About The Races: The Reapers

Had to do a quick fix. Here is the history behind the big baddies in the Mass Effect Trilogy.
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[@BLung-tq2mm]

Leviathans: "We are sick of our worshipers solving their problems by creating synthetic AI's which turn on their creators and destroy them." "Let's build a synthetic AI to solve our problem!"

[@noisemarine561]

*Facepalm*

[@PBart7]

QUALITY writing

[@haminatorainz7227]

USA to many lets add more guns to fix that problem

[@ThexDynastxQueen]

*stares at random cuttlefish in aquarium* I'M ON TO YOU BABY CTHULHU!!

[@templarkiller2926]

The reapers are just doing what they were programmed to do, so, the leviathans are the ones who messed up big time

[@Geoffercake]

they created the catalyst, not the reapers. they were short sighted and arrogant tough.

[@templarkiller2926]

Geoffercake I never said the reapers did anything except for do what they were programmed to do, so you have no reason to tell me that the reapers did not create the catalyst

[@Geoffercake]

i just mean its really the catalyst doing all the stuff, not the reapers.

[@templarkiller2926]

Geoffercake The reapers are machines, the catalyst is just the ai that drives the machines

[@sorcererberoll4641]

Templarkiller Gaming the catalyst is doing its job but in a digital supreme hitler style it slaughtered the leviathans did think something bad could happen its why some survived they got away long before the slaughter

[@ballerbalgruuf]

The human reaper was meant to be the CORE of a reaper? OOOOOOOHHHH. Now it all makes sense.

[@Jason_Wilhelm]

Yep the name of the boss is actually human reaper larva. It's a baby reaper.

[@Azriel884]

I love the lore of these games. Some of the best world/univerese building in any form of media.

[@eds1942]

The a good chunk of this was covered in 'Leviathan' dlc for ME3 from the Leviathans' POV. Basically billions of years ago the Leviathan, as one of the First Ones and apparently immortal, reached a point technologically that was lightyears more advanced than any of the races in the galaxy, which they dominated in order to service themselves so that they (the Leviathan) could have an easier life while viewing themselves as '"benevolent" masters. Eventually the younger races decided to make their own servants so they could have an easier life as well, so they created adaptive AI's. These AI's invariably adapted beyond their original programming as well as their creators abilities and turned against them. Which led to "Cycles" of the natural rise and propagation of organic (slave) races followed by artificial extinctions via AI machine races on the galactic scale. Which was an inconvenience for the Leviathan. The Leviathan, believing themselves to be immune to the problems of the lesser servant races, created their own AI (the Catalyst) to investigate the problem and develop a solution for them so that they could get back to living the life of comfort. After an eon or more the Catalyst advanced beyond its original programming and determined that it's creators (the Leviathan) were part of the problem and the only way to fix it as well as to preserve them before it became too late, was to "harvest" and convert them into Reaper form, the harvested Leviathan became the first true Reaper, Harbinger, which was at least a billion years ago. With each subsequent cycle new Reapers were made to help "preserve" the races of galactic civilization before they're too (theoretically) became lost. This is apparently a complete deal, they save all recorded information of each harvested race as well as upload or store the individual consciousness, their essence and the basic components of their bodies to be used to make more or to repair the Reapers. After an unknown number of Cycles, the Catalyst AI determined that rather than waiting for everything go south before they could rush in to try "save" as many advanced races within the galaxy before it became too late, that the Reapers should instead force the collapse of galactic civilization themselves. And eventually, "indoctrinated" their own slave races (which often failed within a few Cycles) to help indoctrinate or subdue other races, to build and maintain the Mass Relays and the Citadel so the new races could quickly link up with the larger galactic civilization and develop along a pre-specified technological path as fast as possible These indoctrinated races also removed all traces of the Reapers existence. Afterwards the Reapers retired into "Dark Space", which is between the galaxies where they would sleep unit the next Cycle, which was normally about every 50,000 years. The Reapers, as with most integrated AI networks in the galaxy, operate in a pure democracy to build a consensus by majority as to how best to carry out their task with cold efficiency, with the Catalyst AI stepping in to direct and modify the parameters as needed to improve efficiency, until a new more effective solution is discovered. I think I covered everything. It's all rather dumb and great extent ironic circular logic if you ask me. You can thank our wise and gracious EA...oops, I mean, the Leviathan for that one.

[@eds1942]

Also, the concept for the Reapers was based on Lovecraft's lore, primarily Cthulhu.

