Ron Moore: It certainly evolved over time. When the series started I didn’t know where I was going to be by the end. I decided to worry about that later, and to try to just take 10 episodes at a time. I’d finish those then starting working on the direction of the next 10 shows, and so on. (Source)

BSG is a new breed of TV show, just like LOST, its fickle nature is well suited to a broadcast industry in which ratings are everything and a show can be pulled from air on little notice.

Ron Moore (continued): As we got into mid-way through Season 3, I started to really feel that the 4th Season should be the last year. By the time we got to the end of the 3rd Season, I definitely felt like “Okay, next year’s it. We’re in the third act of the story, we should end the show while we’re strong.”

Going into the 4th Season, we had various meetings with the writing staff, big sort of conclaves where we said “Okay, what is the end of the series? Let’s really break it down and talk about it.” We had 3 or 4 of those kind of gatherings where we reevaluated what we wanted to do, tore it apart, put it back together again, and kept refining exactly what the shape of the 4th Season was going to be. To answer your question, all of this year we’ve had an idea of where we’re going and how it’s going to end. We really didn’t start focusing on the end of the series until it was time. (Source)

RDM: and you just find ways that they all sync up together eventually…its its its especially as we’ve been constructing the end of the series its surprising how many of those pieces we were really able to pick up again and actually weave back in and there was surprisingly little that I feel like we never got around to actually, actually tying up (Source: Revelations Podcast @ 27:47)

The show is setup with ambiguity at almost every turn. It gives the writers freedom in the future to take the show wherever they think appropriate at the time.

Take the final five for instance. It seems that RDM didn’t come up with the idea that the Final Five would be humans within the fleet until Season 3. There is no mention of the Final Five prior to Season 3 except for the fact that we had been told there were 12 cylon models, and we only knew the identity of seven of them. Discovering another 5 skinjobs becomes a bit tedious for the audience after a while. The entire Final Five plotline was created for Season 3 and the fact they were going to be humans, but fundamentally different probably wasn’t created until midway through Season 3. As for their identities, well that wasn’t decided upon until the end of Season 3!

Tigh was one of the first names tossed out. Tyrol, Anders, and Tory. And they all had reasons why their backstories worked for the Cylons and for what the final four Cylons would be in particular. Tyrol had a connection to Sharon, obviously, had fallen in love with a Cylon. He was drawn towards the Temple on the algae planet. Anders had survived two resistance movements, very mysteriously. He had also fallen for Starbuck who has a specific destiny, the Cylons keep saying. Tory we knew the least about, so she was a bit of a wildcard. Tigh was the most problematic, and Tigh I went back and forth on all the way up to the point where we were shooting the episode and wanted to make sure that we knew what we were doing, and we weren’t blowing something. (Source Crossroads Pt II podcast)

In a sense this is clever, but if you are looking into early episodes of the show for clues of how it will end then you will dissapointed – even the writers had little idea of where is was all headed. It’s only now that we have reached the last season that it becomes possible to speculate about how it will all end.

So next time you are watching a new show, remember that mystery and ambiguity is there to keep you watching, and trying to solve the puzzles, although interesting, means very little until the writers decide to create answers for the puzzles they have created – and this doesn’t have to happen until the audience begins to tire and starts demanding those answers.

This entire site is dedicated to the Head.Six theory, not because Head.Six has been the final cylon since the start, but because it makes most sense toward the end. The theory does involve certain interpretations of existing facts and it works around those just as the writers have had to do while creating the final series. Of course the producers reserve the right to invent more backstory in the remaining 10/11 episodes that invalidate this theory, but the way things stand at the moment, with what the show has told us, as well as producer and writer interview quotes and actors reaction to the grand finale, Head.Six being the final cylon would not only make perfect sense, but would also bring an excellent ending to a brilliant show.

In Faith, Laura has a dream in which she watches Emily cross over. They both stand on the ferry, Emily then runs off to meet up with her family. Laura can also see her family but stays on the ferry.

Laura: Mother. You’re okay.
Laura: I’m not ready…

She then wakes up to realise that Emily has passed away.

TPBLAD is a religious or metaphorical concept, it exists outside of both space and time. The hybrids can see into this place and because it is outside of time, it allows them to see the future. Use of chamalla may also allow access to TPBLAD and this is how the human oracles can see the future and communicate with the Gods[1]. To a lesser extent, cylon Leoben can also see into this place. He can be viewed as the cylon equivalent of an oracle, however he never seems too certain of what he has seen.

