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Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

Having read the last weeks’ worth of posts you can understand how happy I am to get to see (through the emails) parts of SG-1’s lives after the team went their own ways.

However, as I mentioned about two weeks ago I believe, a more intriguing part of the story is about how the Wraith know about Carter and O’Neill.

I wanted to bring this up again (this is, I know, about the fourth time) because it’s not only greatly fascinating, but it’s also brought up in different ways throughout Legacy.

The fact that Carter has an older blade for a Consort back in the Milky Way Galaxy!

First and foremost.

How the heck do the Wraith even know about him!?

Mind you, there is book 20 in the Legacy series which has O’Neill showing up again in Atlantis and even negotiating with Guide, but that is later and the Wraith know about him now.

So how the Wraith know about him would be anyone’s guess…except that I’m here so I’ll be the ‘anyone’ guessing!

The fact that Carter and O’Neill are in a relationship isn’t really surprising. It was made clear in multiple episodes, throughout the shows run, that they had feelings for each other, so their being in a relationship under the radar isn’t what I’m talking about because we already know about it.

I want to know how the Wraith know!

Because they do. Before they meet him!

O’Neill was in Pegasus that one time before when the Altaran’s are killed by the Asurans and the city is taken over. Outside of that, I’m pretty positive he would have made a point to see, if not talk, to Guide while Atlantis was on Earth.

However!

I feel like the Wraith knew about them before even that. As in, back when Carter was in charge of Atlantis.

——

I had to take a few minutes to find what I needed, but sure enough in ‘The Lost’, Dust tells Quicksilver what he knows about Atlantis.

Which includes the information about Carter/She Who Carries Many Things becoming Queen of Atlantis and confirming Sheppard as her Consort. The Wraith considered that to be a formality only though because they knew of her Consort, O’Neill/Trickster, back in the Milky Way galaxy.

This suggests that the Wraith knew for quite some time that Carter and O’Neill were a thing.

A return to the question of how.

I’ll give to you that it’s possible they know about O’Neill now which is why they believe Sheppard’ confirmation as Consort was a formality. As in, they thought Sheppard/Guide really was her Consort until Wraith Guide came back after meeting O’Neill and telling others about him.

What does this tell us?

The Wraith are a bunch of gossips.

Although Queen’s no doubt talk to each other, they would most likely only share information up to a point and rely on their Consort’s and others to get information for them as they mingled with their counterparts.

Thus, gossip.

Which is totally fine and would explain how they know about O’Neill.

The romantic in me, however, has another theory.

We know the Wraith are telepathic and that’s their main way of communication. We also know that they can influence human minds (remember those ‘shadows’ they can make people see?), so it isn’t that much of a stretch to think that they can read human minds to a certain extent.

In the case of Carter and Weir, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t try too hard to get information out of them if only because they were seen as Queen’s and that just isn’t done. But a quick skim to acknowledge their position would almost be an automatic thing for the Wraith and would garner them an incredible amount of information.

And since Guide dealt with Carter quite a bit, he would have plenty of time to peruse her mind and establish that Sheppard wasn’t her Consort in truth.

We all know, and love, that Guide doesn’t necessarily play by the rules, so I can totally see him pushing it when it comes to reading Carter’s mind. As long as he isn’t caught, what’s the harm?

My theory is that’s what happened. Guide got a good look into her head enough so to let others know that Carter had a Consort back home.

Why would that be romantic?

Because Carter’s feelings for O’Neill would have to be pretty strong for a Wraith to pick up on without going far deeper than would be appropriate, by Wraith standards.

Even Guide has limits to how far he’ll go.

And that my peeps is what I think about how the Wraith know about O’Neill before ‘meeting’ him later on in the Legacy series.

Unless anyone else has a theory that’s what I’m going with.

Have a fantastic week and I’ll see everyone soon!

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

Carter emails part 2!

(just picking up where I left off last week!)

Sam writes to Cassie, who is doing her bit as an underling so she can (presumably) join the SGC, and encourages her in her current underling position. Carter was in the same position once and knows what it was like. She also, and I REALLY love this part, asks Cassie to check in on O’Neill. Make up some excuse (though it was easy enough to find a legitimate one) to get him to come over and spend time with her.

Maybe tell O’Neill that her car is having trouble, or the plumbing for her room, or something.