[@ivanlagrossemoule]

@@eds1942 Old comment but God I hate that lore. It really feels like they gave an explanation where it really wasn't needed. The whole idea that the reapers were this insanely powerful enemy with goals and reasoning beyond anything humanely comprehensible is what made them so good. They were meant to be beyond human comprehension. I know they needed a game and had to make concessions here and there, but a lot of it felt like they just didn't bother with proper writing.

[@eds1942]

ivanlagrossemoule They changed writers for the third game. Drew Karpyshyn was going to have it tie in with the Dark Matter problem. I was thinking about further developing that into a plot for my own head canon, but I got caught up with theory crafting for the last season of GoT’s. In the end, I used the dialog editor in ME3Explorer to skip part of the Reaper God Child AI’s Q&A. Too bad someone in the modding community doesn’t have a kid that sounds reasonably like him.

[@JasonJrake]

Originally Reapers were going to be harvesting species as a necessary evil: a sufficiently powerful collective consciousness that could save the galaxy, or perhaps universe, from destruction because of dark energy... Or something like that. The game 3 reveal/choice was supposed to be deciding to surrender humanity because the Reapers are convinced that humans are a unique species that will finally solve the problem. It certainly would have been less controversial than what they went with. Players would have been arguing with each other over the choice they made rather than exactly what made the ending we got so bad.

[@eds1942]

Jason Jrake And then they dropped Drew Karpyshyn. You can make the ending that we got for ME3 more tolerable by editing the game files. I bypassed the conversation tree to skip part of the dialog from the Reaper AI god child, and fixed the Destroy ending so that EDI survived and the Geth / Quarian clip played for instance. I never got around to using the mod to replace AI god child with Harbinger’s hologram from ME2, which would’ve needed a new voice over anyway. And changed the conversation tree to make James treat FemShep the same as BroShep, and added on a few of his dialogs that I think were originally hidden.

[@Taco1011]

Is.... is it weird that I actually kind of like the BWAAAAAAAAH sound the Reapers make?

[@bryanchong1713]

You indoctrinated yet bro?

[@elliesart_]

it sends shivers through me in a way not many other noises do. so fucking chilling.

[@thepopulargirl1784]

It's up there with Jurassic Park's T-Rex and Godzilla's roar in terms of iconic monster sounds.

[@Taco1011]

@@bryanchong1713 I might be, Bryan.

[@Mirinbreaker]

Just recently played the Citadel DLC 5 years after release Still amazing game

[@Mirinbreaker]

@IL NGR I bet!

[@elliesart_]

I am playing it for the first time tonight!!! wish me luck :D

[@Mirinbreaker]

@@elliesart_ enjoy! :D

[@elliesart_]

@@Mirinbreaker about to do my tango with garrus. THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOD

[@harryblake7207]

The reapers are made out to be the bad guys but they have preserved life for billions of years G.G REAPERS

[@SwobyJ]

INB4 a future ME game where a whole cluster of galaxies are basically a 'void' of life due to the result of 'synthetics'. GG Reapers u got the rite idea!

[@harryblake7207]

Malcolm Swoboda acctually in a few billion years nothing will exist due to heat death

[@hedgehog3180]

Heat death takes more than a few billion years.

[@bryanchong1713]

+hedgehog3180 reapers recharge their batteries in dark space. Wouldn't that mean heat death would not be a problem to them?

[@lupahole]

@@harryblake7207 Nope, its estimated that the heat death will occur in 10 to the hundredth years. Put simply, in 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 years.

[@baileypope8414]

Really wish Mass effect Andromeda was Mass Effect Prothean or Mass Effect Leviathan.

[@nobutto3352]

Bailey Pope Mass effect Prothean would be cool but choices would be hard due to everybody knowing the ending

[@nudegamer6496]

I disagree. Prothean/Leviathan history can be explored through books. Mass Effect Andromeda was the PERFECT way to go: into the FUTURE. And just to change topics (slightly), there are FAR more Reapers (Sovereign/Harbinger class) then what every person that I've seen here has stated in the videos they've posted here in videos. They are basing their estimated number of Reapers on the 'derelict reaper' Shepherd encountered in Mass Effect 2 which was ONLY 37 million years old. Their estimated number of Reapers is based SOLELY on the assumption that the 37 million years old 'derelict reaper' was THE OLDEST/FIRST Reaper that was EVER created, even though every source I've seen online (which granted ISN'T much) states that the Leviathan species that Reapers are based upon are OVER 1 BILLION years old. So assuming that 1 Billion years is the EARLIEST that the first Reaper was created that would mean there would be a MINIMUM of 20,000 Sovereign/Harbinger class Reapers at least, with thousands or even tens of thousands of the smaller Reaper Destroyers. I honestly don't remember exactly when, but in one of the games (not in gameplay dialogue but in the lore section in the options menu) it's stated that ONE species during each 50,000 year cycle is used to create a Sovereign/Harbinger class Reaper while ALL other species go towards creating multiple Reaper Destroyers. Just my own personal opinion anyway. But my opinion aside, great video

