Baltar (TOS-RH)

This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Richard Hatch Novelizations separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.

For the canonical depiction of this character, see: Baltar (TOS).

Baltar is the greatest traitor in human history, a former advisor to the President of the Quorum who orchestrated the betrayal of the Twelve Colonies to the Cylons, leading to the near-extinction of humanity. Despite his infamy, Baltar survives for decades after, serving the Cylons before eventually being captured by the Colonial Fleet and living among the survivors he betrayed. In his final act, he achieves redemption through self-sacrifice, destroying a massive Cylon armada to save the fleet. Following his death, Baltar transcends mortality, continuing to assist the colonials from beyond the grave as a spectral presence on the astral plane.

Biography

Early Life and Political Career

Baltar serves as advisor to the President of the Quorum before the Fall of the Colonies. Despite his ambitions, he is passed over repeatedly for the Presidency of the Quorum itself, leading him to realize he will never attain that post through legitimate means. Even if he had achieved the presidency, he recognizes he would still have to contend with the eleven other councilors. This frustration, combined with his belief that he needs to rule absolutely, sets him on his path to betrayal.

Baltar is of the same blood as Commander Adama, a son of Kobol.

The Great Betrayal

After nearly a millennium of warfare between humanity and the Cylons, Baltar devises a scheme to end the war and simultaneously seize absolute power. He orchestrates a false peace initiative with the Cylons, planning for the Cylon Empire to conquer the human race with his assistance. In exchange, Baltar believes he will rule humanity as regent under the Imperious Leader, so long as he does not defy Cylon authority.

Baltar aids the Cylons in deceiving the Quorum, ensuring the Colonies are dealt a devastating defeat. He justifies his actions with the twisted logic that a few million lives are acceptable losses when measured against what he perceives as the future well-being and long-term survival of the human race under his leadership. However, the Cylons betray Baltar's expectations completely—the Imperious Leader seeks nothing less than the complete eradication of humanity from the galaxy.

Service to the Cylons

Following the betrayal, Baltar spends eighteen yahren working with the Cylons, attempting to track down the fleeing Colonial Fleet and destroy the last remnants of humanity. During this time, he does whatever is necessary to survive, continuing to obey the Imperious Leader while trying to consolidate some power among the Cylons, only to be betrayed repeatedly.

Baltar commands a Cylon base star for a time, with Lucifer serving as his aide. However, the Imperious Leader eventually relieves Baltar of command, demoting him to mere advisor while elevating Lucifer to command of the base star. Baltar despises Lucifer, particularly the cogitator's amused tone when saying "By your command."

During his time among the Cylons, Baltar learns much about their three castes: the nearly mindless Centurions, the Imperious Leader himself, and higher-functioning Cylons like Lucifer who possess two brains and serve as officers. He discovers that when an Imperious Leader dies—Cylon lifespans extend beyond two centuries—a new leader is chosen from the ranks of cogitators, who receive a third brain that grants them the capacity for abstract thought and limitless knowledge.

Baltar also learns critical information about Count Iblis, the ancient being who created the Cylon race millennia earlier through genetic splicing of the reptilian natives of planet Cylon and cybernetic technology, programming them with two species goals: conquest of the universe and extermination of humanity. Before his death, Iblis prepared an Imperious Leader with all his wisdom and knowledge to carry on in his place, though cogitators consider Iblis largely mythical. When Baltar faces execution, Iblis offers him information sufficient to save his life.

Return to the Fleet

Eventually, Baltar is captured by Colonial forces and brought back to the fleet. Rather than being executed, he is placed under a form of house arrest with a tracking device implanted around his ankle that causes pain when he strays too far from his designated quarters. This tracebomb implant is controversial, with some Quorum members like Siress Kiera objecting to it as an inhuman form of punishment.

Commander Apollo takes personal responsibility for Baltar, allowing him relative freedom in exchange for information about the Cylons and strategic advice. The Council's leniency stems partly from Baltar's extensive knowledge of Cylon capabilities and partly from political considerations. However, Baltar remains a pariah among the fleet's citizens, his name snarled with disgust by the average person.

