Cut Halo: Combat Evolved creatures, enemies and ambient life

This page discusses elements of deleted material and cut content. Some information on the page is sourced from game files and may not be verifiable through external sources. Where possible, such information should be clearly-marked and replaced with a proper external source as soon as one is available.

Several cut creatures and vehicles by Paul Russel.

This article is part of a series on
Halo: Combat Evolved cut content

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Cut content

Pre-Xbox Halo
Cut characters
Cut dialogue
Cut enemies and ambient life
Cut levels
Cut medals
Cut vehicles
Cut weapons

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Development

Combat Evolved development
Concept art
Storyboards
PC patches
Beta 1749
Beta 2247
Beta 2276

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To check out cut content for other Halo games, see here!

v • d • e

During the development of Halo: Combat Evolved, a number of creature designs were considered for inclusion by Bungie to serve the role of enemies, ambient AI and other miscellaneous NPCs. Not all of these concepts made it to full 3D development, though many were and have since been restored for use in the Halo Editing Kit by the Digsite project.

Ambient life

In the earlier stages of Halo, ambient fauna were intended to make up a significant portion of the environments, and many were fully modelled, animated and implemented in-engine. Ultimately, they were cut due to a combination of time constraints, design issues and performance problems, with problems such as how the AI would respond to action sequences and herd mentality being prevalent. Ultimately, they were cut to focus on more pressing issues, though there was one last reason. Had Installation 04 been depicted with a burgeoning and active ecosystem, the surprise reveal of the Flood would have been considerably less shocking. An unintended side-effect of the creatures' removal meant that the structures and landscapes of the ringworld setting felt creepy, eerie and abandoned - serving to enhance the mystery of the Forerunners in a good (albeit accidental) way.

Antaeus

Antaeus is a cut creature developed for Halo: Combat Evolved. The creature was created by Marcus Lehto and inspired by the work of Ray Harryhausen. Although the creature bears some visual similarities to the Brutes later introduced in Halo 2, the creature was not related to them; though Lehto did note that they could originate from the Brute homeworld.

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  Concept art for Antaeus.

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  Antaeus.

Blind wolf

Main article: Morolaath

Shi Kai Wang: "Look, it's the blind wolf!"

Marcus Lehto: "Big, beloved blind wolf."

Shi Kai Wang: "That was back when you could ride it."

Marcus Lehto: "Yeah, yeah. You could actually mount the thing and ride it. A.I.... A.I. couldn't, uh... Couldn't handle it on the A.I. side. Couldn't flock 'em, couldn't, uh... fit them into gameplay."

— Marcus Lehto, Halo: Combat Evolved art director, and Shi Kai Wang, a concept artist, discuss the attempts made to include "blind wolves" in the first Halo game.

The Blind Wolf was a creature heavily featured in early revisions of Combat Evolved. The creature was the brainchild of Marcus Lehto, who concepted and modelled it for implementation in-game. The original concept features the Blind Wolf in a symbiotic relationship with an insect; the insect would act as the "eyes" for the Blind Wolf and lead it to prey - and in turn get to feast on the carcass the Blind Wolf left. The creature would have been featured in game as a hostile piece of ambient fauna on the ring, though the player would also be able to tame them and ride them as a mount.

The Blind Wolf was later updated for inclusion in Halo 2 and featured on the Collector's Edition DVD, complete with updated lighting and normal mapping.

The symbiote bug mentioned as concepted for the Blind Wolf was also modelled, and is detailed further down this page.

The Blind Wolf remains one of the most iconic cut creatures in the Halo series history, and has a long legacy. The creature was concepted for inclusion in Ensemble Studios' planned Halo MMO, intended for use as a Brute mount and known as the "Jaggmaw Sawtail". It would later go on to be prominently featured in the 2015 novel Halo: Hunters in the Dark, taking a prime position on the book's cover art and being canonised as a Morolaath, a creature on the Ark.

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  Lehto's original concept illustration of the Blind Wolf.

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  This image provides a more detailed look at the unused model of a blind wolf.

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  A pack of blind wolves run past a Warthog in an early build of Halo: Combat Evolved.

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  The player character rides a blind wolf in an early build of Combat Evolved.

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  Riding the blind wolf.

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  A Warthog drives past a blind wolf in the first trailer shown for Combat Evolved.

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  A render of the Blind Wolf in the Halo 2 engine.

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  Halo MMO concept art for the Blind Wolf.

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  N'tho 'Sraom and Spartan Frank Kodiak face off against several morolaath on the cover art for Halo: Hunters in the Dark.

