Ellen Ripley

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Lore & Background

The narrative continues when the escape pod containing the four survivors crashes on Fiorina 'Fury' 161, an abandoned foundry facility and penal colony. Unbeknownst to Ripley, an Alien egg had been aboard the ship; once hatched, the creature began killing inmates but strangely refused to attack her. After rallying the prisoners, she discovered an Alien Queen embryo growing inside her, explaining why the creature spared her life. To exterminate this final trace of the Aliens and prevent the Weyland-Yutani Corporation from using it as a biological weapon, Ripley sacrificed herself by diving into a gigantic furnace just as the Queen began to erupt from her chest. Two hundred years later, scientists used blood samples to create Ripley 8. This clone proved successful but retained traces of the alien DNA, granting enhanced strength, reflexes, acidic blood, and an empathic link with Aliens. She eventually escaped the USM Auriga after a Newborn hybrid killed its own mother, the Queen.

In Their Own Story

Fifty-seven years after her first encounter, Ripley awakes from stasis to learn her daughter, Amanda, has died of old age while she was in suspended animation. Her testimony regarding the Alien is met with extreme skepticism, resulting in the loss of her space flight license. When contact is lost with a colony on LV-426, the planet where her crew first encountered the eggs, she accompanies a group of Colonial Marines to investigate. They find the planet infested, and the Aliens wipe out almost all of the marines. Ripley finally escapes the planet with Corporal Dwayne Hicks, the android Bishop, and Newt, a young girl who is the last surviving colonist. Back on the Sulaco, they are attacked by a surviving Alien Queen, which Ripley expels into space before entering hypersleep for Earth. Later, an escape pod containing these survivors crashes on Fiorina 'Fury' 161. Inside this prison, she discovers the embryo of an Alien Queen growing within her. Realizing the creature will not attack her because it considers her host, she prepares a defense with the inmates before making the ultimate sacrifice in the foundry's furnace.

Reader's Guide

Ellen Ripley's story is defined by her evolution from a warrant officer focused on protocol to a survivor who defies corporate and biological threats. In Alien (1979), she is introduced as a crew member aboard the Nostromo, en route to Earth from Thedus. When an unknown creature infiltrates the ship and kills every other member, Ripley escapes the explosion by deliberately starting it, only to find the Alien aboard her shuttle before expelling it into space. In Aliens (1986), she returns to LV-426 with Colonial Marines after a colony goes silent. The mission fails as the Aliens wipe out almost all of the marines, but Ripley escapes with Hicks, Bishop, and Newt. Alien 3 takes place when their escape pod crashes on Fiorina 'Fury' 161. Here, she discovers an Alien Queen embryo inside her and sacrifices herself in a furnace to prevent its use as a weapon. In Alien Resurrection (1997), set 200 years later, scientists create Ripley 8 using her blood samples. She joins mercenaries to destroy the USM Auriga after Aliens escape, kills a Newborn hybrid that recognizes her as its mother, and looks down at Earth saying, "I'm a stranger here myself." Her influence extends beyond films into novels, comic books, and video games.

Did You Know?

• Director Ridley Scott decided early in production to make Ripley a woman, despite her original conception as male.
• Sigourney Weaver earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Aliens (1986), a landmark moment for the sci-fi and horror genres.
• In Alien 3, Ripley learns that her daughter, Amanda, died of old age during the 57 years Ripley spent in stasis.
• The clone known as Ripley 8 possesses enhanced strength, acidic blood, and an empathic link with Aliens due to imperfect DNA separation.
• In Alien Resurrection, Ripley tearfully kills a Newborn hybrid that had recognized her as its mother before the spaceship Auriga crashed into Earth.