Number 6 is Not What I Thought
After watching Friday’s Battlestar Galactica, I think I have to change my opinion of just what’s up with Gaius Baltar and Number 6. (Warning: spoilers follow.)
Until now I thought there were two possibilities to explain Number 6’s presence in Baltar’s head:
- It’s all in his head. The guilt has simply driven him mad.
- The Cylons planted Number 6 in his head somehow.
However now that we know Baltar is also in Caprica 6’s head, I think something else is going on. My current theory is that something happened to mix these two up together in each other’s heads. What it is hasn’t been revealed yet; but I don’t think it’s a Cylon plot (unless just maybe it was supposed to be a one way transfer and accidentally went both ways) and I think it’s too much of a stretch to claim they’re both crazy in exactly the same way. There’s a reason this is happening (other than simply a plot device) and that reason has not been revealed yet. Perhaps it’s been hinted at, but if so I missed it. However, even though the Number 6 in Baltar’s head is a Cylon, she’s not in contact with the rest of the Cylons.
There’s another possibility, which is not necessarily exclusive of the above: Baltar is a Cylon sleeper agent, possibly one not even known to most Cylons, Number 13. I’m not sure about that, but it would explain a lot. Of course if this is true he’s in even deeper denial than Sharon was. And if it is true, why did Number 6 have to subvert him in the first place? This is a long shot.
February 27th, 2006 at 7:51 AM
I’m still leaning toward Baltar as a deep sleeper agent.
It’s never been explained how Baltar survived the overpressure blast while #6 did not. 6 blocked the flying glass? Come on.
Perhaps their uploads got scrambled by the lingering EMF effects from the nukes.
Both seem like thin plot devices. So take your pick ;)
In any event, BSG is one of the few “green dots” on my Tivo these days. :(
~rmp
February 27th, 2006 at 10:56 AM
I agree. Both being crazy in the same way? That would be a very lame coincidence. It’s clear that something is going on, although I have no idea what.
February 27th, 2006 at 12:13 PM
I don’t think Baltar’s a Cylon at all. There are too many problems with the idea: Elliotte’s comment, her reaction to his powers of denial, that he was such a public figure, etc. I think it’s somehow part of the tangled web that holds the Colonist and the Cylons together. Six’s last stated explanation, that she’s an angel sent by God, could hold for Caprica Six’s Baltar too.
Truthfully, given the show’s low technobabble ethos and similary mystical attitude toward religion, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s never explained.
October 15th, 2006 at 12:12 PM
Baltar is a cylon. The blast we always see in the beginning of the episodes caused the crossing of their ‘souls’. Baltar didn’t know what happened to him. The next thing we see is Baltar with a group of people trying to get off the planet. Baltar being a cylon certainly explains why he and his cyclon lover see each other in their heads.
November 12th, 2006 at 4:15 AM
we know there are 5 different “skinjobs” that the majority of 7 do not talk about. Baltar is probably one of these. when he was with 6 and the blast went off on caprica, the both probably died (6 for sure). if he is/was one of the rebelling five cylon models and downloaded into a new body, part of 6 might have transferred onto him and part of him onto 6, that’s why they both see each other in their heads, a mix up at the resurrection ship.