It’s a very Carter thing to do because she also no doubt told O’Neill a similar thing so the two would have excuses to lean on each other even when they think they didn’t need to.

I always enjoyed when they’d bring Cassie back into the show. Back when shows were long running because they did stuff like this where the fans could see important secondary characters again.

Cassie would make a great addition to the SGC and since she’s essentially family it makes sense that Carter never lost touch. Even thought Dr. Fraiser was the one to raise Cassie, I feel like Carter was in her life as much as she could be. I’m not sure what kind of relationship it would be though. Aunt? Sister?

Whatever it was, it’s one of those things that keep fans coming back for more.

Moving on.

Carter doesn’t just send emails she also receives them!

The first one she reads is from Daniel (I know, you’d think she’d skip to Jack’s, but that’s okay cause Daniel is awesome too).

Daniel tells her a lot, including that he understands what she’s giving up to be one of the first starship commanders from Earth. They’ve been doing this for almost fifteen years and they’re all around forty now (except Teal’c but that’s different) and they wanted to do it.

They all made a choice and are happy with their decision to keep at it.

But, as Daniel says point blank, he’s getting to the point where he’s done. O’Neill knew when that time was. When he could no longer go through the Stargate and do what had to be done.

Jack O’Neill got out when it was time.

And Daniel Jackson sees that time coming sooner, rather than later, for him.

Daniel also says that he knows what Carter has given up and that in being in command of the Hammond for even just a few years, will pretty much guarantee she’ll never have children of her own.

I don’t remember what Carter’s thoughts are on the topic specifically, but considering Cassie, I’d say Carter wouldn’t have minded having kids of her own. Unfortunately, there’s an age where it really isn’t safe to try and carry a pregnancy to term and Carter is nearing it.

Almost to the end of this post ya’ll!

The last email we see is one she has saved to be sent to O’Neill in the event she dies.

It just says that she doesn’t regret anything.

We all know she isn’t just referring to her time as part of SG-1, or even referring to their relationship. It’s exactly as she says it in the email (have tissue ready cause you’ll probably cry!).

But it doesn’t get sent because she doesn’t die so we’re all good! (wasn’t going to leave ya’ll in suspense about her fate).

Thank you for once again joining me and I’ll see everyone next week!

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

As promised, this week we shall be talking about Carter and her emails! It will actually be a two-part post because of the whole ‘keeping things short’ thing.

Why are we talking about emails?

Because Carter and her emails are fantastic.

(I don’t actually have to have a reason because who doesn’t love Carter?)

We all know that Carter was given command of the George Hammond after Mr. Woolsey took over as leader of Atlantis. We also know that she absolutely loves it because it’s pretty much the best thing ever.

The downside is that she isn’t with her team anymore.

SG-1 slowly went their own ways, but are still very much friends. What they went through all those years isn’t something they’ll forget anytime soon and they rely on each other maybe even more so now than when they were fighting the Goa’uld and Ori and everyone else.

For them, going through the Stargate was everyday normal.

Now?

Teal’c and Daniel are still doing their own thing, while also being a part of SG-1 under Cameron Mitchell.

O’Neill is a General and doing his best to keep the SGC and Atlantis from being taken over by idiots or de-funded because politicians don’t have a clue or care about anything but themselves.

They’re still doing what they love, just without each other close by in case things go south.

Carter’s emails are a perfect glimpse into how her life is different without them, while also letting us know that they’re right there when she needs them.

First email we get to read is for Jack O’Neill.

Of note, her email to O’Neill is a personal one, separate from the professional reports sent out, and she apparently writes an email almost every day.

What’s particularly emotional about the emails is that she knows her friends so well she intuits how they will respond to everything she types up. It’s basic stuff. Telling them she’s okay, that things got a little hectic, as they do, and they were doing what they could to fix it.

But (and this is why I love books so much!) the author makes it clear that despite the careful words, Carter knows how O’Neill will read the emails.

All the little things she can’t put in them because she doesn’t know who will be reading them and they both have careers in the same military branch so fraternization is still frowned upon.

I love that the author chose to let us into this part of Carter’s life and that they (throughout the Legacy series) chose to let us see how the founding Team is still doing. They say a heck of a lot for not saying anything, ya know?

Carter imagines what O’Neill, or Jack as she’s apparently calling him now *wink- wink-nudge-nudge*, will be doing when he gets the emails.

