Daniel Jackson: Civilian Consultant To The U.S. Air Force
Scholar And Soldier
While initially at a loss how to fit in during the Abydos mission, Daniel plunged headlong into the role of soldier once he understood the lives of everyone on the planet were at risk. He may have had some training just prior to leaving Earth, but his familiarity with the pistol suggests that he had made use of such weapons long before he arrived at Cheyenne Mountain.
He still thinks like a civilian, but as time has passed and his experience in the field with SG-1 has grown, he has become increasingly competent and able to play his part in battle, even if occasionally expressing nervous discomfort about the dangers the team faces (4.03 "Upgrades", 4.07 "Watergate", 5.08 "The Tomb").
Since his descension and return to SG-1 he has continued to serve as a fully integrated, skilled and trusted member of the premier team of the SGC, participating in all missions with unflagging courage, without a thought for himself if others are threatened. He is accepting now of the need for action when diplomacy is not adequate to achieve mission objectives and will initiate that action himself, whether it be firing on enemy Jaffa, Replicators, or more recently, Ori Plague-carrying bugs (9.17 "The Scourge"). He is also more ready to admit when diplomacy will not work, as when he did not seriously try to negotiate with the Prior who was helping establish the Supergate (9.06 "Beachhead").
Perhaps the most striking example of his evolution is that he was the first among the SGC to say that Anubis' clone Khalek should be destroyed rather than reasoned with, studied, or allowed to live simply because he was a sentient life. Daniel's knowledge of Anubis and the power of Ascended Beings made it perfectly clear to him that there was no alternative to killing Khalek, if the greater good of Earth were to be paramount. In earlier years, Daniel would have been more likely to give Khalek a chance. (9.09 "Prototype")
On a grander scale, Daniel was willing, in fact anxious to kill all Ascended Beings in the Ori galaxy. He led the team on the quest for Merlin's weapon to do just that. He never showed a tinge of doubt about this course of action, even though he would be killing beings not so different from what he had at one time been himself. (10.14 "The Shroud")
Archaeological, Cultural And Linguistic Expertise
Following Daniel's return to Earth after the second Abydos mission, he was given free rein at the SGC and counted upon to add his expertise to mission preparation and analysis. While it has never been firmly stated, his position on the primary exploration team, SG-1, indicates that Dr. Jackson may well be the head of the academic team that works both behind the scenes in research and on the front line, going off-world on missions with military teams to explore the worlds connected to the Stargate system.
He often briefs his own team prior to missions, participates in off-world digs (4.08 "The First Ones"), or is temporarily assigned to other teams in order to aid them in missions requiring his input or special skills (2.15 "Matter of Time", 4.18 "The Light", 4.19 "Prodigy", 4.21 "Double Jeopardy", 7.09 "Avenger 2.0"). SG teams are aware he should be informed when artifacts are uncovered during mineral and planetary surveys (7.07 "Enemy Mine").
He is not above using his linguistic skills as justification to get assigned to missions he wants to go on. While Jack was not convinced that Daniel's knowledge of the Ancients' language was enough to warrant his joining the Prometheus journey to the Pegasus galaxy, General Hammond was, and Daniel was the only SG-1 member on that aborted mission (8.12 "Prometheus Unbound").
His linguistic expertise has been requested by our allies (4.13 "Serpent's Venom") and has uniquely qualified him to embark on covert missions (5.15 "Summit Part 1", 5.16 "Last Stand Part 2", 7.01 "Fallen Part 1", 7.02 "Homecoming Part 2").
His linguistic skill has also been pivotal to the accidental discovery and subsequent conflict with the Ori. He has had to not only translate Ancient, but also decipher codes written in Ancient in order to find weapons to fight the Ori. Through these translations he has learned more about the nature of the Ori and all Ascended Beings (9.01 "Avalon Part 1", 9.02 "Avalon Part 2", 9.18 "Arthur's Mantle", 9.20 "Camelot Part 2", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project", 10.10 "The Quest Part 1").
