Laura Roslin

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Laura Roslin
Name	{{{name}}}
Age
Colony	Caprica
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	Laura Roslin
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	Miniseries
Death	Cancer, while flying over Tanzania in 4 ACH (c. 148,000 BCE) (Daybreak, Part II)
Parents	mother †, father †
Siblings	Cheryl Roslin † Sandra Roslin †
Children
Marital Status	Unmarried; Temporarilly cohabitated with William Adama aboard Galactica
Family Tree	View
Role	President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol; formerly Secretary of Education formerly schoolteacher
Rank
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
Portrayed by	Mary McDonnell
Laura Roslin is a Cylon
Laura Roslin is a Final Five Cylon
Laura Roslin is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Laura Roslin is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Laura Roslin]]

Laura Roslin serves as the Secretary of Education at the time of the Cylon attack, later becoming the President of the Twelve Colonies despite never being elected to office. She is also believed by some to be a religious figure central to the fulfillment of the Pythian prophecy.

Biography

Background

Some time before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Roslin is forced to take care of her dying mother, who is going through diloxin treatments for cancer (Act of Contrition). At some point, Roslin's father and sisters are killed in a car accident at the fault of a drunk driver (Daybreak, Part I). Like her mother, Roslin is a schoolteacher, though she enters politics under the mayoral administration of Richard Adar (Miniseries). When Adar decides to run for president, Roslin reluctantly agrees to join his campaign, and is later appointed as Secretary of Education.

Though Roslin never marries, she engages in a sexual affair with the married Adar (Epiphanies). The day of the Cylon attack, Roslin learns that she has terminal breast cancer. Returning to work, Roslin informs Adar that she had successfully resolved an ongoing teacher's strike, but Adar vehemently disagrees with her method, and asks for her resignation. She asks him to defer the matter until she returns from the decommissioning ceremonies of the battlestar Galactica (Epiphanies).

Fall of the Colonies

Roslin travels to Galactica aboard the government-chartered civilian transport, Colonial Heavy 798, accompanied by a government aide, Billy Keikeya. Onboard Galactica, Secretary Roslin meets with Commander Adama, who denies her request to add a student computer network in the battlestar. Roslin lets the matter go to rest and departs the ship following the decommissioning ceremonies.

Roslin being sworn in

On route back to Caprica, Roslin learns from the captain that the Cylons are attacking the Twelve Colonies. Roslin quickly takes on the mantle of leadership, rallying the passengers to make space for potential refugees. She finally establishes contact with a government official on Caprica, who does not know the the whereabouts or condition of President Adar. As the transport begins to rescue survivors from a stranded passenger vessel, the Case Orange automated beacon is picked up on the wireless, and Roslin instructs the pilot to respond to the message with her government identification. Soon, a response returns from the automated message: Roslin, the forty-third official in line of succession, is the highest-ranking government official left alive and thus has succeeded Adar as president. Physically shaking, Roslin holds back tears and her voice cracks as the priestess Elosha administers the oath of office.

In her first act as president, Roslin orders the Galactica to assist her in rescue operations. In turn, Adama refuses to recognize her authority and orders the vessel to rendezvous with Galactica at Ragnar Anchorage. The two are interrupted by a pair of Cylon Raiders, which launch nuclear missiles at the small fleet Roslin has assembled. She refuses to leave the vessels behind and is only saved by quick thinking on the part of Lee Adama. Soon after, a Galactica Raptor carrying Dr. Gaius Baltar locates Roslin's ship, the newly rechristened Colonial One. Roslin appoints Baltar as her chief science advisor and uses the Raptor to locate any surviving ships around Caprica. Over the next few hours, Roslin's small group of ships transforms into a massive fleet harboring over 50,000 survivors.

While attempting to transfer passengers off all non-FTL capable ships, the Fleet is discovered by another pair of Raiders. Facing a difficult decision, Roslin orders all FTL-capable ships to jump to Ragnar Anchorage, abandoning the thousands of people still aboard the sub-light ships. At Ragnar, Roslin meets again with Adama and urges him to abandon the Twelve Colonies in favor of guiding the surviving civilians to a new home. Though Adama initially rejects this idea, he later acquiesces and the Fleet, protected by Galactica, leaves Colonial space.

