(Battlestar Galactica 2004, Caprica and Blood & Chrome)
Ellen Tigh was the wife of Colonel Saul Tigh, a scientist and a member of the Final Five. According to Samuel T. Anders, she led the experiments that rediscovered the resurrection technology on Old Earth, around 2000 years ago before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Upon her arrival to the Cyrannus Star System, alongside the other four members of the Final Five, she is responsible for creating the humanoid Cylons that carried out the Cylon Holocaust.
William Adama believed that her marriage to Saul Tigh led him to his drinking problems and disliked the marriage. During Saul's absence, she had multiple sexual encounters within the Colonial Fleet. When New Caprica was occupied, she collaborated with the Cylons to save her husband and was killed by Saul after he discovered what she had done. She was ultimately resurrected on a Cylon Resurrection Ship, leading Ellen to be only one of the Final Five to fully regain her memories.
Biography
Final Five
Ellen was born on Earth and advanced her career as a scientist studying Resurrection, a defunct technology once used by their ancestors to enable the digital transfer of conscious minds into cloned bodies.[1] Two of the group were in contact with the Messengers, an alien species who knew the secrets of the technology and had warned them of a coming revolt by their sophisticated mechanical workforce which had achieved sentience. The five were successful in their endeavour, and had a ship put in orbit that would download their minds at the moment of death.[1]
Eventually, the day of the uprising came, and the machines gained possession of nuclear missiles and fired them at populated centres. Ellen's body was crushed by debris in her apartment building, and was found by Saul against the stairs. Tough he tried to drag her out, Saul was re-assured everything was OK. Moments later, another bomb went off on the coast, and the two were killed by blunt force trauma as a wave of water destroyed the building.[2]
The five were each successful in uploading their consciousnesses to the ship's server, and woke up on board their ship. With nowhere else to go, they plotted it on a course in search of the Twelve Tribes, having been warned by the Messengers of the inevitability that they would develop similar sentient machines.[1] As the ship they had was not capable of faster-than-light travel, they were limited to relativistic speeds. Because of time dilation, the five travelled two thousand years in what felt to them a fraction of the time.[1] During this journey, they stopped off at the Temple of Five on the algae planet, but otherwise they spent their free time using Holoband technology, through which they miraculously made contact with Zoe-A, a teenage girl who the Messengers also helped create Resurrection technology, but who lacked a physical body to download into.[3]
As the five approached Colonial space, they discovered they were too late, that the Twelve Tribes had settled in the Cyrannus Star System, had developed sentient machines dubbed "Cylons" and were deep into a mutually-genocidal conflict with them.[1] The five entered negotiations with the Cylons, who sought to evolve into biological organisms like themselves. In exchange for an armistice with the Colonials, the five designed eight Humanoid Cylon models. Unlike themselves, there would be millions of copies of the eight models, who's experiences would be shared by a cloud server. The first of the models, "One", was designed by Ellen herself, and was made to resemble her father. He was given the name "John Cavil". The One protoype assisted in the designing of the remaining seven, but developed malignant tendencies, coming to loath his creators for designing him what he felt was a limiting existence. He would soon kill the "Seven" prototype - Daniel - out of jealousy and sabotage cloning. Eventually, the One led an uprising against the five, gassing them.
