Ascension (Stargate)

Ascension is a concept that features in Stargate: SG-1.

History

Ascension

Thousands of years ago, the Ancients were the first to discover and study Ascension, and subsequently learn to Ascend. (Episode: Maternal Instinct) In the Pegasus Galaxy, they captured an energy-based organism for observation as they studied it for Ascension. During that time, the creature was trapped within a containment lab on Atlantis as the city was abandoned following the siege by the Wraith. (ATL: Hide And Seek)

Many years ago, an Ascended named Orlin came upon the world of Velona that was being threatened by the Goa'uld. To save the people, Orlin communicated the knowledge to them on how to build a weapon to defend themselves. This broke one of the sacred rules of the Others which was to not interfere in the natural development of the lower planes. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Velona had used the weapon to defend themselves from the Goa'uld but then turned the device into a means of conquest of other worlds. As a result, the Others intervened to undo the actions of Orlin and proceeded to destroy the planet Velona leaving it a barren wasteland. Orlin was then banished to that world as punishment for his actions amongst the corporeal plane. (SG1: Ascension)

SG-1 first discovered Ascension upon arriving on the legendary planet Kheb whilst in search of the Harcesis, offspring of the Goa'uld System Lord Apophis and Daniel's kidnapped wife Sha're. (Episode: Maternal Instinct) There they find a Buddhist-like temple in the woods where a monk has residence.

Not responding to interrogation, and masking his speech with Zen kōans, Daniel Jackson, the expert linguist, theologian and archaeologist of the team, decides to sit with the monk and learn about Oma Desala, or Mother Nature. He learns too how the monk is able to stoke a fire with his mind, and Daniel manages to imitate this effect.

When the Goa'uld find the temple, they kill the monk and he vanishes (he Ascends). The sky develops a storm and Daniel, understanding what this is, tells SG-1 to lower their weapons and allow the Jaffa to fire on them. When they do, a thunderhead strikes down the staff-weapon blasts and each of the Jaffa. The storm vanishes, and a flying, glowing being with white flowing tendrils takes the Harcesis and goes through the Stargate, pausing before entering to show a woman's face in the midst of the being.

A long time later Samantha Carter is stalked by the alien Orlin, who made himself look human because he was in love with her. (Episode: Ascension) He reveals that he was one of the Ascended, but was punished (expelled from the community of the Others) for helping a lesser race build a weapon that the race misused: after they successfully defended themselves with the aid of the weapon, they intended to use it to attack other planets. The Others extinguished the race and forced Orlin to stay on the planet. He has to make sure that nobody will ever use the weapon again. Orlin serves as an example that even an Ascended can make mistakes, and break rules. Another rule-breaking Ascended is Athar, who used her powers to defend the planet Proculus in the Pegasus Galaxy against Wraith culling. (Episode: Sanctuary) She is punished in a similar manner, allowed to continue protecting Proculus but confined there and unable to extend her protection elsewhere nor allowed to protect others seeking sanctuary on the planet.

Daniel Jackson, who later Ascended, was cast down back to full mortality for breaking the rule of non-interference after he attempted to destroy Anubis. Anubis himself is 'half-Ascended', more than mortal but less powerful than a fully Ascended being. Anubis was put into this state to punish Oma Desala for helping him to Ascend in the first place. (Episode: Threads) Anubis was allowed to remain in this half-Ascended state only so long as he doesn't use any powers or knowledge he couldn't have acquired if he was still a Goa'uld, but even this limitation puts him far above the other System Lords due to his inability to die and ability to use Ancient technology.

Orlin de-Ascended himself so that he could become fully human and be with Sam, but retained a great knowledge of technology (the knowledge of the Ancients), as he used a microwave, toaster, and large amounts of optical fibre and titanium to make a huge emerald for Sam, and a small Stargate in her basement so that they could stop one of the SG teams from reactivating Orlin's weapon. (Episode: Ascension) He was given the ability to Ascend again by the others after he tried to unplug the unstable device and was shot. Orlin later de-Ascends himself again to use the knowledge of the Ancients to assist Sam in curing the Ori plague afflicting Earth. (Episode: The Fourth Horseman Part 1) However, his new form was unable to retain his Ancient knowledge on a long-term basis, and he eventually suffered brain damage and reverted to a normal child mentality.