In an attempt to give the survivors a reason to survive, Adama claims that he knows the location of Earth, the home of the Thirteenth Tribe. Roslin privately calls Adama out on his lie. Adama admits the deception, and in return for Roslin keeping his secret and allowing him to retain control of the military, he acknowledges Roslin's authority over the civilian fleet as president.

The First Month

Roslin begins building the foundations of a civilian government by collecting a census on the remaining population while Cylon attacks force the Fleet to jump every 33 minutes. Working tirelessly throughout these attacks without any sleep, Roslin is forced to make another tough call and authorizes Galactica to destroy the Olympic Carrier, a ship suspected of being tracked by the Cylons. Ultimately, the destruction of the ship ends the attack, yet Roslin continues to question whether she had made the right choice considering the 1300 lives lost on the ship (33).

Though Roslin and Adama continue to have a weary relationship, Adama integrates her into the decision process. Roslin and Adama agree to keep the knowledge that Cylons now appear human a secret (Water). She later authorizes the conditional pardoning of prisoners aboard the Astral Queen, though is less than pleased when Lee ends a subsequent prison riot by giving the prisoners control of their ship and assuring that the scheduled presidential elections would take place in nine months (Bastille Day).

Having appointed Lee as her military liaison, she admits the truth of her cancer to him. She later seeks treatment from Galactica's doctor, Sherman Cottle, though she opts to use an alternative, psychoactive drug, chamalla, rather than endure the same diloxin treatments she had watched her mother suffer through (Act of Contrition).

Following a suicide bombing aboard Galactica by a Number Five Cylon, Roslin holds a press conference revealing the truth about humanoid Cylons and releasing pictures of Aaron Doral and Leoben Conoy. The news is greeted with a stunned reaction throughout the Fleet (Litmus). A resulting independent investigation aboard Galactica is launched by Adama, though Roslin cautions against this course of action.

As a result of her press conference regarding the Cylons, a copy of Leoben Conoy is captured aboard the Gemenon Traveler. Despite Adama's desire to kill him immediately, Roslin insists he be interrogated. When Conoy claims that he has planted a nuclear bomb within the Fleet, Roslin travels to the Gemenon Traveler and stops the torture being inflicted on him. Agreeing to release him if he tells her where the bomb is, Conoy informs her that there is no bomb and that Adama is a Cylon. She subsequently orders him to be thrown out of an airlock, a method of execution repeated multiple times over the course of Roslin's administration (Flesh and Bone). While Roslin remains suspicious of Adama as a result of Conoy's claim, his accusation is refuted by Baltar's invention of a Cylon detector (Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down).

Soon after, Roslin reconstitutes the Quorum of Twelve aboard Cloud Nine. However, the election of Tom Zarek, leader of the jailbreak aboard the Astral Queen and political terrorist, as the Sagittaron delegate disrupts her agenda when Zarek insists on the election of a vice president. The delegate from Virgon nominates Zarek, while Roslin chooses Wallace Gray as her preferred candidate. However, Gray fails to win enough support in the Quorum to defeat Zarek and is replaced at the last minute by Baltar, the Caprican delegate. The resulting vote is a tie, which allows Roslin to cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of Baltar (Colonial Day).

Kobol

Shortly before the capture of Leoben Conoy, Roslin has a set of visions that are uncannily prescient to future events. During a press conference soon after, she hallucinates a dozen snakes crawling over her podium. Disturbed by these events, she consults Elosha and admits she has been using chamalla. On hearing about the snakes, Elosha reveals that it matches a prophecy in an ancient text written by Pythia 3,600 years ago concerning the exodus of humankind, which foretells that a dying leader will guide the remnants of humanity to the promised land (The Hand of God).

