|
List of System Lords With few exceptions, System Lords gain power by posing as gods from various mythologies in order to enslave various planets. In general they are mostly Egyptian Gods, partially to feel more canon with the preceding film, but also due to the original location of the Stargate in Egypt. Although the Goa'uld often pose as deities from many of Earth's religions to gain power, they generally do not take on the persona of those of modern-day Earth religions. The Goa'uld left Earth after a slave rebellion circa 3,000 B.C., and major religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were founded after this. The Goa'uld continued to take small numbers of humans from Earth through the Stargate in Antarctica, but apparently the costs involved were sufficient to make such takings smaller than in the past. However, the Goa'uld did copy the personas of several of Earth's older religions that still exist in the modern day, such as Hinduism and Shinto, since they are traditional religions with origins from before the burial of the Stargate. It should be noted, however, that there are strong suggestions that Buddhism, particularly Zen, was founded by the Ancient study of Ascension (though the Ancients are the benevolent race that built the Stargates, and not connected to the Goa'uld at all). Goa'uld parasites are actually asexual and possess no gender, but many have been inhabiting human host bodies for so long (all the while experiencing life through their sensations) that they have come to think of themselves as either "male" or "female"; Apophis, Ba'al, and Anubis (before he Ascended) preferred to always take a male host, while Morrigan and Nirrti preferred to take female hosts. An exception is Hathor, who traditionally appeared as a female, but was actually a sexually reproductive Goa'uld Queen, not asexual; in all likelihood Isis was the same. Osiris traditionally appeared in a male host for hundreds of years, but necessity required him to take a female host; this particular System Lord is nonetheless still referred to as a "he". Most of the System Lords (cases such as Osiris and Seth notwithstanding) have inhabited the same host body for millenia. Ra still inhabited the young Earth shaman he found ten thousand years ago, while Apophis's host in the late 1990s had once been a scribe at the temple of Amun in Karnak. Yu was apparently so old that he could not leave his host, though it was not established how long he inhabited that particular body. If "Summit" is a reasonable guide, it would appear that around the time of the first mission to Abydos, the following Goa'uld probably made up the first rank of System Lords: Ra, Apophis, Cronus, Yu, Nirrti, Ba'al, Bastet, Kali, Morrigan, Olukun and Svarog. In addition, Sokar was extremely powerful, but had been banished by the rest of the System Lords. Heru-ur inherited most of his empire from his father Ra, but he may have been a System Lord in his own right as well. Egyptian mythology Shinto mythology Greek mythology Celtic mythology Canaanite/Phoenician mythology Hindu mythology Sumerian/Babylonian mythology Yorùbá mythology Slavic mythology Non-deific origin General plot Over the course of the series, several dominant System Lords have risen: Sokar, Apophis, Anubis, and Ba'al to name the greater of them. All System Lords use ground troops called Jaffa as both warriors and symbiotes for young Goa'uld larvae. They pose as Gods even to their own troops, who thus have ultimate loyalty. Teal'c was among the first to question the decific state of his Lord, and subsequently rebelled, beginning a string of rebellions that grew from a small contingent to, later in the series, a serious threat. Apophis was the original enemy of the series, and original master of Teal'c; Sokar briefly replaced him, but he eventually arose again. Anubis was a far more evil Goa'uld whose aspirations may have been greater than we know. His ascendancy forced the other System Lords to coalesce into a "United Alliance of System Lords" to defeat him and restore the balance of power; this alliance was headed first by Yu, and then by Ba'al after the former's insanity; the Alliance also was forced into an uneasy cooperation with the Tau'ri. Anubis' strength came in large part from his mastery of Ancient technology; this knowledge came to him after he tricked Oma Desala, an Ancient, into allowing him to Ascend, although the other Ancients cast him back down into a half-ascended state. This made it almost impossible to kill him, although Jack O'Neill destroyed his entire army when he was able to use an Ancient weapon, rendering Anubis powerless. By virtue of his leadership of the "United Alliance of System Lords", Ba'al claimed all of Anubis' territory and his Kull Warriors, and began to dominate all other Goa'uld until all feared him. At the end of Season 8, the majority of the System Lords (including the long-lasting Yu) were killed by 'RepliCarter' and the Replicators during their invasion of the Milky Way galaxy. Apart from the System Lord Ba'al (who escaped, ironically, to Earth), as far as is known there is no other System Lord still living. However, all were not killed at once; SG-1 managed to eliminate several over the course of the series, though usually after each defeat a greater System Lord would subsume the power of the former. Further, the System Lords Kali, Mórrígan, and Amaterasu were never seen killed on screen, nor has their death been mentioned, so they may simply have gone into hiding after the success of the Jaffa rebellion. With the ultimate success of the Jaffa rebellion, the Goa'uld have lost their main power base and their future in the galaxy is uncertain. It appears that, ironically, the only members of the Goa'uld to survive will be the Tok'ra, the few Goa'uld who control the Trust, and the many "wild" Goa'uld living in the swamps of the world where they originally evolved. Hierarchy There is a strict rank system among the System Lords, and particularly beneath the System Lords (i.e. among their individual followers). The System Lords themselves are a body that, although sometimes warring, are also in many senses allied. The System Lords wish to continue the dominance of the System Lords. Furthermore, to become a System Lord, not only must a Goa'uld have great military power, but he must also be accepted by the others; otherwise he is an immediate enemy. Each System Lord has a vast army of Jaffa, and these are formed in rank systems as well. The highest rank is First Prime. A System Lord's First Prime is almost like his second in command. He/She is the Commander of all of that particular System Lord's forces. A First Prime is nearly always at the Lord's side, and in general enacts the Lord's direct requests to initiate top-level actions (e.g. it is the First Prime that presses the button to engage hyperspace, blow up a planet, etc., but it is the System Lord who gives the order). An Earth equivalent might be the military rank of Field Marshal or Fleet Admiral. First Primes are set apart from other Jaffa in that the mark of service on their foreheads is made with a special knife and filled with pure gold. This process is described by Teal'c to be extremely painful. The First Prime is often privy to secrets of the System Lord he serves, and a sufficiently perceptive First Prime quickly realizes that the Goa'uld are not gods; this was how Teal'c came to betray Apophis. Oshu, Yu's First Prime, came to doubt Lord Yu after the latter proved increasingly senile. Some important First Primes include: System Lords also have a personal highest human slave called a Lo'tar (a slang term meaning "You, human.") Lo'tars are often used as backup hosts - they are always near the System Lord on a dangerous mission, and if the Lord is wounded too grievously, the symbiote can change to a new body. Apparently, Lo'tars find their position to be an honour even if they understand that the Lord isn't a God. The slave of a System Lord often works his way up to Lo'tar because he wants to be taken host, such that he can then experience the pleasures that System Lords enjoy. Whether this refers to mass murder (which is pleasurable for Goa'uld), or otherwise simple luxury, is ambiguous. See also | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
 |
|
| |