Karl Agathon
Encyclopedia
Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character
on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica
TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett
.
Officer, part of a two-person Colonial Raptor
crew based on the Battlestar Galactica
, and is paired with Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
before the Cylon
attack on the Twelve Colonies
. Unlike other major characters such as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
or Gaius Baltar
, the series reveals little about Agathon's life before the events of the series. It is confirmed Helo is a Caprican, which is partly why he and Starbuck knew each other.
The (unofficial) backstory Tahmoh Penikett and Katee Sackhoff
came up with to explain a comment from Thrace in "Scattered
" that she and Helo "go way back" is the two were old friends for a long time who most likely attended the academy together as cadets and as "drinking buddies."
, discovered in the crowd, to survive. Boomer lifts off with refugees aboard and Helo is left on the nuked and occupied Caprica with only a med kit and sidearm.
. Eventually, he is captured by a Number Six
copy, but is rescued by Valerii (unknown to Agathon, his rescuer is another copy of Cylon model Number Eight). Valerii's true motive in accompanying Agathon is the participation in a Cylon experiment designed to attempt to create a viable Cylon/human hybrid offspring. The Cylons track Agathon's progress toward a military base in Delphi, placing him in situations designed to result in affection and ultimately love towards Valerii. The experiment results in a successful pregnancy after Valerii has sex with Agathon, though as an unintended side effect, she falls in love with him as well. Agathon soon discovers the truth about her Cylon nature after spotting another Number Eight copy while trying to infiltrate the Delphi military base. Believing that he is being led into a trap, he runs from the base and Valerii.
She eventually catches up to him and reveals she is pregnant. Despite shooting her in the shoulder, Agathon realizes he can't bring himself to kill her and instead, at her urging, takes her with him to the Delphi museum. It is there he is reunited with fellow Galactica
pilot Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
, who is on a special mission from President Laura Roslin
to recover the Arrow of Apollo. After nearly being killed by Thrace, Valerii steals the Cylon Raider and flies off. Agathon and Thrace make their way first to Thrace's old apartment to retrieve a new mode of transportation (an old army truck she owned), and then into the woods in search of another military base. While stopping to get their bearings, they run into a group of Pyramid players-turned resistance fighter
s. After Thrace is wounded and captured by the Cylons, Agathon and the others track her down and attempt to rescue her from the hospital where she is being held. They are, surprisingly, aided by Valerii, who returns in a stolen Heavy Raider. With the Arrow of Apollo in hand, Agathon, Thrace and Valerii leave Caprica and make their way to Kobol
to rejoin Roslin.
Upon rejoining the Colonial survivors aboard the Astral Queen, Agathon pulls his gun on Lee Adama
in order to stop him from shooting Valerii, whom Adama blames for the attempt another Valerii copy makes on his father's life. Later, while searching for the Tomb of Athena on the surface of Kobol, Agathon admits to Valerii he still loves and trusts her.
After finding the Tomb of Athena, Agathon returns with the group to Galactica, almost three months after being MIA
and presumed dead. His homecoming is bittersweet; Helo's former friends turn their backs on him due to his love for a Cylon — let alone one whose doppelgänger attempted to murder the beloved Commader William Adama
. However, Helo finds support from Starbuck and Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol, who was in love with the original Galactica crew member version of Sharon before her ultimate betrayal of the fleet and death. Helo eventually is accepted by the crew when he recommends the Blackbird should be encased in carbon-composite skin to make it a stealth ship.
After the appearance of the Battlestar Pegasus
, Agathon witnesses Sharon's torture and attempted rape by Lieutenant Alastair Thorne, a Pegasus crew member and Cylon interrogator. Along with Tyrol, Helo stops Thorne from raping Sharon but in the process, they accidentally kill him. (This incident is subject to subtly different editing. In the DVD version of the episode, they interrupt Thorne while he is raping Sharon; in the broadcast version, they arrive just in time to prevent it.) Admiral Cain's summary trial and death sentence of Agathon and Tyrol bring Galactica to confrontation with Pegasus. Although the death sentence is not carried out, Agathon and Tyrol remain in the brig, where Tyrol ultimately gives Helo his blessing for a relationship with Sharon. The two are eventually released by Colonel
Jack Fisk
, with all charges being dropped.
