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[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Goa'uld]]{{10.5spoiler}}
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|valign="top"|[[Image:hathorwithsnake.jpg|thumb|170px|left|A Goa'uld Symbiote]]
|valign="top"|[[Image:hathorwithsnake.jpg|thumb|170px|left|A Goa'uld Symbiote]]
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==Summary==
==Summary==


The Goa'uld are aquatic parasitic creatures which evolved into intelligent, but extremely evil, beings. A symbiote, as it is also known as, invades a host, usually human, through the back of the neck (some have been known to go through the front) and blends into the host's biological structure, attaching itself into the brain and thus gaining access to the host's knowledge and voluntary muscular system. The term "Goa'uld" is applied to both the symbiote itself and the blended host, since the host of a Goa'uld is prevented from exerting his own personality after the blending.  
The Goa'uld are aquatic parasitic creatures that evolved into intelligent, but extremely evil, beings. A symbiote, as it is also known as, invades a host, usually human, through the back of the neck (some have been known to go through the front) and blends into the host's biological structure, attaching itself into the brain and thus gaining access to the host's knowledge and voluntary muscular system. The term "Goa'uld" is applied to both the symbiote itself and the blended host, since the host of a Goa'uld is prevented from exerting his own personality after the blending.  


This article concentrates on the Goa'uld personalities, rather than on the symbiotes (covered in another article).
The Goa'uld have existed for a very long time, but they have been most successful in exerting their power since they took humans as hosts (their first hosts, the Unas, evolved on the same planet, P3X-888). The First World, Earth, was found by the Goa'uld Ra 10,000 years ago. He was searching for a new type of host for his dying race. He found that the human body made a very good host and was easily maintained through the use of the sarcophagus, a device capable of rapid healing, even from death.
Since Ra's visit to Earth, the Goa'uld have favored human beings as hosts and have taken groups of people from Earth to other planets suitable for them. They found the network of Stargates left behind by the Ancients to be a most useful tool, since the planets on which these Stargates were found were very Earth-like and would make perfect human-sustaining environments. The Goa'uld would visit these planets and take the most beautiful and healthy people to become new hosts. Teal'c described the visits as "harvests", to which Daniel replied, "You know, I wish you wouldn't say 'harvest'. We're talking about human beings, not brussel sprouts." Teal'c's responded to this by saying, "That is how the Goa'uld perceive it."


==Stargate References==
The Goa'uld perceive humans as "brussel sprouts" because they have genetic memory that gives them great knowledge. With each generation, however, access to this extraordinary knowledge produced a "god complex" and they became increasingly evil. To ensure their supremacy, they scavanged the galaxy for the latest technological advances. If a world began to show technological progress, the Goa'uld destroyed it or took it over and forced the inhabitants into slavery. Usually, this slavery included mining the precious mineral naquadah on which much of the Goa'uld's technology depended. When the mines ran dry, the Goa'uld usually abandoned the planets, leaving the people to fend for themselves. In some cases, the people were successful in overthrowing their oppressors and buried the Stargate to prevent the Goa'uld's return. The burying of the Stargate, however, did not always guarantee that the world would be free from the Goa'uld threat indefinitely, since the Goa'uld possessed starships capable of traveling exceedingly fast through hyperspace windows.


===Stargate - The Movie===
In the process of building their power, the Goa'uld made allies and enemies. As far as allies go, however, any arrangements made between the Goa'uld were usually short-lived and only lasted as long as a specific purpose was served, this purpose most often being to maintain the balance of power.


We learn of the parasitic nature of the Goa'uld when Daniel Jackson interpreted the pictorial story drawn on a wall in the old part of a temple on Abydos on his first mission there. This story told of how an alien being searched for a new host for his dying race and found the humans of Earth to be most suitable. This alien stole the identity of the god Ra of the ancient Egyptians of 10,000 years ago, forcing the ancient Egyptians into servitude. The young boy whom Ra took as a host remained his host for all of those thousands of years, his body sustained by the symbiote itself and the technology of the sarcophagus.  
Since opening the Stargate on Earth, Stargate Command (SGC) was plunged into the middle of the galactic power struggle. Their first trip through the Stargate sent them to Abydos, a planet peopled by the descendants of Ancient Egyptians. The Abydonians slaved in the naquadah mines and worshipped Ra as their god for thousands of years. Col. Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson helped free the people by destroying Ra and his starship in orbit. Ra was the most powerful and feared of all the Goa'uld System Lords. After his death, the balance of power was forever changed and, subsequently, those who had hoped to overthrow the Goa'uld were given a fighting chance.


[[Image:ra1.jpg|thumb|170px|none|[[Ra]]]]
The struggle for the balance of power among the System Lords lasted nine years (since the death of Ra), until only the System Lord Ba'al remained of any great significance. His role, however, was reduced greatly when the Rebel Jaffa convinced the remaining Jaffa armies that the Goa'uld were not gods and they took the temple on the planet Dakara that was deep in Ba'al's territory. Ba'al lost his army, his territory, and his ships in the final battle among the Goa'uld, Rebel Jaffa, Tau'ri, Tok'ra, and Replicators over the planet Dakara.  


Daniel Jackson educated the Abydonians on the nature of their "god" and, as a result, they revolted, just as the people of Ancient Egypt had when they buried the stargate on Earth. Colonel Jack O'Neill and Daniel killed Ra with the bomb originally intended to destroy the Abydos stargate. As a result, the people of Abydos were freed and became Earth's first ally in the fight against the Goa'uld.
Although not all of the Goa'uld are dead, the great power that they enjoyed for thousands of years no longer remains.


===Seasons One Through Three===
==Comprehensive History of the Goa'uld==
{{Goa'uld Articles}}


The next Goa'uld we encounter is Apophis, in the pilot, "Children of the Gods":
==Alliances==


[[Image:apophis.jpg|thumb|170px|none|[[Apophis]]]]
It is in the nature of the Goa'uld to serve only their own interests and basically operate on their own. However, within the race, there were some alliances formed when one group of Goa'uld wished to overthrow another.