Cottle informs Roslin that her cancer has spread to her lymphatic system, giving her perhaps six months to live (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I). Soon after, a recon mission from Galactica discovers a habitable world with ruins across the surface. Reviewing the photos of the ruins, Roslin has another vision that Elosha confirms to be the City of the Gods on Kobol. Roslin has two further visions of the Arrow of Apollo and the Tomb of Athena and accepts the scriptures as fact. Though Adama is considering permanent settlement on the planet, Roslin tries to convince him they should use a captured Cylon Raider to return to Caprica and retrieve the Arrow of Apollo, which would open the Tomb of Athena and point the way to Earth. Uncomfortable with Roslin's new found religiousness, Adama asserts his authority over the military to deny her the use of the raider (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

Resolved, Roslin convinces Kara Thrace to steal the raider and return to Caprica by admitting that Adama does not know where Earth is. Upon learning of her deception, Adama asks Roslin for her resignation; her refusal results in him sending a Marine boarding party to Colonial One to arrest her. Though Lee Adama ultimately sides with the president during the armed standoff, Roslin agrees to surrender to prevent bloodshed. Adama is shot soon after by a Cylon agent, and Colonel Tigh assumes command of Galactica and refuses Roslin's request to be released (Scattered).

From her cell, Roslin rallies support from the Quorum of Twelve by convincing them of her role in the Sacred Scrolls; in response, Tigh dissolves the Quorum and declares martial law (Fragged). With the help of several sympathetic crew members of Galactica, Roslin escapes with Lee and hides within the Fleet with the help of Zarek (Resistance). Declaring herself publicly to be the "dying leader" foretold by Pythia, Roslin asks the Fleet to follow her back to Kobol (The Farm). Nearly a third of the Fleet heeds her request and jumps back to Kobol, where they rendezvous with Starbuck and the recovered Arrow. A search party led by Roslin heads to the surface and Elosha is soon killed by a landmine, which deeply shakes Roslin (Home, Part I).

A recon team led by Adama intercepts Roslin's group, and Adama and Roslin resolve their differences, with Adama agreeing to help her find the Tomb. After locating it, the group places the Arrow in the bow of a statue of Sagittarius, which activates a projection showing the way to Earth. Upon returning to the Fleet, Adama reinstates Roslin as president (Home, Part II).

Failing Health

Adama and Roslin begin to respect each more and their leadership in managing fleet business becomes more cooperative, asking each other for advice and correcting each other as needed, starting with a potentially disruptive tabloid expose of the Gideon shootings (Final Cut). However, Roslin's health continues to deteriorate, and Cottle advises her that she has weeks left to live. Roslin begins to put her affairs in order, signaled by her returning a book given to her by Adama (Flight of the Phoenix).

Roslin and Adama share a kiss.

The discovery of the Battlestar Pegasus gives Roslin a brief moment of relief. However, Admiral Cain's disregard for the status quo in place within the Fleet becomes apparent when Cain refuses to take Roslin's calls (Pegasus). After a near-disastrous military confrontation between Adama and Cain, Roslin conspires with Adama to assassinate Cain for the safety of the Fleet. While Adama ultimately refuses to go through with the plan, Cain is murdered by a Cylon agent and Roslin promotes Adama to admiral. The new admiral gives the president a kiss, establishing a more personal aspect to their friendship (Resurrection Ship, Part II).

By this time, Roslin requires help to move around, and she soon is rushed to Galactica's sickbay as her health fails. Preparing for Baltar's accession to the presidency, she asks Billy to give Baltar a letter she had written him. In what she believes to be her final act as president, Roslin orders that the half-Cylon, half-human baby of Sharon Agathon be terminated. However, Baltar panics at the thought of becoming president and devises a last minute solution to cure Roslin using an injection of stem cells from the hybrid fetus, which apparently eradicates her cancer (Epiphanies).

Before her treatment, however, Roslin remembers that hours prior to the attack on Caprica, she had witnessed Baltar interacting with a Number Six Cylon and deduces that he played a role in the destruction of the Colonies. Furthermore, Roslin's letter to Baltar had hurt his pride by calling out his self-centered nature. When Roslin attempts to offer Baltar an out by asking him to resign, Baltar refuses (Black Market).

Election

Roslin returns to work and begins aiming towards her reelection. Though the sudden death of Billy comes as a shock to her (Sacrifice), she soon appoints his replacement, Tory Foster, who assures her that her victory in the election is certain. However, the certainty of her reelection is thrown into doubt when the issue of abortion is raised in the Fleet. Though Roslin is pro-choice, she realizes that the survival of the human race depends on repopulation and bans abortion throughout the Fleet. Coming out against the ban, Baltar launches a presidential challenge against Roslin with the backing of Tom Zarek (The Captain's Hand)..

