William Adama

For information on William Adama's Original Series counterpart, see Adama (TOS).

For other people named the shortened version of William, see: Bill (disambiguation).

William Adama
Name	{{{name}}}
Age
Colony	Caprica, of Tauron decent
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	William Adama
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign	Husker
Nickname	The Old Man
Introduced	Miniseries
Death	Presumably on Earth, c. 148,000 BCE
Parents	Joseph Adama † (father) Evelyn Adama † (mother)
Siblings	Tamara Adama
Children	Leland J. Adama Zak Adama †
Marital Status	Divorced (Carolanne Adama †); Temporarilly cohabitated with Laura Roslin aboard Galactica
Family Tree	View
Role	Commanding Officer, battlestar Galactica Military leader of the civilian Fleet
Rank	Rear Admiral
Serial Number	204971
Portrayed by	Edward James Olmos Nico Cortez (Razor) Sina Najafi (Caprica)
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
William Adama in the separate continuity
[[Image:|200px|William Adama]]

Admiral William Adama, a veteran of the Cylon War, is the commanding officer of the battlestar Galactica, and the highest ranking officer left in the Colonial Fleet.

Background

• William Adama was born H5/21290 on Caprica, the son of Joseph Adama and Evelyn Adama and raised in Qualai, a small coastal community (Hero). His father was a Tauron immigrant and an attorney specializing in criminal defense and civil liberties with ties to the criminal underworld ("Litmus", "Hero", "Caprica" Pilot). His mother was an accountant (Hero). Both his mother and his sister, Tamara, died in a suicide bombing when he was a child. He was still in school when the First Cylon War started (Razor Flashbacks, Episode 1). During his childhood, he was considered small for his age and would often be beaten by his peers (deleted scene, "Exodus, Part II"). Because of anti-Tauron prejudice, Adama's father assumed the more Caprican-sounding surname Adams, but eventually the family reverted to the original Tauron name (Caprica Pilot).
• Adama served late in the Cylon War as both a Raptor and Viper pilot, his first assignment being on Galactica. His first mission behind enemy lines was in a Raptor undergoing an unknown mission ("Razor Flashbacks", Episode 1; "Sine Qua Non"). He allegedly gained the call sign of "Husker" on account of his baritone "graveled" voice. During his time on Galactica, he had a romantic relationship with Jaycie McGavin (Razor Flashbacks, Episode 1). He proved a gifted pilot, shooting down his first Cylon on his very first combat mission, for which he received a commendation.
• In the last week in the war, Adama served on Galactica when the battlestar was boarded by Cylon forces. He recalled to his friend and fellow war veteran Saul Tigh a dangerous Cylon tactic that tried to turn the battlestar's power against itself (Scattered, deleted scene).
• Furloughed by Colonial Fleet after the war's end, Adama found work as a deck hand on a merchant fleet civilian freighter, where he met Saul Tigh, who became a long-time friend.
• Adama married Carolanne Adama, whose family had political influence with the defense subcommittee and pulled to get Adama reinstated to the Colonial Fleet. Adama (now a major) himself arranged for Tigh's reinstatement two years later.
• William and Carolanne Adama had two sons, Lee and Zak, before the pressures of Adama's career and the time he spent away from home in active service began to place a strain on their marriage, and the two eventually divorced (Miniseries).

William Adama during the first Cylon War (Razor).

A somewhat older William Adama and his two sons.

Adama aboard an inter-colony tramp freighter (Scattered).

