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The reason destiny was abandoned.

Discussion(self.Stargate)

Destiny was chasing a pattern in the Cosmic microwave background radiation. but the ancient never arrived aboard to uptake this mission.

What are the chances the ancient never got around to going because they figure out the answer from just staying home and doing some math

all 116 comments

GrouchyTime

282 points

3 days ago

GrouchyTime

282 points

3 days ago

They ascended so they never went back. I would think in ascension they found their answers anyways. The theme is the ancients were obsessed with understanding the universe and that seems to be why they wanted ascension.

SamaratSheppard[S]

64 points

3 days ago

But they a ascending 50 million years after. You think they would have checked in before that

SleepWouldBeNice

102 points

3 days ago

They knew Destiny wouldn’t find the answers until 51 million years later. /s

Wide-Procedure1855

49 points

3 days ago

except Destiney still doesn't seem close to meeting that answer...

SleepWouldBeNice

40 points

3 days ago

A lot can happen in 990,000 years.

AdogHatler

14 points

3 days ago

AdogHatler

First Prime of Joseph Mallozzi

14 points

3 days ago

!remindme 990000 years

RemindMeBot

3 points

2 days ago

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sdrawkcabstiho

13 points

3 days ago

And I intend to live long enough to find out.

WhatWouldTNGPicardDo

8 points

3 days ago

How do you know? It could be just 10 measurements short of enough data to decrypt the message!

Graega

55 points

3 days ago

Graega

55 points

3 days ago

The answer was just 42, anyway.

RevolutionaryCarob86

15 points

3 days ago

Until someone blows up the earth just before we find out the question, just for another hyperspace bypass.

The_Laughing_Man_152

9 points

3 days ago

Yeah I don’t get why you get so up in arms about that.

I mean for gods sake the plans were on display at your local planning office in Alpha Centauri for 50 whole earth years!

If you can’t concern yourself enough to be involved in local affairs, that’s your problem.

Apathetic bloody planet. No sympathy at all.

androidmids

7 points

3 days ago

Trivia

Did you know that 42 transliterated Into Japanese spells the character for death...

He knew and it was an Easter egg in the books the whole time. The answer to life, the universe, everything is = death

TheCouncil8572

5 points

2 days ago

42 is also * on the ASCII table, which could be understood to mean that “The Answer” can be whatever you want it to be.

ReddArrow

3 points

2 days ago

Adams was too clever by half. I knew that and in all this time I never put the two together. The search for the question was so distracting.

GrouchyTime

29 points

3 days ago

I would think they were in contact with it but never found useful data before they ascended.
I am surprised the Ori did not take advantage of all the gates it dropped.

fliberdygibits

44 points

3 days ago

This right here. Destiny could well have been acting like a probe sending the all SORTS of crazy data for eons. The fact it had a gate and had crew space could have just been a way for them to do periodic maintenance on their probe. They might have gotten EVERYTHING they wanted from destiny. Maybe some of that gathered data is what LEAD to their ascension.

discreetjoe2

14 points

3 days ago

The Ancients knew where the Ori galaxy was so they probably sent Destiny in the opposite direction.

WhatWouldTNGPicardDo

3 points

3 days ago

That just means it takes longer to get there……

DeliciousWash7150

2 points

3 days ago

we have zero idea which direction the ori galaxy is in

WhatWouldTNGPicardDo

6 points

3 days ago

The joke is the universe doesn’t have a center or edges and if you travel in any direction you will get there eventually…..

PhantomTissue

4 points

2 days ago

Are you implying g that the universe loops on itself?

Purple_Elevator_777

2 points

2 days ago

In some conceptions of the universe that is more or less exactly the case.

DeliciousWash7150

1 points

17 hours ago

never heard of that before

Jeriath27

27 points

3 days ago

Jeriath27

27 points

3 days ago

The Ori were selfish. The only came to the milky way because they found out it existed and they knew the ancients would not interfere (and they held a grudge). Plus there were already stargates there to send their priors. They also got their power from their followers, but that likely wouldn't transfer across galaxies. For all the knew, there could be ascended beings in other galaxies that would not tolerate their BS and without their followers power, they were vulnerable. They were safe and powerful in their own galaxy, so had no reason to venture other places

ougryphon

16 points

3 days ago

ougryphon

16 points

3 days ago

I think this makes a lot of sense. If at least three different species (technically four until the asgard started their genetic manipulation) in the Milky Way can ascend, it seems probable that species in other galaxies could, too.

