Stargate SG-1/Characters

Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson)
The leader of the original SG-1 team. Gradually went from the tough, no-nonsense portrayal pioneered by Kurt Russell in the movie to a more light-hearted and sarcastic character that RDA was more accustomed to playing. Had zero tolerance for Techno Babble and was of low opinion of any species or nationalities besides his own, even though he did befriend Thor. As of Stargate Universe, he is a three-star general.
 * Actor Allusion: O'Neill is from Minnesota, the same state MacGyver is from (also Richard Dean Anderson's home state). Like MacGyver, O'Neill is an astrology enthusiast (MacGyver was shown living in an observatory in the pilot of his TV show). An inversion: Jack likes having a gun and will protest whenever he's told to not carry one, while MacGyver did not like guns and was known for avoiding their use. Like MacGyver, O'Neill is an avid fisherman. Both MacGyver and O'Neill are shown to be hockey fans.
 * Adult Child: He sometimes acts like this when he is relaxed and off-duty.
 * Berserk Button: Threatening or harming anyone he cares about is really not good a idea!
 * Book Dumb: He doesn't get the majority of what Daniel or Sam talk about, leading to a stunned pause when he knew what a "accretion disk" is.
 * It's implied that he's actually a lot smarter and more knowledgeable than he lets on, but just pretends to be dumb in order to mess with people.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * The Cameo: In Stargate Universe, he makes guest appearances in his capacity as head of Homeworld Command.
 * The Combat Pragmatist: Though O'Neill shows plenty of restraint, he doesn't play around when he needs to start killing. In the first season, for example, he has no compunctions with sneak-attacking a Jaffa soldier, throwing him to the ground, and cutting his throat.
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome: If Jack encounters a serious danger to the local population on the other end of a stargate, he will intervene, without hesitation. This tendency has led to more than one very fortunate alliance with another species or human society.
 * Colonel Badass, later promoted to Four Star Badass. The Colonel Badass is so iconic that he goes back to Colonel in alternate timelines.
 * Deadpan Snarker: So much so that when a doppelganger starts aping him with deadpan, emotionless tones, no one thinks this is strange at first.
 * Going Native: "A Hundred Days."
 * Grammar Nazi
 * The Hero
 * Hurricane of Euphemisms
 * Invisible Main Character: Spoofed in "200."
 * Jerkass Facade
 * Jerk Jock: Mostly a mellowed version, however he stills shows disdain towards scientists with the exception of Daniel and Carter who are two of his closest friends.
 * The McCoy: Bases his decisions on emotions rather than rules or reason. One time he wanted to bring an extra SG team to a planet that was conducting a murder trial for Teal'c. His Plan was to show off his Bigger Stick and hope they surrendered. His motivation was saving a teammate and he was willing to violate every law on that planet (and several on his own) to make it happen.
 * Military Maverick: Doesn't have much respect for rules despite The Chains of Commanding.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Several characters mention that O'Neill is much smarter than he pretends to be; he's just very military in his thinking and would like to be told that yes, this thing will do what he thinks it will rather than someone giving him a lengthy Techno Babble explanation on why it will do what he thinks it will.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: His full name is Jonathan J. O'Neill.
 * The Other Darrin: Portrayed by Kurt Russell in the movie, where he was "O'Neil" with one L, and Richard Dean Anderson in the series.
 * The other one had no sense of humor.
 * Parental Substitute: Surrogate uncle to Skaara.
 * Put On a Bus: Season eight saw his role on the show much reduced by his promotion to Brigadier General, due to RDA wanting to spend more time with his family. He was soon transferred to the Pentagon to head Homeworld Command.
 * Throw It In: According to the producers on commentaries, most of O'Neill's humourous dialogue for the first two seasons were improvised by RDA. After that, the writers got used to his sense of humour.
 * Turn in Your Badge: Subverted.
 * Ultimate Job Security: He's broken enough rules and caused enough trouble to get himself court-martialed every day of the week but he keeps his rank and his post.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: By the bucketful with Samantha Carter.
 * The Watson: He's the one asking Daniel "What are those people doing" or asking Sam "What's that thing do" so they have an opportunity to explain.

Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks)
The Lancer crossed with The Smart Guy and another character from the movie, where he was played by James Spader. The team archaeologist and linguist. The latter aspect wasn't of much use in the series when it turned out that all the aliens spoke English, but he found his use in translating written text and providing exposition about ancient artifacts or mythology. He is an idealist and pacifist -- in Seasons 4-5, often to the point of being The Messiah -- and prefers to resolve conflicts via diplomacy rather than force of arms, often clashing with O'Neill as a result. Has a habit of repeatedly dying and coming Back From the Dead thanks to Applied Phlebotinum or intervention of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens. In fact, when Michael Shanks decided to leave and later reconsidered, he stayed dead (and ascended) for an entire season.


