What do the aliens in 3 Body Problem look like? What do the books say?

3 Body Problem is a new sci-fi show on Netflix. It's about humanity's first contact with an alien civilization, one far more advanced than our own. They are called the San Ti. In the English translations of the original source books by Liu Cixin, they're called the Trisolarans. Whatever the name, they live on an incredibly inhospitable planet, and they've decided to travel to Earth to take it over. We have 400 years before they get here to figure out a way to stop them.

In the show, our human characters do communicate with the San Ti, but we never actually see their alien bodies. Representatives of the San Ti are quick to tell the human characters that how they present themselves within the Three Body virtual reality game is for our "benefit." When someone asks what they really look like, they respond, "You wouldn't like it."

The short version to the question, "What do the aliens look like" is that we don't know. We haven't seen them on the show, and Liu Cixin never gives us an exact description in his Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. Clearly, he wanted to maintain the mystery, so I doubt he'll ever give us a description, although the producers of the Netflix series could take it upon themselves to show us what the aliens look like in a second or third season.

However, there are little clues in the books that can help us paint a picture, and there's even a fourth Three-Body book endorsed — although not written — by the author himself. So let's try to piece together what we know:

• In the books, we know they produce sexually, so there are male San Ti and female San Ti.
• As Mike Evans learn, the San Ti communicate telepathically, so it's a mouth-optional situation.
• One of the biggest set pieces within the Three Body game is legions of San Ti soldiers holding up signs to create a "human computer." Remember, the San Ti only look like humans in the simulation for our benefit. But we later find out that the human computer thing really did happen long ago on their home planet, and that the San Ti reflected light to one together to convey a "0" or a "1." So perhaps their bodies are reflective or metallic in some way.
• The San Ti can dehydrate their bodies to preserve themselves during periods of climatic instability on their world. On Earth, there's a micro-animal called a Tardigrade that can do that same thing to survive in harsh environments. They have eight legs and are teeny-tiny. they look like this:

The idea of the San Ti being miniscule organisms dovetails with a piece of Three-Body Problem fanfiction called The Redemption of Time by Li Jun, published in 2010. In The Redemption of Time, the San Ti are described as insectoid creatures no bigger than an ant or a grain of rice.

Again, The Redemption of Time is only a piece of fanfiction; Three-Body Problem author Liu Cixin had nothing to do with writing it. However, The Redemption of Time was eventually published as a proper novel with Liu Cixin's blessing. That doesn't mean he agrees with how that book describes the San Ti, but it may be as close to an official description as we ever get.

Personally, I like the idea of the San Ti being tiny little creatures. It's sufficiently alien, and it gives a whole new meaning to them calling humans "bugs."

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