Your explanations for the Queen...

My theory since the late 1980s is host morphed into egg produces a Queen bearing egg/ facehugger.  Simple.

Interesting. So in other words, an egg morph can only produce a queen.

That is definitely simple.... and satisfying

It allows a lone non-Queen to start a hive.  Otherwise it's down to blind luck whether the species can perpetuate with any longevity.

That theory does make sense. It still makes me wonder about the Derelict though. The chest burster from the SJ burned through the floor where all the eggs were found. If that creature was to start a hive, it would have needed bodies. That brings up the question if there was a crew aboard the Derelict. To be fair, that queen concept didn't exist at that time. Unless we could say it was a queen that burst from the SJ?

dk

I remember reading Ridley originally wanted one engineer pyramid near the derelict in Alien and that this is where the eggs would be discovered and Kane impregnated. If I remember correctly from what I read, the production cost of a second structure was too high, so they instead put the cavern of eggs under the ship. This leads me to believe that when Ridley did Alien, he intended to convey (much as in Spaiht's Prometheus script) that the engineers (or Space Jockey) had manufactured the eggs as opposed to a queen laying them.

If Ridley goes with his original idea, then we can assume that a facehugger in cargo simply sensed an opportunity, found it's way to the seated SJ and implanted, then perhaps the resultant chest burster butchered itself trying to push through the SJ armor which led to the hole in the floor.

But now that we have the queen concept, I wonder if Ridley will switch gears and perhaps go with the idea that a queen was born from the SJ or what you've proposed about egg morphing and a crew.

QES

I read something similar to what you read. The result made it appear that the egg nest was a lower level of the Derelict. The queen concept didn't come until Aliens. So it seems that RS has the reins on how or if it will be explained.

This is an excellent question.I'm still trying to figure this one out.One theory i have is perhaps a queen first came from a possible human/trilobite birth.

why not a spider or other egg laying insect that came with the crew got a drop of black goo?

YC-865

Are you new? If so, welcome aboard!

Your idea sounds good on the surface but I am thinking if RS wants to do that, it would be in the next movie after AC. In the meantime, could you flesh out your idea a bit more?

Thats a wild idea.

Which came first? The Alien or the Egg? In my opinion I say the Alien. I like to think that the Queen is a result of an evolutionary "branch" of the species. Prometheus and Covenant are teaching us that the Aliens don't need a Queen and that they come in many... many different forms. 

Sorry YC

I see you have been here since at least last July. I just have not come across you before.

my theory....

the xeno is an ancient species discovered and then worshipped by the engineers. they r based in part on a bee hive where there is a queen but the others have the ability to be a queen if she is killed which would allow the species to colonise on a planetary scale (multiple queens each with theyr own territory)  though while she is alive she produces a pheromone that supresses the others until the hive reaches a certain size then a handful of xenos leave to start a hive of theyr own. when the chest burster molts, its environment dictates what it becomes. on a planet where there would be many hosts, if there is no queen it will molt into a queen. if there is already a queen in the area it will become a typical xeno joined to the local hive. in an environment where there is little or no hosts, a queen isn't really required as she would continually produce unnecessary eggs so a xeno which has the ability to morph life forms into eggs for a limited amount of time is what the burster becomes.

just a theory though

Derelict. Queen or ultramorph comes from sj..makes a hole...creates eggs and let them wait for new hosts..when they sense hosts they hatch.

If the enginners made them why would it hatch on a controled environment make a hole uppers and grab itself on a masked engineer?he cant...engineer had the mask on.

So he was facehugged prior ..amnesia....burster comes...hole in the ground...eggs.

Queen. The best suitable theory. Only one eggmorph(bigger egg) can be done and needs to be a female host for reproductive genes when a queen needs to emerge if the environment needs it and supports the specie growth...enough hosts..need for hierarchy etc..altho it think the purpose of xeno is survival and immediatly building a hive.

Ali theory is good..but i cant buy the randomly xeno morphs itself into a queen. Altho i like the idea a xeno eggmorphing itself into a queen...like a butterfly method...it cant be a normal xeno.

So..for me the queen would be the very first being ever created...and chiken first and egg second.

So how do you create a queen...well i would make it in a laboratory mixing black goo with traces of reproductive genes,the fiercest universe beast..and etc..or simply put..the queen was allways the true perfect organism..able to reproduce itself..stronger...much more inteligent...the xeno cant be it..so they have their suits,black goo, eggs..etc all of that comes from a anscient beast ,queen style.

So i would put it this way...from all we know so far as canon.

What comes first...the queen or the black goo...where does it come from :)

 The mural if u look closely behind and upp the deaconish alien...has a huge queen head shell...and on the downside...facehuggers and humans..bald ones.maybe engineers.

I disagree chris.

Prometheus and ac are showing us that black goo on different hosts and process gives us different aliens. But how does a neo multiply itself?how does the deacon? 

With xeno we know how ..its canon..the queen is canon.unless ridley pulls a major ace with eggmorph concept..witouth discarding the queen then ok.

They cannot erase the queen or modify what we learned for 20 years.

So xenomorph specie needs and has a queen. Their objective is survival and hive establishment

According to the original Alien, the xenomorph seems to propagate asexually (plant propagation) which would mean that every xenomorph is identical. The Life cycle seems to involve a living host (e.g. a human) which slowly disintegrates and changes into an egg (in which a face hugger will develop) etc. A queen is therefore not needed.

well ye but then aliens came making eggmorph not canon or needed either so we were left with a queen and ridley cant undo that just cuz he meant otherwise..he doesnt own alien,its only choice is to adapt.

It's more horrifying if it's something different (more plantlike - like The Thing) than if it's humanlike. No emotions, purely instincts. Like an insect . . .

Here we can see Brett, disintegrated and transformed into an egg.

It would seem unlikely that whatever came out of the Space Jockey on the Derelict deliberately made the hole in the floor, unless it was seriously wounded.

There's also the question of where the blue light covering the egg came from. I don't think that would have been placed there by a queen.