William Adama

William Adama
[[Image:File:Bsg-adama-1.jpg|200px|William Adama]]
Name	{{{name}}}
Age	61
Colony	Caprica
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	William Adama
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign	Husker
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	[[{{{seen}}}]]
Death
Parents	Evelyn Adama (mother), Joseph Adama (father)
Siblings
Children	Lee Adama (alive), Zak Adama (deceased)
Marital Status	Divorced (Caroline Adama)
Family Tree	View
Role	Commanding Officer, Battlestar Galactica
Rank	Commander
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
Portrayed by	Edward James Olmos
William Adama is a Cylon
William Adama is a Final Five Cylon
William Adama is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
William Adama is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|William Adama]]

Biographical Notes

Background

William Adama was born on Caprica to Evelyn and Joseph Adama. His mother was an accountant and his father, an attorney specialising in civil liberties (Litmus). They divorced while he was in his teens.

At the outbreak of the 1st Cylon War, Adama was serving in the Colonial military as a pilot. He allegedly gained the call sign of "Husker" on account of his baritone "gravelled" voice. He proved to be a gifted Viper pilot, shooting down his first Cylon on his very first mission. He racked-up his 1,000th deck landing while serving aboard the Battlestar Atlantia (Act of Contrition), when he held the rank of Lieutenant.

Following the Cylon armistice, William Adama married his long-term sweetheart, Caroline. It was Caroline's mother who used her connections in the Defensive Committee that returned Adama to active duty in the Colonial forces after an unexplained dismissal from the Fleet (presumably a post-war furlough), as explained in a flashback scene between Adama and his XO-to-be (Scattered). The Adamas had two sons together: Lee and Zak, before the pressures of Adama's career and the time he spent away from home of active service began to place a strain on their marriage. Nevertheless, this did not stop both Lee and Zak following their father into the service - both signing-up for training as Viper pilots.

Son's Death

During his training, Zak Adama became involved with his flight training officer, Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, to whom he became engaged shortly before taking his final qualifying flight (Act of Contrition). As a result of this, Thrace allowed her personal feelings interfere with her professional judgement, passing Zak Adama through flight school when she should have failed him (Mini-Series). Zak was later killed in an operational flight.

As a result of his son's death, Adama faced the failure of his marriage and estrangement from his eldest son, Lee. However, to counter this, he became acquainted with Kara Thrace, and such was the bond that formed between them, Thrace transferred from flight school to one of the Battlestar Galactica's squadrons, where she served with Adama for some two years before the Cylon's reappearance (Act of Contrition).

Despite his divorce, Adama still wears a wedding ring on his finger, indicative of his feeling for his ex-wife (Water).

Adama is a natural military leader, as demonstrated by his rise to rank of Commander in charge of a Colonial battlestar. He has the rare combination of qualities that make up a good leader: insight, the ability to naturally command respect, a common touch that enables him to relate to the enlisted personnel under his command as well as his officers, intuition, intelligence, a strong belief in his own abilities, and the ability to take the advice of others. These qualities are reflected in the fact the personnel of all ranks aboard the Galactica hold him in high regard, and know that his is approachable (Mini-Series).

If he has any failings they are his mistrust of politicians and his strong sense of loyalty to those he regards as family and friends. The former is demonstrated in his uneasy acceptance of Laura Roslin (Mini Series, 33, Water), which is quickly undermined by Roslin's own doubts following her encounter with Leoben Conoy (Flesh and Bone). The latter is most clearly demonstrated by both his support of Colonel Saul Tigh and his actions when Kara Thrace is posted as Missing in Action.

Despite Tigh's obvious drinking problem (Mini-Series, Adama retains him as his Executive Officer when another commanding officer might have too easily transferred Tigh to a planetside desk job to avoid the embarrassment. While this demonstrates Adama's unstinting friendship for Tigh, it does the colonel no favours with the officers and crew under his command - many of whom are openly dismissive of him (Mini-Series) - a fact that may have encouraged his drinking.

With Thrace, Adama's loyalty places the mission to find her above the need to protect the fleet and ensure the survival of humanity - thus putting everyone at risk (You Can't Go Home Again).