Despite the restrictions, Baltar manages to acquire luxuries like ambrosa through sympathetic individuals who don't view him as the monster most citizens believe him to be. He develops a particularly notable friendship with Siress Kiera, appearing with her in public multiple times, which causes considerable controversy within the Quorum. President Tigh is especially incensed by this relationship and seeks a formal censure against Kiera, though the Quorum only issues a private reprimand. Tigh warns that if Kiera continues appearing publicly with Baltar, he will have the traitor imprisoned for life on Icarus.

Attempts at Redemption

While living among the fleet, Baltar makes periodic attempts to rehabilitate his image, working to convince people that he was an unwilling pawn in the Cylon betrayal. He presents himself as having been a prisoner of the Cylons rather than a willing collaborator. At times, Baltar even claims to have experienced "real freedom" and describes himself as "a free man," despite his captive status.

However, Baltar's true nature occasionally surfaces. When alone with Commander Cain, he drops his pretense entirely, revealing pride in his accomplishments and showing no remorse for his actions. He demonstrates a philosophy that rejects concepts of good and evil, instead viewing life as a series of "choices."

Despite his past, Baltar provides valuable intelligence to the fleet on multiple occasions. He offers the coordinates of a supposedly habitable planet unknown to the Cylons, knowledge he acquired during his time serving them. He insists his continued well-being is tied to the fleet's survival and claims his only future lies in redeeming himself with the colonials.

Conspiracy and Vindication

During a period of political upheaval, Baltar becomes entangled in a conspiracy orchestrated by Sire Aron. When Apollo is falsely accused of murdering Jinkrat, Baltar emerges from the shadows to help uncover the truth. Working with Koren, the son of Jinkrat, Baltar helps prove Apollo's innocence by allowing the boy to testify that his father died saving Apollo, not at Apollo's hand.

When Aron attempts to kill Apollo during the tribunal, Baltar physically grapples with the conspirator, forcing his laser blast astray and saving Apollo's life. In this moment, Baltar displays genuine courage and looks like "a true member of the Council" and "the great Lord he could once have been." His actions during this crisis demonstrate that despite his history, Baltar is capable of acting selflessly when circumstances demand it.

During the confrontation with Aron, Baltar makes a critical statement to the Council: "I'm not lying now, Aron. I am telling the truth!" This moment represents a turning point where Baltar openly acknowledges his past deceptions while insisting on his present honesty.

Cylon Mental Invasion

During the fleet's time on Paradis, Baltar experiences recurring invasions of his consciousness by the Imperious Leader. The Cylons wire his brain, using his gray matter as a potential homing beacon for the Cylon fleet while simultaneously flooding his mind with visions of the Cylon homeworld in the midst of civil war. These telepathic intrusions manifest as nightmares featuring red Cylon eyes that won't leave him in peace, continuing even when he is awake.

The mental torture proves nearly unbearable. Baltar is shown terrible visions of Cylon society and warfare, starved for explanations but instead tortured with vision upon vision. He later reflects that "there is no greater torture than to be shown and not told." The Imperious Leader projects concepts directly into Baltar's mind, using words to ensure absolute understanding when necessary, while other times simply overwhelming him with incomprehensible alien vistas.

Through these forced mental connections, Baltar learns that the Imperious Leader destroyed Paradis using a powerful ray weapon capable of destroying entire planets. The weapon was directed through a spacetime warp, which weakened its effect and required considerable time to build up the necessary destructive force. Baltar realizes the Cylons have found the fleet's location and are coming with overwhelming force.

The mental invasion creates a dichotomous existence for Baltar—at times he seems aware of what happens in his physical surroundings while simultaneously experiencing the Cylon visions. He shares this intelligence with Apollo, warning that the Cylons are evolving and that their civil war will only make whichever faction survives stronger and more dangerous.

Final Sacrifice

When a massive Cylon armada approaches the fleet near Paradis, Baltar makes his ultimate choice. He escapes from the Med Lab by rendering his guard unconscious with a karate chop, breaking a wine glass in the process and regretting he never thought of a proper toast.

Baltar commandeers his old ship and prepares an elaborate trap for the approaching Cylon fleet. He contacts Apollo one final time, mocking Sire Uri and the Council while revealing his plan: "Don't worry about it. I'm about to give the council a lesson in applied civics. Good government must always make some provision for defense." When Apollo asks what he intends to do, Baltar responds: "Watch and enjoy the show. You can say goodbye to the council if you'd like. I'm too busy. I'm about to say goodbye to the Cylons!"

