Does the storyline of the Wraith seem really plausible to you?

[xrayz]

OK, I know it's sci-fi, but how much can you suspend common sense?

Some things that need explaining about these critters-

The wraith have technology that rivaled the Ancient's-

if so, I guess we haven't seen it yet. If Atlantis had any real power
supply, it seems as if the handful of humans there wouldn't be
having much trouble beating them.

Also, on this point, how did they get this technology? Did they
steal it, either directly or take the ideas psychically from another
species' minds? I say this because they don't seem all that bright.
The only mention of a Wraith "scientist" is the one who did some
DNA experiments-not really too advanced.

The Wraith beat the Ancients because of vastly superior numbers-

I don't understand this. Hibernation or no, it just doesn't make
sense for a predator species to outnumber its prey.

Wraith evolution

Species where the individuals live for thousands of years have most
likely come to the end of their development. If so, it must have took
a loooong time to come to this point. Are all the other sentient people
of Pegasus relatively new? If so, what were the Wraith feeding on
before they were around? And if not, why aren't any of them advanced
enough to defend themselves?


These are a very few points that stand out to me. Any other seeming unlikely character aspects, or possible explanations are welcome. Thanks.

[Raicho]

OK, I know it's sci-fi, but how much can you suspend common sense?

Some things that need explaining about these critters-

The wraith have technology that rivaled the Ancient's-

if so, I guess we haven't seen it yet. If Atlantis had any real power
supply, it seems as if the handful of humans there wouldn't be
having much trouble beating them.

Also, on this point, how did they get this technology? Did they
steal it, either directly or take the ideas psychically from another
species' minds? I say this because they don't seem all that bright.
The only mention of a Wraith "scientist" is the one who did some
DNA experiments-not really too advanced.

Think of it in the terms that every civilization progresses differently. Some civilizations excel in certain areas while other's don't. Maybe the Wraith had some rivaled technological advancements i.e. hyper space engines, energy weapons that surprised the Ancients. You also have to consider the possibility they had not encountered a species with those type of advancements in the Pegasus galaxy.

We still haven't been told how they or if they obtained their technology. I think their longevity would account for a lot of their enhancements in technology.

The Wraith beat the Ancients because of vastly superior numbers-

I don't understand this. Hibernation or no, it just doesn't make
sense for a predator species to outnumber its prey.

The Wraith don't outnumber the humans. The humans are considered sparse because they're spread throughout the Pegasus galaxy.

[Ouroboros]

Ok I'll do my best to give you some answers. I don't know how much you've seen so I'll try to keep in free of plot spoilers as much as I can and still explain it properly.

The wraith have technology that rivaled the Ancient's

Rivaled just means it was competitive enough in certain areas that the ancients couldn't totally stomp them in a combat situation. For example I don't think a pair of squids will kill a hiveship the way they smoke a Ha'Tak.

The main Wraith technological strength was their ability to produce things incedibly fast, troops and ships. They went from one planet to holding an entire galaxy in less than 100 years. Given that production rate they could get away with lower quality ships, weapons and higher attrition rates in combat simply because the ancients probably quite literally couldn't kill them as fast as they were breeding.

As for how they got it the leading theory right now seems to be that at some point some ancients got fed on and the Wraith that did so got their knowledge. The Wraith have a species wide psychic link so that first Wraith or Wraiths could then spread the info to all their buddies very rapidly.

The Wraith beat the Ancients because of vastly superior numbers

Every indication we've got from the series so far suggests that there isn't anywhere near as many Wraith around now as there was then. As for what happened to the extra Wraith who knows. Maybe they starved, maybe the ancients had some kind of last gasp weapon of mass destruction, maybe they're sleeping and the wraith wake up in shifts.

Wraith evolution

Spoiler:

According to the series so far the Wraith poofed into being when all of a sudden some life sucking bugs somehow got genetically mixed with humans, the end result being Wraiths. It's pretty high on the totem poll as far as needlessly silly violations of science and evolution theory go and I really wished they'd come up with something a bit better than the tired old "OMG killer mutants DNA catastrophe!" angle that seems to have become so popular in sci-fi since the word DNA went mainstream.

[Spimman]

There are to may unanswer questions when it comes to the wraith and we'll find out quite a few of these in seasons to come...I imagine we'll destroy some of them and then all the sudden 5 more ships we'll come and we'll be like...How on earth did they buld up so fast.

I'm sure much of this will be explored...it seems numbers(so far) were their biggest advantage.

