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[[image:Tigh_Me_Up_Tigh_Me_Down-Baltar_Six.jpg|thumb|Number Six and [[Gaius Baltar]] in his lab aboard ''[[Galactica (RDM)|Galactica]]''.]]
[[image:Messenger Six and Messenger Baltar, "Daybreak, Part II".jpg|thumb|The messengers appearing as Six and Baltar aboard ''[[Galactica (TRS)|Galactica]]'' together, as seen by [[Caprica-Six]] and [[Gaius Baltar]] during the [[Battle of the Colony]] {{TRS|Daybreak, Part II}}.]]
==Baltar's Internal Six==
Fleeing Caprica City and then the planet itself, Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] is shocked to discover that [[Caprica-Six|the woman he had a relationship with on Caprica]] lives on - inside his head.


At first he tries to dismiss her presence as a manifestation of his own guilt over what has happened to his people, and his role in it. However, Six suggests that she is in fact a controlled  hallucination resulting from a chip she implanted inside his head. However, while some of her actions  - such as terrifying Baltar into constructing a genuine [[Cylon detector]] ([[Bastille Day]]) - very much suggest she is a part of his own psyche, this is countered by her underlying actions and deeds, all of which represent a furtherance of those aims and goals she expressed as a corporeal entity. Some of these are characteristics never witnessed by Baltar himself - such as her jealous reaction to [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Boomer]]'s visit with Baltar in his lab ([[Flesh and Bone]]), which closely mirrors the jealousy [[Six#Caprican_Overseer_Copies|she]] shows towards the [[Sharon Valerii (Caprica copy)|Valerii copy on Caprica]] ([[Litmus]], [[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]).
'''Messengers''' are the curious spectral apparitions seen by [[Gaius Baltar]] and [[Caprica-Six]], as well as a few other characters. These beings were earlier referred to as "head characters," i.e. "Head Six" and "Head Baltar," by internal documentation and scripts. These messengers often present themselves as someone known very closely to the subject in question, and appear in the employ of a higher power who is frequently referred to as "[[God (RDM)|God]]" but does not care for the name.


Her existence as a personality download within Baltar's brain is a view he himself comes to embrace, as he relies more and more on her for guidance and insight into Cylon ways - so much so that she deliberately suggests that her presence within him is something of which other Cylons have no knowledge. However, in her relentless drive to get Baltar to fully accept the Cylon concept of God, it certainly '''seems''' for a time that not only are other Cylons in the fleet aware of her "existence", they are in communication with her: hence the arrival of "Shelly Godfrey" onboard ''[[Galactica]]'' with her accusations of treachery at the precise time Six ceases to communicate with Baltar.
"[[Torn]]" establishes the [[humanoid Cylon]] visualization process known as [[projection]]. In the [[Miniseries]] and Season 1, before the term "projection" was introduced, the character of [[Gaius Baltar]] has frequent visions of an image of his Cylon love interest from Caprica, now known as [[Caprica-Six]].
[[image:brainscan.jpg|left|Baltar receives his brain scan from Dr. Cottle, as Six looks on in amusement.|thumb]]


When Baltar begins to deny Six's actual existence, she turns the tables on him by assuming a more 'natural'  appearance and telling him that he is, indeed, "crazy" ([[Home, Part II]]). Baltar asks Dr. [[Cottle]] to perform a brain scan to check for anything unusual. "Nothing, nothing, more nothing" is the gruff diagnosis from Cottle.  However, later in the same episode Baltar comes to believe that the Six he sees could could not possibly be a hallucination caused by him going "crazy", because she seems to know things (such as that [[Sharon Valerii (Caprica copy)|Sharon Valerii]] was pregnant) that his subconscious mind has no way of knowing.  When confronted with this, Six agrees that she is not a product of Baltar's mind,  although scans show no chip in his brain.  When Baltar asks her what she really was, Six only replies that "I'm an angel of God sent here to protect you, to guide you and to love you".  While Baltar may not have a conventionally visible chip in his head, it could conceivably be organically-based (like the [[Humanoid Cylon]]s) and indistinguishable from other tissues in his brain or central nervous system. There was thought by many to be a remote chance that Baltar could be a Humanoid Cylon himself (see the [[Humanoid Cylon speculation]] article for arguments for and against Baltar as a Humanoid Cylon), but later episodes have all but disproven this.
After her [[Resurrection (RDM)|resurrection]] from the Caprica mission, Caprica-Six herself is haunted by a messenger appearing to her as Gaius Baltar {{TRS|Downloaded}}.


[[image:KobolHallu.jpg|thumb|Hallucinations on Kobol.]]
Neither character directly reveals the presence of these images to each other or any other character. The images appear to Six and Baltar together during the [[Battle of the Colony]], revealing the truth to the pair. Occasionally both Baltar and Caprica-Six have been viewed reacting to their messengers, either by talking to themselves or by physical reaction, though this has generally been discounted as general "oddness". Baltar makes reference to seeing angels while speaking on the wireless as a cult leader, and when convincing [[John Cavil]] to stand down during the Battle of the Colony ([[TRS]]: "[[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]]"; "[[Daybreak, Part II]]").
Not only does Baltar's former lover appear to him as herself in the context of his physical surroundings, but she can also make him see or experience an environment which is not real. Six has often interacted with him in the memory of his lakeside house on Caprica, which now exists purely in Gaius' mind ([[33]]). These visions have become less frequent as Dr. Baltar feels less nostalgic about his former dwelling ([[Resurrection Ship, Part I]]) .


The best example of Six's powers of illusion is during Baltar's ordeal on Kobol, in which he had a number of mass hallucinations. The first was during the traumatic crash of [[Crashdown|Lt. Crashdown]]'s Raptor. Six appeared to save Baltar's life by leading him through the flames unharmed. In reality, he was saved by Crashdown.  The next vision was of the Forum and the City of the Gods, which he saw complete and undamaged. In this hallucination, Six leads him down the aisle of the Great Opera House onto the stage, where a white cradle awaits them. Six reveals to him there the plan that God has for Baltar and she, to create the [[Hera|next generation of God´s Children]]. (Interestingly enough, we later see that same cradle in [[New Caprica|New Caprica]], where baby Hera is kept.)
The personality of each image is often represented in the clothing that they wear. Messenger Six often appears in a revealing red dress<ref>It should be noted that [[Caprica-Six]] never appeared in this dress.</ref>, and the Messenger Baltar appears wearing [[Gaius Baltar]]'s custom-tailored, pinstripe suit {{TRS|Miniseries|Downloaded}}.