Surprise Cylon Attack

At the time of the Cylon's sudden attack on the 12 colonies, William Adama was serving-out his final weeks as commander of the Battlestar Galactica. After some 50 years of service, the massive warship was in the process of being decommissioned, and it would have been one of Adama's final duties to formally hand her over to the civilian authorities (in the form of Education Secretary Laura Roslin) who would operate the ship as a living museum commemorating the original Cylon War and an educational centre (Mini-Series).

As a part of the decommissioning ceremonies, someone decided it a fitting tribute to have Lee Adama, recently-promoted to the rank of Captain, lead an honour flyby of Vipers - an ironic statement at best, given the strained relationship between the two men. The situation is not made any easier when Lee Adama find he is to fly his father's battle-honoured old Mark II Viper.

When he was first notified of the attack, Adama's first thoughts were, "Dead. We're all dead." (Home, Part II). Despite this as well as the presumed loss of his ex-wife in Caprica City, he managed to shepherd the fleet to safety, and since the attack on the Twelve Colonies, Adama has striven to lead the remnants of humanity with the same conviction as has marked his entire military career. Military discipline remains intact aboard the Galactica, and she continues to operate as a top-rate, front-line warship, despite her lack of any other military support and despite her reduced complement in terms of both fighters and crew.

Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh plot a course to Ragnar Anchorage in the Mini-Series. (C. SciFi Channel)

As a combat veteran, he is more than capable of both strategic and tactical operations and making the decisions both require. When Picon Fleet headquarters is destroyed and then Admiral Nagala is killed, he unhesitatingly take control of the Colonial's response to the Cylon incursion and starts defining a response to the onslaught. Once convinced by President Roslin of the futility of fighting against overwhelming odds, and with some 50,000 lives in his hands, he makes the switch to the more tactical thinking that has kept the Colonial fleet at least one step ahead of their Cylon pursuers. Not only this, but from the outset, he is savvy enough to give every single survivor of the devastating attack on the Colonies a reason for hope for the future: the legend of Earth. This falsehood comes back to haunt him as the weeks continue, as Roslin is aware of this lie to the crew and states this privately to Adama.

Away from the daily rigours of command, he has also had to face up to the problem of humano-Cylon infiltration within the fleet (Litmus, Flesh and Bone, Secrets and Lies) and the possibility of a saboteur aboard the Galactica herself (Water) - who may still be at large, waiting for an opportunity to strike again. Beyond this, he has also had to redefine the boundaries of military and civil leadership, working as best he can with Laura Roslin, now recognised as the President of the people of the 12 colonies following the loss of the rest of President Adar's cabinet.

Events since the Cylon attack have caused Adama to seek a reconciliation with his son Lee. While they do not always see eye-to-eye, the needs of the Galactica's crew and humanity as a whole have enabled them to better understand one another and move past their differences.

Following the loss of seven of the Galactica's pilots, Adama has also been forced to face the truth concerning Zak Adama's death, and Kara Thrace's role within it. In a strange way, these two events have been something of a catalyst for one another - Thrace's admission to Adama forcing him to realize how precious his remaining son is to him, and how difficult a father he must have been (You Can't Go Home Again, The Hand of God); Adama's ability to admit his love and respect for his son enabling him to overcome his anger towards Thrace following her admission to him (Act of Contrition).

Kobol and Earth

At the start of the exodus from the Twelve Colonies, Adama used the legend of Earth as a means of binding the remnants of humanity together with a single hope. Unfortunately, this later caused the greatest rift in leadership within the Colonial fleet. Following the accidental discovery of Kobol, which President Roslin saw as pre-ordained in scripture, Adama found himself confronted by what amounted to a court-martial situation. With members of his crew -- and the Vice President, Gaius Baltar -- trapped on the surface of Kobol, Adama orders Kara Thrace to use a captured Cylon Raider to destroy a Cylon Basestar in orbit above Kobol. However, President Roslin persuades Thrace to use the Raider to go to Caprica to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo at Delphi (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

This action results in Adama terminating Roslin's presidency, mounting what amounts to a coup, only to find Colonel Tigh is forced to arrest Lee Adama when they travel to Colonial One to remove President Roslin from office. At the same time, he dispatches Lieutenant Valerii to destroy the Cylon Basestar over Kobol. While the mission is successful, Valerii unexpectedly shoots Adama at point blank range as he thanks her for her work on her return to the Galactica (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II). Adama's injuries were complicated when a Cylon Basestar suddenly appeared, forcing Galactica and the fleet to perform an emergency FTL jump.