Following his captivity on Pegasus, Helo is reunited with his version of Sharon as her pregnancy continues. When President Laura Roslin proclaims her intention to force Sharon to undergo an abortion in order to eliminate the perceived threat Helo and Sharon's child represents to the fleet, Helo begs Admiral Adama to overrule Roslin and allow himself and the pregnant Sharon to leave the fleet and find a world where they could live in peace without being persecuted. Adama refuses and Roslin rescinds her demand for a forced abortion when Gaius Baltar extracts blood from the unborn child for use as a cure for Roslin's terminal cancer. This leads to Roslin betraying Helo again by ordering Helo and Sharon's newborn daughter to be taken from the hospital after she is born. The infant's death is faked and Helo is given what are ostensibly her ashes, which he and Tyrol release into space.
Following the discovery and settlement of New Caprica, Agathon remains on Galactica as part of her skeleton crew. He is promoted to Captain and serves as Galactica' s executive officer
(XO), replacing Colonel
Saul Tigh
. Karl Agathon marries his version of Sharon Valerii, who is commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Colonial Fleet and takes the call sign "Athena
".
During an attempt by Galactica to spread a virus in order to wipe out the Cylon race, Agathon disobeys orders and sabotages a key part of the plan in order to prevent the elimination of the Cylon race because he considers such an action to be genocidal, and therefore profoundly immoral.
When Colonel Tigh finally returns to the position of Galactica' s XO after a long depression brought on by his experiences on New Caprica (in particular his execution of his wife, Ellen
, for collaboration), Agathon returns to the flight line. He pilots one of the Raptors used to guide the fleet through a nearly un-navigable and highly radioactive stellar cluster. He becomes one of the second highest pilots left after the deaths of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace and Louanne "Kat" Katraine. He is next in line with Ricky "Two Times" Richardson and Marcia "Showboat" Case, respectively.
Two weeks after the death of Kara, Helo takes over as C.A.G. (Commander, Air Group) from the still visibly shaken Lee Adama, who is subsequently removed by Admiral Adama. Mere days later, he once again temporarily replaces Col. Tigh as XO, when it becomes apparent the latter has returned to the bottle.
Helo returns to his duties as CAG after Colonel Tigh returns to duty. When Starbuck returns Helo is placed second in command on the Demetrius in the mission to find earth. During the mission to destroy the Hub, Helo rescued the Number Three D'Anna before the Hub was destroyed.
During the mutiny Helo was beaten unconscious by the mutineers and thrown in the brig along with his wife and daughter. After the mutiny was resolved, he and his family returned to life as usual. This equilibrium was disrupted when Boomer, the Raptor pilot he had formerly served with, impersonated his wife and allowed him to seduce her (while Athena, bound in a closet, watched in helpless fury), and then abducted Hera for study. Boomer fled with the child to the Colony, where John Cavil intended to dissect her to determine the secrets leading to her conception. In the aftermath of the abduction, with Athena in a listless depression, Helo begged Adama to let him take out a Raptor for a search-and-rescue mission, despite the risk he would not find her—or, for that matter, return. (Adama, stern if sympathetic, denied the request.)
When Adama finally obtained the location of the Colony, Helo and Athena were among the many who volunteered to crew Galactica for the attack-and-rescue mission. He devised the plan of using Raptors as boarding craft, inserting small teams of Marines into the Colony—a plan made extremely dangerous by the dense asteroid agglomeration and gravitational distortions caused by the Colony's orbit around a black hole
. He and Athena were the only Raptor crew to survive the entire process of insertion, combat and withdrawal, but (with a little help from a repentant Boomer) successfully retrieved their daughter. Shortly thereafter, Galactica herself was boarded, and Helo was shot in the thigh. Hera fled the scene, and, despite knowing he would die of blood loss unless Sharon attended him, Helo demanded she protect their daughter.
Helo did not appear again until the last few minutes of the episode. Though he used a walking stick to counter his limp, he was still alive, still mobile, and evidently not severely distressed by his injury; instead, he bantered with Sharon over what they would teach Hera (and who should get to teach it) on this new planet called Earth
.
