Alien Queen Theory

No one actually knows for sure Newt, trust me, I wish we did :-P The Queen was Cameron's idea, I'm sure O'Bannon and Ridley and Giger had other ideas about where the eggs came from..............................

^What he said. Giger actually liked the Queen design though.

I can't answer your question, but the easiest way I can imagine where the queen came from is this: Many species of amphibian and some insects are known to change sex when they are in a single-sex environment. Yes, that's almost word-for-word the same quote from Jurassic Park, but it is also true. If the eggs on the derelict were genetically grown, then a queen could very well be "engineered" into the life cycle as well. A bio-weapon is useless if it only survives one generation.

This is MY take based on all I have seen and read: A facehugger can lay drone egg -or- a queen egg just like two humans can create a male (drone) or female (queen). Some say that temperature can play a role, some say that sperm of one sex may swim faster than the other, and some just say it comes down to pure luck (however, in the animal kingdom, temperature DOES sometimes play a role in the sex of the offspring). But in regards to the xeno, a facehugger will create a queen egg/chestburster in the absence of an established queen over the immediate "lair". This is why Ripley's chestburster in Alien3 was a queen and took far longer to gestate than a drone. Had it been a drone, it would have been in the escape pod welcoming the inhabitants of FIORINA 161 right away. Fortunately, there was the second face-hugger on board that got the dog creating the unique quadruped alien. One might ask, however, why wasn't Kane's chestburster a queen given the above explanation? There is no logical explanation, but in reality the queen hadn't been invented by the writers, however, the method of turning their prey into eggs had, but removed due to pacing concerns (thank-fully so because it also would have created problems for the writers of Aliens and their queen). So what happened in Aliens? To reiterate, this is MY OPINION based on film evidence (and filling in the blanks): -Newts father goes to the derelict and gets facehugged -He is taken back to Hadley's Hope where the events of Kane's experience are replayed, however..... -This time, the chestburster is a queen -That creates her hive, grabs more victims in the gooey stuff, lays eggs to create a lot of drones -And their you have it. The Queen in Alien was created by Newt's father's facehugger because no queen was in the vicinity and this is simply the nature of their biology (just like with honey-bees).

@Aint: But that might be just it. Again, with the gender swapping in an attempt to continue with the procreation of the species. I actually think the queen wasnt engineered, as a precaution to prevent unauthorized breeding between the aliens. To introduce a queen would equal mass chaos, possibly killing everything, Jockeys included. But to quote Jurassic Park again, "Life finds a way."

One issue i always wanted to know is what happened to the chest burster on the Space Jockey? How big was that Xeno? and what part of the ship did it curl up in and die?

Big Bad Momma! I like the theories in the thread on the queen, perhaps it's just the order the xenos are produced in? Is it safe to assume that the Alien in Alien was a drone?

@Freeze him; That is what people say. It's pretty amazing looking at all the different types of Xenos that came about after the "Aliens" movie. @Mostly; That is the EXACT question people hope Prometheus will answer.

Aren't all the xenomorph's female?? I heard awhile ago that Giger mentioned that previously. Nevertheless, we can all agree that at least the facehugger could be regarded as a male

@Mostly: If we recall how incredibly THICK the SJ's ribcage was, we can surmise that it took an extra strong chestburster to burst out...quite possibly an Alien Queen. She could've died before the Nostromo came but who knows. Such a scenario wouldn't surprise me at all.

Yes I see the xeno as a big one. Just what did it do with it self? No one to terrorize, no one to chase......or a thought, it may be all those eggs we see in the chamber were not all pre loaded, Could have been keeping her self busy laying a few eggs herself.

OH, another thing. Xenos only like a day or so. They have a very fast lifecycle.

I think xenos live a little longer than that. It took the colonial marines a while to get lv426 and they had more than a few alive and kicking when they got there.

@Svanya: I know they grow fast but do we really have canon on how long xenos actually live once fully grown? And the Queen might have a longer life cycle than her drones.

I think I got you all trumped. Maybe its lifecycle is dramatically altered just as the xeno takes on traits from the host. We can all assume that Shaw would've "given birth" to Cuddles. But what we know about the lifecycle of the Jockeys is next to nothing.....with the Derelict ship crashing, one of the Jockeys will then become a host. So many variables, all of which make me very excited.

