This indicates that, theoretically, with the right intelligence, weapons, and strategy, the Reapers could be defeated. In Mass Effect 1, it took two whole fleets to destroy a single Reaper, and even then, it took outside intervention (destruction of Saren's Sovereign-possessed husk) to make it vulnerable. By leaving a network of relays capable of instant transport across the galaxy that led to the impressive Citadel, the Reapers ensured that it would become the center of galactic civilization. Records allow them to track down every settled planet and attack them, harvesting their populations or enslaving them through indoctrination. In order to speed things up between harvests, the Reapers created technological constructs such as the Mass Relays, the Citadel, and various information beacons to help organic life develop faster. [3] The Catalyst was intended to bridge the differences between organic and artificial life, and to preserve organic species at any cost. Mass Effect 3's Leviathan DLC reveal that the Reapers' origins began more than one billion years before the events of the Mass Effect series, when the Milky Way galaxy were controlled by a species called the Leviathans. Although most Leviathans had been harvested to create Harbinger, some had survived and gone into hiding. However, it decided that the Leviathans too risked conflict with synthetics and, using an army of "pawns", forcibly processed them into Harbinger. [3] Observing a repeating cycle in which their contemporary civilizations would collapse after creating synthetic lifeforms that turn on their creators, the Leviathans seek to break this cycle by, ironically, creating a synthetic intelligence called the Catalyst. [9], A "proto-form human Reaper" encountered as the final boss of Mass Effect 2 provides insight into how the Reapers replenish their numbers, as it is the end product of harvested organic DNA which have been processed to make a new Reaper. The Reapers are a race of hyper-advanced machines that existed over 50,000 years ago. Put simply, any organic being who is in close proximity to a Reaper or certain Reaper artifacts for too long comes to believe the Reapers are correct in their goals, and will do anything to serve them. Reapers can control the rate of this process. [14], A number of ending sequences involving the Reapers were considered for Mass Effect 3 but abandoned. The Reapers are colossal entities which reside in dark space, the vast, mostly starless space between galaxies, where they hibernate and remain dormant for recurring cycles of fifty thousand years. The Protheans had attempted to build the weapon 50,000 years prior, but had failed. If the level of galactic readiness is high enough, however, the Crucible fires properly and Shepard manages to possibly survive the event. Shop high-quality unique Mass Effect Reapers T-Shirts designed and sold by artists. The Reapers are a fictional fleet of sentient starships that serve as the main antagonists of the Mass Effect trilogy. Commander Shepard tracks the Leviathans to 2181 Despoina, discovering the Reapers' beginnings from them. The captured humans are taken to the Collector Base and processed into organic matter to construct a new Reaper modeled on the human form. Kotaku's Gergo Vas considered Shepard's multiple encounters with the Reapers to be some of the original trilogy's most iconic moments. Consider that the Proto Reaper from Mass Effect 2 took several colony's worth of people. Other units like the pariah were cut from the main game, as their original ability to teleport around the battlefield were causing issues with the Mass Effect 3 physics engine. Even without their indoctrinating influence, Reapers are immensely powerful warships and their technology is devastating. Afterwards, the entity known as Harbinger who speaks through the Collector General reveals itself to be a Reaper; Harbinger reliquinshes control of the Collectors and is shown travelling through dark space to reach the Milky Way Galaxy along with the rest of its brethren.[21]. Speculation in the Codex suggests that each individual Reaper has a massive element zero core which, coupled with the likely enormous quantities of energies at its disposal, allows it to generate the staggering mass effect field needed to land ships of their size on a planet. Over time, Shepard uncovers disturbing facts regarding the nature of the Reaper connection to the Collectors. The Reapers also become aware of Cerberus' attempts to find a way to control them. [16] The Illusive Man was originally intended to be the final boss fight, with the character transforming into a Reaper creature much like Saren at the end of the first game. Aside from their formidable firepower and indoctrination, Reapers are also capable of mustering up their own ground forces to attack their enemies: husks. In terms of attrition, the Reapers still win because they work on a very different supply scenario. An untold number of years later, an unknown adult female and child are speaking of the archives that were stored in one of Liara T'Soni's time capsules. The Reaper War covers the events of the third Mass Effect game. In Case of a Prequel . Notable Reapers include Sovereign, first mentioned in the 2007 novel Mass Effect: Revelation, and Harbinger, a major antagonist of Mass Effect 2, and leader of the Reaper invasion on Earth in Mass Effect 3. Harbinger and the rest of the Reapers, who have already been on the move since the destruction of Sovereign, are shown approaching the Milky Way, setting the stage for the Reaper War.