While dealing with Baltar's challenege, the issue of the Agathon's child, which will soon be born. Roslin decides that Sharon cannot be allowed to raise the child, yet she also feels that the child is important and should be kept safe. Thus, she conspires with Dr. Cottle and Foster to fake the child's death. She later gives the child up for adoption to Maya, claiming that the baby belonged to a Pegasus officer (Downloaded).

As the first presidential debate between Roslin and Baltar approachs, polls show Roslin firmly in the lead; Baltar's poor showing in the debate does little to change this. Indeed, Roslin appears confident that Baltar will not be able to win the election. However, the discovery of a habitable planet changes the entire nature of the race. Roslin refuses to even consider settling on the planet, saying that the Fleet must find Earth and regardless, the planet will most likely not be able to sustain a long-term settlement. However, Baltar seizes on the public's support for colonization and pulls ahead in the polls (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I).

Roslin refuses to risk the future of the human race to win an election by supporting settlement. However, she feels that a Baltar presidency will also jeopardize the safety of humanity and thus gives Foster the authority to rig the election. When early results from the election show Baltar in the lead, Foster has key election officials on Galactica, including Colonel Tigh and Anastasia Dualla, replace a ballot box with one stuffed with ballots for Roslin. Though the election is called for Roslin and Baltar concedes the race, Felix Gaeta discovers the plot and informs Adama. Roslin pleads with Adama to cover up the rigged election. While Adama admits he agrees with Roslin, he refuses to overturn the results of a democratic election. However, he does not publicly reveal the conspiracy, calling it an error in the ballot tabulation. Baltar succeeds Roslin as president, and Roslin settles on New Caprica with the rest of the civilian population (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).

New Caprica

Roslin as a teacher on New Caprica.

On New Caprica, Roslin returns to her old profession of schoolteacher, working with Maya and watching over the hybrid baby, Isis. During a groundbreaking ceremony for a project promoted by Baltar's government, she meets with Admiral Adama. The two friends comfortably chat while smoking and drinking, and later gaze at the stars together. During the intimate outing, Roslin tells Adama of a cabin she is planning to build next to a lake, insisting that though the Cylons could return, they should use what time they have to enjoy life (Unfinished Business). Her fears prove to be true; on the 380th day after settlement, the Cylons discover and occupy the colony.

Roslin becomes heavily involved with the resistance movement led by Colonel Tigh. Disgusted with the willingness of some humans to join the Cylon-controlled New Caprica Police, she and Foster work on discovering the identities of those people and handing them over to the resistance (Occupation). Following a suicide bombing at the graduation for the police force, Roslin is detained by the Cylons as are all high-profile civilians. Baltar visits her in her cell and offers to help her should she publicly denounce the bombings. Roslin argues that the Resistance is justified in their acts, yet she yields that she does not support the suicide bombings. Despite refusing to cooperate with Baltar, she is released from prison (Precipice).

Roslin later attempts to force Tigh to stop the suicide bomings, and a heated argument ensues in which Roslin uncharacteristically slaps Tigh. When another suicide bomber cripples the power infrastructure and kills numerous Cylons and humans, police forces storm through the city and arrest numerous people, including Roslin. The prisoners are put on trucks, where Roslin finds former vice president Zarek, who has spent the last four months in detention (Precipice).

The Cylons take Roslin and the prisoners to be executed at the Pergamus Flats. Before they can do so, a raid by the Resistance kill the Cylons and free the prisoners. Roslin learns from Galen Tyrol that Galactica is planning a daring raid to evacuate the colonists. With the Resistance, Roslin goes over the evacuation strategy that they had put in place, and ensures that Maya and Isis will be safely escorted to an evacuating ship (Exodus, Part I).