Sounds like she has firsthand knowledge of what he looks like in the morning, what he drinks and his morning habits/routine.

This makes me really happy because everyone rooted for them to be together and they kind of are.

Not officially, of course, but they are definitely in a relationship. There is just no way for her to know the things she knows simply through conversation.

Her other emails are similarly a wonderful look into what’s been happening since they were a team together.

However, we shall get to her other emails next week, because of life, and I will bid you adieu for now!

(ya’ll should be grateful that I stopped myself because I was about to go off on a tangent about Carter and O’Neill and how the heck the Wraith know about that?! That will, apparently, be another post of its own!).

Happy New Year everyone!!

I know it was supposed to be Carter’s emails this week however, I thought I should welcome everyone to the new year and give an overview of my plans…which are pretty much the same as last year come to think of it.

This post will be short because it’s a simple ‘this is what’s planned for the year’ kind of a thing.

The bigger news first.

Last year was difficult for everyone, though I was blessed to be able to work the entire time and not be put on furlough (I was part of my stores core crew while the store itself was closed to the public. Curbside pickup and such) the hours were much shorter as I only worked 3-4 days a week for the first few months.

With the epic support of my family, I was able to keep up with bills, but not make any progress towards paying them off (as had been my plan). Which is why I put in multiple applications around the area for a part time job.

I am (God willing) about to start in such a position while still working my full-time job.

And now for the smaller news.

The posts for the majority of this year will be much shorter than usual because I won’t have as much time to do them. They will be Stargate still (I have about a dozen to go yet), and I will keep everyone appraised of the RPG news too, but there won’t be much deviation into my crafty things (prob won’t have time for those) or into my writing.

I am truly hoping and praying that I will be able to get the worst of my debt paid off by mid-year, but we shall see.

Hopefully this post isn’t too down-in-the-dumps, I just wanted everyone to know why the posts will be shorter and why I may miss a few, though I will try my hardest NOT to have that happen.

Don’t forget to be lights and I will see ya’ll next week!

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

Drones, not quite as brainless as I thought.

So, I’ve mentioned the Drones a bit and how I didn’t think they were very sentient. Since they have to have a Wraith Commander control them, I thought they were simply mindless puppets.

This may be an oversimplification because in the first few pages we have a Drone ‘talking’ to Queen Winterlight.

Unless I missed something earlier on (and it’s possible) the Drones don’t really think for themselves. It’s more along the lines of being given standing orders and following them, but without more information (and I can’t think of the next books having any) I’m stuck not really knowing how the Drones operate.

Since it isn’t a burning question I have I’ll just leave it and bring it up later if I do in fact find something else that would answer the question.

Unless one of ya’ll has the answer?

Moving on!

I may be a little confused about the whole Consort thing.

Initially, I thought it was purely a husband/wife type thing, and that is part of the definition. However, with the Wraith, it sounds like the title of Consort doesn’t necessarily disappear if the Queen dies.

Winterlight’s father is referred to as Consort and so is Sheppard (Consort of Atlantis). Guide names himself Consort to Queen Steelflower, but it was mentioned (in a previous book) that Death’s blades didn’t think Guide shared Steelflower’s bed.

Here’s my thoughts.

Consort does mean the whole husband/wife thing but can also simply mean a protector/advisor/counselor type person.

I think that (based on things Guide has said or thought) the Wraith consider Carter to be Queen of Atlantis with Sheppard acting as her Consort (in the sense of a protector/advisor/being-in-charge-when-she’s-gone type) as they know (somehow) that Carter has an older Blade as her Consort back home (O’Neill).

Teyla is considered to be Carter’s heir. A young Queen, as Guide has called her often enough, who is still learning but definitely able to handle herself when need be. There is a scene where Guide realizes that Sheppard and Teyla are more along the lines of husband/wife (in reference to the Consort thing) though he first wonders (and sets Sheppard up a little) if Sheppard is attempting to pit two Queens against each other (Teyla and Carter).

As for Winterlight’s father, who is still called Consort even by her, I think this is another example of an advisor type Consort. Since she is so young, her mother is dead and no other Queen (as far as they know) is willing to enter into an alliance with her for safety’s sake, Thorn does his best to guide her and keep her safe.