• While elder son Lee showed promise as a Viper pilot, younger Zak Adama did not. Kara Thrace, Zak's flight instructor and lover, certified him for basic flight despite his poor flight skills. Later, Zak Adama was killed in an operational flight. Zak's death would cause a rift between Commander Adama and his older son for nearly three years until Thrace admits her error to both of them.
• Adama rose through the ranks of the peacetime fleet, becoming the executive officer of the battlestar Columbia, before becoming the commander of the battlestar Valkyrie. About six years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, he was ordered by Admiral Peter Corman to escort a stealth scout ship over the Armistice Line. The mission was a failure, and in an attempt to cover up, he ordered the ship and its pilot shot down. Ever since, he had felt guilt, both over shooting down his own pilot and over the possibility that his actions resulted in the holocaust. According to Tigh, this mission brought his star into descent, and he was given command of Galactica as a graceful way of easing into retirement.
• Adama 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 that personnel of all ranks aboard Galactica hold him in high regard, and know that he is approachable (Miniseries).
• Adama mistrusts politicians, and sometimes places too strongly a value of loyalty to those he regards as family and friends. From his uneasiness to Laura Roslin's unexpected assumption of the Presidency, to the tolerance and patience of his friend, Saul Tigh, and his stubbornness to save Kara Thrace (You Can't Go Home Again), Adama shows a dogged determination that few others care to confront.
• Adama does not share the majority of Colonial beliefs in the gods (Razor), although he has come to accept that his people's scripture may have relevance to the search for Earth.
• Several notable assignments and reassignments during his 45-year career in the Colonial Fleet (Hero):
  • D6/21311 - First commission: battlestar Galactica fighter squadron
  • E4/21312 - Commendation for shooting down Cylon fighter in first combat mission
  • D5/21314 - Mustered out of service post-armistice
  • R6/21317 - Served as deckhand in merchant fleet and as common [...] aboard inter-colony tramp freighters
  • D1/21331 - Recommissioned to Fleet
  • D6/21337 - Major: battlestar Atlantia
  • R8/21341 - Executive Officer: battlestar Columbia
  • C2/21345 - Commander: battlestar Valkyrie
  • C2/21348 - Commander: battlestar Galactica

Character History

• At the time of the Miniseries, William Adama serves out his final weeks as commander of the battlestar Galactica. After some 50 years of service, the historic warship is in the process of being decommissioned, and it is one of Adama's final duties to formally hand her over to the Colonial Ministry of Education, which would operate the ship as a living museum and educational center commemorating the original Cylon War.
• As a retirement gift, several members of Galen Tyrol's deck crew find and restore Adama's old Viper Mark II.

Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh plot a course to Ragnar Anchorage in the Miniseries.

• On news of a renewed Cylon attack, Adama's first thoughts are, "Dead. We're all dead" (Home, Part II). Despite this, as well as the presumed loss of his ex-wife in Caprica City, he unhesitatingly takes control of the Colonial Fleet after Picon Fleet Headquarters is destroyed and Admiral Nagala is killed.
• At Ragnar Anchorage, Adama deduces that Leoben Conoy's "allergies" are really the effect of Ragnar's cloud's electro-magnetic radiation upon the silica pathways composing a Cylon brain, despite the fact that the existence of biological Cylons is unknown to humans at that time.
• Once President Roslin convinces Adama the futility of fighting against overwhelming odds, and with what may be the last 50,000 humans that remain anywhere, he makes the switch to the more tactical thinking that keeps the Colonial Fleet at least one step ahead of their Cylon pursuers.
• 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.
• Adama continues to face the problem of infiltration within the Fleet by humanoid Cylons as well as dissenting humans who protest or terrorize others in the Fleet. Adama continually redefines the boundaries of military and civil leadership. After some serious missteps between he and President Roslin, the two later become friends as well as influential leaders.

Adama seconds after having been shot (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II).

• Sharon Valerii, a trusted Raptor pilot that served with Adama for two years, reveals herself unwittingly as a Cylon sleeper agent and shoots Adama at point blank range after a critical mission near Kobol. Cottle eventually repairs the damage to Adama's body, but Adama's psyche takes the larger hit while he repairs the damage to the Fleet he and Col. Tigh have caused in arresting President Roslin, as well as the existence of a second copy of Valerii.

Commander Adama paints a model boat while talking to Dualla (Home, Part I).

• While at first Adama takes a similar stance to Tigh in assuming a hard military posture, a conversation with Dualla helps him realize that, despite the problems, the Fleet is his family, and the family must stay together. After finding the Tomb of Athena with Roslin and reuniting a factioning of the Fleet, Adama firmly buries the hatchet between he and Roslin publicly.
• In a desperate plan, Adama trusts the second Valerii to help ward off a massive Cylon fleet (Flight of the Phoenix). Despite his "gut" feelings about the Cylon, he finds common ground often with her, even apologizing to her after a distasteful incident (Resurrection Ship, Part I).
• Adama stoically accepts Admiral Helena Cain's overall command. Wary of her behavior and her crew, Adama follows his own truism: stick to what you know, until you find something better (Pegasus).
• Matters with Cain's unusually totalitarian command style come to a head when Cain makes several highly questionable orders that lead him to face off with her battlestar and her command in a military challenge. While the issue is temporarily defused, Adama is told by, of all people, President Roslin that Cain is a threat to the safety of the Fleet's citizens and must be eliminated.
• Adama avoids killing Cain after realizing that he would become the monster that the Cylons believed they were, unaware that she has plotted his demise as well.
• With Cain's fate sealed not by Adama but Gina, a frail President Roslin promotes Adama to Admiral. He gives her a simple, affectionate kiss, which she returns, signifying another change in their turbulent association (Resurrection Ship, Part II).
• Adama's sense of justice with Roslin holds when he confronts her about a conspiracy involving her re-election. Roslin admits the conspiracy but she is certain disaster will strike if Gaius Baltar becomes president. He agrees, but convinces Roslin that the correct course of action is to acknowledge a miscount and cover the conspiracy.
• When Cloud Nine and two other ships blow up as a result of Gina's last effort of sabotage, Adama is privately infuriated at new President Baltar's refusal to investigate, and begins to wonder if he hadn't made a mistake (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).

