Toggle menu
Toggle preferences menu
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits.

Baltar Religious Theme

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide
Revision as of 18:49, 30 July 2025 by Joe Beaudoin Jr. (talk | contribs) (Removed redirect to Music of Battlestar Galactica (RDM)#Baltar theme)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

This started as a very short and simple theme first appearing in "Six Degrees of Separation". In the albums it is included in "Baltar Speaks with Adama" (Season 1) and "Dark Unions" (Season 2). It is quoted in the piano basestar theme from "Torn" and appears in more complex arrangements in "Taking a Break from All Your Worries".[themes 1]

With Baltar's rise to a messianic figure and cult leader (TRS: "He That Believeth in Me") a new theme is used for him. While evolved from and intertwined with the original theme, it is nearly entirely new, in order to reflect his change and growth. While the old theme represents his dark and sinister side, the new theme stands for his serenity and spirituality. However, the two versions interact and are used as counterpoints in various scenes. The supposedly dark theme used to score spiritual moments and the spiritual theme to score dark moments. Bear notes that his the two sides of Baltar's personality cannot be easily separated.[themes 2]

This new theme has lyrics sung by Raya Yarbrough. They represent a prayer to Baltar and are heard throughout the episode:

Translated Anglo-Saxon lyrics by Alison Walker: Original English lyrics by Bear McCreary:
We gadriaþ in nihtscuan

Neoðan þin gledstede,
þin liċfæst in blode ond lieġe.
Nu þin ġebann, æþreddaþ us
To þæm anliċum æltæwan gastcyninge
Gaius Baltar, ure dryhtweorþ nergend
Nu ond æfre to alder.
Swa we ġehwilc ġehalsiaþ.

We gather in shadow,

Beneath your altar,
Your image in blood and flame.
By your command, deliver us
Unto the One True God.
Gaius Baltar, our divine savior
Now and for eternity.
So say we all.

Another version of this theme can be heard in "Six of One" when Baltar sees and talks to a virtual version of himself. This arrangement is a musical palindrome; a cue that reverses itself in the middle and sounds exactly the same being played forward or backward.[episodes 1]

In "Daybreak, Part II," the Baltar Religious Theme receives its most lyrical and beautiful setting when he talks the two warring civilizations away from the brink of destruction. The theme represents the better side of his personality and his ultimate redemption.[episodes 2]

References


Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "themes", but no corresponding <references group="themes"/> tag was found
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "episodes", but no corresponding <references group="episodes"/> tag was found