It’s most likely one of those word things the Wraith do ya know? Like their names being a multilayered thing that can change as they do. Consort is a multilayered word that can mean husband/wife but also protector/advisor or something along the lines of a person so close to the Queen that they trust them implicitly to carry out their will even in their absence.

Having said all that, guess what?

This post is done!

Probably the shortest I’ve done in a long time, but I like it.

There’s far more I want to talk about, but if I try to add even one more thing to this post it’s going to hit over 1,000 words. So, I will stop it there and next week start talking about Carter and her emails!

See ya then!

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

We have arrived at book four of the Legacy series and it starts SO good ya’ll and, as always, only gets better!

Sheppard is on a Hive, but it isn’t Guide’s and as far as he knows, it isn’t good either.

We, on the other hand, get to see all the fun stuff, including a new Queen!

Queen Waterlight is young, possibly the youngest we’ve come across yet, and she’s responsible for a Hive in the time of Death which means she has more than her fair share of trouble to stay away from.

The only reason Death hasn’t killed Waterlight yet is because Waterlight and her Hive are, currently, too small to be bothered with. This is a good thing as we see later on, but for now we have our dear Sheppard a prisoner on her Hive and they plan on trying to use him as a bargaining chip for their safety.

What I like about Waterlight from the start is that she is young and completely different from any Queen we’ve come across to date. She isn’t sure of herself and I like that we get to see this finally.

Wraith can’t always be sure of themselves and the Legacy series has already given us a look into Guide’s head and how afraid he is of being found out and his concern for his Hive and everything else. Watching the series, we see them as these immortal creatures that are always sure that they are the top of the food chain and have nothing to worry about, but that isn’t true at all.

What we get to observe in the books is that they are just like us and if you think about them in those terms while watching the series, your perspective will be completely different.

Remember when Guide lost that first Hive over Atlantis so long ago and seemed to shrug it off as unimportant? Or when the Atero device was activated and two of his Hiveships were destroyed, that we saw, right in front of him?

Having read the Legacy series, you can’t re-watch the tv series and not see things differently.

He had to have mourned. There’s no way, from what we know even so far from Legacy, that he wasn’t affected by the deaths of his people. Can you imagine how awful it had to have been? I know I touched on it for that episode, but it has a different impact now that we’ve been inside not only his head, but other Wraith as well. They have families and friends. They play board games and dress to impress sometimes.

And they’re unsure of themselves a lot more than they let on.

Now we have a young Queen who has inherited her mother’s Hive and is doing the best she can for them. Taking her father’s council while also trying to be her own person isn’t easy and we get to see that, but she’s got a backbone and will be alright.

Sheppard on the other hand…is still a prisoner and is concerned about Teyla, Ronon and the Marines that accompanied them to try and save Rodney.

What’s cool about this book is that it starts out with Sheppard being worried but then trying to get his mind off things in a way we’ve seen before.

So not only do Sheppard and Guide have the same Wraith name, but they both have similar coping mechanisms. Though I doubt it’s exclusive to the two of them, I still find it fascinating that the authors wrote them this way.

I’m not sure if it was intentional, but Guide went into his head, while a prisoner on Earth, and no doubt whenever a prisoner of Atlantis, and walked familiar Hiveships from his youth and from when he was Consort to Queen Snow. Sheppard starts out walking familiar paths in the Middle East from when he was deployed, but then switches to Atlantis’ corridors which are far more comforting to him now.

The similarities between the two is just too much fun, I have to say.

However, that’s about all I’m going to say until next week because we all know there’s a heck ton more I want to talk about, but I am (despite evidence to the contrary) trying to keep these shorter.

Until next week!

Special post this week as promised!

Say the Wraith actually made it to Earth, what would happen?

As it stands in the Legacy series, the Wraith have been thinned out by war with the Lanteans, themselves and the Replicators. They’re still a force to be reckoned with because of their healing, strength and speed. Not counting their cunning as apex predators and advanced technology.

If Death leads the remaining Wraith to the Milky Way Galaxy a few things would/could happen.

First is the fact that there are countless planets with life on them in our galaxy, so the Wraith wouldn’t even have to head to Earth right away. They could refuel and cull so that by the time they arrived at Earth they’d be at their best.

However, this wouldn’t be the best option as we have allies in our galaxy that would call for help. After the first few planets we would have already set up defenses and started attacking the Wraith as they came closer to our home.