While Karl and Sharon Agathon passed namelessly into history, Hera was eventually identified by Earth scientists as "Mitochondrial Eve
".
. After stranding him on the post-nuclear attack Caprica, the writers had no further plans for the character and intended his fate to be that he died (off-screen) in the radiation that followed the nuking of the planet. However, many fans took a liking to the character and wanted to know what happened to him after he was left on Caprica. This factor caused the producers, who were also impressed by Penikett's performance when watching the premiere of the miniseries on the big screen, to revise their original plans for the series to include the character and his activities on Caprica after the mini-series.
, Agathon
being the name of an Athenian tragic poet. The Greek proverbial phrase
kalon k'agathon
("the beautiful and the good") — also written as kalos k'agathos — was used to describe the ideal man, the epitome of both aesthetics
and ethics
, as well as the Form of the Good in Platonic philosophy. Helo's full name, Karl C. Agathon, wasn't revealed until the release of "33"
— after the writers revised their original plans and expanded the character's storyline. His call sign, "Helo," could possibly originate from the Greek
Titan
Helios
, though it is also military slang for a helicopter.
Agathon is also the name of a Prince of Troy in the Iliad. King Priam scolds Agathon and his 8 brothers for being cowards after Hector
is killed by Achilles
. On page 475, beginning on line 263 in Book 24 of Stanley Lombardo's translation:
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett
Tahmoh Penikett
Tahmoh Penikett is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Karl "Helo" Agathon on the Sci Fi Channel's television series Battlestar Galactica and as Paul Ballard in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse'.-Early life:...
.
Background
Agathon is an Electronic CountermeasuresElectronic countermeasures
An electronic countermeasure is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar or other detection systems, like infrared or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting information to an enemy...
Officer, part of a two-person Colonial Raptor
Colonial Raptor
The Raptor is a multipurpose military spacecraft featured in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. According to producer Ronald D. Moore, the Raptor is analogous to the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Prowler.-Description:...
crew based on the Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (ship)
The Battlestar Galactica is a space battleship in the original and re-imagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica.The Twelve Colonies of Man in the original television series built a number of Battlestars during their thousand-year war with the Cylons, whose battleships are...
, and is paired with Sharon "Boomer" Valerii
Sharon Valerii
Number Eight is a female humanoid Cylon model on the television series Battlestar Galactica, a reimagining of the classic show of the same name. She is portrayed by Grace Park...
before the Cylon
Cylon (Battlestar Galactica)
The Cylons are a cybernetic civilization at war with the Twelve Colonies of humanity in the Battlestar Galactica science fiction franchise, in the original 1978 and 1980 series, the 2004 reimagining, as well as the spin-off prequel series, Caprica...
attack on the Twelve Colonies
The Destruction of the Twelve Colonies
The Destruction of the Twelve Colonies is a fictitious interstellar holocaust first depicted in the 1978 motion picture Battlestar Galactica, which set the stage for the subsequent television series...
. Unlike other major characters such as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Kara Thrace
Kara Thrace is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica franchise. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
or Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
, the series reveals little about Agathon's life before the events of the series. It is confirmed Helo is a Caprican, which is partly why he and Starbuck knew each other.
The (unofficial) backstory Tahmoh Penikett and Katee Sackhoff
Katee Sackhoff
Kathryn Ann "Katee" Sackhoff is an American actress known mainly for playing Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica. In 2004 she was nominated for a Saturn Award in the "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series" category for her work in...
came up with to explain a comment from Thrace in "Scattered
Scattered (Battlestar Galactica)
"Scattered" is the first episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on July 15, 2005....
" that she and Helo "go way back" is the two were old friends for a long time who most likely attended the academy together as cadets and as "drinking buddies."
Miniseries
During the Cylon attack, Agathon and Sharon's Raptor is damaged, he takes a shrapnel hit in the leg and they are forced to land on Caprica. While making repairs, they are mobbed by a group of survivors desperate to get off the planet. A lottery is used to decide who will be allowed to escape due to the Raptor's limited space. The injured Agathon sacrifices his own seat to allow Dr. Gaius BaltarGaius Baltar
Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
, discovered in the crowd, to survive. Boomer lifts off with refugees aboard and Helo is left on the nuked and occupied Caprica with only a med kit and sidearm.
