Asgard (Stargate)
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| Asgard | |
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| Species | Asgard |
| Homeworld | Othala (original, destroyed), Orilla (destroyed) |
| Governing body | Asgard High Council |
| Alliances as of season 10 | Tau'ri |
| Prior Alliances | Four Great Races, Protected Planets Treaty |
| Key episodes | "Thor's Hammer (humanoid hologram) Thor's Chariot (real form)" (first appearance) |
In the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, the Asgard or Asgård are a highly advanced and benevolent race from another galaxy, called Ida. The Asgard have visited Earth on many occasions, giving rise to the Norse legends, as well as becoming the infamous Roswell Aliens. They were part of the Alliance of Four Great Races. They are among the most advanced races in the Stargate universe, rivaled only by the Ori and possibly the Nox and Furlings, and largely succeeded the deceased and ascended Ancients in technological advancement, and in turn have been succeeded by the Tau'ri, to whom they have passed on all of their knowledge.
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[edit] History
The first planet settled by the Asgard was Othala, or Hala, in the galaxy of Ida.[1]
[edit] 30,000 years ago
An Asgard ship with its crew placed in suspended animation left the Asgard homeworld. However, the navigational computers were damaged at some point, and the ship drifted across galaxies, ultimately ending up in the Milky Way (whether or not the Milky Way was its intended destination is unclear). The ship was recently found by Asgard scientists, and within it was one perfectly preserved Asgard ancestor. Heimdall started research on it because the clone was from a time when their cloning program was "not yet irreversible" (i.e. leading to the contemporary problem of cellular degradation through reclonings).[2]
[edit] 10,000 years ago
The Asgard were part of the Alliance of Four Great Races in the Milky Way galaxy (the others being the Ancients, the Nox and the Furlings). [3]
[edit] Between 10,000 years ago and 21st century
Despite the disapproval of the Asgard, the Goa'uld became a great threat to the Milky Way. The Goa'uld began taking humans as hosts during this time, which angered the Asgard as they realized humanity had a great potential, like its parent race the Alterans (Ancients). The Asgard and the Goa'uld went to war, but the Asgard were forced to pull out from the war to deal with greater threats in the Ida galaxy.
Unwilling to completely give the galaxy over to the Goa'uld, the Asgard freed or transplanted humans on various worlds and became their protectors. The humans who couldn't comprehend their advanced technology as anything but divine magic thought they were gods (this is the origin of Norse mythology, and thus far only one protected planet besides Earth has realized its protectors' true power). To ensure the safety of these planets, the Asgard and the Goa'uld agreed in 'The Protected Planets Treaty' that the Asgard would allow the Goa'uld various benefits (the precise terms are unknown) and the Goa'uld would leave the humans alone. The Protected Planets Treaty could be expanded if both sides agreed to include other planets, which later protected Earth. This treaty was one of the few that all Goa'uld obeyed, as none wished to anger their more powerful enemies.
In truth, however, the treaty was a bluff on the part of the Asgard. Due to concerns in the Ida galaxy, the Asgard lacked the ability to enforce their treaty, and merely pretended they could, save for occasional shows of power to intimidate the Goa'uld. If the System Lords had decided to disobey the treaty, the Asgard would have been largely powerless to stop them.
[edit] The Replicators
The Asgard have been largely unable to help Earth and the Milky Way against the Goa'uld due to a war with a greater enemy, the Replicators. The Replicators easily adapted themselves to become immune to the energy-based weapons of the Asgard, resulting in a war that was mostly just containment of the Replicators. Human weapons, however, used simple chemical reactions to propel inert projectiles (ballistics) -- a crude method that nevertheless proved difficult for the physically small and weak replicators to adapt to. SG-1 has provided assistance to the Asgard on several occasions, as human minds are more capable of coming up with "stupid ideas" than Asgard minds are. Major Carter uses one such "stupid idea" to destroy several replicator ships by luring them into hyperspace with the newest, but incomplete, Asgard ship (the O'Neill) which she then remotely explodes[4], after which Thor promises on behalf of the Asgard that after the defeat of the Replicators, the Asgard will dedicate all their resources to help defeat the Goa'uld. With the help of SG-1, the Asgard were able to lure all of the Replicators into a time-dilation field, with the intent of trapping the Replicators for thousands of years (that to them would be mere minutes).
