Pythia's Labyrinth: Sometimes Some Great Notions

As we know from the first 3.5 seasons of Battlestar Galactica, the scrolls of Pythia detail the "exile and rebirth" of the human race 3,600 years before the Cylons annihilated the 12 Colonies of Kobol.

[Question: Exile from and rebirth where?]

[My Answers: Earth and Kobol, respectively.]

Also, as we learned in the Season 4.5 opener, "Sometimes a Great Notion," Earth was nuked about 2,000 years before the Colonial fleet and the Cylons arrived (in "Revelations").

[Question: Was Earth really nuked, or did it suffer some natural catastrophe (e.g., a "global killer" meteor strike)? More on that later.]

Until now, I'd never thought to look up the word "Pythia" because I assumed it was a fictitious name created for the series. Then, while taking notes for my forthcoming (and very, very late) review of "Sometimes a Great Notion," I ran a Wikipedia search for "Pythia," just to bone up on anything I'd forgotten. Lo and behold, to my very great surprise, I learned that "Pythia" is a real reference from Greek mythology. Here's the quotation from Wikipedia:

"The Pythia was the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. It is often said [but not confirmed] that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from a chasm in the rock, and that she spoke gibberish which priests reshaped into the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature."

Now, who in BSG does this description immediately call to mind?

The Cylon Hybrid, of course. And the "priests" who interpret her prophecies correspond to the Leobens, who believe that every word from the Hybrid has meaning.

In "Sometimes a Great Notion," we learned that the 13th Tribe was Cylon and that they settled Earth. But what if they weren't really Cylon? What if they were human? And what if the 13th Tribe actually was the original tribe of man?

Don't forget that the word "Cylon" originally referred to the machines created by the people of the 12 Colonies. ["The Cylons were created by Man. They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies."] After the destruction of the colonies, the term was expanded to include the "skin jobs" ... but are they really Cylons — i.e., mechanical?

In the BSG universe, I always "assumed," based on the dialogue, that human life began on the planet Kobol, and then 12 Tribes left to settle the 12 Colonies, while the 13th Tribe left to settle Earth. But why would they split up?

Maybe I've had this backward, too. What if human life did begin on Earth, and then 12 Tribes left to settle Kobol (and, later, the 12 Colonies), while the 13th Tribe remained on Earth? This would certainly explain how the scrolls of Pythia ended up on Kobol and the 12 Colonies ... because they originated on Earth at the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.

As I suggested in a previous post, the 12 Cylon models correspond to the 12 primary Greek "gods" of Olympus, right down to the division of genders. Let's say that these 12 "gods" and all the "secondary" gods were technologically advanced "humanoid" visitors from another planet (not a new concept) who'd been watching Earth for a long time. Eventually, they set up on Mount Olympus, intermingled/procreated with the primitive humans and were perceived as "gods." However, in their own religion, they believed in the one, true God.

Time passes, and the "gods," not wishing to be perceived as such, imparted their belief in the one, true God to the people of Earth. Judaism, Christianity and all other religions developed thereafter. Then the "gods" departed Earth, but left behind 12 clones, who "disappeared" among the people of Earth and were "programmed" to keep an "eye" on things.

More time passes. A schism develops among the clones, perhaps due to a flaw in the cloning process. Five clones want to reclaim their godlike status, while Seven clones do not. They go to war, destroying Earth in the process. The Five prevail and the Seven are defeated, but not wiped out. The clones round up the survivors and relocate everyone to Kobol.

Because the Five "won" the war, they and the Seven are revered as the "lords of Kobol," and the one, true God religions are forgotten by the people. The Seven, however, do not forget. They bide their time.

Many years later, something happens to Kobol, perhaps instigated by the Seven this time, but it isn't completely successful and doesn't incinerate Kobol the way Earth was. As a result, the Five and the Seven are, more or less, balanced in strength and number, and when they relocate the people again, they spread everyone out among 12 Colonies, perhaps hoping to avoid any future cataclysms.

["All this has happened before, and it will happen again.]

The Five, caught off-guard and nearly decimated at Kobol, recognize that their "godlike" influence is over and leave the 12 Colonies. However, they send five of their clones to infiltrate the colonies as "sleepers." Some of the Seven are programmed likewise ["Some are programmed to think they are Human."], except that they can be "reactivated" at any time by their brethren. In addition, the Five and the Seven are "reprogrammed" to forget each other. Perhaps this was a condition of their armistice after Kobol.

Meanwhile, the colonists develop "Cylon" technology to make life easier for them.

["And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters. After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared. The Cylons left for another world to call their own."]

