# Battlestar Galactica; will we ever meet a Lord of Kobol?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 24, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719 "2006-10-24T15:36:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/21 "2006-10-24T22:09:38Z")
[QUOTE=Lightray]
Pondering the logical inconsistencies of Colonial polytheism vs. Cylon monotheism is about as futile as wondering why artificial gravity hasn’t impacted more areas of Colonial or Cylon science.
[/QUOTE]
Not to mention the ability to almost instantly teleport (IOW jump) from one spot to another.
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### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/22 "2006-10-24T22:17:51Z")
Who is in charge of the Cylons? Could their god be someone like the Imperious Leader?
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/23 "2006-10-24T22:18:34Z")
Almost all sci-fi, even the very best, has to break a few rules. Interstellar travel is a biggie. We the audience simply have to forgive this. Without it, there’s no story, basically. I think what the best sci-fi does is use a modicum of restraint in the rule-breaking so as to keep at least a veneer of realism, and then stay within the confines of this relaxed rulebook, such that there considerable internal consistency. We’ll suspend our belief to swallow the premise, but it gets kind of annoying when some of the premises change on-the-fly, especially in a serial. It makes it impossible to really follow or anticipate what’s going on. You just sit there and passively take the randomness in, because it’s pointless to try to figure out what’s going on anyway. BSG has done an admirable job of this, despite our (mine especially) bitching about the errors.
So, yeah, FTL’s a toughie, but they just couldn’t have the show without it.
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/24 "2006-10-24T22:25:49Z")
[QUOTE=HubZilla]
Who is in charge of the Cylons? Could their god be someone like the Imperious Leader?
[/QUOTE]
I wondered about that a while ago. I’m hoping whoever IL is, he/she doesn’t have the disco robe and the giant afro.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/25 "2006-10-25T00:20:14Z")
[QUOTE=Loopydude]
the creatures they worshipped as Gods were actually just highly advanced aliens that kidnapped some Greeks from Earth?
[/QUOTE]
Who Mourns for Adonis?
^ 🙂 ^
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/26 "2006-10-25T00:51:16Z")
:eek: :smack:
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/27 "2006-10-25T01:32:40Z")
Or Egyptians, if you want to mention **Stargate: SG1**. 😃
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/28 "2006-10-25T02:24:14Z")
[QUOTE=Loopydude]
…So, say the Lords are/were aliens of some sort…just highly advanced aliens that kidnapped some Greeks from Earth? Maybe these creatures carted them off to Kobol, posing as the gods they worshipped…
[/QUOTE]
Didn’t somebody already do a show about aliens posing as gods abducting humans from ancient Earth?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/29 "2006-10-25T02:41:26Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
Didn’t somebody already do a show about aliens posing as gods abducting humans from ancient Earth?
[/QUOTE]
:rolleyes: Who MOurns for Adonis?
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/30 "2006-10-25T02:43:11Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
Didn’t somebody already do a show about aliens posing as gods abducting humans from ancient Earth?
[/QUOTE]
_Little House on the Prairie_?
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/31 "2006-10-25T03:17:51Z")
All right, all right! But look at **tanstaafl** ’s spoiler boxes, name the Lords of Kobol, and tell me there isn’t something to my interest/speculation! And Stargate hardly invented these sorts of ideas. [Chariots of the Gods](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_the_Gods) anyone?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/32 "2006-10-25T03:22:10Z")
I’m kinda interested in who the Lords are. By name, I mean. We’ve accounted for who?
Zeus
Athena
?
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### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/33 "2006-10-25T03:30:31Z")
“Arrow of Apollo” and Zarek’s comments to Lee about Apollo being the son of Zeus would account for **Apollo**.
And the oracle told D’Anna about the child named for the wife of Zeus - Hera, thus accounting for **Hera**.
Now, we’ve only accounted for the _fate_ of one of 'em – Athena.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/34 "2006-10-25T03:35:05Z")
[QUOTE=Loopydude]
name the Lords of Kobol,
[/QUOTE]
Uh, Dopey, Grumpy, Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy. Huey, Dooey, Looey. Darth Vader and Obie Wan.
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/35 "2006-10-25T03:44:38Z")
I’m pretty sure Kara also worships Artemis and Aphrodite, who she keeps little statuettes of and prays to on occasion. So we’ve got Apollo, Zeus, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite…I imagine Hera is named after, you know, _Hera_, wife of Zeus. That’s 6. Has there been any mention of Hades, Hephaestus, Poseidon, any of those guys?
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/36 "2006-10-25T04:02:42Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl]
These are from the podcasts so I’m not sure if they count as spoilers or not, but I guess I’ll err on the side of safety.
RDM on the 12 Cylon models
RDM has said that the Cylons looked at humans and decided that there were really only 12 distinct personality types and that the 12 skinjob models are based on those “archetypes” as it were. They are original creations of the Cylons and are not based on any actual existing person.
[/quote]
Ron Moore drinks during his podcasts. You know that, don’t you? Why would Cylons - who hate humanity - base themselves on human archetypes?
I take his podcasts as semi-drunk stream-of-thought ramblings and musings, not canon.
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/37 "2006-10-25T04:15:24Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon]
Ron Moore drinks during his podcasts. You know that, don’t you? Why would Cylons - who hate humanity - base themselves on human archetypes?
[/QUOTE]
According to Leoben, God loved his children, but they were wicked in return (I imagine their worship of idols and general bad behavior play into this), so He gave souls to the Cylons, and I think the idea is they’re trying to perfect themselves. They’re super-human, a better version of human, and better suited to God’s plan. Trouble is, they can’t procreate. So, to become even closer to the perfect children of God they want to be, they’re trying to create a human-Cylon hybrid, something that will combine the best aspects of both races.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/38 "2006-10-25T12:20:46Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon]
Ron Moore drinks during his podcasts. You know that, don’t you?
[/QUOTE]
Yes, and _smokes,_ the dirty dog! 🙂
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### Author:  [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/39 "2006-10-25T13:17:38Z")
I think the whole Lords of Kobol is just a left over from the previous incarnation, which mixed a lot of the Chariots of the God’s nonsense, a sprinkle of astrology, and some Mormonism.
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-will-we-ever-meet-a-lord-of-kobol/377719/40 "2006-10-25T13:36:26Z")
Absolutely. Losing the Pegasus was a holdover from the original series. But, just as with the manner in which the Pegasus was lost, he manner in which we’ve dealt with Kobol and its Lords is quite unique to the current series, and, good idea or not, it’s now quite definitely out there, and fair game for future consideration if RDM & Co. so choose.
I mean, think about it: Say Galactica finds Earth and learns about some of its history. There won’t just be the Greek pantheon they apparently worship, but all kinds of others, some as old or older, and, more interestingly, they’d be able to tell right away that their religion is in some ways just as much a derivative as the ancient Greek religion was from the proto-Indo-European faith of the Kurgans, or whoever those folks were, with some Egyptian contributions and a few others thrown in. Thinking about it logically tells one immediately which is the chicken, and which is the egg, when judging Colonial religion. Also, there’s the map room on Kobol. It’s a representation of Earth, with a diagram of sorts of the heavens as seen from our world. If the 13th colony came _from_ Kobol, just like the others, and the Earthlings fled during the great migration, just like the rest of the Colonials, how would the builders of the tomb of Athena know any of this information? That would be very easy to explain if they’d been on Earth first.
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