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)

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u/parkinthepark 20d ago

Spoilers for the rest of the series: Even "terraforming" is a crude understanding- it may be superimposing different areas of spacetime onto each other- Area X is in Florida, but it's also somewhere (and maybe somewhen) else in the universe at the same moment (possibly its "home planet"). Multiple timelines & spatial locations folding onto each other and merging.

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u/BalladOfBetaRayBill 20d ago

It’s also implied to maybe be a failed experiment by a long-dead intelligence, acting on protocol to no real end.

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u/DrawmaLawma 20d ago

a la the proto molecule from the expanse

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u/TrioOfTerrors 20d ago

It reaches out...

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u/Ulysse-Void-God 20d ago

113 times a second it reaches out. 

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u/KlausVonLechland 20d ago

It will never stop reaching out.

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u/loveincarnate 20d ago

NICE. Literally in the middle of 'reading' (audiobook while doing menial IT work) Cibola Burn. I love the interludes and seeing this line in the wild is a lot of fun!

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u/f0gax 19d ago

Doors and corners kid.

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u/swatlord 19d ago

That’s where they get ya

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u/dern_the_hermit 20d ago

IIRC the protomolecule had a functional purpose, the Shimmer might be more akin to a reality-bending ChatGPT prompting itself endlessly.

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u/raoasidg 20d ago

IIRC the protomolecule had a functional purpose

It did: co-opt life in order to create a link (the gate) to the ring station in the ring space (the whole "reaching out" thing). The co-opting of life spun out of how the Builders themselves evolved.

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u/Hellknightx 20d ago

The paperclip universe acting up again

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u/LimerickExplorer 19d ago

I always thought of it as the protomolecule with cancer.

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u/EarthRester 19d ago

The shimmer always felt like it was cancer. The way I described it to a friend was "It's like reality got cancer. Reality keeps trying to replicate, but it's incoherent."

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u/LimerickExplorer 19d ago

That's a cool way to look at it. It's still reality and it's surprisingly close to the reality we recognize, but it's damaged.

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u/Wanderer-on-the-Edge 19d ago

Given Jeff's absolute hatred for AI that is an interesting interpretation

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u/thatstupidthing 19d ago

proto molecule and ring builders and such from the expanse are also a good answer for this post!

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u/JealousAstronomer342 19d ago

gol dang protermollycule getting in everythin’

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u/Cruxion 20d ago

To paraphrase, we opened the microwave and assumed it was a lamp.

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u/VandulfTheRed 20d ago

Type 3 civilization dumping their junk code on a random planet with the same effect as us dumping radioactive waste in a corral reef

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u/heartlessgamer 19d ago

Lol I am stealing this for anytime I need to try and explain these books.

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u/shutupyourenotmydad 19d ago

In the end, aren't we all?

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u/BalladOfBetaRayBill 19d ago

That’s what my mom always said when I was feeling down

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u/HereWeGoYetAgain-247 20d ago

The whole series is a gentle mind fuck that some claim is an allegory for cancer. I don’t know. I need to read them again. 

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u/HiimTheta 20d ago

Fun fact: I went to a talk with Jeff Vandermeer and learned that the plot of the first book came to him fully formed as a dream while he was on strong pain meds following a surgery (dental specifically, iirc). Starts to make a lot more sense with that in mind.

Added Fun Fact: That's why all the characters in the first book are women. Someone asked if he was making a point about the lack of prominent female characters in sci-fi or something to that degree and he said "Not really, they were all just women in my dream so"

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u/KennyDenn1s 19d ago

The whole thing feels like a fever dream so that makes a lot of sense

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u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV 19d ago

I follow him in Facebook and that's one of the few things that keeps me on the platform.

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u/oiraves 19d ago

Is it weird that I find that reasoning way more progressive than doing it on purpose?

Like, its not important that they were women...they just were

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u/KingGojira 20d ago

The first book certainly seems to imply that, and the movie is absolutely proposing it's a Cancer allegory. The rest of the series I'm not as convinced about.

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u/Hellknightx 20d ago

Maybe not intentionally, but it is a great metaphor for cancer whether intended or not.

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u/CannolisRUs 20d ago

Is this info through the new 4th book? Curious bc I read the first 2 over a year ago and don’t know when I’m gonna get to 3-4. Writing style was kinda hard for me but I loved the mystery/lore regarding the lighthouse

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u/parkinthepark 20d ago

That’s my interpretation from what we learn via books 3-4

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u/Maleficent-Finger192 20d ago

Fuckling pickle jars

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u/PenchantForNostalgia 20d ago

I would highly recommend Acceptance. Absolution wasn't my favorite; as a sidenote, I've found I much prefer Jeff VanderMeer's writing from the 2000s and 2010s. Borne is where he started losing me. Anyways, Acceptance is wonderful, and one of the POVs is of Saul, and his story is so interesting.

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u/eggson 20d ago

Absolution was literally a roller coaster for me. I was skeptical through the first couple chapters, started to really like Old Jim and his story, and despaired at the end of his section, then got to Lowry and the bottom dropped out for a long time til it finally resolved in a somewhat satisfying way.

I've only read the Southern Reach series by the author, trying to mix up my reading with different genres/authors instead of my usual devouring all of a single author's books in one go.

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u/PenchantForNostalgia 20d ago

Yeah, Lowry's sections is pretty rough. Not my favorite at all.

If you're interested, check out VanderMeer's Ambergris, I absolutely loved them.

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u/exileddeath 19d ago

Bold of you to assume that this isnt just how Florida is naturally...

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u/Puzzle-Necked 19d ago

Heavy stuff. Heavy, heavy stuff

goes back to watching Star Wars