Laura Roslin

Laura Roslin
Name	{{{name}}}
Age
Colony	Caprica (presumed)
Birth place	{{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name	Laura Roslin
Birth Date	{{{birthdate}}}
Callsign
Nickname	{{{nickname}}}
Introduced	Miniseries
Death
Parents
Siblings
Children
Marital Status	Unmarried, had an extramarital affair with President Adar (deceased)
Family Tree	View
Role	Teacher on New Caprica, former interim President, The Twelve Colonies of Kobol (serving remainder of Richard Adar's term), Former Secretary of Education (Under President Richard Adar Cabinet)
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]]

Biographical Notes

Background

Laura Roslin is an unmarried woman with some 20 years of political experience. She was serving as Secretary of Education for the Colonial Government at the time of the Cylon attack, during which most of humanity was killed. At that time, Roslin was 43rd in line of succession for the Presidency of the Twelve Colonies. She learns that all those in line before her are dead, and is shortly sworn in as President.

Rise to President

At the time of the Cylon attack, Roslin was aboard the Colonial government cruiser Colonial Heavy 798, having just attended the decommissioning ceremonies for the battlestar named Galactica. In the latter part of the attack, she receives a message from the Case Orange automated beacon, a special mechanism seeking communication with any surviving Colonial government officials. Moments after responding to the beacon, she discovers that, other than herself, all members of President Richard Adar's government have apparently been killed or are missing. The Case Orange response assigns Roslin new instructions, and she is duly sworn-in as President.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Roslin undertook a rescue mission, using the now-renamed Colonial One to round-up all vessels that had escape destruction and gather as many survivors as possible together, hoping to save the remnants of humanity from total annihilation. Taking her small fleet to the Ragnar Anchorage, she successfully persuaded Galactica commander William Adama away from his original intention of mounting a counter-attack against the Cylons, and towards helping the fleet make its escape.

Since the initial flight from the Twelve Colonies, Roslin has established a fledgling civilian government within the fleet, and has agreed to abide by civil law regarding her term of office (Bastille Day), thus making her government an interim cabinet that is completing President Adar's original term, prior to new elections being held. The size of her cabinet is unclear, but it is based aboard Colonial Heavy 798, now officially recognised as Colonial One. She has re-instituted the Quorum of Twelve as the legislative branch of the government, again on an interim basis pending the upcoming elections, as well as overseeing the election of a Vice President in the person of Doctor Gaius Baltar (Colonial Day).

In leading the fleet, Roslin has had an uneasy understanding with Adama that she is responsible for all civil leadership issues among the surviving Colonials, he is responsible for all military decisions (Miniseries) - but the dividing line is not always clear between the two leaders.

Despite being thrust into the role of President in highly unusual and stressful circumstances, Laura Roslin initially proved herself both tough and capable within the role. Initially in awe of Adama, and worried he did not hold her in high regard (Water), she has quickly overcome her doubts and fears to be able to make the required decisions at the right time, and also stand up to Adama himself (You Can't Go Home Again). She is also prepared to put the safety of the fleet first, no matter what the cost of her actions (Flesh and Bone), but she is also able to recognise her limitations. One of these is understanding military terminology and protocol. As a result of this, she initially asked Lee Adama to become her Special Advisor so she might better understand military requirements (Water).

Such is her trust in Lee, that he became only the second person in the fleet to know of her medical condition (Bastille Day), after Billy Keikeya.

The Secrecy and Gift of Roslin's Illness

Immediately prior to the attack, Roslin had been diagnosed with breast cancer (Miniseries), which had advanced far enough that it is inoperable. She apparently contracted it some time following her last test, some five years before (Act of Contrition). Since the attack, she has started undergoing both recognised treatments for the sickness and more "radical" treatments - such as Chamalla Extract (Act of Contrition). However, despite this, and more "regular" medical treatment, the cancer has continued to advance, aggressively attacking her lymphatic system (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I), leading the Galactica's medical staff to measure her life-expectancy in terms of months.