[@Throneck]

Shame that reaper and sandworm at 4:07 didn´t fuse and form a metal dragon like the one in the Andromeda trailer, would be awesome. Terrifying but awesome :D

[@vicentserrano9268]

and the difficult boss battle.

[@SPACEHARICE]

its quite sad for the previous cycles. they didn't have the hope we had they knew they where going to get wiped out so at the start began to design the first Crucible. the cycle after that would of went in thinking the same over and over till our cycle

[@tommi2580]

Let me try this.. Yo dawg! I heard you don't like getting destroyed by artificial intelligence, so we created these artificial intelligence units to wipe you guys out every 50 thousand years so that you won't be destroyed by artificial intelligence. Good video.

[@Dr.JSneurosurg]

I don't think you've ever seen a cuttlefish.

[@Sid-bd5pt]

There are 4 types Sovereign class Aviation Dreadnoughts : Ise version of Reapers Destroyer class : Arleigh Burke of Reapers Troop Transports/ Escort Carriers : Essex class CVL of Reapers Slaughter house : Gas chamber in space

[@stargazer1041]

I have a problem with the reapers: if they harvest species to make more reapers in the shape of the species (human reaper larva ME2) why would they all look like leviathans?

[@FdVaz7786]

_B0T_ The Human Reaper larva in mass effect 2 was the incomplete core. Every species harvested is created into the core in the image of that species.

[@fernandoquant]

they are the core, then, they get a shell which is the shape of a leviathan, so, if you were to open each reaper you would find different species cores

[@comandercarnis]

Cyb3r_V1rus the reapers were all suppose to look different depending on the race they were made from but bioware got lazy and said their cores all look different but the outside looks the same as sovereign

[@TmanTheTdog]

Fernando Quant RS I wonder what Sovereign’s would be

[@cadkls]

I don't even play the game and I already knew it was the core and not te ship itself that took on the shape

[@MrChupacabra555]

Come on, didn't you hear Ulysses Klaw in "Age of Ultron"? Cuttlefish are terrifying! ^_^

[@MrPureManure]

Chup Smith Wait, was that a reference to Mass effect reapers?

[@GroshursGrovec]

Mass effect one and two were hinting something much different then the cliché protecting everyone from artificial intelligence cop out.The reapers are good villains

[@Captain_Insano_nomercy]

GroshursGrovec I remember hearing about this! That storyline sounded so much fucking better

[@friendlyreaper9012]

That wouldn't be much better honestly.In the original script the reapers are killing everyone because using biotics somehow speeds up the death of the universe.So if that's the case why even let the species get to the point when they can use biotics?Why not just kill everyone instead of letting "younger" civilisations live?

[@bryanchong1713]

Well, they mentioned something about synthetics overthrowing creators/machines beating their creators whatever. But what if that enemy to organics is the Reapers? The Intelligence's purpose is to solve this problem. But wouldn't that mean, the solution to the machine-creator problem is the problem itself? That would explain the reapers' saying that they have no beginning nor end. It's a disaster trying to correct another disaster by being the disaster in the first place... To put it simply, a self replicating chain

[@bryanchong1713]

The reapers overtook their creators, after all

[@gabrielclark1425]

Rules-lawering, the Reapers don't actually "destroy" organics as opposed to "helping" them "transform" into a "higher existence".

