Stargate Atlantis/Characters

Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson)
The original leader of the Atlantis expedition. An experienced diplomat prior to getting involved with extraterrestrial stuff, she prefers negotiation and talks to confrontation. Was left behind on Asuras in Season Four, and was replaced by Colonel Carter.

Associated tropes:
 * Badass Damsel: Not much of a fighter, but she's got guts.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * Fake American: Her Canadian accent is actually slightly more pronounced than McKay's.
 * Team Mom
 * The Other Darrin: Was played by Jessica Steen during her first appearance on Stargate SG-1. Torri Higginson took over the role in the SG-1 Season 8 two-part premiere.
 * Touched By Vorlons:
 * Transplant: First appeared in the SG-1 Season 7 two-part finale. It was known at the time that she would be moving to Atlantis, although it was not known that it would be a parallel spin-off instead of a sequel show.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
 * Transplant: First appeared in the SG-1 Season 7 two-part finale. It was known at the time that she would be moving to Atlantis, although it was not known that it would be a parallel spin-off instead of a sequel show.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?:

John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan)
Originally picked because of his natural skill with Ancient technology. Known for having a bit of a problem with authority, but is a highly capable commander. Became Atlantis' ranking military officer and the leader of their main off-world team.

Associated tropes:
 * Ace Pilot: If it has wings, rotors, thrusters, anti-grav emitters, or any combination of the above, he can fly it.
 * Boldly Coming
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Sheppard, when given the right motivation, is actually a very accomplished pilot and soldier. He just prefers to goof off instead.
 * Brilliant but Lazy: Sheppard is smart enough to join MENSA, but preferred not to join, and admits that he's "naturally lazy". He's also proved on multiple occasions that he does take his rank and position as Atlantis's military leader seriously.
 * Colonel Badass: After his promotion at the start of Season Two.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: Knows exactly what sort of genre he's in and what roles everyone plays.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * The Hero
 * Instant Expert: Has an degree of control over Ancient Technology thats second only to Colonel O'Neill.
 * Majorly Awesome: In the first season.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: His detractors tend to underestimate his easy-going personality, believing him to be completely undeserving of his rank and position. It usually comes back to bite them in the ass when Sheppard's sharp unconventional thinking give way to show how good he really is.
 * Rebel Prince: Was groomed to take over his father's business enterprise but chose to join the Air Force instead, passing the buck to his brother.
 * Red Herring Shirt: Was introduced this way in the SG-1 episode debuting Atlantis.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Elizabeth and Teyla, depending on the episode.

Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett)
Atlantis' lead scientist. A brilliant astrophysicist, but also a Jerk With a Heart of Gold, an Insufferable Genius, and a Canadian.

Associated tropes:
 * Big Eater: Justified by his hypoglycemia. Or is his claim of having hypoglycemia just an excuse to eat more?
 * Character Development: Most likely undergoes more of this than any other character in the series. If not the entire franchise.
 * Embarrassing First Name
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: To an extent.
 * Perpetual Frowner
 * Science Hero
 * The Smart Guy
 * Transplant: Appeared on SG-1 well before Atlantis.

Teyla Emmagan (Rachel Luttrell)
Leader of the Athosians. Joins Sheppard's team after Athos is destroyed in the pilot.

Associated tropes:
 * Absolute Cleavage
 * Action Girl
 * Promoted to Action Mom.
 * Boobs of Steel: Her bust size is modestly larger than Weir, Carter, or Keller, and she will kick your ass.
 * Dark-Skinned Redhead
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Mama Bear
 * Pregnant Hostage: Was kidnapped while pregnant.
 * Proud Warrior Race Girl: Not an extreme example.
 * The Lancer
 * Ship Tease / Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Sheppard, although it's a little more complicated after she becomes a mother. She even uses his name as her son's middle name.

Lt. Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks)
A member of Sheppard's team. Didn't get much Character Development in Season One; they didn't seem to know what to do with him. At the start of Season Two, became addicted to a Wraith enzyme and went rogue and was replaced by Ronon, a more colorful character with an interesting backstory. Was last seen in the Season Two mid-season two-parter; now everyone on the show talks like it's taken for granted they will never run into him again.

Associated tropes:
 * Bus Crash: They gave us a huge hint that he might show up again
 * Demoted to Extra
 * The Generic Guy
 * Nice Guy: Was always friendly towards others, even people like Rodney.
 * Perpetual Smiler: Not too much, but noticeable.
 * We Hardly Knew Ye
 * What Happened to The Mouse?

Dr. Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion)
Atlantis' senior medical officer. Scottish. Has the ATA gene, but is afraid of using Ancient technology.

