Ra (Stargate)
Ra is a fictional alien in the Stargate universe, appearing in the science fiction movie Stargate, and subsequently in the television show Stargate SG-1. Ra is related to the Ra of Egyptian mythology.
History
Originally the most powerful and influential of the Goa'uld System Lords, Ra was responsible for finding humans on Earth (the "Tau'ri") and discovering that the Goa'uld could use them as hosts, maintaining their bodies indefinitely with their advanced technology. Ra stumbled upon the planet Earth ten thousand years ago, and took an Egyptian boy as his host. He posed as a god to enslave its people, and ruled over the planet for thousands of years. [1]
During this time, he took humans from Earth and seeded them all across the galaxy. These human colonies worship the Goa'uld as gods, serve as slave labor, and mostly have no idea that their true origins lie on Earth. [2] One of the planets colonized by Ra was Abydos, where the people remained mining naqahdah for thousands of years.
Approximately five thousand years ago, the peoples of Earth rebelled against him and buried the planet's Stargate somewhere in Egypt. [1] Originally believed to have been instigated by the Oannes, in Season Eight of SG-1 the timeline was altered so that the rebellion was instigated by a version of SG-1 from an alternate timeline, after they had travelled back to the past to retrieve a ZPM. [3] In order to insure that none of the peoples he ruled over would ever again rise up against him, Ra outlawed reading and writing on most of the planets he controlled, including Abydos. [1]
Ra was the most cunning and ruthless of the Goa'uld System Lords. His Queen was Hathor [4], and his son was Heru-ur. [5] He was also the brother - and enemy - of Apophis. He was also opposed by the Goa'uld Shaq'ran, and defeated the Tok'ra queen Egeria. [6] His power and intelligence so overshadowed the others that he was awarded the title Supreme System Lord and became the de jure Emperor of the Goa'uld, though this would be a very nominal title as the others never ceased their attempts to usurp the position.
In 1928, the Stargate was rediscovered by a team of archeologists led by a Dr. Langford. As it would take several years before the Tau'ri's technical capabilities allowed them to operate the device, the United States Air Force eventually discovered how to activate it, and sent Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Lt. Charles Kawalsky, Lt. Louis Ferretti, and others through the gate to Abydos.
Not knowing what to expect, O'Neil, under covert orders from General West, had brought a nuclear bomb from Earth with orders to detonate it if there was any indication of a hostile threat. When the team was confronted with Ra, and learned of his previous dominance of the people of Earth, O'Neill moved to activate the device. Ra discovered the plot against him and planned to instead send the nuclear bomb back to Earth with a shipment of the mineral, which would have the effect of multiplying the explosive force of the nuclear weapon by a factor of one hundred. The resulting explosion would most probably have destroyed all human civilization at the very least.
Before the bomb could be sent, however, the humans managed to escape Ra's clutches and launched an attack on his landed spaceship. Ra was defeated before he could dispatch the warhead and decided to flee Abydos, his empire crumbling when the natives rebelled (as had happened on Earth) when Daniel revealed that Ra was not a god. O'Neil had, unfortunately, already activated the nuclear device, and was unable to deactivate the bomb, apparently modified by Ra. Jackson sent the bomb and its mineral up into Ra's spaceship by way of a ring transporter, destroying the ship and killing Ra. [1]
Although the death of Ra was an enormous victory, it would however attract the attention of the other System Lords and alert them of the threat Earth posed. Also, the power vacuum created after Ra's death allowed Apophis to become even more powerful. [7]
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (September 2007) |
- Within the movie, when Ra became angry the outline of another humanoid being could be seen within the host. This same humanoid being was also clearly seen in flashback scenes to represent Ra's form before he "possessed" the boy. This portion appears to be contradicted by Stargate SG-1, where the true Goa'uld is a serpent-like creature which occupies the brain stem in order to control the host. The contradiction is not addressed in the series.
- Ra has appeared only once on Stargate SG-1, in the season eight episode "Moebius", in which the SG-1 crew, using an Ancient time machine, traveled to Earth's past before the revolution against Ra. His face was not shown - he remained in masked form only.
- Ra would also appear in comics based on the Stargate movie and SG-1 series. In the SG-1 comics, he first appeared in flashbacks of the Abydos uprising (the original movie storyline) before featuring in the Ra Reborn series of comics which depicted a storyline involving surviving the explosion of his ship.
- In the film, Ra was portrayed by Jaye Davidson, except for the scenes in which Ra wore his mask. The prop mask was extremely heavy and was worn by stuntman Kierton Lee.
References
- ^ a b c d "Stargate"
- ^ "The Enemy Within (Stargate SG-1)
- ^ "Moebius" (Stargate SG-1)
- ^ "Hathor" (Stargate SG-1)
- ^ "Thor's Chariot" (Stargate SG-1)
- ^ "Cure" (Stargate SG-1)
- ^ "Children of the Gods" (Stargate SG-1)