Final Five

The Final Five in the Kobol Opera House

The term "Final Five" collectively describes five of the thirteen Cylon humanoid models, namely Samuel Anders, Tory Foster, Ellen Tigh, Saul Tigh, and Galen Tyrol, whose identities were lost to the majority of the Cylon populace. These five Cylons are the descendants of ancient humanoid artificial life forms created by humans on Kobol thousands of years ago. They are also the creators of the so-called Significant Seven Cylons, plus Number Seven, whose entire line was wiped out.

The unauthorized quest for the Five

Downloaded Three, whom Gaius Baltar calls by her sister's 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, Ellen Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders, and Tory Foster. (Crossroads, Part II, Sometimes a Great Notion).

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) leads 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 does not immediately identify Ellen Tigh, the fifth, as Ellen is not among the population of the Colonial Fleet and is believed to be dead (Revelations, Sometimes a Great Notion).

Awareness of the Five by the 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." Downloaded Three also indicates to Baltar that they do not discuss the Five. A Cavil realizes in the Temple of Five that the Three 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", although, even if he were one, Conoy should not know this. While there is a slight possibility that he could be referring to Adama's sister, it is commonly believed that he is lying in order to create mistrust (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, D'Anna Biers and Brother Cavil, among others). 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 a putative human among 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 on each other, including:

• Anders leads a resistance movement on Cylon-occupied Caprica, killing several humanoids in the process ("Resistance", "The Farm").
• A Number Three copy attacks Anders on Caprica (Downloaded).
• A Number Five maims Tigh by destroying his right eye ("Occupation", deleted scene).
• Tigh, Tyrol and Anders lead a violent resistance movement on New Caprica, resulting in the deaths of many Cylons (Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance, "Occupation" through "Exodus, Part II").
• Anders attacks a Two (The Road Less Traveled) and 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 both Kobol and on the algae planet, Anders both on Caprica and outside the Temple of Five, and most members during the escape from New Caprica. The behavior of a Centurion present at Ellen Tigh's resurrection indicates that its programming requires it to keep her prisoner for Cavil.

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).

Downloaded Three is unboxed by the Ones, to ostensibly convince the rebels to stop fighting further, and rescued by the human-Cylon alliance, after killing Cavil. 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, realizing that Ellen has been dead for nearly a year. 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 Three introduces her to her new Cylon "brothers" and "sisters". In the ensuing stand off, President Lee Adama attempts to force her 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).

In No Exit, it is revealed that Cavil has always known the identities of the Final Five. Cavil revealed Ellen's identity to Boomer two months prior to the events in The Eye of Jupiter and Rapture, the Fours are also aware of Ellen's identity in the main timeframe of No Exit; it is unclear when they became aware of this, or whether the Fives are also aware.

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 thought 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, has been a major theme in the episode. It is revealed much later that Ellen Tigh was in fact the fifth member of the final five and that she and the other five once lived on Earth two thousand years ago.

The nature of these Cylons is clearly different from the other seven. In particular, Colonel Tigh's friendship with William Adama stretches back a long time, though not to the first Cylon War itself (Scattered, Crossroads, Part II)

These Cylons possess superhuman physical strength, like the Significant Seven models (The Ties That Bind, Escape Velocity). Also, Galen Tyrol was less affected than his wife by decompression sickness (A Day in the Life). During the Battle of the Ionian Nebula, Samuel Anders' right eye responded to a Cylon Raider's scan by flashing red (He That Believeth In Me). The Final Five are capable of projection, of identifying Significant Seven copies by sight, and of being connected to a Cylon datastream (Deadlock, Someone to Watch Over Me, Islanded in a Stream of Stars).

Caprica-Six describes being "programmed" not to think of the Five (He That Believeth In Me).

When Downloaded Three takes control of the rebel Cylon baseship, she holds humans ransom, demanding the Colonials permit the remaining four Final Five Cylons to join her. She is aware that one Final Five member is no longer among the fleet. Although civilian Tory Foster flies to the baseship under the pretext of taking medication to the captive President, the three soldiers remain loyal to the Colonies. To change Three's equasion, Tigh admits his nature and presents himself for arrest. Waiting in an airlock for Three to capitulate, he identifies Anders and Tyrol to Acting President Lee Adama who has the two aprehended and brought to the airlock. In conjunction with the resulting alliance between Colonials and the rebel Cylons, Acting President Adama pardons all Cylons and releases them from custody. (Revelations)

Though freed by Lee Adama, neither Tigh, Anders nor Tyrol wears rank insignia on his fatigue collars while surveying post-apocalyptic Earth and upon their return to Galactica. ("Revelations", "Sometimes a Great Notion"). Anders, however, continues to wear insignia on his flight suit under his fatigue field jacket. Conversely, the human soldiers and Lt. Sharon Agathon wear their rank on their fatigues. Tigh continues to reside in his quarters and his sidearm has not been confiscated, but he is not shown to have resumed his rank and duties until the morning after Admiral Adama's drunken attempt to motivate Tigh to kill him. (Sometimes a Great Notion).

The Final Five do not have the reproductive difficulties of the Seven. So far one of Final Five, Saul Tigh, has managed to sire progeny. Only two of the millions of Significant Seven copies: Sharon Agathon and Caprica-Six, have managed to bear children, and none of the countless male Significant Seven copies have sired children.

The Fifth is revealed

On the devastated Earth the Four have visions that confirm their origin, that had indeed lived there 2,000 years ago as part of the Thirteenth Tribe, a humanoid Cylon civilization, all killed in the nuclear holocaust. Unknown to any of them is how they all found themselves as Colonials in a star system light-years away, their memories of their past lives all but gone.

