Number Eight: Difference between revisions

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide
Line 21: Line 21:
== Sharon "Athena" Agathon ==
== Sharon "Athena" Agathon ==
{{mainarticle|Sharon Agathon}}
{{mainarticle|Sharon Agathon}}
'''Sharon "Athena" Agathon''' is a copy first encountered by [[Karl Agathon|Karl "Helo" Agathon]], when he is stranded on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]]. She is initially assigned to seduce him by impersonating Lieutenant Sharon Valerii (with whom she appears to share some, if not all pre-attack memories), as part of a Cylon cross-breeding experiment, but later turns against her people and helps him escape the planet; pregnant with his child during that time. Helo, first shocked by her true nature, ultimately accepts her as the mother of his child and declares his love for her.
'''Sharon "Athena" Agathon''' is a copy first introduced in the closing moments of the [[Miniseries, Night 2|Miniseries]]. She is the Eight who boards [[Ragnar Achorage]] in a Colonial flight suit. The first Colonial human she interacts with is [[Karl Agathon|Karl "Helo" Agathon]], when he is stranded on [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]]. She is initially assigned to seduce him by impersonating Lieutenant Sharon Valerii (with whom she appears to share some, if not all pre-attack memories), as part of a Cylon cross-breeding experiment, but later turns against her people and helps him escape the planet; pregnant with his child during that time. Helo, first shocked by her true nature, ultimately accepts her as the mother of his child and declares his love for her.


Once on ''[[Galactica]]'', she is imprisoned and long seen as nothing but a "[[toaster]]". She frequently provides intelligence, but is severely mistreated by an interrogator from ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'' who beats and sexually assaults her. Over time, she earns Admiral [[William Adama|Adama's]] trust by helping the Colonial Fleet escape peril several times, and she is eventually appointed as a Colonial Officer and marries Karl Agathon. Agathon gives birth on ''Galactica'', but her daughter, [[Hera Agathon|Hera]], is subsequently hidden from her, because President [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]] considers the baby a threat to the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]]. Agathon believes Hera to be dead for more than a year, but after learning the truth about her child during a confrontation with Valerii, she is able to regain her daughter from the Cylons with the help of [[Caprica-Six]].
Once on ''[[Galactica]]'', she is imprisoned and long seen as nothing but a "[[toaster]]". She frequently provides intelligence, but is severely mistreated by an interrogator from ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'' who beats and sexually assaults her. Over time, she earns Admiral [[William Adama|Adama's]] trust by helping the Colonial Fleet escape peril several times, and she is eventually appointed as a Colonial Officer and marries Karl Agathon. Agathon gives birth on ''Galactica'', but her daughter, [[Hera Agathon|Hera]], is subsequently hidden from her, because President [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]] considers the baby a threat to the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]]. Agathon believes Hera to be dead for more than a year, but after learning the truth about her child during a confrontation with Valerii, she is able to regain her daughter from the Cylons with the help of [[Caprica-Six]].

Revision as of 16:41, 27 May 2009

"8" redirects here. For the Malaysian television station, see 8TV.
Number Eight
Number Eight

Human Name

Sharon
Age {{{age}}}
Colony {{{colony}}}
Birth place {{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name {{{birthname}}}
Birth Date {{{birthdate}}}
Callsign {{{callsign}}}
Nickname {{{nickname}}}
Introduced Miniseries
Death {{{death}}}
Parents {{{parents}}}
Siblings {{{siblings}}}
Children {{{children}}}
Marital Status {{{marital status}}}
Family Tree View
Role {{{role}}}
Rank {{{rank}}}
Serial Number {{{serial}}}
Portrayed by Grace Park
Number Eight is a Cylon
Number Eight is a Final Five Cylon
Number Eight is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Number Eight is an Original Series Cylon
Related Media
@ BW Media
Additional Information
[[Image:|200px|Number Eight]]

"Number Eight" is one of the twelve humanoid Cylon models. She is the youngest in appearance and generally associated with the name "Sharon" when interacting with humans. Eights are known for being more empathic and compassionate than the other Cylons. They also have been placed in the most pivotal missions involving Cylon-human interactions. Eights have been the Cylons with the most extensive human contact, resulting in at least two interspecies relationships (but see Galen Tyrol) and a Cylon-human hybrid child. Humans have particularly been exposed to two specific copies, Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, a "sleeper" agent who served on board Galactica, and Sharon "Athena" Agathon, a Cylon defector now appointed as a Colonial Officer.

