Elder race

Elder race

An elder race in science fiction, fantasy, or horror fiction is a fictional alien race that preceded humanity. Occasionally they are a more advanced version of humanity instead of aliens (e.g., the Stargate Ancients). Elder races generally have abilities and technologies (or magics, in the case of fantasy) that far surpass that of humanity. In works of science fiction, their technologies are often so advanced as to seem magical or even godlike both to the human protagonists and to the present-day reader.

In some works, the elder race has long since departed the scene, leaving nothing but artifacts and other evidence of their activities. In others, the elder race remains in existence, but is in decline or has deliberately withdrawn to the periphery in order to avoid interfering with the development of humanity and any other younger races. A few elder races are portrayed as still being very much active in the story-current scene, and members of them may function as advisers or as antagonists.

Some elder races are portrayed as wise benefactors, bringing culture and knowledge to humanity and other younger races. Other elder races are callous exploiters, and regard younger races as so much raw material to be used and even used up. A few are portrayed ambiguously, with their well-intended actions having unexpected consequences. For instance, a client race may use their new-found technology for self-destruction, or a policy of non-interference may turn out to be a way of abdicating responsibility for using one's power wisely (power corrupts the best of intentions).

Examples

* The Krell of Forbidden Planet who achieved the pinnacle of technology and destroyed themselves in one night.
* The Ancients of Stargate are revealed to be the ancestors of the human race, the source of the ancient stories of Atlantis, and being responsible for the presence of human life on thousands of planets in at least three galaxies (a result of their efforts to seed the galaxy in which they resided with life). It was never explained if the ancients are deliberately responsible for human races' devolution (which took an identical form on their home, earth, and on all other seeded planets).
* Time Lords, Osirians, Disciples of Light, and Great Vampires -- Doctor Who
* Ancients, Builders -- Farscape
* The creators of the monoliths in Arthur C. Clarke's series as well as unnamed and unseen aliens, sometimes known as the 'Firstborn', in
* The "elder race of man" of Rush's "2112" are portrayed as humans from our era, the ones that are not under control of a totalitarian government.
* Progenitor Manifold Caretakers and Usurpers -- Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire
* The Lambent Kith Nebula and the Spirit of the Abyss -- Andromeda
* Vorlons, Shadows, The Hand, Thirdspace aliens and the First Ones -- Babylon 5
* The Beings of Light and Count Iblis from the original "Battlestar Galactica"
* Cthonians -- Battlezone
* Lavos -- Chrono Trigger
* Elder Things in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft, they created life on Earth after its come from outer space one billion years ago.
* Elder and Sublimed civilisations -- The Culture
* Guardians of the Universe, Controllers, Zamarons and the New Gods -- DC Comics
* The Ancients and Shivans -- ""
* Caleban -- The Dosadi Experiment
* The Creators -- Guyver
* In Mass Effect, the Protheans are believed to be the elder race of the Milky Way, but it is later revealed that they were controlled and destroyed by the Reapers.
* The Kimera -- Earth Final Conflict
* The civilization of the Argonnessen giants in the D&D setting Eberron.
* In a post-game interview, the Vortex life forms were said to be the originators of arthropods in "Ecco the Dolphin" reality.
* Anunnaki, the creators of jumpgates in the Fading Suns role playing game
* Mr. Shadow and the ancient race that uses the Fifth Element to combat evil in the movie can be seen as elder races.
* Forerunners -- Forerunner series by Andre Norton
* The Daam K'Vaash -- Freelancer
* Precursor Arnor and Dread Lords -- " [ [http://galciv.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Precursors Category:Precursors - Galactic Civilizations Wiki ] at galciv.wikia.com]
* The Solon --
* Forerunners -- Halo universe
* The Precursors, an ancient race that came before the Forerunners and are mentioned only once in one of the novels -- Halo universe
* Ogdru Jahad -- Hellboy
* The people of Magrathea from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
* Progenitors, Bentusi -- Homeworld Series
* The Humans from the point-and-click game "Inherit the Earth".
* The Pak and the Outsiders -- Larry Niven's Known Space books
* Aldenata -- Legacy of the Aldenata series by John Ringo
* Arisians and Eddorians -- E. E. Smith's Lensman
* The Protoculture -- Macross
* Dreen -- Man of Two Worlds
* Jjaro, W'rkncacnter -- Marathon Trilogy
* Celestials and the Watchers -- Marvel Comics
* The Ancient Orions and Antarans -- Master of Orion
* Sithi -- Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams
* Chozo, Luminoth -- Metroid universe
* Creators, also known as the Planners --
* Inhibitors / Wolves -- "Revelation Space"
* The Elderlings in Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Traders Trilogy and The Tawny Man
* The ancient race that built the world engines in Shadow Raiders
* Ainur and Quendi -- "The Silmarillion"
* The Precursors, Eternal Ones -- Star Control
* Preservers, Ancient humanoids, the Slaver Empire, the Prophets, Pah-wraiths, Organians, Sphere Builders, T'kon and Iconians -- Star Trek
* Architects/Builders, Gree, Sharu, Silentium, Abominor, Kathol and Rakatans -- "Star Wars"
* Xel'Naga -- "StarCraft"
* The Ancients, Furlings, Asgard and Nox as well as the Ori -- Stargate SG-1
* The Xeelee from Stephen Baxter's novels.
* The Vok -- Transformers Beast Wars
* Progenitors -- Uplift series by David Brin
* Titans -- "Warcraft"
* Old Ones, Eldar and Necrontyr -- "Warhammer", "Warhammer 40,000"
* Markovians -- "Well of Souls" series (see Well World)
* Kherubim and D'rahn -- Wildstorm Comics
* Steltek and Nephilim -- Wing Commander
* The Jokers in Terry Pratchett's "The Dark Side of the Sun" (1976), who predate all the sentient species in the novel, leaving behind artefacts and a cryptic poem.
* The Nibblonians in Futurama
* The Ancients in the video game.
* The Elder Race in The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott
* Demons in the Buffyverse predate man. Giles tells the Scoobies that unlike what "popular mythology" would have us believe, this world did not begin as a paradise.
* The Heechee in Frederik Pohl's story "The Merchants of Venus" and later the "Gateway" series
* The Eldar, an ancient race that predates Mankind in the Warhammer 40,000 universe