Unfortunately, escape for the Replicators was later made possible; two years later, the Replicators escaped the black hole created by the Asgard using the time-dilation device and launched an attack on the new Asgard home world, Orilla. Despite an attempt to prevent this by Aegir using a preemptive attack on the Replicator ship as it emerged from hyperspace, before it could raise its shields, many Replicators survived and landed on the planet, among them the human-form Replicator known as "Fifth". Colonel O'Neill, with the knowledge downloaded from a Repository of the Ancients, was able to devise a weapon that permanently jammed the Replicator intercellular communications 'network', rendering all Replicators affected by this weapon unable to self-assemble and simply fall apart into their constituent components. Thor was able to engineer a larger version and fire a planet-wide shot that would disable all replicators on Orilla, though many (including Fifth) escaped.
The remaining Replicators subsequently turned their attention to the Milky Way. They were able to become immune to the anti-Replicator weapon, and the Asgard were able to send only Thor to assist. The Replicators were finally defeated when the Tau'ri, Free Jaffa, and Ba'al were able to use the Dakara Superweapon to break every Replicator in the Milky Way into their elemental components. There was concern that a few might lie outside the Milky Way and survive, but thus far they have not made themselves known, if they did indeed survive.
[edit] Post-Replicator years and extinction
The Asgard in the season nine finale "Camelot" assisted in the united attack against the invading fleet of Ori motherships, but despite their efforts the attack met with little success. The Asgard also sent an O'Neill class battleship to the Battle of P3Y-229, which fared much better than the other ships (among them Tau'ri, Jaffa, and Lucian Alliance ships), and the Asgard vessel was not seen among the debris field and other destroyed ships, its fate unknown. They provided Earth's new battlecruiser, the Daedalus, with significant technological upgrades, and an Asgard engineer named Hermiod stayed on the Daedalus to help them understand and operate their technology, as thanks for destroying the Replicators. Another Asgard named Kvasir has appeared in SG-1 many times and helped the SGC overcome the dilemmas encountered in the episodes "Ripple Effect" and in "Camelot".
In the Stargate SG-1 series finale, "Unending", the Asgard informed the Tau'ri of the unfortunate reality that their species' irreparable genetic flaws due to their cloning process have cost the Asgard species the ability to ascend (it is unclear if the Ancients would have helped them ascend but could not), and would lead to the Asgard's imminent extinction, as a result of a rapidly progressing genetic disease spreading across the entire Asgard race. To preserve their legacy and prevent their advancements from being used by the Ori and others like them, the Asgard chose to commit mass suicide on Orilla. Unwilling to allow their technology and history to be forgotten, but afraid of it falling to the wrong hands, they gave all of their knowledge and advancements to the Tau'ri, because they believed them to be the "Fifth race". Some Asgard were against this decision, but most agreed it to be the best choice.
Shortly after installing their advanced technology onto the Odyssey, three Ori motherships attacked the Asgard homeworld and the Odyssey, apparently able to track the distinctive signature of Tau'ri ships using Asgard power cores. With the new Asgard weapons technology, the Odyssey managed to put up a valiant defence against the Ori ships and managed to destroy one, but was forced to retreat into Hyperspace with the technology onboard. Their last act completed, all the Asgard teleported to the surface of Orilla, whereupon the planet self-destructed in a massively powerful explosion. This final act was witnessed by the Tau'ri and the Ori. The Asgard race are now believed to be extinct, although this could be considered debatable as it has been revealed that the Asgard will be a playable class in Stargate Worlds.
[edit] Characteristics
[edit] Physiology
[edit] 30,000 Years Ago
The Asgard were once a tall humanoid species. At the time, they reproduced sexually, like humans do, but have since lost the ability.
