Elites are extremely intelligent, communicating frequently in their own language as well as in human languages. They appear to show great cunning and instinct and are expressive of many emotions including surprise, laughter, grief, frustration, and rage. Owing to their superior intellect, they initially act as the leading military and political arm for exercising the will of the Prophets and the ultimate mission of the Covenant, but later in the series are systematically replaced in this capacity by the Brutes. Elites are deeply religious and initially totally devoted to the Covenant creed, but it is subsequently revealed that Elite society is itself composed of quarrelsome factions; in "Halo 2", a high-ranking Elite general known as The Arbiter becomes a playable protagonist and leads a separatist movement against the rest of the Covenant. The Arbiter's heretics soon join forces with the humans to prevent the firing of the Halo array.