 * And Starring: Starting with season 7, he appeared in the opening under "And Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson."
 * Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence: So nice, he did it twice.
 * Adventurer Archaeologist: This is his opinion of what the Earth Stargate should be used for.
 * Back From the Dead: So many times it's become a Running Gag.
 * Badass Bookworm: Well, as close to Badass as he could possibly get being a squishy civilian scientist.
 * Squishy? Have you seen the last few seasons? Yum!
 * The Cameo: The Stargate Universe pilot had Eli learn about the stargate program by watching DVDs hosted by Daniel.
 * Cunning Linguist
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Lancer: Clashes with O'Neill about how to handle conflict.
 * The Smart Guy: An archeologist/anthropologist/linguist.
 * The Face: The civilian on a military team. He's definitely the team diplomat and the one putting the polite and peaceful foot forward in negotiations.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: But he kept coming back.
 * Meaningful Name: Possibly accidental, but as mentioned in "Upgrades", "Daniel" means "God is my judge" in Hebrew. Think about that for a minute.
 * Messiah Creep: This aspect seems to have diminished starting with Season 7, mostly because the Ancients were revealed to have been incredibly Neglectful Precursors and less worthy of his idolation.
 * The reason the Ascended Ancients kicked him out was because he was too much The Messiah, not wishing to sit idle while he had the power to actively help people, which was against their rules.
 * Mr. Exposition: This is the guy talking about ancient Babylon or future world or whatever.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * Nerds Are Sexy
 * Omniglot: Speaks twenty-seven languages as of "1969". Adding Ancient and Unas makes twenty-nine.
 * Stoic Spectacles
 * Tastes Like Friendship: Uses this trope so much, some call it "The Daniel Jackson Method."
 * Through the Eyes of Madness
 * Written in Infirmity: Michael Shanks came down with appendicitis during the filming of "Nemesis", forcing what the scriptwriter called "the fastest rewrite in history". They chose to give Daniel appendicitis, and had him still recovering from surgery in "Small Victories" (averting Hollywood Healing in the process).

Colonel Dr. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping)


The token female of the team. Like Daniel Jackson, served as the voice of reason, as opposed to O'Neill's gung-ho approach to problems. As a scientist, was the source of much Techno Babble and Applied Phlebotinum, usually jury-rigged to solve this week's problem. Throughout the seasons, she went from "reasonably brilliant" to "genius who would be bathing in Nobel Prizes if not for the secrecy of the Stargate program". Later promoted to full-bird Colonel and joined the Atlantis Expedition after SG-1 was cancelled. As of Stargate Universe, she has been given command of the Daedalus-class battlecruiser George Hammond.


 * Action Girl: Though normally the brains of the operation, when an asskicking is called for, Samantha is more than happy to supply it.
 * Badass Bookworm: Blew up a frakking sun. Also can go toe to toe with her male teammates in terms of hand-to-hand combat and shooting things with a variety of guns (some of which are bigger than she is). Did we mention she's a certified genius whose brain Jack O'Neill has described as "one of this country's natural resources, if not national treasures"?
 * The Cameo: Makes appearances in Stargate Universe as CO of the USS George Hammond.
 * Cartwright Curse: Up until Pete Shanahan, every man that she became attracted to (except O'Neill) ended up dying a violent death. Two Alternate Universe Carters that married O'Neill suffered the same fate.
 * Hot Scientist
 * MacGyvering
 * Majorly Awesome, later promoted to Colonel Badass
 * Number Two
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Except for Jackson's fields, and anything specifically mentioned as not her specialty, like vulcanology.
 * Parental Substitute: To Cassandra Fraiser.
 * The Smart Guy, overlapping with The Lancer and The Chick.
 * The Squadette
 * Straw Feminist: In earlier episodes especially -- it got toned down as the show went on. In the pilot, she famously accused O'Neill of not liking her because her "reproductive organs are on the inside." (Amanda Tapping says she later explained to the writers, "Okay, women don't talk like that.")
 * When they re-released the pilot on DVD, they edited that conversation out.
 * Transplant: To Atlantis.
 * Trick Dialogue: Alternate Carter in "Moebius."
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: By the bucketful with Jack O'Neill.

Teal'c (Christopher Judge)
Originally First Prime of Apophis, he defected to the Tau'ri after becoming disillusioned with the Goa'uld. He probably underwent the most Character Development in the entire show, with Daniel as a close second: he gradually assimilated into the Earth culture, as well as developed complex emotions. About the only thing that remains by now of his original Spock Speak is his Catch Phrase, "Indeed."