Good thinking, Egg. I especially love your use of the word, "Cuddles." lol..

Here is a thought to chew on. I can not wrap my mind around a lose face hugger infecting the SJ. They are a great fit for a human face, not so much for a SJ with a mask or helmet on. so was the SJ infected on purpose? Did he set it the ship down on the planet as a sacrifice? And if so, did the xeno that emerged lay those eggs in that chamber?

@Mostly: actually, the snorkel is more of a nose. I recall the SJ having an frozen, open mouth, just perfect for Cuddles.

@ Newt; Hmm, good question Newt. I know I read somewhere that they only live 48 hours. It was some weird detail in one of the novels. I remember in the Alien novel, Ripley found a food locker that was raided by the Xeno and all sorts of weird stuff was consumed, like batteries. @Mostly; Maybe a Cobra-Hugger or whatever they call it, (ala Milburn) did it to the SJ... O_o

@Mostly: The jockey is still humanoid though. Someone did a close up of the Prometheus trailer and they had a picture of the jockey without a suit on, he looks quite human. http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120328032232/avp/images/c/c3/Man-in-jockey-room.jpg

@Svanya, yummy batteries! I too was thinking maybe our Cobra could have more of an involvement in Prometheus other than Milburn, surely it must

I like the Queen, but initially I think Ridley Scott a different life cycle in which the alien is a hermaphrodite. Then the monster enveloped in cocoons its victims to turn them into eggs. [img]http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg561/spacejockey1/imagesCA365MOP.jpg[/img] But on the other hand I would like to see a giant chestburster chest out of the Space Jockey, as this fan art [img]http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg561/spacejockey1/Snake_Alien_by_ReBeLKiMy.jpg[/img] And in the event that Prometheus does not happen, anyway I'll enjoy this movie because I trust that Scott has created something new.

I own the original [i]Alien[/i] book too and from my memory it was either the facehugger or the chestburster form that had the 48 hour limit [u]before[/u] it became fully adult. I'll have to dig out the book to see if the 48 hour timespan applied to the adult xeno.

Here is the deleted scene, which I find totally disgusting and possibly the scariest aspect of the movie. [url=http://youtu.be/dS5MtzrW1vU]ALIEN, DELETED COCOON SCENE[/url]

I agree, in fact I can never understand why it was removed, IMO they should remove another scene, and that scene is certainly one of the most disturbing.

Supposedly they removed it because it slowed down the ever increasing intensity of Ripley's "gotta-get-outta-here-b4-countdown-ends" situation. She had to keep moving to avoid being detonation (and Alien) fodder.

The way I see it is this... In Alien the Drone had no access to a Queen, and therefore used Brett to create an egg that wound incubate a Royal Facehugger (as seen in the assembly cut of Alien 3), with Dallas as the host for the Queen from that oyal Facehugger. In Aliens once there was enough Warriors (maybe half a dozen or so), they selected a colonist to be host to a Royal Facehugger within the Derelict. At the end of Aliens I suspect the Queen was aware of her broods approaching doom and "somehow" carried two Facehuggers (one normal and one Royal) with her before pursuing Ripley, knowing that one of the human survivors would become host to another Queen, ensuring the survival of the species, as it was in Alien 3. Here is an exert from an Alien Mythology I have written... [i]Originally, the hierarchy of the Xenomorph was composed of infertile (Warriors) and fertile females (Queens). Directly implanted into hosts by immature fertile females (Princesses), infertile females, once matured, constructed a hive using secretions from their mouths, faeces and the remains of exhausted hosts. Once the hive was complete and securely guarded by the infertile females the immature fertile female would cocoon her in resin and develop into her mature form. Fully-grown the fertile female laid eggs from an ovipositor, each egg incubating an embryo-carrying parasite (Facehugger/Royal Facehugger). After many generations of extracting genetic information from hosts, the Xenomorph evolved, introducing the male Y chromosome into the genome of the embryo of the infertile females giving rise to the more aggressive infertile males (Drones).[/i]

