Gaius Baltar

Gaius Baltar
[[Image:|200px|Gaius Baltar]]
Name	{{{name}}}
Age	mid-30s (approximated)
Colony	Caprica
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	Gaius Baltar
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	[[{{{seen}}}]]
Death
Parents	Unknown
Siblings	None
Children
Marital Status	Single
Family Tree	View
Role	Interim Vice President, The Twelve Colonies of Kobol)
Rank
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
Portrayed by	James Callis
Gaius Baltar is a Cylon
Gaius Baltar is a Final Five Cylon
Gaius Baltar is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Gaius Baltar is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Gaius Baltar]]

Biography

Background

Dr. Gaius Baltar currently has two roles in the Colonial Government; he is both Vice President and science adviser to the President. He was formerly a lead defense systems developer working for the Colonial Ministry of Defense and is widely considered a genius. Baltar came to prominence as a computer technology designer having won three Magnate Prizes. Baltar was born on Sagittaron and attracted to Caprica by the Defense MinistryTemplate:Ref. There, Baltar becomes responsible for the design of the critical Command Navigation Program (CNP) used throughout the Colonial Fleet.

Elegantly dressed and aesthetically handsome, with the affected humility of the truly arrogant, Baltar is nonetheless a deeply flawed person and almost pathologically narcissist. Beneath his outstanding abilities lurks a pathological weakness of character. Self-absorbed, sly, guileful, and utterly dedicated to his own self-preservation, Baltar has carried on a two-year affair with a woman he believed to be a corporate spy -- even to the extent of using code she herself wrote to overcome shortfalls in his CNP -- and thus allows her unrestricted access to some of the most sensitive systems of the Colonial defenses.

Cylon Attack

Gaius Baltar and Number Six kissing in the Mini-Series. (C. SciFi Channel)

When the Cylons launch their attack, Baltar becomes horrified to learn that his "corporate spy" lover is in fact a new type of Cylon -- a Cylon in human formTemplate:Ref, able to mimic human beings down to the smallest detail -- and that she altered his CNP as a gateway to make all integrated Colonial computers and defense systems vulnerable to a Cylon virus that subverts their command and control systems.

Appalled by the fact that his sexual folly has led to the virtual holocaust of humanity, Baltar is nevertheless determined not only to survive, but also avoid having, what amounts to, his treachery revealed.

Rescued on Caprica following the forced-landing of a Colonial Raptor -- at the cost of one of the crew staying behind (Mini-Series) -- he is pleased to find himself treated with the same esteem he enjoyed back on Caprica. His only problem is that Number Six, his former "lover" -- herself ostensibly destroyed in the shock wave of a nuclear blast -- now appears to him in visions, and he cannot be sure whether this is a result of his own guilt at his actions or whether -- as she initially claims -- she is part of a chip that has been implanted in his brainTemplate:Ref.

Shortly after Baltar's arrival on Galactica, Commander William Adama learns that Cylons can mimic human form, and Baltar is put to work trying to devise a means of detecting these humanoid Cylons. By an educated guess, he exposes Aaron Doral -- a PR executive who co-ordinated the media coverage of Galactica's decommissioning -- as a Cylon agent (Mini-Series), using little more than invented technobabble to convince Colonel Tigh. Despite his protestations of innocence, Doral is marooned at Ragnar Anchorage, but soon a team of Cylon agents appear to pick up the stranded Doral. Baltar's educated guess was correct--Doral was indeed a Cylon agent.

Due to his unique abilities, Baltar is charged with turning his initial "Cylon detector" into a working machine capable of screening everyone in the Fleet. While he at first balks at this task, events such as the sabotaging of Galactica's water reserves (Water) force him into a position where he can no longer procrastinate over the detector -- despite his fear that such a device might somehow expose him as the original traitor among humans. Gaining aid from a most unusual source -- his "virtual" Six (Bastille Day) -- Baltar eventually develops a genuine detector, which, together with his survival of a foiled attempt to expose him as a traitor (Six Degrees of Separation), firmly establishes his credentials within the Fleet's hierarchy.