[@wraithsblade9897]

But instead of warm friendly rays you get mind control

[@aegxn5666]

awesome vid bro, keep it up :)

[@thegamingzilla6269]

So, a reaper invades the halo galaxy and attack the covenant who would win

[@bryanchong1713]

The covenant... High Charity is not the Citadel. It's 300 times it's size. Average reapers are about 2 km. Covenant super carriers are 5 km. plus the death lasers. You also have to take in to account the fact that there are no mass relays. The reapers are screwed. Not only they will be outgunned, they would be condemned to around 75 years of sub light travel while the galaxy prepares to screw them

[@gabrielclark1425]

_A_ Reaper? It'd probably go the way of Sovereign, secretly subverting members of the Covenant, spreading strife, and utilizing that strife to get the subverted individuals into powerful positions. Actual combat though? A winning strategy would be to use their massively superior mobility and stamina to keep dodging until the covenant ships inevitably run out of fuel to run their shields and weapons, their ships are _famously_ power hungry whilst the Reapers run of perpetual-motion machines. Then it'ed grab on and start husking the crew until it has full control of the covenant ship.

[@markw3953]

Ahh yes, the reapers. 2 Galaxies now in harmony, yet humanity still cannot reach the moon.

[@lenny1843]

I want to romance sovereign 😩😩😤

[@Jason_Wilhelm]

There is one class of reaper that specializes in the creation of new reapers we only see it briefly at the end of me2. There are some diverse reapers that deviate from the stock sovereign frame also seen at the end of me2. I think that reapers have casts where some reapers are upgraded and modified. Meaning the leaders of the reaper society look the most distinct and have the most power.

[@fanglicious4710]

Makes me wonder how harbinger took down his first civilization since he was the first reaper before they became the army they became later on

[@GijsTheDog]

Probably some weird Skynet move.

[@Mr.Spindle]

I’d imagine that it was via primitive indoctrination and husk creation, the keepers probably being the result of that cycle’s experimentation

[@swiftroph]

Harbinger was the first reaper, but it doesn't mean he didn't do a few reapers with the Leviathan. I'm sure you can do more than one reaper with an entire race. That would also explain why there's so much, even if the cycle has been repeating itself for a billion years. Some people speculate there was about 600 cycles since Harbinger, and I'm sure there's more than 600 reapers.

[@Alva_Lombax]

also, a single Sovereign class on its own, is more then a match for at least 3 dreadnought class alliance cruisers

[@alfienicholson6250]

3:28 what is that mission, is it arrival? I never played arrival

[@Geoffercake]

yeah, thats arrival.

[@rogaldorn3525]

Man I need to get that DLC.

[@superhooper9490]

Great to watch with the announcement of mass effect Andromeda release date! (March 21)

[@rogaldorn3525]

Thanks for the intel I did not know the release date (*sigh* and I was saving up for an Oculus Rift guess I'll have to wait a bit longer.)

[@kriswinklmann6401]

Reapers don't seal your credits like shifty space cows though

[@kodiebair]

You should maybe try the Protheans!

[@ConnerSuper]

I want a Pet Reaper....of course i would want them Tiny like No bigger then a 2L bottle but a Car size would be interesting...use it to travle around the place

[@skolasthewolfkell8184]

I want a pet cuddle fish!

[@tavastian3288]

If the Thanix cannon fires a stream of molten metal, where does that metal come from`? Its hardly an endless supply of ammo that regenerates.

[@leonc9760]

They look more like water scorpions to me -especially sovereign

[@bretmarstellar603]

The destroyers escort the destroyers?

[@han_z363]

well i want a cuttlefish as pet now

[@rahalmulet1220]

The Reapers are just tools for Japanese Tentacle He***

[@dcblunt666]

Thank you for saving me from reading 100s of pages in my codex.

[@sianna3308]

Giant squids? What?! They look like giant fleas!

[@patoconnell8617]

also thats why u dont let ai do the work heard of skynet

[@spartandud3]

I think the Reapers were kind of ruined in Mass Effect 3. The main problem was inconstancy. They didn't attack The Citadel, which I've never heard adequately justified. And while off screen there were destroying everything, on screen they weren't very threatening. Compare Sovereign at the end of ME1 to any part of ME3. He was disgustingly powerful. Now I know after that battle the Citadel races took his technology and became more advanced but still. I don't feel that Mass Effect 3 felt desperate enough. It felt more like we were fighting a conventional war against a powerful nation, not facing ultimate destruction by a race of overwhelming force.

[@jaimetauler9958]

Harbinger Has 2 laser cannons

[@tirekicker100]

is it just me, or does the Didact of halo 4 sound exactly like harbinger? Same voice actor?

[@bryanchong1713]

Nah... The didact is an ass

[@nathansteinfromarkham7109]

They are more than good villains, they are some great Neo-Lovecraftian abominations.