Apophis came through the thought to be inactive stargate on Earth and captured a female sergeant. A violent battle was fought in the embarkation room, and casualties were suffered on both sides. The SGC learned about the nature of the Jaffa by examining the remains of one of Apophis' warriors.
===System Lords===


They decided to return to Abydos and retrieve Dr. Daniel Jackson. Not long after they arrived, Apophis attacked Abydos and took Daniel's wife, Sha're, and her brother, Skaara, as prisoners. Major Ferretti saw the coordinates of the address to which Apophis escaped, so the SGC sent two teams after them.
The Goa'uld formed a feudal system of galactic rule in which the most powerful were known as System Lords. These System Lords created a High Council that exerted itself whenever one of their own began to gain too much power. The High Council was also a means by which the System Lords could unite to defeat a common enemy. They took votes on requests for a seat on the Council, but this vote did not have to be unanimous (5.16 "Last Stand Part 2"). They also required a fully-assembled Council in order to vote to stop any action they had originally agreed upon (8.02 "New Order Part 2"). The number of members of the High Council varied as System Lords came and went, but the latest estimate the SGC had indicated that the Council had around a dozen members (8.01 "New Order Part 1"). The last of the High Council died at the hands of the Replicators (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1").
* When the System Lords saw the humans of Earth, called the Tau'ri, as a threat after SG-1 eliminated several of their most powerful within a very short period of time, their attention was directed toward Earth as a possible planet for conquest or destruction. The Asgard found out about this and decided to add Earth to their list of protected planets in the Protected Planets Treaty they had with the Goa'uld System Lords. In this agreement, the Goa'uld promised that they would not destroy Earth because they feared the Asgard's supreme weaponry. Three System Lords came to Earth to represent the interest of the High Council and to negotiate with Thor of the Asgard. (3.03 "Fair Game")
* The System Lords called a summit of the High Council after the defeats of Cronus and Apophis, both of which SG-1 had helped accomplish (4.21 "Double Jeopardy" and 5.01 "Enemies Part 2", respectively). The seven most powerful System Lords met in this summit to create a new order because they had created too many losses among their own power bases fighting amongst themselves in their attempt to gain the control of the vacated domains of the two former System Lords. They also needed to deal with a common enemy, Anubis, who had once been among them but had been banished for crimes that were unspeakable even for the Goa'uld. Anubis was quickly gaining power and the High Council decided to permit him to rejoin them as a fellow-System Lord rather than fight him as an enemy. Before he took his position on the High Council, Anubis promised to get rid of the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri since he wasn't bound by the Protected Planets Treaty. (5.15 "Summit Part 1" and 5.16 "Last Stand Part 2")
* Anubis failed in annihilating the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri and most likely never gained his seat back on the Council, even though he had been voted back in. When he was collecting weapons enhancement technology, called Eyes, to create a powerful superweapon on his mothership, the System Lords, led by Yu who had opposed his readmission, attacked Anubis in orbit over Abydos. The System Lords were not able to defeat him and after losing several ships, they retreated. Anubis destroyed Abydos as a demonstration of his power and as a reminder to SG-1 not to challenge his position again, since it had been Daniel, as an Ascended Being, and SG-1 who had attempted to protect Abydos and prevent his rise in power. (6.22 "Full Circle")
* The SGC involved the High Council of the System Lords once again in opposing Anubis by baiting him with the possible location of the Lost City of the Ancients that was supposed to have a powerful weapons cache that would guarantee the possessor of galactic supremacy. The System Lords, under the leadership of Yu, was supposed to assemble over the planet Vis Uban after the SGC eliminated his superweapon. But, because Lord Yu was showing senility, his First Prime Oshu asked that Ba'al lead the combined fleet against Anubis. Ba'al did this and Anubis' mothership was destroyed in the skies of Kelowna (Jonas Quinn's homeworld), but Anubis escaped. (7.01 "Fallen Part 1" and 7.02 "Homecoming Part 2")
* After Anubis was defeated through the use of the powerful weapon left behind by the Ancients on Earth in their Antarctic Outpost, the System Lords sent three representatives to Earth to discuss regaining the balance of power by eliminating Ba'al who had been taking more than his fair share of Anubis' domain. As a test of Earth's strength and that of the Asgard, the System Lords sent a ship to provoke Earth into using the Ancient weapon, but Ba'al destroyed the ship before it made it to Earth. The System Lords did not get their demonstration of the weapon and were sent home to continue their struggle against Ba'al. (8.01 "New Order Part 1" and 8.02 "New Order Part 2")
* Ba'al's rise in power meant that many of the System Lords either died or capitulated. Eventually, only three System Lords remained: Lord Yu and two others. They were massacred on their summit space station by Replicator Carter, so that only Ba'al remained in power. (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1")
* Ba'al's total dominance, however, was kept in check by Anubis, who had himself regained much of his power after his defeat over Antarctica. These two System Lords joined forces in order to defeat the Replicators and the Rebel Jaffa, but they suffered a major blow with the destruction of their fleets in orbit over the planet Dakara, located deep within Ba'al's territory. Ba'al assisted the Tau'ri and Tok'ra in destroying the Replicators using the weapon left behind by the Ancients on Dakara, and Anubis discovered his betrayal and promised he'd live only to see the entire galaxy destroyed. Anubis was stopped in remaking the galaxy in his "grand design" by Oma Desala who engaged him in an eternal battle on the ascended plane. Ba'al remained, but his fleets, territory, and armies were no longer his. The System Lords are now no longer. (8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads")


When they arrive on the planet, later known as Chulak, SG-1, consisting of Col. Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, and Capt. Samantha Carter, were captured. We learn that "Goa'uld" is an ancient Egyptian, Abydonian, or Chulakan term meaning "gods" when Skaara translated Apophis' First Prime Teal'c's announcement that some of the prisoners were to become hosts for the "children of the gods".
===Linvris===


Fortunately, Teal'c realized that the humans of Earth had known freedom from enslavement of the Goa'uld and he decided to defy orders and save them and the rest of the prisoners. They made their escape and Teal'c was eventually accepted as the fourth member of SG-1.
The Linvris was a group of nine Goa'uld who opposed the System Lords. They never gained much power and were killed by inventions left behind by Ma'chello, a man who had been placed on top of the System Lords' most wanted list because he had become a major threat to their existence. (3.04 "Legacy")


We met three more Goa'uld in this mission: Amaunet, Apophis' queen who took Sha're as a host; Klorel, Apophis' son who took Skaara as a host; and an unnamed Goa'uld who took Major Charles Kawalsky as a host:
==Enemies==
{|
|valign="top"|[[Image:klorel.jpg|thumb|170px|left|[[Klorel]]]]
|valign="top"|[[Image:amaunet.jpg|thumb|170px|left|[[Amaunet]]]]
|valign="top"|[[Image:kawalsky-goauld.jpg|thumb|170px|left|[[Charles Kawalsky|Kawalsky's Goa'uld]]]]
|}
The Goa'uld which had taken Kawalsky on Chulak was able to trick the SGC's surgeon, Dr. Warner, into believing that he had successfully extracted the symbtiote from Kawalsky. Unfortunately, in order to prevent the Goa'uld from killing more SGC personnel and escaping through the stargate, Kawalsky was killed.