Associated tropes:
 * Badass Normal: He dosen't fight often, being a doctor. But when he does he fights for keeps.
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Expy: Of Dr. McCoy.
 * Hospital Hottie
 * Lovable Nerd
 * Promotion to Opening Titles: Season Two.
 * The Chick
 * The Medic
 * The Chick
 * The Medic

Ronon Dex (Jason Momoa)
Satedan warrior. After the fall of his homeworld, the Wraith implanted him with a tracking device and hunted him for sport from planet to planet for years. Replaced Ford and became The Big Guy.

Associated tropes:
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: With Teal'c and like 40 times with Sheppard and the rest of the team.
 * Badass
 * Badass Beard
 * Berserk Button: Go ahead, talk about Sateda, or better yet, insult his honor.
 * The Big Guy
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: A very very very VERY short temper.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * Perpetual Frowner: Rarely smiles, but it's worth it when he does.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy
 * Shipper On Deck: He ships Sheppard/Teyla.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: Talking too much, for villains, tends to end with a mouthful of gun.
 * The Determinator: He seems intent to depopulate the Wraith species on his own.
 * Trauma Conga Line: Seriously, could they have fucked this guy worse?

Dr. Jennifer Keller (Jewel Staite)
Replaced Beckett as chief medical officer for the last two seasons.

Associated tropes:
 * Fake American: Though she wasn't originally going to be one.
 * Hidden Depths
 * Hospital Hottie
 * Love Triangle: Between Rodney and Ronon..
 * The Medic
 * Promotion to Opening Titles: Season Five.

Colonel Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping)
Transplant from Stargate SG-1. Replaced Weir as head of the Atlantis Expedition for Season Four.

Associated tropes:
 * Action Girl: Though she doesn't get to show off her combat talents much anymore.
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Hot Scientist
 * MacGyvering
 * The Smart Guy, overlapping with The Lancer.
 * The Squadette
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist
 * Transplant: From SG-1.

Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo)
A high-ranking IOA operative, who primarily performed reviews of both Stargate Command and Atlantis and made reports back to the IOA committee. Due to his being a bureaucrat and his job necessitating judging the actions of the main characters, he is not the most popular person in the Stargate program. Despite this, he is known as a fairly reasonable bureaucrat, and is willing to forgive some rule-bending if the results are satisfactory. Succeeds Carter as leader of the Altantis Expedition in Season Five.

Associated tropes:
 * Butt Monkey: Nobody liked the fact that he replaced Carter, especially Sheppard. None of them made any effort to hide this from him either. For a while he was bordering on being The Woobie.
 * Cowardly Lion: When he was first introduced. He spent most of his time hiding in a corner, until he took a level in badass.
 * Guile Hero
 * Straight Man
 * Transplant: Just like Rodney, he first appeared in a couple of Stargate SG-1 episodes.

Dr. Radek Zelenka (David Nykl)
Atlantis' number two scientist. Exists primarily to discover impending Wraith attacks and take abuse from McKay.

Associated tropes:


 * Bilingual Bonus: Speaks a lot of Czech.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While under the influence of an amnesia virus (as was most everyone else), he successfully evaded the Marines and took out out to boot.
 * Foil: Definitely one to McKay.
 * Genius Ditz
 * Homeless Pigeon Person: Is a major pigeon enthusiast, having raised pigeons back on Earth.
 * The Klutz: He's not that big a klutz, but it is noticeable.

Major Evan Lorne (Kavan Smith)
Atlantis' military second in command. Joined the expedition in Season Two.

Associated tropes:
 * Deadpan Snarker: At times.
 * Fake American
 * Hero of Another Story: He first appeared in SG-1, then he popped up now and again afterwards.
 * Majorly Awesome
 * Mauve Shirt: Security personnel who managed to survive to the end of the series.
 * Number Two: He's implied to be second-in-command of the military personnel, but he is not The Lancer.
 * Sixth Ranger
 * Transplant: First appeared in the SG-1 episode "Enemy Mine".

Colonel Steven Caldwell (Mitch Pileggi)
Commander of the ship the Daedalus. Not officially a member of the expedition, but definitely someone they can always depend on.

Associated tropes:
 * Bald of Awesome
 * Colonel Badass
 * Fake Guest Star
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Fake Guest Star
 * Reasonable Authority Figure

Chuck (Chuck Campbell)
Canadian technician who works in the Atlantis Gate room.

Associated tropes:
 * The Danza
 * Deadpan Snarker: Feels like Woolsey doesn't show him the respect he deserves and snarks about it.
 * Fan Nickname: The Chucknician.

Sergeant Bates (Dean Marshall)
Atlantis' head of security in Season One. Later discharged and became an IOA agent.

