Wraith Children

[delrey]

I may be mistaken but in the very first episode, wasnt there a female wraith that was simply a "keeper" and not a queen or was she a queen and keeper like mother of the ship, il have to go back in rewatch the episode, would just have some interesting interpretations if she wasnt a queen.

[ciannwn]

I may be mistaken but in the very first episode, wasnt there a female wraith that was simply a "keeper" and not a queen or was she a queen and keeper like mother of the ship, il have to go back in rewatch the episode, would just have some interesting interpretations if she wasnt a queen.

There appears to be some confusion about this female Wraith because Andee Frizzell says one thing in an interview and the SGA stories appear to suggest something a little different. I'm going to start with a few quotes from Part 2 of the Gateworld interview (Her 'Rising' character is referred to as a Keeper in both parts of the interview.)

Queen Of The Hungry Part 2

GW: We learned in "Allies" that there were actually multiple Keepers, which was something that not many fans imagined. There was probably one Queen, probably one Keeper. But that's not the case. What sets them apart from the Queens, both in terms of duty and personality? I get the feeling that to a certain degree they're a "dead man switch" for the hive ships.

AF: Yeah. I think that what differentiates the Keepers from the Queens is that the Queens have more of the ... The Keeper protects, the Keeper takes care of, nurtures the hive itself, whereas the Queen is in control of it. The Queen is more based on taking care of the country versus taking care of her hive, and moving them where they need to go, based on what they need -- to feed, to relocate, whatever it is.

Now to the SGA stories.

The female Wraith in 'Rising' describes herself as a caretaker. 'We', in the following quote, has to include her staff.

"WRAITH (lying on the floor, clearly in pain): You don't know what you have done. We are merely the caretakers for those that sleep."

We hear about Keepers in 'Allies' when the Wraith scientist says -

WRAITH: Before the civil war, there were Keepers who maintained the entire fleet, but they have made their own alliances.

Perhaps a maintenance technician could be said to nurture a hive but, for the most part, it seems that hive ships nurture themselves.

McKAY: The organic base of a lot of your technology -- it's, uh, it's quite amazing. Very, um, resilient.

WRAITH: Many of the problems we encounter eventually heal themselves, yes, but there are smaller, more complex issues.

Would a 'dead man switch' need to be a specialist maintenance technician as well? After all, if a small complex issue cropped up a Keeper could be woken from hibernation to deal with it.

The female caretaker appears to be in charge. The faced male Wraith commands the masked warriors -

The Wraith looks at Toran and gestures at him. One of the guards walks over to him.

Later on in the episode, however, the faced male shoots Sheppard and the female orders "Bring him".

It's the female who interrogates Sumner and she uses exactly the same kind of mind control methods that Queens do.

So far the only other females we've seen on hive ships have been Queens. This doesn't mean that female Keepers can't be busy elsewhere, of course - a hive is a very big ship so the Queen's throne and the hive's equivalent of the engine room are likely to be a long way apart.

If Keepers really are female would it be practical to have them producing offspring as well? If pregnancy follows the human pattern an enormous bump in front could be a bit of a handicap unless all the small, complex issues can be sorted out while sitting in front of a computer. It would be even more of a handicap if the specialist technician went into labour while she was in the middle of a vitally important job. Having to rush off to lay a clutch of eggs would be just as bad.

[delrey]

Perhaps some queens are not fertile and become keepers. Or maybe its a right of passage to becomming a queen. Or have to reach a certain maturity to produce more wraith or proove themselves worthy of creating strong gened wraith, there own natural selection, only letting the best wraith produce offspring.

[ciannwn]

Perhaps some queens are not fertile and become keepers. Or maybe its a right of passage to becomming a queen. Or have to reach a certain maturity to produce more wraith or proove themselves worthy of creating strong gened wraith, there own natural selection, only letting the best wraith produce offspring.

If Queens are the ones most likely to create strong gened Wraith it doesn't make much sense putting them in command of warships during the Lantean war. It would make even less sense if they're all the breeding females that the Wraith have. Then there's the offspring to consider. Why raise them on warships which could get blown up during a space battle?

GoSpikey's suggestion that Wraith have breeding colonies elsewhere would be a more logical way of going about it. Queens could have taken 'reproduction leave' during the war and left their offspring behind afterwards.

[delrey]

If Queens are the ones most likely to create strong gened Wraith it doesn't make much sense putting them in command of warships during the Lantean war. It would make even less sense if they're all the breeding females that the Wraith have. Then there's the offspring to consider. Why raise them on warships which could get blown up during a space battle?

GoSpikey's suggestion that Wraith have breeding colonies elsewhere would be a more logical way of going about it. Queens could have taken 'reproduction leave' during the war and left their offspring behind afterwards.

But todd also states many of our "Hives" are without queens and would be unable to replenish any losses, which could suggest any number of things, such as they put queens on hives, so they dont have to fly all the way back to a base to get more men when there hyperdrives are weak anyway. But i am sure that they do also have breeding facilities, hence sow.

[ciannwn]

But todd also states many of our "Hives" are without queens and would be unable to replenish any losses, which could suggest any number of things, such as they put queens on hives, so they dont have to fly all the way back to a base to get more men when there hyperdrives are weak anyway.

I get the impression that Todd never tells the Atlantis expedition more than he has to. What he has to might well be a half truth . After all, why would he be inclined to give away Wraith secrets to a group of humans who would only be working with him for their own benefit?

[delrey]

True, it also could be the writers way of letting us know a little something more about the wraith. Both situations are possible.