116 réponses à ce sujet

[nhsk]

Travie wrote...

They have come for our alcohol and women.

I say, pry them from my cold dead hands!

Nobody steals our chicks... and lives.

[FERMi27]

Malanek999 wrote...

My theory is that they were originally an organic species. Their own form of evolution led to them transcending their entire population into the first Reaper in the desire to become immortal. After that, as a scientific exercise they decided to study new forms of life and how they would evolve when left alone. They found that their own scientific and cultural progression had become incredibly slow and stagnant compared to new evolving life and so they decided to set up the cycle to continuously allow new culture and science to develop. At a suitable point they would then acquire this new stuff and reset the conditions for the next generation.

This.
Plus, to avoid democratic procedures, there was undoubtfully an evil scientist-genius who created indoctrination nanites. He indoctrinated the necessary people and himself to never feel any regret for his horrible plan - transformation of his own entire civilization in a Reaper, with his own consciousness becoming that Reaper's personality. And the first Reaper's name was chosen to be... Harbinger.
And this is whom we'll ultimately battle in the end - the very first, the creator of it's kind.

[zeoduos]

I like OP's ideas but something came to mind when he described the Reapers as protectors. This makes a lot of sense because there has to be a balance somewhere and the Reapers are that balance. They are preserving the dark energy and allowing the galaxy to live on as long as possible despite the races being wiped out every 50k years.

Maybe the Reapers aren't the biggest threat. Maybe there is an entity or race greater than the galaxy's races and the Reapers combined. The war between the Reapers and the galaxy is orchestrated by the real masterminds. This is way out but maybe at some point, these two factions find out that there is in fact a greater threat and they should combine their forces to eliminate said threat.

[TommyH]

I like the "beyond comprehension" theory: Organic brains are working in a fashion and in thinking patterns that do not even allow us to theorize about the motivation of the Reapers.

Besides, motivation itself seems like a pretty organic requirement or concept to do anything... I question whether a machine like the reapers really need to feel or have something like a motivation at all....

[Darth Wolfenbarg]

Mr. C wrote...

lukex38 wrote...

it is beyond are comprehension

This. When Sovereign said that the question was answered. There doesn't need to be some convoluted scheme for the Reapers to follow.

I don't think I'd be able to accept that if that was really the only explanation we got. The setup is too elaborate, and the setup was the kick that elevated Mass Effect from being solid to being great. If the grand scheme has no payoff in motivation, it'll feel very stale.

[GuiltySource]

I don't think they are protecting anything. I think they simple hate organic life, Sovereign made this perfectly clear. Saren even said that he could sense Sovereign's hate and feelings of being insulted by the Geth, thinking they were equals. When in fact Sovereign saw them as nothing more than another indoctrinated species. Something the Geth missed because of their ignorance of organic races and emotion.

[raddry]

Some Robots...

Modifié par raddry, 24 juin 2011 - 09:53 .

[McAwesum]

No offense, OP; but you need to re-read and revise your posts before you submit them. It was almost painful trying to read your post. Every other word you wrote was missing a letter, it was like a puzzle or something. Your topic was already complex enough; no need to try and encrypt it. Lol. Just pulling your leg. But seriously though: Sorry, not trying to be a dick or anything. Just pointing something out that caught my attention in a light-hearted manner.

[budzai]

because they fear if the organics reach better technology they will find and kill the reapers...
but the reapers not strong enough to destroys organics forever...

[RAF1940]

George-Kinsill wrote...

Whie all the questions about the Reapers will ost likely be answered in ME3, the ultimate motivation of the Reapers' cylical genocide is one of the biggest questions about the Reapers and ME universe. While reprduction may be a motive for te Reapers, it hardly lies up to the hype set by Soveriegn in ME1 saying that their motives were "beyond organics' comprehension." So I'd like people to post their theories about the Reaper motives, and for the sake of the post, I'll start with mine:

In ME2, there are a number of stars dying faster the they should, going Red Giant sooner tha logicall possible, as seen on Tali's mission on Haestrom, and the star Solveig in the Caleston Rift. This is supposedly due to irregularities of dark energy/matter according to Quarian scientists. 

There is a actual theory also about the ed of the universe in real life alled "The Big Rip." This is essentially the opposite of the Big Bag, where overexpasion of the universe (it's invisible dark matter) causes the very fabric of the universe to tear apart, resulting in the entire universe's destruction (unprecedeted destruction of stars, even black holes getting destroyed).

Based off this connection, I believe that the Reapers ultimately serve as protectors/conservationists of the galaxy/universe by preventig organics from abusing dark energy, which could lead to the ed of al things. Essentially, they let organics have their fun for 50,000 years, wipe them out to consere the galaxy, and then let organic civilization rise again, and the interim period between genocides allows the fabric of the universe to heal again. 