Diplomat
He has served the SGC in a diplomatic/ambassadorial capacity, been responsible for drafting a treaty between the Tok'ra and Earth, and has represented the Earth's interests off world with our alien allies on numerous occasions. He was also involved in some delicate on-world negotiations with the Russian government in order to save Teal'c's life when he became trapped in the Stargate (3.03 "Fair Game", 3.05 "Learning Curve", 3.15 "Pretense", 3.18 "Shades of Grey", 4.05 "Divide and Conquer", 5.09 "Between Two Fires", 5.10 "2001", 5.14 "48 Hours", 5.21 "Meridian", 7.07 "Enemy Mine", 7.08 "Space Race"). He sometimes is not successful, for example when warring parties are beyond the ability to see reason (8.05 "Icon", 9.15 "Ethon") or when aliens they encounter have no intention of making peace (4.02 "The Other Side"). However in each case he fights until all hope is lost and sometimes even further.
All of his combined skills were required to retrieve the Telchak fountain of youth device and to survive the experience along with Dr. Lee (7.11 "Evolution Part 1", 7.12 "Evolution Part 2"). When the Goa'uld were secretly plotting to attack Earth, his diplomatic and linguistic abilities enabled him to discover their ruse and secure over them an advantage for Earth (8.01 "New Order Part 1", 8.02 "New Order Part 2"). The last-moment deal he brokered between Caledonia and Rand stopped that world war and saved the surviving crew of Prometheus, but once he returned home, the nations returned to their fighting, likely destroying each other (9.15 "Ethon"). His attempts at diplomacy were not so effective when SG-1 was forced to pretend to be terrorists, even holding hostages; he didn't agree with the whole scenario, but played along well enough to buy the team time to escape (10.16 "Bad Guys").
Saving The Team And The World
Daniel's commitment to his team and his world is never in question. He has been instrumental in rescues of his teammates on several occasions, and has helped save the planet and other alien civilizations:
- The first time was during the Abydos mission, when Ra was killed (Stargate, the Movie).
- When Jack and Sam went missing on a return trip to Earth, Daniel worked tirelessly in an attempt to figure out what had happened to them. Eventually, he realized that they had been diverted to another Stargate, one that had been previously undiscovered in Antarctica (1.17 "Solitudes").
- Another direct attack, planned by Apophis, was thwarted when Daniel, as part of SG-1 along with Master Bra'tac of the Jaffa, succeeded in blowing up both ships just before their attack on Earth began (2.01 "The Serpent's Lair Part 2"). Daniel was forewarned of the attack due to an accidental visit to an alternate universe, in which the attack had already begun (1.19 "There But For the Grace of God").
- He played diplomat after a fashion, and negotiated for the release of his friends from enslavement in a naquadah mine, at great cost to himself (2.05 "Need").
- In order to contact the Asgard to help the Cimmerians fend off an attack by the Goa'uld, Daniel, with Sam's help, solved a complicated set of riddles and tests of character in the Hall of Thor's Might (2.06 "Thor's Chariot").
- When Jack and the SGC base were under attack by an alien organism, Daniel hypothesized that the beings might be trying to communicate through Jack. When he was proven correct, he offered the aliens another primal world as their new home, and successfully negated their threat to his friend and the planet (2.07 "Message in a Bottle").
- The SGC had just moved the Enkarans to a new home world, only to discover that it was being terraformed by a rival species, the Gadmeer. Daniel refused to give up negotiation until a solution favorable to both species was found; this nearly cost him his life, but resulted in the Enkarans being returned to their original homeworld so that the Gad-meer could continue terraforming the planet to support their colony (4.09 "Scorched Earth").
- The Goa'uld set a large meteor with a core of solid naquadah on a collision course for Earth, an attack disguised as a natural disaster to try to circumvent their treaty with the Asgard. SG-1 was sent to blow it up, but upon discovering the core properties and how disastrous exploding it would be, Carter figured a way to use the Tok'ra cargo ship they were piloting to tow the meteor through the Earth via a hyperspace window (5.17 "Fail Safe") after a leading suggestion by Daniel.
- After discovering Reese, an android SG-1 found on an alien world, was the creator of the Replicators, Daniel worked hard to gain her trust and get her to shut the Replicators down. She did so just before expiring after being shot by Col. O'Neill (5.19 "Menace").
- As a final act of courage, Daniel sacrificed his own life to prevent a naquadria bomb from going critical and destroying the capital city of Kelowna. The action resulted in his receiving a lethal dose of radiation. At Oma Desala's invitation, he ascended to a higher plane of existence, consequently becoming formless energy in order to continue his journey of enlightenment (5.21 "Meridian").
