Final Five

The Final Five in the Kobol Opera House

The term "Final Five" collectively describes five of the twelve humanoid Cylon models whose identity, knowledge, or existence has been deliberately or accidentally lost to seven of the humanoid Cylon models.

Caprica-Six, when asked by Gaius Baltar about the five missing models he has not seen on the baseship he lives on or on New Caprica, curtly replies that the others do not talk about the subject (Torn). Later she states that she is programmed not to think of them (He That Believeth In Me). A Hybrid refers to "the five who come from the home of the 13th", which makes Kara Thrace and her associates conclude the Final Five have been to Earth (Faith).

The Unauthorized Quest for the Five

A Number Three copy, whom Gaius Baltar calls by her human alias, D'Anna Biers, repeatedly commits suicide to get glimpses of five white-cloaked beings that she believes are images of the Final Five. She attempts to draw what she has seen, but has difficulty in doing so (Hero).

One detailed sketch which she briefly shows to Baltar depicts her personal artistic rendering of the faces of the Five (The Passage). The sketch is meant to depict Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders, Tory Foster and the twelfth and final Cylon. (Crossroads, Part II).

Sketches of the Five.

Baltar's ability to see a virtual doppelganger of Caprica-Six (as well as enjoying her company in various pleasant environments) lead him to suggest that he might be using a Cylon technique known as projection. This suspicion, in turn, makes Baltar begin a personal inquiry into his own nature after allying himself with D'Anna-Three.

The two eventually make their way to the algae planet, where a Colonial structure, the fabled Temple of Five, awaits with possible answers ("The Passage", "The Eye of Jupiter"). When the system's dying star goes nova, a ray of light is generated by the mechanisms of the temple. Number Three steps into the light and suddenly finds herself back in the Opera House and before the same image of the Five, not persistent. Upon seeing their faces she recognizes one of them in particular, saying in surprise "You... forgive me... I had no idea." She is then pulled back to reality and collapses in Baltar's arms, apparently suffering the effects of a brain hemorrhage. She tells Baltar, "You were right," but dies before answering about what, or telling him what she saw. She tells the Cavil who greets her in the tank that there are five other Cylons, and he will see them some day (Rapture).

Later, she shows that she is aware of the identities of the four revealed Cylons, but apparently can't immediately identify the fifth (Revelations).

Awareness of the Five by other seven Cylons

Caprica-Six indicates that the Cylons do not speak of the Five, but she knows how many there are. She later tells Roslin that she is actually "programmed not to think of them." D'Anna Biers also indicates to Baltar that they do not discuss the Five. A Cavil realizes in the Temple of Five that Biers is attempting to see the Final Five, and not simply seeking Earth. He tells her "That can't happen" and points a gun at her to stop her, but is shot by Baltar. Later, a Cavil explains that because of her obsession her entire line will be boxed (Rapture).

A Leoben Conoy claims that "Adama is a Cylon" though neither Adama is one of the other six Cylons he should know. If an Adama were a member of the final five, Leoben should not, in theory, know this. However, it is commonly believed that he is lying (Flesh and Bone).

The Boomer copy of Number Eight, interrogated by Baltar, declares there are eight Cylons in the Fleet. Given that these Seven do not interact (or are unwilling to interact) with the Five at the time, the number that Boomer gives is likely other copies of the Seven in disguise. (This tendency to disguise is confirmed through Shelly Godfrey, Gina Inviere and an unnamed Number Six with black hair found on a stricken baseship in "Torn"). Also supporting this is the scene where number Three and Sharon Valerii discover Samuel Anders and refer to him as human in the episode "Downloaded". A later episode, "Rapture", shows a Three recognizing one of the faces of the Five, confirming the lack of information to the Seven on the Five's identities.

Both Caprica Six and Sharon Agathon share a dream vision in which the glowing, white-robed figures of the Five are shown in the Opera House (Crossroads, Part II). After their activation, Caprica-Six, aboard Galactica, has a sense that the Final Five are near (He That Believeth In Me), but fails to recognize Tigh even when directly confronted by him (Escape Velocity).