We have a few ships at this point, but it’s clear that Hiveships and ours are almost evenly matched when going one-on-one, but the Wraith have far more ships than we do so by sheer numbers they’d win any space fight. Even with our allies and every ship available they may have the advantage especially since they have shields now.

Whether they stop and feed on the way or come straight to Earth doesn’t really matter as this post is assuming that they eventually make it to Earth.

The first time they attacked Earth, at the end of season five, they used a Stargate onboard to keep us from dialing out (having a Stargate onboard sounds like a very Guide thing to do) and they would no doubt do the same this time.

Our ships no longer able to defend Earth and the Stargate being used against us would let the Wraith have free rein.

Now things get interesting and take a turn as the above is along the ‘duh-obvious’ lines.

The majority of jobs are done inside and most people drive to work. We know the culling beams can’t go through certain materials or the Wraith would be able to cull through buildings, so we have quite a bit of protection here at home.

There are enough people outside on any given day worldwide that the Wraith would be able to cull quite well on the first couple of runs, but I don’t think they’d have too much luck after that because people would have been recording on their phones and uploading the videos. It would be very easy to figure out that the beams are a bad thing and to stay away from them. It would also be obvious that people in cars are spared so we would quickly adapt and try to see if that can be used to our advantage.

As in- holding metal sheets or wood boards above us to see if the beams will go through and such. Since I don’t know exactly how the beams work it may or may not succeed. It’s possible it’s a mass thing and just boards or sheets won’t do the trick, but we would find out.

After the initial attack our leaders would have made the announcements about what the Wraith were and how to kill them.

They really wouldn’t have any choice but to come clean, not necessarily about the Stargate program at this time, but definitely about the Wraith. Even if they don’t come out and say how to kill the Wraith (a possibility if the particular country believes they have enough forces to stop any ground attack) we would figure it out.

Of course, every country that has fighter planes would be out doing what they could to destroy the Darts and would do some damage before we ran out. Considering how many Darts a single Hive can carry, I feel like they’d have the advantage there too and would also probably hit military bases first or just anything with planes sitting around.

Even if the Wraith had Darts patrolling day and night in grids to cull anyone who ventured outside, I can still see us finding ways around it.

For instance (if the boards and sheets idea doesn’t work) we could always drive our cars right up to the front door and get in and out. Most houses have some version of a covered porch and many buildings do too to keep customers dry when it rains.

Now that the first wave has done its job, it’s time to send in the ground troops.

This may be a very bad idea on the Wraith’s part. Looking at how many people own guns right now worldwide, not mentioning the people who also have access to tanks and other such weapons, the Wraith would have a fight on their hands.

Just here in America we would do a heck ton of damage as civilians and it would be even more devastating to the Wraith across the world because in the face of an attack we, as a species, band together (and doesn’t that just make you smile?).

And we don’t even need guns, per se, to defeat the Wraith once they come down because we could just hit them with our cars. I mean, how easy would that be? If their stun blasts couldn’t get through the cars to stop the driver than we could just get a bunch of pickup trucks and SUV’s and let ‘em go for it.

We could also just beat the heck out of ’em with whatever’s near by…you all know we could and would.

Anyway, eventually the SGC would find a way to get the Stargate working again and call for aid. Maybe they’ll have sent a ZPM through to Atlantis or called for allies to help if the Wraith hadn’t taken them out already. Even if they had, there are plenty of weapons the SGC has found over the years that they could use against the Wraith, including Replicators.

All I’m saying is that the Wraith really don’t have a chance against Earth. I don’t think their pens could hold everyone on Earth, and even after feeding I still think there’d be plenty of us left to put up a fight.

The Wraith have been dealing with the Pegasus Galaxy population for so long they think the Lanteans are a rarity. They’re under the assumption that getting to Earth is the hard part. They have no idea just how much damage a single person could do, let alone a neighborhood.

What do ya’ll think?

Have I missed something obvious that would give the Wraith the ultimate advantage? I know they have those stun bombs they used when they got through to the SGC that one time, but they’d have to use multiple to keep masses down and I just don’t see them having that kind of time or resource.

It is entirely possible that I am giving us too much credit, but than again maybe not. We aren’t like the Pegasus Galaxy inhabitants, heck we aren’t even like the other Milky Way inhabitants if we’re going with the entire history of the SGC.