Wading in the dead waters of Earth shortly before the Fleet returns to space and an unknown future, Colonel Tigh stumbles upon a post box hatch. Handling the hatch, he experiences a vision of his short moments in the holocaust, hearing shouts from a woman trapped in the fallen debris of an apartment building. The face is unmistakable. The vision of Ellen Tigh tells him that "Everything is in place," that they all will be reborn again, together (Sometimes a Great Notion).

Saul Tigh realizes then that his late wife, is the last of the Five, the last of the twelve humanoid Cylon archetypes (Sometimes a Great Notion). Tigh informs only the "upper echelons" of Ellen's true nature, including Admiral William Adama, former interim President Lee Adama, Vice President Tom Zarek, and President Laura Roslin. At a press conference on Colonial One, Lee Adama informs the press, inadvertently, that the final Cylon is both a woman and believed to be dead, though he does not specifically identify Ellen by name (A Disquiet Follows My Soul).

Ellen's true nature is later made public knowledge upon her return to the fleet (Deadlock).

The story of the Final Five

In No Exit, the origin of the Five is revealed. Samuel Anders regains his Cylon memories after getting shot in the head and he reveals what he knows to Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, and Tory Foster, as well as Kara Thrace. The Final Five worked in a research facility on Earth. Saul and Ellen were married even back then and Tyrol and Tory were in love and planned to get married. What they were researching was a way to re-invent resurrection technology. Organic memory transfer came from Kobol, but had fell out of use after the Thirteenth Tribe Cylons started to procreate. The Five worked night and day to rebuild it, spurred by apocalyptic warnings from "the messengers". Tyrol's work on the project was "amazing", but it was Ellen who made the intuitive leap that brought the system back online.

The Five then placed the technology and new bodies for them on a ship they placed in orbit around Earth. When they were all killed in the nuclear holocaust unleashed by Earth's mistreated mechanical Cylons, they were reborn in their new bodies on the ship in orbit. Realizing that the other Twelve Tribes would continue to create artificial life, they headed for the Colonies to tell the humans to treat their creations well and keep them close. Because their people hadn't developed jump drives, the Five's ship traveled at relativistic, but subluminal speed. Time slowed down for them, but thousands of years had passed. According to Ellen, they stopped at the Temple of Hopes on their way to the Colonies, a temple that was created by their ancestors where they prayed and got a sign that led them to Earth. But Ellen said that the Five were not responsible for the vision that Number Three received of them, saying that it must have been orchestrated by God.

By the time they got to the Colonies, the humans were already at war with the Centurions. The Centurions were already trying to make flesh bodies. They had created the Hybrids, but nothing that lived on its own, so the Five made a deal with them: they stop the war and the Five will help them create humanoid Cylons. The Centurions agreed and signed the Cimtar Peace Accord with humanity. The Five and the Centurions then withdrew to a mobile space station called The Colony placed beyond the Armistice Line. The Five and the Centurions apparently worked well together; the Five had learned to respect mechanical Cylons, and even adopted the Centurions' monotheistic beliefs.

The Five developed the eight humanoid models and gave them resurrection technology. They created Number One first, named him John. He was named after Ellen's father and also made in his image. Number One later changed his name to Cavil as he hated the name John. Cavil helped the Five build the other seven humanoid models. Ellen was close to Number Seven (Daniel) and Cavil, out of jealousy, contaminated the amniotic fluid in which the Daniel copies were maturing and then corrupted the genetic formula. This wiped out the copies permanently, and as Anders said of Daniel: "he died", indicating that the original Daniel was lost as well.

Cavil rejected mercy. He had a twisted idea of morality and despised the Five for contaminating their creations with human weaknesses and Centurion religious ideals, so he turned on them. He trapped them in a compartment and then he took the oxygen offline. Cavil boxed the Five at first but ultimately unboxed them and downloaded them into new bodies, blocking their true memories and implanting false ones, then introducing them one by one into the colonies. He introduced Saul first, not long after the war. And then Ellen. Cavil put the Five into the human population in order to truly show them what humans are like. He hoped that when they died and resurrected (which restores their real memories) they'd be ready to admit they were wrong. This is why they never knew who they really were. The truth behind the music that triggered their knowledge of their true selves has yet to be revealed.

Cavil erased all knowledge of their identities from his siblings and his was the only Cylon model that knew their identities afterwards, but he kept at least one new body for each of them to download into. When Ellen was killed by Saul, she downloaded into a new body on a Resurrection Ship. With the destruction of the Hub, the Five are the only ones who know how to rebuild resurrection technology, but Ellen claims it would take all five working together to rebuild it and even then she's not sure they could do it.

Connections between the Colonial gods and Cylon god

• The thirteenth tribe was a tribe of Cylons.
• The Temple of Five was built over 4,000 years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. According to Colonial scriptures, "Five pillars of the temple were fashioned after the five priests devoted to the one whose name cannot be spoken".
• 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 Cylon God and the Lords of Kobol.
• The thirteenth tribe were polytheistic and had a Temple of Aurora on their planet.

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" through "Revelations". 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 all of humanity to destruction (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.
• 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 significance of the five priests, the god they worshiped, and their connections with the Cylons, Kara Thrace and Baltar are not yet explained.

Notes

• In the podcast for "Rapture", it is stated that the boxing of the Threes was the first time an entire model had been eliminated, implying that the Final Five were not boxed. In No Exit, this assumption was established to be incorrect, as the Final Five were temporarily boxed before they were sent to the Colonies with false memories. The statement itself was also contradicted in the same episode, which established that Cavil destroyed the Number Seven line.
• 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. This leaves it a mystery why there is no known humanoid model designated Number Seven. This is addressed in a later episode.