The Cylon force is so massive that Apollo can see them from the view port even at a safe distance. Baltar's sense of timing is matched only by his sense of the theatrical. The Cylons never anticipate the attack—Baltar prepares his ship using solonite bombs confiscated from Sire Uri, but combines them with something far more powerful, demonstrating a working knowledge of tylium's potential.

The resulting explosion has the force of a small sun, consuming the Cylon ships in a brief moment that seems to stretch to infinity. Apollo shouts warnings that no one should look directly at the blinding flash that sends Baltar on his final journey. The mega-explosion wipes out the largest armada of Cylon ships, matching in scale the destruction Baltar helped bring down on his home planet of Caprica—practicing an eye for an eye, "even when a watery human one was paid for with a bright red glow of hate."

In the aftermath, when Sheba asks what happened, Apollo places his hand against the viewing port and delivers what serves as Baltar's epitaph: "An extraordinary human being just found his way home." Apollo wonders if Baltar's theory about duplicate brains creating other selves might be true, imagining "a succession of Baltars in imperial robes striding down the corridors of time."

Posthumous Existence

Following his sacrificial death, Baltar discovers that death does not end his consciousness. As a materialist who assumed death would bring nullity, he finds himself profoundly disturbed by the realization that he continues to think and experience existence beyond mortality. The transition from life to death brings no pain, but the shock of having thoughts after death forces him to confront an unexpected reality.

Baltar's first challenge in his posthumous state involves integrating his fragmented consciousness. The Cylons' practice of cloning his brain and duplicating his mind creates thousands of Baltars, each insisting it is the one true Baltar. Through sheer force of will, he brings all the random and quarreling memories under the control of one contemporary mind, spending what feels like an eternity dealing with competing personas and whispering voices claiming to be the true Baltar while dismissing all others as simulacrums.

Once he achieves mental integration, Baltar begins an inventory of his crimes, contemplating the names and lives of each victim who died because of him. In his current state, he has access to all this information—millions of individual lives destroyed by his betrayal. Feeling remorse for the dead becomes a necessary requirement to move forward, and he begins to re-imagine his body, starting with his head and eventually completing the reconstruction down to his feet.

Eventually, "windows" begin to open—portals through which Baltar can observe events in the living universe. He is amazed to discover that only a short time has passed since his death, rather than the millions of years he expected based on the eternities he experienced while dead. Time flows differently for the dead than for the living, and he realizes he might be able to open windows to both past and future.

Baltar decides to explore the possibility of communicating with the living, though he doesn't initially know what is possible. He succeeds in brief contact with the spacetime continuum by linking to living human brains with which he has an affinity—particularly Apollo and Gar'Tokk. However, his early attempts prove frustrating—he can make himself seen and heard briefly, but cannot sustain contact long enough for effective communication. A more powerful force sometimes blocks his attempts at breaking through, bathed in powerful blue light.

Redemption Through Service

When the fleet discovers survivors of the Thirteenth Tribe who unknowingly carry a deadly plague, Baltar intensifies his efforts to communicate with Apollo. Through laborious communication—Apollo writing down garbled words until complete sentences emerge—Baltar delivers urgent warnings about the danger threatening Sheba and others. They develop a painstaking system: every time Apollo hears a word clearly, he writes it down; when a word comes through garbled, Apollo raises his hand and Baltar repeats it until every syllable is audible.

Baltar's first coherent messages warn about the Thirteenth Tribe survivors and urge Apollo to consult Gar'Tokk's translations. His cryptic references prove accurate—the survivors carry a plague that devastated the ancient Kobollians, and resuscitating them without precautions threatens the entire fleet.

Baltar makes a crucial breakthrough when he realizes he is being pulled toward another entity in the Paradis system. Investigating this magnetic influence, he discovers the Cylon basestar laboratory containing living brains in an activated solution—including one of his own cloned brains. This provides him with the additional energy source he needs for sustained contact with the living world.

During Apollo's desperate search for a cure to the plague, Baltar appears in a dreamlike underwater realm where Apollo struggles to breathe in what seems like liquid air. Baltar's spectral form achieves greater coherence and control, allowing direct communication about the cure's location. He reveals that Count Iblis engineered the plague as a biological weapon, and that a cure exists aboard the derelict Cylon basestar in Section Four, Category Ten of the human DNA experiments—a repository of Iblis's twisted research.

