Baltar as Cylon speculation

This extended speculation thread appears all but disproven with the airing of the episode "Downloaded". To go directly to what may be the final arguments toward Baltar as a Cylon, see the last section of this subarticle. This is continuing from Cylon agent speculation.

For Gaius 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 him in the events of the Miniseries.

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 Cylon agent copies have been shot or killed as easily as a human.) However, it has to be kept in mind that the blast wave had dissipated greatly by the time it had reached Baltar's house some 26 seconds after the detonation that almost blinded him, probably no more than hurricane force, a wind speed of 74 mph. There are testimonies from Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, two Japanese cities that were struck with nuclear bombs at the end of World War II, being in buildings and even in trams quite close to the epicentre and coming out of the ordeal surprisingly unharmed save for a few scratches.

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 Cylon agent?

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 have made matters very, very easy for the Cylons in their work to infiltrate the Colonial defences 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 has spent so much time talking to Baltar and then thrown herself in front of the blast if she'd intended for him to die? If Baltar was already a Cylon agent, 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 exploitable. 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 Cylon agent personality yet seen.

The Baltar-as-Father Argument

Six has stated her desire to have a child with Baltar. Cylon agent couplings have failed to result in offspring prior to that point (The Farm). If Baltar and Six were both Cylon agents, it is likely that offspring would either be impossible or at least exceptionally unlikely. This point gives evidence against the Baltar-as-Cylon theory, but Six has repeatedly made it clear that she considers the hybrid human-cylon baby that Sharon is carrying to be "our" (as she puts it) baby. "Our" may in fact be inclusive of all cylons, which may just include Baltar.

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 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 Cylon agent could conceive, no information is yet available on whether male Cylon agents 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 Cylon agents). 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 Cylon agent 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 Cylon agent 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 human clones

As Cylons aren't copies of humans, 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 Cylon agent 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 list of suspects), 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.

"Downloaded" all but disproves speculation

The episode "Downloaded" contains revelations that make it extremely unlikely the Baltar is a Cylon. In dialogues with each other, numerous Cylon characters distinctly refer to Baltar as human. Although it is possible that they might keep the information from Baltar, the nature of the Cylon thought collective would seem to make no sense to keep it a secret to each other. In addition, this episode introduced the unique idea of a Number Six copy with a virtual Baltar in her head. Through Six, Baltar pushes for the Cylons to be more human; for example, letting Samuel Anders go free despite his destruction of a building and many other Cylon agents. If Baltar were a Cylon, the events in the episode would make little sense.

With this episode's end, the remaining tenuous thread to the now-remote likelihood of Baltar as a Cylon involves the manner of Baltar and Caprica-Six's relationship as opposed to Boomer and Chief Galen Tyrol. If we suppose as a certainty that both Baltar and Tyrol are human, then why does Baltar find himself with a virtual Six after she dies, while Tyrol does not find a virtual Boomer walking about after Boomer's death? Both humans find themselves denying their love, only to recant their claim later. What makes the Baltar-Six arrangement so strikingly different? Why, at all, have these virtual Six and Baltar incarnations appeared in the first place? If Baltar were a Cylon (albeit a model unknown to any other Cylon, which would stretch the plausibility of the nature of their collective thought process per "Downloaded"), would the love between two Cylons cause a "feedback loop" of emotion to spill over between the two Cylons, creating the virtual consciousnesses? Or, assuming that Baltar is fully human, if Cylons revive (medically) a dead human (as Baltar should be, given the destruction of his home and everything in it except him), would such a revival cause the virtual consciousnesses to emerge? In contrast, Tyrol has not died (although he suffers a near-death by Dr. Baltar's hand in "Resistance") which may support this weaker, but faintly plausible concept of Baltar's true nature.

"Torn" renews speculation

The episode "Torn" meanwhile contains certain revelations about the nature of the Cylons and some possible hints about Baltar's nature. While guiding Baltar through the interior of the Basetar, Caprica-Six reveals the Cylon process of "projection"; the Cylon's ability to alter their perceptions and create a simulated reality of their choosing. Baltar immediately notices how similar that seems to his own visions of Six and begins to question if he is a Cylon because he can project as well. The question still remains, if he possibly is a Cylon, why do the other Cylons think he is a human?