Sharon "Boomer" Valerii[edit]

Main article: Sharon Valerii

Sharon "Boomer" Valerii is a copy initially planted as a "sleeper" agent in the Colonial Fleet. Implanted with false memories, she is unaware of her Cylon nature and serves for two years as Lieutenant Valerii on Galactica, where she is assigned as a Raptor pilot and also engaged in a secret relationship with Chief Tyrol. After the Cylon attack, her underlying programming repeatedly emerges which leads her to unconscious acts of sabotage. Growing confusion about her true self results in a deep depression and a failed suicide attempt. After Valerii returns from a successful mission to destroy a Cylon basestar, she shoots Commander Adama in the chest, wounding him critically. She is incarcerated in the brig and soon afterwards killed by Specialist Cally.

Athena (left), Boomer (right).

Her consciousness is downloaded and she is reborn in another body. Subsequently, she experiences severe problems integrating into Cylon society and long considers herself more human than Cylon. She eventually works together with Caprica-Six in an attempt to change Cylon popular opinion about humans and she emerges as one of the Cylon leaders jointly responsible for the end of the occupation of the Twelve Colonies and later the Cylon occupation on New Caprica. Following the failure on New Caprica, Valerii abandons her hopes for coexistence with humans and she denounces her past on Galactica.

Later she sides with Cavil in the Cylon Civil War and is the only Eight on his side. She is in a relationship with him and is even aware of him holding Ellen Tigh prisoner and her identity as a Final Five Cylon. She appears to defect and helps Ellen escape, but its part of a succesful plan to kidnap Hera Agathon, the daughter of another Eight. She claims to Tyrol that despite everything she still loves him and thinks about him often, even creating a projection of their dream home and a daughter for them. While she was manipulating him, she tells him before she escapes that she wasn't lying about what she told him and given that she shows Hera the projection, she probably wasn't lying. She seems to show some remorse for kidnapping Hera who she bonds with on the trip to The Colony and is the only one of Cavil's faction who shows her any compassion. Boomer later helps her escape and is shot dead by Athena after giving her back Hera saying she owed the Admiral one and she made what she knew was going to be her final choice and that choice was to do the right thing.

Sharon "Athena" Agathon[edit]

Main article: Sharon Agathon

Sharon "Athena" Agathon is a copy first introduced in the closing moments of the Miniseries. She is the Eight who boards Ragnar Achorage in a Colonial flight suit. The first Colonial human she interacts with is Karl "Helo" Agathon, when he is stranded on Caprica. She is initially assigned to seduce him by impersonating Lieutenant Sharon Valerii (with whom she appears to share some, if not all pre-attack memories), as part of a Cylon cross-breeding experiment, but later turns against her people and helps him escape the planet; pregnant with his child during that time. Helo, first shocked by her true nature, ultimately accepts her as the mother of his child and declares his love for her.

Once on Galactica, she is imprisoned and long seen as nothing but a "toaster". She frequently provides intelligence, but is severely mistreated by an interrogator from Pegasus who beats and sexually assaults her. Over time, she earns Admiral Adama's trust by helping the Colonial Fleet escape peril several times, and she is eventually appointed as a Colonial Officer and marries Karl Agathon. Agathon gives birth on Galactica, but her daughter, Hera, is subsequently hidden from her, because President Roslin considers the baby a threat to the Fleet. Agathon believes Hera to be dead for more than a year, but after learning the truth about her child during a confrontation with Valerii, she is able to regain her daughter from the Cylons with the help of Caprica-Six.

