Priors of the Ori

Prior's staff bears symbol of the Ori

Summary

Priors of the Ori were advanced humans who possessed amazing powers bestowed upon them by the Ori, Ascended Beings who manifested themselves in a wall of fire in a far galaxy that was the original home of the Ancients (also known as the Altera). They were introduced in the episode, 9.02 "Avalon Part 2".

Stargate References

Priors

A Prior of the Ori didn't identify himself by a unique name, but instead referred to himself as "a Prior of the Ori". Although human, he had some distinguishing features that identified him as a Prior. He had decorative scarification on his chin and cheeks and the pupils of his eyes appeared to be totally dilated and covered in cataracts, giving them an eerie white opaque appearance as those of a blind man. A Prior's hair was also made increasingly gray when he was given his powers by the Ori. Human men appeared to grow paler when converted into a Prior, giving them an ashen, death-like pallor.

Priors were missionaries who preached the word of the Ori from The Book of Origin. This religion was called Origin.

The first Prior of the Ori encountered was met by Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran when they were caught in a psychic link with two villagers on a planet in the Ancient's original home galaxy:

Prior first met by Daniel and Vala

This link was caused by the use of the Ancient communications stones (8.15 "Citizen Joe") in conjunction with an Ancient intergalactic communications terminal discovered in the caverns of Avalon in the Glastonbury Tor, left there by the Ancient Merlin, formerly known as the Lantian Ancient Moros. Because the terminals were meant to be used in tandem, the lack of a receiving terminal in the villagers' home resulted in the burying of their consciousnesses as Daniel and Vala took over their bodies. The two villagers, Harrid and Sallis, were a married couple who had hidden away Ancient communications stones in their home that caused this one-sided link. (9.02 "Avalon Part 2", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project")

When Vala, in the body of Sallis, was thought to be "overcome", the Administrator of the village sent her to the altar in the middle of the village to be judged by the Ori by fire:

Administrator of the Village of Ver Ager

Vala and Sallis died in the fire while Daniel, in Harrid's body, was held back by the villagers. The Prior entered the village and put out the fire. As soon as the villagers saw him, they bowed in reverence. As Daniel/Harrid held the charred remains of Vala/Sallis, the Prior activated the orb on his staff and pointed it at the body. Soon, Vala/Sallis were resurrected. Daniel thanked the Prior for his intervention, but the Prior told him to thank the Ori instead. (9.02 "Avalon Part 2")

This Prior took Daniel and Vala to the City of the Gods on the Plains of Celestis via a ring transporter. He closed them in a room with food and a copy of the Ori's sacred book, The Book of Origin. While Vala ate, Daniel read the book, discovering the nature of the religion. The Prior returned to the room and asked that they reveal the names of other unbelievers in the village Ver Ager. He said that they would be rewarded for their devotion, but neither Daniel nor Vala revealed anyone, although they had met Fannis, one of the few heretics in the village who, along with Harrid and Sallis, had been collecting Ancient artifacts which proved that the Ori's claim of being the creators of humanity was not true. The Prior then gave them an hour-long sermon on repentence, after which Daniel finally said that they weren't in the market for new gods. Daniel had already tried to explain that he was from another galaxy, but the Prior finally listened to him when he started to use the words of The Book of Origin in stating his request to talk with the Ori. Impressed with Daniel's use of the scripture, the Prior immediately took him to see the Doci, the one who spoke the word of the Ori. (9.03 "Origin Part 3")

Doci of the Ori

After Daniel's encounter with the Doci and with the Ori themselves, the Prior took them back to the village of Ver Ager to use them as bait in discovering the identities of other heretics. Fannis sought them out and took them to where he had hidden the communications terminal. As Daniel and Vala formed a complete link, Harris and Sallis became aware of what was happening. The Prior, however, had followed them there, and he subsequently turned off the terminal, killed Fannis, and thrust Daniel against a wall and held him there. These powers appeared to be all from the Prior's mind, with the orb of the staff glowing as if amplifying them. The Prior then had Daniel/Harrid and Vala/Sallis taken back to the sacrificial altar and started the fire through his own mental powers. While this sacrifice was going on, Daniel and Vala, whose bodies were in the SGC infirmary, were going into cardiac arrest, and Mitchell and Teal'c, in their effort to save them, destroyed the terminal by throwing it into the unstable vortex of a forming wormhole of the Stargate. Daniel and Vala immediately recovered, but Harrid and Sallis burned to death in the altar. (9.03 "Origin Part 3")

The Prior took the Administrator of the village of Ver Ager to see the Doci in person after his vigilance in weeding out the unbelievers. The Ori rewarded him by advancing him in his evolution and making him a Prior. After his conversion, the Doci announced that the Ori intended to build spaceships to invade the Milky Way and spread "Origin" far and wide. (9.03 "Origin Part 3")

Administrator becomes a Prior

While Daniel and Vala were linked, the Doci sent a Prior through the Stargate to a planet designated as P3X-421. (9.03 "Origin Part 3")

