History Main / PrecursorKillers

-->-- '''James Holden''', ''[[Literature/TheExpanse Persepolis Rising]]''

* The Ori of ''Series/StargateSG1'' were revealed to have actually been the reason the Ancients traveled to the Milky Way Galaxy in the first place and planted the seeds of our own evolution. The Ancients were then driven out of ''our'' galaxy by a seriously nasty plague eons later, before ultimately succumbing to the Wraith in [[Series/StargateAtlantis the Pegasus Galaxy.]]

-->--'''James Holden''', ''[[Literature/TheExpanse Persepolis Rising]]''

* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', Terra's ancient civilizations prospered...until [[spoiler:[[BigBad Bagan]]]] became the [[GodOfEvil God of Extinction]] and caused a mass extinction event. While he was defeated and [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]], the damage was done. They sacrificed most of their remaining mana to create [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture the Guardian Beasts to defeat]] [[spoiler:Bagan]] when he eventually escaped at which point Battra finished the job.

* An unusual SuicideByCop case-- in ''VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter'' (and the greater ''VideoGame/LittleTailBronx'' universe by proxy), it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Juno are this to [[EarthAllAlong humanity]]. as the Titano-Machina were destroying the planet's biosphere, the Juno (via Yurlungur) suggested the "Reset" command to a group of researchers to give the planet a chance to recover without humanity or the Titano-Machina. The researchers accepted this proposal, and Juno erased humanity while terraforming the planet.]]

** ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' has Sonic explore the ruins of The Ancients and experience their digitally stored memories of ''something'' that came from the sky one day and wiped them out. [[Spoiler:Said something was the voice guiding him, revealign itself to be a titanic energy being known as The End.]]

* The Juno to [[spoiler:humanity]] in ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}''. In an interesting twist, they actually only made the suggestion and provided the kill program. The [[spoiler:humans]] are the ones who made the final suicide call, seeing it as the only way to end their wars and give the planet a chance to recover without them.

* The mysterious "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples Sea Peoples]]" are mentioned in various Bronze Age records from Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean as invaders from the sea who came to raid and pillage. There are various hypothesis about who they were, where they came from, why they raided, but it's universally agreed they were one of the reasons behind the [[EndOfAnEra Late Bronze Age Collapse]] which devastated the civilizations of the era, and greatly weakened Egypt. One hypothesis is that they were InvadingRefugees who were a ''result'' of the Bronze Age Collapse and not the actual ''cause''. The collapse led to a dark age of several centuries (lasting a whopping '''500''' years in Greece) and to the survivors the old Bronze Age civilizations would certainly have looked like {{Precursors}}.

** Klingon Lore holds that they slew their gods because they were more trouble then they were worth. At a seperate time (well after the orign-myth god killing, as the founder of modern Klingon spirituality, Kahless had already passed by this point) the Klingons were invaded by the Hur'q, which is entirely extinct and unknown to the modern Galaxy because they were the Precursors foolish enough to invade a civilization that believed it had killed gods in the past. The invasion is much more historical fact as it's the reason why Klingons got the technology to become a major Galactic power in the first place.

* The Ori of ''Series/StargateSG1'' were revealed to have actually been the reason the Ancients traveled to the Milky Way Galaxy in the first place and planted he seeds of our own evolution. The Ancients were then driven out of ''our'' galaxy by a seriously nasty plague eons later, before ultimately succumbing to the Wraith in [[Series/StargateAtlantis the Pegasus Galaxy.]]

Sometimes the precursors were able to FlingALightIntoTheFuture in the form of some sort of LostSuperweapon that the Precursors weren't able to finish in time to stop their enemy. Often the killers are a SealedEvilInACan that was somehow stopped by the last actions of their enemies. Compare AbusivePrecursors, TurnedAgainstTheirMasters, and TheOldGods.

Precursor Killers are the reason why the {{Precursors}} aren't around anymore. Typically they are a much more powerful (and evil) group and/or [[GenocideFromTheInside a rogue member or faction of the precursors]] that managed to wipe out the precursors despite their [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien advanced]] [[ClarkesThirdLaw technology/magic]]. Either it is because the Killers' own technology/magic was more advanced than the precursors, or they were just so numerous that the precursors couldn't keep them at bay forever. If the Precursor Killers are still around, expect them to be a [[TheDreaded BIG DEAL]] and the threat of another attack to be a looming threat. After all, if a more technologically advanced people couldn't beat these guys what can WE do?

