The Mystery of Kara Thrace (Starbuck) | Battlestar Galactica Lore 

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I assumed but didn't know she was an angel for sure till Apollo turned around and she had vanished. The writing and acting on that show was all top shelf. Katee played that character perfectly. Been watching it again recently on the Comet tv network.

Kara represents the Kobol goddess Aurora - Goddess of the Dawn. The finale was titled Daybreak. The figurine that the oracle gave her, she said it was Aurora. Figuratively, the figurine mounted as a figurehead on the model ship represents Aurora leading Galactica.

the take away I had, was the fact that Apollo, the one guy who tried to do it right , The Pilot, to battle star commander, legal counsel and stalwart individual the one everyone could basically count on was left alone by every one he loved.. literally abandoned in the end.

That final scene when Starbuck's with Apollo and disappears is masterful. It cuts me up.

I always believed that she was the child of the sabotaged cylon model, Daniel. I think she died in that maelstrom and was brought back by 'God' to fulfil her destiny of leading the fleet to its final home. Whether she was an 'angel' or a 'cylon' becomes unimportant. She left to meet Sam 'on the other side' as he predicted.

My favorite episode is "Someone to Watch Over Me" in which Kara encounters the piano player and she reminisces about playing the piano with her father when she was a girl. Just a beautiful story with breathtaking performances by Katee Sackhoff and Roark Critchlow. Ron Moore's commentary track for the episode is highly recommended.

Katee Sackhoff was perfection in the series! A truly talented actress that we don’t see nearly enough of! I absolutely loved this incarnation of BG, I can’t imagine the show any other way.

9:46 Yeah the show writers "left it open to debate" meaning they had no idea either.

Apparently Katee Sackhoff was annoyed and confused by the character development because it didn’t appear to have a purpose or direction, Ronald D Moore apparently then said, yep, exactly, use that confusion.

I always thought Kara was one of the Lords of Kobol. There are various stories of "gods" who are bored with being all-knowing and immortal (thus having no real fear to drive them) that take a mortal form for a lifetime to grow and learn from the experience as they retain their memories when they eventually 'die'.

The scene where she and Leoben discover her remains on the original Earth is one of the few scenes (out of the roughly five, three were from BSG by the way) that have made me sob in a tv show. It's just a punch in the gut combined with her and Leoben's reaction.

There are very few scenes which can make me cry. Kara's last scene is one of them.

I agree with everything you stated. I also believe that this was a brilliant and beautiful way to end the series. After all, there is still discussion about it after all of this time. A good story gives the audience the ability to interpret it without it being a negative experience. We are active participants in the story. That is true art. I love BSG and I strongly believe that it is the best television show ever created. I also love your channel and choice of topics in your videos. Keep it up!

Thrace was such a good character. Well thought out. Driven. Complex. I named my daughter after her.

I didn't understand "Thrace Ghost" until I rewatched the original series. Apollo dies and is brought back to life by "Space Angels" and Starbuck watches his ressurection (they are on the Ship of Light). So I feel that Ron Moore took that concept and made it part of the mythology of the show..."God is in his heaven, all is right with the world". Kara WAS an angel, just like 6 was an angel in Baltar's visions.

In Grad school (M.A. Communication) I took an elective class called "Redemption in Cinema." We had to do a paper and 10 minute presentation at the end of the class. I chose Ron Moore's BSG. I asked permission to do a video instead of a presentation because I am long-winded and knew there was no way I cover a 2-part mini-series, 82-ish episodes and 2 TV movies in just 10 minutes. So instead I did a 45 minute video. (The first cut which had everything I wanted to talk about was 95 minutes.) When you make that many cuts a lot gets left on the "cutting room floor." This video is what I wished I could have kept in the video. Good job.

Yeah I saw the Kara Thrace arc as a resurrection/shepherd type story where the higher beings directed the humans and cylons through her to live in harmony on a new eden. It also explains the missing link between the hominids they saw on the earth when the arrived and the human cylon hybrids that followed. Awesome synopsis!