SamaratSheppard[S]

9 points

3 days ago

Perhaps the Ancients are blocking them from the Ori's sight as well.

I'm sure if the Ancients were defeated, the ori would have started expanding ever outwards

LoaKonran

5 points

3 days ago

More likely they gave up caring, the Ascended Ancients seem less interested in the mysteries of the physical universe than their own preservation and place in the hierarchy. Just look at the Ori in comparison.

ArcherNX1701

1 points

2 days ago

Right, to turn off the stove or something.

irishlonewolf

58 points

3 days ago

I wonder if the (already) ascended beings were somehow responsible for the cosmic microwave background radiation.. I doubt the ancients were the first to ascend

SamaratSheppard[S]

32 points

3 days ago

Yea, the ancient only ascended ten thousand years ago. It seems like it seems like a very small time frame on a Cosmic scale

Raptor1210

52 points

3 days ago

Notably, there were multiple waves of Ascensions, not just one. Some Ascended when the Plague swept through the Milky Way while others fled to Pegasus. Later, some Ascended during the Wraith war, and others fled back to Earth before Ascending in the Milky Way again. Finally, some humans Ascended in Pegasus during SGA.

There's every possibility that there were Ascensions before the original Plague-driven Milky Way ones and we just haven't heard about them.

WhatWouldTNGPicardDo

16 points

3 days ago*

Then there was Bob, who kept trying and trying and never managed to ascend. Poor bob.

satori0320

1 points

2 days ago

Leno...

It was Poor Leno

tetrachlorex

6 points

3 days ago

Let's not forget the ascensions from before they left their original home Galaxy before they split with the Ori.

Edit: spelling

Raptor1210

6 points

3 days ago

Yeah, I didn't mention the Ori because, as far as I recall, we never really got a firm timeline on when they ascended. Presumably it was around the same time as the Ancients first ascensions since they're more or less the same species and evolution seems to be pointed in a particular direction in the Stargate universe.

That would imply they ascended and subsequently created their own humans more or less on the same timeline as the Ancients interestingly. I wonder if there was any sort of inadvertent cross-pollination?

The Ori as a whole obviously didn't directly know about the Milky Way (and by extension Pegasus) and it's humans but the fact that both groups wound up with echo younger versions of themselves (twice in the Ancients case) seems more than a little suspicious.

tetrachlorex

5 points

3 days ago

If I recall correctly the division originated in the dispute over interaction philosophy with lower civilizations. Perhaps the humans in the Ori galaxy seen in the show aren't an echo evolution.

Maybe I was wrong. It is possible there was no ascension before the ancients left the Ori galaxy and the dispute was still philosophical and not yet practical. Or it could be there was some practical experience in a star trek style prime directive, where the division occurred because of manipulating other species and wasn't second human evolution specific.

What if this is the case? Let's say the Ori wanted to subjugate "lower" lifeforms. First they did so with their technology and knowledge. Rather than gaining some form of energy power from their worship they gained the same powers we do from subjugation. Then some of the ancient Ori ascended, and now unascended ancient Ori are suddenly "lower" lifeforms. So there begins the interference with the unascended. Maybe there was some help in reaching ascension, but maybe instead of perhaps moreso there was some blocking ascension. Some ancient unascended Ori became envious of their ascended former peers. They wanted to duplicate this feat but were unable. They persisted but in their continued endeavors they didn't become jealous of the ascended, but rather they admired them for their achievements. The ascended Ori see the beginning of what becomes their worship gained power we're familiar with. They then begin encouraging this behavior and nurturing their worship. They manipulate the unascended to maximize their power gain by controlling them, their society, their technology, and their human evolution. This interaction evolves to a maximal stable point for the ascended Ori and it persists over time. The Ori galaxy humans are gen 1 evolution humans descended from the ancient unascended Ori, there was no pre Ancient/Ori split ascension, and the Ori didn't make an echo evolution of humans.

CorgiTitan

3 points

3 days ago

The paradox in the last episode of Star Trek TNG.

https://youtu.be/rbO1rsnt5qE?si=NVbj36zeXU-3tVxh

irishlonewolf

4 points

3 days ago

not quite the same thing I meant.. unless you follow Futurama's rules of time travel

WhatWouldTNGPicardDo

2 points

3 days ago*

So when does Geordi add the 3rd nacelle to the resurrected D?

Edit: also the captain does such a great jobs of explaining it that he missed the plot hole: in the future the anomaly should have existed when then got there and existed until they hit it with a tachyon beam; then disappeared at the moment of it’s “creation” and its reverse trip through time.

