Ayiana
Summary
Ayiana was found frozen in the ice of Antarctica and was believed to have been one of the humans of the Ancients, a race who lived long before the humans of Earth and who built the Stargates.
Character Biography
Ayiana was found frozen in the ice of Antarctica, not far from where the SGC had discovered the second Stargate. Dr. Francine Michaels, who has Cherokee ancestry, named her "Ayiana", which means eternal bloom. Dr. Michaels invited SG-1 and Dr. Janet Fraiser to visit her in Antarctica to see Ayiana, discovered by Drs. Woods and Osbourne. She wanted a second opinion on her medical conclusions she had drawn as she examined tissue taken from Ayiana's right arm.
Physically speaking, Ayiana was about twenty-five to thirty-five years old, based on the medical scans Dr. Michaels performed. However, based on Drs. Woods's and Osbourne's estimation on the age of the ice she was buried in, Ayiana was thought to have been frozen for at least three million years. It was further theorized that she came from the race that built the Stargate, the Ancients, and that could put her having been frozen for up to 50 millions years. This estimate was based on the continental drift theory and the presumed appearance of the glacier that covered Antarctica, as well as the estimated age of the power source used by the DHD found with the Antarctic Stargate which had finally run out of energy.
The Antarctic research team was proud to present Ayiana to SG-1 and Dr. Fraiser. They were able to remove some of the ice from around Ayiana's head and right arm to get a better look at her. When Dr. Fraiser shown her pen light into Ayiana's eyes, she observed that the pupils responded. Everyone was shocked as Ayiana revived herself once her face was free from the ice and the temperature in the room elevated.
At first, Ayiana did not appear to be able to speak, but that changed as she got acquainted with Jonas Quinn. He attempted to find out more about her by sharing pictures of the Stargate and other drawings found in his and Dr. Daniel Jackson's journals. Ayiana did not respond one way or another to indicate if she was familiar with the Stargate.
Eventually, Ayiana spoke in one-word statements. Drs. Fraiser and Michaels believed that her brain had been affected by being frozen. Ayiana appeared, however, to understand what Jonas and the others were saying. She eventually learned to be comfortable with them around.
Ayiana had the ability to heal herself. Remarkably, the wound made by Dr. Michaels when she took the tissue sample was healed completely.
No one found out why Ayiana was buried in the ice, but it became apparent that she carried the plague which killed off many of the Ancients. Unfortunately, she exposed everyone in the laboratory to this plague.
Ayiana demonstrated compassion when she placed her healing hands on each of the afflicted SGC personnel. Every time she healed someone, she weakened herself. Eventually, she was no longer able to heal herself or anyone else and succumbed. Major Samantha Carter theorized that she might have been on borrowed time to begin with and that she would most probably would have died of the plague in her original time.
CAVEAT: In the premier episode of the spin-off series, Stargate Atlantis, viewers are given a glimpse into the past, perhaps five to ten million years ago, when the Ancients left their Antarctic Outpost in the hands of a single female Atlantian. It is implied that this woman was Ayiana. She stood by herself in the Outpost and watched as all of her fellow Ancients left Antarctica in their city-ship Atlantis.
Episodes
Related Characters
- Col. Jack O'Neill
- Major Samantha Carter
- Teal'c
- Jonas Quinn
- Dr. Janet Fraiser
- Dr. Francine Michaels
- Dr. Osbourne
- Dr. Norm Woods
Related Articles
Further Reading
- USGS: This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics
- Australian Antarctic Division: Ice and Snow (collecting and dating ice cores)
Actor
--DeeKayP 09:43, 27 Jun 2004 (PDT)