Abydonians (Stargate)

Abydonians
Species	Human
Homeworld	Abydos
Governing body	Council of Elders
Alliances as of season 10	None
Prior Alliances	Earth
Key episodes	"Stargate" (first appearance)

In the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, the Abydonians are a human civilization living on the planet Abydos (Stargate address: ), a fictional world on which the film Stargate is set. Between the events of the film and television series Stargate SG-1, it was believed to be the only other planet the Stargate could dial to as the planet was closest to Earth in the Stargate network. According to the film, Abydos was located in the Kaliem galaxy, "on the far side of the known universe", but in the series it is the closest Stargate to Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Abydos is orbited by three moons, upon which the Stargate symbol for their world is based. The planet is also home to a large animal, resembling something between a buffalo and a horse (In the Director's commentary of the Stargate movie the creature is referred to as a Mastadge), and a small horned reptile used for nourishment by the people of Abydos. The planet has a thirty-six hour day.

History

Early history

Abydos seen from space.

Approximately 10,000 years ago, the Supreme System Lord of the Goa'uld, Ra, transplanted a number of ancient Egyptian people from Earth to Abydos via the Stargate in order to use them as slave labour in mining the mineral naqahdah. Abydos is also the name of an ancient Egyptian city, and it has been speculated that the humans brought to the planet Abydos originated from this city. Approximately 5000 years ago, Ra's human slaves on Earth rebelled and buried the Stargate on this planet. It was around this time that Ra banned all written language on Abydos.

Modern History

5,000 years later, the Abydonian Kasuf was one of the leaders of a small agrarian town near the Temple of Ra, which housed the Stargate on Abydos. He was witness to the arrival of the humans from Earth, a small United States Air Force reconnaissance team, which included the civilian archaeologist Dr. Daniel Jackson, who was responsible for (re-)learning how to open the Stargate on Earth. Kasuf's children, Sha're and Skaara, grew close to Dr. Daniel Jackson and Col. Jack O'Neill, respectively. It was during the USAF expedition to Abydos that Ra returned to the planet, presumably to take the naqahdah mined by the Abydonians, his slaves.

In the ensuing struggle, the Earth-human team and the general Abydonian population rose up against Ra and his soldiers. During Ra's retreat, the nuclear warhead which the Earth humans had brought with them was detonated aboard his ship and Ra himself was killed. The Abydonians were now free of the oppressive rule of the Goa'uld. When the USAF team returned through the Stargate to Earth, Dr. Jackson opted to remain on Abydos with Sha're, with whom he had fallen in love.

The Surface of Abydos.

Over the course of the next year, Dr. Jackson learned to speak the Abydonian language fluently, while at the same time teaching the Abydonians to speak English. He also explored much of the area surrounding the Temple of Ra where he had arrived. He soon discovered another structure, which contained walls which were completely covered with Stargate dialing addresses which had been discovered by the Goa'uld. He also discovered a second structure, which contained many of the treasures of Ra - including the mysterious Eye of Ra, though Dr. Jackson never located the Eye itself.

After a year of Dr. Jackson's isolation on Abydos, Col. Jack O'Neill returned to the planet with a team from Earth. Shortly after their arrival, the Goa'uld Apophis came through Abydos' Stargate in search of human hosts for Goa'uld symbiotes. To this end, he abducted Sha're and Skaara, who were eventually implanted with his mate (Amaunet) and offspring (Klorel), respectively, on the Goa'uld stronghold world Chulak. At this point, Dr. Jackson left Abydos with Col. O'Neill to return to Earth, in hopes of searching the galaxy for his abducted wife and brother-in-law. He left the Abydonians with instructions to bury the Stargate and only uncover it after a year's time.

Only a few months passed before Sha're/Amaunet was impregnated by Apophis. At this time, Amaunet returned control of the body to Sha're, in order that the child develop unmolested. Sha're took this opportunity to return to her people on Abydos, and returned to the home of her father Kasuf. After the aforementioned year had passed, Dr. Jackson, along with the Jaffa traitor Teal'c, returned to Abydos where they found Sha're nine months pregnant. There and then she gave birth to the Harcesis child , named Shifu , who was promptly hidden from his mother and left with Kasuf.

When Apophis died, Amaunet/Sha're returned to Abydos to retrieve the child, and also abducted a number of humans from the planet for slaves. She sent the child to the mystical planet Kheb, where it could be safe. The humans of Earth intercepted Amaunet/Sha're and the abducted Abydonians, and the Jaffa Teal'c was forced to kill Sha're/Amaunet with his staff weapon.

SG-1, the human team from Earth, returned to Abydos just over a year later at the request of Kasuf. Shifu, the Harcesis child, had arrived on Abydos. Shifu showed Dr. Jackson a vivid hallucination that demonstrated what the Harcesis' genetic memory would cause: misery and suffering on a global, if not interstellar, scale.

Abydos' end

Abydos pyramid being destroyed by Anubis.

A further two years after that, Daniel Jackson, now as an ascended being, informed Col. Jack O'Neill that the banished System Lord Anubis had learned of the destructive power of the Eyes when used in tandem with one another. Anubis destroyed Abydos' Stargate, the Pyramid of Ra, and possibly the entire planet with a superweapon built from the five Eyes that had once belonged to various prominent System Lords. Fortunately for the Abydonians, the ascended being Oma Desala helped most or all of them ascend before they died.

Laws

• After the rebellion on Earth, Ra outlawed all reading and writing so none of his subjects could learn the truth about their history.

External links

• "Abydos" at GateWorld Omnipedia.

Wikipedia

• Article at the Danish Wikipedia
• Article at the Spanish Wikipedia
• Article at the French Wikipedia
• Article at the Italian Wikipedia
• Article at the Polish Wikipedia