The next hallucination in Kobol also deals with the Cylon hybrid child. Baltar has a vivid dream in which ''Galactica'''s [[SAR]] team has arrived, with Adama leading the mission. Adama takes Baltar's child, and proceeds to drown her. When Baltar wakes up, he realizes that he must stop at nothing to ensure the survival of his baby, which seems to be exactly what Six wanted to see happen. Later, she tells him that one of their party will betray the others during the mission to destroy the Cylon missile battery preventing their rescue, and that to prove his worthiness as a father he must act like a real man for a change. This prompts him to take part in the mission as a scout, and later to kill Crashdown when he threatens [[Cally]]'s life.
Each messenger shares a few personality traits of the person they purport to represent but with some key differences. Being of possible divine origin, both are calmer and wiser than their corporeal counterparts. While Messenger Six is as mischievous and sexual as Caprica-Six, she espouses Cylon philosophy and [[Cylon Religion|religion]] in a zealous, unwavering manner. Likewise, Messenger Baltar shares Baltar's suave arrogance but often criticizes Caprica-Six when she attempts to rationalize the destruction of the [[The Twelve Colonies of Kobol|Twelve Colonies]] or other Cylon motivations. Both personalities tend to sway its actual opposite to side with their philosophy: for Messenger Baltar, the need to become more human (and, like the actual Baltar himself, selfish); for Messenger Six, worship of the Cylon [[God (RDM)|God]] and distancing Baltar from any opportunity to give support to the Colonial causes.
 
When the [[Pegasus (RDM)|Battlestar Pegasus]] joins with the Fleet, Dr. Baltar is asked to examine their Cylon prisoner, [[Gina]]. Both the doctor and his Internal-Six are shocked and horrified to find that Gina (another Number Six version) has been tortured and gang-raped by the Pegasus crew. Six tearfully asks Baltar to help Gina, and he vows to do everything he can ([[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]). Her concern is replaced by jealousy and animosity, however, when she begins to suspect that Gaius is developing feelings for her "3-dimensional duplicate." Baltar learns from the suicidally depressed Gina that the large, previously unidentified vessel in the Cylon fleet following Galactica is the Resurrection Ship, where Cylon consciousnesses are downloaded into new bodies following the demise of their previous ones.  Giving this information to Admiral [[Helena Cain|Cain]] and Commander [[William Adama|Adama]] results in the destruction of the ship and thus the permanent deaths of the Humanoid Cylons aboard the [[Basestar (RDM)|Basestars]] guarding it, and of the attached squadrons of [[Raiders]]. Six proclaims that causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cylons is an unforgivable sin, but Gina says that God will forgive Gaius and her. Baltar chooses to listen to Gina, and his internal Six temporarily vanishes ([[Resurrection Ship, Part II]]).


==Six's Internal Baltar==
In the last days of the journey, these messengers are revealed to be agents of a higher power— "angels of [[God (RDM)|God]]," something previously claimed by Messenger Six to Gaius Baltar in both "[[Home, Part II]]" and "[[Torn]]"; writer [[Jane Espenson]] has stated that she personally believes they are "a far-advanced culture with an interest in humanity." This likens them to the [[Beings of Light]] from the [[Original Series]] mythology.<ref>"Question: Starbuck an Angel??? Really???" Espenson: "I'm going to answer re Starbuck and the "head" people, too. Well, here's how I always saw it. If someone from a far-advanced culture somewhere in the universe took an interest in humanity, isn't it possible that with their advanced tech that they could have abilities that would seem to us miraculous. Maybe we'd think of them as "Angels." Maybe they're the whole reason we have a myth of "Angels." But that's just me. The great thing about great novels (or the series) is that some things are left open to your own philosophical solutions." Galactica Sitrep, http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/blog/2009/03/chat_with_battl.html</ref> ([[TRS]]: "[[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]]"; "[[Daybreak, Part II]]").
[[image:LBlt.jpg|thumb|left|Turnabout is fair play.]]
In the episode "[[Downloaded]]" it is revealed that the vision of Number Six that Baltar sees everywhere is definitely not the same Number Six consciousness as the one he had a relationship with back on Caprica:  [[Caprica-Six]]'s consciousness downloaded into a new body, and for nine months continued to live on Cylon-occupied Caprica. Within a few seconds, it it clear that "Caprica's" personality is completely different from the one in Baltar's head. Not only that, but just as Baltar has visions of her, Caprica-Six has persistent visions of [[Gaius Baltar]]. This image confronts her with her guilt in the slaughter of billions of human beings, and with the logical error behind the Cylons' actions. If murder, genocide, and vengeance are sins in the eyes of God when humans commit them, then why would God sanction the Cylons' mass murder of an uncountable number of unsuspecting people? Under the influence of Internal-Baltar, "Caprica" speaks out against the war alongside the reincarnated [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)|Sharon Valerii]], and a new path is forged.  This version of Baltar has yet to make another appearance.


The revelation in "[[Torn]]" about the Cylon's "projecting" abilities potentially sheds more light on the nature of Six's Baltar. This vision of Baltar is more than likely a manifestation of Caprica-Six's guilt and conflicted feelings appearing through her projection abilities.
==Messenger Six==
[[image:Tigh_Me_Up_Tigh_Me_Down-Baltar_Six.jpg|thumb|Messenger Six and Gaius Baltar in his lab aboard ''[[Galactica (TRS)|Galactica]]'' {{TRS|Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down}}.]]
Messenger Six first appears to [[Gaius Baltar]] as he escapes {{RDM|Caprica}} on [[Sharon Valerii]]'s [[Raptor]] during the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]] {{TRS|Miniseries, Night 1}}.


When asked by a fan at a convention about the differences between this Baltar and the real Baltar, actor [[James Callis]] described Six’s Baltar as a man who “finally has his shit together.”
Baltar initially believes that Messenger Six is a hallucination in its first few weeks of appearances {{TRS|Miniseries, Night 1|33}}, but later believes the Messenger's initial suggestion that she is generated from a Cylon cybernetic implant. He disproves this notion when Doctor [[Sherman Cottle]] performs an [[w:MRI|MRI]] scan, showing no abnormalities {{TRS|Home, Part II}}.


==Other hallucinations==
Messenger Six demonstrates awareness of events, people and places that Baltar does not appear to know consciously. She tells him of a [[Cylon transponder]] hidden in ''Galactica''{{'|s}} [[CIC]] {{TRS|Miniseries, Night 2}}, and appears to aid him in his conversion from atheism to Cylon monotheism through guiding him in how to destroy a Cylon [[tylium (RDM)|tylium]] refinery {{TRS|The Hand of God (RDM)}}. The source for Messenger Six's data is initially unclear, but is later assumed to be through an act of divinity.
[[Image:brainscan.jpg|left|thumb|Baltar receives his brain scan from Dr. [[Sherman Cottle]], as Messenger Six looks on in amusement.]]