First Prior in the Milky Way Galaxy

The SGC had an anthropologist working with the humans who were once slaves to a Goa'uld. While waiting for someone from the SGC to take him to Daniel's homeworld, Earth, the Prior started preaching to the people and performing miracles to back up his claims. He promised to show them the Path to Enlightenment where they could use their minds to control nature. Mitchell and SG-12 escorted the Prior back to the SGC base with the hope that he could free Daniel and Vala from the link, but the Prior said that it was the will of the Ori for the link to continue. (9.03 "Origin Part 3")

While at the SGC, the Prior gained the attention of Gerak, the new leader of the Free Jaffa Nation, who was in a meeting with Gen. Landry and Teal'c concerning an alliance between the Tau'ri and the Free Jaffa. Gerak asked to hear what the Prior had to say because he was concerned that the Prior was going to interfere with his new position of power. Gerak said that the Jaffa had long believed in the Path to Enlightenment (through their reverence of Kheb and Ascended Beings), and the Prior told him that Origin would help them on that Path. While the Prior spoke to everyone in the briefing room, Daniel and Vala awoke after forming the complete link and warned Dr. Lam and Dr. Lee of the Ori and the Priors. Mitchell had the Prior put under guard, but the Prior, seeing that he had no other means of escape, set himself on fire and left nothing of himself behind. (9.03 "Origin Part 3")

Prior sets himself on fire

Priors were coming through the Stargate to other planets to spread the word of Origin in advance of the armies that were to be sent via spaceships. The members of the SGC were not aware of the spaceships, but knew that the Priors were coming through the Stargates and were in the position of causing many who had been devoted to one false god to turn to other, more powerful, false gods. The Goa'uld held the power of technological knowledge, but the Ori and their Priors held the power of the knowledge of the universe. Although Gen. Landry, Teal'c, and Daniel advised Senator Fisher of the Senate Appropriations Committee about the dangers that the Ori and their representatives posed, the Senator dismissed their warnings because he felt it was a desperate attempt to prevent the reduction of the funding of Stargate Command. This reduction was meant to terminate new exploration of the galaxy through the Stargate. The Committee was advising the President and the International Oversight Committee that funding should be focused on Earth's defenses through the building of more Daedalus-class starships and on the Atlantis Expedition where the majority of Ancient technology was known to exist. (9.03 "Origin Part 3", 9.04 "The Ties That Bind")

At least 43 planets known to the SGC were visited by Priors soon after the Ori were made aware of humanity in the Milky Way. One of these planets, P8X-412, was once one of the planets ruled by the Goa'uld Qetesh, and Vala was once host to this Goa'uld up until four years prior. Vala persuaded Mitchell to go to the planet to educate them on the Prior and the Ori. As it turned out, the Prior was the man who was once the Administrator in the village of Ver Ager. Armed with the knowledge and power of the Ori, he convinced the poor villagers of the planet to turn their devotion to the Ori. This encounter with the Prior became extremely personal between the Prior and Daniel. The Prior sickened the villagers with a plague similar to that which killed off the Ancients millions of years ago and then cured them en masse. The villagers announced their devotion to the Ori, and the Prior spared Daniel and his companions so that they would spread the word about what was done there. (9.05 "The Powers That Be")

Prior challenges Daniel on a personal level on P8X-412

The next Prior encountered by the SGC had already killed all of the Free Jaffa who were living on the planet Kallana. The Jaffa declared that they would never serve false gods again and asked him to go, but the Prior did not budge from his spot in front of the Stargate. When the Jaffa began to fire at him, he raised a personal shield, and the blasts of their staff weapons had no effect. With the orb glowing on his staff, he sent them through the air out of sight to their deaths. Afterwards, he began building up a force field around the Stargate. Additional Jaffa attempted to break through the force field with their staff weapons, but all this ended up doing was feeding energy to the force field to grow and making the atmosphere inside the field toxic. The Prior, however, was not affected by the atmosphere because of his personal shield. Eventually, the SGC sent SG-1 to set up a Mark IX "Gatebuster" naquadria-enhanced nuclear weapon, the largest built by mankind of Earth. Even after offering the Prior a thirty-minute period to stop the bomb from being detonated, he stood fast. Once the bomb was fully armed, SG-1 gave the Prior one last chance to leave, but he turned his back on them. (9.06 "Beachhead")

Prior on the planet Kallana

The Prior told Daniel that the Ori had promised ascension to him upon his death. Before the bomb went off, he placed his hand on the Stargate and was never seen again. The planet was collapsed into a singularity by the force field that he had been watching over so diligently. This singularity was meant to be the power source for a Super Stargate ("Supergate") that would have been used to form a large, intergalactic wormhole for spaceships to travel through. The Supergate was destroyed before the wormhole was formed, thus preventing the Ori's first invasion attempt. (9.06 "Beachhead")

In order to strengthen the new Free Jaffa Nation, Teal'c wanted to find the legendary Sodan Jaffa who had found their freedom 5,000 ago. He heard reports that they were living on the planet P9G-844, so SG-1 went there in search of them. The planet was formerly of the Ancients, so the Sodan used some of the technology left behind. Two pieces of technology, a personal cloaking device worn on the arm rendered them invisible and the other, called the Eye of the Gods, was a transporter that took travelers to a shielded area on the planet. The Sodan ambushed SG-1 and took Mitchell hostage. Mitchell was injured, so the Sodan nursed him back to health — only to have him participate in a ritual fight to the death because they believed he had killed one of their own. While Mitchell trained for the fight, he saw a Prior among the people. Feeling he had nothing to lose, he tried to persuade the leader of the Sodan, Lord Haikon, that the Ori were not gods, but Haikon had already accepted them because they promised the Path to Enlightenment. All these thousands of years, the Sodan had worshipped the Ancients as their gods, but never did the Ancients answer their prayers. The Ori offered everything they wanted freely. Mitchell managed to escape from the planet with the help of his trainer, Jolan, who helped fake his death. Jolan was one of the few Sodan who did not embrace the Ori. (9.08 "Babylon")