Leoben: It is. But we have to see this through to the end. What is the most basic article of faith? This is not all that we are. See, the difference between you and me is, I know what that means and you don’t. I know that I’m more than this body, more than this consciousness. A part of me swims in the stream but in truth, I’m standing o­n the shore the current never takes me downstream.

In the episode The Hub, Natalie gets shot and dies in sickbay. The hybrid knows this has happened, even though the baseship is light years away…

Hybrid: Wingbeats of a dove drown out the heartbeats of those who follow. The Six is back in the stream…

The Hub

The Hub is a device that taps into the stream. When a cylon consciousness enters TPBLAD, it is prevented from passing over and is instead, relayed to a ressurection ship where it can be downloaded into a new body.

The Lords of Kobol reside in TPBLAD, so they are neither alive nor dead. In this sense they can be viewed as Gods. It is the LOK that gave resurrection technology to the cylons and guided them into creating the skinjobs. This is why the skinjobs appear to have little idea of how their own technology works, they can’t build a new Hub and they have little understanding of the hybrid which controls the functions of the baseship.

The Lords of Kobol that helped the early cylons ‘evolve’ are known as the final five cylon models.

Supernova

The Eye of Jupiter in the Temple of Five is a device that allows people to see into TPBLAD. It can be used to see the Final Five – the TPBLAD LOK. It does this by harnessing the power of the supernova.

Supernova create a big problem for both space and time. You can reference Einsteins relativity, singularities and such like to explain this, but its over analysing, all you need to to know from a viewer perspective is that this phenonemon is used within BSG to provide a link from normal spacetime to TPBLAD.

The Razor hybrid was hanging about near a supernova remnant[2]. This is where the science team headed before they were captured by the guardians. The Razor hybrid can see into TPBLAD although its not entirely clear how this came about. However it is most likely that the creation of the hybrid, the “super weapon” by the early cylons is what allowed the LOK within TPBLAD to ‘infiltrate’ cylon civilisation and effectively take over, scrapping the old models while the guardians made a quick escape, taking the hybrid with them.

The Ionian Nebula is also the remains of a supernova remnant. This is where the Opera House figures first connected with the four mortal LOK and its also where Starbuck returns from the dead! At the same time there is a powerful EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) type event that shuts down all of the ships in the fleet. This is when the Final Four realize who they really are.

Nuclear explosion

Lets also not forget the nuclear explosion on Caprica in the mini-series, after which Baltar mysteriously seemed to receive his head character.

Maelstrom Storm

The storm in Maelstrom is also another type of phenonemon that can connect normal spacetime with TPBLAD. It is here that Maelstrom.Leoben, one of the LOK in TPBLAD “finds” Starbuck. Leoben “stands on the shore of the stream” and it is from here that he can connect with Starbuck when she is on the verge of death.

Shelley Godfrey

In Six Degrees of Seperation, Baltar finally cracks under the constant preaching of the “one true God” from Head.Six. Head.Six then vanishes and is immediately replaced by a real person – Shelley Godfrey.

Head.Six: I’m trying to save your immortal soul, Gaius.
Baltar: No, what you are doing, darling, is boring me to death with your superstitious drivel, your…your metaphysical nonsense. Which, to be fair to you, actually appeals to the half-educated dullards that make up most of human society but which I hasten to add no rational intelligent free-thinking human being truly believes. Which leads me to the inescapable conclusion that Cylons are in the final….that Cylons are, in the final analysis little more than toasters…with great looking legs. It’s my fantasy, see if I care. I’ll, dream up someone new, maybe. Brunette, maybe….

Shelley Godfrey is reported to have vanished into thin air shortly after Baltar, under pressure for his own survival finally repents and shows signs of believing in God after all. So it’s clear that Shelley Godfrey was sent by Head.Six as a response to Baltar’s ridiculing of her faith. As soon as Shelley vanished, Head.Six reappears. Remember that Head.Six is one the LOK that reside in TPBLAD.

Shelley Godfrey is an exception in that she appears in Season 1, when the show wasn’t entirely mapped out so I suspect there will never be a straightforward explanation for her, however it is clear that she was created by Head.Six from TPBLAD and she couldn’t have been a mass illusion since the show clearly told us she was real by allowing us to see that she had left her glasses behind.

(See TPBLAD and Time Travel! for a perfectly logical explanation of Shelley Godfrey)

Hera

Shortly after Sharon finds out she is pregnant, Baltar has a “dream” in which Adama appears to be drowning Hera in a river. This scene can be interpreted as one of the LOK in TPBLAD releasing Hera into the river so that she can become Sharon’s child. So TPBLAD isn’t just a place you pass through after you die, but also a place you come through prior to birth.