- When Jack agreed to become a temporary host to Kanan of the Tok'ra, he inadvertently became prisoner of the Goa'uld, Ba'al, who tortured and repeatedly killed the colonel, reviving him in his sarcophagus in an attempt to extract information from him. Daniel appeared to Jack to try to help him ascend as a means of escape, but Jack's reluctance to accept this way out forced Daniel to try an alternate method of freeing his friend. He planted an idea in Teal'c's subconscious during a session of kel'no'reem, which subsequently gave Jack an opportunity to escape (6.06 "Abyss").
- While struggling to stay alive until he could be rescued, Teal'c began to dream about an alternate life, in which Daniel visited him and comforted him, helping him to hang on until his team found him. When the Jaffa was recovering in the infirmary, Daniel paid a final visit to him to assure him that he had been there with him, watching over him, during his ordeal (6.19 "Changeling").
- When it was clear that rescue would not come in time to prevent disaster at the hands of captors under the influence of the Telchak device, Daniel led Dr. Lee to escape into the jungle. Under pursuit, he then hid Lee in safety, drawing the pursuers away from him. He surely would have died if not for the arrival of O'Neill and Burke (7.12 "Evolution Part 2").
- He risked his life to enter the virtual reality battle game and help Teal'c defeat it so that they could both be released from it before Teal'c died (8.06 "Avatar").
- He insisted on going aboard the Al'kesh under control of The Trust to rescue Carter and retrieve the Stargate. His intervention, along with action by the Prometheus and a timely arrival by Teal'c, saved their lives and thwarted The Trust's murder of more Jaffa (8.10 "Endgame").
- He entered into a battle of wits and brawn with Vala in order to take back control of Prometheus and return to rescue Hammond and the rest of the crew, whom he believed were stranded on a disabled Al'kesh. If not for his quick thinking, Prometheus would have been traded by Vala for naquadah (8.13 "Prometheus Unbound").
- He recognized the manipulation of Replicator Carter for what is was early in her efforts to gain knowledge of the Ancients from his mind. From that moment on he fought her with everything he had, eventually taking control of all of her replicators and stopping them. He bought Carter and Jacob enough time to activate the Ancients' weapon that would destroy all of the replicators. But he was not strong enough to hold off Replicator Carter forever: she regained control and killed him viciously with a sword made from her own arm (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1", 8.17 "Reckoning Part 2").
- He argued forcefully with Oma Desala and The Others about the immorality of allowing Anubis to destroy all life in the Milky Way galaxy. While his arguments did not sway the other Ascended, they did move Oma to enter into eternal battle with Anubis and so to spare Earth and the rest of the galaxy. And perhaps his arguments did have some affect on The Others, since they seemed to be the only ones who could have shut down Anubis' weapon and return Daniel to corporeal form (8.18 "Threads").
- He found a creative way to fix the future after SG-1 was trapped in ancient Egypt, unable to return to the present and worried that their presence there would cause the future to be altered. Daniel had SG-1 record a video tape with instructions for their future selves, he devised a successful battle strategy with which the local villagers were able to expel Ra, and he wrote a tablet that helped his future self find the second Stargate once Ra escaped with the one from Egypt. His actions did enable alternate version of the SG-1 members to restore the timeline (8.19 "Moebius Part 1", 8.20 "Moebius Part 2").
- He helped Mitchell solve Merlin's riddle at Avalon, saving Mitchell and Teal'c from being crushed to death (9.02 "Avalon Part 2").
- He fired the shot that killed Khalek just as Khalek was becoming too powerful to kill (9.09 "Prototype").
- He came up with a last minute diplomatic agreement that was acceptable to Caledonia and Rand and that allowed the surviving crew of Prometheus, and all others who wanted to, to leave the planet through the Stargate (9.15 "Ethon").
- His Ancient language abilities enabled him to free himself, Carter, and Mitchell from the alternate dimension they had accidentally traveled to, or Carter and Mitchell may have been trapped their forever (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle").
- When all else failed, he shot the control crystal of the pedestal in Merlin's library, saving Mitchell from death at the hand of the Black Knight (9.20 "Camelot Part 2").
