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The Reapers are Coming?
Are we sure that the Reapers we see in the end game are actually "beginning their journey to the Milky way"? As far as they are out, it would likely take tens or hundreds of years to reach the galaxy without the use of any relays. And they may not have the fuel necessary to make the trip at all. Is that possibly just a foreboding depiction of the Reapers in dark space (i.e., in the intergalactic space) waiting until the Citadel relay is opened so they can return?
- I agree... the whole point of opening the Citadel relay was so the Reapers could return. If they could have just woken up and moseyed on over to the galaxy, the entire story of Mass Effect would be pointless. Matt 2108 23:44, February 12, 2010 (UTC)
I understand this, and I'm sure that's part of why they left the story off where it was at the end of me2, however we know Sovereign wasn't the only reaper in the milky way galaxy. We also know that literally nobody knows what the Keepers are up to! For all we know, the Keepers reconstructed parts of Sovereign that they salvaged, that were necessary to activate the Citadel so that the Reapers could come through. This would simply mean that the Reapers are "on their way" being ready for the activated Citadel. Or it could be that ME3 does in fact take place ten or fifteen years after ME2, we just don't know yet. I could easily see it taking place a week after ME2, but could also see it taking place years later. Jaline 00:04, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
- In response to Matt 2108, the entire point of Mass Effect wasn't actually to prevent the Reapers from returning to the Milky Way galaxy, it was to delay their arrival, to buy some time for the races here to prepare. Whomever you nominate for the Council makes this quite clear in their rousing little end-of-game speech. It wasn't pointless, it was a move to delay the arrival of the Reapers, changing it from a matter of minutes to a matter of (likely) years. And in response to Jaline, we know that Sovereign wasn't the only Reaper in the Milky Way galaxy how? Granted, there was one incomplete Reaper and one essentially dead Reaper, but there has been nothing shown to indicate that Sovereign was not the only Reaper active in the Milky Way galaxy. SpartHawg948 00:44, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
Well I never said "active" I was referring to the essentially dead Reaper when I said that Sovereign wasn't the only Reaper in the Milky Way galaxy, wasn't saying that it had anything specific to do with the group of Reapers that are now coming, but it could be thought that since there were other Reapers around, there could have been another active Reaper somewhere in the galaxy, specifically: What are the heretic geth up to these days now that Sovereign is gone? They obviously didn't immediately return to the Geth as a whole, and the group of geth heretics that we reprogrammed, wasn't *every* heretic geth, at least I didn't understand it that way. Perhaps there's a chance the geth heretics sought out another "old god" in the galaxy, we don't really know one way or the other. Jaline 00:51, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
- So the geth heretics are darkspawn? I KNEW IT!!! :P SpartHawg948 01:04, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
Eh? :P I understand the reference, yet not at the same time... How exactly would what I said mean they are the darkspawn? :o Isn't "Old God" what Legion called what the geth heretics said? Or was it "Old Machine" ? I can't quite remember at the moment, but I'm certain you know what I meant :P Jaline 01:10, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
- Yeah, Legion called them "Old Machines" (pretty sure, anyways) b/c remember, Legion did not consider them to be gods. What I meant was you described the geth heretics seeking out another old god in the galaxy, and that's pretty much what the darkspawn do between each Blight. Seek out another old god. SpartHawg948 01:23, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
Well what else would they do? Considering that their solution to the great math problem is to follow the old machines, it was Sovereign at first, but with him destroyed, obviously the heretic geth didn't give up and rejoin the rest of the geth, so the only thing I'd think of them doing is searching for a new leader, which would mean a new "Old Machine" which would mean a new Reaper, from what I understood of the code we used during Legion's loyalty mission, it didn't change over every single heretic geth, there's just no way that every one of them was on that one ship is my point, I don't know the extent of how far the code went into geth space, perhaps it went and turned almost every heretic, but I kinda doubt it... Considering Tali's recruitment mission it almost feels like there's something up with that star, involving "dark energy" and the heretic geth, for all we know there could be a Reaper near that star, taking in the "life" of it, which is causing it to age, perhaps doing something like that is like "eating" for the Reapers, they do afterall have a mix of organic life within their construction. Either way, none of it's confirmed of course, just interesting things to think about since we really don't know all that much about what has gone on with the geth since the end of ME. Jaline 01:35, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
As for it taking hundreds of thousands of years, we dont know how advanced the reapers are, or how far our they are (as it is impossible to judge distance). It is reasonable to assume that they have highly advanced (and thus fast) FTL drives (we know them to have massive Ezo Cores) and they may only just outside the edge of the galaxy (in stellar terms). It is entirly possible that the journy will only take them 2 or 3 years (so a simlar gap between ME1 and ME2). As SpartHawg said, the point wasnt to stop the reapers just delay them, it was very clear at the end of ME1 that the Reaper threat wasnt over. The Citadel was just part of their master plan. Instant Invasion through this super mass relay and then kill the leaders of the galaxy to cause chaos and then systamtically exterminate all sentient life in the galaxy. All Shepard did in ME1 was make them change their plans. I have on quesion though, if the citadel is a mass relay, where is the other mass relay in dark space? We didnt see it at the end of ME2, maybe it was just out of shot. -- Looq 01:01, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
how
How did Harbinger awaken? How did it and the fleet emerge from hibernation? Is it a 'secondary' vanguard in case the first one fails? I don't get any of this. - LordDeathRay
- You are assuming that they were asleep to begin with. Remember, by the end-game part of Mass Effect (which was two years before ME2), Sovereign was en route to the Citadel to activate it, allowing the other Reapers to use it to exit dark space and wipe out all sentient life and all that nastiness. That would pretty much have to mean that all the other Reapers (including Harbinger) were awake, now wouldn't it? And once they learned that their plan had gone horribly wrong, I doubt they would have just said "oh well" and gone back into hibernation. SpartHawg948 02:48, January 31, 2010 (UTC)
No picture
There does not seem to be a picture of Harbinger on the character page yet since it is unclear what he looks like. however, compare the picture of Harbinger with the Reaper leading the Reaper Fleet. I think it is reasonable to assume that these two reapers are one and the same.
