Wraith Castes

[Prior_of_the_Ori]

Thought I would make a thread about whats been learnt of the Wraith in these last two seasons. From what we have seen the Wraith have the human elements of society mixed with an insect heirarchy with different Wraiths having set roles almost.

From the show we can gather (and comments from TPTB on GW site) say there are four main castes of Wraith namely:
Hive Queens, who run the Wraith Hive
Keepers, who take the role of scientists
Commanders, male leaders who command the troops
Drones, the faceless footsoldiers who fight

So do you think we might see other castes or thats it? Do the drones double as workers as well?

On GW its mentioned that Michael is seen as somewhat as a 'fifth' caste bridging between humanity and the Wraith. So does this mean Ellia would have been a 'sixth' caste? I mean she was almost a giant Iratus bug rather then a Wraith or human.

[Happy_Gate]

You know, I have this odd feeling that the we'll find out that the workers for the wraiths a slave humans.

[rarocks24]

On GW its mentioned that Michael is seen as somewhat as a 'fifth' caste bridging between humanity and the Wraith.

No!!! Why? Where is this said? As if the Wraith could get any more Borg-ish.

[TechnoWraith]

Thought I would make a thread about whats been learnt of the Wraith in these last two seasons. From what we have seen the Wraith have the human elements of society mixed with an insect heirarchy with different Wraiths having set roles almost.

From the show we can gather (and comments from TPTB on GW site) say there are four main castes of Wraith namely:
Hive Queens, who run the Wraith Hive
Keepers, who take the role of scientists
Commanders, male leaders who command the troops
Drones, the faceless footsoldiers who fight

So do you think we might see other castes or thats it? Do the drones double as workers as well?

On GW its mentioned that Michael is seen as somewhat as a 'fifth' caste bridging between humanity and the Wraith. So does this mean Ellia would have been a 'sixth' caste? I mean she was almost a giant Iratus bug rather then a Wraith or human.

Actually, the Keepers are in charge of the hive while it hibernates (or otherwise). (Rising, Atlantiseason 1).

Unless Keepers also take on a scientific role, too. but i don't really see that happening for some reason.

[Ouroboros]

Keepers are more important than hivequeens.

Queens just run single ships.

Keepers hold onto ancient knowledge necessary to build and maintain certain facets of Wraith technology. This is probably why they oversee the sleeping Wraith. In case anything goes wrong with the hibernation they want someone who knows what they're doing to prevent them all from dieing in their sleep.

Allies also implies that Keepers are valued among the Wraith to such an extent that who they make their alliances with affects the balance of power in the various Wraith tribes.

[Blue Banrigh]

Are there any physical distinction between the hivequeens and the keepers?

[TechnoWraith]

Keepers are more important than hivequeens.

Queens just run single ships.

Keepers hold onto ancient knowledge necessary to build and maintain certain facets of Wraith technology. This is probably why they oversee the sleeping Wraith. In case anything goes wrong with the hibernation they want someone who knows what they're doing to prevent them all from dieing in their sleep.

Allies also implies that Keepers are valued among the Wraith to such an extent that who they make their alliances with affects the balance of power in the various Wraith tribes.

Oh, okies. I must not have been paying attention to those parts.

[Prior_of_the_Ori]

Are there any physical distinction between the hivequeens and the keepers?

Don't believe so as we have only seen one keeper so far namely the one in Rising.

As for where the Michael Fifth caste thing is written, its on Gateworld and was written by Brad Wright.

Also since Wraith tech is organic to some extent would this mean the Wraith don't require labour to produce their ships? Say perhaps only the Keepers are needed to shape the ship into its form while it grows on its own as long as their is sustenance to draw upon.

[GhostPoet]

The human worshippers could be somewhat considered a caste system...the Wraith may end up using them as more than just food or worshipping servants. They could be experimented on, made into soldiers or weapons.

[HirogenGater]

No!!! Why? Where is this said? As if the Wraith could get any more Borg-ish.

I don't think they are like the Borg.

[Ouroboros]

Are there any physical distinction between the hivequeens and the keepers?

Keepers are blue and have red hair?

So far we've only seen one hivekeeper and at the time we didn't know how important she was. It's impossible to say if all hivekeepers will look sort of like her of if they will also vary like the queens do. Another point of potential variation is the hands. They used prosthetic Wraith hands in Rising but haven't done it since. It's tough to call whether that will become another distinguishing trait of keepers or just something that gets left behind as the makeup techniques evolve though.

Keepers also seem to be better psychics than queens given how the Rising one could make Sumner leak info all over the place just by asking him questions, but the queen in Hive needed a big plot to try and trick Shep into telling her about Earth.

I'd say the red hair is the thing to watch for though. We've never seen another Wraith with red hair or anything even close really.

Oh, okies. I must not have been paying attention to those parts.

This stuff came out in one scene in Allies. If you haven't seen it yet then don't worry, you didn't miss anything.

[FallenAngelII]

Thought I would make a thread about whats been learnt of the Wraith in these last two seasons. From what we have seen the Wraith have the human elements of society mixed with an insect heirarchy with different Wraiths having set roles almost.

From the show we can gather (and comments from TPTB on GW site) say there are four main castes of Wraith namely:
Hive Queens, who run the Wraith Hive
Keepers, who take the role of scientists
Commanders, male leaders who command the troops
Drones, the faceless footsoldiers who fight

So do you think we might see other castes or thats it? Do the drones double as workers as well?

On GW its mentioned that Michael is seen as somewhat as a 'fifth' caste bridging between humanity and the Wraith. So does this mean Ellia would have been a 'sixth' caste? I mean she was almost a giant Iratus bug rather then a Wraith or human.

To me, "Keeper" sounded much more like a Wraith who guards and commands the Hive while the others sleep. I mean, you can't have it like the Aurora crew now, can you? They all went into suspended animation and look where that got them.

[TechnoWraith]

This stuff came out in one scene in Allies. If you haven't seen it yet then don't worry, you didn't miss anything.

I did see Allies, i probably just didn't pay too close attnetion to taht part. i have Allies on the Tivo still, so i can go rewatch it.

[FallenAngelII]

Exactly when in Allies did they even mention keepers?

Anyway, as for the red hair, how many people in real life do you know that have red hair naturally? Not many, I bet.

[rarocks24]

Exactly when in Allies did they even mention keepers?

Anyway, as for the red hair, how many people in real life do you know that have red hair naturally? Not many, I bet.

On the top of my head (no pun intended), I only know one...

And I don't remember them talking about keepers in Allies.