Ah, prophecies. I agree with the general consensus that there’s more going on with this prophecy in particular; there has to be a bait-and-switch going on, giving us information that is true but unfolds in a way that we completely don’t expect.
“Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death. They must not follow her.”
Initially, I went to the OED to figure out exactly what “harbinger” meant, realizing that it’s one of those words that I throw around without really knowing what it means because I’ve heard other people use it. It’s interesting. The definition that seems to apply here is “One that goes before and announces the approach of some one; a forerunner,” but it also used to mean “One who provides lodging…harbourer.” But then I got into looking up other words, and that was a lot more fun.
As Mike P. pointed out, “apocalypse” is the really deceptive one. There are two definitions, and which one applies here depends on whether the Hybrid was talking more about a “big A” Apocalypse or “little a” apocalypse. “Big A” Apocalypse is “The ‘revelation’ of the future granted to St. John in the isle of Patmos. The book of the New Testament in which this is recorded.” In fact, some even call that book of the Bible “The Apocalypse of John.” That seems to be how “Big A” Apocalypse became synonymous with the imagery in “big R” Revelation: end times, four horsemen, seven seals, death, destruction, etc. As Mike P. said, “Little a” apocalypse’s definition is simply “any revelation or disclosure.” I think we’re all hoping that Kara is going to lead the humans (and us viewers) to some sort of revelation about what the frak is going on here. Even if it turns out to really be “big A” Apocalypse, the Apocalypse of John and other apocalyptic writings belonging to this tradition actually have happy endings. Yes, there’s a lot of craaaap for the good guys to go through, but the good guys always win; Apocalypses describe the end of all the bad things in the world, not necessarily the end of all things. (For anybody curious about the apocalyptic literary tradition and how apocalypse is different from prophecy, PBS’s Frontline has a nice collection of essays about it on its website.)
And “end”? For the noun form alone, there are fifteen definitions, along with I don’t know how many sub-definitions. My favorite for this case: “A final cause. The object for which a thing exists; the purpose for which it is designed or instituted.”
On top of all this, the hybrid’s prophecy proves that the future he’s predicting is not unchangeable. If it was set in stone that Kara was going to lead the human race to its end and so forth, why bother saying, “They must not follow her.”? If the future is unchangeable, he might as well have just told Kendra, “Don’t feel bad about the whole blowing us to bits thing, kid. Everybody else is just as thoroughly frakked as we are–they just don’t know it yet.” Giving a warning implies that choice still has the power to change the future, or at the very least that what the hybrid foresees is one of multiple possible futures.
And I’d completely forgotten about the other hybrid’s prediction about the “five lights of the apocalypse”–good call, Kirsten! I thought “the light” they were struggling towards was knowledge of their true selves, but Kara has been identified with Aurora, the goddess of the dawn (and new beginnings)…it would make sense.