There are cases of the Seven and the Five committing violence to each other, including:

• D'Anna Biers attacks Anders on Caprica (Downloaded).
• Tyrol executes two copies of Cavil (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).
• Tigh's right eye is taken out by a Number Five ("Occupation", deleted scene).
• Tigh, Anders, and Tyrol lead a violent resistance movement against the Seven on New Caprica, killing many (Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance, "Occupation" through "Exodus, Part II").
• Anders attacks a Two (The Road Less Traveled).
• Anders threatens to kill a copy of Number Six after she kills Jean Barolay (Faith).

While Centurions are programmed to recognize and obey humanoid Cylons, on a number of occasions they shoot at members of the Five, prior to their activation, including Tyrol on Kobol, Anders both on Caprica and outside the Temple of Five, and most members during the escape from New Caprica.

This seems to change after their "activation", as during the Battle of the Ionian Nebula, a Cylon Raider makes eye contact with Anders in a Viper, causing a brief red flash from Anders' eye. Immediately, the Raider breaks off its attack, and the entire Cylon fleet retreats (He That Believeth In Me), after responding this IFF procedure. However, this display of free will and the prospect of making contact with the Five, creates a schism between the other six Cylons, who violently disagree over the appropriate course of action (Six of One).

When D'Anna is unboxed by the Ones and rescued by the human-Cylon alliance, she initially keeps her knowledge about the Five's identities a secret in an attempt to secure her safety should the alliance collapse (The Hub). When she resumes her position as the de facto leader of the Cylon rebels she reveals to President Roslin and Admiral Adama that there are only four Cylons in their fleet, and does not elaborate on the status of the fifth. She then holds the humans aboard her basestar, including Roslin and Gaius Baltar, hostage in an attempt to force the four out of hiding. Tory Foster willingly goes to the basestar, and D'Anna introduces her to her new Cylon "brothers" and "sisters". In the ensuing stand off, President Lee Adama attempts to force D'Anna to release her hostages by threatening to execute Tigh, Tyrol, and Anders and in doing so publicly announces their identities to the other Cylons on the basestar (Revelations).

Four Revealed, and their nature

Four of the Final Five from left to right: Galen Tyrol, Tory Foster, Samuel Anders and Saul Tigh.

As the Fleet draws closer to the Ionian nebula, four people begin hearing an unusual melody: these four are Colonel Saul Tigh, Chief Galen Tyrol, Ensign Samuel Anders and presidential aide Tory Foster (Crossroads, Part I). Tyrol and Anders say that the song seems like something from their childhoods, while Tigh becomes progressively more disturbed as he begins to hear the music everywhere on Galactica. Foster becomes noticeably distracted, irritable, and unkempt, claiming to have not been sleeping well. When the fleet finally arrives at the Ionian Nebula the song becomes clear to the four who can hear it and they begin to stalk the halls of Galactica muttering its mysterious lyrics. Eventually, the four arrive at Galactica’s gym and upon seeing each other the truth becomes clear to them; they are Cylons, four of the Final Five. When they learn the truth, they decide to remain loyal to the Colonial Fleet, because they were humans for as long as they can remember, and cling to what they know to make sense of their lives. Moreover, Tigh sees himself as a soldier first and wants to hold up his oath.

After activation, the four revealed Cylons are unaware of any thoughts like Boomer's Cylon directives other than that they are Cylons. In a sense they know less than the audience and the Significant Seven, who at least know that the Final Five are fundamentally different models. Tigh and Anders painfully and confusedly recite events from their lives which make little sense in the context of their newly revealed nature. With particular pain, Tigh asks "My gods, what about Ellen?" His personal execution of his wife for being a Cylon collaborator, and his pain over it, have been a major theme in the episode.

The nature of these Cylons is clearly different from the other seven. In particular, Colonel Tigh's friendship with William Adama stretches back to shortly after the end of the first Cylon War and in an interview Ron Moore stated that Tigh "fought in two wars." (Crossroads, Part II)

These Cylons also seem to be susceptible to human infirmities: Tigh's ongoing battles with alcoholism, Tyrol suffering from decompression sickness - although to a lesser extent than his wife (A Day in the Life), and Anders contracting pneumonia (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II), though he is able to make a full recovery without treatment (Occupation). However, since the Final Five possess at least some of the Cylons' superhuman strength, they likely possess other physical Cylon traits as well (The Ties That Bind).