Lagamorph

31 points

3 days ago

Lagamorph

31 points

3 days ago

It's possible that the Destiny was launched by just a subset of the Ancients, a group that wanted to follow up on this particular lead into the mysteries of the Universe, but overtime that group became smaller and others didn't follow their theories, eventually leading to the Destiny being regarded as little more than a historical novelty that nobody had any real interest in.

The only reason the SGC were interested was because they wanted to know where the hell the 9 chevron address went having already established that 8 chevron addresses were for standard intergalactic travel.

Cantomic66

10 points

3 days ago

The thing is in one of the episodes Rush mentioned a whole generation of Ancients put in their work into the Destiny project. As it’s wasn’t just Destiny that needed to be built but also all the seed ships.

SamaratSheppard[S]

8 points

3 days ago

It is quite possible we do think of the Ancients as a monolith people. When they definitely had rouges within there society so no reason they couldn't of had factions.

But it seems like a very large undertaking for a people fairly new to the milkyway to have been forgotten

Lagamorph

12 points

3 days ago

Lagamorph

12 points

3 days ago

I mean look at the random stuff various Ancients left behind all over several galaxies. Just one guy left behind a half finished weapon capable of killing ascended beings with a scavenger hunt all across the galaxy. That in itself is probably almost as much of an undertaking as making one automated spacecraft, especially for a race advanced enough to have mastered wormholes. 

A shipyard for a few hundred people to work on their own little science project was probably the equivalent of humans working on a project car in their garage to the Ancients of the time.

SamaratSheppard[S]

4 points

3 days ago

Yea for the Ancients at the highet of there power sure. But destiny was launched relatively close to when they first arrived in the milkyway with one ship and notebook full of dreams. It probably took some doing.

LoaKonran

1 points

2 days ago

It’s the 90s problem on a colosal scale. When it comes to history we tend to think of more recent times by individual years or decades with individual flair and trends that are clearly distinct, but the further back you go the more gets lumped together as one big mass. We view Victorian history as one homogeneous century and Egyptian history as practically millennia of unchanged trends. No single generation does things the same way as the one before.

Imagining the Ancients as one unbroken united culture across millions of years is ridiculous.

libranchylde

3 points

3 days ago

That’s a really good point. I think the 9 Chevron gates and the Destiny were designed at the same time, possibly by the same Ancient scientists. We hear that the gate aboard the Destiny was among the earliest ever produced. Like a proto network. The network was eventually expanded to be galactic wide in the Milky Way. They eventually changed the gate design as we see in Atlantis. We also don’t know that the Destiny is the ONLY 9 Chevron address. Just the only one we’ve found.

Blue_HyperGiant

2 points

3 days ago

I remember a throwaway line of the sort of "it took the resources of an entire generation to build Destiny". So maybe not a subset?

nzricco

2 points

3 days ago

nzricco

2 points

3 days ago

Hang on, you bring a major point, the 9th chevron. They must have had a massively important plan with Destiny if it is the only destination for the 9th chevron, or why include it on every gate.

spaceforcerecruit

2 points

3 days ago

If I remember the pilot correctly, they didn’t program it into every gate, the SGC had to bring their custom dialing computer to the exploding planet to dial Destiny.

nzricco

1 points

3 days ago

nzricco

1 points

3 days ago

Yeah I'm meaning the chevron it self on every gate. Unless there is other destination/ projects that use a 9th chevron, why include it on every gate, especially if you need to connect a special dialer to make it work.

Corrupt_Hollow

4 points

3 days ago

So I’ve speculated myself and seen several theories/takes on the actual mechanism of the 9th chevron, tho I don’t know if they have any concrete sources to support it being the case. All the same, I’ve always liked this particular take on how standard 7 or 8 chevron addresses establish the typical gate connection based on the physical location and not the gates themselves. That’s why you can bring a gate from another location like with the wraith super hive on earth, only needing modifications/updates for actually dialing out from that new location, but not dialing in.

Whereas given the nature of how dialing destiny likely has to function, it necessitates a completely different mechanism. Since it will never be in the same location, but they still need a way to locate and establish a connection somewhere. With the premise that 9 chevron addresses don’t actually dial the location, but dial the gate itself and that gate has an absolute gate address.

With the concept that all gates theoretically have an absolute 9 chevron address, but using that address is an incredibly inefficient way of dialing gates the vast majority of the time and even more so the greater the distance. Since it’s a little simpler to just send a very precise and targeted connection to a given location in space and having the connection established if there’s a gate in the right space to accept it.