During the Battle of New Caprica, Zarek and Roslin escape together but she states that she will evacuate aboard her ship, Colonial One. Zarek notes the important symbolism and gives a sidearm to Jammer, directing him to protect Roslin (Exodus, Part II). Once the Fleet is safely reassembled, Roslin, Foster, and civil servants begin clearing the trappings of the Baltar/Cylon administration from Colonial One while assembling a census and calculating their losses. Foster confirms that Maya and Isis did not evacuate, and offers her apologies to Roslin. Though shaken, Roslin and a somewhat fatalistic view of the loss of Isis (Exodus, Part II).

With Baltar missing following the evacuation, Zarek, as the legal vice president, assumes the presidency. However, Adama makes it clear that he will not accept this, and Zarek agrees to transfer the presidency to Roslin in exchange for a place in the new government. Touched by his courage on New Caprica, Roslin agrees to make him her new vice president. The discovery of a secret tribunal set up by Zarek to try and execute Cylon collaborators leads Roslin to issue a blanket pardon for all crimes committed on New Caprica and organize a Truth and Reconciliation Committee to document the experiences of the survivors (Collaborators).

Roslin's Second Administration

• Roslin allows President Tom Zarek to assumes his office temporarily. In order to protect Roslin from having to deal with months of public trials which could destroy the unity of the Fleet through public "witch hunts", Zarek quickly establishes the Circle, a secret tribunal to investigate, charge, adjudicate, and execute collaborators and traitors. Zarek and Roslin agree to a "musical chairs" process to constitutionally restore her to the presidency. 1: with Baltar having either died or abandoned his office, Zarek has ascended from vice president to president; 2: Zarek appoints Roslin to fill the vacant office of vice president; 3: Zarek promptly resigns the presidency and Roslin assumes the office; 5: Roslin then re-appoints Zarek to his former vice presidency and privately thanks him for his service and loyalty. With a token number of suspected collaborators having conspicuously disappeared, the newly inaugurated Roslin is able to secretly dissolve the Circle and publicly issue a general pardon for all but Baltar (Collaborators).
• Roslin's relationship with Adama and the Agathons is strained when Adama discovers that Roslin hid the Cylon baby, Hera Agathon, without his knowledge (The Eye of Jupiter).
• Baltar's capture from his time with the Cylons leads Roslin to first interrogate him, then put him to trial, which places new stresses on the President.
• During Baltar's trial, Lee Adama confronts Roslin on his suspicion that she is taking chamalla again. Although Roslin silently pleads with him to not go that route, Adama persists and forces her to publicly reveal that her cancer has returned. Disappointed in him, she recalls a time when they were friends and she called him "Captain Apollo."
• She has a vision in the Opera House on Kobol where she and an image of Sharon Agathon pursue Hera Agathon, but Hera is picked up by a Number Six. A later vision reveals that Sharon Agathon shares her vision. After conferring with each other, they both visit Caprica-Six, who disbelievingly confirms that she, too, experienced the vision. When the Fleet arrives at the Ionian nebula, Roslin nearly faints, possibly having another vision (Crossroads, Part II).
• After Kara Thrace's mysterious return, Roslin deeply distrusts Thrace, although she claims to know the way the Earth and feels an instinctive need to go there. When Roslin and Adama don't comply with Thrace pleadings, Thrace confronts the president at gunpoint (He That Believeth In Me). Thrace hands Roslin her pistol and tells her to shoot if she believes that Thrace is a Cylon. Roslin pulls the trigger, but misses, and Thrace is subdued by Marines (Six of One).
• Roslin still holds a grudge against Baltar and tries to curtail Baltar's freedoms when his new-founded cult has violent confrontations with followers of other beliefs. Ostensibly trying to protect his followers and keep peace in the Fleet, she passes an emergency measure to severely restrict their right of assembly. Although she pleads to the Quorum to think of what Baltar did on New Caprica and what he might do with followers blindly devoted to him, the Quorum vetoes her (Escape Velocity).
• Roslin is currently on diloxin therapy, which has caused her to lose her hair and forces her to wear a wig. Throughout her treatment, William Adama comforts her at her bedside and offers her the use of his quarters when she wants (Faith).
• When a rebel Cylon faction proposes an alliance with the Colonials, Roslin goes along with it to get a chance to destroy the Cylon Resurrection Hub, but doesn't want to uphold her side of bargain until they find Earth. Shortly after, she visits the Hybrid on the rebel basestar, but when it is awakened it unexpectedly jumps the ship away (Guess What's Coming to Dinner?).
• Every time the basestar jumps, she has a vision of herself in an empty corridor on Galactica where she is joined by the spirit of her old friend Elosha, who takes her to sickbay to show her her own death. Elosha explains that Roslin has cut herself off from the ability to love people and shows her how Admiral Adama loves her. On the basestar, a badly injured Baltar confesses to her his part in the attack on the Colonies and she decides to leave him to bleed to death, but Elosha convinces her to help him.
• She orders Karl Agathon to take Number Three to her once she is retrieved. After the battle, the Three jokingly tells her that she is one of the Final Five, but refuses to tell anyone the truth until she is sure that she is safe. Roslin also attempts to get answers from the Hybrid but the Hybrid appears to never say anything helpful, except to inform them of the fact that that Three has already been unboxed, and the reason she jumped away from the Fleet. After the ship returns to the rendezvous coordinates, she greets Admiral Adama who waited for her in a Raptor and finally admits that she loves him (The Hub).

