System Lord
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Image:Ra in 'Moebius Part I'.jpg Image:Apophis.jpg Image:Anubis looking at Daniel -2-.jpg Image:Baal looking at Osiris.jpg
- See Stargate for more information on this fictional universe.
In the science fiction television show Stargate SG-1, the System Lords are the main leaders of the Goa'uld, the dominant and evil alien race of the Galaxy. As the title implies, for a Goa'uld to qualify as a System Lord they must be extremely powerful and must control several star systems. While there are tens of thousands of Goa'uld ruling across the galaxy, only dozens hold the rank of System Lord. Collectively, the Goa'uld use a system of Stargates, devices that allow instantaneous travel between any two points, to cart large amounts of slaves and warriors between planets, and use Ha'tak motherships, colossal attack-vessels, to uphold their power.
For thousands of years, Ra was the most powerful Goa'uld and held the rank of Supreme System Lord, until he was killed by Colonel O'Neil and Daniel Jackson, as depicted in the film Stargate.
The System Lords rarely trust each other, and very frequently battle amongst themselves. The Tok'ra - a splinter race descended from a Goa'uld queen who opposed the Goa'uld ways - usually try to keep the System Lords balanced so that no single System Lord can completely overpower the others; therefore preventing any one Goa'uld from becoming too powerful to topple.
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List of System Lords
With very few exceptions, all System Lords gain power by posing as Gods from various mythologies, thus enslaving the masses of various planets. The following is a list of the System Lords, grouped by the mythology from which they take their name. 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 being 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.E., and major religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism 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".
Egyptian mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ra | Sun God | His Eye symbolised his being | Originally the first Supreme System Lord, killed by Jack O'Neil in the film Stargate. |
| Anubis | Egyptian name for the God of the Underworld | Jackal | One of the most powerful System Lords, until he was virtually vanquished in the Season 7 finale, and then taken out of the equation in the Season 8 episode Threads. Most strikingly, he was half-ascended. |
| Thoth | Greek name for this lunar deity. Egyptian Djehuty | Ibis bird or babbon | He is the scientist serving Anubis on the planet Tartarus and is responsible for creating and maintaining the Kull warriors. Appeared only in the episode "Evolution, Part 2", before killed by Carter. |
| Apophis | Greek name for the God of Darkness and Chaos; Egyptian Apep | Serpent | The original antagonist of Stargate SG-1, and former master of Teal'c. Deceased (Season 5). |
| Isis | Greek name for the Goddess of Queens | Woman wearing a Throne-shaped headdress | Trapped with her mate Osiris, Isis died after her canopic jar broke while the artifacts were being transferred for study. |
| Osiris | God of Death | Two-horned mummy, or centipede | A recurring villain, finally trapped in Season 7 and removed from his host. His ship was left in cloaked orbit around Earth, and was later used by The Trust. |
| Amonet | Female form of Amus, God of Air | Snake-headed woman | Apophis' queen; took Sha're as her host. Deceased (Season 3). |
| Bastet | Protector Goddess of Lower Egypt | Fierce lion or cat | One of several Goa'uld that voted for Anubis' reinstatement among the System Lords (Season 5); Deceased (Season 8). |
| Hathor | Goddess of the Milky Way and Fertility, daughter and wife of Ra | Golden cow | Hathor once came to the SGC and made all the men fall into trances by using powerful sexual pheromones. She nearly took control of the base before all of the women and Teal'c forced her to flee. Deceased. |
| Heru-ur | Sky God Horus | Falcon, or his Eye | Deceased (Season 4). |
| Sokar | God of the Separation of Soul and Body | Human-headed bird / Mummified, green, falcon-headed human | Deceased (Season 3). |
| Sobek | Deification of Crocodiles | Crocodile-headed man | Deceased, betrayed and killed by Bali and Bastet, as explained by Daniel Jackson (Season 5). |
| Seth | Greek for the God of the Desert | Gazelle or composite of aardvark and jackal | Deceased (Season 3). |
Shinto mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amaterasu | Sun Goddess, and traditional first ancestor of the Japanese royal family | Woman | One of the System Lords on the delegation petitioning for an alliance, or at least an understanding, with Earth against Ba'al. |
Greek mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional Appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cronos | Cronus, Titan father of Zeus the Supreme God | Powerful man | Teal'c's father was his First Prime. Member of the delegation of System Lords sent to negotiate the addition of Earth to the Protected Planets Treaty. Deceased (Season 4). |
| Aries | Likely the God of War, Ares | Battle-ready, ferocious man | Fled from Anubis and, later, Ba'al when they made their attempts at power. The planet on which Tok'ra had settled Harry Maybourne had previously belonged to him, and his Jaffa attempted to reclaim it; however, when Aries himself arrived, he was killed by SG-1, who used a Puddle Jumper to destroy his Hatak. ("It's Good to Be King", Season 8.) |
| Pelops | son of Tantalus and the grandson of Zeus. | --- | Mentioned in passing and shown as a statue in the episode Brief Candle. He is the Goa'uld who is resposible for the condition the people are in, which also affected O'Neil. |
Celtic mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camulus | God of War | Camulus requested asylum at the SGC, and later sacrificed himself to unsuccessfully attempt to kill Ba'al (Season 8). | |