[Ganjaman]

Remember that even back then there was a two-tier hierarchy of ancients and humans. plenty of humans to feed on, not as many ancients cos the wraith killed them all. I reckon the ancients only had a few really amazing battleships and the wraith had tons of worse battleships but capable of putting up a fight. The problem was the wraith hunted in packs so though an ancient ship could win one on one it couldnt win five on one. Numbers does not need to be numbers of wraith it could be ships. Remember 60 hive ships to an entire galaxy full of humans really isn't a lot.

[Wandering Tamer]

this is gonna be the weirdest comparison. it's like the Puddies from Power Rangers. They are stupid and not very good but massive amounts of them, they can be a real challenge.

But seriously, I thought the Wraith woke up and destoryed civilizations that had advanced to far. And we don't know how the Wraith came to power, they could have done it all in secret and launched an all out war.

[Thors Hammer]

I struggle with this a bit as well. I guess what makes it so difficult for me is that we've seen such technological wonders from the Ancients, that it seems impossible for them to be defeated (in a sense). Add to that their ability to adapt incredibly fast, and it does become difficult to believe. For instance, when Jack had the knowledge of the Ancients again, he quickly came up with a device to counter the replicators, who were the most formidable foe we had seen yet (aside from Anubis, but he couldn't use his ascended powers).

If you haven't seen Siege do not go further
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Plus, in Siege part 1:

McKAY: According to the Ancient database, it should be able to take out all three when fully charged. Keep in mind that the Ancient technology was far superior -- they only lost the war because they were vastly outnumbered.

Even being vastly outnumbered, the Ancients were far more technologically superior, and we've seen how highly adpatvie they are when it comes to neutralizing threats (replicators).

We'll obviously be getting to know the Wraith better in upcoming seasons, so I can't wait to actually learn about and see some wraith technology and military might.

[Raicho]

this is gonna be the weirdest comparison. it's like the Puddies from Power Rangers.

I'm not ashamed to admit I watched that show...and yes the Puddies pwned in numbers.

[SG-4MarineLeader]

Having better tech doesn't mean your better. In WW2 Germany had better tanks and other weapons than the US and Britain, but the US and Britain could make 10 or more tanks for every German tank, and both countries had larger populations to work with than Germany.

[Bluemoon]

I don´t think that the Wraith storyline is very plausible, the Wraith episodes were maybe written with horror movies in mind (which don´t need to be plausible) not with science fiction movies, but as long as the episodes are so good as they are now I´m not complaining.

[Freyrs]

I believe if you take into account soley the technology. No, the wraith shouldn't have won. But if you take into account the expansionist nature of the Wraith and the pascifist nature of the Ancients... maybe they caught them off guard and gained the upper hand. Hopefully we'll get some more history in later season on the war.

[Anubis345]

the wraith aren't that stupid otherwise how would they have such good battle plans llike they tried to infiltrate Atlantis from the inside and they attack in supperior numbers so give the wraith more credit they are pretty intelligent and the Ancients i think are the ones who created the wraith remember that bug from 38 minutes wel that dna and human dna and well you get a wraith

[Giantevilhead]

I find it extremely implausible how the Wraith are willing to sacrifice so many of their numbers for food. If we had to sacrifice just one person for every 100 cows or pigs we slaughter for food, we would probably be looking for another source of food.

[spiceweasel]

OK, I know it's sci-fi, but how much can you suspend common sense?

Some things that need explaining about these critters-

The wraith have technology that rivaled the Ancient's-
The Wraith beat the Ancients because of vastly superior numbers-
Wraith evolution

These are a very few points that stand out to me. Any other seeming unlikely character aspects, or possible explanations are welcome. Thanks.

In the original Atlantis myths there were two groups roughly analgous to the ancients and the wraith. A high minded spiritually advanced group of near perfection and spiritually, and a darker group that emerged from the first over time. The newer darker group used humans for slaves and food and practiced all sorts of forbidden idolatry. The differences lead to civil war and ultimately the destruction of Atlantis itsself several times over. The wars 'destroyed' the island breaking it up 2 times before finally sinking the remaining islands into the sea and forcing the inhabitants to other islands where the descendants maintainded their hatred of eachother.

So while the writers lifted a bit from the mythos its close enough to be plausable for me! :-)


Ps I recommend any Edgar Cayce Atlantis books, theyre fun!

[Cycrow]

one thing u have to remember, is that they only lost the war coz they give up

in seige part 2

Spoiler:

they clearly say that the anicents won almost every battle, but no matter how hard they faught, the wraith kept coming with more and more numbers and the acinents couldn't c any way to win the whole war, so they give up and left