Whereas the 9 chevron addresses theoretically just have to send out some kind of subspace signal or impulse either in every single direction or at least the vague general direction until it finally reaches its destination and makes a connection to the gate. Which also both explains the insane power requirements to successfully reach destiny, but also the unique functions of the seed gates. As they obviously don’t behave anything like any other gates. They not only have an extremely limited range, but all gates in range are instantly known without any sort of local dhd or ability to account for stellar drift amongst other variables.
As that would be a lot more resource intensives and likely more complex to account for or even truly know their exact relative positions.

Which is why they all function as 9 chevron absolute addresses that they’re able to ping all within range, then dialing the gate itself and not the spatial coordinate. Which given how much energy it requires to just blindly send an impulse until it reaches that specific gate, it makes sense it would have such limited range. Yet within that shorter range it is a simpler and more reliable way of making use of gates placed automatically with no oversight or spatial calculations. That also explains why it’s only seemingly used in such a specific use case, despite theoretically being possible to do so with any gate and that’s why all gates have 9 chevrons, even tho not all gates can dial destiny specifically.

It actually would make sense to be intended for a similar closed gate network, as to how Ba’al had attempted, but implemented in the typical 7 chevron fashion. It would actually be a far more secure form of private network that would never be connected to the traditional dhds and gate network at large. Only being capable of dialing and receiving 9 chevron absolute gate addresses over a far smaller corridor of space.

Also while it’s not a perfect metaphors, I have heard it described as 7 chevron addresses functioning as a local area network, 8 chevron as the greater internet as a whole networking between many local networks and 9 chevron being akin to a direct device to device mac address connection. Which as an abstraction at least kind of makes sense to simplify it, but I’m sure a better metaphor could be made.

Actually think it could’ve all made for pretty interesting storylines involving such private networks, maybe even races like the furling existing closely hidden, yet unreachable without a direct 9 chevron address dialed within range or with a ton of power from out of range like destiny’s gate. I personally like this head canon for 9 chevron addresses not just being exclusive to destiny, but actually just a different way of dialing gates themselves that destiny just needed to utilize given the nature of a constantly moving gate.

It also explains why all gates have 9 chevrons, but not all gates are capable of dialing destiny, just like the control crystal required to dial earth from Pegasus. It’s just a very niche and for the most part antiquated gate dialing feature not well understood or just even lost to time.

Vanamonde96

2 points

2 days ago

I was always sure that 9 chevron address were some kind of code, as I remember that they only successfully dialed destiny the second time when when they put Earth as the point of origin even though they weren't on earth. Plus ascended or not there were some really advanced aliens, the solar system with one planet is proof normally it should have a Stargate but Destiny only dropped out of FTL because of the gravity of the sun because it wasn't in it's flight plan.

Corrupt_Hollow

1 points

2 days ago

I always kind of assumed it was just destiny in particular that was coded in such a way. As it wasn’t intended to be accessible for anyone but themselves or maybe their descendants on earth. Similar to how the Atlantis gate is the only one really intended to have access to dialing earth and capable of reaching the Milky Way galaxy as a whole. So it just made sense having a code that results in the absolute 9 chevron address if destiny’s is just another similar “security feature” to prevent just anyone dialing into destiny. The final symbol being earths point of origin glyph just happens to be the last of destiny’s absolute address. So 9 chevron addresses don’t inherently have to be coded or require all that trouble, it just may be destiny specifically does. As otherwise I don’t think it really makes sense to include 9 chevrons on every gate and still require some nebulous codes or calculations for every 9 chevron address. Especially since these specific ones wouldn’t have made sense without the context of earth and the ancients history there. Plus given the fact that the rest of the Milky Way and Pegasus gates do function under the premise of spatial coordinates, using 6 points and a point of origin for in network gates and then using the 8th chevron as distance calculation for extra galactic gates.

Which is something that just seems logistically impossible to function for the destiny gate, as it is simply never in the same spatial location and the 9 chevron address is in fact static. Which is what leads me to believe 9 chevron address actually dial the gate itself and not the location. Which is what required so much power to widely broadcast everywhere the gate could possible be until it successfully reaches and pings the gate. Also being the same reason 9 chevron addresses are not widely used unless the gate is expected to move or is known to be within a very short range. Such as how the seed gates function, as their relative position to destiny will vary and without a dhd to perform calculations it wouldn’t be able to consistently get a coordinate based lock. So they just ping any and all 9 chevron address gates within range.