While she kept her cancer a closely guarded secret at first, Roslin slowly began revealing it to more and more people. Lee Adama, Doctor Cottle and her press secretary Billy Keikeya were among the first to know. Kara Thrace found out when Roslin gave her her mission to return to Caprica and retrieve the Arrow of Apollo. Finally, she announced her illness to the entire Quorum of Twelve, including political rival Tom Zarek, by claiming she was the dying leader in the Pythian Prophecy destined to lead humanity to Earth (Fragged). This highly-influential move refuted Colonel Saul Tigh's attempts to discredit the effectiveness of the civilian government of the fleet and led him to declare martial law. (Fragged) It is likely now that telling the Quorum has effectively made Roslin's illness public knowledge.

Visions and Insurrection

Shortly after she started taking Chamalla extract, Roslin began to experience dreams and hallucinations. These were initially attributed to the Chamalla treatment itself, although the dreams and visions have been remarkably prescient and vivid.

In the first, a dream, she foresaw the arrival of Leoben Conoy in the fleet and his eventual death (Flesh and Bone). Shortly after this, she had an hallucination of some twelve snakes on her podium while she addressed concerns relating to the fleet's lack of fuel (The Hand of God).

As a result of these events, Roslin sought the assistance of Priestess Elosha. While she was unable to shed light on Roslin's dream about Conoy - that event having passed by the time Roslin told her of it - Elosha did reveal the writings of Pythia to Roslin, which foretell the exile of humanity from their homelands, and their journey to a new home under the guidance of a leader who has a vision of "two and ten" snakes, and who has a "wasting disease".

This event served to arouse Roslin's curiosity concerning Colonial scriptures and legends, a curiosity that turned to belief when the fleet stumbled upon the planet Kobol, as predicted by Leoben Conoy (Flesh and Bone). Armed with her new-found belief, Roslin operated behind William Adama's back to subvert a mission aimed at destroying a Cylon basestar guarding Kobol, and instead sending Lt. Thrace back to Caprica in search of the Arrow of Apollo, thus denying Adama the weapons platform he needed to attack the basestar (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I). This action brought her directly into conflict with William Adama, who demanded her immediate resignation as President. When she refused, he terminated her Presidency and sent a squad under the command of Colonel Tigh to Colonial One to arrest Roslin in what amounts to a military coup. Despite the intervention of Lee Adama, Roslin was arrested and incarcerated aboard the Galactica (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II). With Vice President Baltar missing on the surface of Kobol, this effectively leaves the fleet without any form of civil leadership, a situation worsened by an assassination attempt on William Adama himself immediately following Roslin's arrest (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II).

Arrest, Exile and Return

Roslin's time incarcerated in Galactica's brig was anything but uneventful. She was visited often by Billy Keikeya, and gained useful information on the happenings throughout the fleet from the furloughed Lee Adama as well as her benevolent guard, Corporal Venner, a Gemenon native. Venner's respect of the president grew as he learned of her knowledge of the Sacred Scrolls and the Pythian prophesies. He asked her to pray with him during a Cylon attack (Scattered).

Colonel Tigh, in command while Bill Adama recovered, ignored Roslin's pleas for discussion and became agitated at other government officials and civilians who disagreed with Roslin's arrest. When Galactica was boarded by Cylon Centurions, Roslin insisted that Venner release her from the brig. Along with Billy, Venner attempted to escort Roslin to Sickbay, which is also designed as a disaster shelter for the ship. However, Venner's team was forced to divert and encountered the last two Centurions. A misfire on Billy's part sent Roslin and other members of her group to the floor to escape the hail of bullets. When Roslin arose, Venner noticed that the edge of her jacket had been shot through, although Roslin came away with little more than some bruises and scratches (Valley of Darkness). Venner's belief that Roslin was blessed by the gods gained more strength that day.