 * The Atoner: Discussed as early as season 5, and again in The Movie.
 * Badass Longcoat: In "200."
 * Bald of Awesome: Until Season 8.
 * The Big Guy
 * Blessed With Suck: His Goa'uld symbiote and later reliance on Tretonin, that renders him immune to all disease.
 * Blunt Metaphors Trauma
 * Brutal Honesty
 * Catch Phrase: "Indeed."
 * Cunning Linguist: Before Daniel caught up, in the early series Teal'c was the only member of SG1 who could read Goa'uld and several of their obscure scripts.
 * Defector From Decadence
 * The Determinator: The biggest example is in The Ark of Truth.
 * Fish Out of Water
 * Guns Akimbo: Starting in season 9 with P-90's, of all things--presumably he got bored with his signature staff weapon.
 * Semi-justified, in that he used the Staff Weapon up until the fall of the Goa'uld in Season 8, presumably as a Take That using their own weapons against them.
 * Its also conceivable that he listened to O'Neill's point that a Staff Weapon is a weapon designed to terrify the enemy, whereas the P90 is a weapon designed to kill the enemy.
 * Meaningful Name: "Teal'c" means "strength" in Goa'uld.
 * Mook Face Turn: He was Apothis' First Prime before turning on his subordinates.
 * Nice Hat: Wears a variety of chapeaux whenever he has to go in public, ranging from a fishing hat to a fedora, to a big ole cowboy hat and a fake afro and headband.
 * Not So Stoic: Teal'c displays true emotion rarely, which makes those moments where he does exhibit rage, fear, or sorrow all the more poignant.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy
 * The Quiet One: Doesn't talk much.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: In the season four episode "The Light", Teal'c is stated to be 101 years old. By series' end, he's over 150. (Time Dilation was involved.)
 * Saw Star Wars Twenty Seven Times: Favorite movie, apparently.
 * Scarily Competent Tracker
 * The Spock: Originally.
 * Spock Speak
 * The Stoic: Takes some surprisingly uncomplicated moral positions. Like feeling no guilt at killing an alternative universe version of himself because 'Ours is the only reality of consequence' and that Teal'c still believed the Goa'uld were gods.
 * Token Heroic Orc: He's a Jaffa, i.e. the mooks SG-1 fights whenever the Goa'uld show up. He's there to prove they're not all bad.
 * Warrior Poet
 * You Can't Go Home Again: Because you are a traitor and your family is shunned even by other outcasts.

Major General George Hammond (Don S. Davis)
Original leader of Stargate Command. Was a Bait and Switch Tyrant in the first episode, but eventually became a complete pushover who instantly approved nearly any request made by SG-1, no matter how outlandish. The change was signified when he stopped regularly wearing his USAF uniform in favor of a simple blue shirt with a tie, a dress code that was later followed by his eventual successor, General Landry. Was referred to as "Hammond of Texas" by Teal'c's Mentor, Bra'tac. Resigned in favor of Elizabeth Weir for the duration of the Poorly-Disguised Pilot for Stargate Atlantis, who was in turn soon replaced by Jack O'Neill.


 * Badass Grandpa: He has grandchildren and, when he goes into the field, he is badass.
 * Bait and Switch Tyrant: One of his first acts was to try to blow up an inhabited planet. It wasn't long before he was downright fluffy, though.
 * Bald of Awesome
 * Benevolent Boss: Looks out for the people under his command (even the guests in his facility).
 * Big Damn Heroes / Gunship Rescue: "Lost City."
 * The Character Died With Him: Don Davis died of a heart attack a few years after retiring from the show, and Carter mentions in Atlantis' series finale that Hammond died the same way. Universe's USS George Hammond is named in his honor.
 * Catch Phrase: "Godspeed" and "You have a go."
 * The Chains of Commanding: His more malicious acts (like the above mentioned planet bombing) were because he had orders and unlike Jack "I follow my orders."
 * Da Chief: General in command of Stargate Command and the ones the heroes answer to. Sitting behind a desk and saying "You Have 48 Hours" is mostly his role. Unusual for the role he doesn't worry about backlash from the President if he tweaks the rules.
 * A Father to His Men: "As long as there is a snowball's chance in hell of my officer coming out of this alive we're going to take it!" He even addresses Kawalski as 'son'.
 * Line in The Sand: "Into the Fire."
 * Papa Wolf: Often acts this in spades towards SG-1.
 * Apparently he has his grandkids on his autodialer above the President.
 * Lord knows what would have happened in "Chain Reaction" if he had been able to deploy the military forces under his command within the United States.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Ten Minute Retirement: "Chain Reaction."

Major Dr. Janet Fraiser (Teryl Rothery)
For some reason, never appeared in the opening credits despite effectively being a regular. The SGC's medical officer, she often saved SGC members and aliens from the brink of death. She was a nurturing, motherly figure, best expressed when she adopted the alien girl Cassandra. Became Samantha Carter's best friend. Had a bridge dropped on her in the season 7 two-parter "Heroes." Was eventually succeeded by Dr. Carolyn Lam in Season 9.


 * Action Mom
 * Badass Damsel: Even when she's held at gun point, it's not a good idea to piss her off.
 * Brainy Brunette: More like Brainy Redhead.
 * Fiery Redhead: Most of the time, she's a really nice person, but trying to hurt someone she cares about ... may be the last thing you ever do.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Both the characters and the audience wept. You can be assured of that.
 * Hospital Hottie
 * The Medic
 * Majorly Awesome
 * Mama Bear: It's not a good idea to piss off someone who knows as much about pain as a doctor, especially one that knows how to use a gun.
 * At one point, She takes Nirrti hostage and demands that she fix Cassandra. Nirrti was still unwilling to help at first, even with the gun to her head. Then Hammond informed her that Frasier was Cassandra's mother. Nirrti got a lot more cooperative after that.
 * Senseless Sacrifice: How many viewed her death, especially some rat-faced politicians.
 * She did save the man she was treating, it was simply viewed as not worth it.
 * Team Mom

Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman (Gary Jones)
AKA Chevron Guy, sat at the computers and called out when the chevrons were locked. Didn't get fleshed out much until a few seasons in. Eventually became O'Neill's assistant when he took over for Hammond as General.