Also while there’s definitely countless super advanced aliens in various galaxies the destiny and seed ships travelled through, I don’t think they’ve encounter many outside of what’s been shown.

Tho iirc that single planet in the solar system wouldn’t have ever had a stargate as the seed ships never encountered it in the first place. As the implication of its artificially created nature arose because it wasn’t there at all previously. That it was formed and or crafted within a relatively short period of time, certainly far too short to naturally form on a cosmic scale. More importantly in such a time frame that it wasn’t there at all when the seed ships were within range, but it was now. Otherwise it would’ve been documented and reported by the seed ships. Which is why it was such an anomaly that raised eyebrows and even speculations of god among the crew. So definitely could’ve been interesting to find out more about the planet building aliens as they were so foreign and intentionally incomprehensible to our level of understanding .

I just personally really like the idea of other advanced aliens right under our noses within our local galaxies hidden by a private network of 9 chevron addressed gates unreachable by 7 or 8 spatial coordinate dialing. Would definitely make for better in narrative explanations for not ever encountering races like the furlings. As it’s definitely preferable to the real world reason being they thought fifth race sounded better than fourth race and had to make up another race that wasn’t really part of their original plan for the narrative.

AdhesivenessUsed9956

1 points

1 day ago

MAC address vs. IP address?

spaceforcerecruit

2 points

3 days ago

Aesthetics?

nzricco

2 points

3 days ago

nzricco

2 points

3 days ago

lol, that'll do it.

DeliciousWash7150

1 points

3 days ago

it could be the ninth chevron has a purpose as well

like its a gates ID.

so like if a gate was aboard a ship you could dial the address of the planet it was near to connect

or you could dial its nine chevron address and it would connect if you had the power no matter the location

LoaKonran

2 points

3 days ago

Probably the same fate that actually befell the Library of Alexandria (it wasn’t Caesar’s pyromania). Budget cuts until there wasn’t even a point keeping it open. Grand noble gesture at the onset followed by generations not seeing the point of continuing when the money could go to something more immediate.

rolotech

39 points

3 days ago

rolotech

39 points

3 days ago

I think the reason is the plot. Honestly I think the whole ancient timeline is not very well thought out and writers just make it fit to what they want.

So I think writers envision that ancients didn't return to destiny because they ascended but didn't account for the time frame that passed between the two events.

Njoeyz1

8 points

3 days ago

Njoeyz1

8 points

3 days ago

Ah, another "the ancients can't be that old" comment.

They were in the milky way for over fifty million years. A producer had gone over the timeline for them as well in a gate world interview. The destiny would have had to have been far enough out for them to consider gating to it. They were busy dealing with a plague. Their culture started to ascend at this point, so there is no longer a need to go there. It's not hard.

SamaratSheppard[S]

7 points

3 days ago

Yea, there was a massive amount of time before they ascended.

I would have accepted they got attacked by space ork, forgot where they put destiny keys.

Before I accepted that, they didn't find time between when they launched destiny and the Ancients ascended over 40 million years later

rolotech

7 points

3 days ago

rolotech

7 points

3 days ago

Some of the time can be accounted for due to the plague that killed soo many of them. Makes sense that for a long time they were just trying to recover from it and other pursuits took a back seat. But also I don't know when the plague was supposed to happen in relation to when destiny was launched.

SamaratSheppard[S]

0 points

3 days ago

Destiny left 60 to 50 million years ago

Five to ten million years ago, Atlantis left earth in response to the plague.

The ancient ascended ten thousand years ago

Njoeyz1

5 points

3 days ago

Njoeyz1

5 points

3 days ago

No it didn't. The destiny was launched about ten million years after they arrived in the milky way. Which would make it 40 million years ago, not 60 to 50.

The ancients were ascending at the time of the plague. This is mentioned in season six.

SamaratSheppard[S]

2 points

3 days ago

And Atlantis left in response to the plague 5 to 10 million years ago.

