Ra (Stargate)

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Ra is an extraterrestrial film villain who features in Stargate.

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Biography

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 around 8.000 B.C., 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. 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. 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.

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. Col. Charles Kawalsky, SrA Louis Ferretti, and others through the gate to Abydos. It should be noted that Stargate SG-1 depicts both Kawalsky and Ferretti being U.S. Air Force Majors.

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'Neil 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.

Overview

Personality and attributes

Powers and abilities

Notes

  • The character was named after the deity from Egyptian mythology.
  • He was adapted into Stargate: SG-1 as a member of the Goa'uld.

Alternate Versions

  • 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] 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

In other media

Novels

  • Ra 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.

RPGs

  • In Stargate SG-1: Living Gods: Stargate System Lords, Ra was referenced in the non-canonical roleplaying game published by Alderac Entertainment Group. It said that in 22,000 BC that Ra had appeared at Apep's side as an underlord alongside Nut and Thoth, who was given ownership over a portion of Atok's territory and forces after the latest's death at the hands of Apep. United under the rulership of Apep, Ra and his kind swept across the Milky Way galaxy like a plague, taking many worlds under their control and very nearly wiping out the Unas. It was during this time that Anubis grew in Apep's favor, eventually earning a place at his side and becoming his most trusted adviser. By 17,800 BC Apep's original sons and daughters, Ra among them, became jealous of Anubis for the favor he had with Apep. It was perhaps only fitting that Anubis killed Apep, and that this very act caused the Goa'uld to do the one noble deed in their history; they banded their forces together in order to defeat Anubis. The battles raged for hundreds of years, very nearly decimating the Goa'uld themselves taking many Unas with them before Anubis was eventually defeated in 17,400 BC and banished by the Goa'uld collective. Ra instated himself as the new ruler of the Goa'uld Empire, reinstating the old order which had been put in place by Apep. It was at this time that Ra also banished Thoth for his creation of the unstable Sarcophagus, though Thoth's understudy Telchak remained. To show his appreciation for her help in the fight against Anubis, Bastet was rewarded by Ra himself, who also introduced the former servants Osiris and Isis into the ranks of the underlords. To ensure that the Anubis incident could never happen again, Ra also dismantled the superweapon which had been Anubis's staplepoint in his attacks and divided the crystals which powered it amongst the remaining Goa'uld. It was then that the First Goa'uld Dynasty ended, making way for the second. With the Unas of P3X-888 in short supply and the Goa'uld symbiotes growing once more at a steady rate, Ra and the other Goa'uld were forced to push the limitations of their species. By 16,000 BC, Ra had managed to solidify his authority and appointed a new form of rulership to govern the Goa'uld and thus the System Lords were formed with Ra as the Supreme System Lord. Ra stated that entry into the body was awarded by a vote from the current members, creating a power system that served for thousands of years. Joining the first ranks of the System Lords were Osiris, Isis, Tiamat, and finally Yu who, at that time, was thought to be a progressive ruler. During this period, Ra also took Egeria as his queen, though others such as Hathor would later fill this position.

Appearances

  • Stargate:
  • Stargate: SG-1:

External Links

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