Apophis, Klorel and Amaunet escaped from Chulak.
===Asgard===


SG-1 later met up with Apophis on the planet of the Nox [1.08 "The Nox"], but Apophis was removed from the planet before he could be captured for information leading to Sha're and Skaara.  
The Asgard had a Protected Planets Treaty signed with the System Lords that attempted to keep the Goa'uld in check. The terms of this treaty were not revealed in great detail and it seemed to be absolutely worthless once the System Lords gained more advanced technology to overpower even the Asgard. After the defeat of the System Lords and Replicators, the Asgard withdrew for a time to address their cloning issues. After realizing that their generations upon generations of extending their lives through cloning had produced a rapidly degenerating disease, the Asgard decided to end their lives in an act of mass suicide. They gave Earth all of their knowledge and advanced technology before their homeworld Orilla exploded during an attack by the Ori. They destroyed their world to prevent their advancements from falling into enemy hands (10.20 "Unending").
* The Asgard added Earth to the Protected Planets Treaty (3.02 "Fair Game"). This agreement did not bind the Goa'uld who were not part of the High Council and stated that the Asgard could not use their technology to save a protected planet if it was threatened by natural causes. These two points were used against Earth when Anubis attempted to destroy Earth by sending a naquadah-rich asteroid on a collision course (5.17 "Failsafe") and sending a build-up of energy through the Stargate (6.01 "Redemption Part 1" and 6.02 "Redemption Part 2").
* While attempting to protect a planet that had a valuable Asgard genetic research facility, Thor's ship was destroyed and he was taken prisoner by Osiris and Anubis. Neither one of these Goa'uld were bound by the Treaty, evidently. Anubis used a mind probe on Thor that gave him access to all of the Asgard's technological and strategic knowledge and, with this knowledge, Anubis became the most powerful Goa'uld System Lord. (5.22 "Revelations")
* Anubis attempted to destroy Earth a third time by sending an attack fleet composed of over thirty vessels. SG-1 found a powerful weapon built by the Ancients in an outpost they had in Antarctica. After Anubis' destruction, the System Lords sent three of their representatives to Earth to ask for help in destroying Ba'al who was greedily taking more than his fair share of Anubis' domain. These representatives stated that Ba'al intended to go after the planets of the Protected Planets Treaty (27 planets, including Earth) because he believed that the Asgard no longer exercised power in the galaxy. (8.01 "New Order Part 1")


The next Goa'uld encountered by the SGC was Hathor:
===Giant Aliens===


[[Image:hathor.jpg|thumb|170px|none|[[Hathor]]]]
The Giant Aliens are associated with Toltec and Aztec mythology and it was Nicholas Ballard, Daniel's grandfather, who had discovered them back in the 1970's when he came across a crystal skull in a temple in Belize that transported him to the aliens' planet. SG-1 happened upon this same planet and eventually, reunited Nick with his "Giant Aliens". The aliens invited Nick to stay with them so that they could exchange culture and knowledge, after Daniel answered the riddle, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," by stating that the Goa'uld were their enemies as well. The history of why the Goa'uld and the Giant Aliens were enemies was not revealed. (3.21 "Crystal Skull")


Hathor had been in stasis in her sarcophagus in a Mayan temple and she was released when the archaeologists came upon her there. She was able to make it to Colorodo, sensing the stargate. The sarcaphagus had been sent to Daniel Jackson because he had a history of investigating cross-pollenation of cultures (the sarcaphagus was obviously Egyptian). Hathor attempted to take over Earth by drugging the men into submission and subjugating the women, but the plan backfired when Captain Samantha Carter and Dr. Janet Fraiser were able to lead a team of women to overcome their aggressor. Hathor was able to escape through the stargate to Chulak. Although extremely attractive, Hathor proved to be one of the most dangerous and evil of all of the Goa'uld. She raped Daniel Jackson for his DNA in order to make her baby Goa'uld larvae compatible with their future human hosts, and she attempted to transform Colonel Jack O'Neill into a Jaffa [1.14 "Hathor"]. Hathor later captured Jack, Daniel, and Carter, and left Teal'c for dead, in order to obtain up-to-date information on the power structure of the Goa'uld. Jack was able to kill her [2.22 "Out Of Mind Part 1" and 3.01 "Into The Fire Part 2"].
===Ma'chello===


Even though the Goa'uld Nirrti is mentioned in the episode, 1.15 "Singularity", the SGC does not meet her face-to-face until a little later. It is discovered that Nirrti killed an entire population of the planet Hanka and all the members of SG-7, sparing only one little girl named Cassandra. Nirrti planted a bomb within Cassandra's heart to go off when she got near the naquadah of the stargate. It was intended that Cassandra be a Trojan Horse for Earth's destruction, but the SGC was able to discover the plan and thwart it.  
Ma'chello's life was dedicated in eliminating the Goa'uld by inventing various weapons against them. The Goa'uld took his wife as a host and attempted to have him taken as well in order to preserve his knowledge. He escaped before being implanted. He died in the SGC infirmary, but he left behind many of his Goa'uld-killing inventions as if placing carefully-concealed mine fields. (2.18 "Holiday" and 3.04 "Legacy")


Apophis lead an attack on earth with Klorel at his side in the episodes, 1.22 "Within The Serpent's Grasp" and 2.01 "The Serpent's Lair Part 2", and even though SG-1 was successful at destroying their two motherships, Apophis and Klorel were able to escape. With the destruction of these two ships, Apophis' position was weakened and he attempted to improve himself by producing a new host. This new host was the human offspring of the host of Apophis and Sha're, but inherited the genetic memory of the Goa'uld. Such a child is called a Harsesis. Apophis sent his queen, Amaunet, to Sha're's homeworld Abydos to hide her there from the other System Lords who would hunt the child down and kill him. Daniel and Teal'c encountered Sha're on the planet and Daniel delivered the child with his own hands. Teal'c was successful at fooling Amaunet into thinking that the child was taken by Heru'ur, a known enemy of Apophis, but Daniel was able to give the child to Sha're's father, Kasuf, for safe-keeping in the episode, 2.09 "Secrets".
===Rebel Jaffa===