Anyways, those are some of my thoughts on if the Wraith ever managed to make it to Earth. Let me know what you think and I’ll see ya’ll next week for the first review on ‘The Furies’!

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: Allegiance

SGA #18

ISBN: 9781905586561

Last review for ‘Allegiance’!

It’s been a long time coming, but here it is! The last review for book 3 in the Legacy series.

Next book will be ‘The Furies’, but that will be in two weeks’ time because next weeks post is going to be a look into what would actually happen if the Wraith made it to Earth.

Why?

Because I was thinking about it and wondering if they would have ever actually stood a chance so figured I’d give ya’ll my thoughts on the topic before moving on.

Onto this weeks review!

Guide’s version’s of ‘I told you so’ are hilarious. Point in fact- after the second attack on Atlantis, the absolute failure because they had an iris now, Death is pretty unhappy about it as are several others who lost family members. After some back and forth where the Wraith make suggestions ranging from backing down completely to attacking with their full forces, Guide mentions that the Lanteans are quick to learn.

Since he was one of two Wraith who was pretty vocal about trying another attack, this ‘I told you so’ is pretty funny when you consider that Death is pissed off (she already drove one Wraith to his knees for almost giving it away that Quicksilver is McKay) and he, being a smart-ass, decides that now is a good time to say something.

Interestingly, his words take the focus off Quicksilver who had just finished commenting on how the only person on Atlantis who could have stopped him like that was McKay. This, of course, makes everyone present (including Guide) uneasy and Death quickly tells him to never say that name again.

On the one hand, Guide is obviously protecting himself and his Hive but he is also keeping Quicksilver safe in order to keep the Lanteans happy.

Guide could totally make a killing off playing chess tournaments. The countless schemes and plans he has going on at any one time is extraordinary and inspiring.

…I didn’t intend for this post to be Guide-centric again, but apparently it will be because when Guide goes to ask Death if he can leave with his Hive to cull he’s concerned when he walks into a council he hadn’t known about and certainly hadn’t been invited too.

However, not what I wanted to talk about, I just needed to set the scene.

Outside the room is a young blade guarding the doors (such as he can against so many older and stronger than he is) and Guide notes how uneasy and nervous he is. Poor thing bows deeper than etiquette dictates and when the doors open to permit Guide in he’s none too happy when the young blade’s mind is full of fear and not adoration for Death.

Here’s the thing-

Guide is weird in that he doesn’t actually want a Queen anymore (or at least not at this time) but he’s also old and has served and been Consort to a great one when such Queens existed. That he would be critical of a Queen that inspires fear more than adoration and loyalty is pretty telling.

It’s really interesting too that the Old One thinks she’s a good choice to lead all the Wraith since he too has served, and no doubt been Consort, to great Queens. If your people fear you, you have no people. Because after awhile they will begin to resent the fear they live in and will take a stand. Whether they succeed isn’t the point, the point is that they took the stand and others will attempt the same until something changes.

The Old One hates the Lanteans because they’re descended of the Alteran’s (and he totally has reasons for his hatred) so that’s mainly why he follows Death, I think. Otherwise, I can’t imagine him not becoming an ally to Guide since they both want what’s best for their people as a whole and both agree that the current Queens (Death being the exception for the Old One) don’t have what it takes to do that.

Also!

In this meeting he wasn’t invited too, they’re discussing whether or not to attack Altantis through the Stargate again. The zenana seems to be pretty much split down the middle this time, no doubt due to the last failed attempt.

Guide’s manipulations are going well you can see and though fearful Death has caught on to his plans (she hasn’t but there’s a moment), his council is cautious but the better of both plans currently being discussed.

It’s fun to hear things from his point of view. That he’s afraid she’s figured things out is fascinating because watching the show you never really got that from the Wraith. Even Michael was portrayed as being more angry and/or sad than fearful during his time with the Lanteans so being inside Guide’s head is fun for that insight we get to see.

Another cool thing before signing off this week is that Guide is pretty good at knowing what other’s want to hear or knowing what will calm a situation. Not that he can’t incite when he wants to, but if it’s a natural inclination of his to mediate situations or to find common ground (see what I did there?) it brings to question if he’s a middle child.

You know how birth order of siblings has been studied and certain aspects are attributed to them based on position?

