Daniel Jackson (Stargate) - Character Arc

Character Arc

Born on July 8, 1965, Daniel Jackson is the only child of Melburn and Claire Jackson, archaeologists who were crushed while supervising the placement of a piece of Egyptian art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Daniel's maternal grandfather and only living relative, Nick Ballard (played by Jan Rubeš), was a noted Dutch archaeologist and too busy to take the orphaned Jackson under his wing. Though placed in foster care, Daniel visited his grandfather in a mental institution until they had an argument over his failing career and Daniel left. Daniel became an archaeologist and linguist who speaks 23 earthly (plus several extraterrestrial) languages—he is shown speaking at least English, Russian, German, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Egyptian, Goa'uld, Ancient, and Unas.

In the 1994 film Stargate, the character of Daniel is introduced in a scene in which he is presenting a lecture at an academic seminar. However, he finds little acceptance there of his theory that the Pyramids of Giza are much older than they are thought to be. An aged woman named Catherine Langford approaches him to offer him a job deciphering the cover-stones of a device found in Egypt. Jackson uses his knowledge of ancient Egyptian languages to make the device, named the Stargate, function.

Jackson then travels with a team, led by Jack O'Neill through the Stargate, and they discover that it leads to the planet Abydos. Daniel meets, marries, and falls in love with a native woman, Sha'uri (named Sha're in the TV series Stargate SG-1). After winning the battle to free the Abydonians from the System Lord Ra, Daniel decides not to return to Earth with the rest of the team and to instead live the rest of his life learning about the culture and history of Abydos, with its culture based on that of ancient Egypt. Jack O'Neill lies to his superiors, saying that Daniel Jackson is dead.

In the television series Stargate SG-1, Daniel's life changes when his wife and his brother-in-law are abducted and turned into hosts for the Goa'uld. Daniel joins the SG-1 team to recover them. Daniel is briefly reunited with Sha're, who had been made host to Apophis' queen Amonet, in season 2's "Secrets", when she temporarily controls her body while pregnant with the Harcesis child Shifu. Shortly after Teal'c kills Sha're in season 3's "Forever in a Day", Sha're gives Daniel information to find her child, reconfirms her love for him and asks him to forgive Teal'c. Daniel remains a part of the team and later saves his brother-in-law Skaara from the Goa'uld Klorel in season 3's "Pretense". In season 3's "Maternal Instinct", Daniel discovers the Harcesis child on another planet and leaves him under the care of Oma Desala, a being of great power and wisdom. SG-1 meets Shifu again as a much older boy in season 4's "Absolute Power".

In the penultimate season 5 episode "Meridian", Daniel is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation while attempting to fix a naqahdriah reactor on the planet Langara in the Nation State known as Kelowna. The Ancient, Oma Desala, guides Daniel to ascend to a higher plane of existence. The Kelownan scientist Jonas Quinn takes Daniel's place on SG-1 during season 6, although the rest of the team find it hard to get over Daniel's absence. Ascended Daniel visits O'Neill and Teal'c during times of crisis, but the laws of ascended beings forbid him to interfere. In the season 6 finale "Full Circle", ascended Daniel seeks to aid SG-1 in defeating the plans of Anubis. Before Daniel can destroy Anubis, he is whisked away, but Oma helps Daniel by ascending the entire population of Abydos before Anubis destroys the planet.

Daniel is discovered naked and without memory on the planet Vis Uban in the season 7 opener "Fallen". Daniel rejoins SG-1 full-time one episode later, and Jonas returns to his people. Daniel spends much of season 7 trying to tap into his Ascended memories of his time of Ascension and to find the Lost City of the Ancients. This leads to the discovery of the Ancient Outpost at Antarctica in the season 7 finale "Lost City", contributing to the spin-off Stargate Atlantis. In season 8's "Prometheus Unbound", Daniel meets Vala Mal Doran, who seizes the Prometheus with him on board. Although Daniel evades her sexual advances and thwarts her plans, she escapes. After Daniel's death at the hands of RepliCarter in "Reckoning (Part 2)", Oma Desala provides a path for Daniel to ascend in "Threads", but Daniel is descended back to Earth naked to live on as a human, this time with full memory of what just happened to him.

In the season 9 opener "Avalon", Vala seeks out Daniel at Stargate Command (SGC) and prevents him from going to Atlantis. The discovery of an Ancient communication device transports their minds to a village in a distant galaxy where they make contact with the Ori. Vala and Daniel can return to Earth safely, but unintentionally bring the Ori threat to the Milky Way. After Vala is accidentally transported to the Ori galaxy in "Beachhead", Daniel reunites with Vala aboard one of the invading Ori ships in the season 10 opener "Flesh and Blood." After their escape, Daniel speaks up in support of Vala's request to join the SGC. With the ancient Merlin's knowledge, Daniel builds the Sangraal in "The Quest". Vala's rapidly matured daughter Adria captures Daniel and turns him into an Ori Prior in "The Shroud" to convert the Tau'ri to the path of Origin, but Daniel returns to his normal self at the end of the episode. In "Unending", the last episode of the series, SG-1 gets stuck in a time dilation field aboard the Earth ship Odyssey, and a romance between Vala and Daniel comes to fruition. Before the time dilation field is reversed after fifty years, erasing all linked memories in the process, Daniel and Vala express their feelings for each other.

Jackson makes a cameo appearance in the pilot of Stargate Atlantis, "Rising", where he assists Rodney McKay and Elizabeth Weir on the Antarctic Outpost, unearthed in SG-1's season 7 finale, "Lost City". Here, he helps them to persuade Jack O'Neill to green-light the Atlantis expedition. Furthermore, he makes an appearance in the season 5 episodes "First Contact" and "The Lost Tribe" where he visits Atlantis to study the ancient scientist Janus. Whilst there he and McKay are captured by a rogue branch of Asgard, who wish to use them to activate the "Attero Device" to neutralize the Wraith threat in the galaxy.

In the time following the conclusion of Stargate Atlantis, Jackson still works for the Stargate Command (SGC), along with Dr. Nicholas Rush. Jackson is attempting to unlock the 9th Chevron address, which would be later opened by Eli Wallace at the Icarus Base. Jackson assists Dr. Rush's research team by recording a series of instructional videos explaining the stargate, the history of the ancients, the stargate addressing system and hyperdrive technology. Wallace watched several of Jackson's videos on the way to Icarus base, growing increasingly annoyed at the "in-flight safety tip" type recordings Jackson made.