Revelations of the Final Five

• In the basestar control room, Roslin, William Adama, D'Anna Biers and Leoben discuss the plans to return the Final Five. Biers reveals that there are only four in the Fleet and refuses to provide answers when Roslin questions her about the fifth's location. Roslin knows that the Colonials need them, for they know the way to Earth. Frustrated, Biers citing the failure of co-operation on New Caprica, announces that she will hold the Colonials on the ship hostage until the Final Four are returned to them. When a standoff between the Colonials and the Centurions breaks out, Roslin tells Adama and the pilots to stand down. Biers tells Adama to accompany her to Galactica on a Raptor but Adama refuses until Roslin insists on him going. Before he leaves, Roslin embraces Adama and whispers in his ear that if the Cylons get the four, they get Earth, and he can't allow that to happen, even if he has to destroy the basestar with them aboard. Adama leaves and Roslin returns to Baltar (Revelations).
• Roslin rebandages Gaius Baltar's wounds, who is alive thanks to Roslin's change of heart. Roslin reveals that she told Adama to destroy the basestar if the Cylons get the final four. Foster walks in with a Six and hands Roslin her medication. Roslin thanks Foster and asks how she was able to do so. Foster's response is that she came with Biers to be with her people. It is then that Roslin realizes she was one of the Final Five. When asked if she had any idea, Roslin says no, and Foster tells her it might be worth pondering about other things she has been wrong about, then turns and leaves. Roslin interrupts her departure to ask her to convince Biers to release the hostages. Foster coldly replies that she's done taking orders from her.
• As things heat up, Roslin and Baltar hear the hostages and Centurions outside the room, as a Number Two walks in and tells them that Biers is about to start executing more hostages. When Roslin requests that she be taken to Biers, Baltar insists that he be taken instead for he was with her in the Temple of Five. In her visions Roslin remebers seeing him in the Opera House and she agrees with him.
• After the location of Earth is discovered and the Final Five are granted amnesty with Biers agreeing to release the hostages, Lee is discussing the location of Earth with his discouraged father. Roslin walks in and sitting next to him says she wants to see him pick up the first fistful of earth. He walks away saying that he'll be back. Lee Adama talks to Roslin about stepping down, and she praises him on resolving the crisis. Roslin says that the Fleet will need that kind of leadership in the years to come (Revelations).
• In the CIC Adama, asks Roslin to give the final order to take them to Earth. An excited, happy and teary eyed Roslin smiles and gives Adama the order to jump to Earth. With that the fleet spools up and jumps.
• On surface of Earth in the debris of a once great city, Roslin stands with Adama as he lifts up a handful of soil. A crew member next to them scans the soil with a Geiger counter. The soil is irradiated. Laura Roslin stands next to Adama, visably devastated. (Revelations).

