During the Reaver scene in the pilot episode, Inara pulls a syringe full of something, that she seems to be willing to use on herself. What was in that syringe?
asked Feb 20, 2011 at 14:13
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My thought was it was some kind of "Super Trooper Juice" that would turn her into a living weapon like River, on a temporary basis. A Companion would be ideal for such a role in many ways, it could also explain her understanding and empathy to river, and also her exile. The illness that was killing her might be form previous use of the drug.– CovertwalrusCommented May 16, 2015 at 12:44
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5 Answers
This question was answered by Joss and Morena Baccarin (Inara) together once and for all in the broadcast "Browncoats Unite" on the Science Channel on Nov 11, 2012.
"This is what I loved about the show is it wasn't just all exposition, explaining everything about what was going on. She had this sort of magic syringe. She would take this drug. And if she were, for instance, raped, the rapist would die a horrible death."
Basically, the drug would kill anyone who had sex with her. Essentially, all of the reavers would have died as a result as they "Rape you to death, eat your flesh, and sew your skin into their clothing. And if you are very lucky, they do it in that order". So it means that Inara would have most likely survived, and the reavers would not have.
answered Nov 13, 2012 at 22:07
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2That can't be it, Joss promised it was "more interesting" than the ideas fans had thus far proposed and stupid rape revenge is some of the most boringly over-trod ground in genre fiction.– user1030Commented Nov 14, 2012 at 0:01
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1Who answered the question on the broadcast? Was it Joss Whedon, or someone else?– John CCommented Nov 14, 2012 at 11:04
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Inara probably wouldn't've survived. Indeed, hers would've been a sacrifice of somewhat biblical proportions. Commented Jul 24, 2017 at 12:18
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@JohnC - It was confirmed, that was one of the episodes that was tentatively planned, but never got made. Essentially, Inara gets gang raped by reavers who all die afterwards.– JohnPCommented Jul 31, 2018 at 14:27
Exactly what was in the syringe was never fully revealed. There are lots of theories, but Joss Whedon apparently shot down the suicide theory (which I, like many others, had initially assumed).
Morena Baccarin confirmed that Inara was dying of a terminal illness during a panel at the 2008 DragonCon. The syringe could have been a plant to lead in to that later story line.
answered Feb 20, 2011 at 15:27
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1Following that link (at the time of writing) there appears to be only two, of which one has been shot down. But +1 for being self referential.– RichardCommented Feb 20, 2011 at 19:45
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@Richard: Thanks, I fixed the link to point to the page with theories that I was originally referring to. I have no idea how I managed to link back to this page. You'd think I've never used one of these sites before. :) Commented Feb 21, 2011 at 3:58
In the DVD commentary Joss Whedon explicitly says that the syringe is not a suicide device.
Everyone assumes a suicide kit, and actually I had something a little more interesting in mind for it, but I can't really speak about it here. It would take too long ... It's one of those things I was laying in for later.
The two leading theories are:
- Inara was terminally ill (c.f. Morena Baccarin's comment at DragonCon) and it was going to lead into that storyline in some way.
- It was a drug that when taken would kill anyone that had sex with her (suggested by Tim Minear at a writers conference) and there was going to be a later episode where Inara was attacked and raped by Reavers.
answered Feb 21, 2011 at 0:36
She had this magic syringe. She would take this drug. And if she were, for instance, raped, the rapist would die a horrible death. The story was that she gets kidnapped by Reavers and when Mal finally got to the ship to save her from the Reavers, he gets on the Reaver ship and all the Reavers are dead. Which would suggest a kind of really bad assault. At the end of the episode, he comes in after she’s been horribly brutalized, and he comes in and he gets down on his knee, and he takes her hand. And he treats her like a lady. And that’s the kind of stuff that we wanted to do. It was very dark. And this was actually the first story that Joss pitched to me when he asked me to come work on the show. He said, ‘These are the kind of stories we’re going to do.’
CBR.com: WHAT DARK SECRET DID INARA’S SYRINGE HOLD ON ‘FIREFLY’?
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In this situation, it probably would've been better to suggest an edit with your link to the earlier answer which already cited this information and its original source. Commented Jul 24, 2017 at 12:17
I assume it was some kind of poison she'd use in case the Reavers boarded.
answered Feb 20, 2011 at 15:24
