Egeria

Tok'ra Queen Egeria

Egeria in human host

Earth Culture of Origin

Roman

Alternate Names / Spellings

None. Egeria means of the black poplar.

Presides Over

Fountains and childbirth

Earth Mythological References

Worshipped as a lesser goddess with Diana and the Camenae (goddess of wells and springs) in a grove outside Porta Capena of Rome, Egeria was a water nymph reputed to be both beautiful and wise. She was counselor to Numa Pompilius the Sabine, mythical second king of Rome. They would meet by night at the Porta Capena, where she would instruct him in matters of statecraft and religion. Pompilius either married the nymph or made her his mistress, and upon his death Egeria was so grief-stricken that she relocated to Aricia in Latium. Her mourning was so deep that Diana, goddess of the moon, took pity on her and changed her into a spring there, thus creating her association with fountains. The additional providence over childbirth is achieved by the breaking of water during labor.

Stargate References

Mentioned in a briefing meeting with SG-1 and General Hammond, Egeria was revealed to be a symbiote with a completely different view of the symbiote/host relationship. Her children were called the Tok'ra, meaning 'against Ra', and would only blend with a willing host. Both symbiote and host shared control of the body. The SGC discovered the existence of Egeria's children when one of them, Jolinar of Malkshur, blended with Captain Carter as she tried to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Jolinar's dying host. (In the Line of Duty)

Shaun'auc of the Red Hills, Jaffa priestess and Teal'c's former lover, believed sincerely that she had found a way through deep Kel'No'Reem to communicate with the symbiote she carried and to sway it to the Tok'ra ethos. This curious revelation sparked a theoretical discussion by Daniel Jackson about Egeria's history on Earth and how the Tok'ra may have come to be. (Crossroads)

Years later, SG-1 visited a planet called Pangara, once under the control of Ra. While there, the team learned of a new miracle drug tretonin which the Pangarans were willing to provide in exchange for gate addresses to Goa'uld worlds. Also discovered on Pangara was a tomb being excavated there, wherein the Tokra queen, Egeria, had been imprisoned by Ra many years earlier. Further investigation revealed a stasis jar had been unearthed 60 years earlier, however the symbiote inside had been recovered alive. It turns out the symbiote was a queen - Egeria herself - and the Pangarans had been forcing her to breed for years, using the symbiotes as the source for their miracle drug. Tretonin ensured perfect health and long life, but it suppressed the immune system and was highly addictive. Once used, it was impossible to re-start a normal immune system, so losing the supply meant certain death. The Tok'ra learned the identity of the dying symbiote queen, and Tok’ra emissaries Kelmaa and Malek were sent to Pangara to seek her freedom. The Pangarans refused. The Tok'ra symbiote Kelmaa leaps from her host and into Egeria long enough for her to communicate with her people before she dies. Egeria tells Major Carter how the queen had sabotaged her own young so the Pangarans would stop using her. She hadn't intended for anyone to die because of what she did, so, as her final act and an affirmation that she is the source of the Tok’ra ethos, she gives SG-1 the knowledge needed to reverse the Pangarans' condition. (Cure)

Episodes

• 2.02 "In The Line Of Duty"
• 4.04 "Crossroads"
• 6.10 "Cure"

Related Characters

• Teal'c
• Kelmaa
• Malek
• Ra
• Shaun'auc
• Tanith

Related Articles

• Goa'uld
• Jaffa
• Pangar
• Tok'ra
• Tretonin

Further Reading

• http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/egeria.html
• http://www.bartleby.com/196/23.html
• http://www.burningideas.com/firefall/egeria/egeria_links.html

Actor

• Gwynyth Walsh as human host

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--Article Started by: DeeKayP 13:04, 28 Sep 2004 (PDT)
--Article Completed by: --Mel 21:22, 8 Jan 2005 (PST)