Anaylsis


The Story of the Taelons

More than 10 million years ago, two sentient species had evolved on the planet Taelon: the species called the Taelons and another species represented by Ha’gel. The Taelons considered Ha’gel’s species primitive in comparison to themselves. Then, approximately 10 million years ago, the Taelon species faced extinction. Ha’gel’s species ensured the survival of the Taelons by using its chameleon-like abilities to genetically bond with them, altering the Taelons into the species later known to humans. The genetic inheritance from Ha’gel’s species included psychic abilities and the energy-manipulating organ called [s]aqa[r]ava. The Taelons also inherited the propensity for violence exhibited by Ha’gel’s people—an instinct channeled through the [s]aqa[r]ava, which could be used as a powerful weapon.1

The Taelons and their cousins continued to coexist on Taelon, developing at least rudimentary space travel, until a dire omen was seen in the skies over their home world.2 The Taelons and Ha’gel’s species quarreled over its meaning, and the Taelons turned on Ha’gel’s people. The Taelons eventually annihilated most of Ha’gel’s species, drove the few survivors from Taelon, and jettisoned their leaders (like Ha’gel) into the void of space in small prison chambers.

Looking back on what they had done, the Taelons were horrified. In order to control the violent tendencies that had led to the conflict, the Taelons used their psychic abilities to create the Commonality, a group consciousness that linked the minds of all Taelons. This suppressed the Taelons’ savage instincts and eliminated individualistic thinking. However, the Taelons retained a fear that the survivors of Ha’gel’s species would one day return to seek revenge. This fear was encoded in the myth of [S]aqa[r]ava and Um[r]athma in the Taelons’ sacred texts. ([S]aqa[r]ava represents Ha’gel’s species and Um[r]athma represents the Taelons). They also harbored a dread that this would once again unleash the Sleeper, the personification of the violence slumbering beneath the surface of the Taelon psyche.3

The Taelons flourished under the influence of the Commonality. They founded the Synod, a government based on consensus building. After this, no Taelon killed another Taelon.4 They evolved into a species whose bodies were composed primarily of energy.5 They also became a highly spiritual people. They mastered the use of organic technology and soon after developing the interdimensional drive for space flight, they began to send out scouts to explore planets that harbored other life forms in preparation for possible contact. On some of these worlds, the Taelons encountered powerful space probes that were studying the planets’ inhabitants. The probes used crystalline replication technology to fashion robotic replicants of life forms, which could infiltrate the population for testing purposes. The probes also carried a variety of powerful weapons.6 When a probe sent information about the Taelons back to its base, its creators targeted the Taelons for conquest. The Taelons soon learned why—the probes’ builders were the descendants of the few survivors of Ha’gel’s species who had managed to create a civilization in exile. When Ha’gel’s species attacked, the Taelons were devastated. They had lost the ability to defend themselves because they had bred initiative and the instinct for fighting out of themselves. The [s]aqa[r]ava had been dormant for so long that it had become useless to them as a weapon.7

Seeking another solution, the Taelons searched space for a world inhabited by a species that would meet the needs of the Taelons. One species they encountered was the skrills, a sentient symbiotic species that could project powerful bursts of energy. The skrills could kill a Taelon or one of Ha’gel’s species. The highly belligerent skrills reacted negatively to the Taelons attempts to harvest them as defense systems, and committed “carnage without ceasing.” In any case, the Taelons could not use even the captured skrills as weapons because the Taelons lacked the biological nervous system necessary to bond with them.8

More than 2,000 years ago, a Taelon explorer named Ma’el, who had been studying the inhabitants of Earth for many millennia, reported that the human species might prove the perfect match to the Taelons’ needs. Humans possessed a strong instinct for violence, a susceptibility to psychological manipulation, and the ability to bond with the skrills. However, Ma’el eventually saw something else: that humans could evolve to equal the Taelons, and that this would be the key to Taelon survival. His final message to the Taelons warned them not to come to Earth under any circumstances, as he feared that the other Taelons would not see humans in the way he did and would destroy them. He also gave humans psychic abilities through genetic alteration, hoping that if the Taelons came to Earth despite his warning (as he felt they eventually would), humans could join the Commonality as equals.9

