Parchment of Virtues
Summary
The Parchment of Virtues was a document written by the Ascended Atlantian Ancient Morgan Le Fay (Ganos Lal) to guide those who sought the Sangreal, a weapon that could eliminate Ascended Beings and which had come to be known in Arthurian legends as the Holy Grail. (10.10 "The Quest Part 1")
Stargate References
The Parchment of Virtues was written in the Ancients' language by Morgan Le Fay. It read:
- Only those of virtue true may win the prize concealed beyond the reach of the flawed and tainted. The Sangreal shall instead belong to he who speaks the guardian's name. Prudence, wisdom, charity, kindness, and faith. Let these be your guide on this perilous quest.
The document was kept in a library on a planet on which it was said that Morgan Le Fay had hidden the weapon after taking it from Merlin. Merlin's special group of men, Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, started on a quest to find the weapon about the same time that Merlin disappeared from his sanctuary on the planet with the village Camelot.
SG-1 found Morgan's planet and began their search there by visiting the village's library where the Parchment was kept. Not long after reading it, an Ori invasion force burned it and all other documents from the library, including an accompanying map which was supposed to lead to the Sangreal.
As SG-1 began their quest (accompanied by Adria and Ba'al), they discovered that the challenges Morgan placed before them correlated to the virtues listed in the Parchment. Prudence got them through a time distortion maze, charity got them out of an encircling force field, kindness led them to a series of secret corridors by helping a lost child (a holographic projection), wisdom got them safely through those corridors by correctly answering riddles which were written in Ancient, and faith got them through a wall of fire and into the large cavern which appeared to be the resting place of the Sangreal. When Daniel tried to pick up the glowing object, he realized that it was a hologram. They had to face one more challenge: the guardian — a fire-breathing dragon. (10.10 "The Quest Part 1")
If they spoke the guardian's name, the Parchment had promised that they'd be the possessors of the Sangreal. After trying to kill the dragon with C-4 explosives with no success, the team had to think of the dragon's name in order to defeat it. Finally, Daniel realized that the guardian was not the dragon, but Morgan Le Fay herself. As soon as he shouted out the name "Ganos Lal", Morgan's Ancient name, the dragon disappeared. When they returned to the holographic Sangreal, they were transported to a cavern where Merlin had been hidden away in stasis. Morgan Le Fay had indeed possessed the weapon, but she was forced to destroy it because The Others would have sent someone else anyway. She had, however, done the next best thing: she preserved Merlin in stasis so that he could build another weapon. Unfortunately, Merlin realized that his body had aged too much while in stasis and that he didn't have enough time to build another one. Instead, he uploaded his knowledge into a device similar to a Repository of Knowledge before he died, and Daniel downloaded that knowledge into his own mind to complete the weapon. He apparently got only as far as Stage 2 of the device (the red jewel was actually the final stage of the device and the key to make it work) before he was captured by Adria. (10.11 "The Quest Part 2")
While in Adria's custody, Daniel completed all the parts to the weapon, promising Adria that he'd build it for her to use against the Ancients. Daniel had downloaded more than just Merlin's memories and knowledge, he had downloaded Merlin's consciousness himself, and together, Daniel and Merlin devised a plan to pilot the warship which carried the completed weapon through the Supergate to the Ori's home galaxy. In order to pilot the ship and to prove his "loyalty" to Adria, Daniel convinced Adria that he had turned to Origin, and she rewarded him by turning him into a Prior. Merlin protected Daniel from Adria's influence in order to convince Adria that Daniel had succumbed to her will. As a Prior, Daniel and Merlin could steal and pilot the ship without suspicion. With the SGC's help, the plan was seen through, and the weapon was detonated as the warship entered the Ori's home galaxy, but whether or not it worked was unknown to them immediately after the deed was done. (10.14 "The Shroud")
As the Parchment of Virtues stated, "The Sangreal shall instead belong to he who speaks the guardian's name," and true to its word, the knowledge to build the Sangreal and the power to use it were given to Daniel Jackson. Whether this was a promise or a prophecy remains unanswered.
Episodes
Related Characters
Related Articles
- Ancients
- Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
- Ascended Beings
- Camelot
- Ori
- Ori Warship
- The Others
- Priors of the Ori
- Repository of Knowledge
- Sangreal
- SG-1
- Supergate
--DeeKayP 18:09, 23 October 2006 (PDT)