One possibility is that Baltar is something of a "beta-test" model, a more advanced type of Cylon that is intended to more closely approximate humanity--and may also lack a certain biological design flaw discovered in the Cylons in the episode "A Measure of Salvation". Still, there has been no on-screen evidence one way or the other, except for the fact mentioned in the next section--so all theories are still potentially in play.

Update: Interview with the production team provides a new twist...

According to interviews with Grace Park, Dean Stockwell, and Tricia Helfer, the remaining Cylons are so secret that even the seven models known to the audience don't know who the last five are. Indeed, even Number Three, who claims to have visions of the so called "final five" cannot remember what they look like when she regains consciousness after downloading and has to sketch her interpretations of them in order to retain her memory of them (The Passage). This could possibly answer the question why Baltar wouldn't be recognized by the other seven if he was one of the final five.

Baltar as an "Agent of God"

Baltar's actions when forced by his virtual Six to repent and worship the Cylon version of God leaves several significant questions as to the nature of both the virtual Six and Baltar's nature.

In the episode, "The Hand of God", Baltar makes an educated guess at the specific target to be destroyed on the tylium refinery without knowing any significant data on the site. Baltar only receives encouragement from his virtual Six to trust in her belief. In "Six Degrees of Separation," viewers see a stricken and nearly-criminally exposed Baltar repent to the virtual Six just as Lt. Gaeta arrives to confirm his innocence. In the same episode, the virtual Six disappears in anger just as the Shelly Godfrey copy arrives (with a suggestion that the virtual Six knew (or summoned) the Godfrey model to arrive. The Godfrey model disappears just as the virtual Six returns as Baltar is repenting.

The episode "Downloaded" strongly suggests that the virtual copies of Caprica Six and Baltar that haunt their opposite interests seem to be psychological remnants of the pair's intensive emotional connection. But what if there is more to this than psychology? Episode events surrounding the Sacred Scrolls and Laura Roslin's quest for the Tomb of Athena confirm that the Colonials have a spiritual or prophetic element that has guided them to the data that now places them in a true general path to Earth. What forces are driving Baltar beyond his own egotism? What is the nature of the virtual Six and Baltar? Neither Baltar nor Caprica Six know why they appear, and both virtual beings appear to have knowledge beyond that of what the living being they haunt should know. If Baltar is being influenced by the Cylon God (or some cybernetic influence known by neither Cylon or Colonial), there suggests a new thread to the Baltar-as-Cylon speculation that goes beyond the mere creation of a Baltar model. However, in the podcast Ron Moore speaks of the virtual Baltar as simply a hallucination, while interviews and podcasts Moore consistently states that the origin of the virtual Six is supposed to be deliberately vague.

Baltar as "Psychologically Cylon"

In a sort of cross between the Agent of God theory and the Cylon model theory, there may be the possibility that Baltar is, post-Caprica attack, psychologically Cylon even if not physically so. He may have, at the time of the attack, had a near-death experience (of the type known to occur with humans--see this Wikipedia article for more on NDE's), and this could have still interfered with the download of Caprica-Six and created the same kind of exchange described elsewhere on this page as a "virtual consciousness". If this is the case, it calls into question the nature of Cylon souls, as it would suggest that they are more similar to the human variety than previously believed. The resulting hallucinations experienced by both Caprica-Six and Baltar therefore would not require Baltar to be physically a Cylon, much as the Agent of God theory does not.

However, what may have been exchanged between the two--and the behavior of Caprica-Six in future episodes will be telling--is their psychological species identity, to some degree. After the attack on Caprica, Baltar is driven to protect Cylon interests by his virtual Six, but Caprica-Six is driven to protect human interests (albeit in a warped way). This renders Baltar at least in part "psychologically Cylon," as his new conscience and instincts drive him (when he isn't thinking of himself!) to protect Cylon interests at the expense of his physical, human identity. Caprica-Six, during "Downloaded," parallels in takes extremely dangerous risks for the sake of rebel humans. It even becomes possible that the psychological conflict Baltar is experiencing between the forcefully "Cylonized" parts of his conscience and whatever remaining humanity is in him is at the root of his addiction to painkillers...that it becomes a way in which he tries to numb or lessen the conflict or perhaps even take himself out of action without resorting to a suicide that would go against his strong self-preservation instinct.