===Roslin's dream===
Baltar's visions of Six not only have the Cylon appearing with him on ''{{RDM|Galactica}}'', but the two also envision themselves in Baltar's now-destroyed home, on the beach, and other locales. Messenger Six seems to be able to force Baltar to see additional items in his environment, such as the human skulls on {{RDM|Kobol}}, as well as visions of the interior of the ancient [[Opera House]] and an image of what Messenger Six believes to be a Cylon-human hybrid child. When an [[Hera Agathon|actual child]] does appear in the Fleet, the Messenger Six claims it is her vision fulfilled. Baltar is convinced by this that she cannot be a hallucination, but Cottle's scan appears to have ruled out the possibility that she is an implant. He asks her who or what she is, and she replies that she is an angel ([[TRS]]: "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]," "[[Valley of Darkness]]," "[[Home, Part II]]").
*A few months after the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies]], [[Laura Roslin]] dreams that she is being pursued through a forest by a group of Marines. A copy of [[Leoben Conoy]] saves her, and then appears to be sucked away. Later, a copy of Leoben Conoy is found to be stowed away in the fleet, and he is executed by being sucked out an airlock exactly as he was in Roslin's dream. ([[Flesh and Bone]])


===Number Three's dreams and vision===
Over time, Baltar is seen by some characters speaking to himself, which is often the case when he is speaking to Messenger Six. In several instances, Messenger Six appears to Baltar to be a physical entity, grabbing him by his clothes or body, or assisting him with objects ([[TRS: "[[Six Degrees of Separation]]," "[[Taking A Break From All Your Worries]]").  She has even demonstrated an ability to physically interact with Baltar.  On one occasion, she pushed him into a bulkhead and grabbed him by the throat. In another example, she lifted him into a standing position after he was beaten by a Galactica marine {{TRS|Escape Velocity}}.  In both cases, this provoked reactions from other people. Further, she appears to satisfy Baltar's sexual urges, leading to awkward situations where he is seen masturbating {{TRS|Colonial Day}}.
*The [[Number Three|Three]] acting as an overseer on New Caprica dreams that she visits the tent of [[Dodona Selloi]]. Three goes to visit Selloi when she awakens, and Selloi tells her she has a message from the Cylon [[God]]: [[Hera]] is alive and Three will hold her in her arms. Selloi's predictions prove to be accurate; Baltar finds Hera in the aftermath of the [[Battle of New Caprica]]. ([[Exodus, Part I]] and [[Exodus, Part II|II]])
*After the Cylons leave New Caprica, Three dreams that she is aboard ''Galactica'', fleeing from a group of Marines. They corner her in front of a hatch marked "end of line" and execute her. When she awakens, Three orders a Centurion to shoot her, possibly believing her dream to be instruction from [[God]]. While she is downloading, Three finds herself in the [[Opera House]] on [[Kobol]] where Baltar's internal Six (above) showed him Hera's cradle. Five mysterious figures wearing white robes are also present. ([[Hero]])


==Theories==
[[image:KobolHallu.jpg|right|thumb|Messenger Six and Gaius Baltar on Kobol.]]
There are various competing theories about the nature of the visions Baltar and Caprica-Six have of each other:
The Messenger Six has been present when Caprica-Six is near only twice. She is also conspicuously absent during [[Shelly Godfrey]]'s tenure on ''Galactica'' {{TRS|Six Degrees of Separation}}. The Messenger Six seems to, for the most part, vanish during the period when Caprica-Six and Baltar renew their relationship on New Caprica. When Baltar is aboard a Cylon basestar, Caprica-Six explains the projection process to him while the Messenger Six hints that this process is very similar to how she and Baltar communicate and that Baltar may himself be a Cylon {{TRS|Torn}}. Messenger Six also appears to Baltar, when he discovers Hera under Maya's dead body and disappears when Caprica-Six comes near Baltar and the baby {{TRS|Exodus, Part II}}.


===Both are implanted chips===
Messenger Six has a [[Music of Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|musical theme]], a simple 9-note motif with a staccato xylophone and some violins, which plays behind almost all her appearances. This theme also plays without Six present in "[[Rapture]]" after [[D'Anna Biers]] collapses in Baltar's arms after her vision of the [[Final Five]], until Baltar is pistol-whipped by [[Galen Tyrol]].
In this theory, Number Six implanted a chip, containing one of her "sister" consciousnesses, into Baltar sometime before or during the attack on Caprica. Given the symmetrical nature of the hallucinations, the resurrected Caprica-Six must now have a chip of Baltar implanted in her brain. There are various pieces of evidence for this:
* This is the theory that the internal Six initially offers to Baltar
* The internal Six seems to know some pieces of information that Baltar does not; she offers Baltar a hint about a mysterious device in the ''Galactica'' CIC that leads to his uncovering of [[Aaron Doral]] as a Humanoid Cylon; on the other hand, it could be that Baltar himself discovered the device but subconsciously transferred that part of his thinking to the hallucination of Six. Moreover, in "[[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II]]" she shows him a vision of a human-Cylon baby in a cradle that exactly matches the cradle that [[Hera]], the first human-Cylon baby, is later carried in. ([[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]])


===Both are self-generated hallucinations===
From the end of Season 2 on, Messenger Six claims more often to be an angel from [[God (RDM)|God]].
In this theory, both Baltar and the resurrected Caprica-Six have begun hallucinating a vision of the other, in both cases as a psychological defense against massive feelings of guilt for their role in the near-destruction of humanity. There are various pieces of evidence for this:
* Both visions differ in personality from the people they represent; in both cases, the visions are confident and scoff at the failings of their subject; the real people remain guilt-ridden and indecisive.
* There is, as yet, no conceivable explanation for how a chip of Baltar could have been planted inside the resurrected Caprica-Six.
* After the Cylon takeover of [[New Caprica]], when Baltar and Caprica-Six resume their relationship, the internal Six appears to Baltar only when Caprica-Six is absent, indicating that he at some level does have control over her appearances. Though she did once appear upon Baltar's discovery of Hera in the abandoned city, with Caprica-Six only a few feet behind.
* Caprica-Six descibes the Cylon practice of "projecting" to Baltar, where the Cylons create their own reality around them by altering their perceptions somehow.  This offeres a likely explanation to Six's Baltar, but only raises more questions about Baltar's Six.


===Both began as hallucinations, but the internal Six took on a life of its own===
Ultimately, Messenger Six is revealed to be a very real being&mdash;not a projection of something inside Baltar's mind&mdash;sent by another being that may be [[God (RDM)|God]]. Both her and Messenger Baltar appear to both Caprica-Six and Baltar during the [[Battle of The Colony]]; Baltar and Caprica-Six are each shocked that the other can see them.  On Earth, Messenger Six, along with Messenger Baltar, reveals to Caprica and Baltar that their destiny had always been to protect Hera, who was the future of both races. They leave, saying that while God's plan is never finished, the two mortals' lives will be much less "exciting" from now on.
This theory is similar to the general hallucinations one, but takes into account the bizarre events of the episode ''[[Six Degrees of Separation]]''. In that episode, Internal-Six warns Baltar that she will punish him for mocking her religious beliefs; she then disappears from his consciousness, and quickly thereafter a Six-model appears in the flesh on the ''Galactica'', claiming her name is [[Shelly Godfrey]], accusing him of treason. When it appears he may be executed on these false charges, a devastated Baltar accepts the [[God|Cylon God]] as his own; soon thereafter, "Godfrey" disappears from the ship and Internal-Six reappears to Baltar, pleased at his conversion. Under this theory, "Godfrey" was in fact a physical manifestation of Baltar's hallucination, created by some unexplained (and possibly never-to-be-explained) process.


