Mal Doran

Courtyard during Mal Doran

Summary

Mal Doran was the self-named trial system established by Vala Mal Doran on P8X-412 while she pretended to still be Qetesh.

Stargate References

After a Tok'ra removed the Goa'uld symbiote from Vala Mal Doran, she sought refuge on the planet P8X-412. There, she pretended to be the Goa'uld Qetesh, still worshipped by the people of the planet and obtaining their last remnants of naquadah.

Vala styled herself as a more benevolent "god" than Qetesh of before. She did away with the mass killings and torture the Goa'uld had created and set up a judicial system, making herself the judge and naming it after herself.

In a Mal Doran, injured parties would appear before "Qetesh", along with the party who allegedly wronged them. Vala would hear both arguments and make a ruling as judge of the proceeding. She apparently gave fair decisions, because the villagers turned to that proceeding as a way to fairly judge the final fate of their false god.

Here, Vala became a litigant to a Mal Doran herself. When she returned to the planet with Daniel Jackson, Cameron Mitchell, and Teal'c, Daniel convinced her to reveal her deception about Qetesh to the villagers in the hopes of preventing their conversion to the Ori religion. The leader, Azdak, threw her in jail and promised her execution in the morning.

Cameron Mitchell and Teal'c convinced Azdak that he should conduct a fair proceeding before rushing to judgment, and Azdak agreed to hold a Mal Doran, this time with the whole settlement acting as judge. Vala, though happy for the reprieve, sulked at this turn of events because without her as judge, it was not a true "Mal Doran".

Azdak became the prosecutor of the case; Daniel Jackson was Vala's defense counsel. The counts against the false god Qetesh numbered seven. Daniel interrupted and explained that Vala was only responsible for acts during the past four years, after the Goa'uld Qetesh had been removed from Vala. Azdak and his aides, although questioning Daniel's veracity, conceded the argument and removed three counts, such as the mass killings and torture.

Both Azdak and Daniel gave stirring arguments for their positions before a Prior interrupted the proceeding. The Mal Doran turned from a decision about Vala's fate to a decision on whether or not to follow the Ori. Azdak ordered the Mal Doran ended and Vala returned to her cell so they could contemplate these new issues.

Later Azdak returned with the verdict. Vala would not be executed, but would spend the rest of her life in prison. Later, in gratitude for her help in saving one of the villager's lives, he commuted her sentence, but confiscated all of the treasures she kept on the planet as compensation.

Gallery

Vala as Qetesh	Vala in jail	Azdak reads the charges against Vala/Qetesh
Vala's defense table during Mal Doran	Villagers as Mal Doran Jury	Prior and Daniel verbally spar during Mal Doran