When the Quorum of Twelve demanded to see Roslin, Tigh attempted to dash their hopes by showing them a broken, hallucinating Roslin that his wife witnessed earlier. However, Corporal Venner smuggled in Chamalla extract on Billy's request to help, giving Roslin grasp of her senses again. She not only spoke to the Quorum after their arrival, but stated firmly that she has not relinquished her role as president, and described her role in the search for Earth as told in the Pythian prophesy. This act only increased Roslin's popularity and caused a stronger uprising throughout the fleet (Fragged).

Venner's loyalty to the president fully emerged when he conspired with Lee Adama and other members of Galactica to smuggle Roslin off the ship (Resistance). Roslin was wary of placing her security in the hands of her rival, Tom Zarek, but she was philosophical: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." After some secretive political and religious work on various ships and by wireless to gather more support, Roslin convinces over a third of the fleet to leave with her ship, the Astral Queen, to Kobol in search of the Tomb of Athena and the path to Earth. Roslin's ability to lead and command became stronger throughout this time, becoming able to keep Zarek's ambitions at bay and deliver decisions faster than before.

Roslin's faith in Kara Thrace was vindicated when she returned from Caprica with the Arrow of Apollo (Home, Part I). While she was initially inclined to have the Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii tossed from an airlock, she reconsidered and gained valuable data from the Cylon agent needed to find the Tomb of Athena before Cylons discovered Roslin's practically defenseless fleet of ships.

The recovered Commander Adama was initially enraged by Roslin's actions, but gained refreshed insight on the need for family to stay united. Perhaps, he thought, that Roslin had generated hope for Earth as he had in his fabrication of the knowledge of Earth--only Roslin was intent on getting results. With these and other thoughts in mind, Adama researched his ship's survey data on Kobol and left the ship in a Raptor with a small team to find Roslin's expedition on the surface of Kobol (Home, Part II).

On Kobol, Roslin and her group, lead by Valerii, find the path to the Tomb. Unfortunately, the party is ambushed by Cylon Centurions. Priestess Elosha, one of Roslin's most valuable advisors and friend, was killed. Roslin took Elosha's blood-spattered book of scripture to guide her and remind Roslin of her lost friend.

Roslin was pleasantly surprised to have Adama greet her warmly on his arrival at her camp on Kobol. The two leaders had a heart-to-heart talk about her rebellion, which Adama forgave. Roslin thanked Adama, calling him "Bill" casually, though she noted that she didn't require permission for what she had to do. Roslin worried that, with talk of the Caprica Resistance, that her insistence to Adama to leave the Colonial worlds behind was a mistake. Adama, also calling Roslin by her first name, firmly chastized her, reminding Roslin that her decision was correct. If he chose to stay, Adama, his son, and all of humanity would be dead.

Adama and Roslin's party later find the Tomb. With some teamwork, they discover and activate the Tomb's virtual hologram mechanism. Roslin's gamble on faith pays off big for humanity, and the group gains a map and guide to the true location of Earth.

Back on Galactica, Commander Adama introduces Roslin as President during a speech on the ship, and leads the audience in a rousing ovation, showing his firm support for her insight, leadership and her role in the destiny and safety of humanity.

Admiral Cain, and Worsening Health

Adama and Roslin's respect for each other grew stronger and their leadership in managing fleet business became more cooperative. They worked together in getting reporter D'anna Biers corralled from her potentially disruptive tabloid expose' of the Gideon shootings by giving her almost-unlimited access to interview Galactica's crew. Her resulting documentary on the weary-but-determined battlestar crew was welcomed warmly by Roslin and Adama, "warts and all" (Final Cut).

Roslin found herself being solicited of advice more often from Commander Adama, who begins to fully trust and even confide in her.