Sometimes the precursors were able to FlingALightIntoTheFuture in the form of some sort of LostSuperweapon that the Precursors weren't able to finish in time to stop their enemy. Often this the killers are a SealedEvilInACan that was somehow stopped with the last actions of their enemies. Compare AbusivePrecursors, TurnedAgainstTheirMasters and TheOldGods.

* The Ancients who built many of the underground structures in ''Manga/{{Helck}}'' are revealed to be wiped out by [[spoiler:The Will of the World, a [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace hyperspace virus]] turned SentientCosmicForce. And there are still forces around that work for it.]]

* The Xel'Naga of ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' create universes as a means [[BizarreAlienReproduction to perpetuate themselves]], intending to leave evolution to do its thing after this initial kickstart and eventually create a species with PsychicPowers and a species of [[HollywoodEvolution biological adaptability]] which would then [[FusionDance join]] to become the new Xel'Naga.
** [[SpannerInTheWorks Except]]... one of their number, Amon, threw a monkey wrench in their plans, gathering likeminded Xel'Naga with him, they actively waged a CivilWar amongst their kind, a war that wasn't going well for him and his allies, so they began meddling with two species on their way to fitting the bill in defiance of the Xel'Naga's AlienNonInterferenceClause. In particular for this trope, he turned the [[HollywoodEvolution Zerg]] into a {{Hive Mind}}ed HordeOfAlienLocusts, creating [[HiveQueen The Overmind]] to control them. The Zerg then promptly became Precursor Killers as he sicced them on his kind alongside his followers.

* The Space Pirates seem to be to blame for wiping out most of the remaining Chozo in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}''. What the Space Pirates didn't get, phazon did.
** The Chozo are implied to still be out there ''somewhere'', though. With phazon gone, most were presumably able to return to [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence a higher plane of existence.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the Necrons (a race of undying skeletal androids) are the reason the Old Ones aren't around anymore, and the only reason the Necrons didn't end up ruling the galaxy was that they went to war against and defeated a ''second'' set of Precursors (the malevolent C'Tan this time) right afterward, and were too exhausted from the conflicts that they went into hibernation for millions of years.

** The Chozo of planet SR388, the Thoha tribe, were revealed in ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' to have been murdered by [[spoiler:another faction of Chozo, the Mawkin tribe, in an effort to establish control over the planet's Metroids (the Thoha wanted to exterminate them, but the Mawkin wanted to weaponize them). The Mawkin in turn were consumed by the [[TheAssimilator X Parasites]] some time before the events of ''Dread'', with Samus herself finishing off their sole survivor and leader, Raven Beak.]]

Precursor Killers are the reason why the {{Precursors}} aren't around anymore. Typically they are a much more powerful (and evil) group and/or a rogue member or faction of the precursors that managed to wipe out the precursors despite their [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien advanced]] [[ClarkesThirdLaw technology/magic]]. Either it is because the Killers' own technology/magic was more advanced than the precursors, or they were just so numerous that the precursors couldn't keep them at bay forever. If the Precursor Killers are still around, expect them to be a [[TheDreaded BIG DEAL]] and the threat of another attack to be a looming threat. After all, if a more technologically advanced people couldn't beat these guys what can WE do?

Sometimes the precursors were able to FlingALightIntoTheFuture in the form of some sort of LostSuperweapon that the Precursors weren't able to finish in time to stop their enemy. Often this the killers are a SealedEvilInACan that was somehow stopped with the last actions of their enemies. Compare AbusivePrecursors, TurnedAgainstTheirMasters and TheOldGods

** Klingon Lore holds that they slew their gods because they were more trouble then they were worth. At a seperate time (well after the orign-myth god killing, as the founder of modern Klingon spirituality, Kahless had already passed by this point) the Klingons were invaded by the Hur'q, which is entirely extinct and unknown to the modern Galaxy because they were the Precursors [[WhatAnIdiot foolish enough to invade a civilization that believed it had killed gods in the past.]] The invasion is much more historical fact as it's the reason why Klingons got the technology to become a major Galactic power in the first place.