Reaver (Firefly)

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 the show, their existence is officially denied by the Alliance, the ruling government of humanity, but they are a harsh reality around the outer planets.

The original theory within the series is that Reavers are men who travelled 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". Shepherd Book 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".

Behavior

Reavers are savage, brutal and primal. Their contact with other humans appears limited to combat, rape, torture, murder, and cannibalism, and no dialogue has ever been shown; yet they are never shown in conflict with each other. They are still able to cooperate and act purposefully enough to use spaceships and set highly technological traps, suggesting that they have retained some level of higher intelligence.

Reavers are known to raid ships and colonies to rape, kill, skin, and cannibalize anyone they find, though not necessarily in that order. They growl and snarl like beasts, and their methods are considered so horrifying that, when faced with capture, victims have been known to attempt suicide."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.] Mercy killings of those who fall into the hands of Reavers are considered humane. 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.cite episode
title = Bushwhacked
episodelink = Bushwhacked (Firefly)
series = Firefly
serieslink = Firefly (TV series)
network = Fox
airdate = 2002-09-27
season = 1
number = 3]

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.

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 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.cite episode
title = Serenity
episodelink = Serenity (Firefly episode)
series = Firefly
serieslink = Firefly (TV series)
network = Fox
airdate = 2002-12-20
season = 1
number = 1] 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 harpoon 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. 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.

Design

Comic book artist Bernie Wrightson, co-creator of "Swamp Thing", contributed Reaver concept designs for the film "Serenity".cite web
last = Epstein
first = Daniel Robert
date = 30 September 2005
url = http://suicidegirls.com/words/Joss+Whedon/
title = "Joss Whedon"
work = SuicideGirls.com
accessdate = 2007-08-03]

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: 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 0.1% of the planet's 30 million people had the opposite reaction to the Pax, becoming mindlessly violent and extremely aggressive."Serenity" (2005); playback of Dr. Caron's audiovisual log. ( on Wikiquote.)] They killed everyone not already dead on Miranda before leaving the planet and became known as Reavers.

References