Doberman gator

The creature jokingly referred to as the "doberman gator" was featured on the Halo 2 Limited Collector's Edition cutting room floor documentary, though it was not further discussed. The sketch was done by Robert McLees during production for Combat Evolved. The creature's anatomy slightly resembles that of the prehistoric Gorgonopsids which lived on Earth within the Permian. There are also similarities between it and Ambulocetus; an aquatic as well as terrestrial ancestor of Earth's Cetaceans which lived throughout the Eocene.

The canon dengkra are a species in Halo lore described as "reptile-canines" - a possible use of the doberman gator concept in canon.

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  The concept for the creature.

Keelbug

Main article: Verivorr

Seen only in concept art on the Halo 2 LCE disc, the Keelbug was a creature intended to be present in Combat Evolved. The Keelbug is described as being intended to fly into the battlefield, cut up dead bodies and fly them offscreen as a way of cleaning up the bodies. This was to serve in-game as a way of clearing corpses from the level to save on memory. The creature's behaviour was never developed, though the model was only cut from the game relatively late in development.

The Keelbug has since been referenced in the description of the "Bleached Bone" armor coating in Halo Infinite and canonized into lore as the Verivorr.

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  Concept art for the Keelbug.

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  Concept art for the Keelbug.

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  A keelbug (second-from-left) among other ambient wildlife restored by the Digsite project.

Quadwing

The Quadwings were an ambient life form modelled for inclusion in Combat Evolved, but ultimately cut for reasons unknown. Unlike many other creatures on this list, they were later revived for inclusion in Halo 2, and later canonised by 343 Industries as the rangmejo.

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  A Quadwing (middle, top) among other ambient wildlife restored by the Digsite project.

Rock worm

The "rock worm" was featured in the Macworld build showcased by Marcus Lehto. It was cut prior to the transition from third- to first-person gameplay, though has successfully been restored by the Digsite project for use in retail Combat Evolved. The creature initially appears in the ground disguised as a rock, before emerging once disturbed to thrash around wildly.

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  The rock worm.

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  A rockworm (middle) among other ambient wildlife restored by the Digsite project.

Stalker

When concepting the Elites for Combat Evolved, Marcus Lehto felt that the team needed an enemy character that was "more monster-like". The Stalker was one such creature created under this direction. A second concept (shown below) for the Stalker's head depicts what appears to be some kind of collar around the creature's neck, with a curvilinear design similar in nature to Covenant technology. This may indicate them to have been the Covenant creatures kept as pets by the "Covenant Masters" (described further down this page); if the collar were to be shot off, the creatures would go on a rampage against their masters to cause chaos in the enemy ranks.

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  Concept art for the Stalker.

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  Head study for the Stalker.

Threeleg

The Threeleg was an ambient lifeform intended to inhabit Installation 04 in Halo: Combat Evolved. As its name suggests, it was a tripodal organism, with three powerful legs and two smaller arms. It appears to have had an exoskeleton, and at least two eyes. It was cut from the final game. The creature's model has been recovered by the Digsite project, though has yet to be released for general use due to needing significant work doing to properly animate and be useful for anything further than simply standing in place.

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  A render of the Threeleg.

Thorax

The Thorax was an ambient lifeform intended to inhabit the ring in Combat Evolved. Mostly blue, with luminous yellow on its back, it had thin arms but long, powerful legs and a single eye. It was cut from the final game. Very little information has survived about what the Thorax's function in-game would be, or where it would appear. The Digsite team has speculated that it may have appeared in the swamps of 343 Guilty Spark, though this is an inference based on the creature's visual appearance and not hinted at by any actual development files.

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  A render of the Thorax.

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  A Thorax (second-from-right) among other ambient wildlife restored by the Digsite project.

Thorn beast

Main article: Thorn beast

The thorn beast was a creature modelled and textured by Paul Russel. It was shown in the Halo E3 2000 trailer as an ambient creature that the Marine squad passed by.

While cut from the game, the thorn beast did survive and eventually make its way into canon in the 2007 novel Contact Harvest - served as a delicacy aboard the Rapid Conversion.

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  A render of a thorn beast as it was intended to appear in Halo: Combat Evolved.

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  Some thorn beasts being passed by Marines in the Halo: Combat Evolved E3 2000 trailer.

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  Close up of a thorn beast on Installation 04 in the E3 2000 trailer.

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  Several thorn beasts.

Vulpard

Main article: Zavfaraa

The Vulpard was an ambient lifeform intended to inhabit the ring in Combat Evolved. As the name suggests, it was a quadruped with leopard-like spotted fur and a powerful, vulture-like beaked head. It was cut from the final game. The Vulpard would later be restored by the Digsite project, and officially brought into canon as the Zavfaraa.

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  The Vulpard.

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  A vulpard (far-left) among other ambient wildlife restored by the Digsite project.

Other miscellaneous creatures

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  Ambient life sketches by Marcus Lehto.

