Talk:Prothean

Interesting how they're always written as 'Protheans', not 'protheans'. Might be a title like that because they were so ancient, not a modern race like the asari. --Tullis 13:38, 27 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Hm, it could also be a sign of respect considering that all the other species thought so highly of them. Digital Holocaust 00:58, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

All basic and advanced errors as far as I can see have been modified and, or repaired. Technological and Biological references that were either incorrect or improperly inferred have also been edited. --Delsana 07:06, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

as far as i remember the citadel and the mass relays were not created by the protheans, they were created by sovereigns race to manipulate the evolution of the species in the galaxy so they could exterminate them faster? can someone edit this as its stated in the opening few lines.


 * No can do my friend. That would be a spoiler, and spoilers don't go in the opening lines. Rule of thumb- the opening lines contain the info available at the start of the game (ie the info that would be "common knowledge" to the characters at that time). Info like what you are mentioning belongs in the main body of the article, preceded by a spoiler tag. SpartHawg948 10:31, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

yah just figured that out when reading the rest of it, sorry bout tht :D

Cro Magnons
So the Protheans studied the Cro-Magnons, which as we know are at least 30,000 years old. Now, at that time the Protheans would've already been extinct by the Reapers. We know early humans were around about 100,000 years ago. So it's likely the ME staff just assumed Cro-Magnons have developed at a certain (speculated, but no hard proof). The Reapers are said to execute all sentient life. So why were the early humans left to live? They were sentient.

It goes without saying that none of the surviving Protheans would've wasted time studying the Cro-Magnons.


 * They were sentient but not advanced enough for the Reapers to bother with. If they harvest technology and resources, Cro-Magnons wouldn't have anything worth the effort. Better to wait, let them evolve, then harvest them later. The Reapers have nothing but time, right? See also Talk:Reaper. --Tullis 22:04, November 19, 2009 (UTC)


 * True, but we don't really know what they do. I guess it's something that is likely to never be answered by ME.


 * I think "we don't understand why they do what they do" covers a lot of things concerning both the Reapers and the geth in ME. I actually like that, means they remain inexplicable and scary. : ) --Tullis 23:05, November 19, 2009 (UTC)

Sovereign tells Shepard that the reapers use the relay system to ensure that societies develop along technological lines they desire. If the goal was simple genocide, they would have sterilized the galaxy outright. It's at least strongly implied that the reapers want societies to reach a certain level of technological advancement before initiating the cycle of extinction. Mistertriplesix 17:50, February 28, 2010 (UTC)

Appearance/Codex Picture
So, exactly what is the ME2 codex picture that goes along with the Prothean entry supposed to be? (It's at the top of the page.) I thought it was a Husk at first, but Husks look different (much more like humans), and the body shape is very similar to the ones in the vision from the first game. Is this supposed to be the Prothean version of a Husk? Or just a Prothean, period? UERD 06:17, February 9, 2010 (UTC)


 * I was confused about that too, but I believe those are Prothean Husks. When I first saw the Prothean codex at the beginning of ME2, I figured that we might find them on some planet. But after finishing the main story and all the other missions, I was disapointed to find nothing relating to the picture anywhere. (Or Prothean Husks.) This leads me to believe that there will be a DLC mission involving their remnants as Husks. It's possible, I mean, why else would they include that picture? And is it just me, or is the background of the picture Ilos? It could be another world, but the enviroment and the rusty skyline all seem like it. That would be kinda odd considering that it was spared during the Reapers' genocide, and the fact they weren't present in the first game. Anyway this is all speculation, and hopefully we'll get some answers soon. HK9592 09:38, February 21, 2010 (UTC)
 * We know from husks and dragon teeth are reaper technology. Perhaps the inclusion of a "Prothean husk" graphic in the codex entry implies that the reapers harvested that technology from the Protheans. Or perhaps the Protheans originally looked like what we call husks. Also of note, EDI states that the reapers were probably not able to use the Protheans in their reproductive cycle (so instead repurposed them into the collectors), but the statues on Ilos had the signature facial tentacles also found on Sovereign and other reapers. Not sure if that is meant to imply a direct correlation or just a coincidence. Mistertriplesix 17:44, February 28, 2010 (UTC)

I may be wrong, but on one of the side missions in Mass Effect 2, don't you find Dragon Teeth that are older (as in much older, millions?) than 50,000 years old? Maybe it's not Dragon Teeth, but I'm pretty sure it turned the researchers into Husks and Abominations. 148.66.21.170 05:39, March 7, 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, that ^ was me. Doofusdude 05:47, March 7, 2010 (UTC)

How in the world do they look like the alien space jokey? The space jockey has a singular ant-eater like snout. A much more similar creature is the Illithids/mindflayers from dungeons and dragons(and baldur's gate/NWN series for that matter...)

