Teal'c

History

Teal'c is a Jaffa who is one of the leading authorities on Goa'uld on Earth. Once serving the System Lord Apophis as his First Prime, Teal'c defected in the first episode of the series ("Children of the Gods") after Colonel Jack O'Neill convinced him that Earth presented actual hope for the eventual defeat of the Goa'uld. Teal'c turned his weapon on his fellow Jaffa and returned with SG-1 to the SGC.

Teal'c's father was once the First Prime of Cronos, a rival System Lord. However, when his father retreated in a battle that could not be won, Cronos personally executed him for failure. The procedure was painful, as Cronos reached into the prim'tah (symbiote carrying pouch all Jaffa have) and crushed the larval Goa'uld within him. Teal'c and his mother fled to Apophis' territory, and Teal'c joined his army. Under the direction of Bra'tac, the then First Prime, he learned the ways of a warrior and rose in the ranks to become Apophis's new First Prime. Although Apophis was very fond of him, the lessons he learned from Bra'tac's wisdom and his own personal experiences led him to disbelieve the divinity of the Goa'uld. Unfortunately, he was unable do to anything about it without the certainty of execution as a traitor, until he encountered SG-1.

Teal'c's main drive throughout the series is to topple the Goa'uld regime and bring freedom to all Jaffa. After several battles with the Goa'uld, during which they suffered several highly visible defeats, an organized Jaffa resistance eventually came to fruition. In "The Warrior," the First Prime of a minor Goa'uld, Imhotep, organizes Jaffa of several other Goa'uld into a small army. Though this gathering was only subterfuge by Imhotep, Teal'c and SG-1 were able to save the bulk of this resistance from slaughter by moving them to the Alpha Site. However, the Tok'ra later took refuge at the Alpha site as well and soon clashed with the ideals of the Jaffa Resistance. Teal'c, Bra'tac, and SG-1 could not quell the tension between the two factions so they simply went their separate ways. Yet, these many events permanently planted the seed of Jaffa resistance to millenia of enslavement by the Goa'uld. Apparently, due to Teal'c's infamy among the Goa'uld (more often than not, he is referred to as shol'va or "traitor" by many Jaffa and Goa'uld), the ranks of the Jaffa Rebellion have increased as more Jaffa catch wind of Teal'c's brazen actions.

Teal'c and Bra'tac took an influental role over the free Jaffa and eventually mobilized and led them to victory over the Goa'uld at Dakara, where a new Jaffa democracy was established. From the day of victory on Dakara, Teal'c and Bra'tac were hailed as "blood kin to all Jaffa."

He is currently a member of the Jaffa High Council and a leader of the liberal faction that supports Tau'ri-based representative democracy for the new Free Jaffa Nation, opposed to the traditionalist faction headed by Gerak. Since Gerak's death, it would appear that Teal'c has supported Bra'tac as an interim leader before a type of government is solidified.

Personality

In the Goa'uld/Jaffa language, 'teal'c' means 'strength'. This facet is dominant in Teal'c's personality, as he does not run from extenuating circumstances but faces his checkered past, and uses the present to atone for past misdeeds ("Cor-ai") and amplify the fight against the oppression of the Goa'uld. Moreover, he is a firm proponent of the SGC's maxim of "never leaving [our] people behind." On more than one occasion, he was dismayed at being denied the chance to rescue SG-1 or other people, even with overwhelming odds agianst achieving that goal. Although Teal'c assumes a quiet demeanor and terse way of expression (seen by his preference to short phrases such as "Indeed" or "I see" over full sentences), his actions speak volumes about his care for life and freedom.

He has amazing self-control, restraining himself to calm actions when others would often become extremely angry, but he makes no claim to a lack of emotion and he has been known to lose his temper when his close friends and family are threatened. He places his honor and duty above his own personal welfare and would gladly give up his life if it meant freedom for the Jaffa and the continued existence of Earth. In addition, Teal'c usually accepts death as a normal part of life, seeing it as a necessary side-effect of the difficult path he walks. After Daniel dies (he truly Ascends, but this was a relatively new concept in the show) in "Meridian," Teal'c is berated by Carter for giving her "the way of the warrior crap." Teal'c is by no means heartless, but expresses emotion and grievances in a more supressed, solemn fashion.

Though Senator Kinsey says Teal'c "switches sides more often than I change the oil in my car," he has long since proven his loyalty and martial skill to Stargate Command on numerous occasions. From saving members of the SGC to providing critical intelligence on Goa'uld System Lords and troop movements, he is the one person the SGC can count on to continue the fight, no matter what happens. Interestingly, despite being an alien in both species and place of origin, Teal'c is often singlehandedly responsible for preserving the Earth from destruction.

The Prototypical Jaffa

The first member of his race with prolonged contact with members of the Tau'ri, giving Earth humans their first look into Jaffa culture and traditions, Teal'c transformed his race from anonymous and irredeemable villains (in the early seasons of the show) into a rich society further developed by the writers of each episode. In the process, Teal'c has come to symbolize the Jaffa as his cultural perspectives become key points in story plots throughout the series.