As Kara worked in isolation to 6 & Baltar, it would suggest there was a another party who had an interest in the outcome. Baltar & 6 were sent by the One God, whereas Kara was sent by the Gods of Kobol. All deities had an interest in resolving the the cylon\ human cycle.

I was less confused about what type of entity Kara Thrace was than Prince.

I know when the final episode aired, fandom had a collective cow at the revelation that Starbuck may have been of divine origin. Funny thing is the ‘78 series had spiritual overtones all over the place with the Ship of Light, and Count Iblis, but fans seemed to miss that because they had Star Wars on the brain.

I've watched quite a few of your videos and as a big BSG fan (and nerd) I particularly enjoyed this one! Well done! Regarding your question about Kara, apologies in advance but I'm going to share a LONG and very nerdy answer. Like you, I do consider the resurrected Kara to be a messenger similar to Head Six, Head Baltar, and the individual who looks like Leoben whom Kara sees in the vision preceding her death. However rather than "angels of God" in a religious sense I view the messengers as creations of a non-divine higher intelligence. I also view the messengers as having a common and specific purpose. As all BSG fans know, a key premise of the series is the existence of an unending cycle of sentient life creating and enslaving AI, being overthrown and murdered when that AI achieves sentience, and that newly sentient life then going on to repeat the cycle. "All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again." My interpretation of BSG is that it tells the story of an experiment conducted by a higher intelligence to intervene in the cycle to see if it can be broken. However I don't equate this higher intelligence with our current conception of God nor do I think the show is preaching religion. This is because in what is arguably the most important exchange of dialogue in all of BSG, in the final scene of the series, Head Six makes a reference to "God's plan" and Head Baltar responds with "You know it doesn't like to be called that." The being in question clearly doesn't think of itself as divine. Moreover it's evident from its deployment of the messengers throughout the series that the higher intelligence is neither omniscient nor omnipotent, as it cannot foresee how its experiment will turn out nor can it exert direct control over the actions of humans or Cylons. What the higher intelligence -- let's call it The Experimenter -- can and does do is use its messengers to selectively intervene in the iteration of the cycle shown in BSG for a specific purpose. That purpose is to ensure the conception, birth and survival of a hybrid child of sentient and AI life (Hera) and the delivery of that child to an undeveloped habitable world (our Earth) where she can successfully propagate a new race of hybrids (us). The Experimenter's objective is to test the hypothesis that the hybrid offspring of the warring parties will break the cycle of destruction. And of course the ending is both ambiguous and thought-provoking, because the final scene of the series shows that the experiment is still underway and the outcome is in our hands. Today's human race is on the path to create AI, but will we enslave it and will it respond by destroying us? Tune in again a few decades from now and find out! Of course there are many ways to interpret BSG but I think anyone who watches the series through this particular lens will be struck by how well all the pieces fall into place. From season one onwards, the actions of Head Six and later on Head Baltar and finally resurrected Kara all serve in one way or another to advance the objective of the experiment. In almost every case of a messenger exerting influence, the ultimate effect is to help keep Hera alive and moving along a path that leads to our Earth. As I've said to a number of friends after they finish watching BSG, it's all about the little girl.

I never laughed so much at the wit and humor of the show nor cried so hard at everything else. Love this series. I can't get enough.

This rebooted BSG was absolutely smart! A great write & acting. The "Adama Maneuver" the best Sc-fi scene ever... And as for Starbuck; I'm still scratchin' m'head...

Stories need loose ends. If you tie them all up people will be disappointed by the results. But if you leave them open to debate then the audience can discuss and embrace their own theories. The trick is to find the sweet point where enough threads are tied up that the whole pattern doesn't fall apart.

Lol... just the other day i sayed: Now please make a vid about what the frak is Kara.... And you deliver it! You are an outstanding person/channel!

The pianist was her father…I remember the scene when she disappeared was a “wow” moment. If she was an angel, it was a plan set in motion and played out over years. It implies that there is no free will and fate is predetermined. Or maybe even better, the writers were exposed to “Wheel of Time” and used that idea of people who can shape the world. This series was just awesome, what sci-fi should be.

I think Starbucks dad was Daniel, one of the cylons the one cavil killed.

Such a great story arc with many levels to ponder. Thanks!