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/File:Harbinger.png
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/File:Reaper_fleet.png
Um
he might not have ever been asleep, he may have just been the reaper in charge of maintaining the reproduction facility, also is harbinger his name i thought that was just what possessed collectors were called, what does the word harbinger even mean, it was a sword in fable but thats all i know. ralok 18:07, January 31, 2010 (UTC)
- http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/harbinger - 83.13.234.242 18:09, January 31, 2010 (UTC)
Control
Does Harbinger control the collecters or does the Collecter Genreal?
Re: Control
No the Harbinger controls the collectors as a whole THROUGH the collector General. Because the Collector General can control the rest of the collectors. And through the general, Harbinger can assume control of the collector drones, guardians..etc.
Re: How
The cycle... after the extermination cycle ends they most likely go back to sleep. But they failed to activate the citadel thanks to the prothean scientists.
Since all Reapers hibernate around a thousand to maybe thousands of years, as speculation says... nobody is sure, maybe it's not even hibernation or no reapers are even hibernating at all, maybe they are just dormant. But as far as I'm concerned, according to all the information I gathered in WIKI and etc, in my knowledge, the Harbinger was responsible for the Protheans extinction (which was around 50,000 years ago. So it might be possible the Reapers weren't asleep at all. Even now), and responsible for turning protheans into collectors. And is in charge of their big dirty project "human-reaper". Since harbinger is the one controlling the collectors... as sovereign controlled geth (now geth.. or the HERETICS, is worshipping the reapers in general). But that still doesn't explain that Harbinger was responsible for the destruction and abduction of the protheans. But it's possible. It might be a possibility.
A Reaper? Really?
I'd always assumed that Harbinger was simply the name of the Collector General, but I was obviously mistaken. When did we find out that Harbinger was the name of a Reaper? Nosferatu13X 02:22, February 9, 2010 (UTC)
It's assumed that Harbinger is a Reaper due to the ending of ME2, most of the time during ME2 we're lead to believe that the Collector General is the one taking direct control, however during the ending movie, we see the Collector General's control cut, meaning that the whole time, the Collector General was under the direct control of Harbinger, and then Harbinger would selectively control a drone/etc through the use of the general. It's assumed that the reaper on the datapad at the end could be Harbinger, however I'm not even certain of that, because even though we'd know of the march of the reapers, how would we have known which was Harbinger? Unless, there was data of an old race named Harbinger, and the reapers do in fact take their name based upon the name of the race, and when that reaper was seen in the group of repears, it matched whatever data they had on the Harbinger race (perhaps based upon prothean ruins data) Jaline 23:41, February 12, 2010 (UTC)
Also he introduces himself with that name during combat. "We are Harbinger." Interesting that he refers to himself in the first-person plural, like how Legion does. Sovereign referred to himself in the singular. "I am Sovereign." Anyway... JakeARoonie 17:15, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
Quotes
Could someone please compile a list of all of Harbinger's major quotes (squad member dependent ones unnecessary)? That'd be great. --LBCCCP 03:32, February 10, 2010 (UTC)
Re: How
I think the answer is much simpler. From what has been said so far the general consensus seems to be that Soverign was the only active Reaper and that the Reapers were all asleep or that they are all awake. It seems more likely that while the vast majority of the reapers lay domant, that there are several "agents" constantly working (it wouldnt make a lot of sense to entrust the saftey of the entire species to one individual Reaper). Soverign was the Vanguard, designed to judge when the next cycle of extinction should begin and then to active the citiadel.
The books show the collectors have been active a while, and when passing though the mass relay Joke states that some of the wrecks look "ancient". It is safe to assume that as long as the collectors have been active (around 50,000 years) Harbinger has been active, controlling them probably using them as "agents" to gather intelligence about the other races. Remember Soverign couldnt reveal himself for fear that the other races would band against him. A slave species would therefore be useful.
I think it is safe to say that there are several more active Reapers in the Milky Way (each with its own specific duty). This seems likly considering that Soverign called himself a Vangaurd (the leading troop in an army i.e. the first into battle) and Harbinger's name can be simply defined as a "forshadowing" so the meaning there is prettey clear. This Reaper Collective in the Milky Way probably form an advanced guard to prepare for the comming of the Reaper Armada and to prepare the Armada itself.
-- Looq 00:52, Febuary 13, 2010 (UTC)
Harbinger in ME3
Someone's article change about Harbinger appearing in ME3 was undone by a user with the summary comment, "pure, unfounded speculation. As an aside, I would really like to see the crystal ball used to determine Harbinger will appear in ME3." I just want to put this out there and ask why anyone thinks that he WOULDN'T appear in ME3. Really, some people treat this game like it's a murder trial and they need absolute conclusive evidence to everything, and can't seem to understand that foreshadowing in a mildly predictable series like this is usually enough. Harbinger may not be the "big bad guy" of ME3, but all things in the ending considered I think it's pretty damn safe to say he will appear. JakeARoonie 17:19, February 13, 2010 (UTC)
- I have to agree, you have no way of knowing whether or not Harbringer will have anything to do with ME3, it's pure speculation and utterly pointless. You might as well be saying Urdnot Wrex will make a comeback as a character in your squad in ME3. It could happen, sure, but you don't know if it actually WILL happen. --96.54.228.29 19:30, February 13, 2010 (UTC)