The Thargoid are a hierarchical species divided into multiple subgroups; All Thargoids encountered by humanity are drones, which don't appear to have any form of free-will and are instead linked to a hive mind that is controlled by a single Thargoid Queen.

Thargoid Queens and Princesses—that simply being a Queen that has not yet formed its own colony—are thought to be extremely intelligent, and are telepathically interwined with their drones in such a way that they can effectively experience all that every single drone in its hive is experiencing. Despite so, Thargoid Queens consider their drones expendable and are little, if at all, bothered by the loss of one.