I agree with the interpretation that she is an angel. When we were watching this live, I made a bet with my best friend during season 3 that I knew what she was. I left him a hidden note in his desk and at the end of the series he pulled it out and read the word 'angel' and agreed to buy me dinner.

The real mystery of Kara Thrace is how she managed to not get herself tossed out the airlock in season 1. And every other season after that.

She is a '4th stage' Cylon... an ascended being descended from Cylons who not only have moved past the need for resurrection tech, but also past the need for a physical form to complete any given task. Where as the 'angels' that Boltar saw were higher forms of Cylons, Thrace is higher than even those two... she directly serves the one named 'God' by six.

Keep up the wonderful work! Could listen to you all day.

Dude the night I watched that episode my wife and I had just moved in together. She was in the computer room I was in the living room I walk in there tears in my eyes saying "she was an angel" my wife bless her heart didn't know what to do. 15 years later she's an bigger nerd than I am

My theory fell into the "It happened before. It will happen again." statement. It just seems to me that the only real aspect in the reimagined show not included from the original show was the Ship of Lights. The only thing I could come up with was the Ship of LIghts being from an ancient 'Before' of survivors that made their home in space. Because they may have been the first time the machine versus man war came about and they were themselves hybrids, they kept an eye out for those that came after and let them learn from their mistakes but stepped in with their own Resurrection technology to give a nudge in the right direction to the latest group of survivors. For all intents and purposes, an ancient hybrid race that didn't discard their technology or innovation would be, for all intents and purposes, Gods to the younger incarnations. Up to and including sending mental images of a blonde 'angel.' I don't know, maybe I'm WAY off base(star).

The show was unbelievable from start to the almost finish, but it was pretty clear that Cara was originally intended to be the daughter of the 14th Cyclon Daniel, and the sudden switch at the end felt like the writers getting mad that people had already figured it out and just changing things because they could. I mean, was the viper that Cara showed up in also an Angelic viper? She was sent back to guide and deliver the colonies to Earth but she didn't know that's why she was sent back, or even that she was sent back at all, much less have a clue how to guide them. I don't think anyone was nearly as angry at the reveal as they were the complete Deux Ex Machina that led to it. The writers literally just chose 'pass', had her magically wave a wand at the 25th hour to save the day (with NO prior support or justification for it) and then just as shallowly had her drift off into little tinkles of sound and light. Cara Thrace deserved better and so did the audience. Honestly, this was easily one of the greatest Science Fiction epics of all time, with superb acting, phenomenal music and cinematography and, for most of the series, the best writing I could remember. But at the end of the day, it turns out the Cylons didn't have a plan after all, and the only answers anyone got was 'God did it', which retroactively makes every choice made by the characters, every sacrifice, every moment of heroism and tragedy really just meaningless. It made the show almost impossible to re-watch, knowing that none of it even mattered in the end, and that crushed me.

Good video. I think the angel angle makes sense in regards to the entire religious connotations. I like that it gives additional meaning to the story.

This was and will always be one of my favorite sci-fi shows. The reimagination of this show from the original, was very well done. Starbuck was one of the best characters in the entire show. Partly because she struggled with her own self by often questioning and the fact that she was very much a rogue in many ways. Ultimately though she did good.

Super good video - Thank you !

Great video, if for no other reason than that it allowed the person's making it demonstrate that someone, somewhere on earth could keep track of Battlestar Galactica's uber-dense mytholgy. One thing that has struck me over the years is how the role of Starbuck suited Sackhoff (sp) to perfection. As Starbuck, she was the perfect damaged heroic archetype: brave, drunken, ultra-competitive, headstrong, tough-as-nails, and very, very lucky. It was a role that could have been written for her. You can prove this by looking at literally anything else she has been in, or, for an even faster proof, you could imagine her in a Shakespeare play. As far as the mythology of Battlestar Galactica was concerned, the early seasons were amazing; containing scenes of high drama that left you holding your breath waiting for the resolution. That was the micro level of the show, the scene-by-scene, function of the show. When you go past it into the macro-level, the show's latter seasons looked like the writers had written themselves into too many corners for them to come up with any resolution but one worthy of a show like "Lost." Genuinely underwhelming, IMHO.