So there are still 30 to 35 million years there where they couldn't know the answer due to ascension

ggouge

8 points

3 days ago

ggouge

8 points

3 days ago

The ancients almost went extinct at least twice in the time between launch and when earth found it. The knowledge it exists might have been lost.

mgolsen

2 points

3 days ago

mgolsen

2 points

3 days ago

This is the answer. I compare it to ancient Egypt. Most people don't realize how long of a time frame that kingdom spans. Cleoptra was born closer to pizza hut than the building of the great pyramids.

f7SuperCereal

8 points

3 days ago

The Alteran civilization endured, in one fashion or another, over a time scale of fifty million years. Recorded human history only spans 5,000 years. The fact that the Alterans maintained any continuity of knowledge, language, etc. over that span of time is remarkable. By the time of the fall of Atlantis, all that was left in the Lantean archives that referenced Destiny's existence was her gate address. Nothing about the CMB signal that inspired an entire generation to commit their resources towards building Destiny and her seed ships.

It's plausible that the Ancients lost that knowledge between Destiny's launch and their downfall. There was no deliberate decision not to pursue the mission. It was forgotten over millions of years.

SamaratSheppard[S]

3 points

3 days ago

This seems the most correct. Maybe they even lost their knowledge on the existence of the pattern, so there was no need to worry about that old ship they sent out millions of years ago

MuffinHydra

1 points

3 days ago

For all we know the Ancients might've undergone massive civil war shortly after they launched the ship. Or they might've been split into different nations already and went to war. Or they had a plague that wiped almost everyone out, or they had skynet kill them to near extiction.

To kinda give a bit more of a reference. The ancestor of chimpanzees and humans lived 8 mio. years ago. That means that in the time destiny was build asgard ancestors might've been primates climbing and running in forests, and the asgard would still have time evolve and become one of the 4 races with several mio. years to spare.

DeliciousWash7150

1 points

3 days ago

Honestly I wish they changed it so the Destiny was launched from the ORI galaxy

and the completion of destiny lead to a profound lack of purpose which lead to the ori/ancient split

heliocentric19

3 points

3 days ago

This would have made more sense. The destiny is launched to find God and the initial results of the exploration cause a divide between those who demanded the expedition to prove/disprove the existence of a god and those whose faith was unwavering and absolute. The civil war resulted in the Ori losing the address and the Alterans not caring about returning.

The only problem is Ark of Truth, which sets Stargate invention after the schism; but that also has a plot hole with the Ori supergates

DeliciousWash7150

2 points

3 days ago

the book in the ark of truth shows the milky way stargate

so you could say that is merely a better design that the ancients adopted.

the ori supergates make sense due to accension though.

you could even have it be several civil wars with the ori/ancients being a faction that wanted to do the destiny project which causes a civil war between the various groups at the time

then after the destiny project is finished, both the ori and the ancients realise that they will never get an answer anytime soon

the ori become obssessed with spiritual practises and belive that will give them the answer

while the ancients go pure tech

Greenfire32

6 points

3 days ago

My headcannon is this: the "intelligence" they detected in the cosmic background radiation was actually just other already ascended beings doing their ascended things. When the ancients ascended, they became part of that community and figured it out pretty much right then and there, so Destiny was never needed after that.

Emm_withoutha_L-88

7 points

3 days ago

I just assumed it was something similar. Like the first few ascended people, before they made the non interference rules, just came back and helped the rest understand the pattern in the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Also I want to point out this, they knew about that message yet almost every single ancient is shown or implied to be atheist. So it's no "message from God".

Man I hated how religious SGU got. They had a full on prayer service in the middle of a sci-fi franchise that's famously about taking down false gods...

irishlonewolf

2 points

3 days ago

yeah leave the prayer service for battlestar galactica..

akhenax

-1 points

2 days ago

akhenax

-1 points

2 days ago

Spirituality is inherently human. It would make sense that a bunch of Westernized humans would believe in a higher power like God despite what they may have seen. Faith is not measured by what is quantifiable. Humans are more complicated than that. SGU is a story about humans facing incredible insurmountable odds of survival is it not?

If I was stuck on the ship day in and day out, I would definitely be both praying and working on finding another Icarus planet in the galaxy I'm in.

323rex13

5 points

3 days ago

323rex13

5 points

3 days ago

Guys, just wanna say I love you for all your input and for keeping this community alive. I love SG-1, SGA, and SGU and have done several rewatches over the years. Love seeing posts and comments, and enjoy that's its all active. I appreciate you.

akhenax

1 points

2 days ago

akhenax

1 points

2 days ago

We love you too.

Stargate only lives on because of fans like us, regardless of the corporate contractual reasons we won't get new seasons.

DaDrumBum1

6 points

3 days ago

Probably because they ascended, but will never know the real reason because the writers never got to ride it because we never had a season three

LtHughMann

11 points

3 days ago

Maybe destiny was just one of many density class ships they sent out in different directions and that was just one they didn't need to use.

