Karl Agathon

Karl Agathon
[[Image:File:Bsg-helo-1.jpg|200px|Karl Agathon]]
Name	{{{name}}}
Age	Late 20s
Colony	Unspecified
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	Karl C. Agathon
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign	Helo
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	[[{{{seen}}}]]
Death
Parents	Unknown
Siblings	Unknown
Children	1 (Human-Cylon hybrid)
Marital Status	Single
Family Tree	View
Role	Raptor ECO, Raptor 478, assigned to Battlestar Galactica (previously)
Rank	Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
Portrayed by	Tahmoh Penikett
Karl Agathon is a Cylon
Karl Agathon is a Final Five Cylon
Karl Agathon is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Karl Agathon is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Karl Agathon]]

Karl C. "Helo" Agathon was the ECO aboard Raptor 478, piloted by Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii. He is in his mid-twenties, loyal, capable, resourceful and attracted to Valerii.

Biography

At the time of the Cylon Attack, Agathon and Valerii were on patrol with the Galactica's last fully-operational Viper squadron, and witnessed the destruction of the squadron by Cylon Raiders, after the latter had used the Command Navigation Program (CNP) to disable the Vipers.

Following the attack, Agathon and Valerii attempted to return to Galactica, avoiding Cylon patrols, but were unsuccessful: their Raptor was damaged during a Cylon missile strike, and Helo received a wound in his leg. As a result of the damage received, the Raptor was forced down on Caprica, where Valerii made emergency repairs, and the ship was mobbed by civilians desperate to get off the planet.

With limited space for survivors aboard the Raptor, Agathon volunteered his seat to Dr. Gaius Baltar and remained on Caprica in the hope that Baltar would be of benefit to the Colonials in their renewed fight against the Cylons.

After Boomer's departure, Helo apparently separated from the surviving refugees and fled from the Cylon ground forces. After six days on Caprica, surviving on anti-radiation medications from his survival pack, he was captured after noticing a version of the Cylon called Number Six.

He was then "rescued" by a copy of Sharon Valerii/Boomer, as part of an elaborate (if potentially hastily-conceived) plan / experiment designed to make Valerii the object of Agathon's affections. Several situations are engineered to make this happen:

• A "honey trap" offering reasonably-secure accommodation (a "fall-out shelter") together with sufficient supplies for two people beneath a restaurant (Act of Contrition)
• Engineering Valerii's capture to test Helo's loyalty towards her (You Can't Go Home Again / Litmus)
• Establishing a further (long-term) "honey trap" for Helo and Valerii in the wilderness of Caprica.

However, the Cylon plan goes awry when Valerii appears to fall in love with Agathon, and she forces them both on the run once more, this time genuinely seeking to escape from Caprica via the military base at Delphi, now under Cylon control.

During their attempts to reach Delphi, Agathon witnesses a troop of Cylon Centurions being lead by Number Six - the woman he thought he had killed when Valerii rescued him. This draws him to the conclusion that the Cylons are using human clones they have created (Colonial Day). Once at Delphi, Agathon receives another shock: not only are further versions of Six on-hand - he also comes face-to-face with another Valerii, thus revealing the truth about "Boomer" to him. Believing he has been lured into a trap, Agathon goes on the run, leaving Valerii at the base.

Valerii later caught up with Helo, and he shot her in the arm but did not kill her, because she might be of use to him in escaping the planet. Caprica-Boomer then informed Helo that she was pregnant with his child, and that they should go to the Delphi museum. There, Agathon was reunited with Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (who just arrived from the Galactica using a stolen Cylon Raider) immediately after she had killed a copy of Number Six and retrieved the Arrow of Apollo. Thrace tried to kill "Sharon the Cylon" but Agathon stopped her because she was pregnant with his child. (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II, Scattered).

Helo and Starbuck in her apartment in Delphi, Caprica in Valley of Darkness. (C. SciFi Channel)

Valerii then ran away out of fear of Thrace, taking her Cylon Raider. Fearing that Number Six would finish transferring her consciousness to a new body, and thus be able to warn the Cylons about the humans' presence in Delphi, Agathon and Thrace made their way to Thrace's old apartment. (Scattered, Valley of Darkness) Later, Thrace and Agathon joined up with the human resistance on Caprica. (Resistance)

Agathon, Anders and others would later rescue Thrace from the Cylons' "hospital". Caprica-Boomer returns to aid Helo in locating the missing Thrace, and later saves the day by gunning down several Centurions in a stolen Heavy Raider. Helo, Thrace, Caprica-Boomer, and a handful of resistance members leave Caprica en route to the fleet. (The Farm) The group land on the Astral Queen, which has broken off from the rest of the fleet (Home). When Lee Adama grabs the new copy of Valerii and threatens to shoot her, Helo raises his gun at Lee's head in response. They are calmed by Roslin, who then orders Valerii out of an airlock. Valerii convinces Roslin of her usefulness before this happens, and later accompanies Helo and others to Kobol to find the Tomb of Athena.

Notes

Name

The new Battlestar Galactica plays heavily on Greek mythology / history (the Olympian Gods, use of names such as Delphi, etc.). Therefore it might be interesting to note that "Agathon" may be derived from Agathos Daemon - meaning good spirit, one of the group of spirits (daemons) that lie between the gods and mortals. Also, the name Helo bears some similarity to Helios/Helius, the greek god of the sun. Helo is also slang for helicopter, and the Raptor craft Helo and Boomer fly is fashioned after a US Army helicopter.

Character

Helo's full name (or even his fate) wasn't revealed until "33". He was initially intended as an expendable character; originally he was supposed to have actually died when the Raptor had to leave him behind on Caprica. Penikett's performance in the mini-series convinced TPTB otherwise.

Re-imagined Series definition: operating system on military and civilian ships exploited by the Cylons ^{(TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")}

Re-imagined Series definition: battlestar landing bay mechanism that arrests a landing Viper, Raptor or other small craft ^{(TRS: "Final Cut")}