What Are the Reapers? - Mass Effect Lore 

"AI's keep killing our slaves... lets make an AI to find a way to fix that" -Huge Cuttlefish

The Reapers are probably the most interesting antagonists I've ever seen in a video game... It's always interesting to learn a little bit more about them.

I think one of the most terrifying things about the Reapers is that all spacefaring technology is based on technology they left behind. So that every harvest, it's almost guaranteed that the various intelligent species develop weapons that likely won't present any surprises to the Reapers. They know what sort of resistance they're likely to encounter before their first hostile engagement.

I've actually calculated how many reapers there are. After each cycle, the reapers turn the most dominant race into a Sovereign-class reaper capital ship and the rest become Destroyer-class reapers(the reaper equivalent of frigates). This cycle had about 12 races. Using that we could assume that each cycle ends with 1 Sovereign-class and about 10 Destroyer-class reapers. The reapers have existed for about 1 billion years and each cycle is about 50 000 years apart. That gives us about 20 000 cycles. This means that the reaper armada consists of approximately 220 000 reapers. 20 000 Sovereigns and 200 000 Destroyers. This accounts for about 50% of the total number of ships throughout the milky-way galaxy in mass effect. The quarians and geth combined account for about 25% and the 4 citadel races combined account for the last 25%

Love that we have full 4K images for all this stuff now with the legendary edition. I’ve been enjoying it, how bout you?

Looking forward to some mass effect content from you, lots of lore to deep dive in

Man, its so good to see all these new Mass Effect video's. Really warms this ol' fanboy's heart

The geth heretics actually weren't taken control of by a virus. They helped the reapers in exchange, sovereign offered to give them a reaper to serve as a platform for them all to upload into,effectively ending their isolation. Not all geth trusted Sovereign to keep its promise and decided not to accept the deal, deciding instead to build their own mega structure to occupy. This is what Legion meant when he said that Sovereign offered to give them their future but the geth decided to build their own future

i remeber Legion say Sovereign real name was Nazara

Damn you Squidward!

These videos are really cool, well done. Really liking this style.

Leviathans: "Many enthralled races tend to create AI which ultimately destroys them. How can we alleviate this?" Also Leviathans: "Oh, I know! How 'bout creating an AI to solve the problem of other organic races creating AI! What could possibly go wrong?🤔" 🤷🤦 Honestly, the Reapers original purpose was far more compelling, but was scrapped by ME3 in favour of the "Organics vs Synthetics" narrative. The original plot was supposed to be around dark energy, and how the increased use of eezo by advanced organic life leads to an accelerated rate of universe expansion, thus shortening the time until the inevitable "heat death of the universe" when everything is spread so far apart that the temperatures reach nearly absolute zero. The first hint at this was supposed to be the dying sun in Haestrom. The Reapers were thus supposed to be a "Noah's ark" of sorts by harvesting all the worthy organic life to preserve them in Reaper form which could continue thriving even after the heat death. If you're not familiar with cosmology, this may sound like complicated gibberish, but we have to remember that when Mass Effect first came out, the discovery that the universe's expansion rate was accelerating, and thus the proposal of dark energy to explain it, were very recent and exciting discoveries. Before that, most cosmologists believed that the universe would eventually recollapse due to gravitation in the so-called "Big Crunch".

Awesome video as always keep up the great work Fizhy👍🏼💪🏼

Great video dude. And the fact that you touched on the more accurate age of the Reapers (at least a billion years old, instead of merely a 100 million years or so like nearly everyone else does) simply gives proof to what I've said on those other reaction videos (and in particular to those individuals who commented in support of such a recent beginning to the Reapers). And that would be this: the Reapers are FAR older and FAR more numerous than what most other people think. Example: Sovereign ITSELF told Shepherd "We are legion. Our numbers will darken the skies of every world". And Leviathan told Shepherd that "COUNTLESS Cycles passed before the Reapers created the Citadel and Mass Relay network, and that "COUNTLESS Cycles" passed before the 'harvest' had been streamlined to the 50,000 year cycles. Plus, those people seem to be forgetting about the fact that less than 10% of the ENTIRE Milky Way Galaxy had been explored/visited, and therefore in my opinion seem to believe that since no other races or history was mentioned about the roughly 90% of the galaxy that was UNKNOWN/UNEXPLORED, then there's absolutely NO Reapers ANYWHERE except for in Council Space. They then give the number of Reapers as being only a few thousand in number, which in my opinion is BLATANTLY WRONG and a GROSS/WRONG underestimate of the TOTAL number of Reapers. Just my own personal opinion anyway. But my opinion aside, again great video dude. Oh by the way, you just got a new subscriber.

