ME3: Are the Reapers the Good Guys?
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Are the guys that attacked several Human colonies, blew up half a fleet and broke down tens of thousands of people into genetic material and have wiped out 700 galactic civilizations at the very least and forced a mother to try and kill her daughter the good guys?...NO!
My prediction for the endings is this.The Rascal King said:
1. Shepard fails to rally the universe and the Reapers own everything, as planned.
2. Shepard rallies the universe and defeats the Reapers. However, it's revealed that the Reapers were actually keeping something even more horrible in check. Shephard allows the Reapers to destroy all sentient races and let the cycle of rebirth and death continue. Being destroyed every 50,000 years, but allowed to rebuild is preferable to being destroyed completely for the rest of eternity.
3. Same as 2, but this time Shepard gives the Reapers the finger and wipes them out. Then s/he starts preparing for the next battle against whatever it was that the Reapers were fighting. (Canon ending)
uh...David Savage said:
The reapers are slaughter the entire universe in cycles! Those they dont kill are enslaved to aid them in the slaughter, and than left to die when they leave. They do this because they view themselves superior to all species after them, and in turn justify their slaughter as a means to gain resources for themselves!
Even the most evil entities do what they do because they think it's the right thing. That is probably the scariest thing about them.
Bioware kind of neutered any possibility of a logical discussion about the Reapers motivations in the first game anyway. I do love Mass Effect, but when Virgil said "They are motivated by goals we cannot possibly understand" I (the cynic that I am) thought that sounded a lot like "The writers weren't able to/ couldn't be bothered to think of a motivation for timetabled galactic genocide, so just take your ambiguity and like it!"
Edit: That said its always possible that while the Reapers may not be 'good' that there is something even worse than them waiting to rear it's ugly head in the Mass Effect universe, and in some perverse way the actions of the Reapers have been the lesser of two evils.
Bioware kind of neutered any possibility of a logical discussion about the Reapers motivations in the first game anyway. I do love Mass Effect, but when Virgil said "They are motivated by goals we cannot possibly understand" I (the cynic that I am) thought that sounded a lot like "The writers weren't able to/ couldn't be bothered to think of a motivation for timetabled galactic genocide, so just take your ambiguity and like it!"
Edit: That said its always possible that while the Reapers may not be 'good' that there is something even worse than them waiting to rear it's ugly head in the Mass Effect universe, and in some perverse way the actions of the Reapers have been the lesser of two evils.
The Reapers are doing this to make new reapers which they need to build an army to stop the Slayers, an even more dangerous and evil machine race.
Honestly I'm going to have to play ME3 before making a final judgement on the Reapers.
Honestly I'm going to have to play ME3 before making a final judgement on the Reapers.
Are Reapers good guys? no.
Are Reapers Bad Guys? no.
there are neutral, in that what they do is create extinction events that creates a void that is then filled by other species.
What the Reapers represent is Natural Order, something we as a species have been fighting against since developing civilization. Agriculture, Politics, Commerce, science, art, none of these have a place in that Order. we create an unnatural chaos and thrive, no other animal has been so successful as us, all because we play by our rules and we do that because we question why we are here and wonder if we have a purpose. the rules of ordered Life are Born-Breed-Die, but we went to space because we don't think those rules are good enough for us.
All the species in Mass Effect had to do the same thin in order to get to space. the Reapers exist as a counter to that Chaos, by forcing it to travel a very set path and at a very set date they wipe the slate clean so for a short while all is ordered in the Galaxy.
Are Reapers Bad Guys? no.
there are neutral, in that what they do is create extinction events that creates a void that is then filled by other species.
What the Reapers represent is Natural Order, something we as a species have been fighting against since developing civilization. Agriculture, Politics, Commerce, science, art, none of these have a place in that Order. we create an unnatural chaos and thrive, no other animal has been so successful as us, all because we play by our rules and we do that because we question why we are here and wonder if we have a purpose. the rules of ordered Life are Born-Breed-Die, but we went to space because we don't think those rules are good enough for us.
All the species in Mass Effect had to do the same thin in order to get to space. the Reapers exist as a counter to that Chaos, by forcing it to travel a very set path and at a very set date they wipe the slate clean so for a short while all is ordered in the Galaxy.
Depends on what vampires and zombies we're talking about. (They change with each interpretation.)Risingblade said:
But like I said, 'technically'. You could see them as saving people from death by turning them into immortal pseudo-Gods, or you could see them as committing mass genocide and enslaving survivors by turning them into Reapers.
It's all about perspective.