[[Image:heruur.jpg|thumb|170px|none|[[Heru'ur]]]]
The movement of the Jaffa to end the tyranny of the Goa'uld was started by Teal'c, and their numbers began to grow once he made the call to fight against the false gods (3.01 "Into The Fire Part 2"). The Jaffa were genetically-altered humans of Earth who were engineered to carry the Goa'uld symbiotes to maturity in an abdominal pouch to improve the symbiote's chances of successfully blending with a host (1.03 "The Enemy Within"). Without the Jaffa, a symbiote had a one-in-two chance of success (6.10 "Cure"). The Jaffa's entire immune system depended on the symbiote's natural healing capabilities. The symbiotes gave the Jaffa long lives and good health, but the Jaffa depended on the symbiotes for their very survival. The Goa'uld used the strong Jaffa as soldiers and the others served them in their temples. Teal'c knew that the Goa'uld were not gods, as the Jaffa were taught since birth, but parasites. The Rebel Jaffa who answered his call built their numbers and hoped one day to free all of their brethren. At one time, they took sanctuary at the SGC's Alpha Site (6.09 "Allegiance"), but decided to strike out on their own after the Alpha Site had been discovered by Anubis and destroyed (7.16 "Death Knell"). It was most likely because of the Rebel Jaffa that Anubis replaced his Jaffa with the genetically-engineered Kull Warriors (7.11 "Evolution Part 1" and 7.12 "Evolution Part 2"). Ultimately, in the fateful encounter over the skies of the planet Dakara, the Jaffa won their freedom when the Goa'uld System Lords Ba'al and Anubis were defeated and the remaining army of Kull Warriors were destroyed (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads"). The struggle to form a strong, independent nation began at the same place where the Jaffa were created by the Goa'uld — on Dakara (8.18 "Threads"). After the Ori destroyed Dakara, the Free Jaffa Nation splintered as they struggled for their own survival (10.07 "Counterstrike").


Apophis turned up again in SG-1's lives by calling them to his rescue in his escape attempt from Sokar, in the episode, 2.17 "Serpent's Song". Sokar had captured Apophis and was taking great delight in torturing him. The SGC took Apophis' in when he asked for asylum, but after both the symbiote and host died, they sent him back through the stargate to Sokar because Sokar was attacking Earth with harmful radiation though the stargate in successive 38-minute intervals. The SGC was able to dial out between one of these attacks to send the body through and Sokar's attacks stopped. Viewers are not given the privilege of seeing Sokar's face until the episodes, 3.12 "Jolinar's Memories Part 1" and 3.13 "The Devil You Know Part 2":
===Reetou===


[[Image:sokar.jpg|thumb|170px|none|[[Sokar]]]]
The Reetou are an insect-like alien species that are 180 degrees out of phase with the humans of Earth, so they are invisible to the naked eye. The Goa'uld attempted to destroy the Reetou and as a result, Reetou rebel forces believed that the only way to get rid of the Goa'uld was to eliminate all possible hosts. It was this extreme reasoning that led this group of Reetou to attempt to destroy Earth. (2.20 "Show and Tell")


Sokar was killed when the ship he was on was destroyed. This allowed Apophis, who had been revived in a sarcophagus after the SGC sent his body back and had been a slave to Sokar, to take Sokar's domain and thrust himself into great power once more.
===Replicators===


For a very brief moment, the life of the Goa'uld Seth was told in the episode, 3.02 "Seth":
The Replicators were everyone's enemy because they didn't play political games at all—they just consumed everything they could to reproduce and this included the advanced technology that the Goa'uld possessed. The Replicators were primarily the enemy of the Asgard, but they were instrumental in the spectacular demise of Apophis before they evolved into human form (5.01 "Enemies Part 2"). Replicator Samantha Carter led the Replicators against the Goa'uld and nearly destroyed them, but she and all of her "brethren" were destroyed through the joint effort among the Goa'uld, Rebel Jaffa, Tau'ri, and Tok'ra (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2").


[[Image:seth.jpg|thumb|170px|none|[[Seth]]]]
===Tau'ri===


He had been left behind on Earth when the stargate was buried in Egypt. From that time, he took on new hosts every few hundred years and started religious cults. Every time he moved, he'd slaughter all of his followers and establish his new cult somewhere else. Daniel Jackson was able to track down Seth in Washington state in the United States. They infiltrated his compound, saved his followers from certain death, and killed Seth in the process. His compound, loaded with Goa'uld technology, was destroyed after Seth had tried to kill everyone with a bomb.
The Tau'ri, humans of the First World (Earth), became an enemy of the Goa'uld as soon as Ra landed his spaceship in Eygpt seeking a new kind of host for his dying race in 8000 B.C. Like Ra, many of the Goa'uld who took the humans as hosts took on the identity of other gods of Earth, including those from Babylonian, Canaanite, Celtic, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Japanese, and Roman mythologies (the word "Goa'uld" means "god"). Since the Tau'ri reopened the Stargate on Earth and organized Stargate Command (SGC), they gave the Goa'uld reason to seriously consider that their days were numbered as the most powerful force in the galaxy. The Goa'uld System Lords were finally defeated after eight years of war, and they no longer posed the threat that they once did for thousands of years (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads", 8.19 "Moebius Part 1").


Nirrti was one of three System Lords who came to the SGC to negotiate with the Asgard in the Protected Planets Treaty [3.02 "Fair Game"]. We meet two other System Lords at this meeting:
===Tok'ra===
{|
|valign="top"|[[Image:nirrti.jpg|thumb|170px|left|[[Nirrti]]]]
|valign="top"|[[Image:cronus.jpg|thumb|170px|left|[[Cronus]]]]
|valign="top"|[[Image:yuhuang.jpg|thumb|170px|left|[[Yu Huang Shang Ti]]]]
|}
Lord Yu was the most amicable of the three. Nirrti attacked Cronus and tried to frame Teal'c for the incident. Because she used cloaking technology in the attack and had not disclosed this technology to the other System Lords, she was taken as a prisoner by Cronus. Earth was successfully placed in the Protected Planets Treaty and was able to keep their Stargate Program intact.