The reason they give us the technology of the mass relays could be for 2 reasons besides the obvious 1) to be able to better control the variables that use dark energy, and 2) to make sure that when dark ery is used, its used to its maximum efficiecy with no horrible mistakes speeding up the Big Rip.
While this theory is a stretch, it would also explai why stars are just now starting to die prematurely, in that it takes 50,000 years for dark energy abuse to start affceting stars. It wouldn't make sense if ths were a regular occurance (even a rare one) as then o one would be surprised when it happens. So it seems to me that the stars dying early is a very new problem.

Lastly, it would explain why the Reapers seem so rushed. A number of posts have commented that if the Reapers really didn't let time oncern them (as they are immortal) they would just wait 150+ years fr Shepard to die, and te relative calm would also allow the Reaper theory and its biggest advoate to die, making their job much easier. Also, Saren and Soveriegn in ME1 knew that humanity just entered the galactic stage, and that to create a ew reaper, they may want to have the collectors test tis ew secies for Reaper potential. Instead, they accidentally discover humanity's potential with Shepard, far from their usual carefulness and diligence. All of this points to the Reapers having some variable out of their control, in which there is a time factor involved, and hence the need to get to the Milky Way ASAP and with the afformentioned dying stars and its connection to the Big Rip, it could easily be this.

So this is my personal theory (as long winded as it is) and please everyone feel free to post yours, find the many flaws in mine, or improve upon it. Thanks!
 

Interesing idea, but The Big Rip is a really, really, really long time away.

I just don't see the Reapers needing to stop that.

[Massadonious1]

They think planets are just giant Tootsie pops and are dying to find how many licks it takes to get to each core.

[AshleyS3]

I think it has something to do with Dyson's eternal intelligence hypothesis.

From Wikipedia:
"Dyson's eternal intelligence hypothesis proposes that an advanced civilization could survive for an effectively infinite period of time while consuming only a finite amount of energy. Such a civilization would alternate brief periods of activity with ever longer periods of hibernation."

I'm not sure how that ties in with them needing to cull or harvest organic life, but I think it could be relevant.

[Rulid]

AshleyS3 wrote...

I think it has something to do with Dyson's eternal intelligence hypothesis.

From Wikipedia:
"Dyson's eternal intelligence hypothesis proposes that an advanced civilization could survive for an effectively infinite period of time while consuming only a finite amount of energy. Such a civilization would alternate brief periods of activity with ever longer periods of hibernation."

I'm not sure how that ties in with them needing to cull or harvest organic life, but I think it could be relevant.

Good arguement.
Unfortunately, Dyson's hypotheses are actually based on the entire Universe as a back set.
Of course, you might argue that considering recent observations of a continuously expanding universe, the extreme distances to other galaxies would eventually isolate this galaxy as a self contained entropic island, so it could be applicable.
However, these time frames are far too distant to consider even 50000 years as a long enough frequency.

Dyson or Tipler or whatnot are all somewhat pseudoscience anyway, so it may be applicable to science fiction

[EDIT]

Concerning the OP,
The Big Rip wouldn't actually be able to explain stars aging faster.
Stars aging would be more on the line of gravitic implosion, and increase of black holes etc.
The Big Rip essentially means that due to the uber fast expansion, gravitic constants decline and stars are actually dissipated. ... So it's not what we're seeing in mass effect.

Modifié par Rulid, 24 juin 2011 - 02:42 .

[George-Kinsill]

McAwesum wrote...

No offense, OP; but you need to re-read and revise your posts before you submit them. It was almost painful trying to read your post. Every other word you wrote was missing a letter, it was like a puzzle or something. Your topic was already complex enough; no need to try and encrypt it. Lol. Just pulling your leg. But seriously though: Sorry, not trying to be a dick or anything. Just pointing something out that caught my attention in a light-hearted manner.

Sorry about that. My good computer is being fixed, and currently I am working on a laptop with a keyboard that works horribly (some buttons just don't work, others must be pressed 1000 times).

[George-Kinsill]

GuiltySource wrote...

I don't think they are protecting anything. I think they simple hate organic life, Sovereign made this perfectly clear. Saren even said that he could sense Sovereign's hate and feelings of being insulted by the Geth, thinking they were equals. When in fact Sovereign saw them as nothing more than another indoctrinated species. Something the Geth missed because of their ignorance of organic races and emotion.

It's stated though that Reapers don't hate organics in ME: Retribution from the Reapers themselves, they simply perfrom the mass genocides emotionlessly.