===They really are messengers sent from God or the Gods===
One-hundred fifty thousand years later, Messenger Six is with Messenger Baltar in New York City, looking over the shoulder of a man reading a ''[[National Geographic]]'' magazine article about the remains of Mitochondrial Eve&mdash;the current population's latest common evolutionary ancestor, Hera Agathon.  The two discuss how all of this has happened before, and whether all of this will happen again.  Messenger Six believes things will go differently this time. Messenger Baltar chides her when she refers to God, saying, "You know it doesn't like that name."  The two then walk off into the teeming crowds of New York City {{TRS|Daybreak, Part II}}.
Some force outside humanity and the Cylons is sending these two beings ([[W:Angel|angels]]) to Baltar and Six, along with the visions experienced by Roslin, Three, and Dedona Selloi. The angels and visions may be sent by opposite sides of a celestial war (see [[Beings of Light]], [[War of the Gods]]), sent by the ''same'' side engaged in a war against both Cylon and Man, or sent by a supernatural being with another purpose altogether.  While Baltar's Six describes herself as an angel, Ron Moore in his [[Podcast:Downloaded|podcast of Downloaded]] describes Six's Baltar as more of a devil figure.


===Other theories===
==Messenger Baltar==
[[image:LBlt.jpg|thumb|left|Turnabout is fair play: Messenger Baltar appears to [[Caprica-Six]], but not to [[Number Three (Downloaded copy)|Number Three]] {{TRS|Downloaded}}.]]


* Baltar (a human, not an agent) actually died in the nuclear blast, but was somehow resurrected, (or, more plausibly, he had a near-death experience) with ''something'' of himself and Six becoming interchanged. Now a part of him is living in her, and vice versa. This would explain why the hallucination versions are in such stark contrast to the real versions, since they would be missing parts of themselves. It would also explain the "chip in Gaius'"- since he is in effect a "chip", and she is in him.
When a '''messenger with Gaius Baltar's visage''' appears to Caprica-Six, the notion that the actual Gaius Baltar was part of a Cylon plan to manipulate him via Messenger Six is revealed to be highly unlikely, as other Cylons are unaware of him and do not mention the plan or its effects to Caprica-Six {{TRS|Downloaded}}.
* Actor [[James Callis]]'s personal theory is that Baltar's Internal Six is a being from another universe or higher plane of existence who only Baltar can interact with.  This may relate back to the "angel" theory <ref>{{cite_web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNZZHl0Ls5U&mode=related&search=|title=James Callis (Gaius Baltar) Q&A FanExpo 2k6 - Part 3|date=September 04, 2006|accessdate=January 24, 2007|last=|first=|format=YouTube video|language=English}}</ref>. ('''Warning''': Video contains some explicit language)


* Similarly [[Tricia Helfer]] has said that she has long since given up on trying to figure out just what Baltar's Internal Six is. <ref>{{cite_web|url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/756/756477p1.html|title=IGN Interview: Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer|date=January 18, 2007|accessdate=January 24, 2007|last=|first=|format=|language=English}}</ref> She believes Caprica-Six and Baltar both having internal counterparts is related to the scene from the [[Miniseries]] where she saves Baltar from the shock wave of the nuclear bomb that destroyed [[Caprica City]].
The Messenger Baltar's appearance and demeanor is just as much an extreme opposite of the actual Baltar as the Messenger Six's behavior is to Caprica-Six.


The answers remain unknown.
At her resurrection, Messenger Baltar immediately tells Caprica-Six that only she can see and hear him, and not to reveal what she sees to the other Cylons present; she never asks about his origins.
 
Messenger Baltar confronts Caprica-Six with her guilt in the slaughter of billions of human beings, and with the logical error behind the Cylons's actions. Under Messenger Baltar's influence, Caprica-Six speaks out against the war alongside another resurrected "[[hero of the Cylon]]," [[Sharon Valerii|Sharon "Boomer" Valerii]]. The two forge a new [[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|quasi-benevolent path]], [[Exodus, Part II|albeit temporarily]], for the Cylon race.
 
Messenger Baltar appears irregularly in seasons 2 and 3. After Caprica-Six surrenders herself to the Colonials (having assisted [[Sharon Agathon|Sharon "Athena" Agathon]] in her rescue of [[Hera Agathon|Hera]]), [[Laura Roslin]] and [[Tory Foster]] observe Caprica-Six speaking to and kissing Messenger Baltar&mdash;who is invisible to Roslin and Foster {{TRS|The Woman King}}.
 
While Messenger Six claims to be an angel sent from God, Messenger Baltar is contemptuous of the Cylons' concept of God {{TRS|Downloaded}}. He is also described by [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron Moore]] as more of a "devil" figure in Six's consciousness<ref>{{cite_rdm_podcast|episode=Downloaded|act=Three|id=|timestamp=|totalrunning=}}</ref>.
 
While Messenger Baltar acts mostly as a conversational foil for Six, in "[[Crossroads, Part I]]" he informs her that [[Saul Tigh]] has suffered the loss of [[Ellen Tigh|a woman]] close to him, to assist Six in dealing with Tigh's interrogation {{TRS|Crossroads, Part I}}.
 
[[Image:Baltar and Head Baltar, "Six of One".jpg|thumb|right|Baltar encounters his Messenger double.]]
After his ascension to [[Cult of Baltar|cult]] leader, Gaius Baltar encounters his Messenger doppelgänger after running into [[Tory Foster]] at the civilian's mess hall.  Baltar is initially shocked by Messenger Baltar's sudden appearance, voicing his belief that it is [[Messenger Six]] appearing to him as a doppelgänger version of himself, but the Messenger points out that she would have no need to disguise herself from him; Baltar becomes amused by the idea of having himself as a conversational foil for once instead of Six. This Messenger Baltar encourages him to engage in a relationship with Foster, claiming that she is "[[Final Five|special]]," and guides him, after a fashion, through her covert interrogation attempt. This Messenger Baltar does not elaborate on that point, but Gaius Baltar follows the Messenger's lead {{TRS|Six of One}}.
 
Prior to the conclusion of the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]]'s journey to [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]], Messenger Baltar and Messenger Six appear together, and both Caprica-Six and Baltar can see them, and are each shocked that the other can.  He and Messenger Six are representatives of the being that some call [[God (RDM)|God]], who Baltar describes to Cavil as a force of nature that is neither good nor evil.  Messenger Baltar and Messenger Six make one last visit to Caprica-Six and Baltar to tell them that their role had always been to protect Hera, and now that this has been fulfilled, the two Messengers leave them alone. Messenger Six explains that God's plan is never over, but Messenger Baltar tells the couple that their lives will be much less exciting. 
 
The two Messengers visit Earth 150,000 years later in New York City discussing humanity finding its most recent common ancestor, the human-Cylon hybrid [[Hera Agathon]].  The two discuss the cycle of life, and Messenger Baltar chides Messenger Six for calling the being they work for "God," as it apparently does not like being called that.  Messenger Baltar has the series' last line, which is a response to Messenger Six's stern look: "silly me... silly, silly me."  The two then walk off together into present-day New York City {{TRS|Daybreak, Part II}}.
 