With this new-found trust, and despite his willingness to deliberately conceal vital information, such as Lieutenant Valerii's true status as a Cylon agent (Flesh and Bone), Baltar willing enters the realm of political leadership, first as the Representative for Caprica on the Quorum of Twelve, and then as the newly-elected Vice President of the Colonies (Colonial Day).

Cylon Manipulations

The Cylons commenced their direct manipulations of Baltar some two years prior to the attack on the Twelve Colonies, by bringing him into contact with their agent, Number Six, who started a torrid affair with him while at the same time using him to access vital Colonial command and control systems within the Ministry of Defense (Mini-Series).

This manipulation continues even after the Doctor leaves Caprica behind, with Six appearing to him in sensory perceptions, possibly through an implant in his brain (Miniseries) or perhaps even through a series of psychotic hallucinations as the doctor struggles to reconcile his guilt and his desire of self-preservation.

Regardless of the cause of her appearances, Six continues to help and hinder Baltar, gradually drawing him to a point of near-open acceptance and participation in Cylon plans and activities (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II). The majority of this manipulation has been through religious intrigue, linked to physical threats to Baltar's well-being or that of other humans. These manipulations include:

• Using the threat of Baltar's former colleague, Dr. Amorak, attempting to contact President Roslin with information on a "traitor" within Colonial circles -- and only "removing" this threat once Baltar has "repented of his sins" (33)
• Using the threat of direct accusation (in the form of "Shelly Godfrey") coupled with "photographic evidence" -- and only "removing" this threat once Baltar has "accepted" God into his life (Six Degrees of Separation)

Gaius Baltar and Number Six seeing "the shape of things to come" in "Scattered". (C. Universal Studios)

Baltar's near-acquiescence to the Cylon religion comes when he goes through a process similar to the evangelical Christian belief in "rebirth" through adult baptism. In this, the new believer in the Christian faith is baptized (generally through full immersion in water), symbolizing the "death" of the "old" self and "birth" of the "new" Christian self. In "The Hand of God", Baltar apparently undergoes "death" at the hands of his inner Six when she "breaks" his neck -- and is "reborn" in his real life as the "instrument of God", able to point-out precisely where Colonial forces must strike in order to eliminate the Cylon base preventing them from accessing supplies of tylium (The Hand of God).

This act leaves Baltar ripe for the final revelation of his role within Cylon expectations, when "the future" is revealed to him by Six on Kobol, in the form of the first of "God's new generation of children" (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II). Baltar is not particularly pleased by this, especially when he learns that he is to be the father and that the mother will be Six (Scattered). Despite this, when he believes Commander Adama is trying to kill the child in one of his dreams, he tries to stop this (Valley of Darkness).

Survival on Kobol

While stranded on Kobol, Baltar "awoke" in a clearing filled with human bones. Number Six tells him the bones were from human sacrifices, and that all of the myths about the gods of Kobol and the paradise on Kobol were a lie to hide the true brutality of man, which increases Baltar's cynical opinion of humanity. Number Six also warns that one of the survivors of Baltar's crash would turn against the others.

The Raptor crash survivors, consisting of Baltar, Chief Galen Tyrol, Cally, Seelix, and ranking crew member Crashdown, a lieutenant, are faced with Cylon Centurions building a missile battery that will destroy any rescue ships trying to save them. Crashdown, obsessed with success after the deaths of Tarn and Socinus, orders the team to make a suicidal attack on the Cylon position. Baltar has never fired a weapon in his life and feels it could not be done. Due to the fact that he was the only non-military member of the survivors, he insists that they put it to a vote before Tyrol shouts him down to follow the chain of command.

On starting the attack, Cally freezes in terror, unable to create the needed diversion. Crashdown points his gun at her head and threatens to kill her if she does not obey the order. Immediately, Tyrol levels his gun at Crashdown. A tense standoff ensues. Just as Crashdown is about to fire, Baltar shoots him in the back, killing him instantlyTemplate:Ref. The group successfully carries out the alternate plan of attacking the Cylon's DRADIS dish, and are rescued by the Raptors. Baltar tells the SAR team that Crashdown died a hero in the fight, and Tyrol reluctantly corroborates his story (Fragged).