In "Meridian", Daniel Jackson, with critical timing, takes out a naqahdriah fuel core from a reactor, without a radiation suit, saving millions of alien-human people but ending up on his death bed. As he is dying he is contacted by Oma Desala in a vision, who offers to help him Ascend. Daniel chooses to Ascend instead of death, so he can help more people.

This marked Daniel's departure from the series for Season 6, to be replaced in SG-1 by Jonas Quinn. However, he frequently reappeared as a vision to his friends from his Ascended state of being. He was first seen again in the episode "Abyss", when Jack O'Neill is being tortured by being killed and revived again and again by Ba'al. Daniel appears to him but cannot help him, for that is not allowed by the others.

Daniel offers to help O'Neill out by making him Ascend as well, and he describes the process as opening one's mind. Jack instead implores him to use his powers as an Ascended being to "bust [him] out", but that is not allowed by the others. Eventually Jack makes it out on his own. Daniel appears again to Teal'c when the latter is dying after an ambush, but this time he merely helps Teal'c stay alive and find his way out of his current delusions long enough for the SGC to rescue him, once again doing nothing but being with his friend ("The Changeling").

However, Daniel later breaks his own (and the others') rule by fighting the half-ascended, (possibly resurrected) Goa'uld System Lord Anubis before he attacks Abydos in "Full Circle". He is stopped by Oma, who de-Ascends him into human form on an alien world with no memories of his prior life or his Ascension, but she also saves Abydos by Ascending its entire population before Anubis' mothership incinerates the planet. Nothing is left after the blast dissipates (not even the Stargate), but they reappear by the will of the Ascended one last time to say goodbye to SG-1.

The Ascended Ancients are split into two groups: the Others and the renegade Ancients who follow Oma Desala, and while they still are limited from interfering in the lives of those beneath them they are able to help others Ascend. On several occasions the others have had to intervene to stop the renegades from interfering in the lower plane. Near the end of Season 8, Daniel Jackson was killed by Replicator Carter - at which point Oma Desala stepped in and sent Daniel's soul to the Astral Diner, where he faced the ascended being of Anubis while contemplating his own enlightenment.

In Season 9, the Ori prove that a pure heart is not necessary for self-Ascension, and are in fact at least as bloodthirsty, and power-hungry as the Goa'uld. However, they and the fact that the Ancients' existence has become common knowledge across the galaxy has turned Ascension into the final spiritual and technological goal of all inhabitants of the Milky Way, including the international committee on Earth; Richard Woolsey encourages taking enormous risks to study someone who has the possibility of unlocking some of the secrets of Ascension to humans.

Overview

Ascension is described as having "all the knowledge and power of the universe", which is essentially an infinite knowledge (and, possibly, power). However, while ascended, Daniel Jackson stated that Ascension "doesn't make one all-knowing" rather the individual's ability to learn is infinitely increased. This can be done because there are no neurons required to store memory for ascended beings. RepliCarter tried to download the Ascended knowledge from Daniel Jackson's subconscious mind, but found that there wasn't enough memory in the entire Replicator army to hold it (Episode: Reckoning Part 2). RepliCarter claimed that she and her brethren just needed time to process the information, but Daniel argued that the knowledge was more than information, being also understanding on a level that she could never reach due to her machine status.

It was said that controlling the forces of nature was an easy task for an Ascended being. (SG1: Ascension)

The Ascended plane offers many powers to its inhabitants. Ascended beings have been seen to be capable of miraculous things. Among these include:

• It has been seen that they can make Stargates and large structures reappear after destruction (Episode: Full Circle)
• alter the flow of time (such as bomb timers) (Episode: Threads)
• attack with glowing balls of energy (Episode: Full Circle, Sanctuary)
• help other people Ascend, (Episode: Maternal Instinct)
• de-Ascend transgressors of the rules (Episode: Fallen)
• Ascended have a general power over nature (such as causing lightning strikes where they wish (Episode: Maternal Instinct)
• as well as use telepathy (Episode: Meridian).

There are a number of different methods to ascending that can happen in one of two ways: spiritually or evolutionarily. Ascension means that you live on a higher plain of existence. In all cases, a mortal being's physical body will convert to energy (sometimes leaving behind a bundle of empty clothes), and a stream of light will rise upwards into the sky. Ascended beings tend to take the form of a stream of light thereafter. It seems like a means to cheat death. Many people have ascended at the moment of or just after death - This could be because an EEG reading of 0.1 to 0.9 Hz is required for the mind to allow for a person to ascend. The Atlantis expedition's chief medic, Carson Beckett, explains that this level is only exhibited by comatose patients.