Earth and a search for a new home

• Both the humans and Cylons wander the surface of Earth, all indications point to a major nuclear disaster across the planet. Laura Roslin crouches down in the sand and picks up a short plant, what seems to be the only visible life found in the destruction. Teams around the planet have reported no responses to hails and that the entire planet looks much like the beach they are on now. Roslin quips, "It's perfect. We traded one nuked civilization for another." (Sometimes a Great Notion).
• As the door to Adama and Roslin's Raptor opens, assembled around them is a huge crowd on the hangar deck anxious for answers. But Roslin can only shake her head in disbelief and her profound disappointment. Her dreams for humanity dashed, she turns and manages to weakly mutter to Adama, "Get me out of here." The crowd rushes Roslin and Adama, while Lee and the Marines try to hold back the surging crowds, Lee screaming over the crowds protests, shouts out that answers will be revealed in due time (Sometimes a Great Notion).
• With their tests complete, both the teams of humans and Cylons meet aboard Galactica in Baltar's lab to discuss the findings of the Centurion helmet and humans remains buried on the surface. Caprica-Six confirms that other Centurion helmets were found as well as 250 skeletons from four sites around the planet. A Number Eight confirms that, while the Centurion design is similar, they have never seen this design before, and that it is not one of theirs. A shocked Roslin realizes that the Thirteenth Tribe created their own Cylons much like they had on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Lee Adama completes her thoughts; that like the Colonies these Cylons also rebelled against their masters. Baltar adds that they tested the skeletons as well, and the astonishing conclusion is that the every one of the skeletons themselves are also a form of humanoid Cylons. Caprica-Six confirms that their tests show the same conclusion. The Thirteenth Tribe were Cylons. Roslin leaves the meeting visibly shaken, but Lee Adama stops her to ask what she will tell the Quorum. Weak and dishearten, Roslin has nothing to say at all (Sometimes a Great Notion).
• In Adama's quarters, Laura Roslin sits on the floor emotionally upset. She is setting fire to one of the pages of the Pythian Prophecy in the scared scrolls. Turning each successive page to light and burn the next, one by one. Adama arrives to ask Roslin to help figure out a way to shore up the Fleet's quickly sagging morale. She is passive and unresponsive, and Adama wishing to get closer to a obviously shaken Roslin kneels down beside her and continues. He tells her that she has missed her doloxan treatment, but Roslin's response is that she didn't feel like it and will not reschedule. Asking if she is willing to just lay down and quit, She laments to Adama that he took her advice and now there are so many men and women who have died for what appears to be a fruitless series of visions (Sometimes a Great Notion).
• Roslin pretty much abandons her Presidency and decides to live as a normal person, also giving up her diloxin treatments. She also starts a relationship with Willam Adama, kissing him in a corridor, sleeping with him and later kissing him again and reacting badly to his supposed demise.
• When Tom Zarek and Felix Gaeta start their coup, she is in the Admiral's quaters and decides to hed to Baltar's commune to make a wireless transmission about the mutiny to rally support to her and Adama. She makes a short broadcast before being jammed, then heads with Baltar to the Secondary Storage Airlock in order to get off the ship to saftey. There she kisses Adama goodbye, knowing he's going to stay behind to cover their escape and attempt to retake the ship, then leaves in a Cylon Raptor for the baseship. Narcho and Hotdog are ordered to shoot her down, but when she identifies herself before being jammed again, Hotdog hesitates and it allows her to escape to the baseship safely. There she keeps attempting to send another wireless message to the fleet over the Raptor's radio, but is blocked by Galactica's jamming. While the other Cylons discuss options, Roslin, with the help of a Number Two, succesfully penetrates Galactica's jamming and tells about the mutiny and orders the fleet to shut off their FTL drives before Galactica finally manages to jam her again. Ten ships obey, but the Cylons decide to jump away. Roslin gives a speech to them and convinces them to stay and help put down the mutiny. Roslin, taking command, contacts Galactica and orders the mutiny to end and Gaeta and Zarek to surrender. Zarek tells her that Tigh died trying to escape and Adama was tried, convicted and executed and calls for her surrender, but he strengthens her resolve and she promises to come after him with everything she has at her disposal and has the baseship's weapons turned on Galactica. After Galactica fails to jump away (Galen Tyrol disabled the FTL drive) it initaly looks like it will turn into a shooting war between the two ships, but Gaeta orders a weapons hold. Before anything further can happen, Adama regains control of Galactica and calls a relieved Roslin to tell her and the Cylons to stand down. Roslin returns to Galactica and tearfully embraces Adama.
• When Hera Agathon is kidnapped by Boomer, Roslin somehow senses it and collapses.
• After her collapse, Roslin is taken to sickbay and remains in bed there. She discusses with Adama abandoning Galactica and convinces him to do so.
• Roslin is still in her sickbay bed when Cottle and Ishay discuss the rescue mission for Hera, not realizing she's awake. Once she's left alone, Roslin gets up and gets dressed and makes her way to the hanger where everyone is gathering. There she volunteers for the rescue mission asking Adama if he planned on going without her. Adama accepts Roslin's joining of the mission and she joins the volunteers for the mission.
• Roslin, in sickbay, is given injections by Cottle that will keep her going for two days, but is warned that doing this will sap what life she has left and she'll die soon after. Roslin thanks Cottle for everything has done for her and gets choked up and Cottle appears to be touched as well by her thanks but she tells him to smoke a cigarette and grumble to preserves his reputation as a hard-ass which he does.
• Roslin takes up a role in sickbay helping Ishay with patients. When Adama orders a check-in of all stations, Roslin checks-in for sickbay. During the battle she helps take care of the injured patients and decide who is fatally wounded and who can be saved. It overwhelms her and she leaves to take a break. While outside the sickbay, she senses Hera's return and rushes off to find her. Roslin finds Hera and pulls her out of the way of a group of Cylons, but Hera runs off afterwards. In a fullfilment of the Opera House Prophecy with the Opera House being substituted for Galactica, Roslin chases Hera through the corriders of the ship despite having trouble walking due to her weakened condition and meets up with Sharon Agathon and watches as she and Sharon are shut out by Baltar and Caprica Six who find Hera but don't realize that Roslin and Sharon are there. Later, during the truce, she is in in CIC leaning heavily on Adama as the Five transfer resurrection over to The Colony in exchange for Hera and an end to the war. She witnesses Tyrol break the download and kill Tory and takes cover as Simon, Cavil and Doral open fire only for Simon and Doral to be killed by Starbuck and Apollo and Cavil to kill himself. She stays next to Adama during the jump and asks Starbuck where she took them after its revealed that Galactica is now crippled.
• On New Earth Roslin, visibly getting weaker, views the wildlife and asks Adama what the planet will be called. Adama decides to take her up in a Raptor to get a closer look at the wildlife and she enjoys the sight. Roslin utters her final words, "So much...life," and quietly passes away. Adama buries her next to the cabin he planned to build for them.