| Morrigan | Former Goddess of Death | Carrion Crow | Brought the people of Hebridan from Earth. |
| Grannus | God of Healing and Minerals | Grannus was a lieutenant of Camulus who was killed by his Jaffa after they learned of the Goa'uld's parasitical origin. Some of his human followers are now extremists who have erected a shrine in his name, still believing fanatically in the fallen Goa'uld's divinity. (Season 9) |
Canaanite/Phoenician mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baal | Simply the word for a Lord, son of the Supreme God; also one of the chief gods of Carthage | Powerful man | The dominant System Lord in later seasons. Currently pretending to be a powerful business executive involved in military contracting on Earth; ironically, the military his company dealt most with was the United States Air Force, the branch of the U.S. military with authority over the SGC. |
| Moloc | Moloch, a Canaanite fire God who commanded a sacrifice of first born children | Originally dominant over Ishta's clan, he proclaimed that, until his forces turned the tide of the various wars he was waging, all female children would be sacrificed at birth. When he was later killed by the SGC's missiles (Season 8), his territory was absorbed by Ba'al. Possibly of Hebrew origin. | Deceased. |
Hindu mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional Appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kali | Creator and Destroyer | Black and emaciated woman | A System Lord who voted for Anubis's return to their ranks. Current status is unknown. |
| Nirrti | Commonly Nirrith, Goddess of Death | The first Goa'uld to experiment with DNA resequencing, creating mutants with telekinetic powers in some cases. Deceased (Season 6). |
Mayan mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zipacna | Mountain God | Evil Giant | Cunning Goa'uld serving Apophis and Klorel and later serving Anubis. Current Status Unknown. |
Sumerian/Babylonian mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marduk | Supreme God | Very powerful man | Found trapped inside a Sarcophagus in a ziggurat on P2X-338 (Season 5). |
| Ishkur | Storm God | Former ruler of the Sodan |
Yorùbá mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olokun | Great-great-grandson of the first-existing deity, born from a raped mother who birthed fifteen others | Deceased. |
Slavic mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Svarog | Spirit of Fire | Fire-breathing, winged dragon | Deceased. |
Non-deific origin
| Name | Origin | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Yu | Founder of the Chinese Xia Dynasty | Later became senile in the series when he could no longer regenerate, and his First Prime had to effectively take control of his empire. Deceased (Season 8). |
Unknown origin
| Name | Origin | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klorel | Skaara was made host to Klorel early in the series. Years later, through the intervention of the Tollan and the Tok'ra, Skaara was saved and Klorel, removed from his host, was sent to a Goa'uld world. Klorel was born in recent times and so the name may have no connection to Earth mythology. | Current Status Unknown. |
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 deific 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 elimate 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, Morrigan, 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 lost their main power base, their future in the galaxy is uncertain, and it appears that, ironically, the only members of the Goa'uld species to survive will be the Tok'ra.
Non-System Lord deities
While the ploy of elaborately posing as false gods is at the heart of the Goa'uld's bid for domination, other races such as the Asgard have also employed this tactic to help primitive humans. A number of deific or great personas from Earth's past are also held to be benign aliens, most specifically, the Norse Gods are associated entirely with the Asgard.
Norse mythology
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thor | God of Thunder | Powerful Viking | Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet |
| Heimdall | Guardian of Bifrost Bridge | Powerful Viking | Scientist |
| Loki | God of Mischeif | Weak, cunning man; capable of shape-shifting | Rogue geneticist |
| Aegir | Lord of the Sea | Giant | Commander of the Valhalla who orchestrated the defense of the new Asgard homeworld, Orilla |
| Kvasir | None | Powerful Viking | Scientist |
| Hermiod | Messenger of the Gods | Powerful Viking | Engineer |
Roman mythology
There are strong suggestions that much of ancient Rome was influenced by the Ancients, but no specific details have been given. However, one and possibly two figures apparently from Roman myth have appeared: Egeria, queen of the Tok'ra, was based on Egeria, Roman lady of childbirth and wife of Numa Pompilius, and Janus, god of doorways, gates, beginnings and endings, an Ancient scientist whose experimentation with time travel might have something to do with the deity's associations with time. Furthermore, the language of Ancient, though not visually similar, is almost identical phonetically to Latin.
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. 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 the System Lord that gives the order).
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 realises that the Goa'uld are not gods; this was how Teal'c came to betray Apophis.
Some important First Primes include:
- First Prime of Anubis - Herak
- First Prime of Apophis
- First Prime of Montu - Gerak (Shol'va)
- First Prime of Lord Yu - Oshu
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 - as seen in "Summit", 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.