Prior on the Sodan's homeworld, P9G-844

This Prior traveled to other worlds through the Stargate. One of the planets he visited was P2X-885. The SGC sent SG-6 there to watch the Prior and to attempt to keep the impoverished people from turning to the Ori. Because they were undercover as peasants, they had to participate in the services held by the Prior. The Prior knew that the men of the team were not natives to that planet, so when he touched Lt. Fisher, he infected him with the Prior Plague, a rapidly-mutating virus. Lt. Fisher himself didn't come down with symptoms, but was meant to be patient zero and carry the virus into the public. He did just that, and thousands of people on Earth were infected merely through minimal contact. With knowledge of how advanced humans' brains work through the study of Khalek, a human-Goa'uld hybrid created by Anubis with the goal to ascend through genetic manipulation, the SGC developed an Anti-Prior Device that emitted a frequency that would prevent the Prior from using his advanced mental powers. The Device was successfully used on the Prior when he returned to the Sodan homeworld to check on their progress as instruments of his destruction of populations who refused the Ori. (9.09 "Prototype", 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")

The Sodan had to witness for themselves the destruction of other worlds before they realized how very false the promises of the Ori were. They helped Mitchell and Daniel entrap the Prior to obtain a blood sample that could be used toward finding a cure to the Plague. The Anti-Prior Device worked temporarily, but long enough for the Prior to be rendered impotent and for a blood sample to be obtained. (9.11 "The Fourth Horseman Part 2")

While the Prior was being held on the Sodan's planet, he was visited by Orlin who had retaken human form yet again to help the SGC develop a cure to the Plague. Orlin interrogated the Prior and revealed to him that while he was an Ascended Being, he was able to read the Prior's mind, making the Prior's personal history as an open book. Orlin recalled that the Prior had a name and a family that he had left to serve the Ori in this far away galaxy. This was the first time that any of the Priors were referred to by name, an indication that when they embarked on their mission to the Milky Way, they had forfeited their own individual identities. This Prior was Damaris, married to Adina and father of sons Jaden and Allon. The Prior stood his ground, quoting scripture and then telling them of the Ori's intent — after gaining enough power through the worship of all those in the Milky Way, the Ori intended to destroy the Ascended Altera. The Prior managed to regain use of some of his powers and attacked Gen. Landry, but was killed by Mitchell who fired upon him with his handgun from behind. (9.11 "The Fourth Horseman Part 2")

During all of these events happening on P9G-844, another Prior was doing his work on Dakara. The Administrator-turned-Prior had been assigned to work with Gerak, leader of the Free Jaffa. If the Free Jaffa turned to the Ori, they would be a tremendous instrument for spreading the word of Origin through force. The Prior tested Gerak's devotion by asking him to wipe out rebels who had assembled on Chulak, led by Bra'tac and Teal'c. Gerak was torn, for he did not wish to kill his own. He hoped to give them more time to turn to Origin. The Prior took a gamble that Gerak would do the Ori's bidding by linking their consciousnesses to the City of the Gods in the Ori's galaxy through his staff. Gerak was converted to a Prior through this link. (9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")

Gerak becomes a Prior

Gerak wanted to force the Free Jaffa to worship the Ori as a nation-wide religion. Using his position of power, he began to assemble his fleet to destroy the rebels. Teal'c asked for a meeting with Gerak before they started hostilities. Gerak accepted and met Teal'c at a memorial on Chulak. This memorial was for those who died in the battle of Tazek'sur. Gerak's father died in that battle where the Goa'uld killed their Jaffa for questioning their godhood. Gerak was moved by Teal'c's words and agreed to turn against the Ori, knowing that in doing so, he'd die, but, in the end, he wished to die as a Free Jaffa. He went with Teal'c to the SGC and cured all of those who had been stricken with the Prior Plague and then his body was consumed by fire that was most likely a kill switch embedded into all Priors who turned from Origin. Gerak's last words were, "I die free." His curing those in the SGC gave the last piece in the puzzle to create a cure to the Plague. (9.11 "The Fourth Horseman Part 2")

Gerak perishes free

Although not seen, a Prior visited Tegalus, the home of the warring Rand Protectorate and Caledonian Federation that SG-1 had met about a year ago (8.05 "Icon"). This Prior sent the Prior Plague to the Rand Protectorate to weed out those who would not turn to the Ori. Then, he gave Rand the plans to build a satellite weapon that they could use on the Caledonians. The Prior was needed to activate the finished weapon, but the Rand government could operate it at will through radio transmissions thereafter. They destroyed a Caledonian military base and then gave the Caledonians an ultimatum. Jared Kane, Daniel's friend, went to the SGC for help in destroying the weapon, so the SGC sent the Prometheus. Unfortunately, Kane could only bring early-stage drawings of the satellite, and the SGC underestimated the weapon's power. The Prometheus was destroyed, and eventually, both sides destroyed each other, and the Stargate was buried in the rubble. (9.15 "Ethon")