Notes

• The character of Laura Roslin is unique to the Battlestar Galactica saga. She has no counterpart to the Original Series, where its version of President Adar is killed and a presidential replacement is never made. Roslin assumes more of the political-spiritual leadership of the Original Series' Commander Adama, whereas William Adama is representative of the Original Series' character's military commander aspect.

• Roslin's apparent cure in "Epiphanies" contradicts the "dying leader" clause of the Pythian Prophecy, despite the fulfillment of her role in the Tomb of Athena story arc. However, in "Crossroads, Part I", she reveals that her cancer has returned.

• Actress Mary McDonnell is perhaps best known for her role in the epic film, Dances with Wolves, with Kevin Costner. Another famous role of hers was the U.S. First Lady in Independence Day, a film which (in a less serious tone than Battlestar) depicts cocky human fighter pilots battling an genocidal enemy from outer space. In that film she dies of her injuries from a helicopter crash before an end to the conflict is reached.

• While it may be a coincidence, the name Laura Roslin is an amalgam of the forenames of the incumbent U.S. First Ladies at the time the Ronald D. Moore series and the Original Series each premiered: Laura Bush and Rosalynn Carter, respectively.

• In the Singer/DeSanto continuation of the the Original Series, a female president named Mara would visit Galactica in much the same way that Laura Roslin did as part of that Galactica's decommissioning ceremony.

• The glasses that the character wears are also McDonnell's real glasses.

References

Preceded by: Richard Adar	President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol	Succeeded by: Gaius Baltar
Preceded by: Tom Zarek	Vice President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol	Succeeded by: Tom Zarek
Preceded by: Tom Zarek	President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol	Succeeded by: Romo Lampkin and Lee Adama (Acting President)