I think the picture is a standard Prothean. If you look closely, you can see the 'face tentacles' that the statues on Ilos (and in Donovan Hock's vault) feature prominently. Still not sure if the dark covering (with all the lights) is supposed to be a veil or other piece of clothing, some sort of cybernetic implant, or part of their natural biology. My wild guess is that it was some sort of cybernetic implant that the Reapers later repurposed for use as the husk technology. UERD 16:26, April 20, 2010 (UTC)

The Husks created on the derelict Reaper would have been made with 37 million year old Husk technology meaning Prothean tech couldn't have been used in them. Qmwneb 18:23, April 20, 2010 (UTC)


 * True. I completely forgot about the derelict. UERD 18:52, April 20, 2010 (UTC)

I think it's a husk. All of the husks we've seen so far have been human husks, from what we can tell. So, of course they would look like humans in form, only mechanical and colored differently. I'd assume a husk from another species would like different from a human husk. So, a prothean husk would look like a prothean. Look at the eyes of the prothean and the eyes of a husk. Notice both have glowing eyes and the wiring above and below the eyes. TheUnknown285 18:25, June 3, 2010 (UTC)

I think its a Prothean Husk as well, but until proven otherwise, I'm just going to assume that the ME2 Codex is correct and the image is a Prothean. The people at Bioware will probably spring some clever story on us about the obvious similarities between this picture of a Prothean and the Husks. Qmwneb 16:30, August 13, 2010 (UTC)

About the fingers...I dont think that these long things are fingers of the prothean. They seem as plant tnings to me. If you see the prothean statue model in the UModel or extract it, the hands of the are not continue to these long things.

Check it: Prothean Statue Hands

SoulRipper 13:42, August 24, 2010 (UTC)

Seemingly innacurate
There are two lines i have issue with, i am not sure there is any source for it "after several cloned generations" and "only one strand of their prothean dna remained" i dont reall anything saying they were clones, at least not specifically, and i dont recall anything about only a single dna strand being the same, i remember that there was enough dna left that it was determinable exactly what region of the galaxy that a specific collectors ancestors came from, and i think you need more than a strand to do that, i dont know how dna works. ralok 07:40, April 20, 2010 (UTC)

Ok i am playing this part of the game right now, and according to edi the collector shared at least 2000 matching allele to protheans, i dont know what an allele is and looking it up on the internet only confused me, but it seems that more than a single strand of dna is similiar to the protheans, she was able to determine that this specific collector likely had ancestry from a group in the styx theta cluster, i think the range of genetic modification is being exaggerated slightly in this article. ralok 12:07, April 21, 2010 (UTC)

The line about the cloned generations of indoctrinated cyber-Protheans is spoken by Mordin at some point after his loyalty mission if you speak to him in the Tech Lab. He also mentions something about the enslaved Protheans transmitting data to the Reapers, but Mordin is difficult to understand sometimes :P Qmwneb 16:30, August 13, 2010 (UTC)

DNA 101
Ok. So I am going to assume that you have made it through a 7th grade life science class but I won't expect too much. DNA is, in relevant terms, a very large structure. So lets imagine it as a sky scraper. If the Empire state building is a complete double helix if DNA then genes are the ladder rung life connections that hold the strand together. So effectively you can think of them as the steel girders that hold a building together. God is not disorganized... DNA is constructed in a sequence of chromosomes. Think of them as sections of entire floors in our building. If you group floors in a sky scraper into groups of ten then you get the idea of chromosomes. There are a lot of genes that go into the make up of each chromosome. Now that being said, genes are not the smallest building blocks involved. If we use the analogy of steel girders then we would have to consider the chemical makeup of the steel itself. Perhaps some of the steel was made in Pittsburgh, and some of it was made overseas... if you were to examine the chemical makeup of the steel girders you would be bound to find different chemical compositions in steel made in different places. This idea is not unlike the idea of alleles. Each gene in DNA can have a multitude of different alleles. These are among the smaller, more specific parts of DNA structure. So if you had enough genome data you could definitely isolate certain alleles as belonging to certain regions or ethnic groups, so that at the very least you would be able to identify a damaged DNA sample as belonging to a certain species. Which is what EDI did. To make this analogy more distinct in reference to our sky scraper you have to imagine that every building ever built is made from a distinct compilation of different steel girders. Essentially EDI was able to identify enough alleles to narrow the genetic possibilities. If you zoomed out on your imaginary mapr of the Empire State Building and considered that all the cities made on the east coast would most likely be made from steel that was forged in local refineries then you get the idea that much of that steel made around the same time would have similar make ups. And even over time certain chemical charictaristics would remain. Now if you talked to Mordan after the mission you would also have learned that the Reapers used cloning to turn the Protheans into tools. If you clone from a closed group of DNA you will over time eliminate possible gene connections and the "building" will begin to rot. When this happened the reapers replaced biological systems with technological ones as with any complicated endeavor, it is easier to repair a problem than it is to build a whole new sky scraper. After 50,000 years this meant that the Protheans ceased to be anything like a Prothean, save for outwared appearance, and thus as the tools of the Reapers they became known as the Collectors. Hope that clears up the "perceived problems."

