Reavers are a group of humans in the television series Firefly

Firefly (TV series)

Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....

and the movie Serenity

Serenity (film)

Serenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is a continuation of the short-lived 2002 Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set in 2518, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew of a cargo ship...

who live on the fringes of civilized space and have become animalistic. Within most of the timeline of the series and movie, Reaver existence is officially denied by the Alliance

Alliance (Firefly)

The Alliance is a fictional supra-governmental entity in the Serenity franchise, a powerful authoritarian government and law-enforcement organization that controls the majority of territory within the known universe...

, the ruling government of humanity, but they are a harsh reality around the outer planets.

Behavior

In Firefly, Reavers are readily recognized in any situation by both appearance and behavior. Whether ritually or in fits of rage, they maim themselves, peeling off parts of their own skins and shoving pieces of metal into the flesh. Reavers are savage, brutal and primal, though they engage in some form of social behavior and cooperation within their own group. Their contact with normal humans appears limited to combat, rape, torture, murder, and cannibalism. These contacts are brief and survivors few. As a result, little is known of Reavers' social structure.

Reavers growl and snarl like beasts; even radio transmissions within their flotilla seem to be little more than shrieks and moans. However, they presumably communicate on some level as they are still able to cooperate and act purposefully enough to use spaceships and set sophisticated technological traps. This suggests that Reavers have retained some level of higher intelligence, though guided solely on their impulse to capture and consume any humans they come in contact with.

The Reavers live on the edge of the human-controlled binary solar systems, rarely venturing deep into occupied space. As a result, most of inner worlds and many Alliance officials believe them to be myths made to cover for violent criminals. Reavers are known to capture ships and raid colonies on the edge of populated space - as Zoe puts it:

"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."

They occasionally leave intentional survivors of their raids, apparently subjecting them to a form of brainwashing - forcing them to witness the torture of other Reaver victims - that may drive them into the same state of cannibalistic depravity.

They 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 and battle tactics

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 safety measures such as nuclear engine radiation

Radiation

In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...

 containment

Containment building

A containment building, in its most common usage, is a steel or reinforced concrete structure enclosing a nuclear reactor. It is designed, in any emergency, to contain the escape of radiation to a maximum pressure in the range of 60 to 200 psi...

, 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 approach and to hide by powering down their ships rather than fleeing.
Reavers' habit of ramming

Aerial ramming

Aerial ramming or air ramming is a last-ditch tactic in air combat, sometimes used when all else has failed. Long before the invention of aircraft, ramming tactics in naval warfare and ground warfare were common...

 their victims with indifference to damaging their own hulls tends to leave their ships appearing battered or torn.

Their craft possesses a wide variety of exotic weaponry, many of which are designed to snare and capture other ships including EMP

Electromagnetic pulse

An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...

 cannons, grappling lines, and energy nets. They use weapons that fire giant sharpened disks similar to buzzsaws

Circular saw

The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...

 or shuriken

Shuriken

A shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing...

, in addition to more traditional anti-ship ordnance. They also fire long lance-like metal rods. Rather than firearms, Reavers will use any sharp object as a weapon in personal combat. They also fire toxic darts to cripple their opponents but not kill them. The goal of their weaponry is most likely to increase the number of survivors on victim ships (since Reavers have no interest in victims who are already dead). 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. This was shown in the episode "Bushwacked".

The Reavers operate a variety of vessels, from Firefly-sized vessels to captured Alliance warships. In the movie 'Serenity', the most notable among Reaver ships was a huge colony vessel orbiting Miranda, which is several times larger than any of the Alliance vessels it subsequently attacked. Even with its greater size the Reavers used the same tactics as with smaller ships, ramming an Alliance flagship and splitting it in half due to the vast difference in mass.

Character design

Comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 artist Bernie Wrightson

Bernie Wrightson

Bernie "Berni" Wrightson is an American artist known for his horror illustrations and comic books.-Biography:...

, co-creator of Swamp Thing

Swamp Thing

Swamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...

, contributed Reaver concept designs for the film Serenity.

Human response

Most normal humans are terrified of Reavers. Even the most battle-hardened will opt to leave any space where Reavers are present rather than risk the possibility of being captured. For instance in the show when Reavers are coming, Mal becomes very serious and escapes quickly. Reavers are also possibly the only thing that even Jayne fears, as the mere suggestion of traveling where there is a risk of encountering Reavers makes him extremely agitated, declaring that "Reavers ain't human!"

Reaver methods are considered so horrifying that, when faced with capture, victims have been known to attempt suicide. Survivors have been known to cut their own faces, act and think like Reavers, and eventually become a Reaver themselves. Mercy killings of people who are captured or who fall into the hands of Reavers are considered humane, as evident in one scene in the movie Serenity when Mal shoots and kills a man who is grabbed by a few Reavers, who respond by dropping the dead man to the ground.

For various reasons the Alliance government denies the existence of Reavers, even withholding information on them from Alliance commanders of patrol ships in or near Reaver space.

Origin

The original theory within the series is that Reavers are men who traveled to the edge of the star system

Star system

A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars which orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large number of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a star cluster or galaxy, although, broadly speaking, they are also star systems.-Binary star systems:A stellar...

 and were driven mad by the open vastness of space. This theory is discussed among most of the crew members of Serenity. In "Bushwhacked", Shepherd Book

Derrial Book

Derrial Book is a fictional character played by Ron Glass in the science-fiction/Western television series Firefly and its sequel movie, Serenity...

 states that he believes that they are "just men" who have been removed from civilization far too long — men who could be helped. Both Jayne and Mal

Malcolm Reynolds

Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character and main protagonist in the Firefly franchise. Reynolds is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV series Firefly and the 2005 film Serenity. In the series, Reynolds is the captain of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity...

 strongly disagree with the Shepherd's opinion.

The Reavers' true origin is revealed later in the movie Serenity. The crew of Serenity find evidence, in the form of an Alliance scientist's holographic message, that Reavers were originally humans from the planet Miranda. The Alliance government used Miranda as a testing ground for the chemical agent G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate, or simply "Pax" (Latin for "peace"). It was added to the planet's air processors in order 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 (approximately 30,000 total) had the opposite reaction to the Pax, becoming mindlessly violent and extremely aggressive. In fact, the scientist is killed by a Reaver while delivering the message. The scientist noted typical Reaver behavior in the survivors before she herself became a victim of their attacks.

Following the events of Miranda, the Alliance sealed all records regarding the event and deemed the world unsuitable for colonization. When Reavers began attacking outer colonies only a few officials within the Alliance knew the real cause. This changes, however, when the crew of Serenity arrange for what they have uncovered to be broadcast throughout the system.

In Popular Culture

Reavers have not appeared in many mainstream TV shows, mostly because Firefly was taken off the air by FOX after only 14 episodes. It remains a popular show in SyFy reruns, on youtube.com, and in sales of the DVD of the series and the movie Serenity. However, some small communities on the internet have used Reavers in their media. One example is the Web Comic Up Up Down Down's comic called Space Zombies which depicts Reavers doing their daily activities.

The movie Ghosts of Mars

Ghosts of Mars

John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is a 2001 American science fiction action horror film composed, written, and directed by John Carpenter. The film stars Ice Cube, Natasha Henstridge, Jason Statham, Pam Grier, Clea DuVall, and Joanna Cassidy...

features miners who seem more or less like Reavers, although the cause is different.