy. i mean they're cool and hilarious, but not when they're actually brave and uncontrolled. in that state they're similar to the Jiralhanae early on in the war. in that they would be more likely to tear apart the cute fuzzy ponies and see what they taste Like, than try and pet them thinking they're adorable, Same situation with the Jiralhanae except they would take it a step further and actively hunt and eat the Locals until they are stopped by a higher authority. With ponies being very small compared to them, a friendly relationship with such a "Brutish" race would not be tenable, in fact that would probably end any chance that Celestia would even think of allowing the former covenant group to ally with her ponies.
Yes, these little ones should come into play!!!
uh... did i miss something? i thought the aliens were protoss
4305034
orig05.deviantart.net/b189/f/2011/250/c/5/mlp___what_the_f___by_maru_sha-d497pk9.png
Uh, nope. The aliens are the Elites from Halo, not the protoss from Starcraft.
the best i could say is few i manly see them as idototic canon fodder i have never seen a grunt gain a single kill beside a heavily wounded npc and even then that just a lucky shot i doubt all would be in the same room i mean the ship tend to have more of the other species but there a few grunt around
4304940 I don't plan to add any Brutes in the story, their appearances will be limited to the flashbacks. As for the Grunts, the Unggoy would always be kept in check by the Sangheili, so no target shooting at the civilians like they did during the Covenant (the eating part was limited to the Kig-Yar, the Jiralhanae, and maybe the Yanme'e).
4305054 Regarding the part about their death, yeah, in hindsight it doesn't really makes sense that they were all clustered in a single area of the ship.
Their effectiveness in combat is another story. When I write I made the point to always keep in mind that the gameplay is not an accurate depiction of reality (for balance I guess: for example, while in the game the Marines are able to survive several direct hits from a plasma weapons, in the books their armors are barely able to survive a few indirect shot). We know from the canon that if motivated they can be tenacious and effective fighter (in the novel Shadow of Intent is revealed that an Unggoy Ranger was even able to wound a Spartan).
Ah dragon you should look up some of these guys like yap yap he is anything but dumb.
So yeah these guys should make a return, and don't forget about the food nipple
4305080 vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/unhalo/images/1/14/Grunt_Ultra.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20160707143224
4305079 hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm like i said i would be fine with some in story there room seems like a bomb ready to blow tho so i doubt there a way that does not go kaboom but high unlikely all would be in there and its common for high ups in any force to have there own private rooms and i doubt the races have the same ran system for each (since grunt have been seen with different armor/ body types there reason to believe that) but i still would them them mostly for no lethal comedy fodder
4305053
OH, GOD, i read the entire story thinking they were Protoss and you just knew more Starcraft lore than me
4305066 Alright, then that would work.
4305131 Seriously?
No offense, but I just checked the word 'Protoss' on Google after I read your comment to see what they are 
4305157
well, the picture does kinda look like a protoss zealot charging forward. then there´s the point where i believe they talk about bad relations with the "terrans" due to them attacking the humans? thats very much what happened between the Terrans and Protoss in Starcraft.
and THEN i thought Sangheili was a Protoss word...
oh, also, stealth and energy blades are very much also Protoss things
Yes please revive the adorable party piñatas.
Yes. The Bungie Era Grunts are Awesome!
They're just too good to pass up.
Of which variation of Grunt to use however, I say either Halo 3/ODST or Reach.
But that's my Opinion, and I won't force you to choose. Have a great day sir.
I think you should bring some Unggoy into the story, I was kinda sad when I heard that they'd been blown up. I love those little bastards. Also, the idea that most or all of them were in one section makes some sense since they would have to have a huge methane storage to refill their tanks from.
Maybe a squad of them were hiding from all the explosions and ship malfunctions and only now emerged when they realised that everything had calmed down.
I dunno dude :/ As much as I really, reeeeeally love the original Halo 1-3 grunts, and as much as they could have certainly fitted comfortably in a story where they were included from the beginning, I feel like they kinda just don't belong in the story, at least but to the point we are now. This story has always been about the Sangheili with a little Engineer glazing to better knit it together, but the core of the story is about the Elites finding their own way of doing things and promptly finding the benefits and disadvantages their way of life offers them. It's been awesome seeing how awesome they can function, especially with one another and in combat, and it's been especially great seeing them bullocks up ever now and then to give them some genuine depth, and after considering all this I can't really pull out a reason for needing Unngoy. Maybe they could provide a couple of scene of comic relief, and maybe they can offer a character that provides some middle ground between the ponies and Sangheili, but it seems like a stretch for a couple of maybe, perhaps a lot of effort for nothing. But in the end I have no idea how it'd truly work out, it's your story and you've done a star job with it so far, so I trust you'll do what's best for it
I'd say bring them back, but not a bunch of super dumb ones. Maybe a few who are dumb to put the ponies at ease, but given their special environmental needs, to many is a problem just waiting to happen. But I can totally see Grunts fighting alongside Royal Guard eventually.
Both yes and no. The story is great with out them and this make's it stand out because of the main focus on the snagheili which is awseome, but if you added them it could provide more story in a way. If you end up adding them back in I would recommend keeping there numbers low because if a lot of them survived it could potentally steal the limelight from the sangheili. So yeah sure bring them back but try to keep the sangheili as the main focus. Hope this helps.
Hope you have a good day/night.
~EMBER SPIRIT SHIELD