In the episode, 3.10 "Forever In A Day", Amaunet is encountered for the final time as she steals the Harsesis and sends her trusted aide away with him, keeping him from the clutches of Heru'ur. When Daniel found Amaunet in the tent near the battlefield where other Abydonians had been captive, Amaunet tried to kill him using the ribbon device. While the link between the two was made through the device, Sha're was able to send a message to Daniel asking him to forgive Teal'c for killing her and for him to find the boy and keep him safe. Teal'c killed Sha're when he stopped Amaunet's attack on Daniel. Later, in the episode, 3.20 "Maternal Instinct", Apophis slaughtered hundreds of Jaffa in his search for the Harsesis on Chulak. SG-1 was one step ahead in locating the child on the planet Kheb and it was there that they met the extremely powerful Ascended Being Oma Desala. Daniel was able to keep his promise to Sha're that the boy would be safe by letting Oma take the child as her own.
The Tok'ra were started over 2000 years ago by the Goa'uld Egeria who first opposed Ra (Tok'ra means ''against Ra'') and his enslaving of the humans he took through the Stargate (4.04 "Crossroads"). All the Tok'ra are descendants of Egeria and, therefore, inherited her Goa'uld genetic memory and her desire to have a truly symbiotic relationship with the host. The Tok'ra do not use the sarcophagus, but instead, take new hosts when the host is about to die (most human hosts of the Tok'ra live to be close to 200 years old). They worked against the Goa'uld through subterfuge. Because they are of the same race as the Goa'uld, there was no way for the Goa'uld to tell the difference between one of their own and a Tok'ra, and the Tok'ra used this to their advantage by infiltrating the ranks of the System Lords and assuming the role of a minor Goa'uld in the System Lord's service. (2.11 "The Tok'ra Part 1" and 2.12 "The Tok'ra Part 2") The Tok'ra moved their underground bases of operations continuously, but, at one point, they took residence at the SGC's Alpha Site (6.09 "Allegiance"). Their stay on the Alpha Site was short because they were at a greater risk of being discovered with both the Tau'ri and Rebel Jaffa living there. Because of their dwindling numbers (Egeria was banished thousands of years ago and did not produce any more Tok'ra offspring), they decided to return to their underground bases (7.16 "Death Knell"). Egeria was discovered in stasis on one of Ra's former planets and died soon thereafter, basically guaranteeing the end of the Tok'ra once the last one dies (6.10 "Cure"). Despite this, the Tok'ra continued to oppose the Goa'uld and fought for the freedom of their slaves, human and Jaffa alike (6.19 "Changeling"). The Tok'ra lived to see the defeat of the Goa'uld System Lords (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads"), but their lives are close to an end because they do not use a sarcophagus to extend their lives, living only for about two thousand years (8.18 "Threads").


The story ends sadly for Sha're, but her brother Skaara was more fortunate. Heru'ur sent a battle group after Klorel, but the two motherships were destroyed when they entered Tollana's defense perimeter. Klorel's ship crashed on Tollana and through the injuries, Skaara was able to take control of his body long enough to ask the Tollan for help. The Tollan called SG-1 on behalf of Skaara to represent him in a trial known as a Triad in which it would be determined who would be given control of Skaara's body. For Klorel, the minor Goa'uld System Lord Zipacna answered the call [3.15 "Pretense"]:
==Notable Characters==


[[Image:zipacna.jpg|thumb|170px|none|[[Zipacna]]]]
===Goa'uld===
 
A third, unbiased party was called into the Triad: Lya of the Nox. After much drama and the hearing of the arguments from both sides, Lya's vote would be the deciding one. She chose to allow Skaara to have control of his body. The Tollan called the Tok'ra in to remove the symbiote from Skaara's body. They sent the symbiote to a planet under the control of the Goa'uld where a new host could be found for him. Skaara was free to return home to Aybdos.
 
===Seasons Four and Five===
 
[[Image:workinprogress.jpg]]
 
===Seasons Six Through Eight===
 
==Notable Characters==


* [[Amaunet]]
* [[Anubis]]
* [[Anubis]]
* [[Apophis]]
* [[Apophis]]
* [[Klorel]]
* [[Ba'al]]
* [[Cronus]]
* [[Egeria]]
* [[Ra]]
* [[Ra]]
* [[Yu]]


==Alliances==
===Other===
 
* The Goa'uld serve only their own interests, but some of them have joined together in an organization of System Lords to exert supremacy in the galaxy.


==Enemies==
* [[Jack O'Neill|Col./Brig. Gen. Jack O'Neill]]
 
* [[Daniel Jackson|Dr. Daniel Jackson]]
* [[Asgard]]
* [[Teal'c]]
* [[Tau'ri]]
* [[Replicator Samantha Carter]]
* [[Tok'ra]]
* [[Ma'chello]]
* [[Thor]]


==Episodes==
==Episodes==


* [[Stargate Movie Highlights|Stargate - The Movie]]
* [[Stargate: The Movie]]
* [[1.02 "Children Of The Gods Part 2" Episode Guide|1.02 "Children Of The Gods Part 2"]]
* [[1.03 "The Enemy Within" Episode Guide|1.03 "The Enemy Within"]]
* [[2.11 "The Tok'ra Part 1" Episode Guide|2.11 "The Tok'ra Part 1"]]
* [[2.12 "The Tok'ra Part 2" Episode Guide|2.12 "The Tok'ra Part 2"]]
* [[2.18 "Holiday" Episode Guide|2.18 "Holiday"]]
* [[2.20 "Show And Tell" Episode Guide|2.20 "Show And Tell"]]
* [[3.03 "Fair Game" Episode Guide|3.03 "Fair Game"]]
* [[3.04 "Legacy" Episode Guide|3.04 "Legacy"]]
* [[3.21 "Crystal Skull" Episode Guide|3.21 "Crystal Skull"]]
* [[4.21 "Double Jeopardy" Episode Guide|4.21 "Double Jeopardy"]]
* [[5.01 "Enemies Part 2" Episode Guide|5.01 "Enemies Part 2"]]
* [[5.15 "Summit Part 1" Episode Guide|5.15 "Summit Part 1"]]
* [[5.16 "Last Stand Part 2" Episode Guide|5.16 "Last Stand Part 2"]]
* [[5.17 "Failsafe" Episode Guide|5.17 "Failsafe"]]
* [[5.22 "Revelations" Episode Guide|5.22 "Revelations"]]
* [[6.01 "Redemption Part 1" Episode Guide|6.01 "Redemption Part 1"]]
* [[6.02 "Redemption Part 2" Episode Guide|6.02 "Redemption Part 2"]]
* [[6.09 "Allegiance" Episode Guide|6.09 "Allegiance"]]
* [[6.10 "Cure" Episode Guide|6.10 "Cure"]]
* [[6.19 "Changeling" Episode Guide|6.19 "Changeling"]]
* [[6.22 "Full Circle" Episode Guide|6.22 "Full Circle"]]
* [[7.01 "Fallen Part 1" Episode Guide|7.01 "Fallen Part 1"]]
* [[7.02 "Homecoming Part 2" Episode Guide|7.02 "Homecoming Part 2"]]
* [[7.11 "Evolution Part 1" Episode Guide|7.11 "Evolution Part 1"]]
* [[7.12 "Evolution Part 2" Episode Guide|7.12 "Evolution Part 2"]]
* [[7.16 "Death Knell" Episode Guide|7./16 "Death Knell"]]
* [[8.01 "New Order Part 1" Episode Guide|8.01 "New Order Part 1"]]
* [[8.02 "New Order Part 2" Episode Guide|8.02 "New Order Part 2"]]
* [[8.16 "Reckoning Part 1" Episode Guide|8.16 "Reckoning Part 1"]]
* [[8.17 "Reckoning Part 2" Episode Guide|8.17 "Reckoning Part 2"]]
* [[8.18 "Threads" Episode Guide|8.18 "Threads"]]
* [[8.19 "Moebius Part 1" Episode Guide|8.19 "Moebius Part 1"]]
* [[10.07 "Counterstrike" Episode Guide|10.07 "Counterstrike"]]
* [[10.20 "Unending" Episode Guide|10.20 "Unending"]]