A little late to the party, but nevertheless, I have a theory (two main ones actually) about how the Queen in ALIENS (and the next two films) came to be. (This is a long post, much longer than intended. Please bear with me.) THEORY ONE. Suppose the chestburster from the Space Jocky in the first film was a Queen, the FIRST Queen. Ignoring the whole molting theory, she existed solely because she was born of the SJ, and therefore was drastically different from human-born Xenos; in size, shape, IQ, and the ability to lay eggs to perpetuate the species. Suppose that she didn't die off, and instead all this time from when the Derelict first crash-landed, she had been keeping herself busy, laying all those eggs in the chamber where Kane first discovered them. The Queen's absence from the first film would be easily explained - after laying hundreds of eggs in that chamber, she relocated to another portion of the ship and either laid more eggs in a less crowded area, and/or simply went into hibernation once she realized there were no hosts present for impregnation. (Assume the presence of Dallas, Lambert, and Kane and the subsequent impregnation of Kane were not enough to wake the Queen.) - OR, none of those eggs in the Derelict are hers, at least not the ones Kane discovers. Just bioweapons created by the Space Jockies. Or no...- Fast forward to when LV-426 first became a human colony. They knew nothing of the Derelict or the Queen and her dormant brood within, but their very presence was enough to wake the Queen. She could sense them. There are many theories as to how Aliens perceive their surroundings. One of which is they can sense an organism's bioelectric field. So, get enough magnets in one location, and their collective magnetic field is strong enough to attract a distant magnet. Another theory is that Xenos sense prey/threats and each other via pheromones. The more concentrated pheromones are in the area, the stronger the “scent”. Apply either principle to the new colony on LV-426, and the Queen is thusly awakened. Next, when Newt's father is impregnated in the Derelict, he's brought back to the colony by his family and probably received the same treatment Kane in the first film received. So, pop goes the weasel and a new Xeno is born. Assuming her motherly instincts are keen, this may have been enough to wake the Queen. She finds her way out of the Derelict, possibly carrying a few or several eggs with her (though I doubt it mostly because she would look utterly ridiculous making the trip to Hadley's Hope waddling with armfuls of eggs). So possibly she just found her way out of the Derelict and made her way to Hadley's Hope and reunited with her first Drone there. With her eggs in tow, or probably after laying a new batch, her hive was up and running as seen in ALIENS. Now to explain the origins of the Queen fetus growing in Ripley in ALIEN3... Given that the first Queen originated from the Space Jocky in ALIEN and thusly enabled the species to perpetuate itself, all subsequent Xenos are directly descended from her. NOT the original eggs found in the Derelict, which came from somewhere else (possibly bioweapons created by the Space Jockies, as per current popular belief - I have my own theory on this as well, but that's for later). As for the new Queen in Ripley, it was either deposited there from the supposed "super facehugger" as it was originally meant to be in the film, or better yet, a regular facehugger deposited a regular Xeno that changed into a Queen fetus possibly as a byproduct of Ripley going into hypersleep aboard the Sulaco at the end of ALIENS. The hypersleep put the fetus into hibernation, which could have triggered genes in the Xeno fetus's DNA to grow into a Queen fetus. Another theory is that the fetus changed into a Queen fetus simply because it sensed that there was no Queen around after the first one was blown out into space. Basically, while there is a Queen alive and well close by, either leading or establishing a hive, then no other Queen can be born. When/if something happens to the reigning Queen and she dies, the next available fetus in a host (or facehugger), develops into a new Queen. Now, since the first Xeno in ALIEN originated from the eggs in the Derelict chamber, this theory could still work. That Xeno in the first film died off, and thusly that original strain (keeping in context with the idea that it forms new eggs from the biomass of captured victims to perpetuate the species, as opposed to a Queen Xeno), died off along with it when it was blown out into space. Remember how I stated that all subsequent Xenos are directly descended from the first Queen on LV-426. Thusly a new strain of Xeno evolved, if you will, apart from the eggs contained within the Derelict. As for ALIEN RESURRECTION, 200 years after ALIEN3, Ripley was simply cloned along with the Queen fetus inside her. Done. I have a