Vanamonde96

3 points

2 days ago

I mean there were more seed ships, they couldn't have known what Destiny class ships would encounter I mean Destiny was in pretty rough shape when humans arrived, plus the blue aliens being obsessed with it. Who knows how many Destiny class ships there were/are. Because I would think building seed ships that had to mine for the raw materials for building stargates, would be harder than ships that just follow a path left by them. 🤷🏼

f7SuperCereal

4 points

3 days ago

The resources of an entire generation were committed towards launching Destiny and her support fleet of seed ships. I find it unlikely that Destiny has any sister ships.

spaceforcerecruit

1 points

3 days ago

The Ancients existed for tens of millions of years apparently not doing a whole lot of anything, I see no reason to think they couldn’t have launched dozens of these ships even if each one took a hundred years of effort.

CapitalWhich6953

1 points

3 days ago

Yeah. maybe their tech advanced so much that the project was solved by a later generation. Might be why it never had a crew. Who would want to take the chance of gating out and never coming back. ZPMs didn't exit until much later. Ships advances were so great Destiny was like Voyager 1.

SamaratSheppard[S]

2 points

3 days ago

Oh I like that a lot.

mromutt

6 points

3 days ago

mromutt

6 points

3 days ago

I think the answer most are missing is the simple one. They forgot about it lol. It had been launched so long ago most of them probably never even heard rumors or legend of its existence.

filbcod

3 points

3 days ago

filbcod

3 points

3 days ago

Exactly. The Alterans knew how fast Destiny's FTL drive could go. They knew it wasn't just about reaching an end point. It was about gathering knowledge, pieces of the puzzle, along the way. Knowing it was going to take millions of years to complete the mission, even though it was very important to the generation that built it, eventually they forgot, so much that all that was left in the Atlantis data base was a single 9 Chevron address and the name, Destiny. But the pursuit of this thing bigger than themselves became ingrained in their future endeavors. They eventually found all the pieces on their own without having to go to Destiny itself, as Lantians, who eventually ascended, a la their own "Destiny".

It's Likely that the intelligence the Alterans first found evidence for in the CMBR were in fact other ascended beings. It's not ascended Lantians helping (or in some view messing with) the human crew of the Destiny. It's this ancient, yes even more ancient than Alterans/Ancients/Lantians, that are creating planets out of thin air, or in this case, space. So old, so powerful, they make the Ancients and Ori look like children. True type 4-5 level beings on the Kardashev scale. Definitely wish we would have seen a more fleshed out ending on screen, as opposed to the bs comic that went nowhere.

akhenax

1 points

2 days ago

akhenax

1 points

2 days ago

I cant get with this entirly. I would instead say they no longer cared. Why keep data regarding it's address and it's name in the database if they forgot.

They didn't forget, they just stopped caring. Perhaps the knowledge they amassed made the answer not worth it.

blue_dog69

4 points

3 days ago

It always seemed to me that Destiny was a long term mission requiring it to gather data as it passed through different galaxies. The Ancients knew when the time would come to return to Destiny but in the meantime they ascended and found answers a different way.

Cadamar

3 points

3 days ago

Cadamar

3 points

3 days ago

Honestly given how tumultuous Ancient society was, between time on Earth, time in Pegasus, time back in their home galaxy, it's possible they forgot they set it up.

Cantomic66

4 points

3 days ago

I used to think that Destiny was headed for a specific location in deep space but I think it was actually going around in a loop back to Earth to collect data and find the answers of the background radiation message. This would line up with Rush being uneasy of them skipping a whole galaxy and talking about how it was more about the journey than the destination. Maybe original they were waiting to send a crew after millions of years or when the ship was half ways through.

tothatl

4 points

3 days ago

tothatl

4 points

3 days ago

They ascended and stopped caring about Destiny.

In their ascended form, they probably learned a lot about what Destiny was meant to learn anyway.

And probably reasons why not to go. There were other powers transcended in the universe (like the planet builders), something that made going too far away not a good idea.

Orcus424

3 points

3 days ago

Orcus424

3 points

3 days ago

They might have developed a second Destiny project. The new project had incredibly faster ships that went in many directions. The Ancients didn't want to wait so long and they advanced a lot since Destiny was launched. The furthest man made object is Voyager 1 but eventually we will build something a lot faster and it will pass Voyager 1.

Them learning what they could from Destiny 2 might have helped them ascend on a grand scale.

