Serenity what is river

River is quick to offer her support to the group, openly referring to Emma as her family. It's clear that River and Emma did spend time together when the latter was growing up, and it's clear that River's bond to the Serenity crew -- including her brother and his family -- is enough to convince her to help reveal Rasalina's secrets.

Notably, one of the flashes she witnesses is the first hint so far at the ultimate fate of Mal Reynolds , the former captain of the Serenity. Nominally the lead character of the original Firefly , his absence in Brand New 'Verse has been a notable omission for the franchise.

But it seems that this is because Mal eventually fell into a great depression for some unconfirmed reason. It's a genuinely tragic ending for the character if it's indeed the final story of Mal. Book's Canon Backstory Explained. Both River and Malcolm Reynolds' journey following Serenity would continue through canonical comic books.

But the real story picks up six months after the events of the film in the six-issue series Serenity: Leaves On The Wind which finds River and the rest of the crew still on the run in the far reaches of space. After second-in-command Zoe is taken hostage by the Alliance, River helps psychically interrogate an Alliance soldier to find Zoe's whereabouts and save her. In the course of the journey, River also learns there are other young women experimented on like herself and manages to rescue a fellow test-subject named Iris.

Christened "Auntie Wiver," by Zoe's adorable toddler, the child of the tragically killed Hoban "Wash" Washburne , River appears well-adjusted and well-loved.

Claiming that she is rescuing River and returning her to the experiment sisterhood, Kalista brainwashes her into fighting on behalf of the Alliance. She only needed to point the gun in their general direction to and then move it after shooting once to kill all three. Despite her initial insanity, River nevertheless developed some interesting relationships with the rest of the crew of Serenity over the course of the series.

As a result of her immensely high IQ River often made her brother feel quite inferior intellectually growing up, nonetheless the two are extremely close. Part of the wealthy and influential Tam family, she grew up spoiled and lavished with the best in technology, social position, and education; River wanted for nothing. However, it seems that she and her brother were also driven to succeed by their social climbing parents and that though they loved each other their bond was based solely on their family's standing in the community.

At the tender age of fourteen River was already in some form of college the Gen Ed school. However, she soon grew "bored" with her studies, seeing them as being "too slow. When the opportunity to attend the elite and more educationally challenging Alliance sponsored "Academy" came up River jumped at the chance.

However, the Academy was not the exclusive "school" that was presented to her. Indeed it was nothing more than an illicit cover up for the government to create assassins for the Alliance. For the next two years River was subjected to a battery of horrible psychological and physical experiments. During her imprisonment at the Academy, she was able to stay sane enough to send coded letters to her brother, in hopes that Simon would decode them and break her out. This hope was answered exactly, as not more than two years to the day that she entered the Academy, Simon came for her.

By taking River out of the Academy she and her brother were disowned by their parents and labeled fugitives. To keep a low profile and make themselves less of a target for the Alliance, Simon took his sister on board the Firefly ship Serenity. Even though she knew she could never go home, River was extremely relieved and happy to be with her dear brother again after being separated from him for nearly three years.

In her more lucid moments River herself realizes the depth of the sacrifices her brother has made for her. She feels that she is a burden to him most of the time and is heartbroken he cannot simply live his life as a surgeon on the Central Planets. This is something Simon refutes as often as he can, restating over and over to River that he has no regrets about saving her and that she is everything he needs to be content.

In a deleted scene of "Our Mrs Reynolds," trying to ape Mal and Saffron's marriage, River innocently asks Shepherd to marry her and Simon together, to which Simon protests against, and then explains its impropriety to River.

The scene gives a glimpse into River's regressed mental developmental state and childlike behavior. River and Kaylee enjoy playing together and relate somewhat similar to teenage friends talking about boyfriends and past experiences. A scene in " War Stories ", where River jokingly steals Kaylee's apple, results in a chase through Serenity and Kaylee claiming back the apple then stating "no power in the 'verse can stop me".

Later on in the episode River repeats the statement after killing three armed men with a handgun and her head turned and saving Kaylee. Kaylee is understandably disturbed by the incident and avoids River for some time, though later decides to put it aside. At the end of "Objects in Space", the two are seen gossiping and playing a game of jacks.

Kaylee, it appears, wishes to accept River as much for herself as for the awareness there can be no relationship with Simon without River's presence and support. The most vocal opponent to River's presence aboard Serenity , Jayne once attempted to collect the bounty , that had been offered for Simon and River by betraying them to the Alliance after she casually slashed Jayne's chest with a knife, although Jayne later helped them to escape after he himself was betrayed by the officer he had sold the siblings to.

At the end of Trash Simon approaches Jayne about his betrayal. After Simon exits River pokes her head in threatening Jayne by very casually remarking "I can kill you with my brain" River seems to almost enjoy annoying him in her more lucid moments, once casually commenting "Jayne is a girl's name". That's why it doesn't match what we heard before and doesn't match what we know of Simon's personality especially before he came to Serenity.

The truth they want to hide is what Simon described in Ep. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams?

Learn more. Why did the details of River's rescue change for the movie Serenity? Ask Question. Asked 3 years, 9 months ago. Active 9 months ago. Viewed 1k times.

Improve this question. LevenTrek LevenTrek 7, 2 2 gold badges 23 23 silver badges 60 60 bronze badges. I don't see the two as being mutually incompatible. She was simply put into cryo after being rescued. I think Simon didn't want to crew to think about him being more than rich ordinary doctor.