Why did they leave Atlantis behind?

[@Li3n]

Are the Ancients stupid (as in lack any common sense)? Here they have this city, the jewel in their crown, powered by 3 ZPM's, that had hyperdrive (as it traveled from earth 2 pegasus) and a shield that could last at least a day against a couple of hundred wraith ships (1 ZPM vs 10 hive ships & many cruisers = days), and what do they do? They leave through the Gate!!!!

Why didn't they just took the city back to the MW? Wraith hyperdrive being what they are they couldn't follow them anyway! And don't say that they didn't have enought power for both the shield and hyperdrive as the shield works fine with just 1 ZPM! Also wanting 2 come back to PG is not a good reason as they could by just using a ship with hyperdrive (4 days with the Daedalus)!

The city was way more usefull in the MW, as the gate limited what they could bring with them! Comments anyone?

[kohar]

Well as you've said yourself the shields would last maybe a day with the hive ships, cruisers and darts(which would put the number of ships in the thousands) firing on them. This puts the ancients in a situation of asking can the shields last long enough to raise the city, start their ascent into orbit and enter hyperspace. Since the evidence says no, I think that's probably the most likley reason to leave Atlantis behind.

[@Li3n]

Don't remember in which ep it was (Rising or one in SG-1) in which Atlantis took off Earth! It did it really fast! Also in BIS the Wraith weren't bombing the shield yet (that's how it seemed anyway)!

As we now know that Wraith hyperdrives blow (Siege), and the Ancients got 2 PG pretty fast (they don't seem 2 have food replicators on atlantis, as being vital to life they would have been activated with the other vital systems) with the shield on (if it was off they would die from exposure to space and the city would be destroyed by the speed, as it couldn't even handle a tsunami in The Storm/Eye) they would have no problem outrunning the wraith!

[kohar]

Don't remember in which ep it was (Rising or one in SG-1) in which Atlantis took off Earth! It did it really fast! Also in BIS the Wraith weren't bombing the shield yet (that's how it seemed anyway)!

The scene you mean was in the beginning of Rising Pt1 and yes it did seem to have no trouble lifting from the surface and ascending into space, but thats not the issue.

In BIS the city was submerged after the wraith had started to bombard the shields from orbit, once they submerged the city the wraith probably didn't see a point in continuing with the bombardment.

As we now know that Wraith hyperdrives blow (Siege), and the Ancients got 2 PG pretty fast (they don't seem 2 have food replicators on atlantis, as being vital to life they would have been activated with the other vital systems)

We know the hyperdrive engines are fast but we don't know the time frame in which they travelled. They may have decided to take their time after leaving earth to stop by other Ancient planets in the MW before leaving, we just don't know how long they spent travelling to Pegasus.
Also there has been no mention of food replicators but that doesn't mean they don't have them. There's no evidence for or against them so we can't make assumptions at this stage. In The Seige Pt3 they were'nt to bothered to start to run around and check what new tech had suddenly powered up once the ZPM was in place as they had more pressing matters(like 12 more hive ships on the way).

with the shield on (if it was off they would die from exposure to space and the city would be destroyed by the speed, as it couldn't even handle a tsunami in The Storm/Eye) they would have no problem outrunning the wraith!

Yes they would have no problem out running the wraith IF the shield held up while they entered space to engage their hyperdrive engines.

[Xmen583]

It Is Possible That The Ancients Doesn't Want The Enemy Such A Goa'uld To Find it and could be use against the Asgard, nox and furlings, even the earth.

The Ancients probably want the Tauri from earth to find it.

The Asgard, Furlings, Nox did Not Know When The Ancients Went To The Pegasus Galaxy Several Million Year, now we dont know if the asgard know where the Atlantis that the ancients left behind.

[kohar]

It Is Possible That The Ancients Doesn't Want The Enemy Such A Goa'uld To Find it and could be use against the Asgard, nox and furlings, even the earth.

We have no evidence that the Ancients knew of the Goa'uld(but i think they did) and they left Atlantis in a galaxy with an enemy that even they couldn't beat so that theory is unfounded

The Ancients probably want the Tauri from earth to find it.

The Ancients had all the intentions of one day returning to Atlantis themselves but instead at some stage they ascended.

