Reaver (Firefly)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This television-related article describes an aspect of the series in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (October 2009) |
Reavers are a fictional group of humans in the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity who live on the fringes of civilized space and have become animalistic. Within most of the timeline of the series and movie, Reaver existence is officially denied by the Alliance, the ruling government of humanity, but they are a harsh reality around the outer planets.
Contents |
[edit] Behavior
Reavers are savage, brutal and primal, though they engage in some form of social behavior and cooperation within their own group. Their contact with normal humans appears limited to combat, rape, torture, murder, and cannibalism. These contacts are brief and survivors few. As a result, little is known of Reaver's social structure.
Reavers growl and snarl like beasts. Beyond that, no use of spoken language has ever been observed, though they presumably communicate on some level. They are still able to cooperate and act purposefully enough to use spaceships and set sophisticated technological traps. This suggests that Reavers have retained some level of higher intelligence, though guided solely on their impulse to capture and consume any humans they come in contact with.
Reavers are known to raid ships and colonies to rape, kill, skin, and cannibalize anyone they find, though not necessarily in that order. Reavers do occasionally leave intentional survivors of their raids, but they drive these survivors mad through forcing them to watch the torture of other Reaver victims, effectively turning the survivors into second-generation Reavers. Reavers also severely mutilate themselves by cutting themselves, peeling off their skin, or pushing shards of metal into their flesh.[1]
Reavers travel in macabre ships stained with blood and decorated with corpses chained to the hulls. They appear to live their whole lives in space, only touching down on a planet or moon to carry out a raid.
[edit] Technology and Battle Tactics
Reaver ships, captured from their victims, are instantly recognizable by the haphazard red stripes and bodies of victims adorning their hulls. They are also known for flying without proper engine radiation containment, a practice tantamount to suicide. This makes Reaver ships faster than their normal counterparts, but also makes it easier for their prey to detect their arrival and to hide by powering down their ships rather than fleeing.[2] Reavers' habit of ramming their victims with indifference to damaging their own hulls tends to leave their ships appearing battered or torn. Their craft possess a wide variety of exotic weaponry, many of which are designed to snare and capture other ships including EMP cannons, grappling lines, and energy nets. They use weapons that fire giant sharpened disks similar to buzzsaws or shuriken, in addition to more traditional anti-ship ordnance. Rather than firearms, Reavers will use any sharp object as a weapon in personal combat. The goal of their weaponry is most likely to increase the number of survivors on victim ships. To cripple rescue ships, they have been known to leave a bait ship intact with a bomb planted on board set to detonate when another ship docks to help, destroying the already-derelict ship and crippling the ship that tried to provide aid.
The Reavers operate a variety of vessels, from Firefly-sized vessels to captured Alliance warships. Most notable among their ships was a colony vessel orbiting Miranda, which is several times larger than any of the Alliance vessels it subsequently attacked. Even with its greater size the Reavers used the same tactics as with smaller ships, ramming an Alliance flagship and splitting it in half due to the vast difference in mass.
[edit] Character Design
Comic book artist Bernie Wrightson, co-creator of Swamp Thing, contributed Reaver concept designs for the film Serenity.[3]
[edit] Human Response
Most normal humans are terrified of Reavers. Even the most battle-hardened will opt to leave any space where Reavers are present rather than risk the possibility of being captured. On one encounter with Reavers, Zoe said that "If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."
Reaver methods are considered so horrifying that, when faced with capture, victims have been known to attempt suicide.[4] Mercy killings of those who fall into the hands of Reavers are considered humane.
For various reasons the Alliance government denies the existence of Reavers, even withholding information on them from commanders of patrol ships in or near Reaver space.
[edit] Origin
The original theory within the series is that Reavers are men who traveled to the edge of the star system and were driven mad by the open vastness of space. This theory is discussed among most of the crew members of Serenity. In "Bushwhacked", Shepherd Book states that he believes that they are "just men" who have been removed from civilization far too long—men who could be helped. Both Jayne and Mal strongly disagree with the Shepherd's opinion.
The Reavers' true origin is revealed later in the movie Serenity. The crew of Serenity find evidence that Reavers were originally humans from the planet Miranda in the form of an Alliance scientist's holographic message. The Alliance government used Miranda as a testing ground for the chemical agent G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate, or simply "Pax" (Latin for "peace"). It was added to the planet's air processors in order to calm the population and weed out aggression. The agent worked, but too well: 99.9% of the population became so lethargic that they stopped working, talking, and eventually eating and moving. They simply lay down and succumbed to death. The remaining .1% of the planet's 30 million people had the opposite reaction to the Pax, becoming mindlessly violent and extremely aggressive.[5] The scientist noted typical Reaver behavior in the survivors before she herself became a victim of their attacks.
[edit] References
- ^ "Bushwhacked". Firefly. Fox. 2002-09-27. No. 3, season 1.
- ^ "Serenity". Firefly. Fox. 2002-12-20. No. 1, season 1.
- ^ Epstein, Daniel Robert (30 September 2005). ""Joss Whedon"". SuicideGirls.com. http://suicidegirls.com/words/Joss+Whedon/. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
- ^ Serenity (2005); playback of Dr. Caron's audiovisual log, which shows Caron trying to shoot herself in the head as her unseen foes converge on her, but her gun is taken away before she can end her life.
- ^ Serenity (2005); playback of Dr. Caron's audiovisual log. (Relevant dialog excerpt transcribed on Wikiquote.)
[edit] See also
- Border Reivers (nonfiction)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
