Reaver (Firefly)

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Glimpse of a Reaver during their raid on Lilac in the film Serenity

Reavers are a group of humans in the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity who live on the fringes of civilized space and have become animalistic. Their existence is officially denied by the Alliance, but they are a brutal reality around the outer planets.

The 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, reminiscent of a Nietzsche aphorism,^{[#endnote_Nietzsche]} has been stated and discussed between most of the crew members of Serenity. Shepherd Book also 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.

Behavior

Reavers are purely savage, brutal and primal. Their contact with other humans appears limited to combat, torture and murder, and no dialogue has ever been shown; yet amazingly, they are never shown in conflict with each other, suggesting that they have retained some intelligence. Even more strangely, they can still cooperate and act purposefully enough to use spaceships and set highly technological traps.

Reavers are known to raid ships and colonies to rape, kill, skin and cannibalize anyone they find. Their methods are considered so horrifying that, when faced with capture, their victims almost always attempt suicide, and mercy killings of those who fall into the hands of Reavers are considered humane. The Reavers do occasionally intentionally leave survivors of their raids, but they drive these survivors mad through forcing them to watch the torture of those they were with, effectively turning them into second-hand Reavers. The Reavers also severely mutilate themselves (i.e., by cutting themselves, peeling off their skin, and/or sticking bits of metal into their flesh).^{[#endnote_bushwhacked]}

They live in macabre ships stained with blood and decorated with corpses chained to the hulls. Many of these spaceships have spikes and a few even have pincers. Reavers are known for their delight in eating live human flesh. They also growl and snarl like beasts.

Technology

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 hot": without proper engine radiation containment, a practice tantamount to suicide. This makes Reaver ships significantly 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.^{[#endnote_radiation]} The Reavers' habit of ramming their victims, not caring about damage to their own hulls, tends to leave their ships battered or with ripped-open appearances. Their craft possess a wide variety of exotic weaponry, many of which are designed to snare and capture other ships, including harpoon cannons, grappling lines and energy nets. They utilise weapons which fire giant sharpened disks similar to buzzsaws or shuriken, in addition to more traditional anti-ship ordinance. Some Reaver ships also have large spikes used as projectiles. Reavers will use any sharp object as a weapon in hand-to-hand combat. To cripple ships, they often leave a ship they previously invaded intact and activate a distress beacon. When a passing ship docks to aid them, a bomb is activated that will detonate when the ships disconnect, destroying the already derelict ship and crippling the ship that tried to provide aid.

Design

Comic book artist Bernie Wrightson, co-creator of Swamp Thing, contributed Reaver concept designs for the film Serenity.^{[#endnote_wrightson]} Interestingly, they only appear on screen for a split second at a time, which has the effect of making them even more frightening.

Origin

In the movie Serenity, Reavers are revealed to be humans from the planet Miranda. The Alliance government on Miranda added a chemical agent known as G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate, or simply "Pax" (Latin for "peace"), to the planet's air processors. The Pax was supposed to calm the population and weed out aggression. The agent worked, but too well. The result was that 99.9% of the population became so lethargic that they stopped working, breeding, talking, and eventually, eating and breathing. They lay down wherever they stood and allowed themselves to die. The remaining 0.1% of the planet's 30 million people had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their "aggressor response" increased beyond madness, and they became mindlessly violent and aggressive without limit. Approximately 30,000 Reavers were created.^{[#endnote_pax]} They killed all the government officials who remained on Miranda, broke into the laboratories where the scientists had locked themselves in, tortured them and ate them alive. They then left the planet, where they developed into the savage sub-race of the Reavers.

In the climax of the film, a massive space battle between the Alliance and the Reavers occurs, and it is implied that the Alliance fleet wins the battle. It is unclear exactly how many Reavers participated in the battle, but it can be assumed that many of their number were destroyed.

It should be noted that the Alliance officially denies the existence of Reavers, although the Operative mentions them several times in the film Serenity. However, the Alliance officially denies the existence of the Operative as well.

Quotations

• "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." — Zoë Washburne, Serenity

Notes

1. ↑ 
2. ↑  "Bushwhacked".
3. ↑  "Serenity"; Serenity's first fly-by encounter with the Reavers.
4. ↑  [Undated interview with Joss Whedon], SuicideGirls.com (last verified 23:41, 31 January 2006 (UTC)).
5. ↑  Serenity; playback of Dr. Caron's audiovisual log. ( on Wikiquote.)

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