That’s a most excellent point. I think I’m going to throw my vote in for that one. I still think that if Starbuck was an angel, she was of a different kind than Head Six and company, but your theory on Shelley Godfrey certainly ties a lot of things together.
ETA: Not to screw up the curve, but put me down as a 2. I wish my present level of articulateness could rise to the level of this conversation, but I’m desperately tired at the moment. Thanks for the stirring reading, guys.
I believe I’m a 5. But why turning this discussion into levels of atheism and darwinism? Weren’t we talking about Starbuck?
Ah. Well that pretty neatly ties it up. I’m clearly a 6!
:::snappy salute:::
YesSIR!
And on that subject, I liked what Jane Espenson had to say about it in…a chat…somewhere…(sorry, can’t remember where, but I linked to it from somewhere on this forum…lord, I’m being unacceptably vague, aren’t I?)–she basically came out and said that she thinks of Starbuck as a light being like from TOS. If, I mean, I’m properly comprehending what JE said. She’s not supernatural, but she’s now part of a culture that is so much more technologically advanced than humans that they (humans) can’t perceive or comprehend her as she is, so we (they/humans) call her “angel” and attribute supernatural, god-like qualities to her.
I keep thinking of the Vorlons and the Shadows on B5, vs. the humans and other humanoid people. Like…what happened to Leeta when she touched Kosh; she went a little nuts because her mind couldn’t fathom him.
Or, OOH-OOH! LOL. Like the proto-Vulcan chik from that not-as-bad-as-some Star Trek: TNG episode “Who Watches the Watchers” (season 3). They took her up to the Enterprise and she was all…“you’re gods!”
I guess the main question I’m left with, re: Starbuck, is whether she was human until she died, or if she has always been one of these “light beings” or whatever.
In TOS one of the Beings of Light made some statement to the effect that Starbuck had the potential to ascend to BoL status one day. Perhaps that’s what happened to Kara. She was picked by “him/it” to become one of the “angels”. That could explain the whole destiny bit, too.
Thanks - I can now firmly refer to myself as a Six. Off to shave my legs and buy a red dress:D
Works for me - glad to have this interpretation officially endorsed!
Good luck with that. They never fit right in the chest.
Uhhhhuhuhuhhhuhuhh. You said “firmly.”
Starbuck was an instrument of God.
(RDM = “God”)
Yes! Great name, Particle Man. Welcome.
Here’s what my take on what Kara Thrace was:
If not specifically an angel, then she was obviously some sort of spiritual form with a very clear purpose: make sure all necessary circumstances align to break the cycle of “this has happened before, and this will happen again”. Whether or not she succeeded, I believe, is a question the writers suggest we, as the current occupants of the 14th colony, will have to answer.
How did she do this? Well, I imagine you, like me, throughout the entire series were asking yourself what does all this mean and how is it all coming together? The answer is Kara. She was never a corporeal person from the beginning–she was always a mystical being, whose own destiny even she was unaware of. But she was always in just the right place at the right time to make something important happen–she had prescient perception in her drawing of the mysterious symbol, as a child, she had performed the notes that corresponded to the coordinates where the new earth was located, she recovered the arrow of Apollo, etc. And why is it she wasn’t afraid of death and was such an ace pilot? Because she was immortal, even though she only realized this on a subconscious level. She had already died 5000 years ago. It’s why, for example, only she could kill scar when everyone else failed (even if she had help). And when her plane exploded, she simply rematerialized at a later time, never having been able to die in the first place, to finish her task. If it weren’t for Kara, all the circumstances necessary for Galactica and the fleet to survive and find Earth would never have happened. She was the X-factor that brought everything together. And she only became consiously aware of her subtle influence on everything when she and the phantom piano player discovered the enigmatic song which was the supernatural thread running through it all.
In short, if any of the other characters were in the right place at the right time to miraculously save humanity, it was because of something either subtle or significant that Kara had affected. So in the end, she realized she had done all she could and could finally rest in peace, as she had not done since she originally died in battle all those thousands of years ago. Ghost or Angel, it was her job to set things right.
I agree with you. In the Final Five comic series (there will be 4 issues, supposedly canon) it is pretty clear that Pythia is a prototype of Starbuck. And Head Six (yes, same chick, same dress) says Pythia is the goddess Aurora in human form, an errant “Lord of Kobol”. Pythia dies on Kobol and resurrects flying around in a viper out of nowhere. It looks like she keeps doing this same trick cycle after cycle.
Interestingly, the way it is worded in the comic, Head Six gives the impression that maybe Pythia was real, but it’s her recreated form that is actually Aurora. If so I guess it would mean the same for Starbuck.
