Speculations/theories on Reavers and the role they play.

POSTED BY: Candall
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 22:25
VIEWED: 10803
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CANDALL

Thursday, June 17, 2004 4:21 AM

Now, I'm not 100% certain that this is the place for theories, nor am I certain that there is one, but I take to corrections well, so please let me know if there is, and this isn't it.

On to business. I have some theories as to the truth of Reavers which I'd like to share. I have not seen any leaked scripts from Serenity, nor would I care to read them if I had. I am not claiming this to be knowlege, I am claiming it to be what I consider a pretty good guess.

I think that Reavers are past versions of River. In other words, they're the Blue Sun Group's precursor (or even concursor) experiments... and they've either escaped or been abandoned.

I have some info to back me up, too, though some of it could be chalked up to reaching for straws.

1. The first and most obvious (and straw-reachiest) one I'm going to point out is the similarity between the name "Reaver" and the name "River." Could be Joss's play on their connection which we're to look back on later and say, "huh."

2. Mal pointedly referred to River as a "reader" in the episode "Objects in Space." Another similar word, and could be the reason behind the savages' names. Someone referred to them as the "readers," and the listener mis-heard. This is assuming that "reader" is a word commonly interchanged with "psychic" in the Firefly universe.

3. Reavers are insane. This is a point that's driven home many times. We know someone else who's insane too, though. My guess is that it's not isolation that drove the Reavers mad... it's the madness that caused them to be isolated. The use of their brains as "rutting playgrounds" probably caused too much stress, and they caved. Perhaps that's why Blue Sun is selecting highly intelligent subjects like River nowadays. Maybe their minds can handle it... better. Maybe the Reavers were transients and criminals.

4. Reavers, for their savagery, are remarkably organized and good at what they do. Could easily be a psychic link among them. They're also good at setting traps. There are no trap-setting classes off in the voids of space, to my knowlege, nor are there piloting schools. It could be that they've been transforming people along the way (a la "Bushwhacked,") but it could also be that they've been trained in tactical ops, or already knew how to set traps due to their speculated criminal pasts.

5. River is absolutely terrified of them. This is the girl who shot three of Niska's men without even looking. She sees them coming miles away (though admittedly, she sees MOST things coming miles away), but she absolutely goes into total meltdown whenever Serenity is near Reavers. The only other people she's that afraid of are the Blue Sun Group. To my mind, that's another loose -- but present -- connection between the two entities.

The guy who got "turned into" a Reaver in "Bushwhacked" is sort of a "Joker" in the hand that I showed you. In keeping with my theory, there could be two reasons for his existance... one being that the Reavers actually performed the surgery on him and really did MAKE a Reaver out of him, the other being that he wasn't really a Reaver at all... just, as Mal implied, imitating them in a serious bout of post-traumatic stress disorder (a disorder which was briefly explored in the episode "Safe," for what it's worth).

So. Is this worthy of the honor of a "maybe so?" Did I miss anything that could be construed as another clue? Did I say something shockingly inaccurate? Did I leave the oven on? Who shot Kennedy? Do you know the muffin man?

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Candall:
5. River is absolutely terrified of them.

In Bushwacked River appears to be empathetic with the victims rather than the Reavers.

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Candall:
The guy who got "turned into" a Reaver in "Bushwhacked" is sort of a "Joker" in the hand that I showed you.

I would agree with you that the Survivor is a victim rather than a Reaver.

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:25 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Candall:
4. Reavers, for their savagery, are remarkably organized and good at what they do.

Elsewhere a parallel has been drawn to pirates of the seventeen/eighteenth centuries, who also sustained a degree a technical expertise, for their time, on the fringes of society. If your violence produces income , it will at least get you to tomorrow and even encourage recruits from the hopeless My kind of life don't last too long, Preacher

CANDALL

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:
In Bushwacked River appears to be empathetic with the victims rather than the Reavers.

Appears to be, yes. You are, of course, correct. But it's still ambiguous enough for me :)

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Candall:
it's the madness that caused them to be isolated.

It has been suggested elsewhere that Reavers eat human flesh because it is concentrated source of the cumulative food additives that Blue Sun uses for control.

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Candall:
But it's still ambiguous enough for me :)

I certainly don't want to discourge you, please run it as far as it goes

CANDALL

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:39 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:
Elsewhere a parallel has been drawn to pirates of the seventeen/eighteenth centuries, who also sustained a degree a technical expertise, for their time, on the fringes of society. If your violence produces income , it will at least get you to tomorrow and even encourage recruits from the hopeless My kind of life don't last too long, Preacher

Wow, great rebuttal! This is going to be a really fun discussion for me :)

Although, my thought is that the connection to piracy is broken in that, from what we've seen, the Reavers aren't necessarily looking to turn any sort of profit. They didn't attempt to take anything in terms of cargo from the transport ship they hit in "Bushwacked," including the much-needed food. And that statement can work with either the supplies that Mal and Zoe found, or the bodies they left hanging from the ceiling when they could have easily dragged them onto their ship and eaten them later.

Their drive to kill seems purely animalistic. They destroy life, eat their kill, and then move on. I just don't buy the idea that this all happened merely because they were isolated. I think there's more to it, and I'm ready to admit that my own theory could be, and probably is wrong... but I'm sticking to it, because it still makes sense to me.

KOHAN

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:

It has been suggested elsewhere that Reavers eat human flesh because it is concentrated source of the cumulative food additives that Blue Sun uses for control.

eeeww

"If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of Hell, a level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater."

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, June 17, 2004 6:48 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Candall:
They didn't attempt to take anything in terms of cargo from the transport ship they hit in "Bushwacked,"

We don't know what they took, because it's gone? We know from the remaining logs that there is something on board that requires special reception, but IIRC we don't know if that is the genseed, or something no longer on board.

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