Return to Galactica

Back on Galactica, Baltar insists that if Roslin's presidency was terminated, as Vice President he should then succeed her in command, but Col. Tigh dismisses the notion because he has instituted martial law in the Fleet. Later, Cally blackmails Baltar into making it a priority to prove that Chief Tyrol is not a Cylon, as Col. Tigh suspects, or Cally would reveal to all that it was really Baltar that killed Crashdown. Baltar pushes Cally against the wall and lectures her sternly, but she refuses to back down, telling him to "help the Chief [by] help[ing] [him]self." Incensed at this ingratitude, Baltar heads to the brig to take a blood sample from Tyrol, located in the same cell as Boomer, but actually injects him with a toxin that will kill him in seconds without an antidote. Baltar uses Tyrol's importance to Boomer to coerce the panicked Cylon agent to disclose how many remaining humanoid Cylons are hiding in the Fleet. He gambles that, even if Valerii was programmed to think she was human, on a subconscious level she truly would know the answer as a Cylon operative. With time running out, she shouts out "Eight!" Baltar revives Tyrol. Baltar plans to perform a series of experiments on Boomer, but she is soon killed by Cally (Resistance).

Some time later, as Commander Adama attempts to retrieve President Roslin and reunite the Fleet, Baltar yells at his internal Number Six for her increasingly ridiculous random changes in appearance, even questioning her actual existence. She responds by simplifying her appearance and attitude and told him that he truly had gone crazy, claiming there is no "computer chip" in his head with her personality, and that she is indeed a hallucination brought on by his guilt-ridden subconscious. Baltar has a brain scan performed in sickbay by Dr. Cottle (despite interference from Six), which confirms no "foreign objects" are present in his head. Baltar is ready to believe that he is truly insane when he hears Helo and Caprica-Sharon discuss Valerii's pregnancy with a Cylon/Human hybrid child from his observation room. Six told Baltar earlier that "their child" would be born in that cell, and this leads Baltar to realize that Six must be real because his subconscious couldn't have known that. Number Six says that she is indeed real and not a hallucination. While she still denies the presence of a chip in Baltar's head, she claims to be "an angel of God sent here to protect [Baltar]". Six tells Baltar that by "their" child she is referring to Caprica-Valerii's biological child: Six considers herself the mother, and Baltar the father (Home, Part II).

When D'anna Biers films a documentary about life aboard Galactica, Six urges Baltar to give an interview to try to win people over to thinking that he should be running the Fleet. Baltar performs badly as he begins his interview but, fortunately, his interview is interrupted by a Cylon attack that Biers chooses to film instead (Final Cut).

Baltar aids in trying to overcome the Cylon logic bomb which devastates Galactica's computers. Tigh's dislike of Baltar's involvement in this problem makes the scientist edgy enough to retort, "I'm sorry. Do you want to survive this one or not, Colonel?" (Flight of the Phoenix)

Arrival of Pegasus

When battlestar Pegasus reunites with the Fleet, Commander Adama requests that Baltar examine Pegasus' own Cylon prisoner to see what information he could glean from it. Upon arrival in the Pegasus brig, Baltar is horrified to discover the Cylon was a terribly abused and tortured copy of Number Six named "Gina". Baltar vows to help her in any way he could, and begins by having her restraints removed and bringing food to her. The inhumane treatment of Gina by the Pegasus crew likely makes Gaius more critical of humanity's worth ("Pegasus").

Speculation: The Real Baltar?

For Baltar to survive the destruction of Caprica was no small matter, especially considering he was in the wake a nuclear shock wave and that the body of Six that he knew was apparently destroyed in trying to protect his in the events of the Mini-Series.

A nuclear blast's shock wave is substantial (not unlike that from a pyroclastic cloud). The shock wave would contain rocks, glass, metal, and other large debris that would bludgeon, pierce and lacerate human tissue with ease and at terrific speeds (at maximum, 1200 KPH, or 745 MPH). Such a debris-filled shock wave would obliterate Baltar's home and easily annihilate Six's body, which at those speeds would provide essentially no protection to Baltar's. (For comparison, note that, despite his superior strength, the head of the first Leoben Conoy copy encountered was bludgeoned by Commander Adama with a flashlight, and many other Humano-Cylon copies were just as easily shot or killed as easily as a human.)