==Related Articles==
==Related Articles==


* [[Ribbon Device]]
* [[Alpha Site]]
* [[Ancients]]
* [[Antarctic Outpost]]
* [[Asgard]]
* [[Dakara]]
* [[Free Jaffa Nation]]
* [[Giant Aliens]]
* [[Kull Warrior]]
* [[Linvris]]
* [[Lost City of the Ancients]]
* [[Ori]]
* [[Orilla]]
* [[P3X-888]]
* [[Protected Planets Treaty]]
* [[Rebel Jaffa]]
* [[Reetou]]
* [[Replicators]]
* [[Symbiote]]
* [[Symbiote]]
 
* [[System Lord]]
==Related Links==
* [[Tau'ri]]
* [[Tok'ra]]
* [[Unas]]


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--[[User:DeeKayP|DeeKayP]] 13:59, 29 Jun 2004 (PDT)
--[[User:DeeKayP|DeeKayP]] 13:59, 29 Jun 2004 (PDT)

Latest revision as of 15:47, 16 April 2007

A Goa'uld Symbiote
A Goa'uld Host's eyes glow

Summary

The Goa'uld are aquatic parasitic creatures that evolved into intelligent, but extremely evil, beings. A symbiote, as it is also known as, invades a host, usually human, through the back of the neck (some have been known to go through the front) and blends into the host's biological structure, attaching itself into the brain and thus gaining access to the host's knowledge and voluntary muscular system. The term "Goa'uld" is applied to both the symbiote itself and the blended host, since the host of a Goa'uld is prevented from exerting his own personality after the blending.

The Goa'uld have existed for a very long time, but they have been most successful in exerting their power since they took humans as hosts (their first hosts, the Unas, evolved on the same planet, P3X-888). The First World, Earth, was found by the Goa'uld Ra 10,000 years ago. He was searching for a new type of host for his dying race. He found that the human body made a very good host and was easily maintained through the use of the sarcophagus, a device capable of rapid healing, even from death.

Since Ra's visit to Earth, the Goa'uld have favored human beings as hosts and have taken groups of people from Earth to other planets suitable for them. They found the network of Stargates left behind by the Ancients to be a most useful tool, since the planets on which these Stargates were found were very Earth-like and would make perfect human-sustaining environments. The Goa'uld would visit these planets and take the most beautiful and healthy people to become new hosts. Teal'c described the visits as "harvests", to which Daniel replied, "You know, I wish you wouldn't say 'harvest'. We're talking about human beings, not brussel sprouts." Teal'c's responded to this by saying, "That is how the Goa'uld perceive it."

The Goa'uld perceive humans as "brussel sprouts" because they have genetic memory that gives them great knowledge. With each generation, however, access to this extraordinary knowledge produced a "god complex" and they became increasingly evil. To ensure their supremacy, they scavanged the galaxy for the latest technological advances. If a world began to show technological progress, the Goa'uld destroyed it or took it over and forced the inhabitants into slavery. Usually, this slavery included mining the precious mineral naquadah on which much of the Goa'uld's technology depended. When the mines ran dry, the Goa'uld usually abandoned the planets, leaving the people to fend for themselves. In some cases, the people were successful in overthrowing their oppressors and buried the Stargate to prevent the Goa'uld's return. The burying of the Stargate, however, did not always guarantee that the world would be free from the Goa'uld threat indefinitely, since the Goa'uld possessed starships capable of traveling exceedingly fast through hyperspace windows.

In the process of building their power, the Goa'uld made allies and enemies. As far as allies go, however, any arrangements made between the Goa'uld were usually short-lived and only lasted as long as a specific purpose was served, this purpose most often being to maintain the balance of power.

Since opening the Stargate on Earth, Stargate Command (SGC) was plunged into the middle of the galactic power struggle. Their first trip through the Stargate sent them to Abydos, a planet peopled by the descendants of Ancient Egyptians. The Abydonians slaved in the naquadah mines and worshipped Ra as their god for thousands of years. Col. Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson helped free the people by destroying Ra and his starship in orbit. Ra was the most powerful and feared of all the Goa'uld System Lords. After his death, the balance of power was forever changed and, subsequently, those who had hoped to overthrow the Goa'uld were given a fighting chance.

The struggle for the balance of power among the System Lords lasted nine years (since the death of Ra), until only the System Lord Ba'al remained of any great significance. His role, however, was reduced greatly when the Rebel Jaffa convinced the remaining Jaffa armies that the Goa'uld were not gods and they took the temple on the planet Dakara that was deep in Ba'al's territory. Ba'al lost his army, his territory, and his ships in the final battle among the Goa'uld, Rebel Jaffa, Tau'ri, Tok'ra, and Replicators over the planet Dakara.

Although not all of the Goa'uld are dead, the great power that they enjoyed for thousands of years no longer remains.

Comprehensive History of the Goa'uld

Stargate: The Movie Season One Season Two
Season Three Season Four Season Five
Season Six Season Seven Season Eight
Season Nine Season Ten Movies

This series of articles covers each Goa'uld personality that the SGC has encountered since Daniel Jackson reopened the Stargate (Stargate: The Movie):

Alliances

It is in the nature of the Goa'uld to serve only their own interests and basically operate on their own. However, within the race, there were some alliances formed when one group of Goa'uld wished to overthrow another.

System Lords

The Goa'uld formed a feudal system of galactic rule in which the most powerful were known as System Lords. These System Lords created a High Council that exerted itself whenever one of their own began to gain too much power. The High Council was also a means by which the System Lords could unite to defeat a common enemy. They took votes on requests for a seat on the Council, but this vote did not have to be unanimous (5.16 "Last Stand Part 2"). They also required a fully-assembled Council in order to vote to stop any action they had originally agreed upon (8.02 "New Order Part 2"). The number of members of the High Council varied as System Lords came and went, but the latest estimate the SGC had indicated that the Council had around a dozen members (8.01 "New Order Part 1"). The last of the High Council died at the hands of the Replicators (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1").