Notes


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Elder — is a surname. It may also refer to older people or to:In religion: * Elder (administrative title), position of authority * Elder (Christianity), person valued for his wisdom who accordingly holds a particular position of responsibility in a… …   Wikipedia

  • Elder (constructor) — Elder was an American racing car constructor. Elder cars competed in one FIA World Championship race the 1959 Indianapolis 500.World Championship Indianapolis 500 results …   Wikipedia

  • Elder Thing — The Elder Things (also known as the Old Ones [The term Old Ones is ambiguous in the Cthulhu Mythos and can also refer to the Great Old Ones, a separate group of beings described as being enemies of the Elder Things in At the Mountains of Madness …   Wikipedia

  • Elder Scrolls — The Elder Scrolls The Elder Scrolls est une série de jeu vidéo développée par la société Bethesda Softworks depuis 1994. Sommaire 1 Liste des jeux de la série 2 L univers de la série 2.1 Tamriel …   Wikipédia en Français

  • ELDER, Sir Thomas (1818-1897) — pastoralist and public benefactor fourth son of George Elder, merchant, was born at Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1818. His elder brother, Alexander Lang Elder (1815 85), went to South Australia in 1839 and founded the firm of Elder and Company at… …   Dictionary of Australian Biography

  • Elder God — A race of Elder Gods overthrown by a present race of younger gods is a mythic theme in the Ancient Near East that was borrowed by the Greeks: see Titan (mythology), Titanomachy.Employing this cultural background, modern adaptations include:*… …   Wikipedia

  • Race (film) — Infobox Film name = Race caption = Theatrical poster director = Abbas Mustan producer = Tips Films starring = Anil Kapoor Saif Ali Khan Akshaye Khanna Bipasha Basu Katrina Kaif Sameera Reddy music = Pritam Chakraborty distributor = Tips Films… …   Wikipedia

  • Elder Kindred —    The race of Elves.    The elder of the two races that were accounted the Children of Ilúvatar, the Elves. They awoke many thousands of years before the Younger Children, the race of Men …   J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth glossary

  • Races of The Elder Scrolls — The Elder Scrolls series of role playing video games are populated with a number of fantasy races, ten of which are playable. Generally, these races fall into one of three distinct archetypes, namely, humans, elvenkind, and beastfolk. Within the… …   Wikipedia

  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim — Developer(s) Bethesda Game Studios Publisher(s) Bethesda Softworks …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”