== Messenger Elosha ==
 
[[Laura Roslin]] converses with a being in the form of Priestess [[Elosha]] during what should be zero-time jump sequences on the way to the [[Resurrection Hub]]. This Messenger being is unlike the others, in that not only do they interact outside the realm of others, it takes place during a time interval that should not exist.  The being seems to have some knowledge of the future events, such as Roslin's death and the fact that [[William Adama]] waits for her, suggesting both reality for the being and the out-of-time conversations.  Unlike [[Kara Thrace]]'s Messenger Leoben, the experience is difficult to explain with unconscious dreaming or hallucination {{TRS|The Hub}}.
 
== The Final Five's Messengers ==
 
After recovering his memories of [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] due to trauma resulting from his being shot in the head, [[Samuel Anders]] reports that the [[Final Five]] were originally warned of impending nuclear destruction of Earth two thousand years earlier by images of people no one else could see. This information was the impetus for their recreation of [[Resurrection (RDM)|Cylon Resurrection]] and the preparing of the ship on which they escaped following the disaster. The one that appeared to Anders looked like a woman, the one that appeared to [[Tory Foster]] looked like a man. Much like Gaius Baltar, [[Galen Tyrol]] thought he might have a neural chip {{TRS|No Exit}}.
 
== Slick ==
[[Kara Thrace]] encounters a vision of her father<ref>[[Podcast:Someone to Watch Over Me]]</ref> going by the name of "Slick". She initially fails to recognize him as [[Dreilide Thrace|her father]]. As she spends time with him, she recalls playing the piano with her father. She assists him in composing a song and compares him to her father. While she plays the piano with him, she recalls playing the piano with her father as a child. She recalls a certain song, and notices that the score resembles one of [[Hera Agathon]]'s drawing. As she plays the song with him, [[Saul Tigh]] and [[Tory Foster]] recognize the song as [[The Music|the same song they heard at the Ionian Nebula]]. When Tigh grabs her and asks her about the song, Slick vanishes {{TRS|Someone to Watch Over Me}}.
 
== Messenger Zoe ==
[[File:Caprica - Things We Lock Away - Messenger Zoe.jpg|thumb|A Messenger in the form of a teenage Zoe Graystone appears before [[Zoe Graystone|Zoe as a child]], after saving her from the fire that claimed the Graystones' first home {{CAP|Things We Lock Away}}.]]
A Messenger appeared to [[Zoe Graystone]] decades before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies in the form of Zoe herself. The Messenger's first act was to save Zoe from a fire which burned down the Graystones' prior residence, when Zoe was a little girl. She then continued to appear to Zoe, who considered her a friend, periodically. Messenger Zoe had the form of teenage Zoe before Zoe herself entered adolescence.
 
On one occasion, when Zoe was a teenager and now identical to her Messenger counterpart, Messenger Zoe encouraged her to outdo her  father [[Daniel Graystone]] by creating life with her computer skills, after they noticed that Daniel had "stolen" the design for the [[U-87 Cyber Combat Unit]] from drawings made by Zoe. This suggestion led to the creation of [[Zoe-A]], Zoe's [[holographic avatar]] duplicate {{CAP|Things We Lock Away}}.
 
Messenger Zoe later appears to Zoe-A when the latter is engaged in combat with [[Tamara-A]] and several users in [[New Cap City]] who blame her for the destruction of [[Maglev 23]]. She encourages Zoe-A to be her own person and not accept the blame for Zoe's sins. This leads to Zoe-A convincing Tamara-A to form an alliance {{CAP|Things We Lock Away}}.
 
An unidentified Zoe sits smiling among Sister [[Clarice Willow]]'s otherwise entirely Cylon congregation of monotheists in the flash-forward montage at the end of "[[Apotheosis (episode)|Apotheosis]]". The scene precedes Zoe-A's resurrection into the first [[Humanoid Cylon|skinjob]] body, yet is years after [[Zoe Graystone|original Zoe]]'s death and Zoe-A's denouncement of Willow.
 
== [[Messenger Leoben]] ==
 
Image of Leoben that appears to [[Kara Thrace]] but never claims to be a Cylon in the episode "[[Maelstrom]]."  Because he only appears to her in a vision while the pilot is unconscious, and does not fit the Baltar-Six analogue, Battlestar Wiki considers him separately.
 
For further information, please see [[Messenger Leoben]] entry.
 
==Notes==
* In the cases of Elosha and Slick, it is unclear whether the phantom images represent the consciousnesses of the deceased or are simply other beings in their forms.
*The [[Messenger Leoben|Messenger "Leoben"]] that appears to [[Kara Thrace]] in the episode "[[Maelstrom]]" only appears to her in a vision while the pilot is unconscious. Since this Messenger Leoben does not fit the Baltar-Six analogue, Battlestar Wiki considers him separately to the above.
*[[William Adama]] sees and converses with his [[Carolanne Adama|deceased ex-wife]] each year on their anniversary as demonstrated in "[[A Day in the Life]]". While the episode where this occurs shows William and Carolanne together in places and settings (ostensibly at their home on {{RDM|Caprica}}), this is a dramatic representation of Adama's ordinary imagination of what Carolanne may have thought about his predicament. As such, the visualizations of Carolanne Adama are ''not'' a messenger or other spectral apparition.
*[[Saul Tigh]] sees [[Ellen Tigh#Saul's "Messenger Ellen"|his dead wife]] in place of [[Caprica-Six]] {{TRS|Escape Velocity}}. This could be a simple hallucination or, as Tigh is a [[humanoid Cylon]], an example of [[projection]].
*When holding a two thousand year-old, mangled mailbox hatch from the lobby of the Tighs's apartment building, Saul sees a dying Ellen again in a vision from his and her prior incarnations on Earth.  Ellen is depicted in the vision as fully aware of their future reincarnations and the cyclical nature of their existence, which she prophesises for past-Saul in the moment before they both die. {{TRS|Sometimes a Great Notion}}.
*In the fifth [[Razor Flashbacks|Razor Flashback]], while exploring the lab, [[William Adama]] has a hallucination of a hand reaching out to grab him from a device similar to a [[resurrection tank|resurrection]] or [[Hybrid]] tank. However this could be a stress-induced hallucination. The same may be the case for the screaming prisoners in the lab, which could also be explained as a visualization for the audience. However, the voice Adama hears of the [[First Hybrid]] is the same as the real voice, so this part at least is not a hallucination.
*Beginning in Season 3, Messenger Six appears less frequently, and makes only a few appearances in Season 4. A scene was filmed for "[[The Road Less Traveled]]" in which Messenger Six, stating that Baltar no longer needs her anymore, says goodbye to him and fades away; this scene was deleted (but included on the Season 4.0 DVD). Messenger Six reappeared in yet another deleted scene, this time for "Sometimes a Great Notion" (information is relegated to a [[:File:SixonEarth.jpg|promotional image]]), before returning but only in the extended version of "[[A Disquiet Follows My Soul]]" and reappearing in "[[Deadlock]]," most likely rendering the deleted scene from "The Road Less Traveled" non-canonical as neither of the two aforementioned episodes make mention of her departure.
*In the podcast for "[[No Exit]]," Ronald Moore refers to the Final Five's Messenger beings as "the Messengers" and indicates that they are significant to the overall storyline.
 