The Seven "lords of Kobol" followed the Cylons, gained control of them and advanced Cylon technology for the day when they decided to destroy the heathenish 12 Colonies — under the guise of "Cylons." Thus begins the TV series and the quest to find the mythical 13th Tribe on the planet Earth.

The Colonial fleet soon relocates Kobol, and then begins following various markers that ostensibly lead to Earth.

[From "A Measure of Salvation": During the journey from Earth to Kobol, someone leaves behind a beacon that's contaminated with a 3,000-year-old strain of Lymphocytic Encephalitis. It's likely that either the Five or the Seven planted it as a "marker of death," hoping it would be found by their "rival" if they ever tried to return to Earth. But why would either side care if the other returned to Earth?]

Starbuck is presumed dead when her battered Viper is destroyed inside a spatial vortex or "maelstrom," to which she is inexplicably drawn.

Later, as the Colonial fleet nears the Ionian Nebula, some strange "musical signal" of Earth origin gradually manifests itself in the minds of Saul Tigh, Sam Anders, Galen Tyrol and Tory Foster like an unscratchable itch. When the fleet reaches the nebula, the four are mysteriously drawn to the same compartment inside the Galactica, where they suddenly "realize" that they are four of the "Final Five" missing "Cylon" skin jobs.

Concurrently, Starbuck emerges from deep inside the nebula in a brand-new Viper, insisting that she's been to Earth and is going to lead the Colonial fleet there. Much later, it's discovered that the brand-new Viper was the source of the signal that "awakened" four of the Final Five skin jobs. When the Colonial fleet and the rebel Basestar reach a long-death Earth, Starbuck finds the source of the signal: a transponder unit that matches the one on her new Viper. Soon afterward, she tracks down pieces of a destroyed Viper that appear to bear the markings of her own Viper. Then she finds the cockpit and its burned, skeletal pilot, which is wearing her dog tags and wedding ring.

(A) Who or what is Starbuck?

(B) How did she die and return from the dead?

(C) What happened during the time she can't account for when interviewed by Roslin and Adama?

(D) Why didn't she notice (or her photographs indicate) that Earth was a dead planet ... or did she notice?

(E) What's the relationship between the "live" her and the "dead" her, who crashed on Earth?

(A) At the very least, we know that Starbuck is a woman with a "destiny." Both versions of the Cylon Hybrid have said so, but the "old man" version was precise in his prognostication to Kendra Shaw:

["Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the harbinger of death, the herald of the apocalypse. They must not follow her."]

[Translation(?)]: (1) "harbinger," i.e., an advance scout who gives an indication of what is to come — i.e., death on Earth; (2) "herald," i.e., a "clarion call," which awakened the Final Five who had initiated the apocalypse on Earth; (3) "they" must not follow her, i.e., the Seven who "lost" the war on Earth, or possibly the Colonial fleet.]

The gobbledygook spouted by the female Hybrids has always been vague (or "Pythian") to the Leobens, who nevertheless try to make sense of it. However, when the "rebel" Hybrid meets Starbuck, her language is as abundantly clear regarding Starbuck's destiny as the "old man" was to Shaw. When Kara finally shares the Hybrid's prophecy with Leoben on Earth, he is dumbfounded and hurries away from her.

(B) In "Maelstrom," Starbuck dove into the vortex and her Viper exploded. Or did it? Considering what we've learned since then, that vortex was probably "temporal" in nature, crushing the "old" Starbuck and then spitting out a "new" one in the Ionian Nebula — possibly an example of "inverted" temporal physics, wherein "effect" precedes "cause."

Or ...

(C) & (D) The Starbuck who emerged from the Ionian Nebula is from another dimension, or a "parallel plane" of existence, in which Earth was not destroyed. Therefore, the pictures she took gave no indication of a terrestrial apocalypse. Also, since she isn't the "same" Starbuck who returns to the Galactica, she doesn't know why everyone believes she's been dead for two months, or why she's being grilled about her "new" Viper, what she saw, and why she can't remember anything. She also doesn't understand why Adama and Roslin won't allow her to take the fleet to Earth.

(E) There's no relationship between the "two Starbucks." In "Sometimes a Great Notion," the "new" Starbuck finds the wreck of the "original" Starbuck and wonders what the frak is going on.

Here's one final thing to ponder: Is it possible that the "Maelstrom" vortex into which Starbuck disappeared was directly connected to Earth, and that Starbuck's appearance over Earth caused some kind of catastrophic atmospheric cascade that destroyed the planet?

[Regardless of whether my "guesses" about BSG's back story is correct, the series, at its core, is about the perils of religious intolerance — unquestionably apropos to our 21st century Earth.]