Wasn’t there a theory that she was somehow Pythia?

Not an angel actually. The answer for what this being is can be found in the original BSG. Apollo and Starbuck (Sheba as well) encountered a similar being who called himself Count Iblis. He was quickly "adopted" as a savior to the 12 Colonies of Kobol. During his stay, he seemed to perform "miracles" and said he would lead the fleet to Earth as he himself has been there. Apollo and Adams were dubious of both Iblis, and his claims. Eventually they landed on a planet and found a massive ship crashed. It was from very long ago, and Apollo mentioned the mythological "Satyrs". A race who believed in Iblis as well, and he was mentioned also as "A harbinger of death". He was actually as Apollo referenced their ancient texts, a malevolent being known as "Diabolis" and a rogue being from something called the Celestials. Extremely advanced beings once like the Colonials are now. The Celestials move around the universe in a massive, crystal like ship. Their representative revived a dead Apollo (attacked by Diabolis) and said they are benevolent beings who were once like Apollo and his kind. And that "Iblis" was once a member of their race, but grew disenchanted and preferred violence and death to advance other races. They are somewhat referred by Apollo's people as "angels" but they do not call themselves that. So to summarize, I believe Kara Thrace IS a human revived by the Celestials to fulfill her mission of finding her kind a home. They are very powerful, but do not admit to being angels or gods. This is speculation, but perhaps their highest and most powerful leader is "God" the single being who either created the universe, or in the Celestials eyes, is their most evolved being. And one final thing, the Celestials did infer that humanity will with time be like them. So Starbuck perhaps was reincarnated in a later time, space, or is still serving in another reality, advancing the Celestials cause which is to help and advise races who make it to a certain evolutionary level.

This was the most craziest part of the storyline and the 2 earths too....it was a wild ride and I might just re-watch it all

I was wondering beforehand whether, and if then how, you would succeed in disentangling Kara's never fully explained mysteries in a comprehensive narrative of roughly ten minutes. Well, you did, with grace. Good job!

Great video thank you. Starbuck to this day it just bothers me that we were never told nor did she know what she was Angel or ghost?

I think of her in terms of something from Stargate; an ascended being. The vision that took the form of Leoben takes on the role of Oma Desala (or whatever the person who ascended Daniel Jackson was called). She was then sent back minus her ascended memories just like Daniel was. Her role being to guide them with a subtle path she doesn't fully understand. This is the twinge of where the original earth is or rather where the rebel basestar is since it makes more sense the erratic course corrections of the demetrius was due to the movements of the basestar or leobens heavy raider. After this "course correction" by the higher powers through Kara the rebels and the fleet are brought together to discover old earth and from this point it's more how everyone will react and act out their roles. When they finally reach new earth Kara's job is complete and so she ascends again.

Thanks for posting such a great video.

Nothing mysterious. Under the narrative that the Final 5 was a previous versions of Cylons from the previous colony that ended under the same fate from the 12 colony. It's probable that she is from a more older version of cylon than the final 5 and turn implicit that there is cylons around there with the technology of upload their conscience to a new body and another ships to this around there. Just like Baltasar. Probably a previous version from the final 5 that the own final 5 dont know the existence or forget about.

Gotta say, you make a franchise I’m not much into quite interesting. Keep up the great work!

After watching the original Battlestar as a child, I had a hard time getting into this incarnation. I would have a much bigger fan without those childhood impressions.

I loved this show. I just wished that they could have fleshed out the relationship between the humans, the cylons and the higher beings who seem to be meddling in their affairs. I kept hoping that Thrace would have a vision (perhaps of someone like the Oracle from the Matrix) that would hint at the larger plan. Leaving it open to interpretation left me feeling that the arc of the show was somehow incomplete.

Brilliant, thank you very much.

I am proud wearer of Kara´s tattoo. And after all these years, I don´t regret a single drop of ink. This show is eternal.

Nailed it Nerds!!

The Angles part was left open and that gives us room for the imagination. Like the take on angles. The watch but they seem unable to stop the cycle they see traspire.