[Foryou]

to kill time

[Darth Death]

They keep doing the cycle so they can come across the civilization that invented the first bowl of trixs cereal.

[Silentblaze]

Yeah they probably are some sort of eco-terrorists that think using dark matter and dark energy will be the doom of us all.  So kill us first before we kill the universe. <_<


My theory, however, is that the Reapers are machines and they view being a machine is greater than organic existence. The Reapers view organic lives as limited by our primitive senses. Therefore, out of some twisted sense of pity the Reapers are putting us out of our misery.  Though a few might seem better than the rest (like humans) so instead of exterminating them the Reapers bring them to the Reapers higher level of being.

Modifié par Silentblaze, 24 juin 2011 - 09:22 .

[kaiki01]

My theory for the Reapers' "Ultimate Motivation" is survival. They need resources to keep functioning, so they allow biological races to evolve and create the infrastructure. The Reapers come back, create new Reapers to replace the ones that die and harvest the biological races to refuel. I don't think there is any deeper motivation then that.

[George-Kinsill]

kaiki01 wrote...

My theory for the Reapers' "Ultimate Motivation" is survival. They need resources to keep functioning, so they allow biological races to evolve and create the infrastructure. The Reapers come back, create new Reapers to replace the ones that die and harvest the biological races to refuel. I don't think there is any deeper motivation then that.

If this were true though, the Reapers would be well within human comprehension, and should ave answered yes to when Shep asked if they cme her for slaves or resources. Survival is the most widely understood idea in the universe (all species strive towards it, otherwise they would not exist). While your theory very well could be true, it would make the Reapers little better then zombies, and would make soveriegn a liar, and Vigil even more wrong who said the Reapers don't reap for resources.

[Ianamus]

I believe that the Reapers were created when a species tried to "ascend" beyond mortal existance by combining themselves with technology, and that they genuinely believe that they are helping other races by "asceding" them as well.
"We are the Harbinger of your ascension" "We will make you Immortal"

Modifié par EJ107, 24 juin 2011 - 09:42 .

[Mixon]

i hope, that ME3 information about Reapers will be shocking my mind. I mean not something that i can guess.

[kaiki01]

George-Kinsill wrote...

kaiki01 wrote...

My theory for the Reapers' "Ultimate Motivation" is survival. They need resources to keep functioning, so they allow biological races to evolve and create the infrastructure. The Reapers come back, create new Reapers to replace the ones that die and harvest the biological races to refuel. I don't think there is any deeper motivation then that.

If this were true though, the Reapers would be well within human comprehension, and should ave answered yes to when Shep asked if they cme her for slaves or resources. Survival is the most widely understood idea in the universe (all species strive towards it, otherwise they would not exist). While your theory very well could be true, it would make the Reapers little better then zombies, and would make soveriegn a liar, and Vigil even more wrong who said the Reapers don't reap for resources.

I would allow Reapers the ability to lie when asked questions. And, I thought Vigil didn't know what the Reapers wanted. As to it being a disappointing motivation. I like the idea that no matter how alien a species, how advanced, or how old all life is bound by the fundamental desire to survive. That beneath everything life seeks to continue. That would follow the Mass Effect theme that life is more similar then it is different. At a basic level Humans, Geth, Reapers, or Krogan are all driven by that universal motivation.

[Whatever42]

Reapers were originally organic; they were the original machine cultists. They sought perfection and immortality through merging mind and machine. However, this wasn't enough. It didn't give them the power and perfection they craved.

They attacked the other species of their galaxy, adding the biological and technological distinctiveness of other races to their own. The evolved into their current form: nations of assimilated people acting as programs to an over-arching consciousness. However, eventually, they overwhelmed the galaxy, assimilating everything that wasn't nailed down.

But it wasn't enough. They felt as if the perfection they craved was missing. However, their current form lacked the ability to grow. Without the creativity and randomness that allowed organic species to evolve, adapt, and grow, they were permanent, unchanging. And there were no more organic species to assimilate.

So they started the cycle. They left their technology to allow new organic species to grow along the technology paths that the Reapers desired, To grow societally, technologically, biologically along new paths that the Reapers found distinctive, that the Reapers could add to themselves to grow and evolve.

[sagevallant]

Did I get here before "Spiral Nemesis" and all the ensuing Gurren Lagann references?

All I know is, if the plot ends up being "Hey, we wipe out organics to prevent a WORSE alien race from destroying the entire galaxy" I'm going to be thoroughly disappointed in the writers. Since the Reapers just focus on absorbing the sentient species by making either husks or you-know-whats like in the Collector Base.