• Spiritual Ascension : If one is pure of spirit (i.e. morally good), then meditation, often guided by wisdom left behind by previous monks, in the search for enlightenment, can lead to a direct Ascension when one gains complete wisdom, a fully opened mind[3], and has shed one's fears and attachment to the mortal world. This process is usually terminated with death, at which point the being Ascends, but it is also possible to directly Ascend while still alive (see the picture above). In the process of Ascension through meditation, many beings obtain the same supernatural abilities that users of the DNA Resequencer receive, including: telepathy, telekinesis, superhuman senses, speed, and strength, precognition, perfect health, the ability to self heal rapidly, the power to heal by touch, and the ability to use many parts of your mind and fully focus on something. A previously Ascended being can help a mortal to Ascend. The Ancient Oma Desala, who Daniel Jackson speculates founded the Earth myths of Mother Nature, helped many beings to Ascend in this fashion, most significantly Daniel Jackson himself. In many cases, Oma had to be convinced by the virtue of the person to help a being ascend, although she was tricked into believing that Anubis possessed such virtue.
• Evolutionary Ascension : Ascension can also be a physical process, as, in essence, Ascended beings are still strictly physical. A human who evolves the ability to use approximately 90% of their brain capacity can learn to Ascend without much trouble.[6] This is related to the myth that people use only 10% of their brains[7], but some have explained this away by saying it means 90% of the neurons firing at all times, which would effectively result in a seizure in actuality. This form of Ascension again does not require the being to be good of heart. The Ancients who Ascended naturally reached this point without the aid of technology. They however, developed the DNA Resequencer, a device capable of making humans so advanced that they could perform telekinesis, telepathy, the power to heal by touch, (among other extraordinary abilities listed in the above section), and eventually Ascend (where all these abilities are a subset of the power of the Ascended). The Ascended nemesis of the Ancients "though the same race", the Ori, are evil beings. It is unclear how the Ori Ascended, but based on their selfish nature, and how advanced their technology is, it is safe to assume that they Ascended through evolution, or with technology, but not spirituality, as that path is only open to the good of heart. One theory is that the Ori's intentions were good when they started off but became corrupt with the power they gained, according to Merlin.

In general, Ascension can be used as a rather grand escape maneuver. (SG1: Abyss) Cosmically, Ascension appears to be the ultimate goal of all life; at least, this is the view that is beginning to spread across the Milky Way. The Free Jaffa Nation was nearly tempted to join the Ori in their search for Ascension, and the major powers on Earth are also seeking it. It should be noted that Ascension, while it does make one's consciousness immortal, is not considered an afterlife but rather the next stage in evolution.

The higher plane of existence in which the Ascended reside is inhabited by several different Ascended races, but the Ascended beings most commonly encountered and referred to are the Ancients and the Ori. These two alien races are in fact of the same species, that is, "the first evolution" of humans<ref name="Rising">Template:Sgcite; Earth humans are the "second evolution" of the form</ref>, but are differentiated due to their opposing beliefs and Ascended natures.

The rules of the Ascended are that one may not interfere in mortal affairs, a rule that is sometimes broken, causing a de-Ascension by the others (which usually involves regaining material form, naked and amnesiac <ref name="Fallen">Template:Sgcite</ref>) or some other form of punishment from the other Ascended (often called "The Others"); often, this punishment is inflicted onto the mortal world rather than the being responsible, to show them the effects of their actions.<ref name="Threads" />

In general these rules are upheld by only the Ancients and those loyal to them. They have such a fierce belief in the free will of the mortal realm - to Ascend or not, to kill each other or not, etc., - that the rule of non-interference is their highest. The Ori, on the other hand, seek to overturn the Ancient's dominance of the Ascended realm, and thus heavily influence the mortal realm to give themselves more power.

Ascended

• Oma Desala :
• Orlin : a male Ascended being who attempted to help the people of Velona who came under attack thus breaking the rules of not interfering in the lower planes and leading to his banishment. (SG1: Ascension)
• Anubis :
• Daniel Jackson :

Notes

• Ascension was created for the Stargate: SG-1 series and its related continuity.

Appearances

• Stargate: SG-1:
• Stargate: Atlantis:

External Link

• Stargate Wiki Entry

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