  • When the System Lords saw the humans of Earth, called the Tau'ri, as a threat after SG-1 eliminated several of their most powerful within a very short period of time, their attention was directed toward Earth as a possible planet for conquest or destruction. The Asgard found out about this and decided to add Earth to their list of protected planets in the Protected Planets Treaty they had with the Goa'uld System Lords. In this agreement, the Goa'uld promised that they would not destroy Earth because they feared the Asgard's supreme weaponry. Three System Lords came to Earth to represent the interest of the High Council and to negotiate with Thor of the Asgard. (3.03 "Fair Game")
  • The System Lords called a summit of the High Council after the defeats of Cronus and Apophis, both of which SG-1 had helped accomplish (4.21 "Double Jeopardy" and 5.01 "Enemies Part 2", respectively). The seven most powerful System Lords met in this summit to create a new order because they had created too many losses among their own power bases fighting amongst themselves in their attempt to gain the control of the vacated domains of the two former System Lords. They also needed to deal with a common enemy, Anubis, who had once been among them but had been banished for crimes that were unspeakable even for the Goa'uld. Anubis was quickly gaining power and the High Council decided to permit him to rejoin them as a fellow-System Lord rather than fight him as an enemy. Before he took his position on the High Council, Anubis promised to get rid of the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri since he wasn't bound by the Protected Planets Treaty. (5.15 "Summit Part 1" and 5.16 "Last Stand Part 2")
  • Anubis failed in annihilating the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri and most likely never gained his seat back on the Council, even though he had been voted back in. When he was collecting weapons enhancement technology, called Eyes, to create a powerful superweapon on his mothership, the System Lords, led by Yu who had opposed his readmission, attacked Anubis in orbit over Abydos. The System Lords were not able to defeat him and after losing several ships, they retreated. Anubis destroyed Abydos as a demonstration of his power and as a reminder to SG-1 not to challenge his position again, since it had been Daniel, as an Ascended Being, and SG-1 who had attempted to protect Abydos and prevent his rise in power. (6.22 "Full Circle")
  • The SGC involved the High Council of the System Lords once again in opposing Anubis by baiting him with the possible location of the Lost City of the Ancients that was supposed to have a powerful weapons cache that would guarantee the possessor of galactic supremacy. The System Lords, under the leadership of Yu, was supposed to assemble over the planet Vis Uban after the SGC eliminated his superweapon. But, because Lord Yu was showing senility, his First Prime Oshu asked that Ba'al lead the combined fleet against Anubis. Ba'al did this and Anubis' mothership was destroyed in the skies of Kelowna (Jonas Quinn's homeworld), but Anubis escaped. (7.01 "Fallen Part 1" and 7.02 "Homecoming Part 2")
  • After Anubis was defeated through the use of the powerful weapon left behind by the Ancients on Earth in their Antarctic Outpost, the System Lords sent three representatives to Earth to discuss regaining the balance of power by eliminating Ba'al who had been taking more than his fair share of Anubis' domain. As a test of Earth's strength and that of the Asgard, the System Lords sent a ship to provoke Earth into using the Ancient weapon, but Ba'al destroyed the ship before it made it to Earth. The System Lords did not get their demonstration of the weapon and were sent home to continue their struggle against Ba'al. (8.01 "New Order Part 1" and 8.02 "New Order Part 2")
  • Ba'al's rise in power meant that many of the System Lords either died or capitulated. Eventually, only three System Lords remained: Lord Yu and two others. They were massacred on their summit space station by Replicator Carter, so that only Ba'al remained in power. (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1")
  • Ba'al's total dominance, however, was kept in check by Anubis, who had himself regained much of his power after his defeat over Antarctica. These two System Lords joined forces in order to defeat the Replicators and the Rebel Jaffa, but they suffered a major blow with the destruction of their fleets in orbit over the planet Dakara, located deep within Ba'al's territory. Ba'al assisted the Tau'ri and Tok'ra in destroying the Replicators using the weapon left behind by the Ancients on Dakara, and Anubis discovered his betrayal and promised he'd live only to see the entire galaxy destroyed. Anubis was stopped in remaking the galaxy in his "grand design" by Oma Desala who engaged him in an eternal battle on the ascended plane. Ba'al remained, but his fleets, territory, and armies were no longer his. The System Lords are now no longer. (8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads")

Linvris

The Linvris was a group of nine Goa'uld who opposed the System Lords. They never gained much power and were killed by inventions left behind by Ma'chello, a man who had been placed on top of the System Lords' most wanted list because he had become a major threat to their existence. (3.04 "Legacy")

Enemies

Asgard

The Asgard had a Protected Planets Treaty signed with the System Lords that attempted to keep the Goa'uld in check. The terms of this treaty were not revealed in great detail and it seemed to be absolutely worthless once the System Lords gained more advanced technology to overpower even the Asgard. After the defeat of the System Lords and Replicators, the Asgard withdrew for a time to address their cloning issues. After realizing that their generations upon generations of extending their lives through cloning had produced a rapidly degenerating disease, the Asgard decided to end their lives in an act of mass suicide. They gave Earth all of their knowledge and advanced technology before their homeworld Orilla exploded during an attack by the Ori. They destroyed their world to prevent their advancements from falling into enemy hands (10.20 "Unending").

  • The Asgard added Earth to the Protected Planets Treaty (3.02 "Fair Game"). This agreement did not bind the Goa'uld who were not part of the High Council and stated that the Asgard could not use their technology to save a protected planet if it was threatened by natural causes. These two points were used against Earth when Anubis attempted to destroy Earth by sending a naquadah-rich asteroid on a collision course (5.17 "Failsafe") and sending a build-up of energy through the Stargate (6.01 "Redemption Part 1" and 6.02 "Redemption Part 2").
  • While attempting to protect a planet that had a valuable Asgard genetic research facility, Thor's ship was destroyed and he was taken prisoner by Osiris and Anubis. Neither one of these Goa'uld were bound by the Treaty, evidently. Anubis used a mind probe on Thor that gave him access to all of the Asgard's technological and strategic knowledge and, with this knowledge, Anubis became the most powerful Goa'uld System Lord. (5.22 "Revelations")
  • Anubis attempted to destroy Earth a third time by sending an attack fleet composed of over thirty vessels. SG-1 found a powerful weapon built by the Ancients in an outpost they had in Antarctica. After Anubis' destruction, the System Lords sent three of their representatives to Earth to ask for help in destroying Ba'al who was greedily taking more than his fair share of Anubis' domain. These representatives stated that Ba'al intended to go after the planets of the Protected Planets Treaty (27 planets, including Earth) because he believed that the Asgard no longer exercised power in the galaxy. (8.01 "New Order Part 1")