Since her joining the Fleet she has become a trusted officer who is assigned the hardest of missions, at least one which being a Cylon helped her survive when it would be difficult for normal humans (The Passage). She tells Helo at one point that she has to struggle to be accepted everyday because of her true nature as a Cylon, but despite that she remains loyal to the Fleet. When she learns of a plan to wipe out her species except her, she says that she will keep her word nonetheless even if she's the last Cylon in existence. At one point she encounters several other Eight copies on the Rebel Basestar who revere her since she was the first Cylon to say "no" to the overall plan and ask her to lead a mutiny against Natalie and the other Sixes, however Athena refuses saying that the other Eights disgust her. When asked why she explains that "you pick a side and stick with it." She chose the Colonial side and they chose to be rebels and she feels that no matter what the consequences are, you should stick with the side you choose.

Athena later gets severely beaten by Boomer and has to watch as Boomer seduces Helo and later kidnaps Hera. Athena seems to fall into a depression, basically ignoring her husband and stating that she doesn't think they'll find Hera alive even when a rescue is finally launched for her. Athena is part of the strike team that invades The Colony through Raptors and finds that Boomer has saved her daughter from dissection. Boomer returns Hera to her, but Athena refuses to forgive her saying that returning Hera doesn't absolve Boomer of what she did. Athena shoots and kills Boomer for her actions. Later on the new Earth, Athena is able to have a nice normal family with her husband Helo and her daughter Hera as the Cylons have been destroyed and they have found a world to live in peace.

Other Copies[edit]

A Number Eight copy at the Delphi spaceport.
  • Shortly after the Cylon Attack ends, an Eight in a pale blue tunic is one of four 'rebirth nurses' who greet Caprica-Six following her rebirth (this takes place at the same time as the events of the middle or end of the Miniseries, but is seen in the much later episode Downloaded).
  • An Eight is witnessed wearing a gray coat at the spaceport at Delphi. However, she is immediately shot by Sharon Agathon after noticing and attempting to shoot Helo (Colonial Day).
  • Multiple copies of the Eight model are present on the basestar over Kobol. It is possible that they are dispatched to the Raptor in order to activate some latent portion of Sharon Valerii's underlying Cylon programming (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II).
  • An Eight is among a group of rebirth nurses, possibly the same one that midwifed Caprica-Six, who welcome the reborn Sharon Valerii. Valerii becomes hysterical after seeing and hearing this copy.
  • A copy of Number Eight is seen at the end of "Final Cut", also wearing a grey coat like other Eights on Caprica, remarking in surprise that Sharon Agathon is still alive (and saying, "I told you" to the Number Five copy sitting next to her).
Eights onboard a Cylon basestar.
  • Numerous copies of Eight are seen on Cylon occupied Caprica throughout the episode "Downloaded".
  • Several Eights are part of a group of humanoid Cylons blown up on New Caprica by a bomb planted by Samuel Anders and Galen Tyrol as they approach a group of Centurions exiting from a Heavy Raider which has just landed.
  • Another Eight sits next to Valerii on Colonial One during the Cylon Occupation Authority's discussion of the suicide bombing of New Caprica City's power station and the subsequent proposal that harsher measures be adopted. She does not speak during the meeting.
  • An Eight, referred to in script as "Sweet Eight", seduces Felix Gaeta on New Caprica. She offers to check on and, when possible, rescue prisoners whom he cares about. Secretly aware that Gaeta is working with the human resistance, "Sweet Eight" saves a few token humans from Gaeta's lists and orders the remainder killed as being valuable to her human enemies. Much later, "Sweet Eight" kills everyone else aboard Raptor 718, including another Eight, save Gaeta, in order to save oxygen. Gaeta discovers this and she reveals her actions during the occupation of New Caprica. Gaeta then kills her (The Face of the Enemy). Gaius Baltar was aware of her actions on New Caprica ("Taking a Break From All Your Worries"; confirmed in "The Face of the Enemy").
  • An Eight can be seen practicing a Cylon version of Tai Chi in the episode "Torn" while nude.
  • Another Eight is among the infected Cylons captured by Galactica as part of the Colonials' plot to infect the Cylon race with the virus from the Lion's Head beacon. She and the others are executed by Karl Agathon before the plan can be put into action (A Measure of Salvation). Because no Resurrection Ship was in range, her death is final.
  • The Number Eights in the episode "Six of One", with the exception of Sharon Valerii, are supporters of the Number Six Natalie. They are excited at the prospect of discovering the Final Five and vote with the Twos and Sixes against the lobotomization of the Cylon Raiders.
  • The Eights in Natalie's group decide that they need to mutiny and turn to Athena to lead the rebellion. She refuses and tells them they need to pick a side and stick with it. One is mortally wounded by a Centurion (which is then killed by Starbuck) while attempting to disconnect the Hybrid. She apologizes to Athena asking for forgiveness admitting that Athena was right. Athena doesn't grant it, but Samuel Anders holds her hand and comforts her as she dies (Faith).
  • Another copy works with Karl Agathon during the attack on the Cylon Resurrection Hub. When she gives him a massage like his wife does, he asks her about it and she say that she was curious about Sharon Agathon, so she downloaded her memories from the last time Agathon resurrected (Rapture). This makes her Sharon Agathon to some extent, complete with an emotional attachment to Karl Agathon. She is aware that it is an awkward situation for Karl, but is still annoyed when he rebuffs her. Shortly after, she helps him by giving a speech to the reluctant Viper pilots that motivate them to trust the Cylons. During the battle she and Karl take a Raptor to the Hub to retrieve the unboxed Number Three. Afterwards, she is furious when she learns that the humans double-crossed them and have no intention of handing over the Three (The Hub). In a deleted scene for the episode she is shot seconds after this revelation by a Cavil that was part of a boarding party. Helo kills the Cavil and goes to help her but she's dead.
  • A pilot Eight, referred to as "Hard Eight" in script, is aboard Raptor 718 when it becomes separated from the Fleet. While attempting to repair a loose connection using deckhand Brooks' pliers, she is fatally electrocuted, after which it is discovered that the insulation had been stripped from the pliers. "Sweet Eight" is later revealed to have stripped the insulation, intending to kill the deckhand in order to save oxygen (The Face of the Enemy).
  • Several copies work around Galactica applying the organic resin.
  • Another copy is either knocked out or killed by Tyrol and used to replace Boomer so she could escape.
  • Another copy has to forcibly restrain a Six who nearly gets into a fight with a human worker.
  • Another Eight (or possibly the same one that restrianed the Six) is mortally wounded during the hull breach on Galactica. She asks to see Colonel Tigh and is able to die happily as she sees him as her father since the Final Five created the other Cylons.
  • The remaining Eights who survived the Battle of the Colony presumably joined the human race with the rest of the Cylons.