feeling much of this first theory is going to be disproved once PROMETHEUS comes out. :P THEORY TWO. (Don't worry, this one's much shorter and to the point. Parts of which, many might be familiar with.) This theory is based on the idea that Xenos molt into more advanced stages in their lives, much like how a chestburster molts into an adult Xeno. In this version, any Xeno could theoretically molt all the way up to being a Queen, under the right circumstances. First of all, the chestburster born from the Space Jocky in ALIEN remains a mystery (until PROMETHEUS)... Instead, let’s say that the Xeno born from Kane was simply a young Xeno and the first stage in the adult Xeno's life - the Drone. Next, in ALIENS, the Xenos here are much older, by weeks or months. Unlike the first Xeno in ALIEN, it's abundantly clear that these ones are much different. They lack the classic smooth dome of that first Xeno. It's possible that at the early stage of their adult lives, they had a smooth domed head, but shed it as they matured into the second stage in the adult Xeno's life - the Warrior. This theory is backed up by the smooth domed head of the Dog/Ox Xeno in ALIEN3, which was also young like the original Xeno in ALIEN. The same can be said for ALIEN RESURECTION and even the recent (and I must admit tasteless and probably non canon) AVP and AVP-R films. Smooth domes in AVP, what with the Xenos in that film being less than a day old. Ridged heads in AVP-R, with those Xenos being probably a few days to maybe a week old. In the video games based on Xenos and AVP, there is another stage in the adult Xeno's life - the Praetorian. I realize this is also probably non canon, but I think it could be. They serve as the elite guard of the Queen, and hold the highest rank in the hive second only to the Queen. It can be said that they're either young Queens (Princesses, lol) serving the reigning Queen until a subsequent hives can be established, or they're just older Warriors that either molted up to their size and stature (either on their own or with the help of "royal jelly"), but are NOT young Queens at all, since the reigning Queen is still alive and kicking. If the first idea was the case, than my first theory is well and truly sunk. (There are many, many other non-canon Xeno forms that are just utterly stupid. I’m not even going to mention them here.) Finally, a Xenomorph could molt from a Warrior (or Praetorian, depending what you may consider canon or not) to a Queen much in the same way as how I theorized the fetus Queen's existence. When/if something happens to the reigning Queen, a regular Xeno of appropriate age/stage will start to molt into a new Queen. How this process occurs, I'm not quite sure. Possibly the molting Xeno cocoons itself much like a caterpillar does. After some time (given how fast they mature, I'd say no more than a few days to a week), a new Queen is formed. Perhaps a combination of this and the fetus idea could coexist... Whichever occurs just depends on what the situation dictates. I think that both theories can stand on their own, or perhaps a third theory consisting of a combination of the two could work... Anyway... So there you have it: the Queen from ALIENS, ALIEN3, and ALIEN RESURECTION, explained in two theories. Without ruining the original concept for the first Xenomorph (and strain) of ALIEN! This is the best I've been able to come up with, and makes the most sense to me. I didn't mean to Drone (lol) on and on like this, but I've never been able to organize all my thoughts about the topic like this before. Hope I did more good than harm...

"The Alien from the Space Jockey was a Queen and laid all those eggs in the egg chamber" is a common theory that is thrown around, but there are problems with that theory. - Where did the Facehugger come? - Why are the eggs so organised in the chamber? - Why are the eggs only found under the blue laser-mist? - Where was the Queen in Alien? Viewing the eggs as cargo with the Derelict makes more sense and only leaves one question. - Where is the Space Jockey born Alien? Which can be answered in many, many ways - Its somewhere else aboard the Derelict, on the Planetoid (Dead, Hibernating or in Stasis) or it has been disposed of by either the Jockey, the Derelict or a third party (previous Human crew, maybe).

@SimonSays: I too believe that the Derelict eggs were originally 'controlled' by the SJ, but somehow one facehugger managed to slip out of the 'blue mist' (containment?) field and adios, Space Jockey. This hopefully is the question [i]Prometheus[/i] will answer. Bottom line, I posit that one of [i]Prometheus[/i]'s main memes will be the folly of trying to control Nature by engineering Nature. In the end, Nature will turn around and bite our arrogant asses. @SimonSays: Do you have a larger image of your avatar somewhere? I wanna see what your xeno is doing. Great lookin' avi!