The Prophets were so fucking dumb to let Thel become the Arbiter.
When asked if he was in awe upon seeing Halo for the first time, his immediate reaction was confusion, then a response of “No???? Tf.”
He was incredibly defiant towards the brutes, and even the Prophets (to the Covenants standards). He wouldn’t let those fools touch him if he could help it, and even told the Prophets that he would continue his “campaign against the humans” without even knowing what they had planned to do to him.
They didn’t see it, but Thel was definitely open to listening to 343 and Sesa. Like- Thel was just about to do it-
He was a damn good leader. Even upon initial start, everyone held a high respect for Thel. And as the game went on, it was very obvious Thel was damn good at rallying people together. My man was the Obama of the Covenant.
He’s really fucking hard to kill. Master Chief and Thel are like carbon copies in that aspect. Keep in mind, the whole goal the Prophets had was to squeeze out what little use he had to them, and then kill him off. They chose the most unpredictable, the most stubborn, and the most brilliant Sangheili they could’ve possibly chosen.
In conclusion; the Prophets are dumb whores.
Instead of a loyal jarhead who happens to be pretty good in a fight, they chose a fucking genius of a warlord that had the rallying abilities of Barack Obama. Like- they set themselves up for failure.