Series
After the Raptor leaves, Agathon flees into the wilderness and tries to elude Cylon forces, surviving by using anti-radiation injections and the other contents of his survival kitSurvival kit
A survival kit is a package of basic tools and supplies prepared in advance as an aid to survival in an emergency. Military aircraft, lifeboats, and spacecraft are equipped with survival kits....
. Eventually, he is captured by a Number Six
Number Six (Battlestar Galactica)
Number Six is a family of fictional characters from the reimagined science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. She is portrayed by Canadian actress and model Tricia Helfer. Of the twelve known Cylon models, she is the sixth of the "Significant Seven"...
copy, but is rescued by Valerii (unknown to Agathon, his rescuer is another copy of Cylon model Number Eight). Valerii's true motive in accompanying Agathon is the participation in a Cylon experiment designed to attempt to create a viable Cylon/human hybrid offspring. The Cylons track Agathon's progress toward a military base in Delphi, placing him in situations designed to result in affection and ultimately love towards Valerii. The experiment results in a successful pregnancy after Valerii has sex with Agathon, though as an unintended side effect, she falls in love with him as well. Agathon soon discovers the truth about her Cylon nature after spotting another Number Eight copy while trying to infiltrate the Delphi military base. Believing that he is being led into a trap, he runs from the base and Valerii.
She eventually catches up to him and reveals she is pregnant. Despite shooting her in the shoulder, Agathon realizes he can't bring himself to kill her and instead, at her urging, takes her with him to the Delphi museum. It is there he is reunited with fellow Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (ship)
The Battlestar Galactica is a space battleship in the original and re-imagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica.The Twelve Colonies of Man in the original television series built a number of Battlestars during their thousand-year war with the Cylons, whose battleships are...
pilot Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Kara Thrace
Kara Thrace is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica franchise. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...
, who is on a special mission from President Laura Roslin
Laura Roslin
Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...
to recover the Arrow of Apollo. After nearly being killed by Thrace, Valerii steals the Cylon Raider and flies off. Agathon and Thrace make their way first to Thrace's old apartment to retrieve a new mode of transportation (an old army truck she owned), and then into the woods in search of another military base. While stopping to get their bearings, they run into a group of Pyramid players-turned resistance fighter
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
s. After Thrace is wounded and captured by the Cylons, Agathon and the others track her down and attempt to rescue her from the hospital where she is being held. They are, surprisingly, aided by Valerii, who returns in a stolen Heavy Raider. With the Arrow of Apollo in hand, Agathon, Thrace and Valerii leave Caprica and make their way to Kobol
Kobol
Kobol is the name of a planet in the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe.Within the context of both Battlestar Galactica stories, Kobol is the birthplace and original home of humanity, from which the civilization departed and formed the Twelve Colonies on other worlds...
to rejoin Roslin.
Upon rejoining the Colonial survivors aboard the Astral Queen, Agathon pulls his gun on Lee Adama
Lee Adama
Leland Joseph "Lee" Adama is a fictional character in the television series Battlestar Galactica. He is portrayed by actor Jamie Bamber. He is one of the main characters in the series.-Early life:...
in order to stop him from shooting Valerii, whom Adama blames for the attempt another Valerii copy makes on his father's life. Later, while searching for the Tomb of Athena on the surface of Kobol, Agathon admits to Valerii he still loves and trusts her.
After finding the Tomb of Athena, Agathon returns with the group to Galactica, almost three months after being MIA
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
and presumed dead. His homecoming is bittersweet; Helo's former friends turn their backs on him due to his love for a Cylon — let alone one whose doppelgänger attempted to murder the beloved Commader William Adama
William Adama
William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series...
. However, Helo finds support from Starbuck and Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol, who was in love with the original Galactica crew member version of Sharon before her ultimate betrayal of the fleet and death. Helo eventually is accepted by the crew when he recommends the Blackbird should be encased in carbon-composite skin to make it a stealth ship.
After the appearance of the Battlestar Pegasus
Battlestar Pegasus
Battlestar Pegasus is a fictional spacecraft that appears in the both the original and the reimagined television series Battlestar Galactica.- Battlestar Galactica :...