New Caprica and beyond

• A year later, Adama commands Galactica manned by a skeleton crew as the flagship of a defense fleet, consisting of all ships unable or unwilling to make planetfall on New Caprica. He now sports a thick mustache, and has apparently taken up smoking. Adama feel lonely in command after he allowed many people close to him to settle on the planet despite his initial refusal. Eventually he grants Saul Tigh leave to take his wife Ellen and go as well. His friendship to Laura Roslin appears to have deepened and the two share a carefree day during celebrations on the planet ("Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", "Unfinished Business").
• During the year in orbit, he mends fences with Sharon Agathon. Although he valued her advise earlier, he called her a "thing" and treated her such. While becoming estranged from the people around him, Adama grows much closer to Agathon, having personal conversations with her and he allowing her to decorate her cell with chairs, tables and other amenities and she has apparently become an advisor of sorts to him (Precipice).
• Not long after Tigh leaves, a massive Cylon fleet bears down on New Caprica. After a brief discussion with his son aboard Pegasus they order the understaffed Fleet to escape to pre-arranged Jump coordinates. The admiral issues the jump order with a reminder: "We're leaving... but we'll be back."

Adama being carried by crew and civilians after the Battle of New Caprica (mid left).

• Frustrations over the lack of a plan and problems during exercises lead to a conflict with his son whom he attacks over his weight gain and perceived softness. While Lee is pragmatic and doesn't believe that they can rescue the people on New Caprica in their state, his father drives everyone to their limit, thinking it is his misjudgments that brought them into the situation.
• He only forgives himself for leaving almost everyone behind after a conversation with Agathon, where she explains that, after being through so much herself, she discovered that she first had to forgive herself in order to get through it. In her opinion, the human race can't survive if Adama can't forgive himself.
• He commissions Agathon as a Colonial officer shortly after making contact with the New Caprica Resistance, showing complete trust in her. She asks how he knows that she won't betray him and he replies he doesn't, stating "that's what trust is". Eventually a rescue plan takes shape, but Adama decides to go to New Caprica alone, ordering his son to take over as guardian of the Fleet should he not return. Despite their differences of opinion, the two have a heartfelt goodbye.
• Although sustaining losses, and with the last-minute assistance of Lee and Pegasus, Adama is able to successfully pull off the rescue attempt. He is lauded by his crew and the civilians for this. He also shaves off his mustache, signifying a new beginning ("Occupation" through "Exodus, Part II").
• Adama is awarded the Medal of Distinction for his 45 years of distinctive service in the Colonial Fleet. To him this is a penance for the harm that he caused in the past, and his belief that he might have been the cause of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies (Hero).
• In an effort to alleviate tensions on Galactica, Adama holds a boxing tournament, disregarding rank, allowing people to work out built up frustrations. He himself joins the festivities by challenging Chief Tyrol. Beaten, he declares that he let everyone too close to him, which ultimately led to the fracturing of their family on New Caprica, and vows to not make that mistake again (Unfinished Business).
• After the discovery of the Temple of Five on the algae planet, four Cylon basestars jump into orbit. A meeting with the Cylons occurs on Galactica, but Adama threatens to nuke the planet should the Cylons make a claim to it. A standoff occurs, and when the Cylons try to launch six Heavy Raiders, Adama orders the arming the ship's missile tubes. This frightens the Cylons, who recall five of the six and Adama orders a stand down ("The Eye of Jupiter", "Rapture").
• With the capture of Gaius Baltar, Adama and President Roslin are faced with a dilemma of what to do with Baltar. They try various methods of interrogation, including food and sleep deprivation, threats, and even an interrogation drug, to find out what the Cylons know about the location of Earth. Adama apparently has previous experience with the drug and, after suggesting its use, acts as the interrogator, showing his darker side (Taking a Break From All Your Worries).
• On his wedding anniversary, Adama is plagued by memories of his ex-wife. He wonders about the nature of his relationship to Roslin, not admitting that it could turn into a romantic one. He is also unsure how to treat his son, having a hard time telling him his personal feelings: "proud, stubborn and angry", but "coming into his own". While loving his son, he prefers to interact with him as an admiral to a subordinate officer, believing Lee knows how he feels. Upon Roslin's recommendations, he offers his son to organize Baltar's upcoming trial. Although not sure if Lee will have the time, he gives him Joseph Adama's old law books. It is also revealed that Adama does memory exercises to enable him to know everyone on his crew by name (A Day in the Life).