(See The Conception of Hera)

Time Travel

(See TPBLAD and Time Travel!)

River or stream?

There may well be a difference between the river and the stream. The river seems to come across as a real religious concept familiar with us all, the thing we “cross over”, whereas the stream seems to be something that the cylons, specifically Leoben talks about that may be a lesser version of the river. Streams also flow into rivers. Either way they are similiar enough to be metaphors for the same thing and the “dream” in which Adama appears to drown Hera in a river is enough to assume that the show is simply using similiar words as metaphors for the same thing.

Conclusion

I can only explain TPBLAD by giving you some examples of the part it plays in the show. The rest is up to you! Personally I would fall short of trying to precisely define it for two reasons…

• We still don’t know if the show has a supernatural or super AI computer theme. Both work well.

• Explaining its very nature isn’t neccessary to be able to accept its place in the show. Its a concept within the BSG universe that shares similarities to religious and metaphorical ideas of life and death and heaven and hell.

Either way it appears that the Lords of Kobol exist in this place, and its from here that they can play out Gods plan of rejuvenating mankind through a cycle of destruction and rebirth. Hera being placed in the river is a big clue as to how they initially take mortal form through reincarnation.

[1] Thanks to Motoki for this one
[2] Thanks to nxain for pointing this out

The Final Cylon Solution can be misinterpreted for stating that the Final Five aren’t in fact cylons. This site is partly to blame for this misunderstanding, since it tries to avoid defining exactly what they really are. So here I will explain three different interpretations of how they can be cylon, and none of them require that they were created by the cylons!

The Final Five are reincarnated mortal forms of Lords of Kobol.

RDM – 3/26/2007 …The conceptual framework in which these guys are Cylons, it all sort of works once we laid down their individual back stories… [They are all full Cylons] but they are different fundamentally. (Source)

• If the skinjobs and raiders can resurrect and the Lords of Kobol are ancient immortal entities that can reincarnate and take mortal form, then they are both cylon within the conceptual framework of immortality.

• The modern cylons, including skinjobs and raiders were created by the Lords of Kobol, who incidently gave them resurrection technology. Therefore, if we are calling the skinjobs cylon then we can loosely name their creators cylon as well.

Perhaps the best definition comes from the possible origin of the Lords of Kobol themselves…

• The Lords of Kobol are the original cylons, created by humans thousands of years ago on Earth.

I suspect though that we will never know this for sure, but it would make alot of sense. Personally I try to avoid making assumptions about their origins, since there are many possibilities and none of them can be fully justified from what we know about the show and it also makes sense that certain things just won’t be explained in full since doing so will bring early closure to the shows status in the minds of the fans.

For those sci-fi fans that remember Blade Runner, the true nature of Deckard was never fully satisfied and this fueled speculation and debate for many years greatly helping the film achieve legendary status. We know Ronald D. Moore is a big fan of Blade Runner and it would make sense that he wants to achieve the same legendary status with his own creation.

It comes down to this, do you want the LOK to be supernatural immortal beings similiar to Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, or do you want them to be original super AI that have somehow transcended mortal existance and now reside in the space between life and death. Is the entire show even a Matrix scenario!

The interpretation may well rest with you.

Rejuvenation of the Lords of Kobol

This one requires invention of a small amount of backstory, but the implications add another level to the show as well as high drama. It reaches into hidden storylines, but is in line with the facts presented, ties up a few more pieces and fits with the way the show is constructed. So it’s presented as speculation, but its fascinating all the same.

The Beacon Clue

In Torn, the cylons come across a beacon that contains a deadly virus. It infects the baseship and the S7 start to die.

Sharon: No. The data set indicates that as soon as the Hybrid was infected, the Centurions started shutting down. We don’t know how ours are gonna be affected.
D’Anna: I assume our Raiders and baseships are also susceptible.
Simon: Of course. We are all created from the same genetic pool.
Doral: Then no Cylon can board that ship without risking infection

The key here is that the S7 are all built from the same genetic pool.

Later, in A Measure of Salvation, Cottle talks about the virus.

Cottle: I identified the virus. We know it as lymphocytic encephalitis. The disease is carried by rodents. Rats, mostly. But a couple of hundred years ago, humans developed an immunity. Now I can create a simple vaccine that will dramatically reverse the effect of the virus o­n the Cylons. But, uh, they have an antibody in their blood which breaks down the RNA of the vaccine. So they will need regular, close-interval injections of the vaccine. Or they will die.