Life in the Twelve Colonies
In the years after their deaths, the five were slowly released into the Cyrannus star system in new clone bodies, but had their memories suppressed to convince them they were humans, and their personalities may have been altered to fit this. Ellen herself would find Saul again while he served in the Colonial Fleet, and soon married. As the next twenty years went on, Ellen became increasingly frustrated at her husband's service. When he was with her, she was manipulative and drove his self-destructive tendencies. When he was not, she slept around to remove her frustrations.[4] Around 1998, Saul turned down a chance to retire in favour of service on board Galactica with his friend, Commander William Adama as his XO. Over the next two years they became estranged, though still shared a home together.[4]
On the day of Galactica's decommissioning ceremony, Ellen was either not invited or refused to attend, and instead spent her day drinking at a strip club on Picon. While there she was approached by a Number One who had taken on the role of a Priest. Though she did not know him, she continued to talk with him over his apparent proselytising over forgiveness. During their conversation, the city was hit by a 50 megaton thermonuclear warhead fired by a Basestar in orbit, and the club was destroyed.[5] Disgusted by her obstinacy on forgiveness, he saved her from the wreckage and helped her onto a Raptor, believing she would change her mind after suffering enough. The Raptor would take Ellen to Rising Star, which was being used as a makeshift hospital for refugees from the surface.[5] The ship was soon picked up by another Raptor crewed by a Number Eight called "Boomer" and made its way in a civilian fleet across the system until eventually joining with Galactica above Ragnar, and finally out of Cyrannus completely.[6] Throughout this and for the next week, the One kept by her bedside telling her about the rest of the five, but she was too weak to understand what he was talking about.[5]
Ellen finally recovered from her injuries several weeks after the attacks, and was met by Adama who wanted to confirm her identity before informing Saul. Her survival continued to be kept secret due to suspicions she may be a Humanoid Cylon posing as Ellen, and soon a blood sample was taken to undergo Cylon Detection screening. Adama was, however, unable to stop Ellen wanting to see her husband, and she was brought over to Galactica to be with him. During a Presidential dinner in her honour, Ellen became drunk and attempted to seduce Adama's son, Cpt. Leland Adama, and following this tried to drive conflict between Saul and the Commander by implying his visits had an ulterior motive.[4]
Ellen enjoys flirting with various men and working to enhance her and Saul's personal position. During the first Quorum of Twelve assembly, she shakes hands with terrorist-turned-politician Tom Zarek immediately after her husband refuses to. She explains this is to get their picture in the media. Later, she tells Zarek where to find an imprisoned agent he had sent to kill President Roslin; the agent soon ends up dead. It is suspected Ellen killed the would-be-assassin when Zarek tells Roslin he was not responsible for the agent's death. Ellen is promiscuous; according to Adama, she "slept with half the fleet while Saul was in space."
Ellen also acts as a Lady Macbeth type figure to her husband. When Adama was hospitalized after his attempted assassination, it is Ellen who convinces Saul to take control of the fleet and declare martial law. When Saul's brief reign comes to a disaster, Ellen scolds her husband heavily for not having the will to take control. Saul blames Ellen for manipulating him, though she counters by saying she did what she did for the both of them.
New Caprica
In the beginning of Season 3, in an attempt to gain information for the Human insurgency on New Caprica, as well as trying to secure the release of her husband, Ellen Tigh had several sexual encounters with a Cavil-model Cylon. This model also uses Colonel Tigh as leverage against her to gain information about the insurgency, leading to the Cylon ambush on Lieutenant Sharon Agathon's marine landing on New Caprica. Her treachery is revealed when a dead Cylon is found with directions to the landing site written in the hand of Samuel Anders, one of the Resistance leaders. Ellen had offered to burn these instructions, but instead swapped them with other papers.
While her husband knows she has done this out of love for him, he also knows any betrayal of the Resistance is punishable by death, and Anders warns other members of the Resistance will kill Ellen themselves if Saul does not. While holding her and telling her he loves her, he gives her a poisoned drink; she dies seconds later. In postings made to the Sci Fi Channel's message boards, Vernon has said Ellen knew her husband poisoned her drink and she would soon die.[7]
Resurrection
In "Sometimes a Great Notion", it is revealed Ellen is the twelfth Cylon and, like the other four of the Final Five, she had a life on Earth 2,000 years prior. Battlestar showrunner Ron Moore comments:
"[Ellen and Saul Tigh have] always been Cylons, and there’s something profound about that. They’re a married couple who just have to go at it periodically and just have major issues and major problems. But the bond between the two of them was something that literally could not be broken. And I thought that was a really interesting and ultimately very positive thing to say."[8]
In "No Exit" it is revealed Ellen Tigh and the other Final Five Cylons (Saul Tigh, Tory Foster, Samuel Anders, and Galen Tyrol) were working on Earth to recreate resurrection technology, which had been lost to the thirteenth tribe after they left Kobol and learned to sexually reproduce. After Earth was destroyed by their version of the Centurions, the Final Five were resurrected aboard a ship they had placed in orbit. Ellen and the other Final Five Cylons travelled to the remaining twelve colonies to warn them of the dangers of artificial intelligence, namely that they should treat their creations with respect. Without FTL drives, their journey to the colonies took several thousand years, although they experienced a minimal passage of time due to the relativistic nature of their travel.