Post-"Maelstrom" and the final leg of the journey to Earth

• By chance, Adama is selected to be a judge at the trial. Two weeks after Kara Thrace's death he is still distraught, having considered her as a daughter - after her resurection/return/rebirth, he tells her, "You are my daughter" (Daybreak, Part I). In anger, he breaks his model ship. Adama places Lee in charge of security for Baltar's new lawyer, Romo Lampkin, but Lee develops a desire to actively help defend Baltar much to Adama's outrage. The two also come to blows over their dealing with Thrace's loss (The Son Also Rises). This ultimately results in a break between the father and son, with Lee resigning his commissioning and Adama questioning his son's integrity after Lee contributed to humiliating his friend Saul Tigh in court, not able to understand how he could do such things in order to defend a traitor, whom he believes is undeserving of a trial (Crossroads, Part I).
• Adama reconsiders his relationship with his son after Lee's impassioned speech about justice, itself swaying his vote in favor of an acquittal of Baltar. He is further pleased that his son participated in the Battle of the Ionian Nebula, offering him his wings back, which Lee refuses as he believes that he can do better in his new role as the new Quorum delegate from Caprica ("Crossroads, Part II", "He That Believeth In Me").
• Adama comforts Laura Roslin throughout her Doloxan treatments on Galactica. The two bond further and share some of their most intimate thoughts. During this, Roslin manages to convince Adama that they will truly find Earth despite his earlier skepticism. Roslin's remarks that Adama is afraid to lose people close to him hit a mark, and he gives Thrace command of the Demetrius on a mission to search for Earth. He wants to believe in her despite serious questions regarding her sudden resurrection, even after her attack on Roslin ("He That Believeth In Me", "Six of One").
• Adama and Roslin later discuss Lee's choices, including his decision to support the right of Baltar's cult to assemble without stricture. Adama seems to appreciate his son's idealism to a certain extent, despite having been on its opposing side several times. He also attempts to comfort Galen Tyrol after Cally's sudden death, but Tyrol rejects the efforts and Adama demotes him to specialist before Tyrol can endanger any other pilots (Escape Velocity).
• While Roslin continues her Doloxan treatments aboard ship, he continues to comfort her by reading various books, including Searider Falcon, to her and generally being present to discuss matters of faith. He later admits to her that she is the reason why he has faith in their mission to find Earth ("Escape Velocity", "Faith").

William Adama sees the Fleet off.

• After Roslin's abrupt abduction by the rebel Cylon baseship, as well as Sharon Agathon's murder of Natalie (Guess What's Coming to Dinner?), he initiates a search for Roslin while ignoring the Fleet's safety and interests. His dismissal of both the Quorum and Tom Zarek raise tensions in the Fleet that force his son to search for—and become—the interim president in Roslin's place. Further, tensions between Adama and Tigh to boil, notably after Cottle reports that Caprica-Six is impregnated by Tigh. The two come to blows over their decisions regarding the women currently in their lives. Adama admits that he can't live without Roslin and decides to stay behind in a Raptor to wait for Roslin's return. As a result, he hands command of the Fleet over to newly-promoted Admiral Tigh, acknowledging that Tigh has become more knowledgeable about himself and is not the same man who commanded the Fleet disastrously over two years ago (Sine Qua Non). After reconnecting with the missing basestar and reuniting with President Roslin on the hangar deck of the basestar, she finally admits having feelings for him, to which he replies "About time" (The Hub).
• When Saul Tigh confesses that he is a Cylon, Adama doesn't take it well. He can't believe that his decades-long friend is a Cylon and thinks that he was brainwashed on New Caprica. After ordering Marines to arrest Tigh, Adama breaks down in his quarters, hitting a mirror with his fist and sobbing on the floor. His son finds him in this state and tries to get him to pull himself together. After Lee Adama defuses the following crisis with the Cylon rebels, Adama has sufficiently recovered to lead the Fleet on its final jump to Earth, holding a rousing speech after the arrival (Revelations).

