The cult-classic sci-fi schow Firefly was an amazing and captivating series, even if it only got one season. Fans have been pouring over it for ages and with good reason. We can’t help but look at the series in different ways, applying what we’ve learned from the movie or comics to what we already knew.
This series was full of dynamic and memorable characters. Some of these characters, while others we loved to hate. Then there’s the crew of Serenity, all of them were highly unique and each very different from one another. It’s hard to believe they functioned as well as they did, at times.
While we love each and every member of the crew, there’s no doubt that they all have their own talents. And sometimes those talents are more academic than others. As such, there’s a difference in the intelligence in some of these characters – though that doesn’t make us love them any less.
With that in mind, here are the main characters of the series, ranked by intelligence.
Jayne Cobb
Jayne is a very dangerous man, and thus we recommend against telling him that we’ve put him at the bottom of this list. The truth of the matter is, while he’s brilliant in a fight, and knows his weapons well, he is not the sharpest tool in the shed. And we mean that in the kindest way possible (mostly so he won’t come after us).
You could arguably call Jayne brutish, and some would even call him a bit simple. He knows what he likes and isn’t much interested in learning anything new. Unless that something new is a new gun or weapon, in which case he’s all for it.
Hoban (Wash) Washburne
Wash is one of the sweetest members of the Serenity crew, but he’s not exactly naive. Rather, he chooses to think the best in people – which may seem a bit odd, given the chosen career path of the crew.
Wash is without a doubt one of the best pilots out there, a fact that was confirmed in several instances – including the comics and novels in the world. To be perfectly blunt about the situation, Wash is a genius when it comes to flying, and there’s a reason
Inara Serra
Next up on our list is Inara. Inara is a woman of mystery, with perhaps more secrets than anybody else on the crew – which is saying something. Inara is also a Companion, which means she’s had more than a decent amount of formal training.
As such, there’s little doubt in our minds that Inara is a bright woman. Her training and her success are enough to tell us that much. She’s also extremely people smart, as evidenced by the multiple occasions in which we’ve seen her handle them and/or awkward situations.
Kaylee Frye
Kaylee is a character who is perhaps very easily underestimated. She doesn’t present herself as anything other than what she is: sweet and caring. But she’s also a prodigy. She’s never had any formal training as a mechanical, as far as we know, and yet she single-handedly keeps Serenity up in the sky – despite all of the odds against it.
Kaylee is the most genuine member of the crew, and she’s exceptionally kind and loyal. In many ways she is the heart of the ship, keeping them all together and heading towards their goals as a team.
Zoe Washburne
Zoe is not the type of woman to show off her intelligence, but we’d strongly recommend against underestimating her. She’s dead brilliant in a fight, knowing how to push her advantage and assess any situation for the best (or worst) outcome.
Zoe knows people, even if she doesn’t like them very much. And thus she knows how to work the jobs.S he was also a Corporal during the war, a fact that kept her men alive, we’d like to think. Or rather, it kept more of them alive than would have otherwise been possible.
Malcolm Reynolds
Mal is the leader of the ragtag crew, and he’s the real reason they’ve stayed together for as long as they have. He’s the Captain and smart enough to keep the crew together and the ship up in the air. He was also a ranking member of the Browncoats, and while his side lost at Serenity Valley, there’s little doubt that he knows his way around a battlefield.
Mal knows all about brokering black market deals and getting jobs outside of the eye of the Alliance. It’s why he’s kept Serenity going for as long as it has. There’s little doubt in our minds that without him River and Simon would never have lasted so long in the wild.
Derrial Book
Book, aka Shepherd, is a shockingly intelligent man, though he actually wants to be underestimated more often than not. If you’ve read the comics, then you already know all about Book’s past.
Book is a man with a past, as indicated in both the series and the movie – this is not a man who lived the life of a preacher. He’s intelligent, cunning, and observant. All of these facts hint towards his previous life, as does his talent with firearms.
We’re giving Book the third spot on this list because of his training, past, and ability to hide what he was. All of these elements indicate the mind behind it all.
River Tam
River is the second smartest on our list, though it was a bit of a hard decision there. There’s no doubt that River is exceptionally bright. Her intelligence and raw potential are the reason why she was targeted by the Alliance’s experimentation in the first place, though to be clear; what was done to her is not her fault.
Now, Simon may argue that his sister is the smarter one. He even said that she made him look like the idiot child out of the two of them. However, we’re going to give him the edge here, since she’s had to focus on a lot of personal problems as of late. We do wish we could have seen how she would have turned out if they had just left her head alone.
Simon Tam
Simon is arguably the smartest member of the crew, though it’s a close call between him and his sister. We ended up giving it to Simon though, thanks to the years he spent in school and all of the special training he’s had.
Simon is a doctor, and it sounds like he was a prodigy in his field. It probably didn’t hurt that he had access to all of the best teachers out there, but we’re still willing to give him a lot of the credit here. There’s also no doubt that being a doctor is and was his passion, as he’s always compelled to help those in need – medically speaking, at any rate.