So the humans developed an immunity to the virus “a couple of hundred years ago” and since the S7 are still susceptible to the virus, the show is trying to tell us that the S7 are based on genetic material that is over 200 years old.

Kobol

In Home Pt II, Sharon talks about the colonials history…

Sharon: We know more about your religion than you do. Athena’s Tomb, whoever, and whatever she really was is probably up there. That part is true.

It seems that the cylons know more about colonial history than the colonials do. Since they were waiting for the fleet when they arrived at Kobol for the first time, then its safe to assume that they knew the location of Kobol before the colonials did.

Since there is a tomb on Kobol dedicated to Athena, a Lord of Kobol, its safe to assume that there may well be the remains of previous mortal incarnations of LOK entombed on Kobol as well, probably after the colonials first left to create the 12 colonies 2000 years ago.

So lets assume that the cylons built the S7 bodies by using genetic material from a previous generation of mortal LOK that was found on Kobol during the first cylon war, around the same time the cylons were experimenting on humans.

Which of the Lords of Kobol are mortal and which stay within TPBLAD changes with each cycle. This is backed up by Leoben’s comment in Flesh and Bone…

Leoben: You kneel before idols and ask for guidance and you can’t see that your destiny’s already been written. Each of us plays a role, each time a different role. The last time, I was the interrogator and you were the prisoner. The players change, the story remains the same…

So lets make the assumption that the Opera House figure that appears as Head.Six in this cycle was a mortal LOK in the previous cycle and the remains of this body were found on Kobol by the cylons and used to create the S7 member we know as Sharon (Athena).

Children of the Lords of Kobol

Head.Six: Isn’t she beautiful, Gaius?
Baltar: I don’t think I have ever been touched  so deeply in my entire life.
Head.Six: You’re going to make a wonderful father.
Baltar: Speaking metaphorically, of course.
Head.Six: And literally. She’s our child, gaius. Our little girl.
Baltar: What?
Head.Six: Do you want to hold her?
Baltar: Mm…yes. Yes, of course I do.   But she’s not real. Any more than, uh… any of this is. Real.
Head.Six: She’s real.
Baltar: She is?
Head.Six: She may not be with you yet, but she will be. Soon.
Baltar: I’m having a little difficulty– I’m trying to understand, I want to understand. I–
Head.Six: [Sighs]
Baltar: You are the mother.
Head.Six: And you’re the father.

So we know how Head.Six can be the mother. Head.Six is an expression of one of the Opera House figures, this figure was a mortal reincarnated LOK in the previous cycle, and now the DNA from that body has been used to build the S7 member we know as Athena – the biological mother of Hera!!

The problem is that we need to make Baltar the father. Doing that would not only make true, Head.Six’s line about them both “literally” being the parents of Hera, but would also make Hera the child of two Lords of Kobol! Head.Six is the mother through DNA from the previous cycle and Baltar is the father through being mortal in this cycle.

So we can easily invent some backstory in which Athena sleeps with Baltar once she arrives on Galactica and is placed in the brig. We know Baltar is the prisoner interrogater and we also know that this type of thing happened later with Tigh and Caprica.Six. Remember it is Tigh’s head character, Head.Ellen that tricks Tigh into sleeping with Caprica.Six in order to procreate. This also takes place in the brig with Tigh being the mortal LOK and Caprica.Six being based on genetic material from the previous cycles mortal LOK. Since the LOK can appear to the S7 at anytime, perhaps Athena had a head character that also tricked her by making Baltar appear as Helo.

The similiarities are just too great to ignore but there is one further problem. Athena was pregnant before she met Baltar so for this to work they would have to reveal some aspect of S7 biology that allowed for someone already pregnant by perhaps a few weeks to become pregnant again. Since the father is a mortal form of LOK, I am sure that the producers of the show could work around this issue if they really wanted to. However…

Alternate conception of Hera

In Kobol’s Last Gleaming Pt II, Sharon tells Helo she is pregnant.

Sharon: Helo, I think there’s something else that you should know. I’m pregnant.

Just two episodes later, in Valley of Darkness, Baltar has a “dream” in which Adama takes Hera and appears to drown her in a nearby river.

Adama: Is this the shape of things to come?
Baltar: That’s my understanding
Adama: Only one thing for it then.

We know that the river is a metaphor for the space between life and death. So although this appears as though “dream” Adama is drowning Hera, it could also serve as a scene that describes the conception of Hera by the Lords of Kobol (see Speculation – where to next for another scene in which an LOK appears as Adama). They are effectively sending her forth into the world to replace Sharon’s child.