The Priors continued to do their work. One of them happened to meet Volnek of the Sodan on another planet while Volnek was conducting trades for goods for his people. The Prior told him that a "great ill" would befall the Sodan for their "unforgivable treason" against the Ori. He used his staff on Volnek, although Volnek didn't realize it at the time what had happened to him. Upon returning to his home village, he told his people about the encounter and then went about his daily life. But, soon Volnek grew ill and became a madman. He was tied down and treated by their best doctors, but Volnek broke free and went on a murderous rampage. Volnek had become a zombie, much like Chalo had become after his dead body was exposed to the power of the Telchak Device (7.12 "Evolution Part 2"). Volnek wiped out everyone in his village, including the women and children, except for Lord Haikon who survived only because Teal'c and SG-12 answered their distress call through the Stargate. (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle")

The Prior who curses Volnek

Priors still operated in the Ori's home galaxy. They led their people to build great warships and armies, destined to invade the Milky Way Galaxy. One such Prior was from the village Ver Isca. It was to this village that Vala's ring transporter matter stream had been sent when she destroyed the Ori's first attempt to create a Supergate at the Kallana Singularity (9.06 "Beachhead"). Vala was mysteriously pregnant, so she tricked a villager into marrying her to explain her condition. This man, Tomin, had been crippled since childhood, and the Prior cured him of his limp so that he could join in the crusade. The Prior also told Tomin that the child was not his, but was the will of the Ori. Tomin became an even more fervent follower and demonstrated his willingness to kill other people by executing two of Vala's friends who were revealed to be heretics who were helping her contact the SGC to warn them of the impending invasion. Tomin would have killed Vala, but she convinced him she was innocent of any wrongdoing and regained his trust. The Prior of Ver Isca was also one of several Priors who activated the warships, four of which successfully made it to the Milky Way through a newly-constructed Supergate. Vala joined Tomin on his ship so that she could get home, but was helpless as she witnessed the destruction of the ships of Earth, the Asgard, the Free Jaffa, and the Lucian Alliance, all of which were overwhelmed in varying degree by the Ori warships' superior size and weaponry. (9.19 "Crusade Part 1", 9.20 "Camelot Part 2")

Prior of Ver Isca

The Prior of Ver Isca was the leader of the warriors on the same Ori warship on which Vala and Tomin lived. He was present soon after Vala delivered her baby girl and announced that the child was the leader of the armies and all who embraced the Ori, calling her the Orici. Vala named her daughter Adria, after her "witch of a woman" step-mother, and realized that the child was the embodiment of pure evil and the Ori's weapon in the Milky Way. Vala and Daniel, who had ringed onto the ship from the doomed Korolev, conspired to kidnap Adria and attempt to use her in the war against the Ori, but their plans were thwarted by Tomin and the Prior. The Prior placed a wall of fire in their way to prevent their escape. He was able to walk through the flames unharmed, however, and quickly disabled Daniel's Ori warrior weapon and 9mm handgun. As he prepared to use his orbed staff against them, the Odyssey beamed them to safety after the warship landed on Chulak. (10.01 "Flesh And Blood Part 3")

The Orici's plans to convert the Milky Way were in full force and several planets fell easily to her army's superior weaponry and numbers, as well as to her tremendous mental powers. While she was visiting one of her newly-converted planets, the Free Jaffa used the weapon on Dakara to send a devastating energy wave through the planet's Stargate and succeeded in wiping out all of the people on the planet, including the Priors and Ori warriors. Only Adria survived the deadly wave, protected by a personal shield generated by a pendant she claimed contained a piece of Celestis. When SG-1 boarded the Ori's warship that was parked unmanned and unguarded on the planet, they discovered that the ship was normally piloted by a Prior and determined that the technology was geared to answer to a Prior's commands and unique physiology. The Prior piloting the ship would use a chair similar to the control chair the Ancients left in the Antarctic Outpost. (10.07 "Counterstrike")

Adria, Orici of the Ori

Prior killed by weapon on Dakara's energy wave

SG-1 also discovered that more than one Prior worked on the Ori warship. The presence of these Priors was marked by the heaps of their trademark robes — only the organic matter of the people was broken down by the wave. One Prior was killed outside as he stood before the crowd, while another died as he stood next to the control chair on the bridge of the ship. The actual number of Priors who served on each ship, however, was never stated outright. The Orici herself traveled from one ship to another, basically going where her leadership and guidance were needed the most. (10.07 "Counterstrike")