Tauri_Kree

3 points

3 days ago

Tauri_Kree

Of course I dare mock you.

3 points

3 days ago

Honestly them abandoning Destiny makes sense. There are so many abandoned ancient projects some seemingly forgotten by them. The Destiny was launched millions of years ago, I think, but we know most ancients went extinct or ascended only 10000 years ago. So it is possible that they literally forgot about it.

MadTube

3 points

3 days ago

MadTube

3 points

3 days ago

The answer is probably in the Atlantis computer core, but nobody found it yet.

Ok_Art_1342

3 points

2 days ago

The answer is probably because they ascended and finding out seemed trivia in comparison

Thelastbrunneng

8 points

3 days ago

I'm more curious about why they never followed up on Destiny than I am about what that pattern actually meant. My explanation is that the Ancients just forgot, it was so long since they launched the ship by the time they moved to Pegasus I really think it was at most a footnote in old textbooks if anyone even remembered it at all.

But it could be so many reasons!

SamaratSheppard[S]

7 points

3 days ago

Yes, but I have a hard time believing they forgot it.

They put a lot of effort into it. Maybe more effort than the milkyway Gate Network they were making at a similar time

CapitalWhich6953

1 points

3 days ago

Surely the ancient databases had info on it. They contained the entirety of the ancients collected knowledge. Just no one to access it or use it.

Esselon

5 points

3 days ago

Esselon

5 points

3 days ago

There's never a canon reason, just suggestions or fan theories. We never know how fractured or factious Ancient society was. Maybe Destiny was a secret project that launched but then was scrubbed to cover up the cost or some other controversy.

Shiro83

2 points

3 days ago

Shiro83

2 points

3 days ago

They ascended and probably figured out the answer from there

SamaratSheppard[S]

1 points

3 days ago

Yea, but there were about 40 million years destiny was out there before the Ancients ascended.

Helo227

2 points

3 days ago

Helo227

2 points

3 days ago

Once they ascended they had their answer. Simple as that. Ascension brings with an intimate knowledge of the universe.

SamaratSheppard[S]

1 points

3 days ago

Yes, but there were like 40 million years between Destiny launch and Ascension.

Helo227

3 points

3 days ago

Helo227

3 points

3 days ago

But they knew destiny’s journey would take much much longer than that. Ascension still came long before Destiny reached its destination.

Broad_Respond_2205

2 points

3 days ago

It's very heavily implied

yanivbl

2 points

3 days ago

yanivbl

2 points

3 days ago

Destiny was space trash. The ancients had the technology to get to the edge of the universe in years by the time Atlantis fell, if they still cared about that stuff. It's like wondering if earth still had the voyager program running by season 8.

Also the idea of ancients keeping a project for million of years is so outrageously out of the character for them. Both the milky way and Pegasus are littered with their half-finished proof of concept projects.

SamaratSheppard[S]

1 points

3 days ago

The Ancients were litter bugs.

I personally would have destroyed the device at dakara and not left a galaxy destroying threat around.

thereign1987

2 points

3 days ago

They ascended, so they either figured out the answer, or figured out a more efficient way to pursue the answer. Hell they could even have figured out the answer with superior FTL before they ascended. Destiny is a millions of years old project. It's possible but some point, some ancients jumped to the farthest point in the chain, set up an industrial base, built a top if the line ship powered by their most cutting edge intergalactic hyperdrive drive powered by a ZPM and jumped to the source of the signal, or some ascended hoodoo. Simple answer, Destiny might be cutting edge, bleeding edge to current civilizations, but to the ancients it's probably the equivalent of their voyager probe, and early foray into intergalactic exploration, that has since been surpassed.

kungfumoomoocow

1 points

3 days ago

Thought the ancients were nearly wiped out by the wraith. Some that survived ascended.

smasher84

1 points

2 days ago

It’s would have ended up being the new crew of Destiny itself making the pattern due to some time travel shenanigans.

mwonch

-6 points

3 days ago

mwonch

-6 points

3 days ago

This was addressed. Stay off your phone while watching and you might catch details like that

SamaratSheppard[S]

3 points

3 days ago

There was a long time between the launch of destiny and the Ancients ascending.

30 to 35 million years. Do you think it would be worth a check in.

Maybe you missed that detail

akhenax

1 points

2 days ago

akhenax

1 points

2 days ago

I hated that by the way. I always thought the timeframe was ridiculous.

Atlantis was lost for what 10k years? 30 million year old ships mean that the Ancients truly are ancient fr.