Stargate: The Goa'uld, Explained

Throughout the spin-off series and various movies after the original 1994 film Stargate, the Tau'ri of Earth faced off against many different enemies. Some notable species include the Ori, the Wraith, and the Replicators. But, there was one race of villains that Stargate Command were involved with for nearly the entire franchise.

The Goa'uld first appeared in the original Stargatefilm, and made their exit from the franchise in the 2008 movie Stargate: Continuum. They made a number of appearances throughout the Stargate SG-1series, refusing to be taken down without eventually regrouping, oftentimes under new leadership. With such a prominent empire and their constant impact on the franchise, who exactly were the Goa'uld?

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Who Were The Goa'uld, and Where Did They Come From?

The Goa'uld can sometimes be tricky to spot. That's because they are Symbiotes, a (fictional) species of parasites who invade another body and take over as its host. They originated on the planet P3X-888 in the Milky Way Galaxy as an aquatic species before initially taking over the Una race, who were native to the same planet.

An important trait of the Goa'uld is their genetic memory. This means that they are able to pass their memories down to each new generation. The Goa'uld's genetic memory, in turn, enables each one of them to be born with the memories of everyone who came before them. Because of this, they are particularly intelligent, as well as egomaniacal.

After infiltrating the Una people, the Goa'uld discovered certain Ancient technology on P3X-888 that would allow them to travel to other worlds via a wormhole — a device known to the future Tau'ri as the Stargate. They then left the planet, taking the remaining Unas with them as slaves and soldiers, and began their conquest of taking over hosts throughout the Milky Way.

The first leader of the Goa'uld was Atok, who stole Ancient technology and used it for his conquest. Soon after, he was killed by his own son Apep, who ruled the race with fellow Goa'uld Ra, Nut, and Thoth. But Apep would be murdered a few thousand years later by the great Anubis. The new ruler, as powerful as he was, could not withstand the fight from his own people, and a civil war commenced out of vengeance for Apep's death. Ra led this revolution and, after a few hundred years, defeated Anubis and sent him into exile.

Ra then decided to remake the government's structure, forming the High Council of the System Lords, and bestowing the title of Supreme System Lord of the Goa'uld Empire upon himself. It wasn't long before Ra found a certain planet in the Milky Way, where he would take his empire and act as a god.

The Goa'uld and the Tau'ri

Ra first came to Earth around 10,000 BCE, where he landed in Ancient Egypt in his spaceship called a ha'tak. Upon his arrival, he took in a young Tau'ri boy as his lo'taur, a servant of sorts whose purpose was to serve the Goa'uld with the utmost devotion. Ra eventually left his Una host and took over the young boy's body.

While on Earth, the Goa'uld were seen as gods, specifically in Ancient Egypt. They enslaved and militarized the natives with the creation of the Jaffa soldiers, who were slaves that were taken to the planet Dakara and implanted with infant Goa'uld parasites to serve as loyal soldiers to the Goa'uld Empire.

The slaves, meanwhile, were either used for worshiping or took part in mining for Naquadah — a mineral found in Stargates and other Ancient technology. Naquadah is also found in the bloodstream of the Goa'uld, but not naturally. At some point in their evolution, it became part of their bodily makeup and gave them the ability to sense nearby objects with naquadah in them, drawing them to the Stargates that would eventually take them across the galaxy.

Ra continued to rule on Earth for thousands of years. But around 3000 BCE, the Tau'ri finally rebelled against the Goa'uld and forced them off the planet. It was another several thousand years before the Tau'ri encountered the Goa'uld again, when the people of Earth, including Dr. Daniel Jackson and Colonel Jack O'Neill, opened their Stargate in 1996 and found themselves on the planet of Abydos.

How Were The Goa'uld Defeated?

The Goa'uld's downfall involved a series of System Lord defeats. After Stargate Command found themselves on Abydos, they learned that Ra had been residing there after fleeing Earth. Ra captured the traveling Tau'ri and discovered a nuclear warhead they had brought with them. He decided to take it as his own and send it back through the Stargate towards Earth.

But when the captured Tau'ri informed Ra's followers/slaves of the truth behind Ra's history, they rebelled and forced Ra to flee once again. This time, however, Dr. Jackson and Colonel O'Neill had placed the nuclear weapon in Ra's shuttle and set it to go off once he was clear of the planet, destroying Ra once and for all.

After Ra was defeated, there were a number of power battles within the Goa'uld people. The System Lord Apophis was the first victor and stood as their new leader. He was eventually killed by Replicators who had infested his ship, causing him to crash and perish.

Anubis had then returned as an Ascended being. Reclaiming his position as System Lord, he built a new, stronger army of soldiers known as the Kull. With them and his massive space fleet, he organized an offensive on Earth, but was destroyed by Ancient technology found in Antarctica.

Another System Lord, Ba'al, eventually came to power after Anubis' demise by making claim to his Kull army. Discovering a superweapon from Dakara that was capable of destroying an entire galaxy, Ba'al made an attempt to obtain it. He was unsuccessful, and it was revealed that he was actually under the control of Anubis, who no longer had a physical body as an Ascended being. Stuck in the higher plane of existence, another Ascended being, Oma Desala, sacrificed herself and chose to battle Anubis in the higher plane for eternity, preventing him from ever influencing the physical world again.

After Ba'al was released from Anubis' control, he fled and devised a new plan to secure the Sangraal, a weapon that could destroy Ascended beings like the Ancients and the Ori. However, the weapon was destroyed by the Tau'ri. Ba'al then decided to travel back in time to prevent the Tau'ri from ever reconnecting with the Ancients technology and the Stargate, preventing them from destroying the Sangraal. He prospered for a while, but was ultimately killed by his queen Qetesh after he showed mercy on Earth by deciding not to invade it. The original timeline was eventually restored, wiping the Goa'uld out completely.

The Goa'uld faced much civil war in their time of existence in the Stargate universe, with people always fighting to obtain power. So, it's only fitting that the fall of their people came at their own hands out of greed and evil intentions.

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