Notes[edit]

  • Ron D. Moore stated in an interview for TheFandom.com, "There is no original human Sharon. The idea is not that there was likely an original human model that they were copied from. The idea was that these models of Cylon were sort of developed out of their own study of us. The Cylons on some level looked at humanity and said 'You know what? There's really only 12 of you.' If these are the 12, and sort of if you look at them they each represent different archetypes of what humanity is."
  • The two notable Eights, Sharon Valerii and Sharon Agathon, met for the first time in the Season Three midseason finale "The Eye of Jupiter". Before that, they were often in the same episode but never shared a scene.
  • Valerii is the male plural form of the Roman name of the family Valeria. Valerius is the singular form.
  • Neither Eight with extended time with the Colonials refers to her lover by his first name on screen during the first two seasons. During that time, Sharon Valerii calls Chief Tyrol by "Chief" instead of "Galen", while Sharon Agathon uses Karl Agathon's callsign, Helo. Ronald D. Moore explained in his blog that no one had ever really called Tyrol "Galen" before, and hearing Valerii say it during her death scene would have distracted from the emotional impact of her death. Moore compared it to the Seinfeld episode when Kramer's first name is revealed to be "Cosmo"; i.e. the viewers would be unused to Tyrol's previously unknown first name. As for Agathon, everybody usually just calls him "Helo". Sharon Valerii referred to Chief Tyrol by "Galen" for the first time while speaking to Cally in the Cylon Detention Center on New Caprica, long after their romantic relationship had ended. Whereas Sharon Agathon calls Helo by his first name, Karl, in "The Woman King".