Great insight. I haven’t read that material, but nonetheless, it is fascinating to ponder. Perhaps Starbuck, whether an unwitting reincarnation of a goddess or not (though clearly your comments support the idea that she is), was not meant to break the cycle, just to make sure everything came together so that humanity had a CHANCE at breaking it. The two angels which appear to Caprica 6 and Baltar (my favorite character of the series. Given how painfully trite and one-dimensional his 1978 predecessor was, it is remarkable how he offered, in his flawed character, perhaps the most interesting exploration into the human condition) also had a hand in how things turned out. The important distinction is that their actions, however, were deliberate and Kara’s actions were subconscious, but equally as pivotal. I honestly could not figure out what her role was until I connected with the fact that all through the series, by far more than any other character, she was fearless and without peer as a fighter, which finally led me to the realization that she was never mortal to begin with. And then I clued in to the fact that simple things like her relationship with Zach Adama might somehow have led to Zach’s death and Lee being more successful as a result of his brother’s death in key battles. Perhaps if Kara never came into their lives, Zach would be alive, but he would have flown the critical mission Lee was to fly in the first season to destory the cylon base but instead failed where Lee succeeded. that’s my thought anyway.
Oh my God and I totally forgot to mention in my last two posts:
How is it that the final five cylons, of which there were no copies, managed to unknowingly land in just the right places so that they all survived the holocaust and could come together?
Kara Thrace
Personal friends with Tigh and his wife
rescued her husband, one of the five, from an occupied planet
and was a comrade of the chief (maybe she helped him get assigned to Galactica)
as for Rosilin’s turncoat aide, I don’t know. Maybe it was as simple as Kara bumping into a woman in the street who, if not for that incident making her late to an interview with Rosilin, would have got the job that eventually got her aboard colonial One over our final cylon.
Baltar (my favorite character of the series. Given how painfully trite and one-dimensional his 1978 predecessor was, it is remarkable how he offered, in his flawed character, perhaps the most interesting exploration into the human condition)
I had to quote just this because I completely agree. Baltar is, by far (IMO), the most human character in the entire series. Totally flawed, self-interested, yet trying to do the right thing (and often failing to find what the right thing is). It’s interesting that he’s both the instigator of the destruction of the colonies and, ultimately, the voice for reconciliation between humans and cylons.
Oh my God and I totally forgot to mention in my last two posts:
How is it that the final five cylons, of which there were no copies, managed to unknowingly land in just the right places so that they all survived the holocaust and could come together?
Kara Thrace
Personal friends with Tigh and his wife
rescued her husband, one of the five, from an occupied planet
and was a comrade of the chief (maybe she helped him get assigned to Galactica)
as for Rosilin’s turncoat aide, I don’t know. Maybe it was as simple as Kara bumping into a woman in the street who, if not for that incident making her late to an interview with Rosilin, would have got the job that eventually got her aboard colonial One over our final cylon.
Interesting…except we know that it was John Cavil that placed them all within the colonies so that they could have “front seats to the apocalypse.” (I expect we’ll get to see the specifics of this in “The Plan.”)
Yeah I think we will see this in The Plan too. But I think this is still going to be seen as providence at work. I don’t think there’s anyway Cavil could have controlled their circumstances enough to make sure they all survived. And why would they even need to survive physically? We know Ellen resurrected.
I really like ‘the 14th colony’ idea. Welcome aboard, 008.
I really like that. I know this sounds like Monday morning quarterbacking but in a rough draft for the last Final Cylon reveal I wrote, I had Starbuck in the role of Athena as a Lord of Kobol. I trashed it cuz it played with re-incarnation and I didn’t want to deal with that.
I really hope ‘The Plan’ doesn’t close the loop completely. I heard about the reveal of the ‘33’ explanation and it made me sad. The whole mystery is what makes it great. Some things are best left unsaid. 
Some backstory to life on Kobol might be sweet, I wonder if we’ll see any of that. Tigh, Ellen, Anders, Tori and Tyrol leaving Earth may be a possiblity. crosses fingers
“I really like ‘the 14th colony’ idea. Welcome aboard, 008.”
Thank you for the kind words. I merely surmized that if the first 13 were destroyed, we must be the next in line.
I must say that the Cavil connection is interesting, but it does not explain how, in twelve planetary colonies whose populations must surely exceed the meager six billion of Earth, five solitary cylons, the last remnants of a dead race, were able to come together on the one ship that could save the rest of humanity. At no point in the series did the Cylons demonstrate any greater understanding of the workings of fate than the humans. Even in the end, Cavil was more concerned with the success of his own race that anything else. If the cylons had truly had their way, every single human, and the five final cylons among them, would have been utterly wiped out. The open-endedness of the series finale leaves me to speculate about the role of Kara Thrace, and based upon the many insightful interpretations I have read in addition to my own, I have to conclude what I earlier stated: that she, somehow, had her hand in the proverbial cookie jar in virtually every facet of the story, in one way or another. If, in later episodes or miniseries, the writers reveal otherwise, than perhaps I am indeed wrong. But, as a fiction writer myself, I am of the belief that as a writer, you should either make your point, or leave it open to the interpretation of your readers. Nothing in between.