Covenant

Covenant masters

The "Covenant masters" (as-named in the internal files) are an extremely early iteration of the Elites. They were present in early builds of Halo and were intended to lead unruly Covenant creatures (possibly including the Stalker detailed further up this page) via the means of control collars. Were these collars to be shot off, the creatures would go on a rampage. While this design was ultimately scrapped, it formed the basis of the Elites known to modern Halo, with the design ultimately going on to be reused in the 2022 Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition) as the canon armour for the ancient Sangheili warrior Ussa 'Xellus.

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  An early concept sketch for what would become the masters.

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  Covenant masters in pre-Xbox Halo.

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  Covenant masters in pre-Xbox Halo.

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  The Covenant masters restored into Combat Evolved by the Digsite project. Their animations were retargeted to use the retail Elites' animation set, allowing them to use the standard Elite weapons.

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  A canon illustration of Ussa 'Xellus holding a burnblade; his design was based on the masters.

Drinol

Main article: Sharquoi

The Drinol was an enemy type intended to be employed by the Covenant, itself based on the Drinniol enemies from Marathon. The Drinol, as intended for Halo, was modelled and textured by Paul Russel and animated by Marcus Lehto.

The Drinol model would be later implemented into the Halo 2 engine and was intended to play a part in that game as a boss enemy of some sort, though was eventually similarly-cut. Nonetheless, the Drinol - now named the Sharquoi - did make it into Halo canon with the release of the Conversations from the Universe booklet and 2016's Halo: Envoy.

The Sharquoi updated for inclusion in Halo 2 was featured on the Collector's Edition DVD, complete with updated lighting and normal mapping.

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  Concept art for the Drinol.

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  Concept art for the Drinol.

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  The Drinol model.

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  Firing the Excavator at the Drinol.

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  The Drinol model rendered in the Halo 2 iteration of the Blam engine, using normal mapping for increased detail.

Engineer

Main article: Huragok

"We started the Engineer all the way back in Chicago, around 1999 or so. The original idea for the Engineer hasn’t ever really changed, they were meant to be a class of aliens that acted as idiot savants towards technology. We wanted a set of creatures that could decipher the Forerunner tech easily, and allow a glimpse into what made the Forerunner technology so special. As far as gameplay, the designers wanted a race that were less aggressive to populate the world in a more passive way, making Halo feel more alive."

— Shi Kai Wang

The Engineer is one of the more famous enemy types cut from Combat Evolved. The Engineers were developed for the game and remained in the build until fairly late stages, being seen in multiple promotional screenshots and even remaining in the game files - albeit unused - at launch. As a result, they can be spawned in-game via modding, albeit without animations or AI. The Engineers' late cutting consequently saw them remain featured in Halo: Combat Evolved: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, as they were unable to be removed in time.

Although cut from Combat Evolved, the Engineers remained in Halo canon thanks to their inclusion in the novels The Fall of Reach and First Strike. Their Combat Evolved design would later go on to be recreated by the team at Ensemble Studios for inclusion in Halo Wars, before being redesigned by Shi Kai Wang for a feature role in Halo 3: ODST.

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  An early promotional screenshot showcasing an Engineer.

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  A side view of the cut Huragok from Combat Evolved.

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  A frontal view of the cut Huragok.

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  The early look of a Huragok aboard a Covenant ship.

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  A group of the concept Engineers from a Halo: Combat Evolved mod of the level "The Silent Cartographer".

Sniper

The special purpose sniper is a deleted Covenant species seen in the Halo 2 Collector's Edition DVD. Its arms were to be used like a tripod (but not act like one), and it could flip from side to side, without having to switch weapons. It would also be able to hang from trees and building struts. Early revisions of this enemy's concept art can be seen wielding the particle beam rifle, similarly-cut from Combat Evolved.

A later model shared by Paul Russel differs from these designs massively.

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  Concept art of the Special Purpose Sniper.

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  Concept art of the Special Purpose Sniper.

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  Concept art of the Special Purpose Sniper.

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  Concept art of the Special Purpose Sniper.

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  Concept art of the Special Purpose Sniper.

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  A 3D render of the model for the sniper by Paul Russel.

Tankbeast

The Tankbeast is a deleted Covenant species created by Paul Russel. The Tankbeast would have stood roughly 3.5 meters (11.4 Foot) tall, with no visibly-distinct head. The Tankbeast also had an underslung weapon, and armored legs. The creature's visual similarities to the Lekgolo may indicate it was to fulfill a similar role. The Tankbeast is one of the few known models that the Digsite team currently has no records of.

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  A render of the Tankbeast.

Other miscellaneous species

These Covenant species were sketched by Marcus Lehto, though never saw any further development.

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