Baltar explains that he has spent his existence beyond death piecing together this information, learning to navigate the astral plane and uncover Iblis's secrets scattered across the cosmos. When Apollo begins to "drown" in the dreamscape, Baltar urges him to wake and retrieve the cure immediately, promising that Apollo's time to remain in such a place has not yet come.

Following Apollo's successful retrieval of the cure, Baltar remains near the Paradis system long enough to ensure the cure's successful implementation. He witnesses Apollo's courage in receiving the first injection to verify the treatment works, and observes as Dr. Bell and his team save four hundred lives, including Sheba's recovery from what seemed like inevitable death.

As Baltar speeds to his next rendezvous, he relishes the thought of four hundred lives saved—perhaps a drop in the bucket against the millions of lives that haunt him down the corridors of eternity, but a start nonetheless. He moves with grace and dignity toward his own personal redemption, each step on this path helping him better appreciate the redemption of others.

Baltar arrives at his destination to discover Imperious Leader with a fourth brain surgically attached, causing the Cylon dictator considerable pain. Without looking up from his headache, Imperious Leader welcomes Baltar back and announces: "Thanks to your invaluable contribution, we can finish what we started." This cliffhanger suggests Baltar's journey beyond death continues, with implications for conflicts yet to unfold.

Personality and Abilities

Baltar possesses an extraordinary ability to perceive and manipulate the thoughts of others, able to give commands with his mind as easily as breathing. The weak-minded and unwary are particularly vulnerable to his mental influence. Even strong-willed individuals like Apollo must guard their thoughts carefully in his presence to avoid giving Baltar any opening to worm his way into their minds.

Despite his advanced age—the years have not been kind to him as they were to Adama—Baltar retains much of his cunning and intelligence. However, there is a visible weakness in his movements and an uncertainty that stems not just from age but from something deeper in his soul. Much of his old fury and vigor fades over time, and he can no longer capture the nastiness he once possessed with such ease.

In his heart, Baltar believes he is the hero of his own story, never seeing himself as the villain others perceive. Every choice he makes seems foredoomed to turn into betrayal, though he cannot understand why this is so. He maintains that all his actions were undertaken for the betterment of humanity, believing that nothing could be better for the human race than his own leadership.

Baltar is haunted by persistent nightmares featuring the eyes of the Imperious Leader, Count Iblis, and all those who died because of his betrayals, including his long-dead parents. These nightmares grow increasingly bizarre and intense over time, becoming more elaborate and disturbing with each occurrence. The voice of the Imperious Leader continues to torment him even after his service to the Cylons ends, suggesting a lingering psychological connection.

During his time on Paradis, Baltar reaches a philosophical conclusion about existence, viewing life through a lens of cosmic indifference. He finds comfort in the idea that the universe takes no more notice of his treason than it would of an exploding nova or the death of a daggit. He describes history as "only another form of nagging" and dismisses historical judgment of his genocide as irrelevant in the grand scheme of space and time.

However, there is one person who almost makes Baltar feel essential to the future: Commander Apollo. Despite being bone-weary of fearing the Cylons, Baltar develops a desire for the Cylons to feel how small they are in the vast mosaic of space and time. This evolution in his thinking presages his ultimate sacrifice.

Relationships

Apollo

Baltar's relationship with Apollo is complex and contradictory. He openly mocks and taunts the commander at times, yet also provides crucial assistance during critical moments. Despite taking personal responsibility for Baltar, Apollo maintains extreme caution around him, knowing the traitor's ability to manipulate minds. Their interactions are marked by mutual wariness, though Baltar occasionally shows what might be genuine concern for Apollo's well-being.

During the Paradis crisis, Baltar and Apollo achieve genuine communication despite the seemingly impossible barriers between them. Baltar reflects that if the Council had their way, this unlikely dialogue would never have begun, and if the Cylons' original plan had succeeded, both participants would be dead. When Apollo places his hand on Baltar's shoulder and says "We're here," acknowledging their survival despite overwhelming opposition, Baltar feels a glimmer of hope.

Baltar later describes Apollo as his only friend, worrying that others might condemn the commander through association with him. Apollo is astonished by this display, recognizing it as another example of how far Baltar has traveled from his earlier path—the Baltar of old would have gone out of his way to cause exactly that kind of mischief.

On one occasion, Baltar even walks in on Athena and Starbuck in a compromising situation in Apollo's quarters, an incident that causes Baltar to blush—an expression Apollo has never seen on the villain's face before.