Well, the only one I’m focusing on (because I myself am a middle child) is the part where middle children are considered to be peacemakers/keepers. We have an innate sense on what buttons to push (for good or evil, depending on how one feels) which makes it easier to calm situations.

Knowing this, can we all agree that Guide has/had siblings and was the middle one?

It would make me oh, so happy to know where he would fall in birth order within his family.

Maybe I should ask the writers? They’re still active on social media so I’ll send out a question.

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: Allegiance

SGA #18

ISBN: 9781905586561

This is going to be a hodgepodge of a review this week because there are a couple smaller things that I wanted to dissect and discuss but that wouldn’t, on their own, make a very long post.

Which I really should stop doing cause people have lives, but you are here so you must enjoy spending time in The Dark Library.

Thank you for that!

Onto the review!

Wraith board games are a thing?!

We’ve seen in this book alone that they have a dedicated (probably more considering the size of a hiveship) room for games and social gathering (the Wraith would never have to worry about COVID either so bonus points to them!).

Some games have to do with stones and others with game pieces that sound like it’s along the lines of chess though maybe not since they call it ‘towers’. Possibly like Jenga?

The ones with stones may be a type of prophecy or fortune telling game because Guide is playing with some when he returns to his hive after Earth and isn’t happy with the faces’ they show him.

It would be awesome if the creators actually had rules for the games and I’ll have to look into that and see. I’ll let ya’ll know what I find.

Speaking of chess like games though. I feel like chess would be an incredibly easy game for the Wraith to play. I’m not a fan myself, more into checkers, but the planning ahead multiple moves would probably mean the game went on for a lot longer than any human game would. No doubt they’d change the rules or add things to make it more interesting for them, but on its own I don’t see chess being too difficult for them.

Monopoly now, that would be hilarious!

Cards against Humanity may be funny too if the cards were Pegasus galaxy and Wraith specific.

What do ya’ll think?

The idea that the Wraith would have something as normal as games is not one the humans would consider in the beginning, but what about after a few encounters with Todd? Would Sheppard think about that? After Ellia and Michael there was no way they couldn’t see the Wraith as just the enemy, so did they ever stop and have one of those random thoughts about if Wraith played games? Or if they had hobbies?

I’m sure, since they were still at war at the time, that if they did have those thoughts, they were quickly squished for self-preservation reasons.

Now for the second thing I wanted to bring up but the post wouldn’t have been very long.

Michael.

Ya’ll know how I feel about the whole Michael situation and my feelings are simply reinforced when we get to this book.

Guide gives Quicksilver a name to conjure with. Something to help him remember who he is without getting himself killed and it works (though he stays in denial throughout this book).

Not finding too much on Michael in the Hive database, Quicksilver asks Ember to tell him about Michael and what happened.

We know from our perspective what happened, but for the Wraith, Lastlight (Michael) was a well-respected blade and a beloved leader within his Hive. Ember says he was “a blade with the heart of a cleverman”, which apparently is common amongst the Stormdark Queens (I figure Stormdark is a clan type like Night Clan is).

When Lastlight’s queen sent him to force the Lanteans off their feeding grounds he was instead captured when he stayed behind to make sure his men got away safely.

The Wraith who recalled the story to Ember wept for what happened next because he and the others felt it was their fault what happened to Lastlight.

We know the next part. About how Lastlight was renamed Michael, was lied to, and how his memory came back and such.

When he escaped the first time, the Hive he came across wasn’t his and they treated him like a lesser thing. They didn’t care that he had been experimented on against his will and that he had sacrificed himself for his men. He was less.

Unfortunately, his helping the Lanteans kill that Queen meant that when he escaped the second time and found his way back to his Hive, his Queen branded him regicide and banished him.

I can’t believe that it was a decision made lightly and how Ember tells the story makes me think that Queen Highcloud would have taken him back had he not helped kill Queen Nightwind.

We saw in the series how awful it was for Lastlight/Michael when he was on Nightwind’s hive. How the others treated him because of the experiments but knowing this makes it worse somehow.

He had friends. A family in his Hivemates. Beloved by his Queen and men.

It would be interesting to know what Guide would have done if he’d been free during Michael’s time. If he’d known about Michael would he have helped him? Not necessarily create cross-breed monstrosities, but help him return to Wraith fully?