Biology
the biology section contains numerous references to things which are not explained until further down in the article, such as the Eden Prime beacon and the Reaper building the Citadel. I considered moving the section below History to resolve these issues, but stopped when I realized that all other race/species articles followed a biology, history, culture pattern. it's not a big issue, but it makes the article read weird for a person who doesn't already know how it all fits together (e.g. a person who has never touched ME). I'm also thinking the line about them building large cities fits better under technology and would make the section spoiler free, but then it looks a little light on content for my eyes without it. Arbiter099 03:40, March 21, 2011 (UTC)

Clean up: Prothean.
Just too many brackets in some places. Could someone clean it? -RS


 * You must be referring to the templates, it looks like the coding for them has broken. I'll look into it. -- Commdor (Talk) 01:38, June 28, 2011 (UTC)


 * This seems to have cleared up now, it was probably a temporary hiccup. -- Commdor (Talk) 01:38, June 28, 2011 (UTC)
 * Super weird. I made a null edit to the article which seemed to fix it. -- Dammej ( talk ) 01:40, June 28, 2011 (UTC)
 * That is weird. Found the same issue on Virtual Alien and a null edit fixed it. If this is a bug, it's very random in what it affects, other articles with the same templates look fine. -- Commdor (Talk) 01:45, June 28, 2011 (UTC)

A single species
If we ever need it, here it is: developer confirmation from Mac Walters that the Protheans were a single species, not multiple species using the same name. And we'll get to hear more about the Protheans in ME3. But I'm posting this here mostly to ensure we have it available should the species question ever be raised. -- Commdor (Talk) 21:00, September 1, 2011 (UTC)

I realize this is from a few months ago, but from the leaked script we find that both are actually true; the Protheans were once a singular race, but later, after their empire extended throughout the galaxy, many of the dominated races took the name Prothean themselves, and were assimilated into the empire.
 * Spoiler*
 * Spoiler End*

I've been.... Informed (To be polite.) that this wiki disregards spoilers, but regardless, it is canon, and something this plot relevant is not likely to change.50.53.96.99 06:50, January 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * We don't disregard spoilers as a whole, but we do prohibit leaked content from being incorporated into articles. Leaked content spoils the game for others before the game is released, and because it doesn't represent the final version of the game it can't be considered absolutely reliable. Rest assured, though, if this info is in the final game (I'm pretty confident it will be too, but again, we can't be certain) we'll add it in. -- Commdor (Talk) 06:59, January 20, 2012 (UTC)
 * Precisely, we don't back away from spoilers, however we do not under any circumstances accept leaked information. Lancer1289 13:53, January 20, 2012 (UTC)

I agree with Lancer (did i really just say that?!) this is somewhatof a spoiler, but it is logical and expected enough that I personally (cant speak for wiki as a whole) would accept it. However, leaks must be stopped. I will find things out like a man in march.

BeoW0lfe 13:32, January 27, 2012 (UTC)

Prothean in Mass Effect 3
Someone got hold of the Mass Effect 3 art book and there is a concept art of an actual prothean squadmate that appears in the game. And he looks nothing like those statues.

http://s1167.photobucket.com/albums/q625/chassan1

I think the prothean page needs some rework after this...

88.112.99.72 22:40, January 26, 2012 (UTC)


 * We'll see about that after the book is out for everyone. As it is, this is technically leaked content unless BioWare officially made those pages available to preview somewhere. -- Commdor (Talk) 22:48, January 26, 2012 (UTC)


 * At least that wasn't the only thing there... not to say I'm exactly pleased that this leak existed. I would've wanted to wait until the game came out beforehand... too late now. I won't comment further; but it's interesting. Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem 03:38, January 27, 2012 (UTC)

I have to say, a orb like character looks better than I thought.```
 * Comments like this belong in the forums or the blogs as this is not what talk pages are for. Lancer1289 04:30, January 27, 2012 (UTC)


 * Hmm, so BioWare did the sensible thing and made Protheans look kinda-sorta like Collectors. Good, good. - Sikon 11:14, January 27, 2012 (UTC)

Im simply irritated that they gave EDI a body. I always wanted edi as as a squadmate, but as a hacking-sabotageing combat drone ally. Not a halo rip-off. Even though Mass Effect will always be better. As cool as mr.prothean is, a stasis pod that the reapers missed is unlikely, a tank clone(prothean grunt) on ilos however, to preserve prothean culture and gemetic information, being found and squadmated, is an intruiging prospect.

BeoW0lfe 13:29, January 27, 2012 (UTC)