Unfortunately, the chaos of the situation left Galactica without the same jump coordinates as the fleet, and the battlestar was separated in another area of space (Scattered). Worst of all, Major Cottle, the fleet's only doctor, was on one of the other ships of the fleet. Lieutenant Felix Gaeta figured out a way to return to the fleet using a way that Adama would disapprove: temporarily networking the ship's computers to greatly accelerate the recalculations needed to get the fleet's coordinates while holding off the Cylons as they returned to their previous location. The procedure worked. However, shortly after, Galactica was raided by a Cylon Centurion boarding party, and some ship functions were compromised by a fragment of the Cylon virus that did get past Gaeta's defenses (Valley of Darkness). The process of clearing the ship of both Centurions and Cylon virus required more time than Adama would have had, were it not for the medics on hand who managed to stabilize the commander's condition long enough for Cottle to return. After a lengthy and risky operation, Cottle repaired the damage to Adama's body.

Adama rested unconscious while Tigh declared martial law to counteract Roslin's supporters in the Quorum of Twelve. Roslin escaped the ship with Lee Adama's help and hid throughout the fleet as Adama regained consciousness and returned to command. Roslin gained sufficient support to return to Kobol throughout the fleet, convincing over a third of the fleet to jump to Kobol in search of the path to Earth. Adama was incensed as, being a man with generally secular beliefs, he never truly believed in the existence of Earth of the Pythian scriptures, and (incorrectly) felt that most others believed the same.

Commander Adama paints a model boat while talking to Dee in Home, Part I. (Credit: SciFi Channel)

Adama's calm exterior barely held back the helplessness and rage he felt over the betrayal of his son, Sharon Valerii, Roslin, and over 4,000 others that left with Roslin for Kobol. While at first Adama took a similar stance to Tigh in assuming a hard military posture, a conversation with Dualla helped him realize again (as Dualla and Billy Keikeya showed him before the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage) that, despite the problems, the fleet was his family, and the family must stay together. He orders the remainder of the fleet to prepare to return to Kobol (Home, Part I).

Adama's attitude about Roslin and her quest changes from anger to genuine interest as he and his command staff track the likeliest location where Roslin's group searched for the Tomb of Athena. Rather than being skeptical about Roslin's visions, for instance, Adama began to take them as face value, considering that data just as useful as the maps in front of him. Realizing that only he could reach out to Roslin to reunite the fleet ("It was always between us anyway."), Adama leaves Galactica to Tigh's command while he, Tyrol, Racetrack, and Billy Keikeya head to Kobol to find Roslin's group.

Adama greets his son, Lee, with raised guns, accidentally surprising Roslin's camp. Adama hugs his son and warmly greets Roslin and Thrace. However, on seeing the Caprica-based version of Sharon Valerii, Adama examines her eerily, then grabs her by the throat and hurls her down to the ground while the camp tries to explain the reason why she was with them in camp. "I want you to die" was all that Adama could express before his pent-up anger became more physical, the exertions from his recovery catching up to him. He rolls off Valerii with aid, clutching his chest. Adama is given an explanation but remains understandably wary of this Humano-Cylon.

Adama and Roslin have a talk unlike any other they've shared in the past, both calling each other by their first names, casually. Adama tells Roslin that he forgives her for her actions in the past weeks, and leaves the apology stand even when Roslin causually notes that she wasn't asking for his permission. When Roslin speaks of the resistance on Caprica and whether Galactica and her fleet should have returned to fight instead of leaving from Ragnar Anchorage, Adama rejects the notion, saying he did not come to Kobol to "navel gaze" at what they could have done. He thanked Laura for saving him, his son, and the fleet, for if he did not follow Roslin's advice to leave the system before the fight at Ragnar, he believed they would have all died.

