The Expanse's Sequel Introduced a Life-Changing Theory About the Ring Network You Totally Missed
Warning: contains spoilers for The Expanse: Dragon Tooth #5!Years have passed since Expanse closed its television run, but the same cannot be said for the franchise as a whole. The Syfy series remains a beloved piece of media for sci-fi fans across the globe, and those fans made sure the story of Expanse lived on. Thanks to a record-breaking Kickstarter, Expanse has gone on to live through a number of comics, and one of those issues made sure to follow up on a major cliffhanger from the TV series. After all, Expanse made many fans question how exactly its Rings work, and Dr. Okoye found an answer in The Expanse: Dragon Tooth.
Picking up more than a decade after the TV show's finale, The Expanse: Dragon Tooth #5 follows the crew of the Rocinante as the team meets up with Dr. Elvi Okoye. While the crew thought the rendezvous would be a simple babysitting job, the Rocinante team found themselves blown away when Dr. Okoye dropped some game-changing information about the Space Rings fans have come to question. According to the scientist, the Rings are a rather terrifying tool as her research has led Dr. Okoye to believe the devices break down all matter that enters them and reconstitutes the matter once it has arrived at its intended destination.
This would mean Ring travel isn't a process of teleportation, but of destruction followed by creation - whatever comes out isn't the same as what went in. Written by Andy Diggle (Green Arrow: Year One), drawn by Francesco Pisa (Stable), and developed with original creators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (who wrote the books under the joint pseudonym James S.A. Corey), the latest issue shows how much there still is to learn about this hard sci-fi universe.
The Expanse's Rings Aren't Just Teleportation
The Expanse: Dragon Tooth Proves the Rings Are a Weapon
A major component of the faster-than-light travel of The Expanse is the Ring network, a series of over 1,300 wormholes throughout the Milky Way. However, they were built by an ancient alien civilization which is already extinct when the series begins, so the characters don't yet fully understand how they work. Dr. Okoye is an exobiologist who's been studying the Rings for at least a decade but admits she's still intimidated by them. She doubts they'll be fully explained in her lifetime, but she is still dedicated to her task of scientific discovery, no matter her fear. Amos speculates its an "A-M/F-M thing... There's Actual Machines, an' there's F***n' Magic." Dr. Okoye says it's an apt comparison.
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Essentially, Okoye's theory suggests that the Ring network may be closer to cloning than rapid transport, and there's no guarantee that what steps out of the other end is exactly 1:1 what stepped in. Dr. Okoye suggests that it's like growing up: human bodies are constantly regenerating, replenishing, and expelling cells and molecules. However, that's a very optimistic reading on a freaky process that essentially destroys anyone who uses it, then creates a new version. However, Okoye's theory does represent a major theory of how teleportation could be possible in the real world, showing why The Expanse was one of TV's most accurate sci-fi shows.
The Expanse Makes Its Rings Exceptionally Existential
Star Trek Has Nothing On The Expanse's Rings
If Dr. Okoye's theory is correct, this could make Ring travel more discomforting than it already is. Some characters in The Expanse admit they find going through the Rings uncomfortable and terrifying already. Discovering that the Rings break one down and spit out a copy elsewhere could cause a mass panic. The Expanse: Dragon Tooth is making it clear that fans have only scratched the surface of this universe's hidden truths.
The Expanse
- Created by
- Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck
- First TV Show
- The Expanse
- Latest TV Show
- The Expanse
- First Episode Air Date
- December 14, 2015
- Cast
- Steven Strait, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Thomas Jane, Cas Anvar, Frankie Adams, Cara Gee, David Strathairn, Keon Alexander
- TV Show(s)
- The Expanse