Doctor Cottle's recent prognosis on her cancer fight was not good, telling Roslin she had, optimistically, a month to live. Roslin shows the panicked and frightened part of her that occupied that lavatory on the old Colonial Heavy 798, but only for a few moments. She begins settling her affairs, starting with returning a book that Commander Adama gave to her, explaining that books are not meant to be lent. He asks her advice on trusting the Caprica Sharon Valerii copy in defending the Fleet against an incoming Cylon force (Flight of the Phoenix). Roslin suggests, based on her dealings with the same copy in orbit around Kobol, that perhaps he could find some common ground where the two can ally, despite his prejudices against this copy.

After the Cylons are routed and Galactica returns to normal operation, Roslin is honored to christen the new experimental stealth fighter dubbed the Blackbird in a small ceremony with its builders. Chief Tyrol gives Roslin the biggest surprise of all: The nickname of the new fighter is Laura, a gesture that brings tears to the President. Roslin manages to get a few laughs by making a mock strike at the Blackbird with the christening bottle, knowing its skin was too fragile.

Roslin is just as gleeful as the rest of the Fleet when the advanced battlestar Pegasus arrives. Admiral Helena Cain recognizes her and reacts with surprise at Roslin's new office. Roslin becomes concerned about Cain's abrupt command style, and asks Adama how he is managing relinquishing fleet command to Cain. Adama replies, with a smile, that he had been taking orders for a long time, and this was no different. Roslin is not convinced and senses Adama's apprehension, but was polite enough not to inquire further. Roslin is more concerned that Cain is more interested with supplying Galactica with military parts and staff, rather than aiding the needs of the civiilan Fleet, as well as ignoring Roslin's wireless calls to Cain.

With Adama's rebellious attempt to return the hastily-convicted Helo and Tyrol from Cain's ship, Roslin finds herself watching the two battlestar commanders launch Vipers at each other. Fortunately Cain and Adama reach a level of detente and come to her to mediate a truce. Roslin is incensed and berates both of them for being poor leaders. She tells both commanders to cease their antagonism to concentrate on the destruction of the Cylon fleet following them, returning to her after the battle to settle the matter with Helo and Tyrol. After Cain leaves, Roslin tells Adama privately and, surprising to Adama, that Cain must be killed if he and the Fleet are to survive.

Commander Adama later visits Roslin, in bedclothes and not looking well at all, her "game face" off for the moment. The two joke for a moment. Adama asks if she needed anything, and Roslin asks for nice, blonde Cylon body replacement. Adama smiles and says he couldn't see her as a blonde, and Roslin tells him that he'd be surprised. Roslin takes Adama's hand to receive a squeeze of encouragement as he leaves. She reminds him, as he turns back to her while wiping a tear from his eye, not to let Cain get her chance at Adama.

Roslin and Adama.

With the Fleet's successful destruction of the Resurrection Ship and the Cylon fleet, as well as Admiral Cain's death, Roslin awards Commander Adama a pleasant surprise--the rank of Admiral, as he now is commander of two battlestars and is senior officer. Roslin notes that one should never give up hope, alluding to recent events and the stress that Cain caused throughout their fleet. Roslin decides to retire for the evening, and has trouble standing as Adama stands to aid in steadying her. After he does so, the new admiral takes Roslin's face gently in hand and kisses her, a pleasant gesture that she returns. Roslin does not see Adama's smile fade to sadness over her illness as she leaves her office area (Resurrection Ship, Part II).

After an apparent collapse, Roslin is transferred to Galactica's sickbay, more for comfort and observation than treatment, as her body begins to lose its fight against her metastasized cancer. Roslin finds herself recalling the short time from where she received the terrible cancer diagnosis and before she left Caprica for Galactica's decommissioning ceremonies. She remembers her friendship and extramarital romance with President Richard Adar (whose official offices resided in Caprica City), a tense dispute with a teacher's union and Adar's overaggressive (at least in Roslin's view) attitude in arresting the teachers rather than hearing their views and complaints. Despite Adar's objection, Roslin meets with a representative of the teacher's union and successfully negotiates an agreement to cease their violence in order to gain an audience with Adar's administration. On reporting this success to Adar, the president demands Roslin's resignation as Education Secretary, claiming that her actions compromised his policies in criminal negotiation. Roslin tells the president that, after she returned from Galactica's decommissioning ceremony, she would entertain his offer. Of course, Roslin would never return to Caprica or see President Adar alive again.