, Agathon witnesses Sharon's torture and attempted rape by Lieutenant Alastair Thorne, a Pegasus crew member and Cylon interrogator. Along with Tyrol, Helo stops Thorne from raping Sharon but in the process, they accidentally kill him. (This incident is subject to subtly different editing. In the DVD version of the episode, they interrupt Thorne while he is raping Sharon; in the broadcast version, they arrive just in time to prevent it.) Admiral Cain's summary trial and death sentence of Agathon and Tyrol bring Galactica to confrontation with Pegasus. Although the death sentence is not carried out, Agathon and Tyrol remain in the brig, where Tyrol ultimately gives Helo his blessing for a relationship with Sharon. The two are eventually released by Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Jack Fisk
Jack Fisk (Battlestar Galactica)
Jack Fisk is a fictional character from the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by Graham Beckel.Jack Fisk, service number 245A-34DC, was originally a Lieutenant Colonel aboard the Battlestar Pegasus and was the Executive Officer of the vessel, serving under the command of Admiral...
, with all charges being dropped.
Following his captivity on Pegasus, Helo is reunited with his version of Sharon as her pregnancy continues. When President Laura Roslin proclaims her intention to force Sharon to undergo an abortion in order to eliminate the perceived threat Helo and Sharon's child represents to the fleet, Helo begs Admiral Adama to overrule Roslin and allow himself and the pregnant Sharon to leave the fleet and find a world where they could live in peace without being persecuted. Adama refuses and Roslin rescinds her demand for a forced abortion when Gaius Baltar extracts blood from the unborn child for use as a cure for Roslin's terminal cancer. This leads to Roslin betraying Helo again by ordering Helo and Sharon's newborn daughter to be taken from the hospital after she is born. The infant's death is faked and Helo is given what are ostensibly her ashes, which he and Tyrol release into space.
Following the discovery and settlement of New Caprica, Agathon remains on Galactica as part of her skeleton crew. He is promoted to Captain and serves as Galactica
Executive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
(XO), replacing Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Hogan. The character was named Paul Tigh in early scripts, and was renamed due to legal issues, according to producer Ronald D. Moore. He is one of the main characters of the show.-Overview and personality:Saul Tigh is a...
. Karl Agathon marries his version of Sharon Valerii, who is commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Colonial Fleet and takes the call sign "Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
".
During an attempt by Galactica to spread a virus in order to wipe out the Cylon race, Agathon disobeys orders and sabotages a key part of the plan in order to prevent the elimination of the Cylon race because he considers such an action to be genocidal, and therefore profoundly immoral.
When Colonel Tigh finally returns to the position of Galactica
Ellen Tigh
After she is killed for treason against the resistance on New Caprica, Ellen resurrects aboard a Cylon ship, where John Cavil holds her prisoner. However, by downloading into a new body, she regains the memories that Cavil had blocked decades earlier...
, for collaboration), Agathon returns to the flight line. He pilots one of the Raptors used to guide the fleet through a nearly un-navigable and highly radioactive stellar cluster. He becomes one of the second highest pilots left after the deaths of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace and Louanne "Kat" Katraine. He is next in line with Ricky "Two Times" Richardson and Marcia "Showboat" Case, respectively.
Two weeks after the death of Kara, Helo takes over as C.A.G. (Commander, Air Group) from the still visibly shaken Lee Adama, who is subsequently removed by Admiral Adama. Mere days later, he once again temporarily replaces Col. Tigh as XO, when it becomes apparent the latter has returned to the bottle.
Helo returns to his duties as CAG after Colonel Tigh returns to duty. When Starbuck returns Helo is placed second in command on the Demetrius in the mission to find earth. During the mission to destroy the Hub, Helo rescued the Number Three D'Anna before the Hub was destroyed.
During the mutiny Helo was beaten unconscious by the mutineers and thrown in the brig along with his wife and daughter. After the mutiny was resolved, he and his family returned to life as usual. This equilibrium was disrupted when Boomer, the Raptor pilot he had formerly served with, impersonated his wife and allowed him to seduce her (while Athena, bound in a closet, watched in helpless fury), and then abducted Hera for study. Boomer fled with the child to the Colony, where John Cavil intended to dissect her to determine the secrets leading to her conception. In the aftermath of the abduction, with Athena in a listless depression, Helo begged Adama to let him take out a Raptor for a search-and-rescue mission, despite the risk he would not find her—or, for that matter, return. (Adama, stern if sympathetic, denied the request.)