Considering Guide has already killed one Primary Queen I don’t see him being too concerned about someone branded with regicide. Having been a prisoner of the Lanteans himself, and after making an agreement to help them, Guide probably would have been far more understanding of Lastlight than anyone else. The two of them may have even found a solution to the feeding problem or found their way to Earth successfully.

Anyways, it’s not something we’ll ever have an answer too.

I must end things here for now, but will see ya’ll next week!

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: Allegiance

SGA #18

ISBN: 9781905586561

Remember when I talked about the zenana and how it would be interesting to know how old everyone was?

Well, later on Guide is chilling watching younger blades play a game when the Old One waves him over (not literally of course but same effect). Not necessarily wanting to be so close since he doesn’t know how strong the Old One is, Guide nonetheless sits down and they have a chat.

The Old One comments on how old Guide is and finds it funny that Guide agrees he’s not young but doesn’t give his actual age. Guide tells him that he was born at the beginning of the war with the Alteran’s. In fact, he was bred specifically for the war and says he came of age not long before they won.

Here’s the interesting thing (I mean, I find several things interesting about this conversation especially because I know what’s coming, but this is the first interesting thing)- Guide is over ten thousand years old. We know this because Atlantis was under the water for that long so if Guide not only fought in the war, but grew up during it, he’s pretty old.

Now, we don’t actually know how long it takes for a Wraith to come of age. It could be five hundred years or more, or less. We know they’re considered no longer children when they get their feeding-mouth, but they could still be considered ‘young adults’ instead of adults for a period of time. It would make sense since they would have to learn how to feed and whatnot (unless it’s instinctual?).

Taking that into consideration, the fact that the Old One is so old that’s his name, kind of tells you something doesn’t it?

Moving on-

The Old One snaps at Guide because Guide apparently doesn’t acknowledge (or know?) that the war with the Alteran’s had been going on for longer than that. As the Old One claims, it was ‘far older’ than Guide’s reckoning, since the very beginning of the Wraith.

Now, to be fair, Guide does make note that the Old One is so old that he doesn’t fit the usual Wraith types that were bred for the war around his own time. He compares the Old One instead to the foremost mother’ of Queen Snow’s Hive (which I take to mean several generations back and you know that’s saying something with the Wraith).

                   As an aside – does anyone else find it kind of sad that the Wraith, as a people were forced to intentionally breed certain types to survive? We know about the cloning of the Drones, but that doesn’t necessarily count because they’re brainless and, from what I’ve read and seen on the series, can’t operate without a Wraith commanding them. They have no will of their own so I’m not counting them for this, but the Blades and the Clevermen and the Queens? It would be interesting to know if any Wraith ever felt uncomfortable about that fact or if it’s such a part of their lives that it’s normal? Taking Guide as an example we know he’s a blade, but he’s also helped McKay with sciencey stuff so he obviously has a diverse set of skills. Does it come with age and a desire to survive or was it necessary for blades to know such things during the war?

We shall continue-

The Old One and Guide chat a little longer where Guide tries to figure out where the Old One stands when it comes to Death and her plans. The Old One is most definitely for her as, they can both agree, that when the war ended the last time there were far too many Wraith who had been bred because they were expected to die in the war (again, how incredibly sad!) and when they won there wasn’t enough food to go around.

Death’s plan is, technically speaking, a good one. Until you get down to the fact that the Alteran’s and Lanteans are extremely different from each other. The Alteran’s were willing to leave an entire galaxy to the mercy of the Wraith if it meant they personally would be safe. Our people don’t think that way and God help the Wraith if they actually ended up on Earth intending to take it over!

The plan is a good one, but doesn’t hold up once you start looking closer at it.

I find it interesting during this exchange that Guide didn’t bring up the fact that Death is to blame for the sudden lack of food with her attacks where they don’t cull, but then again that could have caused suspicion and the Old One is obviously a favorite of Death’s.

The Old One goes further though. It’s not just about finding new feeding grounds, it’s also about ending the Alteran’s once and for all.

Guide says that they’ve been dust for a thousand years.

The Old One says that their children live, in a tone that makes Guide shut up.

There is a history there that is heartbreaking ya’ll and I love that the series was written the way it was, but if you’ve ever liked the Alteran’s you won’t by the end of this series.

With that I end this review and hope to see ya’ll next week!