[3]. [17] Other ideas for an ending revolved around the Reapers' attempts to stop organics from utilizing dark energy due to its cumulative entropic effect that would hasten the end of the universe, or to prevent the universe's inevitable descent into the opposite of the Big Bang by focusing their attention on organic species with biotic potential. It was first discovered on the edges of geth space in the Perseus Veil by Edan Had'dah's survey teams and studied by Dr. Shu Qian. The Catalyst eventually came to a conclusion that conflict is inevitable, and decided to achieve this by harvesting organic civilizations at their peak, shortly before they are responsible for their own downfalls, and absorbing their genetic material into new lifeforms that it can maintain and preserve forever. [26] Sal Basile from Ugo.com considered the first time Shepard encounters a charging Husk after it is detached from a "dragon's teeth" pillar and Sovereign's reveal of the truth about the Protheans and the Reapers to be among the series' most shocking moments, setting a defining tone that it is not a simple "lasers set to stun" space game. Despite this betrayal, the surviving Leviathans do not believe the Catalyst was a "mistake" and believe the Catalyst's use of the Reapers is part of an experiment on a galactic scale to seek a truly permanent method of preserving life. Reapers had been known to exist for nearly a billion years, judging by findings from the Leviathan of Dis, an ancient Reaper corpse. Though they are sentient machines, the Reapers have habitable interiors that can transport a crew, either to help spread their indoctrinated slaves or to allow these slaves to tend to them, probably both. The Reapers become a supreme military force that guards the galaxy from anything that could harm its people. The Reapers then use their control of the Citadel and its data to begin the most sinister phase of their attack. The Reapers are ancient organic machines that have are the harbingers of mass destruction that slumber in the darkest reaches of space for fifty thousands years at a time. The Citadel also gives them control of the relay network, cutting off star systems from each other and destroying communications. Fortunately, Saren is stopped by Commander Shepard and company, and Sovereign is destroyed by the Alliance Fleet, though this would only forestall the Reaper invasion for a few years. The Reapers Are Dead Mass Effect 4 seems to confirm that the Destroy ending to Mass Effect 3 is canon. While the outward appearance varies between subtypes, all of them retain features of their forebears the Leviathans, an ancient aquatic race that dominated the galaxy in ages past. In order to delay their arrival, Kenson decides to destroy the relay by ramming an asteroid into it. Within days, the Batarian Hegemony is destroyed, Earth falls, the Systems Alliance Navy is in full retreat, and a massive offensive is launched against the Turian Hierarchy. [22] As part of their marketing campaign for Mass Effect 3, BioWare set up a Twitter account named AllianceNewsNetwork in November 2011. An individual or group known only as the "Benefactor" appears to have taken the Commander seriously. Mass Effect Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. The Crucible deactivates, and the Reapers go on to complete their purge of the galaxy, continuing the cycle for at least one more iteration. Cerberus determines that the Reapers are behind this and plans to have Shepard thwart this latest Reaper threat to humanity. They cease attacking, and Shepard directs them to restore the mass relays and help rebuild the galaxy. If Shepard chooses to control the Reapers, the Spectre's consciousness replaces the Catalyst's AI and becomes a being with absolute control over the Reapers. Isolated pockets of geth mobile platforms still continue to serve the Reapers, however, their programs having been replaced entirely with Reaper codes instead, though only making up a small fragment of the overall geth forces no longer under their command. In terms of physical design, Reapers bear superficial resemblance to a cuttlefish or squid, with a bulky semi-cylindrical body, a tapering plate over the rear and five tentacle-like "legs" or arms extending from its front end, in addition to six jointed legs extending from its body. The incomplete Human-Reaper is