Moments after discovering the entrance to the Tomb of Athena, Caprica-Boomer raises a gun at Adama's chest while Meier, one of Tom Zarek's men, raises his gun to Lee Adama, who is now aiming at Valerii. Meier was attempting an assassination of both Adamas to allow Zarek more political power after Roslin's demise, trying to use Valerii as a pawn to remove attention from Zarek. Immediately, Valerii turns her gun to Meier and fires. Lee Adama picks off a second shooter, while Valerii explains to Adama that she is fully aware of who she is and that, unlike her Galactica counterpart, she does not have hidden protocols or programming. She surrenders her weapon to Adama. Adama's feelings on Valerii remain guarded as she is placed in the special cage created for her counterpart on their return to Galactica.

Adama enters the Tomb with Roslin, Lee, Kara, and Billy, the rest left guarded by Tyrol. The group successfully activates the map with the Arrow of Apollo and gain useful information on the true whereabouts of Earth. Back on Galactica, Adama firmly buries the hatchet between he and Roslin publically by introducing Roslin as the President for a speech to members of the fleet, and leading a formal, unified ovation by applause for Roslin (Home, Part II).

The Discovery of Battlestar Pegasus

The sudden discovery of the advanced Mercury-class Battlestar Pegasus, commanded by Admiral Nelena Cain, initially was a very welcome event for Adama and his war-weary crew, and surely brought additional hopes to the civilian fleet. But Cain's command--as well as her crew--seemed oddly power-hungry, angrily disciplined, and, perhaps, the perfect reason why the Cylons might show their reasons why the human race should be annihilated. Adama, a soldier used to taking orders, put on his usual "tough soldier" face as Cain assumed command of the fleet. Not even Adama's relaxed smile convinced Laura Roslin of Adama's attitude when she asked how he was handling his change in command. Her guess was correct: Something about the Admiral bothered Adama, but he was reluctant to show it and so followed his own truism: Stick to what you know, until you find something better.

Adama's troubles with Cain began with her reluctance to furnish supplies only to Galactica and not the civilian fleet, a point that Roslin hoped Adama would be able to correct. After Cain read Adama's ship logs of the last 3 months, Cain reassigned Lieutenant Thrace and his own son, Lee, to her ship. She explained that Adama was too close to his son, Starbuck was an insubordinate officer that required structure, and that Adama had let military discipline become lax. Adama's stony face barely hid his anger, which he partially released on Apollo and Starbuck as he ordered them without commentary to move to Pegasus. However, Cain had made some valid observations about lax discipline on Galactica, so Adama grudgingly accepted her re-shuffling of personnel.

Matters with Cain's unusually totalitarian command style came to a head when Cain ordered her "Cylon interrogator", Lieutenant Thorne, to interrogate the normally cooperative Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii. Thorne's "method" of interrogation was sexual assault. Moments before, Lt. Agathon and Tyrol discover the truth of Thorne from drunken members of Pegasus' crew. They rushed to Valerii's cell and removed Thorne off of Valerii. Unfortunately, Tyrol tossed Thorne headward against a wall with an exposed bolt that penetrated Thorne's head, killing him. Adama was given assurances by Cain that the two would be tried fairly, but refused to assemble a tribunal to conduct the trial.

A mere few hours later, Adama was told that Agathon and Tyrol were tried and convicted--and solely by Cain herself. Cain claimed that wartime status granted her extra powers, but Adama disagreed, realizing that his fleet wasn't on an offensive posture and required cooperation and not military rule, as Galactica could have done long ago at Ragnar Anchorage by fighting to win and abandoning the civilian fleet. Adama's stony acceptance of taking orders from the renegade admiral immediately ceased. He ordered the alert Vipers and a Raptor--filled with marines--to head to the Pegasus. Adama wanted his men back, pure and simple. Cain deployed her Vipers--all of them Mark VIIs to Galactica's squadrons of mostly less advanced Mark IIs. Adama was headed into yet another fight for the survival of his fleet--his family--against a vastly superior force, and it didn't seem to matter to him one wit if it were the Cylon fleet, or Cain's hostile, warmongering forces.

Spoiler follows, highlight to read.
Following the death of Cain, Adama is promoted to the rank of Admiral (Resurrection Ship).

Additional Notes

• Adama (also known as Nazareth) is the name of a large city in Ethiopia