== Official Statements ==
*When asked by a fan at a convention about the differences between Messenger Baltar and Gaius Baltar, actor [[James Callis]] described Messenger Baltar as a man who "finally has his shit together."<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNZZHl0Ls5U&mode=related&search=|title=James Callis (Gaius Baltar) Q&A FanExpo 2k6 - Part 3|date=September 04, 2006|accessdate=January 24, 2007|last=|first=|format=YouTube video|language=English}}</ref>. ('''Warning''': Video contains some explicit language)
 
* Callis mentioned at the same convention that his personal theory is that Messenger Six is a being from another universe or higher plane of existence who only Baltar can interact with. This may relate back to the "angel" theory postulated prior to "[[Daybreak, Part II]]."<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNZZHl0Ls5U&mode=related&search=|title=James Callis (Gaius Baltar) Q&A FanExpo 2k6 - Part 3|date=September 04, 2006|accessdate=January 24, 2007|last=|first=|format=YouTube video|language=English}} ('''Warning''': Video contains some explicit language.)</ref>
 
* Prior to the revelations of "Daybreak," actress [[Tricia Helfer]] said that she had long since given up on trying to figure out the nature of Messenger Six. <ref>{{cite_web|url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/756/756477p1.html|title=IGN Interview: Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer|date=January 18, 2007|accessdate=January 24, 2007|last=|first=|format=|language=English}}</ref> She believes Caprica-Six and Baltar both having internal counterparts is related to the scene from the [[Miniseries]] where she saves Baltar from the shock wave of the nuclear bomb that destroyed [[Caprica City]].


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Cylons]]
[[Category:Descriptive terms]]
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Latest revision as of 04:17, 22 February 2024

The messengers appearing as Six and Baltar aboard Galactica together, as seen by Caprica-Six and Gaius Baltar during the Battle of the Colony (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").

Messengers are the curious spectral apparitions seen by Gaius Baltar and Caprica-Six, as well as a few other characters. These beings were earlier referred to as "head characters," i.e. "Head Six" and "Head Baltar," by internal documentation and scripts. These messengers often present themselves as someone known very closely to the subject in question, and appear in the employ of a higher power who is frequently referred to as "God" but does not care for the name.

"Torn" establishes the humanoid Cylon visualization process known as projection. In the Miniseries and Season 1, before the term "projection" was introduced, the character of Gaius Baltar has frequent visions of an image of his Cylon love interest from Caprica, now known as Caprica-Six.

After her resurrection from the Caprica mission, Caprica-Six herself is haunted by a messenger appearing to her as Gaius Baltar (TRS: "Downloaded").

Neither character directly reveals the presence of these images to each other or any other character. The images appear to Six and Baltar together during the Battle of the Colony, revealing the truth to the pair. Occasionally both Baltar and Caprica-Six have been viewed reacting to their messengers, either by talking to themselves or by physical reaction, though this has generally been discounted as general "oddness". Baltar makes reference to seeing angels while speaking on the wireless as a cult leader, and when convincing John Cavil to stand down during the Battle of the Colony (TRS: "Islanded in a Stream of Stars"; "Daybreak, Part II").

The personality of each image is often represented in the clothing that they wear. Messenger Six often appears in a revealing red dress[1], and the Messenger Baltar appears wearing Gaius Baltar's custom-tailored, pinstripe suit (TRS: "Miniseries", "Downloaded").

Each messenger shares a few personality traits of the person they purport to represent but with some key differences. Being of possible divine origin, both are calmer and wiser than their corporeal counterparts. While Messenger Six is as mischievous and sexual as Caprica-Six, she espouses Cylon philosophy and religion in a zealous, unwavering manner. Likewise, Messenger Baltar shares Baltar's suave arrogance but often criticizes Caprica-Six when she attempts to rationalize the destruction of the Twelve Colonies or other Cylon motivations. Both personalities tend to sway its actual opposite to side with their philosophy: for Messenger Baltar, the need to become more human (and, like the actual Baltar himself, selfish); for Messenger Six, worship of the Cylon God and distancing Baltar from any opportunity to give support to the Colonial causes.

In the last days of the journey, these messengers are revealed to be agents of a higher power— "angels of God," something previously claimed by Messenger Six to Gaius Baltar in both "Home, Part II" and "Torn"; writer Jane Espenson has stated that she personally believes they are "a far-advanced culture with an interest in humanity." This likens them to the Beings of Light from the Original Series mythology.[2] (TRS: "Islanded in a Stream of Stars"; "Daybreak, Part II").

Messenger Six

Messenger Six and Gaius Baltar in his lab aboard Galactica (TRS: "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down").

Messenger Six first appears to Gaius Baltar as he escapes Caprica on Sharon Valerii's Raptor during the Fall of the Twelve Colonies (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1").

Baltar initially believes that Messenger Six is a hallucination in its first few weeks of appearances (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1", "33"), but later believes the Messenger's initial suggestion that she is generated from a Cylon cybernetic implant. He disproves this notion when Doctor Sherman Cottle performs an MRI scan, showing no abnormalities (TRS: "Home, Part II").

Messenger Six demonstrates awareness of events, people and places that Baltar does not appear to know consciously. She tells him of a Cylon transponder hidden in Galactica's CIC (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 2"), and appears to aid him in his conversion from atheism to Cylon monotheism through guiding him in how to destroy a Cylon tylium refinery (TRS: "The Hand of God"). The source for Messenger Six's data is initially unclear, but is later assumed to be through an act of divinity.

Baltar receives his brain scan from Dr. Sherman Cottle, as Messenger Six looks on in amusement.

Baltar's visions of Six not only have the Cylon appearing with him on Galactica, but the two also envision themselves in Baltar's now-destroyed home, on the beach, and other locales. Messenger Six seems to be able to force Baltar to see additional items in his environment, such as the human skulls on Kobol, as well as visions of the interior of the ancient Opera House and an image of what Messenger Six believes to be a Cylon-human hybrid child. When an actual child does appear in the Fleet, the Messenger Six claims it is her vision fulfilled. Baltar is convinced by this that she cannot be a hallucination, but Cottle's scan appears to have ruled out the possibility that she is an implant. He asks her who or what she is, and she replies that she is an angel (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II," "Valley of Darkness," "Home, Part II").

Over time, Baltar is seen by some characters speaking to himself, which is often the case when he is speaking to Messenger Six. In several instances, Messenger Six appears to Baltar to be a physical entity, grabbing him by his clothes or body, or assisting him with objects ([[TRS: "Six Degrees of Separation," "Taking A Break From All Your Worries"). She has even demonstrated an ability to physically interact with Baltar. On one occasion, she pushed him into a bulkhead and grabbed him by the throat. In another example, she lifted him into a standing position after he was beaten by a Galactica marine (TRS: "Escape Velocity"). In both cases, this provoked reactions from other people. Further, she appears to satisfy Baltar's sexual urges, leading to awkward situations where he is seen masturbating (TRS: "Colonial Day").