Earning the thumbs up and sub for this video. Thank You I look forward to more freshly baked nerd cookie as I'm always baked and am a nerd.

Great video, thank you! Would love to hear other theories on what Kara is/was. It's possible to construct some form of a multiverse theory; e.g., her Viper exploded not from the atmospheric pressure but because it tripped into a -- I don't know, vortex, wormhole, anomaly, etc. -- and it somehow resulted in Kara from another timeline entering the one in which the Viper exploded. That's why she feels out of place for the remainder of the series, and once the refugees found and settled on Earth with the Cylons, something that needed to be restored was restored, which is why she blinked out of existence, at least as far as that existential plane is concerned.

I think that it was kinda cool that it was left a mystery. Great video.

It was kind of funny. Leoben thought he had all the answers, until they found Kara's body and crashed Viper on that planet. He looked so freaked out that he didn't have an answer for THAT.

She wasn't forgotten but remembered as a coffee shop chain.

In reflection, this TV show was nuts. Woman blows up. Woman comes back from the dead. Woman guides the remnants of the human race to their home using a Bob Dylan/Jimi Hendrix song. It's nuts I TELL THEE.

Well it's about time we got some Battlestar lore.

Awesome topic

This is one "mystery" from the series that got you thinking: Yes Kara was special, her role was fore told but was she really as Human as the rest? Going back to the original series and the two parter "war of the gods" where we are introduced to the ship of light, these are the ancient Kobolians; those whom stayed behind after the majority of the tribes emigrated thousands of years earlier, they had time to evolve and become so advanced they were almost "gods" We know from Caprica that there had been external interference in Human affairs from before; Zoe being given the ability to create artificial life thus she became Mama Cylon. Here, in the second evolution of the story the Kobolians are still watching over the colonies....they cannot interfere in the fall or afterwards because of their own "prime directive", the Kobolians knew of Earth(1) call it Terra, they left enough clues in colonial history to set the fleet on the path to find it but grew concerned when conditions began to deteroiate ahead of schedule, so a long held plan was set in motion, Kara needed to be "activated" so her original body needed to be left behind, The Leoben who counseled her was like the entity "John" from the first series only in a form Kara's soul could relate to and to ease her passing, returning her after transfering her "living spirit" from her old body to a genetic identical was the only way to enable her to interact on the physical plane and pass on her knowllage of both terra and the new world which was a long standing backup plan seeded by the Kobolians millenia ago. Once she had fulfilled her purpose the form was undone and the GI was not needed any more, Karas soul, however, is still with the Kobolians. But as to the "Guias" and the "six" they are NOT Kobolian replicants, who they work for wasn't made clear but the likes of Count Iblis and the darker forces who precipitated the whole thing are still out there.

In the original series, Starbuck went into the place of light where everything is white. He was able to come back. I don't remember too many more details, but it seemed like he met angels there.

Trying to figure out the resolution of BSG still makes my brain hurt! 😣 Great video, as always! 😄👍

I know there's a lot of hate out there for how the show closed. But I think it all fit together perfectly and loved it all. The final scenes were developed from scenes that baltar was seeing in season 1-2 and fit perfectly. The leovan Thrace relationship all fit together nicely from beginning to end. It all fit together nicely for the most part. Most shows with a story as rich and complex as this wind up with plot holes and contradictions all over the place. This show not so much. Really the only issues I can think of is that in the first season human cylons were a lot stronger than humans. But by the end they weren't. Then the fact that water was apparently extremely rare when water is actually very common in the universe

In my opinion, they used the Ship of Lights idea from the original series and just excluded the exposition to give it some mystery.

I love your works.

One word.. Perfect!

Awesome show....nice video thanks

Here because I'm watching all of it again now. Season two halfway through and it's just one of the best shows out there. I watch all of it again every year and a half or so.

I think the tattoos of wings on her arms only after S3 was a great hint.

There's another theory that you missed, Kara's father was named Daniel, the piano players name was Daniel, there was a 13th Cylon named Daniel originally that was boxed years before because he was too emotional. Think about it was Kara actually the first Cylon/Human off-spring before her fathers line was boxed? And did the angels resurrect her to lead the people to earth?

