Cylon? Clone? Resurrected human? A ghost? A demon? Just what is Kara "Starbuck" Thrace since returning from the clutches of death last season?Tonight's episode of Battlestar Galactica ("Someone to Watch Over Me") looks like it will finally answer that elusive question as Kara seeks some answers about her, er, condition and gains some shocking revelations about her true nature.
While I have no knowledge of the upcoming plot twists ahead on Battlestar Galactica, the promo for tonight's episode (which can be found below) had me pondering some theories of my own, building on that of my recent theory about Kara's parentage and what I know from the two-hour pilot for prequel series Caprica.
I posited a few weeks back that Kara is actually the offspring of a human mother and the Cylon Model Seven, named Daniel. Which is why she is so vital to the Cylon race... and why Simon went so far as to remove her ovaries back on Caprica (remember that dangling plot thread?). And that using the resurrection technology that was recreated by Ellen Tigh, Kara's memories were downloaded when her Viper exploded in the nebula.
As we've seen, Starbuck did die on Earth. She and Leoben encountered her body in the wreckage of her Viper on the surface of the blue planet. So what is Kara then? As I previously stated, I think that she is a resurrected Kara and that the puppet master pulling her strings had created a body for her using the DNA samples extracted from her genetic material in Simon's possession. As for why? I think it was the work of a rogue Model Seven who managed to escape Cavil's destruction of his entire line... and I believe that he is Kara's father and reached out to save his daughter, after appearing to her in a vision in the guise of "Leoben." (More information about this theory can be found in this post.)
On tonight's episode of Battlestar Galactica, Kara is set to meet a piano player at Joe's Bar who offers her some knowledge about her past and what she really is. The notion of the piano player was introduced in last week's episode ("Deadlock") when Kara wondered when Joe's Bar had gotten a piano player. My theory: they never did.
I believe that Kara is visualizing this piano player though he doesn't actually exist in the reality perceived by everyone else around her; the barman's pointedly odd reaction to Kara's question would seem to support this as well. And we know that the Cylons can hear music--like "All Along the Watchtower"--that no one else can. So how is Kara perceiving things that aren't there? Using the same technology that the Cylons have to visualize other realities. As seen on the Cylon base ship in Season Three, the humanoid models can separate their perceptions: while we might see the stark white corridors of the techno-organic ship, they can see themselves surrounded by the trees of an ancient forest.
It's the same technology created by Daniel Greystone, the inventor of the Centurions, whose work is the basis for the BSG prequel series Caprica. Greystone previously invented a holoband, which grants the wearer to immerse themselves in a fully interactive virtual reality, a technology that I believe was essential in crafting the Centurions and the humanoid Cylon models. It's also this gift for perception, I believe, that grants Kara the ability to have that vision in "Maelstrom" and meet with the piano player in tonight's "Someone to Watch Over Me."
So who is the person she's interacting with, who disguised himself as Leoben and now potentially as a pianist? I believe it's the mythical Daniel whom Kara will be speaking with tonight and who will take her on a path of personal awareness. The shot of Kara as a child sitting at a piano would seek to support this as well. Plus, we know from Ellen Tigh's description of Daniel that he is an artist: he painted and so does Kara. If Kara played the piano as a child, so too could Daniel have known how to play.
Kara therefore is, like Hera, an important symbol of the future of the both Cylon and human races, a blend of both genetic reproduction and technological resurrection. While some have pondered whether she is a Trojan Horse, designed to undo humanity and serve as a "harbinger of death" (as the the hybrid foresaw), I think Kara is instead a sign of how both of their races can survive: by blending with one another and taking the strengths and weaknesses of both their natures.
What do you think? Is Kara the offspring of Daniel? Does that make her the first Cylon-human offspring? Or is she something else altogether? Discuss.
Tonight on Battlestar Galactica ("Someone to Watch Over Me"), Kara befriends a piano player who helps her come to a shocking realization about her destiny and Galen and Boomer attempt to reignite their relationship while the Cylons attempt to try her for treason.
Comments
Why, yes. Yes, I do think it does mean that and that's exactly what I was implying. :)
It would explain quite a bit, as has been theorized here.