Messenger Six and Gaius Baltar on Kobol.

The Messenger Six has been present when Caprica-Six is near only twice. She is also conspicuously absent during Shelly Godfrey's tenure on Galactica (TRS: "Six Degrees of Separation"). The Messenger Six seems to, for the most part, vanish during the period when Caprica-Six and Baltar renew their relationship on New Caprica. When Baltar is aboard a Cylon basestar, Caprica-Six explains the projection process to him while the Messenger Six hints that this process is very similar to how she and Baltar communicate and that Baltar may himself be a Cylon (TRS: "Torn"). Messenger Six also appears to Baltar, when he discovers Hera under Maya's dead body and disappears when Caprica-Six comes near Baltar and the baby (TRS: "Exodus, Part II").

Messenger Six has a musical theme, a simple 9-note motif with a staccato xylophone and some violins, which plays behind almost all her appearances. This theme also plays without Six present in "Rapture" after D'Anna Biers collapses in Baltar's arms after her vision of the Final Five, until Baltar is pistol-whipped by Galen Tyrol.

From the end of Season 2 on, Messenger Six claims more often to be an angel from God.

Ultimately, Messenger Six is revealed to be a very real being—not a projection of something inside Baltar's mind—sent by another being that may be God. Both her and Messenger Baltar appear to both Caprica-Six and Baltar during the Battle of The Colony; Baltar and Caprica-Six are each shocked that the other can see them. On Earth, Messenger Six, along with Messenger Baltar, reveals to Caprica and Baltar that their destiny had always been to protect Hera, who was the future of both races. They leave, saying that while God's plan is never finished, the two mortals' lives will be much less "exciting" from now on.

One-hundred fifty thousand years later, Messenger Six is with Messenger Baltar in New York City, looking over the shoulder of a man reading a National Geographic magazine article about the remains of Mitochondrial Eve—the current population's latest common evolutionary ancestor, Hera Agathon. The two discuss how all of this has happened before, and whether all of this will happen again. Messenger Six believes things will go differently this time. Messenger Baltar chides her when she refers to God, saying, "You know it doesn't like that name." The two then walk off into the teeming crowds of New York City (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").

Messenger Baltar

Turnabout is fair play: Messenger Baltar appears to Caprica-Six, but not to Number Three (TRS: "Downloaded").

When a messenger with Gaius Baltar's visage appears to Caprica-Six, the notion that the actual Gaius Baltar was part of a Cylon plan to manipulate him via Messenger Six is revealed to be highly unlikely, as other Cylons are unaware of him and do not mention the plan or its effects to Caprica-Six (TRS: "Downloaded").

The Messenger Baltar's appearance and demeanor is just as much an extreme opposite of the actual Baltar as the Messenger Six's behavior is to Caprica-Six.

At her resurrection, Messenger Baltar immediately tells Caprica-Six that only she can see and hear him, and not to reveal what she sees to the other Cylons present; she never asks about his origins.

Messenger Baltar confronts Caprica-Six with her guilt in the slaughter of billions of human beings, and with the logical error behind the Cylons's actions. Under Messenger Baltar's influence, Caprica-Six speaks out against the war alongside another resurrected "hero of the Cylon," Sharon "Boomer" Valerii. The two forge a new quasi-benevolent path, albeit temporarily, for the Cylon race.

Messenger Baltar appears irregularly in seasons 2 and 3. After Caprica-Six surrenders herself to the Colonials (having assisted Sharon "Athena" Agathon in her rescue of Hera), Laura Roslin and Tory Foster observe Caprica-Six speaking to and kissing Messenger Baltar—who is invisible to Roslin and Foster (TRS: "The Woman King").

While Messenger Six claims to be an angel sent from God, Messenger Baltar is contemptuous of the Cylons' concept of God (TRS: "Downloaded"). He is also described by Ron Moore as more of a "devil" figure in Six's consciousness[3].

While Messenger Baltar acts mostly as a conversational foil for Six, in "Crossroads, Part I" he informs her that Saul Tigh has suffered the loss of a woman close to him, to assist Six in dealing with Tigh's interrogation (TRS: "Crossroads, Part I").

Baltar encounters his Messenger double.

After his ascension to cult leader, Gaius Baltar encounters his Messenger doppelgänger after running into Tory Foster at the civilian's mess hall. Baltar is initially shocked by Messenger Baltar's sudden appearance, voicing his belief that it is Messenger Six appearing to him as a doppelgänger version of himself, but the Messenger points out that she would have no need to disguise herself from him; Baltar becomes amused by the idea of having himself as a conversational foil for once instead of Six. This Messenger Baltar encourages him to engage in a relationship with Foster, claiming that she is "special," and guides him, after a fashion, through her covert interrogation attempt. This Messenger Baltar does not elaborate on that point, but Gaius Baltar follows the Messenger's lead (TRS: "Six of One").

Prior to the conclusion of the Fleet's journey to Earth, Messenger Baltar and Messenger Six appear together, and both Caprica-Six and Baltar can see them, and are each shocked that the other can. He and Messenger Six are representatives of the being that some call God, who Baltar describes to Cavil as a force of nature that is neither good nor evil. Messenger Baltar and Messenger Six make one last visit to Caprica-Six and Baltar to tell them that their role had always been to protect Hera, and now that this has been fulfilled, the two Messengers leave them alone. Messenger Six explains that God's plan is never over, but Messenger Baltar tells the couple that their lives will be much less exciting.

The two Messengers visit Earth 150,000 years later in New York City discussing humanity finding its most recent common ancestor, the human-Cylon hybrid Hera Agathon. The two discuss the cycle of life, and Messenger Baltar chides Messenger Six for calling the being they work for "God," as it apparently does not like being called that. Messenger Baltar has the series' last line, which is a response to Messenger Six's stern look: "silly me... silly, silly me." The two then walk off together into present-day New York City (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").

Messenger Elosha

Laura Roslin converses with a being in the form of Priestess Elosha during what should be zero-time jump sequences on the way to the Resurrection Hub. This Messenger being is unlike the others, in that not only do they interact outside the realm of others, it takes place during a time interval that should not exist. The being seems to have some knowledge of the future events, such as Roslin's death and the fact that William Adama waits for her, suggesting both reality for the being and the out-of-time conversations. Unlike Kara Thrace's Messenger Leoben, the experience is difficult to explain with unconscious dreaming or hallucination (TRS: "The Hub").

The Final Five's Messengers

After recovering his memories of Earth due to trauma resulting from his being shot in the head, Samuel Anders reports that the Final Five were originally warned of impending nuclear destruction of Earth two thousand years earlier by images of people no one else could see. This information was the impetus for their recreation of Cylon Resurrection and the preparing of the ship on which they escaped following the disaster. The one that appeared to Anders looked like a woman, the one that appeared to Tory Foster looked like a man. Much like Gaius Baltar, Galen Tyrol thought he might have a neural chip (TRS: "No Exit").