After discovering that the formerly-Ascended Merlin had developed a device that could eliminate Ascended Beings, SG-1 began a quest spanning several worlds. Bit by bit, they uncovered clues as to the hiding place of this device, called the "Sangreal", or the "Holy Grail" of Arthurian legends. Based on the information they uncovered on Earth, Camelot, Vagonbrei, and Atlantis, and inspiration from one of Vala's dreams, they finally arrived to a planet that they believed was where the Sangreal was hidden by the Ascended Being Morgan Le Fay after she took the device from Merlin in order to prevent his using it. Because this device was believed to affect all Ascended Beings, it had become the object of searches of others besides those of the SGC, including former Goa'uld System Lord Ba'al and Adria herself: Adria wished to use the device against the Ancients; Ba'al, to destroy both the Ancients and the Ori in order to conquer the galaxy; and the SGC, to destroy the Ori in order to save the galaxy. (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle", 9.20 "Camelot Part 2", 10.02 "Morpheus", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project", 10.04 "Insiders", 10.05 "Uninvited", 10.10 "The Quest Part 1", 10.11 "The Quest Part 2", 10.14 "The Shroud")

Realizing that Le Fay had put in place a way to neutralize her Ori-given powers on the planet believed to be where the device was hidden, Adria gave the inspiration to Vala in order to get SG-1 to the planet to aid in her search. After SG-1's arrival, Adria staged an invasion of the village and burned all of the books and parchments stored in the archives, including the Parchment of Virtues and a map Le Fay had left for those who sought the Sangreal. The Prior who had been in Ver Isca and had announced Adria's birth on the Ori warship was present on the planet to spread Origin with an army to back up his words. (10.10 "The Quest Part 1")

Prior of Ver Isca converts villagers on Le Fay's planet

The villagers were subdued, and Adria coerced the help of SG-1 and Ba'al in passing through the tests leading to the Sangreal. Adria, knowing that someone such as herself was deemed by Le Fay as unworthy of obtaining the Sangreal, believed that someone who had been ascended was the only one who possessed the truth of spirit needed to obtain it. She determined that the formerly-Ascended person she needed was Daniel Jackson, and everything she had done to lead SG-1 to the planet was to get him there. Daniel discovered that she was powerless, only her defensive shield operated, and refused to help her any further, but SG-1, Adria, and Ba'al were all threatened equally by one final obstacle — a fire-breathing dragon. (10.10 "The Quest Part 1")

After being chased by the dragon and failing to disengage it with the use of P-90s and C-4, the team decided that they had to figure out its name as was stated in the Parchment of Virtues. Daniel concluded that the name was not that of the dragon, but of the one who had set up all of the clues and challenges — Morgan Le Fay. Once he spoke her Ancient name, "Ganos Lal", the dragon disappeared. Returning to the cave, the team triggered a transporter that left Adria behind as they were sent to another planet where Merlin himself was kept in stasis. The Prior witnessed the Stargate activate on its own and then quickly turn off. Adria told a group of her soldiers to go with her to the Stargate so that she could examine the DHD, and when she was about to turn to leave, the Prior asked what to do with the village. Adria instructed him to burn it because they had refused Origin. Afterwards, the Prior accompanied Adria and her soldiers as they chased SG-1 from planet to planet as the team was transported within a private network of Stargates. The Prior did not, however, go through the Stargate with the soldiers once their prey had been located. (10.11 "The Quest Part 2")

All of the soldiers who went through the Stargate to the planet on which Adria finally caught up with the team were killed. Mitchell, Carter, Teal'c, and Vala escaped from the planet, but Daniel was left behind with a partially-completed Sangreal that he had started to build using Merlin's knowledge from a download. Daniel also gained advanced human powers that he used against Adria so that his team could escape. Daniel, however, chose to stay with the weapon, knowing that he would be captured. (10.11 "The Quest Part 2")

The Administrator/Prior was next seen by SG-1 on the planet P9C-882 where he demanded that the people build a sacrificial altar to show their devotion to the Ori. He gave them three days to complete the task, but in the meantime, the planet was visited by SG-3 and later SG-1. SG-1 brought with them Merlin's interdimensional device, Arthur's Mantle, powered by three naquadah reactors, proposing that they save the people by shifting the entire village into an alternate dimension. The device worked for a brief while on all of the village, but a power flow problem caused it to turn off after two days. Carter and Mitchell managed to get the device working once again, but only on the building they were occupying. The Prior attempted to sense their presence, standing in the vacant space of the building and only a few feet away from Carter and Mitchell, but he wasn't able to detect them. He demanded they reveal themselves or he'd destroy the village. Not wishing for the technology to fall into the Ori's hands, Carter and Mitchell found a solution to the power problem and succeeded at shifting the village into an alternate dimension at the same time that the Prior fired the Ori warship's weapon from orbit. He left the planet thinking that the village had been destroyed. (10.12 "Line In The Sand")

Prior tortures Teal'c on P9C-882

Prior fails to sense Mitchell in an alternate dimension

Prior destroys village with warship's weapon

While visiting P9C-882, the Prior's interpretation of a passage in the Book of Origin was questioned by Tomin, Vala's husband from Ver Isca. He was the commander of the ground troops sent to the planet. Tomin ordered the execution of all of the villagers who had used weapons against them upon their return and had Vala taken to the warship in orbit. Vala's daughter, Adria the Orici, had a standing order to have Vala captured and instructed in Origin. Tomin was given the task of teaching her scripture and converting her. He read a passage in the Book that taught forgiveness and acceptance of those who had turned from the Ori. The Prior used the same passage to justify the destruction of the village, and Tomin challenged this interpretation. When he failed to change the Prior's mind about destroying the village, Tomin helped Vala escape the ship and returned her to the planet before the warship left orbit. (10.12 "Line in the Sand")