I can't wait for u to get to ships and vehicles as well as the different aspects of space combat. General tactics, planetary assaults, pursuit tactics, etc, As that is my real area of expertise when it comes to mass effect lore

I'm enjoying these me lore videos. Quick question will you make a video on theorising what the next mass effect may be about with regards to the reveal trailer?

So the squid saw their thralls continually fuck up by building AIs and were like? That's doesn't seem to be working, lets also try it!

Harbinger is more powerful then Sovereign. Where Sovereign has 1 main gun, Harbinger has 2. Their main guns are also called "Magnetic hydrodynamic cannons", firing molten metal suspended in a mass effect field at a fraction of the speed of light. As well as both classes also have what appear to be smaller Magnetic hydrodynamic cannons on the tips of their "legs", as well as highly advanced point defense lasers, making them immune to any fighter or slow moving projectiles such as missiles or torpedos. They also have powerful kinetic-barriers and thick ablative armor Destroyers only appear to have a small Magnetic hydrodynamic cannon along with kinetic barriers and ablative armor equal to that of an alliance cruiser or dreadnought Interesting fact: groundside reapers are also significantly weaker as they are channeling a large portion of their power to mass reducing fields in order to improve their mobility and make landing and taking off easier

I love the fact that some RU-vidrs made new Mass Effect Lore videos. Even thou I heard probabbly everthing that could be said I still come back for more.

I just recently started the legendary edition and I feel farther in love the more and more I played. I had to automatically put in my top 10 maybe even top 5 fave games ever

Ugh it's honestly so frustrating that no one believed shepherd that much and we were so unprepared but then again i guess i can understand lol

When you think of it, humans were exceedingly unlucky to join the galactic community the time they did. Imagine 2 or 3 centuries later and the Reapers would be done with their genocide and humans would be "alone" in the galaxy after opening the mass relay. And 50k years of technical advancement would make it rather hard for the reapers to beat them i think.

How long do the Reaper purges usually take? Also what would happen if a species discovered the Mass Relays AS the Reapers attacked.

the Asaria from Zhu's hope was indoctrinated but when given to the thorian and was spared at the end she was no longer indoctrinated because of the hive mind the Zhu's hope have because of the thorian or a sorta of hivemind since they don't actually share the same thoughts actively just a sense of it which is mentioned in ME 3

Reapers are probably the scariest fucking thing I’ve seen in sci-fi

They do have names I believe Legion tells you that Sovereigns actual name is Nazara.

I’ve never gotten chills from a spoiler warning before

What is the background music?

Reaper sounds give me PTSD

The leviathans saw that AI rebelled against and wiped out all species that they observed, so they decide to make a super AI because that makes sense.

I feel like their jobs would be simpler with thermonuclear warheads

The only good reaper is a dead one that being said i realized something very disturbing and interesting and it about there tech which is what the citidal mass relays and all all the council races tech is based Te reason the reapers went so fast through earth defenses and the others is because not only are the reapers so far advanced but because all that tech is based on there design they can easily hack it and or have built in bac door

I dont know if you still do theses but if so you should do one on the leviathans

I find that the Reapers were ultimately just made waaaayyyyy less interesting and scary by the amount of clear (and unsatisfying) answers you got about them in ME3. The Organics/Synthetics conflict stuff was half-baked, and the moment you give a clear motivation like that to the Reapers it just undermines their Lovecraftian horror aspect, which was one of their strongest. In my hypothetical version of Mass Effect, something like the Collector Base reveal about how new reapers are formed still happens, but that's the only concrete clue. All the talk the reapers spout about their "salvation through destruction" stays in, but is left unexplained. The Reapers would _seem_ to have made the Citadel and Mass Relays to speed up time between cycles in order to make the galaxy into a productive feeding ground that they 'farm' for sustenance every 50,000 years. When the trap is sprung and the Reapers come for you, there is no explanation and no quarter... Only the Harvest.

Come on, baby (don't fear the reaper) Baby, take my hand (don't fear the reaper) We'll be able to fly (don't fear the reaper) Baby, I'm your man La, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la

I have a question. Did Harbinger solo the Leviathans at the peak of their power and all advanced life in the galaxy the first cycle? Completely by himself? I mean, surely he indoctrinated people but he was the only Reaper at the time. Right?

That whole bringing chaos to order thing the reapers keep saying the whole game is just seems like misdirection or an attempt by the writers to make them seem enigmatic and mystical. Whatever reapers where initially made for is most likely no longer their goal if you judge them by what they do and not by what they say. Its funny that AIs designed to preserve organic life are now all consumed with serving the same biological imperatives. They function just like a virus with a couple of extra steps.