Family and Love Life

While still in service to Apophis, Teal'c was married to Drey'auc (now deceased) of the Cordai Plains and had a son, Rya'c. He left his family behind when he betrayed Apophis, hoping to return and bring them the freedom he had found, and they were forced to live as pariahs. He returned to Chulak to prevent his son from being implanted with a symbiote, but Rya'c was too ill and ultimately Teal'c gave him his own symbiote. Teal'c later received another that SG-1 had captured ("Bloodlines").

After he left again, Drey'auc married Fro'tak, a childhood friend of Teal'c, in order to give her son a better life. However, even with such an influential new husband, Drey-auc was unable to prevent Apophis from abducting Rya'c and brainwashing him into publicly denouncing his father. Teal'c believed Rya'c would not succumb to such manipulation, but SG-1 eventually rescued Rya'c and brought him and Drey'auc back to Earth (Fro'tak was killed trying to betray SG-1) where Teal'c soon discovered Rya'c truly was brainwashed and conditioned to immolate himself to destroy Stargate Command. Teal'c had to shoot him with the zat to break the conditioning. Rya'c and Drey'auc left to live in the Land of Light (P3X-797 by designation) soon after ("Family"), and eventually moved to a rebel Jaffa camp, wherein Drey'auc died as a result of refusal of a new larval symbiote when hers matured, not wanting to deprive another Jaffa of life ("Redemption (part 1)").

Shau'nac of the Red Hills was a priestess on Chulak and an old love of Teal'c. They rekindled their feelings when she reappeared in his life, but she was killed soon thereafter ("Crossroads").

Ishta is the leader of the female Jaffa on Hak'tyl. They rebelled against the Goa'uld Moloc because he ordered the murder of any female Jaffa baby, forcing her and her fellow priestesses to secretly smuggle female children off the planet instead of murdering them. She felt the Jaffa rebellion was useless, believing it better to evade the Goa'uld rather than combat them, thereby straining their relationship for a while. They still keep in touch months later, however, as Rya'c tells Teal'c that things would be easier for everyone else if he and Ishta just admit they love each other ("Birthright, Sacrifices").

He was against his son's marriage to Kar'yn, a student of Ishta, believing he was too young. Yet, he finally accepted it ("Sacrifices").

Weaponry

Originally, Teal'c used the traditional Jaffa staff weapon and a , or a "Zat gun". He also on a few occasions used the salvaged cannon from a death glider â€" specifically, it was the weapon he used to kill his sworn enemy Tanith in "48 Hours".

However, as the series progressed he was more and more often seen using Tau'ri weapons, mainly the classic FN P90, typically taking advantage of his superior arm strength by wielding it one-handed, and occasionally, one in each hand.

In the episode "Off The Grid" Teal'c wields two Heckler & Koch MP7s, whilst Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson both use single MP7s, leading some to speculate that this weapon would replace the P90 as the main weapon for the team, along with the G36K which Cameron Mitchell uses. However, with the return of P90s in "The Scourge," it appears that only Mitchell will continue to use the new weapon.

Teal'c has also been seen with a M249 in "Full Circle," two P-90's in "Arthur's Mantle," and even two staff weapons in "Sacrifices."

Trivia

* Teal'c no longer carries a symbiote, and now relies on the drug Tretonin to sustain him.
* In the Episode "Past and Present", Teal'c said his name was chosen by his father and means strength.
* He once drank half a gallon of steaming hot coffee in a single swallow while under the influence of an alien implant ("Urgo"[1]).
* In the fourth-season episode "The Light"[2], Teal'c states that he is 101 years old.
* According to the episode "The Other Guys"[3], Teal'c believes that "the Canucks of Vancouver are superior warriors." This is no doubt a wise addition, as the series is filmed in Vancouver, B.C.
* While trapped in a time loop in "Window of Opportunity"[4], Teal'c learned Latin to help Daniel translate an Ancient inscription and juggling out of boredom.
* Teal'c actually does have a sense of humor, albeit different from his Earth friends, as evidenced by his example of "Jaffa jokes" in the episode "Seth"[5].
* When off-duty, Teal'c is frequently seen wearing Hawaiian-style aloha shirts.
* In a handful of episodes, Teal'c wears a floppy-brimmed hat and assumes the pseudonym "Murray" when trying to pose as human. This is first seen in "Point of No Return".
* Christopher Judge, who plays Teal'c, has appeared in more episodes of Stargate SG-1 than anyone else. The only episode thus far in which he does not appear is "Prometheus Unbound"[6].
* Teal'c has read the Bible ("Demons"[7]) and seen Star Wars at least nine times ("Ascension"[8]). It is presumed that he has seen the entire series, as in the episode "Crusade"[9] he knows of Darth Vader's origins. Apparently, he desires a greater understanding of Earth humor, and decided to watch Old School for the weekly SG-1 movie night; he was overruled by Mitchell, who declared that they would be watching Starship Troopers ("The Scourge"[10]).
* In the episode "Avatar"[11], Teal'c comments that he plays Def Jam Vendetta. Christopher Judge was the voice actor for D-Mob, the main villain of the game.
* O'Neill comments that Teal'c is into horoscopes in "The Curse"[12].

Key episodes

External links

* Character description from GateWorld. Visited May 29, 2006.
* Character biography from StargateWiki. Visited May 29, 2006.

Teal'c: Encyclopedia BETA

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