Number Six (Battlestar Galactica)
Number Six is a family of fictional characters from the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The character is portrayed by Canadian actress and model Tricia Helfer. Of the twelve known Cylon models, she is the sixth of the "Significant Seven". Like the others of the "Significant Seven", there are several versions of her, including Caprica-Six, Shelly Godfrey, Gina Inviere, Natalie Faust, Lida, and Sonja. She is the only model that does not use one particular human alias for all copies.
The character was named after Number Six, Patrick McGoohan's character from the show The Prisoner.
Appearance and personality traits
Throughout the show, Six is portrayed as a seductive, statuesque Cylon infiltrator. She was the first example shown of a new generation of Cylons capable of adapting to human form and emotions. Little else is known of her earlier years. She can, like other Cylons, retain memories which can be downloaded into another body if the original body is killed. Like her counterparts, her body was designed to mimic the human body at the cellular level, making her almost undetectable to testing procedures, and there are many copies of her in existence. Sixes and Eights are the Humanoid Cylon models shown most frequently. Sixes tend to have individualistic traits and are considerably susceptible to the full array of human emotions. Although extremely effective and adaptive, Sixes always show a certain disdain for their given chores and dislike being treated as expendable. Most versions of Six have platinum-blonde hair, including Caprica-Six, Shelly Godfrey and Sonja. Others such as Gina Inviere, Natalie Faust and Lida have honey-blonde hair, and one Six with black hair has been observed.It was stated by Caprica showrunner Kevin Murphy that had the prequel series Caprica continued, it would be revealed that the Sixes' default personality was modeled after that of Zoe Graystone.
Music
Since her debut in the mini-series, a leitmotif has been used in scenes featuring Tricia Helfer as Six. This simple 8-note motif was composed by Richard Gibbs. The 18/8 figure, with a 120 BPM tempo, is divided into 2 groups of 4 notes: 1st group played on the downbeats, 2nd group played on the upbeats. Each group is separated by 2 consecutive eight-notes rests on the 8th and 9th ones, resulting in a syncopated line but still keeping a feeling of even 4 notes played at an even interval: the 2nd group of 4 played on the upbeats is also followed by 2 eight-notes rests to end the 18/8 bar. It is almost always performed on a gamelan, and can be compared to an E5 note tuned at A 440 Hz. It also plays over the introduction to each episode of the series. On the published series soundtrack, the melody is listed as The Sense of Six.Versions
Copies of Number Six appear regularly, mostly within Cylon society. Several notable versions have had more prominent roles:Caprica Six
At the beginning of the miniseries, a Six copy is involved in an intense affair with Dr. Gaius Baltar. Pretending to be an employee of a computer corporation, Six seduces Baltar while helping him with his work on the Colonial Defense System. After infiltrating the mainframe, Six reveals her true nature to Baltar. Just a few hours before the intended Cylon attack, she informs him that the Cylons will use the computer access code that he has given her to infiltrate the highest levels of Colonial defence systems; thereby disabling the Colonial military, and attacking the Twelve Colonies. That same day, the Cylons launch their multi-targeted attack and destroy most of humanity. Six uses her body to shield Baltar from a nuclear blast during the attack, saving his life and sacrificing hers.In the episode "Downloaded", this Six copy is downloaded into a new body. Nicknamed "Caprica Six" by fellow Cylons, she is viewed as a hero within the Cylon civilization for her complete success in her mission to compromise the colonies' defences. She is surprised to discover she has 'emotions' and expresses a degree of regret at her actions, as evinced by her constant visions of Baltar. This "Head Baltar" acts as a critical counsellor and manipulator to her in the same way Head Six does for the real Baltar. Caprica Six is enlisted to motivate the resurrected Galactica copy of Sharon "Boomer" Valerii to move out of her apartment and reintegrate into Cylon society. However, in defiance of their superiors, both Caprica Six and Sharon opt instead to aid Sam Anders, to the extent that Caprica Six murders a Three to save him. Allowed by the Caprica Cavil, Caprica Six and Sharon then begin preaching peace with the humans as the way of God. This leads them to take over Cylon culture and to resume the hunt for humanity, leading them to the colony of New Caprica, which they take over in a bloodless coup facilitated by Baltar, who surrenders to Caprica Six as soon as the Cylons arrive.
After the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, Caprica Six alienates the other Cylons with her desire for peaceful coexistence with humans. Her reunion with the real Baltar, however, shatters her illusions about her former pawn, as Baltar impotently allows the Cylons to bully him into enacting their oppressive tyranny upon New Caprica. The other Cylons insist Baltar must sign an execution order for 200 insurgents in response to two suicide bombings by the human resistance movement. Baltar initially refuses and Caprica Six alone objects strongly to her fellow Cylons' desire for mortal retribution. These objections resulted in her being shot in the head by fellow Cylon, Aaron Doral. Her death and an immediate threat to shoot Baltar force him to sign the order. Caprica Six is reborn and helps Baltar escape onto a Cylon Basestar when New Caprica is ultimately abandoned by its population.
Caprica Six becomes involved in a ménage à trois with Baltar and Biers after settling on the Basestar and explicitly states she loves both of them. She was also instrumental in rescuing an inexplicably sick Hera from the Basestar. She assists in Athena's download and witnesses the obvious bond between Athena and Hera. Caprica subsequently disables and then kills Boomer who threatens to throttle Hera despite Athena's anguished pleas. She leads Athena and her child to a captured Raptor and returns with them to Galactica, where she is promptly imprisoned. In this situation, she is frequently used as a source of information about and means of understanding the Cylon's motivations.