Lovecraftian Mechanical Calamari

Imagine being an organic This post was made by synthetic gang

Ancient space cuttlefish

Am I the only one struggling to unlock the completionist trophy on playstation? I've completed everything except a couple side quests that are tied to the resources collecting and badges

More vids like this 👍

The reapers in lore: are something you only fight once on rannoch, and never again 🙃

Are the Leviathans actually aquatic or did they relocate here in order to hide from the reapers? What actually are the Leviathan? Another race of synthetic organisms? Is there much lore on them? What’s their story prior to hiding from the Reapers?

Giant space ticks

Wait...we know a couple of their names Sovereign and Harbinger...

Do you like clouds?

You'll never understand us.

I can't help thinking about humanity's future. We are already developing AI, tho we nearly just understand how dangerous it can be, if something like this happens :D

I would have loved if we spent Me2 gathering support and posting propaganda for the reapers. And in Me3 we do an arma/mass-effect hybrid where you place troops and defenses before going into first person to fight on the front lines against the reaper threat

It’s all fun and games till the reapers actually exist

Gavin is the reapers

Nazara... why does everyone forget Reapers have individual names? Sovereign was just a title Nazara used.

Fizhy you need to revisit this topic. Make a proper video like the one on the mysterious benefactor.

i have never played mass effect and the great thing with your streams is i dont need to

Seasons don't fear the reaper, but I sure do.

Gotta give it to Bioware The lore of Mass Effect is unmatched

The Leviathan DLC was trash . Should have NEVER happened. The origin questions should have never been answered - lost in infinite time. Maybe vague fragments could be recovered from Reaper memory over time - not actually meeting a biological species which has somehow survived over millions and millions of years (ridiculous). The origin also shouldn't have ever been relevant - these machines should have been their own life forms for SO LONG that their origin or even original purpose was irrelevant. Machines would not see time in the way biological species would - I was hoping they were so forward thinking that perhaps their methods were a twisted evolution of a noble goal of trying to preserve life beyond the end of the universe when the entire universe collapsed onto itself into a singularity and eventually another big bang.

Thanks again for the help moving my fridge freezer fizhy mate appreciate it and remember stay out of the cat box stay out of the cat box Roadhouse

Noice

What? Leviathan create AI to stop machine from killing off their creators? what stupidity is this?

What if the human reaper in Me2 was actually the collectors trying to create something to combat their oppressors

More red dead 2 vids

My biggest problem with the Reapers is how weak they actually are compared to what they should be. If they're a billion years old then that means they've had 20,000 successful cycles. That's a fuckin lot. By now you'd think they should be so unstoppable that the idea of even fighting let alone killing a Reaper should be unthinkable. At the very least their numbers should be ridiculous, yet they attack Earth first instead of everywhere at once. If they create a new Reaper every cycle then where are the 20,000 absolutely massive Reapers? The only solution I could see is if they've expanded to other galaxies, and yet Andromeda doesn't seem to be undergoing a cycle as far as we know.

Stop asking for likes. Earn them.

Uh fizhy you left a lot out of this video so let me fill in some of the blanks with what I managed to figure out from mass effect also spoilers So the first galactic civilization was the leviathans (we don’t know there real name) a race of giant octopus looking people with strong telepathic powers, they were worshiped like gods by lesser more primitive species and more or less owned the galaxy. So one day they make the first reaper in there image with similar powers to them, so they made it to preserve life and eventually the reaper (which later becomes harbinger) and eventually deduces that to preserve life one must destroy so they destroy all life and purge most of the leviathans from the galaxy forcing them to hide and eventually forces the lesser species that worship it to make (or it make it on its own) another reaper and they end up going into dark space and eventually create the citadel and the mass relays and wait for life to repopulate and use the galaxy as a testing grounds to figure out the answer to there porpoise so they end up wiping them out and starting over basically it’s one big test lab for them, and basically here’s also how the reaper cycle works proper: reapers come back from dark space after waiting 50,000 years to wipe out all organic life by making organic use the citadel as there main base of ops but it’s actually one giant ass mass relay and eventually arrive through there and exterminate the main body of government leaving the rest in shambles and they then proceeded to systematically wipe out all planets and organic species they deem necessary, they use the mass effect relays to get to one system to another and…well exterminate everyone. And once everyone is dead. organic life then begins to repopulate and become space fairing (also they leave more primitive species alive that’s why humans survived the last galactic cycle, we were basically cave men and not worth the effort not yet anyways) once there done with harvesting they enslave the remaining species and genetically modify them to obey and serve the reapers, and then they proceed to force them to make a reaper for them to join there army and eventually turn the enslaved species into the reaper they built and basically can have that species live on as a reaper with all there knowledge and history stored in one and they all become one giant hive mind each the size of there own country/state (I forget how the quote goes) So yeah