 * Ascended Extra: Form season 8 onward.
 * The Cameo: Demoted Back to Extra in Stargate Universe, where he makes brief appearances with O'Neill (and has gone bald on top).
 * Engaging Chevrons: Trope Namer.
 * Lovable Nerd
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick
 * I Have Many Names: The show simply couldn't decide what his name was. The Stargate wiki went with "Norman Walter Davis Harriman".
 * Nice Guy: Both on and off the clock.
 * Plucky Comic Relief: When he's on screen for more than a split second.
 * Spider Sense: Always knows what O'Neill and Landry want before any announcement over the PA is made.

Later Characters
As time went on, new regulars appeared, mostly to replace retired old characters.

Jonas Quinn (Corin Nemec)
An alien, with a name inexplicably sounding less alien than that of his actor. Replaced Daniel Jackson for season 6, then unceremoniously written out when Michael Shanks changed his mind. He was essentially the geek figure that Daniel ceased to be by that point, but in many ways was different from his predecessor, as his primary motivation was atonement for what he saw as his fault -- that is, Daniel's death. His fate following the Ori conquest of his homeworld Langara is unknown.

"Sam Carter: Jones, you are such a chicken shit."
 * Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: Sam could be very harsh towards Jonas, mind you it was mostly just teasing.


 * Cunning Linguist
 * Human Alien
 * One Season Wonder
 * Perpetual Smiler: And O'Neill just loves to lampshade it.
 * Photographic Memory
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Former Trope Namers.
 * We Hardly Knew Ye

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron "Shaft" Mitchell (Ben Browder)
Replaced O'Neill as the leader of SG-1 for Seasons 9-10, which received the Fan Nickname "Fargate" (or sometimes "Starscape") due to the fact that he and Claudia Black were former Farscape leads. He wasn't, however, a straight O'Neill clone; while still a wisecracking action guy, he didn't have his predecessor's tendency to disobey orders. Also notable in that his "leadership" of the team was at best just in theory; he was the rookie (even compared to Vala, who had more experience) and didn't actually outrank any of his team.


 * Badass Normal: He doesn't have the Ancient Gene, he's not an alien Badass, he's just a normal earthling. He still kicks plenty of ass.
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Big Damn Heroes: He led the fighter squadron that saved SG-1 in Season 7, and personally saved them at one point.
 * Colonel Badass: Thanks to some training with the Sodan.
 * Day in The Limelight: A few.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Let's be honest -- if you're going to fill O'Neill's shoes, the "skill" of deadpanning is a must.
 * The Hero
 * Hero Worshipper: Big fan of all the original SG-1 team members.
 * Heroic Spirit: Got it in spades.
 * Improbable Age: He is the bare minimum age for his rank, requiring him to be promoted as soon as legally possible to reach it at his age.
 * My Greatest Failure: He once bombed a convoy, after asking for and receiving confirmation that it contained the target. Immediately after he released the bomb, he was told to hold his fire. The convoy was destroyed, and it turned out to be carrying refuges. He was considered blameless, but it haunted him for the rest of his life; and he almost resigned over it.
 * Nom De Guerre: As a fighter pilot, had the callsign "Shaft" (short for "camshaft", a mechanical part that shares part of his name).
 * Putting the Band Back Together
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For O'Neill.
 * Actually averted. The writers knew they could never replace O'Neill, so they made a concerted effort to make him a unique character.
 * You Are in Command Now: And a few must have been field promotions as well as right on time.

Major General Hank Landry (Beau Bridges)
Replaced O'Neill in Season 9 as the commander of the SGC, but was actually closer to Hammond in both appearance and command style.


 * And Starring: Beau Bridges was prefixed with "With" in the opening.
 * Benevolent Boss: Though not as much as Hammond.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: He's got this "thing" about birdwatching.
 * Da Chief
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty: Once in a while.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Hammond; notice a pattern here?

Dr. Carolyn Lam (Lexa Doig)
The SGC's new medical doctor, after a season without a recurring character in this role following Fraiser's death back in season 7. General Landry's daughter, played by Michael Shanks's wife (which was a total surprise for him when she was cast).


 * Jerkass Facade: Used the façade to try and push General Landry, at arms length. She was pretty good at it for a while, which led to a lot of Wangst on her part.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Fraiser.
 * Real Life Relative: Wife of Michael Shanks, who plays Daniel.

Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black)
The Chick. A genuinely new addition to SG-1 rather than a replacement, although she only officially joined the team in season 10, when SG-1 received a fifth member for the first time in its history.