[edit] Present time
Due to decay in the Asgard genome, a result of excessive cloning, they no longer possess the ability to reproduce sexually, and all Asgard that were still alive at the time of their self annihilation were clones. They survived for many millennia by cloning their bodies then transferring their minds into their clones. The lifespan of a specific clone is unknown. Thor states in the Stargate SG-1 finale episode "Unending", "The final attempt to solve our physiological degeneration has left each of us with a rapidly progressing disease." As a result of having cloned themselves for so long, the evolutionary process necessary to ascend is no longer possible for the Asgard. "Everything that can be done, has been done," continues Thor; and so the Asgard wish to give the Tau'ri everything: all their knowledge and all their current technology (even though many Asgard still believed humanity is too young). Much as the Ancients silently passed the role of protector of the Milky Way on to the Asgard, so the Asgard have passed it on to the Tau'ri.
The Asgard look very much like the Roswell Greys with webbed hands and feet. As they have admitted to visiting Earth multiple times, it can safely be assumed that they are the Roswell Greys.
[edit] Society
[edit] Language
The Asgard language is believed to have influenced the formation of the Germanic languages[citation needed]. It is written in the same visual style as various runic systems, and appears to be very close the Norse system of runes. Within the continuity of the show, the Norse people inherited their writing system from the Asgard, this is no surprise as the Norse people would have wanted to imitate their gods. As with the connections between other alien languages and those of Earth in the Stargate universe (such as the Goa'uld language inspiring Ancient Egyptian, and the Ancient language inspiring Latin), this disagrees with real-world science, since the Norse Runic alphabet clearly developed in parallel to the Etruscan, Latin, Greek and Gothic alphabets.
In Stargate Atlantis, the Asgard Hermiod speaks infrequently in Asgard, which is simply English played backwards. This is a trait seen exclusively in Hermiod, as all other Asgard speech in the Stargate universe is not a reverse of English.
[edit] Asgard as Deific Benefactors to Humanity
As the Goa'uld posed as gods from the pantheons of many mythologies in order to enslave humanity, members of the Asgard race positioned themselves as deities to the Norse in order to give them a moral code and guide their development, as very few human civilizations can separate advanced technology from magic. They used human-form holograms as their façades. The name of their species came to mean the home of the gods: Asgaard, connected to Midgaard, the world of men, by a rainbow bridge. Some of the Norse gods who are actually Asgard: (Main Article)
| Name | Origin | Traditional appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thor | God of Thunder | Powerful Viking | Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet |
| Heimdall | Guardian of Bifrost Bridge | Powerful Viking | Scientist[5] |
| Loki | God of Mischief | Weak, cunning man; capable of shape-shifting | Rogue geneticist[6] |
| Aegir | Lord of the Sea | Giant | Commander of the Valhalla who orchestrated the defense of the new Asgard homeworld, Orilla |
| Kvasir | God of wisdom | Powerful Viking | Scientist |
| Hermiod | Messenger of the Gods | Powerful Viking | Engineer[7] |
| Freyr | Male fertility God | Powerful Viking | Member of the Asgard High Council |
[edit] Asgard High Council
The Asgard High Council is the governing body for the Asgard race. The size and structure of the council is unknown, but there are at least seven sitting members, including Freyr, Thor, and Penigal (Red Sky, as well as New Order). The Asgard High Council makes decisions that affect the whole race, though their exact political power is unknown. In addition, it has entered into negotiations on behalf of the Tau'ri, most notably involving the Protected Planets Treaty.
They gather in a large meeting hall equipped with holographic projectors to allow contact with those in other galaxies, O'Neill became acquainted with the system.
[edit] The Protected Planets Treaty Amendment
One of the most notable occasions when the Asgard came to Earth's assistance occurred when it was learned that the Goa'uld System Lords had decided to attack Earth ("Fair Game"). The Asgard called a meeting between delegations representing the Goa'uld, the Tau'ri and the Asgard, the purpose of which was intended to include Earth under the protection of the "Protected Planets Treaty". This treaty has served to maintain a millennia-long, if fragile, peace between the Goa'uld and the Asgard.