When Ellen and the other Final Five Cylons reached the colonies, the Cylon War had already begun. To end the war with the humans, Ellen offered to build humanoid models for the Cylons and give them resurrection technology. Her first creation, Cavil, (whom she modelled after the image of her own father, John) became sadistic and believed Ellen favored a later model, Daniel, over him. Cavil poisoned the genetic code of the Daniel model, effectively ending his line, and killed the Final Five Cylons. Upon their resurrection, he blocked access to their original memories and placed them in the twelve colonies to witness firsthand the evils of humanity while thinking themselves to be human.
After she is killed for treason against the resistance on New Caprica, Ellen resurrects aboard a Cylon ship, where John Cavil holds her prisoner. However, by downloading into a new body, she regains the memories that Cavil had blocked decades earlier.[9] This newly regained knowledge and wisdom gained over many lifetimes at first seems to alter her personal character to one of greater magnanimity born of a wider view of the universe than that granted by a single lifetime as a human.
After the Resurrection Hub is destroyed, Cavil attempts to acquire Ellen's knowledge of resurrection technology. Ellen in the absence of the other four is unable to help Cavil, and rebukes his assertion the bodies she had designed for the humanoid Cylons were imperfect. Unlike Cavil who despises his human traits as weaknesses, Ellen argues humans, for all their imperfections, have something real and precious: Love, compassion, creativity, emotion.[10]
Ellen tries without success to convince him the events that had occurred after the destruction of the Twelve Colonies had been orchestrated by "the one true god". She also tells him she still loves him because she created him. Cavil decides to kill Ellen and recover the information from her brain, however, Ellen escapes with the help of Sharon "Boomer" Valerii. Once she is back on Galactica among humans in "Deadlock", it becomes clear that she is still a fallible person, as her jealousy over her husband's bond with William Adama leads her to give a deadlock-breaking vote in favor of the rebel Cylons and Final Five leaving the human fleet to go in their own direction. This forces Saul to declare his intention to stay on Galactica anyway and causes Caprica-Six to doubt his love for her, seemingly leading to the miscarriage of Saul and Six's unborn child Liam. Though initially furious to learn that Six was pregnant, as Ellen and Tigh tried for years unsuccessfully to have children, she is remorseful over the unintended consequences of her manipulation, and reveals she didn't really want to leave Galactica.
However, in "Someone to Watch Over Me," it is revealed that Cavil orchestrated her escape so that Boomer could abduct the hybrid child Hera and return with her to him. Later in the episode, Ellen observes that something has been manipulating everyone and everything that has so far occurred, which may demonstrate a greater awareness than demonstrated by any other character. She is later seen discussing with Tory Foster the mission to The Colony to rescue Hera, and volunteers the Final Five to go, much to Tory's dismay ("Daybreak, Part Ⅱ").
During the battle she, Tory, and Tyrol take care of Anders, who has become the Galactica's Hybrid, and Ellen stays by his side during everything. She is shocked to learn Tory murdered Cally, but both she and Tigh forgive Tyrol for killing her in revenge. She and Saul rekindle their relationship and decide to spend the rest of their lives together on humanity's new homeworld.
Gallery
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Battlestar Galactica, episode: "No Exit".
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Sometimes a Great Notion".
- ↑ Caprica Season 2.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Battlestar Galactica, episode: "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down".
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Battlestar Galactica, episode: "The Plan".
- ↑ Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries, episode: "Night, Part 2".
- ↑ Lorrie Lynch (2009-02-13). "Exclusive: Kate Vernon on her 'Battlestar' return tonight", USA Today. Retrieved on 2009-02-14.
- ↑ Jed Gottlieb (2009-01-30). "Vernon shines as ‘Battlestar’ Cylon", Boston Herald. Retrieved on 2009-01-30.
- ↑ Maureen Ryan (2009-02-15). "You asked, they answered: 'Battlestar Galactica' writers take on your 'No Exit' questions", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2009-02-15.
- ↑ Maureen Ryan (2009-02-14). "Battlestar Galactica, "No Exit": The areas of my Cylon expertise", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2009-02-14.
Final Five Cylon Models
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|---|---|
| Samuel Anders · Tory Foster · Ellen Tigh · Saul Tigh · Galen Tyrol | |