Do we even want The Wrait to stop feeding?

[FallenAngelII]

I think we forget that the desire and need for food is not the only impetus for the Wraith actions. If the Wraith are freed from their need to feed, they will simply be freed of their one weakness. Remember, the Wraith did not just feed on the human worlds. they took control of the galaxy. The Wraith-Lantean war was not simply fought over the right to feed off humans. the Wraith fought for dominance of the galaxy, evidenced by their decision to wipe out the Ancients and other races in the galaxy. They are still an evil race.

I'd like your sources as well. What possible proof do you have that the Wraith fought the war for dominance of the galaxy? What proof do you have that the wasn't started over their need to feed and escalated from there?

"We sent some people to negotiate" - Negotiate what? Stop eating our offspring and die? There was no negotiating this matter. And so there was war. And your proof for the war being purely for galactical domination is?

And since when is galactical domination evil? Alexander the Great conquered many a nations. Was he inherently evil?

The Wraith have a self-preservation interest in "conquering the galaxy". With no one to rival their power, no one can stand up for their food supply and defend it.

Also, what "other races in the galaxy" did the Wraith wipe out just out of malice? What possible races could you be talking about? Sateda? Sateda went to war against the Wraith!

They fought the Wraith. The Wraith cannot afford such a thing. The Hoffans? Well, we all know why they had to go.

I love the revisionist history going on in this thread.

I agree. There is more evidence for this given in "The Lost Tribe," when the Asgard leader said the Wraith immediately attacked their ships after the Ancients gave up and packed for the Milky Way. The Wraith do not tolerate the existence of advanced technology other than their own, and Atlantis, yeah it's pretty advanced.

Why should they? Every advanced civilization siding with humans would wish to fight the Wraith. Why should they allow it? Is it evil to not allow resistance and war?

Wraith becoming friends and ending the civil war means doom for Atlantis, and with no one left who would care, even a little bit, for the people of Pegasus, who knows how badly things will be for the humans.

Name one episode where the Wraith killed people just because. With their need to feed gone, there'd be no reason to continue the fight. Their numbers have already dwindled, they aren't stupid.

Why fight an unnecessary war when your race is on the brink of extinction? Especially when you now have to adapt to a new lifestyle. You no longer have to hibernate for long periods of time, you're no longer starving and you have to lean to eat normal food again. Why go to war and risk total annihilation when there's no need to fight anymore?

[ciannwn]

"We sent some people to negotiate" - Negotiate what? Stop eating our offspring and die? There was no negotiating this matter.

There were a couple of alternatives such as an offer for genetic alteration or even for the Wraith to stay in their own territory. After all, the Wraith had to be living somewhere and feeding on humans for thousands of years because they became a power to rival the Lantean's without the Lanteans noticing.

The truth is we have no idea what happened back then because TPTB never bothered to tell us. They just wanted some excuse for the Wraith to go to war with the Lanteans so the latter would leave Atlantis for the expedition to find. Everything was left as vague as possible with just a couple of lines from Lantean sources which can hardly be relied on for objectivity. From 'Rising 1' -

Then one day our people stepped foot upon a dark world where a terrible enemy slept.

Maybe the Wraith were hibernating when they were discovered and the Lanteans were a threat to them.

[FallenAngelII]

There were a couple of alternatives such as an offer for genetic alteration or even for the Wraith to stay in their own territory.

There has been zero mention of the Ancients going for a genetic alteration! Even by the end of the war, when they were desperate and having invented things such as the Asurans, there is absolutely no ention of a genetic alteration.

And if the Ancients really wanted to, they could very easily have came up with a viable delivery system. After all, they had drones, which seem to eat through everything.

After all, the Wraith had to be living somewhere and feeding on humans for thousands of years because they became a power to rival the Lantean's without the Lanteans noticing.

I very much doubt they were around for thousands of years before the Ancients noticed their presence and went after them. Even the Ancients aren't that stupid.