Colonel Saul Tigh begins to make more frequent stops to her cell, questioning her about what it is like to exist as a Cylon. He confronts her about being responsible for the deaths of billions and whether she feels any remorse or if she can just 'flip a switch' and shut out the pain. Caprica Six questions Tigh's reasons for the line of questioning, unaware Tigh is one of the then-unrevealed 'Final Five' Cylons. When she goads him about needing to feel pain, he turns to leave but she assaults him and bludgeons him. To her surprise, he cries and begs for more pain, but in response, she abruptly aborts her assault, shakes her head and replies he does not need any more pain. She then kisses him passionately.
Dr. Cottle later reveals Caprica Six is pregnant. It is revealed Tigh is the father of the baby. After it is revealed, Tigh is one of the Final Five, Caprica Six's relationship with Tigh changes. The significance of her pregnancy increases as the child will not be a human-Cylon hybrid but will be a pure Cylon offspring. Caprica Six begins to live with Tigh in his quarters on Galactica and the two now share a very intimate and caring relationship. However, when Ellen Tigh returns, she, Tigh, and Caprica Six fight about whom Tigh really loves, and Caprica Six loses the baby.
She joins the rescue mission for Hera and is finally proud of Baltar, something she had always wanted, and feels was the one thing missing between the two of them. They both see Head Six and Head Baltar and are shocked the other sees them. The two defend Galactica against Cylon boarders and take Hera when they find her wandering alone. Caprica Six holds a gun on Cavil during the standoff over Hera and hands him the phone when the deal is made. Later, on Earth, she and Baltar are visited one last time by Head Six and Head Baltar, who explain their destiny was to protect Hera and while God's plan is never over, their lives will be much less eventful. Caprica Six and Baltar then go off to start new lives as farmers together.
Ronald D. Moore has stated that Baltar never bothered to learn her name. In the season finale, there's a flashback scene on Caprica in which Gaius tells her "he has forgotten her name." The non-canon novelization of the miniseries by Jeffrey A. Carver suggests Caprica Six went by the name Natasi.
Head/Inner/Messenger Six
A distinct copy derived from Caprica Six residing in Baltar's head since the destruction of the colonies, "Head Six" appears as a figment of his imagination, invisible to everyone else. She suggests this phenomenon might be caused by either a computer chip implant or insanity over his guilt. When Baltar undergoes an MRI-like "brain scan", it reveals no sign of a computer chip or any other foreign object in his brain. While this briefly leads Baltar to think he has truly gone insane, he concludes this is impossible, given Six's knowledge of events unknown to him. Confronted with this in Part II of "Home", Six declares that she is neither a computer chip nor a hallucination produced by mental instability. When Baltar then asks just who or what she is, she simply replies she is "an angel of God sent here to protect you, to guide you and to love you." She repeats this claim in the episode "Torn".This Six often appears suddenly, without warning. She often advises and gives instructions to Baltar. While she usually appears to him as part of the real world, occasionally he interacts with her in an imagined but persistent dream-like setting within his mind.
While Six can physically interact with Baltar in his imagination, it is for most of the series unclear if she is able to physically affect him in the real world — this is finally resolved in the episode "Escape Velocity", where Head Six is shown lifting Baltar from the floor to a standing position after he endured repeated blows from a Galactica marine.
This manifestation of Six in particular is extremely religious. In contrast to the colonists, and like the other Cylons, she believes in a singular god, whom she identifies as Love. She constantly attempts to convince Baltar to believe in the Cylon god, and to accept his part in God's plan or will.
Her motivations are unclear. While some of her advice appears to benefit humanity, for example, pointing out a Cylon device to Baltar on Galactica and helping him build a Cylon detector, it more often serves only Baltar's needs, and she expresses enjoyment over what she considers the inevitable extinction of the human race, constantly saying humanity is naturally violent and would have destroyed itself without the Cylons' intervention.
Head Six appears to be somehow related to Caprica Six, which is the Six model who seduced Baltar on the planet Caprica and encouraged him to give her access to the Colonial Defense mainframe. This belief is supported by the fact that Caprica Six has her own Head Baltar, implying some sort of transcendental connection between those two specific characters. Nonetheless, once the audience is re-introduced to Caprica Six, it becomes clear that something more unusual is going on since Caprica Six and Baltar bear little resemblance in personality to their internal counterparts.
Head Six is seen less frequently following the departure from New Caprica. In her brief appearances in the first part of season 4, Baltar begins to refer to her as an angel.
In the final episode of the series, it is made clear that, like the Starbuck Avatar, Head Six is indeed an agent of a higher power as she claims, not a chip or a delusion inside Baltar's head. She and Head Baltar are the last-seen characters in the final moment of the episode, which takes place 150,000 years after the rest of the series. Their role as angel-like beings was to guide Baltar and Caprica Six in protecting Hera, and once that task is done, they leave them alone. She and Head Baltar speculate on whether the cycle will continue ; Head Six reveals that her excitement over humanity's potential extinction was a ruse and states her belief that the cycle has finally been broken.
Although the name is not used by characters in the context of the story, Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore revealed in his official SciFi BSG podcasts "Head Six" is the designation given to the character in scripts and production documents. In discussions of the final episode, Moore also calls this version Inner Six who, along with Inner Baltar, are "... messenger of a higher power", reinforcing the variations "Head Six", "Inner Six" and "Messenger Six" used by fans to describe these characters.
During the Season 2 episode "Home", Gaius Baltar refers to Head Six as "Sara" when in the holding cell designed for Sharon Valerii earlier in the season. Whether this was an unauthorized ad-lib by the actor or perhaps it was what he calls her is unclear as she is never referred to by name again