While SG-1 was experiencing their encounter with the Administrator/Prior on P9C-882, Daniel was being seduced by Adria onboard her warship. Adria didn't know that Daniel had Merlin's consciousness, however, and that Merlin was just as present in Daniel as Daniel himself was. Merlin and Daniel used this to their advantage to trick Adria into trusting Daniel, thinking that all of the time she spent with him talking about Origin had turned him into a believer. She turned Daniel into a Prior as a reward for his devotion to both her and to the Ori, and he promised to complete Merlin's Weapon for her to use against the Ancients, as well as to help her to convert Earth and Vala. (10.14 "The Shroud")

Merlin protects Daniel as Adria turns him into a Prior

Daniel as a Prior of the Ori

Daniel as a Prior pilots the Ori warship carrying Merlin's activated weapon

Merlin and Daniel agreed that if Daniel was converted into a Prior, he'd be above suspicion and able to interact with the warship's systems to pilot it through the Supergate to the Ori's home galaxy where the completed weapon would detonate. One of the problems with this plan was that they needed SG-1 to disconnect the wormhole that was blocking the Supergate (established in 10.03 "The Pegasus Project"). Daniel went to a planet where he knew SG-1 would be in order to be captured by them. While he was on the planet, however, he had to preach Origin to the villagers as part of his disguise. Daniel compromised by teaching only the positive and uplifting aspects of the religion, but even so, was still distressed that it took the team longer to beam him away than he had wished. (10.14 "The Shroud")

As a Prior, Daniel was not trusted by his friends. They turned on the Anti-Prior Device against him and strapped him to a chair on the Odyssey. Eventually, he was forced to give them the details of his plan so that they could complete the mission instead of his acting on his own with their help. His presence was still needed, however, because Adria noticed his absence (he was away a lot longer than he anticipated because the team kept him captive) and figured out his plan to detonate the weapon through the Supergate. Daniel and Merlin overcame the Anti-Prior Device and took Jack and the crewless Odyssey to the Supergate. Jack was needed to give the command to the Daedalus in the Pegasus Galaxy to shut down the wormhole so that Daniel could dial the Supergate to send the warship through. Daniel's powers as a Prior were enhanced by Merlin's advanced human traits, and he was able to subdue Adria after she captured SG-1 who had just completed assembling the weapon. Not having much more time before Merlin's consciousness left him and returned his body to its state before the download, Daniel used his Prior powers to dial the Supergate and set the warship on its path through the wormhole. Jack beamed Daniel and the rest of the team back onto the Odyssey before the warship started through the wormhole. The weapon was on a five-minute timer, but they didn't know immediately if it had worked once it went to the Ori's home galaxy, with an unconscious Adria still onboard the warship with it. (10.14 "The Shroud")

The Ori's wall of fire, the Flames of Enlightenment, went out when Merlin's weapon detonated, but the Doci and the Priors in their home galaxy didn't realize that the Ori were truly gone. They took the event as a sign that the Ori were not pleased with their efforts in the crusade and wished the people to do more. Not long after the Flames died out, Adria replaced them when she herself ascended. She gained all of the power that the Ori once had for herself alone. (10.19 "Dominion", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)

Adria as the new Flames of Enlightenment

SG-1 learned of the existence of an Alteran (Ancient) device known as the Ark of Truth. This device was built by an Alteran before they left their home galaxy due to Ori oppression and before any of them ascended. It was a sophisticated brain-washing device that would inform anyone exposed to its light that the Ori were not gods. The team's search took them to Dakara, the planet first settled by the Ancients upon their arrival to the Milky Way millions of years ago. No sooner had they found an Ancient chest fitting the Ark's description than they were attacked by Ori fighters and soldiers, led by none other than Vala's husband Tomin. Tomin promised that they would not be harmed if they surrendered peacefully. The group was soon joined by the Administrator/Prior who wished to open the chest to see what was so special about it, since Daniel claimed it meant the Ori army's defeat. The Prior commanded the soldiers to blast the chest open. To SG-1's dismay, the chest contained old parchments and was not a sophisticated piece of Ancient technology. The Prior commanded that Tomin and his soldiers kill SG-1, but Tomin objected because he had made a promise. As the Prior and Tomin struggled over the control of Tomin's staff weapon, Mitchell wrestled a staff weapon from a nearby Ori soldier and fired it against the Prior, killing him instantly. Shocked that the Prior could be subdued by the Anti-Prior Device and killed, Tomin and his men surrendered to SG-1.

Administrator/Prior killed with a single blast from an Ori staff weapon

Not long after this incident, the Prior of Ver Isca contacted Stargate Command through SG-3 so that he could negotiate an agreement to spread Origin on Earth. The alternative was the complete destruction of the planet by seven Ori warships that were awaiting the Prior's command. The Prior knew about the Anti-Prior Device and that his fellow Prior had been killed on Dakara. As soon as he was brought on base, the Prior's orbed staff was taken from him, and he was detained in a room where his powers were also subdued.

