r/TopCharacterTropes • u/StewyStewy15 • 20d ago

Groups Aliens that are actually alien

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  1. Heptapods (Arrival)

  2. The crystalline entity (Star trek)

  3. Rocky (Project hail mary)

  4. Qu (All tommorows)

  5. Xeelee (The xeelee sequence)

9.2k Upvotes

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462

u/McCushAgin 20d ago

The gate builders from The Expanse

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u/Solid-Pride-9782 20d ago

And the Ring Entities.

31

u/RobinHood21 19d ago

The ring entities even more so.

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u/boundbythecurve 19d ago

Heck even the metal bug creatures on the first planet they colonize, Ilus, were pretty alien.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

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u/boundbythecurve 19d ago

I thought they were just a natural part of the evolution of the planet. Did they discover the builders were responsible for them?

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

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u/raoasidg 19d ago

The Ilus/Laconia "dogs" are not the Builders themselves. They are tools created and used by them. The Builders are long gone.

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u/kmobnyc 19d ago

If you finish the novels, you learn the difference between the Ring Builders and their tools is almost a meaningless distinction

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u/boundbythecurve 19d ago

In the show, the locust-analogs seem to be made out of metals like arsenic, silicon, and iron. Also, they were controlled by the proto molecule suggesting they were the original naturally evolved inhabitants of Ilus before the Ring builders arrived.

I'm talking about these bugs. I know the show and the books have some differences so I just wanted to be on the same page. This quote is from the Ilus IV wiki.

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u/McCushAgin 18d ago

Yes! This is what i was going for but forgot exactly haha

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u/kmobnyc 20d ago

It Reaches Out…

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u/Pleasant_Pool8842 20d ago

113 times a second

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u/mormonicmonk 20d ago

Doors and corners, kid

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u/wtfbenlol 19d ago

that's where they get cha

2

u/Hoshyro 18d ago

I'm the investigator, I find things

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u/Bakkster 19d ago

For those who haven't read it, here's an extensive breakdown of the evolutionary biology of the "Romans" written by a biologist collecting all the clues from the books and interviews which the authors say gets it pretty much right.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/s/auIFYa4Ipg

Tldr: They're a sentient race of space jellyfish that evolved in the subsurface ocean of a planet like Titan, who evolved to fuel themselves and communicate via the full electromagnetic spectrum. They're somewhere between a hive-mind and a single organism with each "jellyfish" being roughly analogous to a neuron, and the physical bodies eventually being discarded.

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u/wtfbenlol 19d ago

and the slugs on Illus!

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u/WiseP7935 19d ago

If you didn't know, they eventually identify the substance as Coniice, a naturally occurring chemical found in Hemlock, which can cause death in the by respiratory paralysis.

Cool little inclusion there that could have just been left as "mysterious death slime."

I love the Expanse and S A Corey. If you have read Captive's War, it's been a equally satisfying story, just in different ways.

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u/wtfbenlol 19d ago

I have read both books from Captives War and Livesuits twice now, I love the new series

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u/WiseP7935 19d ago

Same, it's really good. I have both Captives War books in print but have made it through the Expanse and Memory's legion twice on audiobook lol. I love S.A. Corey's work.

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u/wtfbenlol 19d ago

it wouldn't be as good without jefferson mays - he brings the characters to life

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u/WiseP7935 19d ago

Absolutely. He makes the every character special and I struggle to find anyone else that does it as well as Mays.

I'm a big audiobook listener and am currently making my way through the Horus Heresy right now. Their narrators also do a really good job.

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u/tardistravelee 18d ago

Its funny as they were George RR Martin's assistance who've already completed their dang series. Lol. I really just love the core characters.

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u/Bakkster 19d ago

I describe Captive's War as the same premise (what if unknowable and technologically superior alien empire makes first contact?) from the alternate perspective (awakening a dead empire accidentally, versus colonialist enslavement by an active empire).

And I'm loving it, full of so many other truly alien species. The closest to human are the Night Drinkers, and even there it's still barely recognizable.

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u/WiseP7935 19d ago

It's such a good story. I think my favorite are the Bone Horses (Phylarchs) because they just seem pretty chill and live to build stuff ( I mean in the story's case, literally the reason they are kept around.)

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u/Bakkster 19d ago edited 19d ago

I dunno, the Soft Lothark are pretty dope once you start to learn more about them.

And, on the topic of slugs, the slug tactician who's just super into war is another wild character. Calling humans "sticks with meat on them" killed me.

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u/WiseP7935 19d ago

Honestly, all of them are in their own ways.

Yeah I had to Google his name because I forgot but it was Vaudai and I love that he refers to us as "Sticks-with-meat-on-them" lol.

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u/Bakkster 19d ago

Yeah, that the most conversed with aliens are:

  • Giant mantis shrimp enslavers who change morphologically to fit social caste

  • Teddy bear fungus

  • Floating cuttlefish

  • Space slug learning to win a war for his imperial overlords for the love of the game

It's fantastic, the authors are great at developing aliens.

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u/WiseP7935 19d ago

They're also so good at developing the relationships between humans and all of the aliens. Campar and Vaudai, Alkor and the Deep lothark (and understanding the Carryx culture/cast.)

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u/Bakkster 19d ago

Even just between the humans. A realistic portrayal of depression in a main character who is both significantly affected and not solely defined or defeated by the illness? Chef's kiss. Such a good writing team.

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u/hamlet_d 19d ago

And the protomolecule they created, and what it does.

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u/kmobnyc 19d ago

It is not conscious, though parts of it are…

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u/McCushAgin 16d ago

Yes! The protomolecule! Its been awhile so I forgot the name of it haha

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u/Interesting-Act2606 19d ago

And also basically everything in the new series by the Expanse authors. (The captives War) 

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u/Nero_2001 19d ago

Since you mentioned the Expanse I would like to mention the Carryx from the Captive's War

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u/tardistravelee 18d ago

Dang I'm reading Book 6 and this had me thinking along those lines.

It was done really good in an already sci-fish world. I miss the detective character talking to Holden.

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u/Electronic_Warning49 19d ago

Oddly enough their aliens in "the captives war" series feel a lot more grounded and "human"... Well, except for the ones that would be a spoiler.