Roslin manages to gain enough strength and lucidity between her recollections to meet with Admiral Adama and Gaius Baltar to recommend that the Cylon-hybrid fetus of the incarcerated Sharon Valerii be destroyed for the safety of the Fleet. Baltar is strongly against this notion, claiming that Roslin is incoherent, but Adama backs up Roslin's request.

Roslin's memories of her last days on Caprica revealed a very disturbing epiphany. She remembered seeing Dr. Gaius Baltar walking (and "making out") about the Colonial government plaza with a strikingly beautiful blonde woman. As she knew Dr. Baltar had business with the Ministry of Defense, his presence was not unusual. What Roslin's excellent memory now realized that the woman that Baltar was publicly intimate with was in reality one of the five Cylon agent later discovered in her rag-tag fleet of survivors of the Colonies.

But Roslin is unable to relay this revelation to anyone as she lapses into unconsciousness, the cancer taking its final toll on her body. But as her life signs fade, as Admiral Adama asks everyone by public address to place Roslin in her thoughts, and as the angry Sharon Valerii is restrained for her abortion, the genius within Dr. Baltar emerges with a desperate epiphany of his own. He discovers that the fetal blood of Valerii's unborn fetus destroys cancer cells and repairs and regenerate human tissue damaged by cancer. On Adama's authority (but with Dr. Cottle's admonishment), Baltar injects Roslin with some of the hybrid's fetal blood. Roslin's body convulses as the blood attacks her cancer. Moments later, her body functions strengthen and stabilize. Dr. Cottle informs Adama after tests that Roslin's cancer appears "gone." A short time later, Roslin, weak but alert, asks to see Valerii (whose abortion was cancelled as a result of her fetus' stunning ability) in her cell. Roslin smiles as Valerii caresses her abdomen, realizing that, perhaps, her decision to recommend the destruction of Valerii's fetus was made far too hastily (Epiphanies).

In the commentary track for "Epiphanies," Ron Moore states that a longer explanation of Roslin's cure was filmed that explained that the blood's stem cells cure Roslin. However, the scene was cut because he was afraid it would be too complicated and thought of as technobabble. The character's updated biography on the official Scifi.com site does confirm that stem cells from the hybrid were the actual cure. As such, Battlestar Wiki treats this data canonically as with information found in most deleted scenes.

Administration Strains

Roslin's miraculous recovery gives her a harsh perspective on Fleet business. She dives into work with a dispassionate manner not unlike her predecessor, Richard Adar. Her first order of business is to investigate and stop the black market problems that hamper effective supply routing in the Fleet. Admiral Adama tasks his son, Captain Lee Adama, to lead the investigation. At some cost to his own already-weakened emotional state, Captain Adama realizes that the black market is a necessary evil, but one that has gotten out of control thanks to the ruthless power-mongering of its leader, Phelan. Captain Adama kills Phelan, leaving others to resume their racketeering with an ultimatum: No more killing, no usury of critical supplies, and no child prostitution, else, Galactica will destroy the racketeers without mercy. While Captain Adama is successful at convincing Roslin that a measure of control has been established on the black market, Roslin is not at all happy with the outcome and angrily dismisses Admiral and Captain Adama from her ship.

The second order of business is dealing with the realization that Gaius Baltar had something to do with the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, based on Roslin's memory of Baltar with a copy of a known Cylon agent. Without proof that she can share with Admiral Adama, she decides to offer Baltar a chance to resign as vice president (without explaining why) to return to his scientific studies under the guise that she is offering a second chance at life just as he provided to Roslin on her deathbed. Baltar, highly suspicious and fearful of trading away his power base, declines Roslin's "one-time offer" (Black Market).

