Saul Tigh

Saul Tigh
[[Image:|200px|Saul Tigh]]
Name	{{{name}}}
Age	50s
Colony	Gemenon (speculated)
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	Saul Tigh
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	[[{{{seen}}}]]
Death
Parents	Unknown
Siblings	Unknown
Children	None
Marital Status	Separated (Ellen Tigh)
Family Tree	View
Role	Executive Officer, Battlestar Galactica
Rank	Colonel
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
Portrayed by	Michael Hogan
Saul Tigh is a Cylon
Saul Tigh is a Final Five Cylon
Saul Tigh is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Saul Tigh is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Saul Tigh]]

Biography

Background

A native of Gemenon in his mid-40s to early 50s, Saul Tigh is estranged from his wife and has been somewhat disillusioned with his career, seeking refuge in alcoholism - a move which has lead many in the crew to view him with contempt (Mini-Series; 33).

He is third generation Colonial Warrior, his father was a decorated fighter pilot killed in combat and his grandfather served under President Mueller. According to Billy Keikeya, Tigh was a published historian until personal problems became apparent. (Mini-Series, deleted scene)

According to the series bible, Tigh began his career as a deckhand, where he became a chief (apparently similar to CPO Galen Tyrol) during the first Cylon War. His ship was boarded by the Cylons where he and others fought in hand to hand combat, during the bloodiest time of that war; his ship was subsequently destroyed and he survived. He was transferred to another unnamed ship, which succumbed to a similar fate as his original ship. Bearing witness to many a bloody combat, he became emotionally scarred, which had, among other impetuses, lead him to alcoholism.

His disposition was not aided by his being "dragooned" into Colonial Officer Candidate School, or his reassignment as a Viper pilot. After the cessation of hostilities, he was dismissed from service and eked out an existence as a deckhand aboard a commercial freighter. While onboard, he drowned himself in alcohol and, after a time, encountered William Adama, who had not seen as much combat experience as Tigh himself did. The two fostered their friendship and when Adama reenlisted with the service, he pulled strings to reinlist Tigh as well. (series bible)

Following the Cylon attack, Tigh recovered some of his old verve and attempted to give up alcohol. However, this, combined with the initial stress of flight from the Cylons caused him to over-compensate as a martinet, frequently driving the personnel overly-hard, and berating where encouragement might have proved the better option (33). He excuses this by using the truism that the XO is supposed to be the "hard face" of command.

With his drink problem now relatively under control, Tigh is settling back into his role as the Galactica's Executive Officer, and has proven himself both honest and level-headed - if still hard on himself and others - in a number of circumstances, and provided the kind of support Adama has needed.

During Cylon attacks, he has proven himself an excellent battle manager and tactician, his quick actions sometimes saving the ship from damage (Secrets and Lies).

He is uneasy around President Laura Roslin (Water), and resents what he sees as her interfering with Adama's command (Secrets and Lies) - something born out of his deep respect for Adama which even the most heated of disagreements between them (You Can't Go Home Again) can disrupt.

He has a personal dislike of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, one of the Galactica's pilots, and - while grudgingly conceding she is a fine pilot, he does not understand what Adama see in her (Mini-Series), seeing her purely as an egotistical, insubordinate youngster. While they have tried to bury the hatchet between them (Mini-Series, Water), there is potentially too much water under the bridge now for them to get completely past their differences.

Outside of Adama, Tigh has few he can regard as confidants aboard ship; and since the initial Cylon attack, he has very much withdrawn from interacting with the crew during off-duty hours, making him perhaps more isolated than even Adama - who is at least held in awe and respect by the crew.

Wife's Return

Some three weeks after the Cylon attack on the twelve colonies, Tigh was stunned to discover his wife, Ellen, had not been killed as he had thought, but had been rescued from Picon, and carried aboard the Rising Star as an unconscious "Jane Doe". Whether this reunion will be for his betterment or not remains to be seen.

However, despite the emotional implications from the destruction of the Colonies and life aboard the ship, Tigh is thrust further into politics as his wife schemes. Much to his disdain, his wife attempts to procure photo opportunities with the likes of Tom Zarek -- a person Tigh views with the utmost disdain. (Colonial Day) Additionally, Ellen seems to have re-established Saul Tigh's alcoholism with gratuitious drinking.

Despite this, Adama sent Tigh with a squadron of marines to arrest Laura Roslin after it was discovered that she convinced Kara Thrace to jump back to Caprica to retrieve a mythical artifact called the Arrow of Apollo. This action deprived the fleet of its own military resource -- the Cylon Raider, which would have been used to plant a nuke aboard the base star in orbit around the planet believed to be Kobol -- and convinced Adama that Roslin was misusing her authority.

Onboard Colonial One, Tigh's men and Roslin's Secret Service agents were at a standoff. This was the point where Lee Adama aimed a weapon at Tigh's head, attempting to thwart the arrest. In order to defuse the sitation, Roslin agreed to be arrested and Lee Adama was arrested on charges of treason. (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II)

Assassination Attempt

Tigh was present at the assassination attempt on Adama by Sharon Valerii. As guards restrained Valerii, he attempted to stop the bleeding from the torso gunshot wounds Adama sustained in the attempt. (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II)

With Adama incapacitated and with Roslin dethroned, Tigh attempted to institute martial law throughout the fleet. This became the dividing point of those wanting to press on to Earth, and those wanting to settle on Kobol. (Season 2)

Notes

• Tigh's first name has been given as "Paul" on a number of websites. However, his first name is not indicated within the draft Mini-Series script or final shooting version of the script, thus making the origin of "Paul" Tigh initially unclear.
• Ronald D. Moore has indicated via the podcast commentary on the episode "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" that the character's name initially was Paul Tigh. The name, however, had to be changed due to legal issues that Moore was unable to recall in that podcast.
• Tigh is based off the character of Paul Eddington in the movie "In Harm's Way" portrayed by Kirk Douglas (with John Wayne).

Original Series definition: an all-purpose term for Colonial soldier and Viper pilot (see: Warrior)

Re-imagined Series definition: Executive Officer, e.g. Saul Tigh

Re-imagined Series definition: the process of using the FTL engines to make an near-instantaneous apparent faster-than-light transport of a ship from one point in space to another

Re-imagined Series definition: in military parlance, directive to continue the attack; otherwise used to refer to journalists ^{(TRS: "Maelstrom")}