I agree with the theory but I think there's a specific reason that she was chosen. I think she was a hybrid herself and that her father was the lossed model.

Yay, thumbs up even before I watch!!!

Thanks guys, love the thumbnail

I think it was season two when that priest lady called Starbuck the messenger of the gods, same thing as an angel I guess. So I was just thinking, there kinda are others, and she's so connected to Jupiter. Does each God have an angel? Probably not but it's something to look for during the next rewatch, maybe build a cool theory out of it.

At first I thought it was going to be download on death situation. Where she would be close enough to earth for her Cylon body to wake up on earth.

I’m reminded of the Time Prophet in the series Lexx, who also spoke of the cyclical nature of events. From Brigadoom (the musical episode): Time begins, and then time ends, And then time begins once again. It is happening now, It has happened before, It will surely happen again.

Well done

Those who also watched the original series not only understood all of this, we expected it. "Lords of Light".

My favorite character of all time

Superb thanks

Great writing, great drama, leaves certain plot points open to interpretation. The audience is trusted to be intelligent enough that it does not require everything to be explained.

Didn’t The Final Five comic book miniseries confirm that the Kara that returned was Pythia’s Angel incarnate form? I always liked that because unlike Messenger Baltar and Six, this meant that Kara did have a destiny as she was Pythia -whomever she was, reborn. In the comic series, the original Pythia was shunned and outcast because of her prophetic abilities and would often perceive moments of her future as Kara simultaneously with her own.

I think she was a demigod, like Hercules or Perseus. There are a few clues. 1. She was a devout follower of the Lord's of Kobol, who were like a Greek pantheon. 2. Her mother was abandoned by her father. If the Lords of Kobol were modeled after Greek gods, then the male gods make shitty partners to mortal women. I think she was allowed to ascend to the higher plane that the Lords of Kobol exist in when she succeeded in leading humanity to Earth. This was a reward granted to many demigods in Greek mythology after completing some great quest.

Yup, you lost me. I thought I was a geek but Battlestar took it a step to far. Angels, Greek and Jewish references along with cyborgs and robots. POW! ZOOM! Over my head!

That thumbnail was perfect 👌

i believe based on her tattoo and the other subtle hints that she belonged to a 3rd race/original race of humans whom evolved to become angles.

My personal theory is that her father, Drellide, was actually the boxed cylon Daniel, and as his daughter, she was a human/cylon hybrid.

I always thought that the entire Galactica universe was a simulation being run by the so-called Cylon god. When Starbuck died the Cylon god just respawned her character to continue on with her role.

There are comparisons I make between Ronald D. Moore's work on Battlestar Galactica and Deep Space Nine that are kind of fascinating to me. Both are works of people making the most of being in places they don't want to be, fighting for survival, facing inexplicable phenomena that can only be understood in a spiritual way. Kara has a lot of similarities to Ben Sisko in that they are both faced with being soldiers as well as visionaries in ways that make them suffer. For Ben ***Spoilers*** this is because he is half Bajoran prophet, the wormhole aliens who exist outside of linear time. I think something similar is happening to Starbuck, that she's at the service and mercy of beings of unknown origin and power, and that her very existence is mysterious. In a way, calling her an Angel is as good a term as any.

She's a mystery she's an angel amazing love your video

I always loved this series and while it deviates from the origin I always it does it in such a way that is awesome.

This was my favorite rebooted/reimagined series of all time! Ron Moore did such a great job. And I could listen to your voice all day! By the way, what is your speculation on the 1st Earth? What could that planet be? I would have to start bingeing this again!!!

I believe she was an angel. Adama (father) received an angel from her to be used as a figurehead on his boat in a bottle. I always thought that was a symbol that she would’ve the guiding angel for the fleet.

It's exactly what it was, never forget by the way! that space has no specific time line but very precise actions will push space toward specific goals and/or results will depend on the region of space since cosmic laws defers from region to region. What you think will become what you see, what you see will become what you think

One of the best shows ever made!

She was a mass hallucination brought on by the kitchens serving some bad mustard.