 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Unusually it's a woman who is a Jerk With a Heart of Gold chasing a prickly man.
 * Chained Heat
 * The Chick: Still a Badass when required.
 * Con Man: Well, woman.
 * Fun Personified: She's like this a lot....
 * Genki Girl
 * Girlish Pigtails: She even sported them in her Dorothy look!
 * Groin Attack: One of her specialties.
 * Meet Cute
 * Greed
 * Ms. Fanservice: Although there's not a lot of it about in this series, Vala clearly qualifies via some of her outfits.
 * Noodle Incident: Her entire backstory seems to be one long Noodle Incident.
 * Pirate Girl
 * Sixth Ranger
 * Vapor Wear: She appears not to have been wearing anything under a Kull Warrior suit in her first appearance.
 * Written in Infirmity: Vala's pregnancy was due to Claudia Black's own.

Bra'tac (Tony Amendola)
Teal'c's former teacher and his predecessor as Apophis's First Prime. Has a habit of not dying.


 * Badass Grandpa: How else do you stand at the top of a warrior culture ruled by treacherous and fickle gods, well past the age of two hundred? The son of a bitch will not die.
 * Cool Old Guy: Provides the picture, and for good reason.
 * Death Glare: Excellent at this, for almost any occasion. Ties in with Living Lie Detector below.
 * Living Lie Detector
 * Mook Face Turn: Actually, it's later revealed that he was working against Apophis long before the events of the series, and planting seeds of doubt in Teal'c from the get-go.
 * Obstacle Exposition
 * Old Master: Fittingly enough, Teal'c addresses him as "Master Bra'tac."
 * And so does almost everyone else. When Kinsey casually calls him "Mister Bra'tac," O'Neill's quick to correct him: "It's Master Bra'tac."
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: He's 133 when we first meet him.
 * Running Gag: Addressing Hammond as "Hammond of Texas"; this even continued when O'Neill replaced him as the SGC commander, with Bra'tac addressing him as "O'Neill of Minnesota." Though he seems aware the latter does not have the same ring.
 * Scarily Competent Tracker
 * Your Eyes Can Deceive You

Thor (voiced by Michael Shanks)
One of the Asgard, a highly advanced species of The Greys, who posed as a god to Norse-inspired human diaspora cultures.

First, applying to the entire Asgard race:

 * Alien Non Interference Clause: The Protected Planets Treaty.
 * Anonymous Benefactor: The Asgard usually let their work speak for itself.
 * Bittersweet Ending
 * Cloning Blues
 * Deus Exit Machina
 * Ditto Aliens
 * The Greys: Roswell Greys to be exact.
 * Talking to Himself: Michael Shanks voices several Asgard, including Thor, so whenever one of them and Daniel Jackson are talking to one another, it's an example of this.

And specifically to Thor:

 * Accidental Hug: Carter gave him one once, he didn't mind though.
 * Big Good: Thor is a hero in just about every sense of the word.
 * Interspecies Friendship: With all of SG-1 and Hammond. Mostly O'Neill, cause they're best buds. The guy even offered to take Thor fishing for crying out loud!
 * The Man Behind the Curtain
 * Straight Man
 * The Stoic: For a cute little Roswell Grey, he's very stoic.

Jacob Carter/Selmak (Carmen Argenziano)
Jacob Carter was Samantha Carter's father. When he was dying of cancer, SG-1 brought him to the Tok'ra (rebels opposing the System Lords while being the same species as the Goa'uld) to be blended with the symbiote Selmak. This cemented the alliance between the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri, although Selmak himself eventually grew out of favor among his people due to his ties to Earth.

"Sam: Welcome to my life."
 * Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: Not often, but it happens.


 * Beam them out? What am I, Scotty?
 * Grumpy Bear
 * Dropped a Bridge On Him:
 * Grumpy Old Man: Jacob isn't all that old but he sure can be grumpy sometimes.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: He came across as a real jerk when he first showed up. He grew out of it pretty quickly though, for the most part.

Applying to the Tok'ra in general:

 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much
 * Sharing a Body: It's interesting to note that the echoing symbiote voice, which the Goa'uld use to induce fear, the Tok'ra use to differentiate between the host and the symbiote.

Skaara (Alexis Cruz)
Daniel Jackson's Abydonian brother-in-law, and one of two movie characters who retained their original actors. He was kidnapped from Abydos by Apophis for use as a host for his son Klorel. Much later, after he was captured by the Tollans, O'Neill and Daniel successfully argued in Tollan court for the removal of Klorel.


