Vala Mal Doran

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Vala Mal Doran

Summary

Vala Mal Doran was introduced as a space-faring thief who tried to hijack the Prometheus and sell it for weapons grade naquadah. Her plans were thwarted by Daniel Jackson, who managed to overcome her and recover the ship. She escaped from the ship's brig and disappeared into the vastness of space inside an al'kesh she had used to trap the Prometheus crew, but she appeared to have developed an affection for Daniel during her time with him on the ship. Less than a year later, she contacted Daniel on Earth to ask for his help in deciphering a tablet written in Ancient which was said to lead to a buried treasure on Earth. After researching the tablet, Daniel discovered Avalon in the Glastonbury Tor in England where the Ancient Merlin had hidden not only riches of Britain, but Ancient technology. It was through the use of one of the devices discovered in Avalon which led Daniel and Vala to contact humans in a distant galaxy. Unfortunately, this contact alerted a group of Ascended Beings known as the Ori to begin their invasion of the Milky Way Galaxy to enpower themselves with worshippers or to destroy those who refuse to accept them as gods. Vala's actions during the Ori's attempt to establish a foothold in the galaxy resulted in her being transported to the Ori's home galaxy, and her current state is unknown.

Vala: A Visual History

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Comprehensive Character Biography

Early Life

Very little is currently known about Vala's early life. Since she tends to lie, her relating any kind of personal information has to be taken with a grain or two of salt. At one point, she said that she had been engaged to be married before she was taken as an unwilling host to the Goa'uld Qetesh. She told Daniel this after he had coldly and scientifically recited all the reasons why he believed that she hid behind her sexuality as a defense mechanism: "You live a solitary existence, you move from place to place, you never form any lasting relationships, you use sex as a weapon to prevent yourself from forming any real emotional bonds." Vala appeared to be genuinely hurt by Daniel's words and tried to quickly leave his bedroom where she had gone to seduce him. Because of the manipulative and hurtful things Vala had done to Daniel since they met, Daniel believed that Vala was not truly attracted to him and that she was playing him for a fool. Her sudden show of vulnerability made Daniel reach out to her, but true to his words, she shut him out and pretended that she had given him a sob story meant to make him feel guilty for rejecting her. (9.04 "The Ties That Bind")

Qetesh

Vala as Qetesh

The circumstances of Vala's becoming the host to the Goa'uld Qetesh are currently unknown. Originally, Vala told Daniel that it was ten years ago that a Tok'ra came to her planet and started a rebellion which resulted in her being captured and beaten as the cruel ruler Qetesh. She also told him that the Tok'ra took pity on her and removed the symbiote and nursed her back to health. The timeline which she confessed to Daniel later did not synchronize with this story, however. (8.12 "Prometheus Unbound", 9.05 "The Powers That Be")

The story Vala told which most likely is closer to the truth was that after she was freed from Qetesh four years ago, she fled her home planet because her own people had treated her with nothing but disgust, even spitting upon her. She found refuge on the planet P8X-412 where Qetesh had ruled over poor peasants who mined the nearly-depleted naquadah mines. Vala claimed to never have beaten or killed any of those who served her after being freed of Qetesh, but she did take advantage of the people's adoration to see to her personal comfort. Vala didn't stay on the planet very long, but she did keep some of her treasures there as she participated in various crimes as a con artist and thief who traded goods across the galaxy. (9.04 "The Ties That Bind", 9.05 "The Powers That Be")

Free Agent

During those four years after being freed from Qetesh, Vala began her life as a free agent. All of her activities appeared to have been to satisfy her own selfish needs and desires. She accummulated wealth in all types of material things and enjoyed an exciting life trading on the black market. After the fall of the Goa'uld, she took advantage of the many riches which flooded the market. Along the way, Vala developed "relationships" with thieves, smugglers, and mercenaries. Many of these smugglers and mercenaries banded together to take advantage of the power vacuum left by the demise of the Goa'uld, called themselves the Lucian Alliance, and began terrorizing planets inhabited by former slaves. Vala didn't join the Lucian Alliance, but she often did business with them. (8.12 "Prometheus Unbound", 9.04 "The Ties That Bind")

Vala apparently enjoyed the life and became very good at it. She used the Goa'uld knowledge left behind by Qetesh to develop a strong understanding of alien technology. She also benefited from the naquadah in her blood by being able to operate Goa'uld technology, such as the healing device and ribbon device, even after she no longer hosted the symbiote. (8.12 "Prometheus Unbound", 9.05 "The Powers That Be")

Meeting Daniel Jackson

Vala meets Daniel

Vala's fateful meeting of Daniel Jackson occurred when she sent out a distress signal which was intercepted by the Prometheus which was on a rescue mission to the Pegasus Galaxy to determine the fate of the Atlantis Expedition Team from which the SGC had not heard since they left. Daniel was the mission specialist because he was considered the world's foremost expert on the Ancients. Because they believed that the distress call could be genuine and that someone truly needed help, Gen. Hammond ordered the ship to intercept the al'kesh which was the source of the call. (8.12 "Prometheus Unbound")

As soon as the Prometheus was in ring transporter range, Vala boarded the Earth ship wearing the protective armor of a Kull Warrior. She quickly disabled everyone on the ship and transported them to the crippled al'kesh. Daniel managed to avoid capture and became the only crewmember left onboard. He attempted to kill the Kull Warrior with the SGC's nullification weapon, but, because she wasn't a Kull Warrior, the weapon was ineffective. She promptly shot him with the zat and tied him to the command chair. When he regained consciousness, Daniel attempted to strike up a conversation with the Warrior and then came to find out that it was a woman in the armor. Vala tortured Daniel, striking him and shooting him with the Kull Warrior's laser weapon, in order to get the codes to unlock the ship's command systems, but he claimed he didn't have the codes.

