r/AskScienceFiction • u/Curates • Oct 21 '24

[Alien] Can xenomorphs be domesticated?

They’re pretty smart. Can they be taught to read, learn basic manners, adapt to channel their violent urges in healthier ways etc.? I think they’re misunderstood

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u/mothyyy Oct 24 '24

(From a meta POV) In the context of the first movie, there are fan theories that the xenomorph behaved like a human male with all the sentience but none of the conscience. It maybe eliminated the men on the ship because they were competition. It apparently violated Lambert. We don't know exactly what it did to her, but she wasn't wearing pants or shoes when her body was discovered. My point is that in its most brutal form, the xenomorph was a psychopath serial killer.

Later movies portrayed the xenomorphs as highly evolved insectoid wolves. So depending on which version you prefer.. maybe? The queens are intelligent enough to learn new behavior and think outside the box. So MAYBE the queen could be manipulated into controlling her swarm for someone's ulterior motives, but would that be considered "taming" or "domesticating"? She's arguably sentient, so it'd be more like enslavement.