Prior of Ver Isca talks with General Landry at Stargate Command

While Landry and the Prior had their talk, SG-1 took the Asgard-enhanced Odyssey to the Ori home galaxy in the search for the real Ark of Truth. Mitchell and Carter remained on the Odyssey, while Daniel, Vala, Teal'c, and Tomin searched for the artifact in the ruins of the Alteran settlement on Celestis. They found it buried in a subterranean chamber. As soon as they brought the device up to the surface, they were attacked by Ori soldiers. Teal'c was gravely injured and left for dead while the others and the Ark were taken to the City of the Gods on the nearby plains. The three humans were tortured by the Doci and Priors who were all linked together through their orbed staffs. The Ark was set before Adria's Flames. (10.20 "Unending", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)

With the help of the Ascended Ancient Morgan Le Fay, Teal'c and the others were reunited and found the Ark, which they activated against the Doci. Through his link with the other Priors, all were enlightened about the Ori and Adria. They withdrew their worship, and her power was weakened enough for Morgan to engage her in a struggle, presumably eternal, in the ascended planes. With the Doci's and Priors' conversion and Adria's defeat, the Ori's home galaxy was saved from Ori oppression, but the Ark only worked in the scope of a single galaxy because the subspace link that the Priors used was limited. The Ark had to be taken to Stargate Command and used against a Prior in the Milky Way for the Ori's crusade to truly be over. They exposed the Prior who was detained at Stargate Command to the Ark, and he transmitted the message to the other Priors through his orbed staff that had been returned to him. (Stargate: The Ark of Truth)

Doci enlightened by the Ark of Truth in the Ori home galaxy

Prior of Ver Isca enlightened by the Ark of Truth in the Milky Way

With the activation of the Ark against the Doci and Priors in both galaxies, the Ori's crusade ended. If the Doci's reaction to his enlightenment was the norm, then the Priors were left with feelings of great guilt for what they had done in the name of the Ori and asked with great humility that they be shown mercy. It should be noted that the Priors did not lose all of their powers and were still able to operate their warships without the Ori. Tomin returned to his people to help guide them into a new era without the Ori, so it is possible that the Priors did the same and took their warships full of humans back to their home galaxy. Even though Daniel argued for the Ark's destruction, the device was taken to Area 51 for study. (Stargate: The Ark of Truth)

Powers and Methods

Priors were advanced humans who had extraordinary mental powers, including telekinesis and telepathy. If the powers demonstrated by Khalek and Ancients were used as a guide, they also had advanced healing capabilities (to heal themselves or someone else).

Orbed Staff

The Priors operated their orbed staffs with their impressive mental powers. The blue orb on the staff glowed when activated and appeared to amplify the Prior's powers. Priors used the staff to:

resurrect someone from the dead (9.02 "Avalon Part 2", 9.05 "The Powers That Be")
light fires (9.03 "Origin Part 3", 10.01 "Flesh And Blood Part 3")
set themselves on fire (9.03 "Origin Part 3")
kill someone through suffocation (9.03 "Origin Part 3")
control Ancient technology (9.03 "Origin Part 3")
cause earthquakes (9.08 "Babylon")
cure people of the Prior Plague (9.05 "The Powers That Be", 9.11 "The Fourth Horseman Part 2")
levitate or propel people and objects (this power was also demonstrated on a smaller scale without an activated staff) (9.03 "Origin Part 2", 9.06 "Beachhead", 9.11 "The Fourth Horseman Part 2")
transport a person's consciousness to the Ori home galaxy (9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")
curse someone into becoming a zombie (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle")
control Ori technology, including piloting the warships (9.15 "Ethon", 9.19 "Crusade Part 1", 10.07 "Counterstrike")
communicate with other Priors through a subspace link (Stargate: The Ark of Truth)

Modus Operandi

Priors used various approaches to gain the people's loyalty. The most popular method was through the working of miracles. For those people who were impoverished after the fall of the Goa'uld, such demonstrations were often all that was necessary to be converted. The Priors were also quite convincing speakers who knew how to sway those who were unfamiliar with advanced technology or those who were already seeking the Path to Enlightenment. (9.03 "Origin Part 3", 9.05 "The Powers That Be", 9.06 "Babylon", 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")

If, however, miracles and words and the promise of ascension were not enough, then pain and suffering were inflicted. The Priors infected people with the Prior Plague and then offered the cure if the people would turn. This convinced many people and was one of the most successful methods until the SGC developed a cure for the Plague. (9.05 "The Powers That Be", 9.11 "The Fourth Horseman Part 2")

Priors began sending the Prior Bugs to places that had the Plague cure already available. These bugs consumed vegetation, but when that was gone, they'd convert into carnivores and use people as their food source. (9.17 "The Scourge")

The Prior Bugs were most likely sent to planets where the people were emphatically against surrendering to the Ori. Some populations, such as that of Sartorus, were destroyed by earthquakes (9.08 "Babylon"). The Priors also sent armies of their converts to destroy those refusing the Ori (9.11 "The Fourth Horseman Part 2"). In some cases, a planet, such as Kallana, was wiped out when it was collapsed into a micro-singularity to power a Supergate (9.06 "Beachhead", 9.20 "Camelot Part 2").

Priors also related the technical plans to build advanced weapons and ships to people who were not technologically advanced to build them on their own. One such weapon, a satellite, was used by one country against another as a means of forcing conversion to Origin (9.15 "Ethon"). The Priors also assisted in the building and activation of the massive warships sent to invade the Milky Way (9.19 "Crusade Part 1", 9.20 "Camelot Part 2").