You raise alot of good points, they're just doing their thing, exactly like how they think organic life is stupid for trying to resist it... but they're still the 'bad guys' from a narrative perspective...although tbh im just wondering if it was the reapers that wiped out the dinosaurs, and if so.. do we get to fight genetically modified dinosaurs or dinosaur reapers in the next game?.. thats the real question here.Deviate said:
I've considered this (glad to see at least one other person has), and I eventually decided "no."
See, in simplest terms, their actions are close enough to the Geth evolution and the Dyson Sphere- which is neutral or even good. The problem is that they impose their cycle of destruction on other species- not granting them the rights to self-determination that the Geth offer.
If the Reapers offered the species the chance to live on forever as a Reaper, and downloaded their consciousness into the Reaper programs- it would probably be neutral.
Instead, they murder and enslave to take the resources they want, and subject their victims to terrifying and painful deaths to reach their ends- which ultimately benefit only them.
So my answer is a, polite, no.
See, in simplest terms, their actions are close enough to the Geth evolution and the Dyson Sphere- which is neutral or even good. The problem is that they impose their cycle of destruction on other species- not granting them the rights to self-determination that the Geth offer.
If the Reapers offered the species the chance to live on forever as a Reaper, and downloaded their consciousness into the Reaper programs- it would probably be neutral.
Instead, they murder and enslave to take the resources they want, and subject their victims to terrifying and painful deaths to reach their ends- which ultimately benefit only them.
So my answer is a, polite, no.
Maybe the reapers feel they are on a different level than sentience.
I have no problem killing and eating animals, because I view animals as being on a lower level. They don't have sentience. Yet animals can have all the emotions that I do. Many can even form long lasting memories.
So, I guess we are to reapers what cows are to us.
I have no problem killing and eating animals, because I view animals as being on a lower level. They don't have sentience. Yet animals can have all the emotions that I do. Many can even form long lasting memories.
So, I guess we are to reapers what cows are to us.
Fascinating thought, however I have an answer for that.
I believe that the reapers are more a representation of the 'old world' in that they've been around for ages and they simply assimilate into their own ideals, whereas the council races and non-council races are the new world moving in, a shaky, unstable world but a new one nonetheless.
We are the undeniable protagonist because this set of races is the first to actually be a set of races (as far as we know) because we know that the Protheans were only the Protheans, but we have Turians, Asari, Volus, Krogan, Salarians, Vorcha, Humans, and dozens of other races, all moving together as a society.
The Reapers are making the world bland, they are painting everything the same color, the same texture, the same everything. They aren't about moving on as a whole, I think, they are to be viewed as a natural force as opposed to a society all on it's own, because can you really call a society building itself up over and over again on the ritual harvesting of newly evolved peoples?
I believe that the reapers are more a representation of the 'old world' in that they've been around for ages and they simply assimilate into their own ideals, whereas the council races and non-council races are the new world moving in, a shaky, unstable world but a new one nonetheless.
We are the undeniable protagonist because this set of races is the first to actually be a set of races (as far as we know) because we know that the Protheans were only the Protheans, but we have Turians, Asari, Volus, Krogan, Salarians, Vorcha, Humans, and dozens of other races, all moving together as a society.
The Reapers are making the world bland, they are painting everything the same color, the same texture, the same everything. They aren't about moving on as a whole, I think, they are to be viewed as a natural force as opposed to a society all on it's own, because can you really call a society building itself up over and over again on the ritual harvesting of newly evolved peoples?
Well, it hasnt been revealed why the reapers repeat this extinction cycle.
From the SPOILERS
The reason might not be comprehensive enough for the uplifting and annihilation of an entire galactic civilization, but it is true that the cycle has gone on for far longer than anyone sentient species can even phantom.
In the end a Galactic event of this magnitude might be necessary to keep balance, but we wont know for sure until the 3rd game is released and it turns out the Reapers were only doing this extinction thing to prevent Spiral Nemesis from happening.
From the SPOILERS
leaked data, apparently the extermination cycle has something to do with races becoming too advanced for their own good.
And with so many varying races that sometimes act like complete dicks to others see Krogan and Batarians, There might be a feasible enough reason for their actions.
And with so many varying races that sometimes act like complete dicks to others see Krogan and Batarians, There might be a feasible enough reason for their actions.
The reason might not be comprehensive enough for the uplifting and annihilation of an entire galactic civilization, but it is true that the cycle has gone on for far longer than anyone sentient species can even phantom.
In the end a Galactic event of this magnitude might be necessary to keep balance, but we wont know for sure until the 3rd game is released and it turns out the Reapers were only doing this extinction thing to prevent Spiral Nemesis from happening.