Let's find out what, if anything, they show on the last episode that may confirm or refute this theory.
I am of no doubt "someone" is watching over her, and guiding her onward with her destiny at a young age.
To me she is way too lucky with escaping death. The most notable times being: in the miniseries, her throwing a puch at Tigh saves her life, she'd have been killed with the rest of the squadron. When she takes on eight raiders, and has to eject over the moon (could have been shot outright, ran out of O2, left behind, sucked into the gas gaint). When she's shot and then captured on Caprica. The confrontation with Pegasus (during resurrection ship). Scar (She is arguably the best pilot ever so maybe not). During the defence of the Temple of Five, she's shot down in a raptor. To me these start to add up. And when she did "die" she was following what she felt was right. Like it was a test to see if would truely follow her destiny.
However another idea a friend of mine had was that she had ascended (ref stargate).
Or maybe she's the Gandalf of BSG? Any other thoughts?
I'm just sad it had to end, but all good things come to an end,
It could also be that the hybrids were saying she is the harbinger of Death as in she is dead or death personified or a messenger sent by Death. This would make her some sort of heavenly or spiritual body even though I never understood why she and Anders should have been enemies as foretold --I think-- by Leoben. Did she know what she was? She definitely did at the end so when do you guys think she actually made the realization? Was it when she was at the wall of photos and placed her photo up again?
What a shame for Admiral Adama to lose Laura Roslin. Even though it was always going to happen, I was crying when she died and Adama was talking to her grave. (I am a girl)
I always knew they would find Earth but finding it 150,000 year ago was an amazing twist. It lets your imagination run wild with possibility's of how we ended up here today.
And as for Starbuck, I'm convinced she was an angel. As Starbuck jumps Galactica to Earth she has a flashback where Leoben Conoy says "I don't see Kara Thrace, I see an angel blazing with the light of God." Lee Adama also knows she was an angel when he quietly says "Goodbye Kara" after she disappears at the end.
And I'd just like to add, for a clapped out old battlestar, Galactica could really take a pounding. She was in a sorry state when Starbuck jumped her without retracting the pods and broke her back but for all of Pegasus's bulk, she was only half the ship that Galactica was.
I'm now going to put the miniseries back in my DVD player and start all over again.
Elizabeth
As for her return from death... It seems like it almost has to be divine intervention.
Resurrection? Okay, possible. D'Anna was able to kill herself repeatedly and have the record of it wiped, but how do we explain the Viper and, more importantly, Kara's disappearance at the end?
Viper: Maybe the Centurions were programmed to build the Viper, etc, and to protect Kara like they were programmed to protect the Final Five. would explain her insane kill record.
Body: preprogrammed to vaporize upon completion of the task?
I think the "angel" idea fits better.
"You know it doesn't like that name," says Baltar. Six gives him an "Oh, come on" look.
"Silly me," he says. "Silly, silly me."
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OK, so we have there two angels (demons) - Baltar & N° 6...so what if she, Kara, is the GOD theyre talking about all the time? This could explain everything.. :))
Inner Baltar and Inner Six (the ones that appear in their heads) are agents of this entity. They are not angels or demons, though they may go by that name to make things easier for those they 'haunt'. Conceptually, the people who are seeing them would have to believe they were something mythological or ethereal, or they might believe themselves completely insane. If they play to that religious notion, the people they influence are probably more likely to act in the way they want.
In fact, they confirm this at the end. The quote in the comment above me, where Baltar says "You know it doesn't like that name" all but confirms the entity is not God, at least not in the sense that most people would think. Clearly, this entity is GOD-like, but it is not the 'Christian' God of the Bible. This last line very clearly defines that the entity is NOT a mythological being at all. In fact, the line that six utters about the law of averages implies a very machine-oriented mindset. It's my belief that the God-like entity is an ancient machine intelligence that was created as the result of a cycle that occurred millions of years before.
The question as to what Kara is... well that's a pretty big mystery still. I think your theory is pretty good though, if you're looking for a logical explanation that covers all the rational bases.