Priors were the leaders of the groups of warriors trained in the Ori's home galaxy and sent to the Milky Way in the warships. Additionally, only the Orici or the Priors were meant to pilot these warships, interfacing with the technology through mental control and their genetic code. (9.19 "Crusade Part 1", 10.01 "Flesh and Blood Part 3", 10.07 "Counterstrike")

Notable Characters

Administrator - He was a human who was advanced in his evolution by the Ori to become a Prior. Daniel and Vala both met the Administrator in the village Ver Ager while psychically linked with the bodies of Harrid and Sallis. This Prior singled out Daniel as a personal adversary of the Ori, but was finally killed by Mitchell on Dakara.
Doci - He was the leader of the Priors, most probably having been one himself. He permitted his body to be used by an Ori entity to communicate. The Doci was the one who also commissioned the building of spaceships to send armies to the Milky Way to spread Origin. Daniel spoke directly to the Doci and then to the Ori who had taken possession of the Doci's body. It was through the Doci's exposure to the Alteran device, the Ark of Truth, that the entire population of Priors in the Ori's home galaxy were enlightened to the false godhood of the Ori.
Gerak - As the leader of the Free Jaffa Nation, Gerak was a prime candidate for conversion to Origin. In his position of power, the Priors could gain several worshippers and have a military presence. But, after his conversion into a Prior, Gerak understood that what the Priors were asking him and others to do was wrong, so he turned against them. He helped the SGC develop a cure against the Prior Plague, but died as a result.
Adria - She was the daughter of Vala Mal Doran and the Ori themselves and was programmed by the Ori with as much ascended knowledge as a human brain could hold, as well as given extensive mental powers that most likely surpassed those of the Priors. She was the leader of the Ori's crusade in the Milky Way, but once she ascended, the became the sole Ori in existence. The Ascended Ancient Morgan Le Fay stopped Adria's vie for galactic domination of two galaxies by engaging her in an eternal struggle in the ascended planes.
Daniel Jackson/Merlin - With Merlin's consciousness, Daniel was converted into a Prior as a way for him to gain Adria's trust and to complete Merlin's Anti-Ascended Weapon. They promised to complete the weapon for her to use agains the Ancients, but in actuality, they were planning on stealing the warship with the completed weapon and piloting it through the Supergate to the Ori's home galaxy where the weapon would detonate. With Jack's and SG-1's help, the plan was realized and successful, but that the Ori were defeated wasn't known immediately. At the time that Daniel downloaded Merlin's consciousness, Merlin programmed Daniel's body to return to its original form after a certain time because it would have been detrimental for him to harbor two complete consciousnesses for an extended period.

Alliances

Ori - The Ori were Ascended Beings who claimed to be the creators of humanity and demanded that they be worshipped. Anyone who rejected them were destroyed. The Ori did not know of humanity's existence in the Milky Way because the Ascended Ancients kept it from them. But once the Ori knew, they decided to send their missionaries and armies in spaceships to spread the word of Origin or destroy those who rejected them. The Ori were defeated through the use of Merlin's anti-Ascended weapon known as the Sangreal and through the sacrifice of the Ascended Ancient Morgan Le Fay who engaged the last Ori, Adria, in an eternal struggle in the ascended planes.

Enemies

Ascended Ancients - The Ancients who left their home galaxy several million years ago were called the Altera. They established the Milky Way as a new home and built their Stargates. After they ascended, they came to be known as the Ancients and The Others. They kept the second evolution of humanity in the Milky Way a secret from the Ori because they believed that humanity must evolve naturally in order to ascend, whereas the Ori believed that as creators of humanity they had every right to show humans the Path to Enlightenment and share the knowledge of the universe; all the Ori asked in return was to be worshipped as gods.
SGC - Members of Stargate Command (SGC) realized personally the threat that the Ori and their representative posed. It became part of their mission to educate the many humans who were once slaves to the Goa'uld on the doctrine of "Origin" and the pitfalls following this religion brought.
Free Jaffa Nation - The Jaffa have long believed in the Path to Enlightenment and have held Kheb as sacred ground. Already throwing off the yoke of slavery to the Goa'uld, most were aware of the threat the Ori posed. As a nation, the Free Jaffa possessed many ha'tak that were used in battle against Ori invasion forces, but there were some factions of the Jaffa who embraced the Ori.
Asgard - The Asgard were the SGC's most technologically advanced allies and had come to the SGC's aid on several occasions in the fight against the Ori. They kept in touch with the SGC when it came to analyzing Ancient technology and sent their ships to help defend the galaxy. Unfortunately, the Asgard were a dying race, but before they all went extinct, they gifted Stargate Command with their Computer Core and installed plasma energy weapons on the Odyssey, making the ship capable of effectively destroying the Ori's massive warshps.
Tok'ra - The Tok'ra used their galactic network of operatives to search the galaxy for any Ori incursions.
Lucian Alliance - The Lucian Alliance had several ha'tak and other Goa'uld vessels spread all over the galaxy. They, too, sent some of their ships to fight against the Ori's massive warships. The Alliance lost much of their territory to the Ori, and eventually fell when their leader Netan was assassinated.