When Adama finally obtained the location of the Colony, Helo and Athena were among the many who volunteered to crew Galactica for the attack-and-rescue mission. He devised the plan of using Raptors as boarding craft, inserting small teams of Marines into the Colony—a plan made extremely dangerous by the dense asteroid agglomeration and gravitational distortions caused by the Colony's orbit around a black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
. He and Athena were the only Raptor crew to survive the entire process of insertion, combat and withdrawal, but (with a little help from a repentant Boomer) successfully retrieved their daughter. Shortly thereafter, Galactica herself was boarded, and Helo was shot in the thigh. Hera fled the scene, and, despite knowing he would die of blood loss unless Sharon attended him, Helo demanded she protect their daughter.
Helo did not appear again until the last few minutes of the episode. Though he used a walking stick to counter his limp, he was still alive, still mobile, and evidently not severely distressed by his injury; instead, he bantered with Sharon over what they would teach Hera (and who should get to teach it) on this new planet called Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
While Karl and Sharon Agathon passed namelessly into history, Hera was eventually identified by Earth scientists as "Mitochondrial Eve
Mitochondrial Eve
In the field of human genetics, Mitochondrial Eve refers to the matrilineal "MRCA" . In other words, she was the woman from whom all living humans today descend, on their mother's side, and through the mothers of those mothers and so on, back until all lines converge on one person...
".
Character arc
Helo was originally conceived as a "red-shirt" characterRedshirt (character)
A "redshirt" is a stock character in fiction who dies soon after being introduced. The term originates with fans of Star Trek , from the red shirts worn by Starfleet security officers who frequently die during episodes.-Star Trek:...
. After stranding him on the post-nuclear attack Caprica, the writers had no further plans for the character and intended his fate to be that he died (off-screen) in the radiation that followed the nuking of the planet. However, many fans took a liking to the character and wanted to know what happened to him after he was left on Caprica. This factor caused the producers, who were also impressed by Penikett's performance when watching the premiere of the miniseries on the big screen, to revise their original plans for the series to include the character and his activities on Caprica after the mini-series.
Name
Like many of the characters on the series, his name has its origins in ancient GreeceAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, Agathon
Agathon
Agathon was an Athenian tragic poet whose works, up to the present moment, have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in . He is also a prominent character in...
being the name of an Athenian tragic poet. The Greek proverbial phrase
Proverbial phrase
A proverbial phrase or a proverbial expression is type of a conventional saying similar to proverbs and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context.Another similar construction...
kalon k'agathon
Kalos kagathos
Kalos kagathos , of which kalokagathia is the derived noun, is a phrase used by classical Greek writers to describe an ideal of personal conduct, especially in a military context. Its use is attested since Herodotus and the classical period...
("the beautiful and the good") — also written as kalos k'agathos — was used to describe the ideal man, the epitome of both aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
and ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, as well as the Form of the Good in Platonic philosophy. Helo's full name, Karl C. Agathon, wasn't revealed until the release of "33"
33 (Battlestar Galactica)
"33" is the first episode of the reimagined military science fiction television program Battlestar Galactica, immediately following the events of the 2003 miniseries. It was written by series creator Ronald D. Moore, and directed by Michael Rymer...
— after the writers revised their original plans and expanded the character's storyline. His call sign, "Helo," could possibly originate from the Greek
Titan
Titan (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
Helios
Helios
Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...
, though it is also military slang for a helicopter.
Agathon is also the name of a Prince of Troy in the Iliad. King Priam scolds Agathon and his 8 brothers for being cowards after Hector
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...
is killed by Achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
. On page 475, beginning on line 263 in Book 24 of Stanley Lombardo's translation:
"And he [Priam] waded through them, scattering them
With his staff. Then he called to his sons
In a harsh voice--Helenus and Paris,
Agathon, Pammon, Antiphnus, Polities,
Deiphobus, Hippothous, and noble Dius--"
External links
- Karl Agathon on Battlestar Wiki