- Having translated all of the clues on the Parchment of Virtues, Daniel correctly guessed the forcefield trap in the forest was a test of "charity" and that they needed to put possessions into the treasure chest to get out (10.10 "The Quest Part 1").
- When Daniel realized that even with help from Merlin, his powers were not enough to overcome Adria, he held her off long enough for the rest of his team to escape through the gate. He did not have the strength to follow, and was taken prisoner by Adria (10.11 "The Quest Part 2").
- Daniel orchestrated the many elements necessary to complete Merlin's anti-Ori weapon, convince the SGC to shut down the Supergate, and send an Ori ship through the Supergate with the weapon armed and ready to go. As far as we know, the weapon exploded in the Ori galaxy, killing all Ascended Beings there. This was a necessary first step in saving our galaxy from the Ori and their followers (10.14 "The Shroud").
For these acts of heroism and self sacrifice, he has received no medals or commendations that we know of.
Moral Imperative
Daniel often has a problem with military strategies, goals and objectives when they conflict with his own moral imperatives. When such instances occur, he has been known to openly defy direct orders given by Col. O'Neill, his commanding officer on SG-1, and Gen. Hammond as well. Owing to his position and perhaps his recognized value to the SGC, he managed to get away with these instances of insubordination:
- After rescuing alien refugees who possessed various objects of extremely advanced technology from their dying planet, none of the members of SG-1 were willing to turn them over to the authorities for questioning and study. As a civilian and therefore not subject to military discipline and the only one able to flagrantly disobey orders (and for once being insubordinate with the tacit blessings of Jack and General Hammond), he helped the stranded Tollan to escape through the Stargate to the world of the Nox, who welcomed the them and helped them reach their new homeworld (1.16 "Enigma", 3.15 "Pretense").
- Due to information he received after traveling through a quantum mirror, Daniel insisted that an attack on Earth was imminent and convinced SG-1 to defy the order to shut down the Stargate program, and go through the gate on an unauthorized mission. This action saved the Earth from destruction by Apophis and Klorel (2.01 "The Serpent's Lair").
- While Col. O'Neill was under the influence of the Ancients' database, Gen. Hammond sent SG-1 on a mission to try to uncover any additional information that might be useful in helping Jack regain control of his mind. Daniel flatly refused to leave Jack, citing his abilities as a translator would be O'Neill's only way of communicating and he was unwilling and flatly refused to abandon Jack. "I can't leave him like this, and I won't" (2.15 "The Fifth Race").
- Under the influence of the Atanik armbands, Daniel -- along with the rest of SG-1 -- disobeyed a direct order from Gen. Hammond to remain on the base and went off on a mission to destroy a new space ship being built by Apophis (4.03 "Upgrades"). When the super powers of the armband suddenly disappeared, he and the team were nearly captured by the Jaffa guarding the ship, but they managed to escape with Teal'c's able assistance.
- Knowing that a bomb had been placed in the path of a Gadmeer terraforming vessel, Daniel went aboard the ship in an effort to find an alternative solution to the problem of two races competing for the same planet. He placed his own life in jeopardy to try to save both the Enkarans and the Gadmeer, and came up with a successful resolution to the problem in the nick of time (4.09 "Scorched Earth").
- Daniel was recruited by the Tok'ra to go on a convert mission to a Goa'uld System Lord Summit near the Hassara System in order to assassinate all the attendees and thereby break the power of the System Lords. However, when Osiris/Sarah appeared, he discovered that taking the Goa'uld hierarchy out would result in a shift in power to a single, all-powerful false god: Anubis. He chose to scrap the mission in order to maintain the balance of power and save the life of his former girlfriend Sarah, whom he also tried, unsuccessfully, to rescue (5.15 "Summit Part 1"/ 5.16 "Last Stand Part 2").
- While not being a direct violation of orders, Daniel gave in to the demands of The Trust by going to meet with them alone in order to get evidence to prove Teal'c was not a murderer. His failure to notify the SGC of what was happening was surely a breach of procedures at a minimum, though he felt he had no choice. The Trust later forced him to translate some Ancient text or they would kill Teal'c's girlfriend, Krista. Daniel obviously believed saving Krista was more important than the technology access his translation would grant The Trust (8.07 "Affinity").