 * And I Must Scream: Possibly like all the people who've ever been possessed by a Goa'uld.
 * Break the Cutie
 * Fighting From the Inside: Has enough Heroic Willpower to delay Klorel's actions, though it's not enough to stop him entirely.
 * Go Out With a Smile
 * Hero Worshipper: Towards O'Neill.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Feels like this for actions that were actually done by Klorel.
 * Nice Guy
 * The Other Darrin: Notably averted in that he's one of only two characters to be played by the same actor in the movie and on SG-1.
 * Wide Eyed Idealist
 * Wild Hair
 * When He Smiles
 * When He Smiles

Ra (Jaye Davidson)
The villain of the original Stargate movie, an ancient alien who enslaved primative mankind, founded ancient Egypt and thus regards himself as the creator of human civilization. Maintained power by using his Sufficiently Advanced Alien technology to pose as a god, and was the source of the mythology of the Egyptian god Ra. Was ret-conned in the TV series as being the most powerful of the Goa'uld, an entire species of parasitic aliens who pretty much followed the same modus operandi.


 * Big Bad: Of Stargate.
 * Death By Origin Story: Only relevant to the TV series via his death in the movie.
 * The Emperor: Was Supreme System Lord before his death, the most powerful Goa'uld System Lord.
 * Older Than They Look: An ancient alien entity possessing the body of an Egyptian teenager.

Apophis (Peter Williams)
The original Big Bad of the TV series. The brother of Ra, Apophis attacked Earth and later Abydos, in the process kidnapping Daniel Jackson's wife Sha're, causing the Stargate program to be reformed to combat the new threat of the Goa'uld. He was actually only one of many competing Goa'uld System Lords, and over the course of the series he rose and fell in power due to SG-1's actions. After several apparent returns from the dead, he was finally Killed For Real by the Eviler Than Thou Replicators.


 * Arch Enemy: To SG-1, and has reasons to hate all them individually.
 * Big Bad: For the first and fourth seasons. The loss of his ships made him too weak to be the Big Bad for Season 2. He was in fact defeated and tortured by Sokar midway through Season 2; and Sokar would go on to be the Big Bad for Season 3.
 * Not Quite Dead: Escaped what seemed like certain death so many times, that even after he was finally slammed into a planet at superluminal speeds, Jack O'Neill was "100 percent certain ... 99 percent certain that Apophis is dead."
 * Mars Needs Women: Captured Sha're to serve as a host for his queen Amonet.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Unlike most of the other System Lords, Apophis wasn't afraid to lead from the front, and was willing to fight alongside his Jaffa on a few occasions. His original outfit was a more decorated version of Jaffa combat armor, in contrast to the dress robes worn by most other Goa'uld.

Anubis (David Palffy)
Replaced Apophis as the series' main Big Bad. Initially introduced as a mysterious new Goa'uld who launched attacks against all major galactic power-players (including the other Goa'uld and also the Earth), and was able to gain power rapidly due to possessing technology significantly more advanced than anyone else's, eventually becoming the most powerful power bloc in the galaxy. He was eventually revealed to be an evil energy being, having Ascended and gained scientific knowledge on par with that of the Ancients. He was smarter, eviler and more Genre Savvy than the series other Goa'uld villains, yet at the same time was also significantly more melodramatic, drawing comparisons to Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine even amongst the show's own characters. He differs from other Goa'ulds in that he doesn't simply want to be the supreme ruler of the universe. His goal is to annihilate every life in the galaxy.

He was opposed by an alliance of all other galactic power blocs (including the Earth and the Goa'uld), and ultimately was defeated in a massive finale that also saw the destruction of both the Replicators and the System Lords, thus ending the original Stargate SG-1 series (making way for the Post Script Season involving the Ori plot arc).

"Anubis: I am Anubis. Humans of the Tau'ri. Your End Of Days finally approaches. There will be no mercy!
 * A God Am I: As per Goa'uld tradition. Interestingly, he actually admits that defeating Daniel in the Season 6 finale was not his doing.
 * Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence: He managed to ascend, then was chucked halfway back down to the lower planes.
 * Big Bad: For Seasons 6-8.
 * He was also the unseen/unknown Big Bad for Season 5
 * Body Surf: After his initial "body" was destroyed, he instead manifested by possessing human hosts, hopping to a new host when his energy caused the current one to start melting into goo.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: It's implied that he is very much aware of how evil he himself is. He was so bad that in the past, the rest of the Goa'uld booted him from the System Lords! They deemed his actions unspeakable.
 * Eviler Than Thou: Was opposed, at one time or another, by pretty much every remaining major villain on the show, sometimes in conjunction with SG-1.
 * Expy: Of Emperor Palpatine.
 * The Faceless: Sported the classic Black Cloak look, due to really being disembodied energy occupying a man-shaped forcefield body.
 * Genre Savvy: Despite being even more melodramatic and hammy than most Goa'uld, he is actually a good deal less arrogant, and manages to avoid falling into the kinds of pitfalls that doomed dozens of System Lords. Notably, he accepted input from his subordinates and never underestimated SG-1 or the humans of Earth. After all, he showed up above a planet with a single ship (Prometheus) equivalent to, at most, one and a half standard Goa'uld motherships with the largest fleet ever assembled by a Goa'uld. He lost, but that had nothing to do with preparations for or actions during the battle. What arrogance he does display is warranted, given that he does possess technology far superior to that of most Goa'uld.
 * For the Evulz: Most notably when he destroys Abydos just because he can.
 * Hero Killer: He devastated the Tok'ra, wiped out the Tollan, and destroyed Abydos. He also destroyed the Alpha Base, which lead to the fracturing of the Earth, Tok'ra, and Jaffa alliance; and one of his men killed Dr. Fraiser.
 * Large Ham Even by Goa'uld standards.