Vala healed Daniel's wound from the laser weapon with a small hand-held healing device. Daniel thought that Vala was a Goa'uld because she could operate the healing device, but she said that she was a former host. She claimed that having been a former host of a Goa'uld permitted her to not only use the Goa'uld technology, but also to understand the systems of the Prometheus. She said that the technology was primitive.

Vala used every trick in the book to get information out of Daniel. When physical torture didn't get her the results she needed, she tried sexual distraction. Daniel, however, matched her strategies with his own and managed to get out of his binds and overcome Vala while she was in the engine room setting the course for her rendezvous with buyers. These buyers were trading a large chest full of weapons grade naquadah, but Daniel thought that they were Vala's people, refugees from a planet which had been taken by Camulus and was vulnerable to Ba'al's forces after Camulus' defeat. Vala told Daniel that a Tok'ra had come to her planet ten years ago and started a rebellion against the ruling Goa'uld. She just so happened to be the host to that Goa'uld. The people captured her and tortured her, but the Tok'ra took pity and removed the symbiote and nursed her back to health. She said her people were nearly wiped out by Camulus and were now threatened by Ba'al. She wanted the Prometheus to help rescue her people from the moon to which they had fled and take them to a planet far from Goa'uld rule. Daniel locked Vala up in the brig and met the buyers, thinking they were her people. But, he had the presence of mind to put on the protective outer armor of the Kull Warrior's suit. When he met the two alien buyers, he realized that Vala was stealing the Prometheus in order to sell it. He tried to break off the deal, but the aliens pulled their weapons on him. Then, the Prometheus was attacked by Goa'uld death gliders, most likely those belonging to Ba'al.

Daniel managed to get back to the Prometheus and take off, but the ship took a lot of damage. Vala pursuaded him to let her out of the brig so that she could help him fight the al'kesh and death gliders. She still had control of the ship's systems because she had reprogrammed the ship's access codes. With shields failing and weapons near depletion, it appeared that they were about to be destroyed when Gen. Hammond and the rest of the Prometheus crew came to their rescue in the al'kesh to which Vala had abandoned them.

Daniel zatted Vala and returned her to the brig. While he was with the bridge crew, she made her escape, taking the al'kesh into hyperspace and jamming the Prometheus's sensors so that they could not follow. Even though Vala had attempted to steal the Prometheus and abandon the crew on a disabled ship in the middle of Ba'al's territory, Daniel still couldn't help but respect her abilities as she made her escape. Unfortunately, the Prometheus had seen too much hull damage for them to complete their rescue mission to the Pegasus Galaxy.

The Discovery of Avalon

Daniel and Vala discuss the Avalon Tablet

Daniel remained in Vala's mind after they parted ways. He had explained to her that he was an archaeologist and historian who studied ancient cultures while he tried to convince her that he knew nothing about the operation of the Prometheus (he proved to be as much of a liar as Vala because he actually did know the codes and how to operate the ship). (8.12 "Prometheus Unbound")

So, after the fall of the System Lords, Vala happened upon a tablet which was offered on the black market (but Vala claimed she stole the tablet) which was said to lead to a treasure on Earth. Even though she possessed the cipher for the encoded tablet, she didn't know how to use the information to find the treasure. She also had no knowledge of Earth. She sought Daniel's help, and Daniel agreed to meet with her, feeling that perhaps she did have something of value to offer since Atlantis had been discovered through the writings on an Ancient tablet. Gen. Landry, the new commander of the SGC, sent SG-12 to clear Vala's entry into the SGC base. They found no weapons or other technology which could pose a threat. (9.01 "Avalon Part 1")

When Vala arrived at the SGC, she quickly worked through introductions and asked for "my Daniel." When Daniel entered the briefing room to see the tablet, Vala started toward him with the composure of one who was truly glad to see him, but his abruptness caused her to change her approach to hide her disappointment. She claimed that she had lied to him about the tablet and had only contacted him to tell him that she was pregnant and that there was a one in ten chance that the baby was his. Daniel started to leave the room without comment, but Gen. Landry insisted that he look at the tablet since he was the one who had suggested that Vala come.

Daniel took interest in the tablet and started doing the decoding and translating. Vala kept him company in his lab which he had started packing because he was reassigned to go to Atlantis via the Daedalus spaceship. While Daniel was distracted by the interesting carvings of the Kor Mak bracelets, Vala clamped one of the bracelets on him and then on herself as insurance that she'd receive her fair share of the treasure. The bracelets formed a physiological link between the wearers. Daniel had, in effect, become Vala's prisoner.

Attempts to remove the bracelet were futile and Daniel soon collapsed from the bracelet's effects. The physiological link would cause the death of both of the wearers if they left each other's proximity for a certain length of time. Dr. Bill Lee determined that Daniel and Vala could not be any further than 100 feet apart for over a half an hour before they'd both start feeling the side effects of the separation. Because of the bracelets, Daniel missed his ride on the Daedalus and thus his dream for going to Atlantis were dashed again by Vala.

Daniel returned to researching the tablet and determined that it was written by an Ancient named Myrddin who had left Atlantis 10,000 years ago and returned to Earth. He recognized the name Mryddin as being one of the names of Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legends. Using this information, he concluded that the best location for the treasure spoken about in the tablet was in Glastonbury Tor, the location of which was said to be that of Avalon.

Using the Asgard sensors on the Prometheus, Avalon's underground caverns were discovered. Vala participated in the discussion on how to access the caverns since the Asgard beaming technology on the Prometheus wasn't able to penetrate the shielding. Vala recommended the ring transporter because they were of Ancient design. Her suggestion proved valid and they entered the caverns expecting to find the treasure, but the place was empty.

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--DeeKayP 19:54, 29 Jan 2005 (PST)

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