When questioned by O'Neill as to why the Asgard even had a treaty with the Goa'uld despite the fact they are much more technologically advanced and hate them, Thor reveals that while the Asgard could defeat the Goa'uld, the Asgard fleet was engaging a far more dangerous enemy in their home galaxy (later revealed to be the Replicators), tying up the Asgard fleet to the point where they were largely powerless to interfere in the Milky Way Galaxy. In effect, the Asgard were bluffing the Goa'uld.
Attending on behalf of the Goa'uld were the System Lords Yu, Nirrti and Cronos. Thor represented the Asgard and chose Colonel Jack O'Neill to represent the Humans.
Although events did not start off well, an accommodation that satisfied all parties was eventually reached after the attempted assassination of Cronos by Nirrti.
The treaty for Earth was that the System Lords should not attack Earth and that the Council of System Lords would be responsible for preventing any rogue Goa'uld from attacking earth. However any Tau'ri found offworld were fair game. This treaty was later broken several times, mostly by Anubis, but most of the System Lords remained neutral to Earth for fear of the Asgard's wrath.
22 other planets are included in the treaty.
[edit] Tactics
Little is known of Asgard military tactics as their advanced technology tends to dominate their enemies. They use this to achieve victory over their enemies, as the only factions capable of fighting the Asgard on even terms are the Replicators and the Ori, and possibly the Nox and Furlings (both of whom are friendly towards the Asgard). It is known that the Asgard are not above employing trickery against their enemies, such as bluffing the Goa'uld with the Protected Planets Treaty by appearing as capable of destroying the Goa'uld yet being powerless to intervene directly due to other problems.
It should be noted that the Asgard have no hesitation in sacrificing themselves in battle, as was the case when Thor decided to self destruct his ship in hyperspace in order to destroy a Replicator starship heading towards his new homeworld of Orilla. This is consistent with Norse mythology involving valiant battle-ready gods.
Furthermore, its been stated that the Asgard race have some problems with developing viable military tactics, as their brains are simply too advanced and complicated, making almost incapable of resorting to more primitive means in defeating their enemies. This was the prime reason why the Asgard took Samantha Carter to develop a primitive tactic (blowing up a ship) to use against the Replicators despite the fact that she was one of the smartest people on Earth.
While the Asgard maintain a large fleet of ships with defensive capabilities, as a whole they are not a militaristic race, and strongly disapprove of the use of technology for aggressive purposes (this is the origin of their distaste for the Goa'uld).
[edit] Technology
The Asgard possess a vastly superior level of technology than the Goa'uld, although they do not seem to employ the cloaking technology so common among the Goa'uld. Indeed, the only races with technology on the level of the Asgard are the Ancients, Ori and possibly the Nox and Furlings. Their ships are capable of traversing thousands of light years of space in minutes, and they have mastered advanced transporter and holographic projection. Their ships are capable of operating with as few as one person on board. This suggests that their ships possess many automated systems. However, this is not standard procedure as, in certain episodes, Thor has made references to evacuating the crew off the ship.
The Asgard have at least 3 types of ships: the Beliskner-class cruiser, the Daniel Jackson-class science vessel and the O'Neill-class battleship. It was shown in Unending that Asgard directed-energy weaponry is capable of destroying Ori Motherships in a few shots and their shields can take even direct attacks from Ori weapons.
All Asgard technology and knowledge now belongs to the Tau'ri; a gift to them before their destruction. However, while they now possess all the knowledge of the Asgard, it will likely take them decades to fully understand it and put it to widespread use. The technology has been replicated for the the Odyssey's sister ships (Daedalus and Apollo), however. The Phoenix, which was under construction when Earth received the Asgard technology, was seemingly fitted from the ground up with the technology in mind. This is evidenced by the integrated Asgard computer console on the bridge directly behind the captain's seat. These are only limited implementations however, there has yet to be any evidence of upgraded technology seen on Earth.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Unnatural Selection (Stargate SG-1)
- ^ "Revelations".
- ^ "The Torment of Tantalus".
- ^ Stargate SG-1 episode "Small Victories Part 2"
- ^ Stargate SG-1 episode "Revelations"
- ^ Stargate SG-1 episode"Fragile Balance"
- ^ Stargate Atlantis episode "The Siege"
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