Jack O'Neill:Aw c'mon. Who talks like that?

Rodney McKay: Ya, Anubis? This your agent. You're playing it way over-the-top! You need to get serious!"


 * The Mole: In the form of Jim.
 * Near Villain Victory: He was seconds away from wiping out all life in the galaxy.
 * Omnicidal Maniac
 * Touched By Vorlons
 * Touched By Vorlons

Ba'al (Cliff Simon)
A Goa'uld System Lord introduced about halfway through the series' total run. Although he never became the Big Bad, he was a consistent secondary villain, often opposing both SG-1 as well as the series' current Big Bad, making him something of the series' Starscream. Like Starscream in Transformers Animated, he even created a small army of clones of himself in order to cheat death and be in several places at once.

Although power-hungry, Ba'al was somewhat subtler and more reasonable than the standard "megalomaniacally melodramatic" Goa'uld villains. He also seemed to have a better understanding of human nature than was typical of the Goa'uld, including having an ironic sense of humor, and eventually even speaking in a normal voice instead of the Goa'uld's Scary Echo Speak.


 * A God Am I: Averted. After the fall of the System Lords, he freely admits that he, and all the other Goa'uld, are not Gods; and notes that only the especially crazy Goa'uld end up believing themselves to be a God.
 * Affably Evil: Ba'al often tries to pull this in the later seasons, but it ultimately never works due to his Goa'uld nastiness as well as his enemies' genre savviness.
 * Arch Enemy: O'Neill hates him more than any other Goa'uld, though he's subtle about it. Ba'al seems to despise O'Neill in turn.
 * Brick Joke: A rather dark Continuity Nod. In "Abyss," he repeatedly tortures O'Neill to death, often using knives. Fast-forward to "The Quest", when he has to relinquish a posession, they tell him to drop in his knife, which he at first refuses, claming it has... "sentimental value."
 * Civilian Villain: Briefly set up shop as an Earth businessman after the Replicators ate all the other System Lords.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: Especially in Stargate Continuum. It's a Peggy Sue plot with him using all his knowledge and Genre Savvy. If he won, it's indicated the universe would have actually been pretty nice, albeit under the heel of a god-king.
 * Death Is Cheap: After he became a series of clones rather than an individual character, it kind of became a running joke to have him killed repeatedly (often within the same episode), only to have him be back for more a few episodes later.
 * Going Native: In Season 9, he spends some time hiding on Earth and afterwards started to incorporate into his schemes ideas he got from past missions of the SGC. He also started using the human voice and, in Stargate Continuum, he called the president with a cell phone to discuss a "peaceful" solution. (The other Goa'ulds thought he went insane because he didn't use the traditional "blast them back to the Stone Age" solution.)
 * He also starts to dress in Earth fashions by the end of the series, and even implies in Continuum that the reason he never bothered to invade Earth was simply because he's become rather fond of it, recognising that Earth is far more valuable an asset if it remains as it is.
 * Insufferable Genius or Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Depending on the episode.
 * Karma Houdini: For most of the series.
 * Power Parasite: Attempted to control Adria,
 * Pragmatic Villainy: Ba'al wants to win, but win long term. Stargate Continuum shows that ultimately we would've loved him as our ruler, and he would've kept Earth safe, being probably a safer and better world if he won, except for the whole God King thing...
 * He also, unlike most Goa'uld, actually seems to understand that the "A God Am I" act is just an act, propaganda to intimidate the ignorant into obedience. As a result, he doesn't allow indignant outrage at the notion of mere humans daring to oppose him get in the way of carrying out his plans.
 * Send in The Clones
 * The Starscream: Ironically, managed to outlast all the actual Big Bads, becoming the series' longest running villain.
 * Torture Technician: Repeatedly tortured O'Neill to death.

Replicator Carter (Amanda Tapping)
A human-form Replicator created by Fifth in the image of Sam Carter, trained to kill the original. She also grew to hate Fifth and tricked SG-1 into helping her destroy him, then turned on them and became the Season 8 Big Bad.


 * Acting for Two: Whenever she and Sam appear at the same time.
 * Big Bad: Of Season 8.
 * Dragon Ascendant: Conspires with SG-1 to, and then leads the rest of Replicators into a full invasion of the galaxy.
 * Fan Nickname: RepliCarter
 * Robot Me

Fifth (Patrick Currie)
The fifth human-form Replicator to be created, he featured a quality that his fellow human-form Replicators lacked: a good heart. O'Neill took advantage of this, tricking him into helping SG-1 escape and leaving him and the others trapped by a Time Dilation device. Reappears in Season 8 seeking revenge.


 * Hoist By His Own Petard:
 * Tin Man
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Does not react well to SG-1's betrayal.