Roslin suffered a terrible loss when Billy Keikeya died in a hostage situation on Cloud 9. Roslin deeply cared about Billy and thought of him as the only family she had left, as well as holding high hopes for his future (Sacrifice).

Billy's replacement as Roslin's aide was Tory Foster, a proactive young woman with a great deal of political drive. Roslin would face a major policy crisis over the issue of abortion in the Fleet. Previously it had been legal before the Cylon attack, but when the Gemenese girl Rya Kibby requested an abortion from Dr. Cottle on Galactica, Gemenon representative Sarah Porter stated that abortion was anathema to the religiously fundamentalist Gemenese, and if Roslin allowed the abortion and established that her administration was pro-choice, Roslin could expect to lose all support from her previously closely allied religious base. After consulting with Adama and Baltar, Roslin was faced with hard logistics; the Fleet's population was constantly on the decline, and at the current rate the human race would be extinct in 18 years. Anything that would decrease the population further would only worsen the figures. Tearfully, and despite her own personal convictions, Roslin tearfully announced that she had made an Executive Order making abortion illegal within the Fleet. However, she allowed Rya to have an abortion because she had requested it before the law went into place. Vice President Baltar jumped onto this as a wedge-issue, and announced that he would run for president in the upcoming election against Roslin (The Captain's Hand).

Roslin was then faced with the question of what to do with Caprica-Sharon's hybrid daughter Hera. She decided that the only way to keep it safe was to fake its death, even fooling parents Helo and Sharon into believing that she was dead, so that the Cylons could not possibly know that she was still alive. Roslin then found her a foster mother named Maya, and promised to keep an eye on Hera (Downloaded).

Presidential Election

At first, Roslin is head and shoulders above Baltar in the polls. Baltar's only real point against Roslin are his accusations that she pandered to her religiously-based following. However, with the discovery of a habitable planet -- dubbed "New Caprica" -- Baltar finds the perfect wedge issue to use against Roslin. Although settlement on the planet would be extremely difficult and offers no guarantee that the Cylons wouldn't find them, the people of the Fleet vote their extreme hopes over their rational fears and Roslin's voice of reason. Baltar begins to lead in all the polls (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I).

However, Roslin gives Tory permission to try something (Roslin doesn't want to know what she does, specifically) to alter the vote her favor. Tory conspires with Col. Tigh and Petty Officer Dualla to replace the last few thousand ballots with frauds, to push Roslin over the top. Roslin has a brief celebration of victory, and although Baltar thought the results were improbable (compared to all of the pre-election polls) even he doesn't think that Roslin would go so far as to fix the election. However, Lt. Gaeta discovers the conspiracy and notifies Admiral Adama, who confers with Roslin and convinces her that rigging a democratic election was a line that they simply cannot cross; it was against everything they stood for. He indicates that the people have made the wrong decision to elect Baltar president, probably even a disastrous choice, but it was their choice. Roslin agrees to back down, and Adama announces a mistake in the vote count. A perturbed Baltar doesn't press further, content with having won the election.

Roslin as a teacher on New Caprica.

Gaius Baltar is later sworn in as President of the Colonies and orders settlement to begin on New Caprica. A year passes on New Caprica, and Baltar's administration becomes the unmitigated, incompetent disaster that Roslin had feared. It was obvious that settling on such a harsh world was a mistake, but Baltar had fooled everyone during the election with the high promises that it would fix all of their problems. Meanwhile, Roslin returns to her old love of teaching, running the new settlement's school. She is assisted by her friend Maya, who brings her infant daughter Isis to keep an eye on her (Roslin feels more comfortable watching over the pair personally). Three-hundred-eighty days after settling on the planet, the Cylons discover the colony, as Roslin had warned, and occupy the settlement (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).

Notes

• According to a Scifi Magazine interview, Roslin was never married.

References

Preceded by: Richard Adar

President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol

Succeeded by: Gaius Baltar