The Taelons continued to lose the war, and were facing another crisis of extinction. The Synod indeed decided to travel to Earth against Ma’el’s wishes in order to determine if humans could be their salvation. They were on a very tight timetable, needing to accomplish their goals on Earth before Ha’gel’s race discovered where they were and what they were doing. Da’an was charged with finding Ma’el’s research, thus unlocking the mystery of what Ma’el saw in humans and why he had warned the Taelons not to come to Earth.10 The Taelons brought their homeship to Earth and built a secret base on the dark side of the moon before officially announcing their arrival as Earth’s Companions.11

The Taelons followed a three-pronged approach to their mission on Earth. Quo’on and other members of the Synod advocated an experiment in de-evolution, using human genetic material to reawaken the [s]aqa[r]ava and the Taelons’ insincts for violence in order to create a warrior caste of Taelons capable of defeating Ha’gel’s people.12 Zo’or followed the path of covert conquest, using the Portal Project to secretly implant world leaders with CVIs in order to turn humans into an army for the Taelons. Humans were bio-engineered with non-human physiology and bonded with skrills in preparation for creating a fighting force to pit against Ha’gel’s species.13 Da’an supported an approach that would see humans and Taelons cooperating in order to develop a strategy to defeat Ha’gel’s species, an approach based on the enthusiasm Ma’el expressed about humanity before he cut off contact with the Synod. This approach was bolstered by the discovery of the message left behind by Ma’el, stating his belief that humanity would evolve to equal the Taelons.14

Notes

  1. This passage is based primarily on Da'an and Zo'or's statements in "The Joining." I speculate that Ha'gel's species possessed psychic abilities based on the Taelons' perception of him as soon as he was released from his chamber. I also speculate that Ha'gel's ability to fire energy bursts from his hands is a manifestation of the [s]aqa[r]ava, although this is never explicitly stated. The importance of the [s]aqa[r]rava is explained in "Pandora's Box," although I have again attributed it as one of the genetic inheritances from Ha'gel's species.
  2. They would have needed some form of space travel in order to send Ha'gel into the stellar void as stated in "The Joining."
  3. The end of the preceding passage and this one are based on Da'an's and Zo'or's statements in "The Joining" and the myth from "Avatar." The myth seems significant to the mystery of why the Taelons have come to Earth, although this is never directly addressed in the series. The interpretation of the unnamed character on the wall as the Sleeper is a fairly widespread one among fans, and the importance of the concept of the Sleeper is supported by its mention in "Avatar" and "Pandora's Box." The idea that the Commonality controls the powers of the [s]aqa[r]ava is implied in "Pandora's Box."
  4. As stated in "Pandora's Box."
  5. As stated in "Law & Order."
  6. Da'an says that explorers were sent to Earth not long after the Taelons achieved star travel in "The Secret of Strand Hill." The Taelons previous knowledge of the probe is implied in "Float Like a Butterfly," and some of the probe's abilities are exhibitied in this episode, along with "The Scarecrow Returns," "Infection," and "Destruction."
  7. The biggest and most significant speculation here is that the builder of the probe was Ha'gel's species. Only taking the first season into account, the introduction of a third species such as the Jaridians is unnecessary. In a chat on Roddenberry.com, Kevin Kilner stated that he knew of "another species that would be hunting the Taelons," although he didn't know exactly who they would be. The loss of the [s]aqa[r]ava was stated in "Pandora's Box."
  8. Most of this history is implied in "Scorpions Dream," although I am here relating it to the Taelons search for a savior against extinction.
  9. Most of this is stated or implied in "The Secret of Strand Hill" and "If You Could Read My Mind."
  10. As stated in "The Secret of Strand Hill."
  11. As implied in "Horizon Zero" and "Through the Looking Glass."
  12. As stated in "Pandora's Box."
  13. Zo'or's plans are hinted at in "Resurrection" and "Live Free or Die," and are more explicitly stated in "Through the Looking Glass." His involvement with the skrills seems to fit the profile of this agenda.
  14. Da'an's plans are hinted at throughout the season; clues include his seeming respect for Ma'el in "The Secret of Strand Hill" and his statements in several episodes, most notably "Decision" and "Resurrection."


Part of the
EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT SEASON ONE COMPANION