Earth and a New Promise

• Unfortunately, when the Colonials land on Earth, they discover that the whole planet is a burnt out wasteland. Baltar confirms that the planet suffered a nuclear holocaust 2000 years ago. There is still enough radiation left to make the planet uninhabitable. Adama leaves the planet's surface in disgust.
• Back on Galactica, Adama receives even more disturbing news. The Rebel Cylons have found evidence on Earth that the Thirteenth Tribe were not human. They were Cylons.
• Adama tries to get Roslin to address the Fleet, but Roslin has completely lost faith in the Scriptures and no longer has the will to lead the people.
• After Dualla commits suicide, Adama breaks down in tears over her body and believes he's failed everyone. He starts drinking excessively and eventually makes his way to Saul Tigh's quarters.
• Tigh tries to apologize for not telling him the truth, but Adama ignores him and instead starts drinking more and insulting Tigh. He questions whether Tigh was "programmed" to be his friend all these years. Adama then comments that Ellen must have realized the truth about her husband long before he did, which is why she slept around with half the Colonial Fleet. Tigh tells him to shut up, but Adama keeps goading him. Tigh finally can't take it anymore and points his pistol at Adama. Adama draws his own weapon which he points to his own head. He tells Tigh to kill him or he'll do it himself.
• Tigh suddenly realizes that Adama wants to die, but he doesn't have the guts to pull the trigger himself. Tigh calms down and sternly tells Adama that he still has a duty to this ship and that his death won't make things any better. Adama slowly comes to terms with everything that has happened.
• Later, Adama walks onto CIC and addresses a thoroughly demoralized crew. He acknowledges that they can't stay on Earth, but he promises they will find a new home. Adama then orders the CIC personnel to begin jump preparation and to plot a course for an area of space likely to contain a habitable planet.

Family tree

William Adama Sr. †

Isabelle Adama †

Larry

Sam Adama

Evelyn Adama

Joseph Adama

Shannon Adama †

Carolanne Adama †

William "Bill" Adama

Tamara Adama †

William "Willie" Adama †

Zak Adama †

Lee Adama

Anastasia Dualla †

Notes

• Adama (also known as Nazareth) is the name of a large city in Ethiopia. The name is also a variation on "Adam," the first man to be created according to the Bible in the Book of Genesis. In Hebrew the word pronounced "Adama" means earth.
• The Greek word adamas (αδάμας) means invincible and is the etymological root of the word diamond. It seems a suitable choice as the surname of the various related characters in this series as it relates to their personality traits.
• Edward James Olmos has brown eyes, but he wears contacts when playing William Adama that make Adama's eyes blue. This is done so that Olmos and Jamie Bamber, who is playing his son Apollo, will resemble each other more.
• Astute viewers may recall Edward James Olmos sharing the screen with realistic humanoid robots as Gaff in the classic science fiction film Blade Runner. Olmos also shares with Star Trek star William Shatner the distinction of being one of only two actors to both command a television starship and portray a police officer in a popular 1980's cop show (Miami Vice for Olmos, T.J. Hooker for Shatner).
• Edward James Olmos is the father of actor Bodie Olmos, who plays Brendan Costanza.
• Roslin has Billy seek out a jeweler to fashion new admiral pins for Adama after Cain's death at the end of Resurrection Ship, Part II.
• Admiral Adama is one of only five charcters to appear at least once in almost every single episode of the series, including the Miniseries, Razor, and The Plan. The others are Laura Roslin, Saul Tigh, Sharon Agathon, and Galen Tyrol.

References

Preceded by: Unknown	Executive Officer of the battlestar Columbia	Succeeded by: Unknown
Preceded by: Unknown	Commanding Officer of the battlestar Valkyrie	Succeeded by: Unknown
Preceded by: Unknown originally Nash	Commanding Officer of the battlestar Galactica	Succeeded by: None Ship destroyed