Giant Aliens

The Giant Aliens are associated with Toltec and Aztec mythology and it was Nicholas Ballard, Daniel's grandfather, who had discovered them back in the 1970's when he came across a crystal skull in a temple in Belize that transported him to the aliens' planet. SG-1 happened upon this same planet and eventually, reunited Nick with his "Giant Aliens". The aliens invited Nick to stay with them so that they could exchange culture and knowledge, after Daniel answered the riddle, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," by stating that the Goa'uld were their enemies as well. The history of why the Goa'uld and the Giant Aliens were enemies was not revealed. (3.21 "Crystal Skull")

Ma'chello

Ma'chello's life was dedicated in eliminating the Goa'uld by inventing various weapons against them. The Goa'uld took his wife as a host and attempted to have him taken as well in order to preserve his knowledge. He escaped before being implanted. He died in the SGC infirmary, but he left behind many of his Goa'uld-killing inventions as if placing carefully-concealed mine fields. (2.18 "Holiday" and 3.04 "Legacy")

Rebel Jaffa

The movement of the Jaffa to end the tyranny of the Goa'uld was started by Teal'c, and their numbers began to grow once he made the call to fight against the false gods (3.01 "Into The Fire Part 2"). The Jaffa were genetically-altered humans of Earth who were engineered to carry the Goa'uld symbiotes to maturity in an abdominal pouch to improve the symbiote's chances of successfully blending with a host (1.03 "The Enemy Within"). Without the Jaffa, a symbiote had a one-in-two chance of success (6.10 "Cure"). The Jaffa's entire immune system depended on the symbiote's natural healing capabilities. The symbiotes gave the Jaffa long lives and good health, but the Jaffa depended on the symbiotes for their very survival. The Goa'uld used the strong Jaffa as soldiers and the others served them in their temples. Teal'c knew that the Goa'uld were not gods, as the Jaffa were taught since birth, but parasites. The Rebel Jaffa who answered his call built their numbers and hoped one day to free all of their brethren. At one time, they took sanctuary at the SGC's Alpha Site (6.09 "Allegiance"), but decided to strike out on their own after the Alpha Site had been discovered by Anubis and destroyed (7.16 "Death Knell"). It was most likely because of the Rebel Jaffa that Anubis replaced his Jaffa with the genetically-engineered Kull Warriors (7.11 "Evolution Part 1" and 7.12 "Evolution Part 2"). Ultimately, in the fateful encounter over the skies of the planet Dakara, the Jaffa won their freedom when the Goa'uld System Lords Ba'al and Anubis were defeated and the remaining army of Kull Warriors were destroyed (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads"). The struggle to form a strong, independent nation began at the same place where the Jaffa were created by the Goa'uld — on Dakara (8.18 "Threads"). After the Ori destroyed Dakara, the Free Jaffa Nation splintered as they struggled for their own survival (10.07 "Counterstrike").

Reetou

The Reetou are an insect-like alien species that are 180 degrees out of phase with the humans of Earth, so they are invisible to the naked eye. The Goa'uld attempted to destroy the Reetou and as a result, Reetou rebel forces believed that the only way to get rid of the Goa'uld was to eliminate all possible hosts. It was this extreme reasoning that led this group of Reetou to attempt to destroy Earth. (2.20 "Show and Tell")

Replicators

The Replicators were everyone's enemy because they didn't play political games at all—they just consumed everything they could to reproduce and this included the advanced technology that the Goa'uld possessed. The Replicators were primarily the enemy of the Asgard, but they were instrumental in the spectacular demise of Apophis before they evolved into human form (5.01 "Enemies Part 2"). Replicator Samantha Carter led the Replicators against the Goa'uld and nearly destroyed them, but she and all of her "brethren" were destroyed through the joint effort among the Goa'uld, Rebel Jaffa, Tau'ri, and Tok'ra (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2").

Tau'ri

The Tau'ri, humans of the First World (Earth), became an enemy of the Goa'uld as soon as Ra landed his spaceship in Eygpt seeking a new kind of host for his dying race in 8000 B.C. Like Ra, many of the Goa'uld who took the humans as hosts took on the identity of other gods of Earth, including those from Babylonian, Canaanite, Celtic, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Japanese, and Roman mythologies (the word "Goa'uld" means "god"). Since the Tau'ri reopened the Stargate on Earth and organized Stargate Command (SGC), they gave the Goa'uld reason to seriously consider that their days were numbered as the most powerful force in the galaxy. The Goa'uld System Lords were finally defeated after eight years of war, and they no longer posed the threat that they once did for thousands of years (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads", 8.19 "Moebius Part 1").

Tok'ra

The Tok'ra were started over 2000 years ago by the Goa'uld Egeria who first opposed Ra (Tok'ra means against Ra) and his enslaving of the humans he took through the Stargate (4.04 "Crossroads"). All the Tok'ra are descendants of Egeria and, therefore, inherited her Goa'uld genetic memory and her desire to have a truly symbiotic relationship with the host. The Tok'ra do not use the sarcophagus, but instead, take new hosts when the host is about to die (most human hosts of the Tok'ra live to be close to 200 years old). They worked against the Goa'uld through subterfuge. Because they are of the same race as the Goa'uld, there was no way for the Goa'uld to tell the difference between one of their own and a Tok'ra, and the Tok'ra used this to their advantage by infiltrating the ranks of the System Lords and assuming the role of a minor Goa'uld in the System Lord's service. (2.11 "The Tok'ra Part 1" and 2.12 "The Tok'ra Part 2") The Tok'ra moved their underground bases of operations continuously, but, at one point, they took residence at the SGC's Alpha Site (6.09 "Allegiance"). Their stay on the Alpha Site was short because they were at a greater risk of being discovered with both the Tau'ri and Rebel Jaffa living there. Because of their dwindling numbers (Egeria was banished thousands of years ago and did not produce any more Tok'ra offspring), they decided to return to their underground bases (7.16 "Death Knell"). Egeria was discovered in stasis on one of Ra's former planets and died soon thereafter, basically guaranteeing the end of the Tok'ra once the last one dies (6.10 "Cure"). Despite this, the Tok'ra continued to oppose the Goa'uld and fought for the freedom of their slaves, human and Jaffa alike (6.19 "Changeling"). The Tok'ra lived to see the defeat of the Goa'uld System Lords (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2", 8.18 "Threads"), but their lives are close to an end because they do not use a sarcophagus to extend their lives, living only for about two thousand years (8.18 "Threads").

Notable Characters

Goa'uld

Other

Episodes

Related Articles

--DeeKayP 13:59, 29 Jun 2004 (PDT)

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