composed of facsimiles of the skull, arms and ribcage of a human with its lower spine and torso still under construction by the time of its discovery in 2185 CE. If you don't remember in Mass Effect 2 it showed even Dead Reapers could indoctrinate people over the course of a few weeks/ a month or so. At first, it was presumed to be Saren's flagship by those who encountered it; Sovereign did act as transport for the rogue Spectre and his minions. In this ending, Shepard destroyed all synthetic life, including the Reapers. She noted that Mass Effect "really leans into the unsettling horror of these creatures" when non-human Husk variants are introduced in the third game. For Mass Effect: Andromeda on the PlayStation 4, a GameFAQs message board topic titled "So do the reapers exist in Andromeda". When the Reapers go into states of hibernation between cycles, they are vulnerable. A concentrated effort by the fleets of organic races could also destroy a Reaper even if it is at full power. The Collectors are working under the direct supervision of the Reaper Harbinger, who ordered the Collectors to abduct humans in the Terminus Systems. However, this Intelligence turned on them, slaughtering most of their kind and processing others into the very first true Reaper, Harbinger. Reapers and their technology have been observed to exert a disturbing influence on organic beings. The asari, who had been performing hit-and-run attacks against the Reapers, are forced on the defensive as the machines gradually overwhelmed them. I'm going to assume that the Reapers will be tougher to take out, especially at first, in a conventional fight. Unlike the mass effect relays that they created, … Individuals who are determined to be suitable for processing are loaded onto Reaper Processors, where they are ushered into single-person pods. The largest known Reaper ships essentially copied the Leviathan form while the smaller ones diverge to varying degrees. In the end, the Reapers spare little concern for whatever labels other races choose to call them, and merely claim that they have neither beginning nor end. Mass Effect: The reaper Enigma by Cirrikan the Technomancer reviews. Shepard manages to defeat the Destroyer broadcasting the control signal via heavy bombardment from the Migrant Fleet, freeing the geth from Reaper control. The rear-most of the larger legs have crescent-shaped extensions. The Protheans developed a plan to forestall the impending Reaper attack for future generations of sapient, spacefaring species. The gigantic spinal-mounted gun of capital-class Reapers is able to rip through the hulls of even the largest of dreadnought-class ships with ease, effortlessly penetrating their kinetic shields. The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. For millions of years, the Reapers existed for the sole purpose of ensuring the ongoing existence of organic life in the galaxy, based on the assumption that all synthetic intelligences will eventually destroy their organic creators. On the launch date of Mass Effect 3, Jason Schreier posted on Kotaku and reported that "participants have spent the day tweeting fake news and survival strategies" about the Reaper invasion, and that tweets were uploaded on the Twitter account under the pretense of minor supporting character Emily Wong detailing her experiences as a frontline journalist. As a "back up" option, the Reapers are capable of using the Collectors - a slave race genetically engineered from the Protheans - to gather genetic material in their stead. At some point Sovereign became aware of the Conduit and swayed a significant number of geth into worshiping it. This greatly complicated matters for Sovereign. Despite the victory on Rannoch, the Reapers invade the asari homeworld, Thessia. Mass Effect 2 sucked me into the overall story even further, as we journeyed across the galaxy to face a “new” threat, that ultimately turned out to be related to our previous enemies, the Reapers. Harvesting Is SlowIf you thought the Reaper invasion meant a quick death, guess again. [34][35] The theory proposes that Shepherd's prolonged exposure to Reaper technology throughout the trilogy as well as experiences of bizarre dream sequences in Mass Effect 3 indicated signs of gradual indoctrination by the Reapers, bringing the battle with the Reapers down to an intrinsic level as Shepard fights the Reaper's influence in their own mind during the ending sequence. Not all Protheans perished in the genocide: a cadre of elite scientists hidden on Ilos survived by hunkering down into stasis until the danger had passed. [5] He said the conversation with Sovereign in Virmire is one of the most chilling encounters he has ever experienced in a video game,[5] and later described the scene as the moment where Mass Effect went from being a generic sci fi story to "a story about the larger existential threat that the universe faced". 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