As the Seven do not hold (or appear to desire) knowledge of the Five, and with their special nature, their ability to resurrect and the existence of multiple copies for any of the Five are uncertain based on aired events and official responses. Caprica-Six describes being "programmed" not to think of the Five (He That Believeth In Me) and it is unknown whether the Five and Seven ever co-existed in the same location.

Connections between the Colonial gods and Cylon god

• The Temple of Five was built over 4,000 years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, long before the Cylons existed. The Thirteenth Tribe would, logically, have no knowledge of these automatons in the strictest sense. However, the Thirteenth Tribe has significant prophetic insight, as shown in the works of Pythia. According to Colonial scriptures, "Five pillars of the temple were fashioned after the five priests devoted to the one whose name cannot be spoken". This may have been another Lord of Kobol, given that on a deleted scene Elosha noted that the fall of Kobol and its civilization was due in part to a "jealous god".
• On New Caprica, Number Three meets Dodona Selloi, a human oracle, who relays a message from Three's God, despite the oracle's association with the Lords of Kobol.
• With this information, there is a strong, but unexplained correlation or connection with the the Cylon God and the Lords of Kobol.

Kara Thrace, The Eye of Jupiter, and the First Hybrid

• The Eye of Jupiter storyline introduced an association between Kara Thrace, a human that "doodled" a circular image as a child with no prior derivation (her old apartment on Caprica has a painting of the image from the episode, "Valley of Darkness"), and the mandalas or icons of the eye that decorated a temple built 4,000 years before her birth. No further information is revealed other than the prophecy from Leoben Conoy, who told Thrace of an unexplained "destiny" (Flesh and Bone).
• The first Hybrid gives a monologue about his knowledge of the Final Five in the extended version of "Razor". It states:

"Soon there will be four, glorious in awakening, struggling with the knowledge of their true selves. The pain of revelation bringing new clarity and in the midst of confusion, he will find her. Enemies brought together by impossible longing. Enemies now joined as one. The way forward at once unthinkable, yet inevitable. And the fifth, still in shadow, will claw toward the light, hungering for redemption that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering."

Its description predicts the internal revelation that four of the Five would experience in "Crossroads, Part II". The fifth and final Cylon remains hidden, longing to be forgiven for some type of trespass, but will experience suffering in the process.

• The first Hybrid also mentions Kara Thrace to Kendra Shaw, claiming, "She is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death..." as the end of the human race. He warns Shaw that the humans should not follow her (Razor). However, the Hybrid never confirms Thrace's nature. More than a year later, another Hybrid claims that Thrace will lead humanity to its end (Faith).

Illusion or Truth

• The Threes' hunt for and see visions of the Five, which leads to the other Cylons themselves boxing the entire line of Threes after her discovery, but whether this is done to suppress the notion or actual information of the final five or to relieve the other Cylons of an aberrant model is unclear.
  • As of "The Hub" the single re-activated D'Anna is the only one who knows the identity of all five models, information she is keeping for use as a bargaining chip.
• Later, in dream visions of the Opera House shared by Laura Roslin, Sharon Agathon and Caprica-Six, the same 5 glowing figures seen by Three appear, along with the same chamber with six drapes, this time empty. Six sees them for a more prolonged period in a second vision.
• As the Temple of Five was apparently built for human usage, the Temple may have only allowed the transitional visions that the Threes see to be more persistent and clear. It may never be revealed what Baltar (or another human) would have seen. While Baltar believed Three and actively participated in her quest, both his virtual Six and a Hybrid noted that he, not Three, was intended to use the Temple's imaging mechanism as the "chosen one". The human association and significance of the five priests, the god they worshiped, and their connections with the Cylons, Kara Thrace and Baltar are not yet explained.

Notes

• The podcast for "Rapture" confirms that the final five Cylons have not been boxed .
• During a Q&A session on the official Sci Fi channel Battlestar Galactica forum Ronald D. Moore notes that he already knows who the last Cylon is, and that he's already left clues as to who it is.
• Despite the revelation of all of the Significant Seven's model numbers in "Six of One", Ron D. Moore confirmed that the Final Five do not have model numbers like the Significant Seven.

Re-imagined Series definition: transponder-based system to positively identify friendly spacecraft (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II")

Original Series definition: a title of nobility (e.g. Lord Baltar)