The truth is we have no idea what happened back then because TPTB never bothered to tell us.

Exactly, we know very little. All we have is "We tried to negotitate, they didn't listen".

Maybe the Wraith were hibernating when they were discovered and the Lanteans were a threat to them.

I think it's more of "Rising" being a pilot and the writers just not having really fleshed out the Wraiths' origin story yet.

[ciannwn]

There has been zero mention of the Ancients going for a genetic alteration! Even by the end of the war, when they were desperate and having invented things such as the Asurans, there is absolutely no ention of a genetic alteration.

I agree that there was zero mention of what the negotiations were supposed to be about. I was just suggesting what the writer's could have come up with if they'd bothered to give details.

And if the Ancients really wanted to, they could very easily have came up with a viable delivery system. After all, they had drones, which seem to eat through everything.

I'm surprised the Atlantis expedition hasn't discovered the Lanteans' failed attempt to do this. Going by what we've seen in the show it would have had horrible, unforeseen side effects so it couldn't be used. - eg. any humans who were exposed to the treatment were turned into Wraith.

I very much doubt they were around for thousands of years before the Ancients noticed their presence and went after them. Even the Ancients aren't that stupid.

I gave up on the Lanteans after Season 4 where we learned that the Wraith had deactivated the Asuran attack code. When viewed in hindsight the Tria crew showed an astonishing naivety in assuming that the code which prevented the Asurans from turning on their creators was still intact. Didn't they wonder why the Asurans had sat around doing nothing for ten thousand years and suspect that someone had been messing around with their programming? Poor Lanteans. They are sad victims of plot devices.

Exactly, we know very little. All we have is "We tried to negotitate, they didn't listen".

The line was just put in to make the Wraith seem like evil, life sucking monsters who wouldn't listen to reason. After all, their only purpose in the show was to be cannon fodder.

I think it's more of "Rising" being a pilot and the writers just not having really fleshed out the Wraiths' origin story yet.

Unfortunately the show is now stuck with it plus Wraith evolving from Iratus bugs. This episode added further information from Todd -

TODD: As you know, healthy Wraith have an inherent ability to heal themselves of almost any ailment, but this has not always been the case. Hundreds of thousands of years ago there was a treatment of last resort.

Yes, the Wraith have been around for hundreds of thousands of years.

In time, a thousand worlds bore the fruit of life in this form. Then one day our people stepped foot upon a dark world where a terrible enemy slept. Never before had we encountered beings with powers that rivalled our own. In our over-confidence, we were unprepared and outnumbered. The enemy fed upon defenceless human worlds like a great scourge until finally only Atlantis remained.

This comes across as the Wraith not attacking Lantean territory until they had been discovered and woken up. From what I can gather the Lantean/Wraith war lasted about a century before the evacuation of the city ten thousand years ago. Todd talks of hundreds of thousands of years so it just goes to show how long the Wraith were around before the Lanteans found them.

[Avenger]

This question has bothered me too. What do they expect will happen after the Wraith are converted to humans? I think it is highly likely that the first thing they will do is team up and come down on Atlantis like a bag of hammers. After that, I can't say for sure what will happen. Does Atlantis seriously think that once they become human and the civil war ends, the Wraith will look to us for guidance like every other human race? Atlantis, and Earth for that matter, think too highly of themselves.

They wouldn't come down on Atlantis. They'd be far more likely to continue raiding the people they used to feed on for their food supplies instead. Would be interesting if the Wraith continued to feed on humans, just not in the traditional Wraith manner, if you catch my drift.

[garhkal]

Kind of like teyla and co thought of those barbarian canabils in missing..

[Todd's Pet]

Exactly. I think the Wraith would refocus on themselves for a time. It's not going to be all rosey in Pegasus either even without the Wraith. The Genii and others are already striving for power and control.

OMG I'd rather having feeding Wraith on the rampage than the Genii !!! Now THERE'S a REALLY nasty species!