Even if Baltar survived momentarily from Six's protection, either the remains of his home would have collapsed over him, likely trapping him if not killing him, or he and Six's body would also be carried away by the shock wave for some distance.

Six has had two years to gather plenty of Baltar's genetic material. Could the Baltar on Galactica be now, in fact, a Humano-Cylon?

Why a Copy?

Information from RDM indicate that, at the start of season 2, there are eight Cylon operatives that appear in the fleet. A Baltar copy would also had made matters very, very easy for the Cylons in their work to infiltrate the Colonial defenses and would be easily dropped in place to escape or happen to appear on a ship of the nascent Fleet. Such clones may also explain the 'fake' recording from Shelly Godfrey of Baltar compromising Colonial computer systems in a latter Season 1 episode. Perhaps it was the Cylons who doctored what was, in reality, a legitimate recording of a Baltar copy.

One notable question would be why Six have spent so much time talking to Baltar, and then have thrown herself in front of the blast if she'd intended for him to die? If Baltar was already a humano-Cylon, his consciousness from that moment would be thrown into a waking duplicate, already disheveled and scraped, where Baltar would merely think he was blown clear to safety where he could run to escape attacks with other survivors. Also, since Baltar appeared to be key in many Cylon plans, they would want to ensure that Baltar would reach any remaining humans to spy for them, and having only one copy might risk the success of such plans. Further, it is the psyche of Baltar that the Cylons may treasure most; few others in the Colonies may have the level of intelligence, arrogance, and neurosis that Baltar has that could prove as easily exploited. The guise of the great Baltar gives the Cylons a huge natural tactical advantage in that he is well known and allowed access to almost any critical battlestar location. Baltar's slick-as-oil personality aids him with better finesse and stronger charisma than any Humano-Cylon personality yet seen.

The Baltar-as-Father Argument

Six has stated her desire to have a child with Baltar. Humano-Cylon couplings have failed to result in offspring prior to that point ("The Farm"). If Baltar and Six were both Humano-Cylon, it is likely that offspring would either be impossible or at least exceptionally unlikely. This point gives the strongest evidence against the Baltar-as-Cylon theory, but cannot (yet) dismiss the notion.

In "Home, Part II", Six indicates that Baltar's and Six's child will be born in the isolation cage built for the Galactica copy of Sharon Valerii. The reality turned out different: The Caprica version of Valerii, pregnant by Helo, now occupies the cage by the end of that episode, and Six indicates that it is in fact Valerii's child that will become Baltar's. This gives some weight back to the Baltar-as-Cylon theory since Baltar becoming a father by surrogate circumvents the need for him to do so naturally. While Caprica-Valerii shows that a female Humano-Cylon could conceive, no information is yet available on whether male Humano-Cylons could sire a child with human females. However, earlier in the first season, in "33", Six asked Baltar if he wanted to procreate with her, and at this point she may have meant an actual child of Baltar's. "Home, Part II" occurred much later in the timeline, and it is possible that the Cylons and Number Six had to alter their plans during this time. Number Six did mention in "Home, Part II" that she didn't consider Sharon "worthy" of bearing one of "God's new children" (the Humano-Cylons). Perhaps Sharon was not originally planned to be the first mother of a hybrid baby at all, and Number Six was going to have a child with the (necessarily human) Baltar, but had to shift plans when Boomer became pregnant first.

Inside Baltar's Head

Baltar's brain scan in "Home, Part II" confirms that the virtual Six that only Baltar can see is not an actual artificial device in his brain. This leaves a number of possibilities, of which the strongest are:

1. Baltar has a device elsewhere in his body. We're not given information on whether all of Baltar's body was scanned, or just his head.
2. A portion of Baltar's body is the "chip" but fashioned in a way by the Cylons that is medically indistinguishable from a regular body part and may also function normally (say, a pituitary gland)
3. Baltar's body is artificial, with his personality (complete with neuroses) placed in a Humano-Cylon construct. While Baltar's psyche itself may not be that of a Cylon, the addition of the virtual Six component compliments the arrangement for the Cylon's purposes.