Associated tropes:
 * Anti-Hero: He's not evil, just an ass.
 * The Bus Came Back
 * Fantastic Racism: Makes it very clear he doesn't like the Athosians.
 * Jerkass: He must have written the book on being a jerkass.
 * Properly Paranoid: Immediately comes to the conclusion that Teyla was giving away their position to the Wraith. He actually was right, sort of. Turned out her father's pendant had been implanted with a tracking device.
 * The Stoic: To the point of being more grim than Ronan Dex!

Dr. Peter Grodin (Craig Veroni)
British scientist who runs the control tower. Killed Off for Real at the end of Season One.

Associated tropes:
 * Fake Brit
 * Mission Control
 * Sacrificial Lion
 * You Shall Not Pass:
 * You Shall Not Pass:

Dr. Kate Heightmeyer (Claire Rankin)
Expedition psychologist. Killed Off for Real in Season Four.

Associated tropes:
 * All Psychology Is Freudian
 * Dead Serious
 * Hollywood Psych: And not very good at it either.
 * The Shrink
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Doesn't seem to realise she's in a world where time travel, alternate realities and people being taken over by alien entities are a regular occurence. No, clearly if someone is experiencing something weird, it's all in their head.

"Michael Kenmore" (Connor Trinneer)
First Wraith on whom the expedition tested their new gene therapy to turn him into a human. It worked. Partly.

Associated tropes:
 * Big Bad: Closest the show had to one.
 * Evilutionary Biologist: See, "Kill almost everybody and turn the rest into unstoppable army of destruction", above.
 * Freudian Excuse: He was betrayed by both humans and Wraith. No wonder he went completely crazy.
 * Half-Human Hybrid
 * Killed Off for Real
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Was your run of the mill Wraith until Atlantis tampered with his genes (twice, without his consent). Pretty much turned your average Wraith into a savage Hybrid with a vision of genocidal vengeance and the pure hatred to pull it off. Thumbs up, guys.
 * Not So Different: Points out that the Wraith and Atlantis team aren't as different as they'd like to think.
 * Then Let Me Be Evil: Was a Wraith who the protagonists forcibly converted into an amnesiac human. His introductory episode has the characters mistreating him for no clear reason, before he realizes that he's a Tomato in The Mirror and breaks out to return to his people... but they won't accept him either, since he's still partly human. He desperately returns to the protagonists and offers valuable aid, just begging them that they don't brainwash him again. They brainwash him again. When he recovers, he's fed up of saying What the Hell, Hero?, and he snaps completely and becomes an Evilutionary Biologist.
 * Omnicidal Maniac
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Calls them out on their actions, repeatedly.

"Todd" (Christopher Heyerdal)
A Wraith scientist who was imprisoned alongside Sheppard and was made to feed on him. Different than other Wraith in that he actually keeps his end of the bargains and isn't particularly malicious towards the expedition, finding them to make useful temporary allies.

Associated tropes: "Ronon: We're just gonna blow it up.
 * Affably Evil: Well, depending on the definition of "evil", but nails the "affably" part pretty well.
 * Backhanded Compliment: Agrees that McKay is highly intelligent... for a human.
 * Deadpan Snarker: If he wants to, he can be pretty snarky.

Todd: Naturally. ("The Last Man")"


 * Defector From Decadence: When the expedition came up with a way to remove the Wraith need to feed on humans, he was willing to try it. Didn't quite work out, though, mostly because he wasn't willing to do it on their schedule.
 * Emperor Scientist: Aspects of this.
 * Enemy Mine: Isn't afraid to turn to the Atlantis crew if they have a mutual enemy, but often does it to suit his own interests...
 * Reliable Traitor: ...and won't fail screw them over the moment that the tide might turn in his favour.
 * Friendly Enemy: Comes across as one to Sheppard and McKay when they're forced to team up.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Noble Demon: Probably Stargate's best example.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Its revealed in "The Lost Tribe" that Todd is over 10,000 years old. Given the nature of Wraith society, this is a rather impressive feat.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: You wouldn't believe how many fangirls he has.
 * Worthy Opponent: Sees the Atlantis crew and Sheppard in particular as one.

Cowen (Colm Meaney)
Associated tropes:
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Just try to refer to him as anything other than Chief O'Brien.
 * Playing Both Sides: He tried pitting the Atlantis team against some rebels. It didn't end well.

Acastus Kolya (Robert Davi)
Associated tropes:
 * Arch Enemy: To Sheppard.
 * Badass Longcoat: When not in uniform.
 * The Unfettered: Even his own strike team is put off by his actions.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Killed by James Bond once.