In death, Apollo becomes Baltar's primary link to the living world. Baltar focuses his spectral energies on communicating with Apollo to warn about the plague and guide him to the cure, demonstrating that even beyond death, their connection remains significant.

The Cylons

Baltar's relationship with the Cylons is one of perpetual disappointment and betrayal. He despises them, particularly the Imperious Leader who repeatedly deceives him, and Lucifer, whose amused superiority grates on his pride. Yet he remains dependent on them for survival during his years of service. The Imperious Leader tells Baltar he was "the perfect traitor" because he "never loved," a statement that haunts him in his nightmares. The Cylons consider Baltar dysfunctional and evil precisely because he does not serve his own species, though they acknowledge he possesses one Cylon virtue: he does not let concern for any individual detract from his larger purpose.

During the mental invasions while on Paradis, Baltar's relationship with the Cylons reaches its nadir. The Imperious Leader uses his brain as both homing beacon and window into Cylon society, an invasive telepathic connection that Baltar experiences as torture. Yet even this violation provides him with intelligence about Cylon civil war and the destruction of Paradis, information he shares with the colonials.

His final act—destroying the largest Cylon armada—represents the ultimate rejection of his former masters and a balancing of cosmic scales. In death, when confronted again by Imperious Leader with a fourth brain, Baltar's journey comes full circle as the Cylon dictator acknowledges Baltar's "invaluable contribution" to finishing what they started.

Notes

• Baltar's statement that "there are always choices" reflects his philosophical rejection of absolute moral standards, viewing decisions as purely pragmatic rather than ethical.
• His ability to manipulate minds suggests either advanced psychological training or some form of psychic capability acquired through unknown means.
• The tracking device around his ankle causes him agony when he strays too far from his quarters, yet on at least one occasion he demonstrates remarkable pain tolerance, showing no reaction despite the device glowing "like a Cylon's eye."
• Despite being one of the most reviled figures in human history, Baltar maintains a small circle of sympathizers who provide him with contraband luxuries and social companionship.
• Baltar's posthumous existence demonstrates that unlike Count Iblis, who "confused rising above nature with falling below it," Baltar retained his essential humanity even in transcendence.
• The Cylons' cloning of Baltar's brain creates multiple duplicate consciousnesses that continue to exist after his physical death, validating his earlier speculation about "a succession of Baltars" striding through time.
• Baltar nearly collides with Count Iblis on the astral plane following his work to save the fleet from the plague, an encounter that would have been "most inopportune" had it occurred.
• His ability to navigate the astral plane, discover the cure's location, and communicate across the barrier between life and death suggests that death has not diminished his exceptional intellect and willpower, but rather freed them from mortal limitations.

Behind the Scenes

Author's Approach to the Character

Co-author Brad Linaweaver brought a distinctive perspective to writing Baltar that Richard Hatch particularly praised. According to Linaweaver, Hatch told him that "no one did Baltar as well as yours truly," expanding that "by no one, he included every writer on the original TV series." Linaweaver stated that Hatch had "never seen anyone get inside the head of the series' human villain the way I comfortably took up residence in a malignant mind."

Linaweaver's approach to Baltar emphasized the villain's internal perspective and philosophical worldview. In Destiny, he portrayed Baltar as viewing himself as "an attentive listener, even if the droning lecture was the product of his own fevered imagination," and having him assert that "one monster's morality is a free man's bad joke."

The characterization explored Baltar as a representative of individualistic evil in contrast to the Cylons' collectivistic evil, with Linaweaver noting that "exceptional humans of either kind are a mystery to Imperious Leader." This philosophical framework positioned Baltar as the individualistic counterpart to Apollo's individualistic good, creating a thematic mirror that explored the nature of choice and morality.

Linaweaver and Hatch believed that their depiction of Baltar in the novels may have influenced the writers of the reimagined series' approach to the character.

The cover art for Destiny by Bob Larkin captured what Linaweaver described as "the essence of the book—and unbeknownst to the artist, certain aspects of the collaboration," featuring "a true meeting of minds between Apollo and Baltar." This artistic representation reflected how the melodramatic confrontations between Apollo and Baltar allowed the authors to explore their own different ideological perspectives in a productive way, with Linaweaver noting that "friends can discuss politics and religion" through such fictional dialogues.

References