Slick

Kara Thrace encounters a vision of her father[4] going by the name of "Slick". She initially fails to recognize him as her father. As she spends time with him, she recalls playing the piano with her father. She assists him in composing a song and compares him to her father. While she plays the piano with him, she recalls playing the piano with her father as a child. She recalls a certain song, and notices that the score resembles one of Hera Agathon's drawing. As she plays the song with him, Saul Tigh and Tory Foster recognize the song as the same song they heard at the Ionian Nebula. When Tigh grabs her and asks her about the song, Slick vanishes (TRS: "Someone to Watch Over Me").

Messenger Zoe

A Messenger in the form of a teenage Zoe Graystone appears before Zoe as a child, after saving her from the fire that claimed the Graystones' first home (CAP: "Things We Lock Away").

A Messenger appeared to Zoe Graystone decades before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies in the form of Zoe herself. The Messenger's first act was to save Zoe from a fire which burned down the Graystones' prior residence, when Zoe was a little girl. She then continued to appear to Zoe, who considered her a friend, periodically. Messenger Zoe had the form of teenage Zoe before Zoe herself entered adolescence.

On one occasion, when Zoe was a teenager and now identical to her Messenger counterpart, Messenger Zoe encouraged her to outdo her father Daniel Graystone by creating life with her computer skills, after they noticed that Daniel had "stolen" the design for the U-87 Cyber Combat Unit from drawings made by Zoe. This suggestion led to the creation of Zoe-A, Zoe's holographic avatar duplicate (CAP: "Things We Lock Away").

Messenger Zoe later appears to Zoe-A when the latter is engaged in combat with Tamara-A and several users in New Cap City who blame her for the destruction of Maglev 23. She encourages Zoe-A to be her own person and not accept the blame for Zoe's sins. This leads to Zoe-A convincing Tamara-A to form an alliance (CAP: "Things We Lock Away").

An unidentified Zoe sits smiling among Sister Clarice Willow's otherwise entirely Cylon congregation of monotheists in the flash-forward montage at the end of "Apotheosis". The scene precedes Zoe-A's resurrection into the first skinjob body, yet is years after original Zoe's death and Zoe-A's denouncement of Willow.

Messenger Leoben

Image of Leoben that appears to Kara Thrace but never claims to be a Cylon in the episode "Maelstrom." Because he only appears to her in a vision while the pilot is unconscious, and does not fit the Baltar-Six analogue, Battlestar Wiki considers him separately.

For further information, please see Messenger Leoben entry.

Notes

  • In the cases of Elosha and Slick, it is unclear whether the phantom images represent the consciousnesses of the deceased or are simply other beings in their forms.
  • The Messenger "Leoben" that appears to Kara Thrace in the episode "Maelstrom" only appears to her in a vision while the pilot is unconscious. Since this Messenger Leoben does not fit the Baltar-Six analogue, Battlestar Wiki considers him separately to the above.
  • William Adama sees and converses with his deceased ex-wife each year on their anniversary as demonstrated in "A Day in the Life". While the episode where this occurs shows William and Carolanne together in places and settings (ostensibly at their home on Caprica), this is a dramatic representation of Adama's ordinary imagination of what Carolanne may have thought about his predicament. As such, the visualizations of Carolanne Adama are not a messenger or other spectral apparition.
  • Saul Tigh sees his dead wife in place of Caprica-Six (TRS: "Escape Velocity"). This could be a simple hallucination or, as Tigh is a humanoid Cylon, an example of projection.
  • When holding a two thousand year-old, mangled mailbox hatch from the lobby of the Tighs's apartment building, Saul sees a dying Ellen again in a vision from his and her prior incarnations on Earth. Ellen is depicted in the vision as fully aware of their future reincarnations and the cyclical nature of their existence, which she prophesises for past-Saul in the moment before they both die. (TRS: "Sometimes a Great Notion").
  • In the fifth Razor Flashback, while exploring the lab, William Adama has a hallucination of a hand reaching out to grab him from a device similar to a resurrection or Hybrid tank. However this could be a stress-induced hallucination. The same may be the case for the screaming prisoners in the lab, which could also be explained as a visualization for the audience. However, the voice Adama hears of the First Hybrid is the same as the real voice, so this part at least is not a hallucination.
  • Beginning in Season 3, Messenger Six appears less frequently, and makes only a few appearances in Season 4. A scene was filmed for "The Road Less Traveled" in which Messenger Six, stating that Baltar no longer needs her anymore, says goodbye to him and fades away; this scene was deleted (but included on the Season 4.0 DVD). Messenger Six reappeared in yet another deleted scene, this time for "Sometimes a Great Notion" (information is relegated to a promotional image), before returning but only in the extended version of "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" and reappearing in "Deadlock," most likely rendering the deleted scene from "The Road Less Traveled" non-canonical as neither of the two aforementioned episodes make mention of her departure.
  • In the podcast for "No Exit," Ronald Moore refers to the Final Five's Messenger beings as "the Messengers" and indicates that they are significant to the overall storyline.

Official Statements

  • When asked by a fan at a convention about the differences between Messenger Baltar and Gaius Baltar, actor James Callis described Messenger Baltar as a man who "finally has his shit together."[5]. (Warning: Video contains some explicit language)
  • Callis mentioned at the same convention that his personal theory is that Messenger Six is a being from another universe or higher plane of existence who only Baltar can interact with. This may relate back to the "angel" theory postulated prior to "Daybreak, Part II."[6]
  • Prior to the revelations of "Daybreak," actress Tricia Helfer said that she had long since given up on trying to figure out the nature of Messenger Six. [7] She believes Caprica-Six and Baltar both having internal counterparts is related to the scene from the Miniseries where she saves Baltar from the shock wave of the nuclear bomb that destroyed Caprica City.

References

  1. ↑ It should be noted that Caprica-Six never appeared in this dress.
  2. ↑ "Question: Starbuck an Angel??? Really???" Espenson: "I'm going to answer re Starbuck and the "head" people, too. Well, here's how I always saw it. If someone from a far-advanced culture somewhere in the universe took an interest in humanity, isn't it possible that with their advanced tech that they could have abilities that would seem to us miraculous. Maybe we'd think of them as "Angels." Maybe they're the whole reason we have a myth of "Angels." But that's just me. The great thing about great novels (or the series) is that some things are left open to your own philosophical solutions." Galactica Sitrep, http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/blog/2009/03/chat_with_battl.html
  3. ↑ Podcast: Downloaded , Act Three.
  4. ↑ Podcast:Someone to Watch Over Me
  5. ↑ James Callis (Gaius Baltar) Q&A FanExpo 2k6 - Part 3 (backup available on Archive.org) . (YouTube video) (September 04, 2006). Retrieved on January 24, 2007.
  6. ↑ James Callis (Gaius Baltar) Q&A FanExpo 2k6 - Part 3 (backup available on Archive.org) . (YouTube video) (September 04, 2006). Retrieved on January 24, 2007. (Warning: Video contains some explicit language.)
  7. ↑ IGN Interview: Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer (backup available on Archive.org) . (January 18, 2007). Retrieved on January 24, 2007.


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