Possibility #3 is interesting in that, based on Baltar's own research on the Six copy known as Gina, Baltar's personality and guilt would continue to plague him either in Humano-Cylon or human form. But, if Baltar were reconstructed as a Cylon, the virtual Six aids Baltar by being, in effect, the conscience and "guardian angel" she claims to be, keeping his neuroses and guilt over the genocide from driving him completely insane--for now.

But Cylons aren't copies of real humans

In a 10/24/05 interview on "The Chase Show" on the SF webcast news site TheFandom.com with veteran "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" actress Chase Masterson, Ron D. Moore is interviewed, remarking that "the idea is not there was one like an original human model that they were copied from". This would suggest either of two possibilities for Baltar: first, that he survived the blast and escaped, or second, that Baltar was a Cylon all along, even on Caprica.

The idea of Baltar being originally a Cylon has problems, however. If Baltar were a Cylon, it would be redundant and unnecessary for Number Six to "choose him" for her mission (unless the Cylons preferred Baltar to remain a "sleeper" throughout his mission to give "plausible deniability" in his mind as well as allow him to do what his personality is likely to do). Furthermore, from a story perspective, the idea of Baltar being a Cylon very much goes against the idea of Baltar as a traitor betraying humanity to the Cylons—as well as the idea of Baltar's relationship with Six being a true human/Cylon pairing. It should be noted, however, that Ron D. Moore's "Gaius Baltar" differs significantly from the "Baltar" of the Original Series. The Baltar of the Original Series was a true turncoat with megalomaniacal tendencies; Gaius, on the other hand, is not power-hungry but is driven by a strong sense of self, albeit to the exclusion and ignorance of the needs of everyone else.

Gaius is often treated by Six as a human--ultimately the only human who will be allowed to survive by the Cylons. But the human models of Cylon also behave with classically human qualities (not all of them perfect or utopian) and seem to see each other in varying emotions (admiration and contempt are prevalent when Six speaks of the pregnant Caprica Valerii). So, at the least, Gaius is treated with no less respect than any other humano-Cylon by his virtual Six. If we assume Gaius is indeed human, Six's interaction with Baltar (given the hostilities of the Cylons) borders on admiration. Although we can't necessarily use Six's emotions as a de facto gauge of Baltar's genuine humanity, it does lend to the mystery.

The storyline possibilities do change somewhat if Baltar has always been a Cylon. Note that Baltar has never spoken of his family or other friends (other than President Adar), strongly suggesting Baltar has been a "loner." If Baltar's parentage (or offspring--he is rather promiscuous) cannot be confirmed (as has been done with Commander Adama, also on the speculated infiltrators list), then the laws of physics (nuclear shock wave damage to human tissue) as well as the laws of procreation (Cylons can't quite procreate as humans do) continue to leave open the possibility that Baltar is model of Cylon, however reduced the odds are now, based on Moore's new information.

Notes

1. Template:Note"Humano-Cylon" is the popular Battlestar Wiki term for the humanoid Cylons. It is not a canonical term found in any episode.
2. Template:NoteThe idea that Six is an actual chip in Baltar's head was dismissed by Dr. Cottle's image scan of Baltar's head. See the section on alternate reasons for Six's existence for more.
3. Template:NoteThe act of killing Crashdown appears to have led to a dramatic change in Baltar's attitude toward hurting anyone directly. When Cally tries to blackmail him after they return from Kobol, Baltar is somewhat rough with her. When he visits Tyrol and Boomer in the brig, he does not hesitate to inject Tyrol with fatal drugs to blackmail Boomer into giving Cylon secrets. Baltar's humanitarian acts to the Six copy known as Gina also suggests Baltar's attitude in the care of Cylons is further changing. More and more, Baltar appears to prefer direct intervention and is less cowardly in his attitude.
4. Template:Note Baltar's planet of birth and recruitment by the Colonial Defense Ministry to Caprica are according to SkyOne. However, information from SkyOne may not be canonical at all.