The Asgard, Furlings, Nox did Not Know When The Ancients Went To The Pegasus Galaxy Several Million Year, now we dont know if the asgard know where the Atlantis that the ancients left behind.

We don't know if any of those races knew of the Ancients before they left for Pegasus so this means absolutly nothing

[MarshAngel]

It's possible the ancients left the city behind because:

1.) They planned to return

2.) They knew the Wraith couldn't access the city below the ocean and the shield without destroying it.

3.) They didn't have the required personnel to fly the city back and the power to do so while under Wraith attack.

4.) They knew the Wraith had culled so much they wouldn't be able to destroy the shield an access the city before they had to hibernate and they planned to return before then

5.) They sabotaged the hyperdrives before they left and in combination with the shield and the ocean, the Wraith wouldn't be able to gain access to anything valuable before they returned.

6.) The Wraith didn't know they were from another galaxy and they wanted to keep it that way so they didn't fly out... it's a stretch but not an impossibility.

[EyeStrain]

i'm wondering how efficient the ancient hyperdrives are?

They sent their "most powerful warship." I'm sure a one big uber
battle took place and their warship were destroyed . So i wonder,
if they were losing, how come they didn't high tailed out of there?

[Avenger]

They were planning to come back to Atlantis at some point.

[gopher65]

The ancients left Earth 3 millions years ago in Atlantis. Who knows how long it took them to get to Pegasus?

[Cycrow]

i'm wondering how efficient the ancient hyperdrives are?

They sent their "most powerful warship." I'm sure a one big uber
battle took place and their warship were destroyed . So i wonder,
if they were losing, how come they didn't high tailed out of there?

they said they sent thier most popwerful warship to try and make peace with them rather than to go into a big battle, they could have been took be surprise and destroyed b4 they had chance to run

[Carter's Boy]

From what I understand that question has not been answered since Dr. Jackson retranslated the tablet found on Abydos. "They made it lost" as in on pourpose. Maybe as we learn more about the Ancients in SG1 and the Wraith in SGA this will become more clear.

[MarshAngel]

From what I understand that question has not been answered since Dr. Jackson retranslated the tablet found on Abydos. "They made it lost" as in on pourpose. Maybe as we learn more about the Ancients in SG1 and the Wraith in SGA this will become more clear.

Good point.
It's possible that after returning to the Milky Way the Ancients had a change of heart either because they couldn't come up with a solution to the wraith or a philosophical turning in which they determined they shouldn't solve the issue. And as a result intended that no human from Earth would ever go to Atlantis and come across the Wraith. Of course this would mean that the address and tablet was most likely planted by Janus knowing that in order for the city to survive the Atlantis expedition had to go.

I hope they address the issue in the show.

[sandyer]

Good point.
It's possible that after returning to the Milky Way the Ancients had a change of heart either because they couldn't come up with a solution to the wraith or a philosophical turning in which they determined they shouldn't solve the issue. And as a result intended that no human from Earth would ever go to Atlantis and come across the Wraith. Of course this would mean that the address and tablet was most likely planted by Janus knowing that in order for the city to survive the Atlantis expedition had to go.

I hope they address the issue in the show.

Janus didn't know about them the first time around.

[Stingix]

The Ancients had plans to return to Atlantis (or hoped to) as the hologram said on the episode - Rising Part 1.

ANCIENT HOLOGRAM: Exchange knowledge and friendship. *above her head a sort of map appears* In time a thousand worlds bore the fruit of life in this form. Then one day our people stepped foot on a dark world where a terrible enemy slept. Never before had we encountered beings with powers that rivaled our own. In our over confidence, we weren't prepared and outnumbered. The enemy fed upon defenseless human worlds like a great Schrage until finally only Atlantis remained. This city's great shield was powerful enough to withstand their terrible weapons but here we were besieged for many years in an offer to save the last of our kind we submerged our great city into the ocean. The Atlantis Stargate was the one and only link back to Earth from this Galaxy, and those who remained used it to return to that world that was once home. There the last survivors of Atlantis lived out the remainder of their lives. This city was left to slumber, in the hope that our kind would one day return.

Beckett steps down. Hologram goes off.