The Doci (Julian Sands)
The leader of the Priors, the Ori's "clerics"/priests. The Ori can also possess the Doci to speak directly to humans. Like the Priors, the Doci worships the Ori out of a genuine sense of religious devotion and is unaware of their true nature.


 * Evil Albino: His bizarre coloring is a byproduct of Ori empowerment.
 * Knights Templar
 * My God, What Have I Done?: In The Ark of Truth.
 * Path of Inspiration
 * Touched By Vorlons

Adria (Morena Baccarin)
Adria was "conceived" by the Ori, and is the "virgin birth" daughter of Vala Mal Doran ("virgin birth" in quotes since Vala was hardly a virgin, if you get my drift). A human possessing the vast cosmic powers of the Ori, she was created as a sort of Ori Messiah to lead the conquest of the Milky Way Galaxy. Being effectively an Ori in a human body, Adria is fully aware of their true nature. Although she has a sentimental attachment to her mother, she's otherwise quite evil and sadistic, just like her Ori progenitors.

Since the Ori themselves are a concept rather than actual characters, Adria mostly serves as the final Big Bad of Stargate SG-1. After the Ori are destroyed by Daniel Jackson, Adria absorbs their combined power (or more precisely, since the Ori draw their power from worshipers and she's the only Ori left, she gets everything that used to be shared among the group) and attempts to take over the universe (she fails, of course).


 * A God Am I: Like the Goa'uld, Adria actually believed herself to be a god, although perhaps more justifiably.
 * Big Bad: For Season 10.
 * Crystal Dragon Jesus: See below.
 * Dark Messiah
 * The Other Darrin: Played by four different actresses due to the fact that she was growing from toddler to adult the whole time.
 * Tyke Bomb: Pretty much created expressly for the purpose of taking over the Milky Way.
 * What Could Have Been: Apparently, there were plans to make her more long-lasting, including having her fuse with a Goa'uld symbiote. However, plans fell through after Sci-Fi ended the series, and instead had her do a re-hash of Anubis's final plot.
 * The Goa'uld symbiote part actually happened in abbreviated form, resulting in Adria having to Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence after a failed extraction attempt killed the symbiote but left her dying.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: See above.
 * Younger Than They Look: Actually only about a year old, grown to adulthood over the course of a few months via accelerated aging.
 * Younger Than They Look: Actually only about a year old, grown to adulthood over the course of a few months via accelerated aging.

Colonel Frank Simmons (John De Lancie)
A US Air Force colonel affiliated with the rogue NID operation. He repeatedly interfered with SGC operations, including stealing a Goa'uld-infested gazillionaire out from under them. He was finally arrested and convicted of treason, but that wasn't the end of it.


 * Big Bad: For the fifth season, at least until Anubis showed up.
 * Jerkass
 * Jerk With a Heart of Jerk

Senator Robert Kinsey (Ronnie Cox)
A US senator who initially learned of the SGC by demanding to know what black project the Air Force was dumping millions of dollars into out in Colorado. He continually tried to have the command shut down and/or transferred to his control, and collaborated with the rogue NID frequently. In season 7 he was elected vice president, then promptly fired when President Hayes lost patience with him in "Lost City".

""The only currency in this town is power. So if I have to shake hands with the Devil to do the Lord's work, then so be it.""
 * Corrupt Politician
 * Jerkass
 * Knight Templar: He explained this himself very well, using it to justify the very hypocrisy O'Neill had just called him out on:


 * Laser-Guided Karma: Every crime that he did eventually came back to haunt him when Anubis came to Earth, cumulating in the President, after having read incriminating evidence against Kinsey, decided to force Kinsey into "early retirement" from being the Vice President, and also implies that if he didn't, he would have done far worse to him as he "had enough evidence as to have [Kinsey] shot."
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat
 * What Happened to The Mouse?: He's pretty much the only major villain whose ultimate fate was never definitively resolved. The last we see of him, he gets possessed by a Goa'uld, who then kills his Goa'uld boss and makes a Villain Exit Stage Left using a handy nearby shuttlecraft.

Harry Maybourne (Tom McBeath)
The initial ringleader of the rogue NID operation. Eventually SG-1 finds evidence incriminating him for treason; he defects to the Russians and helps them set up their own abortive stargate program. SG-1 captures him, then breaks him back out when they need help against the NID; he goes on the lam. After helping out the SGC repeatedly against its earthly enemies, they eventually move him off-world for his own protection.


 * Heel Face Turn: After becoming a wanted man, he helps out O'Neill and is eventually smuggled off-world by the SGC.
 * Hidden Depths: After manipulating his way to the top of a primitive culture, he discovered he was actually a pretty capable ruler.
 * Knight Templar: At first.
 * Loveable Rogue:
 * Perpetual Tourist: For a while, after his treason conviction.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: After a long period of antagonism, his later episodes with O'Neill began to veer towards this.
 * Well ... Jack seems to no longer harbour an uncontrollable urge to shoot him. At least not often.