Ellia
Summary
Ellia was a young female Wraith who was rescued and raised by a man named Raddik, who had just recently lost his own wife and son. (SGA 2.07 "Instinct")
Character Biography
Over a decade ago, a small Wraith transport crashed in the forest near a village on a planet in Pegasus. The villagers had heard stories of their ancestors' falling victim to creatures who arrived in spaceships, but their historic record was incomplete, so they weren't aware that these aliens were Wraith. When they found the survivors of the crash, they killed them out of fear and burned their bodies. In their horror, they found that they had missed killing a survivor when he entered the village that very night and took a victim.
One of the men at the crash site was Raddik. He had just lost his wife and son to a fever, so when he found an unconscious young female survivor, he felt needed once again. He took her to the abandoned mines to take care of her in secret because he knew that the villagers would never accept her, especially after what happened with the other Wraith survivor.
While she was but a child, Ellia was more human than Wraith in that she ate the food and drank the water that Raddik provided her. But, as she grew older, a painful hunger began to take over her: the need to feed on humans to survive. Her human digestive system was becoming dormant as her Wraith feeding mechanism became more active, causing her a severe and burning pain. Immediately, Raddik began working on a serum made from plants he found in the nearby forest that would satisfy this frightening hunger. When he could no longer bear watching her suffer with the increasing pain, Raddik offered himself. Because she loved him as a father, Ellia took only what she needed.
Ellia was aware of the other Wraith since they could connect psychically. She tried not to let him into her mind because she didn't like what she saw through his eyes. But, she used this link to her advantage by feeding on the villagers at the same time that he did. He fed on the villagers three or four times each year, and was thought to take two or three people each time. The villagers didn't realize that there were two Wraith feeding on their people, but they were able to predict when they were at high risk. Whenever that time came, they didn't go out at night for fear that the Daimos would come for them.
Realizing that she could use the other Wraith's feeding schedule to effectively hide, Ellia lied to Raddik and told him that his serum worked. Raddik then began to teach Ellia how to produce the serum because he was aged beyond his natural years (around 32 at the time). Ever since he found her, Raddik had treated Ellia like a human child, and she responded to his love with her own and learned right from wrong. Her using the other Wraith's feeding schedule allowed her to continue to live with Raddik as a daughter, never again causing him pain and shortening his life.
Then one day close to the time of the next feeding, Ellia was spotted in the forest by Sheppard, McKay, Ronon, and Teyla who had visited to the village the night before and were told the story of the Daimos. Ronon felt he could easily track and kill the Wraith, so the team reassured Goran, Callum, and the other villagers that they didn't need their help. Ellia ran and the team chased her all the way home, where they found her in Raddik's arms fearing for her life. Raddik's fatherly pleas gave the team pause, but it was his claim to have developed a serum to eliminate her need to feed that really caught their attention.
Dr. Carson Beckett had started the development of a retrovirus that would end a Wraith's need to feed on humans by bringing all of the Wraith's human traits into dominance. Basically, the retrovirus would turn a Wraith into a human. The retrovirus was still experimental and hadn't been tested on live Wraith tissue, so his interest was piqued when Sheppard reported Raddik's claim. Beckett went to the planet with his laboratory equipment and began examining the serum.
While the Atlantis personnel were in Raddik's and Ellia's home, Ellia began to feel comfortable in their presence. She was a gracious hostess, offering the visitors tea and biscuits that she had baked herself. Teyla had sensed that Ellia was "different," but she didn't understand that until she saw Ellia's gentle, human-like manner. But Ronon was not as convinced. He hated Wraith and Ellia was a Wraith. When Ellia offered him biscuits, he knocked the tray out of her hands and drew his gun. Ellia screeched like a Wraith in defense and then stood in shocked silence briefly before running to her room in tears.
True to their predictions, the villagers found a victim of a Wraith feeding and their anger swelled. They formed a hunting party. Sheppard tried to keep them calm so that Beckett could secretly continue his research, but the men were determined to kill the Daimos. Teyla asked Ellia to connect with the other Wraith and lead them to where he was. Ellia told them to look for him near the river that was to the east.
McKay and Beckett stayed with Raddik while the others went to track down the Wraith. It was at this time that Beckett told Raddik about his retrovirus and how he hoped that Ellia could help him refine it. Ellia overheard their conversation, and when they were out of the room, she injected herself with the prototype. She was so desperate to become human that she ignored the fact that Beckett said that it wasn't ready to be used. McKay and Beckett began searching for her when they discovered what she had done, but she was merely hiding. She revealed herself to Raddik and told him that the serum he had developed wasn't working and why.
Unfortunately, the retrovirus had the reverse effects and Ellia's Iratus characters began to come to the fore. She took on more bug-like features, starting near the injection site in her arm. Ellia's mind was overtaken by the instinct of survival, and that survival depended on the need to feed. When the other Wraith attacked Beckett and McKay, she killed him, but she in turn attacked Raddik. Goran arrived to where Beckett and McKay were aiding the dying Raddik when he realized that Raddik was his own son, who he thought to be a victim of the Daimos two years after the crash. Raddik was unrecognizable to his own father because he was supposed to be 34 years old, but had the appearance of a much older man. Raddik died, his last words in response to his father's desire to understand why he left, "She needed me."
The creature that Ellia became attacked Sheppard and tried to feed on him on his arm. Ronon broke the attack off, but Ellia continued in her aggression. Knowing that Ellia could not be saved, both men fired on her simultaneously and ended her life.
Episodes
Gallery
Related Characters
- Dr. Carson Beckett
- Callum
- Ronon Dex
- Teyla Emmagan
- Goran
- Dr. Rodney McKay
- Raddik
- Lt. Col. John Sheppard
Related Articles
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--DeeKayP 19:01, 7 September 2009 (UTC)