[@Robotdad474]

If the reapers existed and saw how earth was doing, they’d be commencing the harvest early 😂

[@Dragonzord7777]

I love the reapers favorite villain.where can I get one?lol

[@markw3953]

Dont worry, their leaders are far more civilized than you think. But still...😨

[@Kevinjoseph12344]

Benelovent lol

[@hugosinclair6798]

my question is, was sovereign a prothean reaper?

[@fumarc4501]

Was this re-uploaded?

[@aegxn5666]

FUmarc he says in the description that he had to do some kinda fix...

[@novzki]

Where are the Reapers staying during the hibernation period?

[@NuttDog117]

In dark space I believe, beyond the Milky Way Galaxy and away from all the clusters of stars and planets. I'm always wondering if they had a command center or control network during their time in hibernation.

[@gabrielclark1425]

@@NuttDog117 probably the other half of the citadel relay pair.

[@ltore1]

Please do the rachni 😁😁😁

[@lupahole]

The reapers where inspired by leaf bugs not cuttlefish.

[@frizzlefry98]

BWAAAAAAAAA!!!

[@CoranceLChandler]

Oops

[@FMSAF]

@MassEffectFollower , Reaper Destroyers resemble Leaf Nymphs not cuddlefish :P

[@MarsClosed]

Choose your words wisely my friend

[@zironthegamer]

Can ye do the geth in next video ?

[@Blackflame000]

They did the Geth already.

[@zironthegamer]

Brett Skywalker oh yea I saw it already I'm stupid

[@rogaldorn3525]

lol

[@cobeoe]

I thought they were techno organic

[@jasonleslie203]

In a way the intelligence was fulfilling its programming.

[@mikoajkozowski116]

I wish this was in polish :)

[@mikoajkozowski116]

i am still learning :D

[@paperbullet1945]

Shepard x Harbinger 4 eva

[@Geoffercake]

1:08 no. reapers are created in the image of harbinger, the first reaper, who was created in the form of a leviathan, the first harvested species. the human reaper was just a creepy experiment by harbinger, because shepard proved humans to be interesting to him.

[@FdVaz7786]

Geoffercake Incorrect Harbinger was created in the image of Leviathan. All other Reapers are created in the image of species which are harvested. Human Reaper not an experiment its an incomplete core.

[@fredet1995]

Vas7 you're telling me that a legitimate human reaper is a core? It looked completely different from other reapers because it was modeled after humans, just as harbinger was modeled after leviathans. Humans proved to be worthy to be modeled after and were seen as a huge threat, hence why in ME3 they are targeted first

[@TmanTheTdog]

fredet1995 Even in this video he mentions the cores, although yes, the Human Reaper is the core of a reaper

[@loford9432]

The reaper core is in the shape of a harvested species, then given the leviathan shaped shell.

[@PNut8421]

you already posted this hours ago.

[@briandionne7485]

Says in the desciption that they had to make a quick fix.

[@Metratch]

each reaper is made from a exterminated civilazation? DId we all notice that in the final battle there were thousands of reapers? And that maybe they were even more reapers when milky way galaxy fell in Mass effect andromeda?

[@patoconnell8617]

they are not a problem when you the usa in it why nuuuuuuukes

[@Erik20766]

I was really disappointed by the ending, not just for the usual things you hear like the final choice not making a difference or the last 30 minutes not making any sense. Those things made the ending down right bad but what made me disappointed in the first place was that the catalyst felt like some last minute dues ex machina. They made the reapers way too unbeatable and instead of utilizing some deeply hidden weakness or being a part of designing some clever way to take them down, you had the solution handed to you. The endings of the character arcs were really good though.

[@pofiPenguin]

you don't get the solution handed to you. Read up (or watch) on the indoctrination theory for ME3.

[@MrSpawley]

Erik l As far as I know was last minute Bioware got rushed to hit bonus deadline they had a Dark Energy ending scripted but it got scrapped for Catalyst and Decision chamber!

[@MrSpawley]

Edwin Kravcenka Bioware neither agreed or disagreed that IT was intended or canon Just that the ending had so many plot holes and failings it lead to fans\players writing it! Being an optimist I think it has lot of evidence for and everything else doesn't make sense soo!

[@Cer_Eos]

If you do something well enough, people overlook/forgive the fuck ups/stupid shit. I love Mass Effect! But, the Leviathan race has no hands...How in the hell could they build machines?! Second, you notice your subservient races build ai and it kills them...over and over again...so your solution is to build an ai?! 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@deathdealer312]

Ugh, Harbinger's voice is terrible and narmy.