Helo

This would all create a very dramatic storyline in which Helo realises he is not in fact Hera’s father and this is just the type of character exploration that the show revels in.

There is a potential indication of this happening, though I can’t find the original source…

6/14/08: Tahmoh Penikett describes what happens to Helo in the fourth season: “His demons will come out. Helo has a definite penchant for violence, especially if he feels his family is at risk. I did a great scene the other day where he’s starting to understand the possibility of becoming a future leader. Helo is learning that regardless of how you feel, morally or ethically, cerntain decisions have to be made – and sometimes they require compromises.” (Secondary Source)

Genetics

Using genetics, we can also see how it should not be possible for Athena to be the biological mother of Hera.

There are only two “hair type” genes, one for curly hair (c) and one for straight hair (S). Since we all inherit two sets of genes from our parents, we hold two hair type genes, one from each parent. The combination of these two genes determines which hair type you will express. If you have two curly genes (c) you will have curly hair, two straight (S) genes and you will have straight hair and a straight plus curly gene will result in wavy hair (w).

Hera obviously has very curly hair, in fact you could say its her defining feature, almost as if the show is trying to say something. Somebody with curly hair cannot have a straight hair parent and Athena along with the all the #8′s have straight hair. A curly hair child must inherit the curly gene from both parents and a straight hair parent doesn’t have the curly gene (they have two straights).

(See Galactica Science for further information)

Conclusion

So it would seem that the “next generation of Gods children” is another generation of Lords of Kobol and not a new generation of humans. The Lords of Kobol rejuvenate mankind through a cycle of destruction and rebirth but they are also part of the cycle and are in turn rejuvenated themselves.

Anders: I don’t suppose you’re gonna tell me what this is all about. I mean, what’s so important about this kid?
Laura: She may very well be the shape of things to come. That’s either a blessing or a curse.

The theory does require some work in the remainder of Season 4 for it to make sense to the audience but this would be entirely within the way the show is constructed. They throw things out there and then hope to resolve them later on…

RDM: and you just find ways that they all sync up together eventually…its its its especially as we’ve been constructing the end of the series its surprising how many of those pieces we were really able to pick up again and actually weave back in and there was surprisingly little that I feel like we never got around to actually, actually tying up (Source: Revelations Podcast)

Writer: Oh we also had to come up with harbinger of death, harbinger of death for Katee and the possible solutions to that and now she’s brought death to the cylons and..umm…..and you know and having the hybrid tell her that you know these, its..its amazing how we dug ourselves out of what looked like an impossible hole

RDM: yeah we’ve developed quite a talent for painting ourselves in corners and them somehow getting out of them

Writer: thats been my greatest learning experience on this show is, its actually a good thing not to map everything out, use what youv’e established, and discoveries…

RDM: and you just find ways that they all sync up together eventually…its its its especially as we’ve been constructing the end of the series its surprising how many of those pieces we were really able to pick up again and actually weave back in and there was surprisingly little that I feel like we never got around to actually, actually tying up

Writer: your ideas come from what you’ve done, look at what you’ve done and your use your other ideas come from that, and its not and its really more organic than plotting it out… (Source: Revelations Podcast @ 27:47)

Thinking about the Temple scene logically results in nonsense. Lets suppose that D’Anna did recognize the Final Five humans in the Temple. This implies that the glowing figure is an exact representation of one of those Final Five. This is a big problem. We know that Tigh was in two wars and has grown up from a child, so its safe to assume that at some point he was born. When Tigh was 2 years old, his corresponding figure in the Opera House would have been 2ft high! When Tigh was an embryo he would have appeared as a glowing speck suspended in mid-air!

There is obviously something wrong with the assumption that the glowing figures are exact representations of the Final Five humans.

So now lets seperate the glowing figures from the Final Five humans and suppose that they are two different entities, simply connected to each other through the Opera House.

The Final Cylon Solution provides two plausible explanations for what she saw…

Solution 1

D’Anna recognized the glowing figures for what they are, Lords of Kobol. The LOK were responsible for the creation of the S7, therefore it makes sense that the lower the model number, the more likely they are to have had direct experience of these entities at somepoint in their past. Cavil seems to know more about the Final Five than any other model and he is number #1, D’Anna is number #3

Solution 2

Once the connection between the glowing figures and four of the five mortal LOK was established at the Ionian Nebula, its conceivable that she could see the human face transparently transposed upon the face of the glowing figure. This would mean she could have only recognized one of the Final Five because at that point, the connection hadn’t been established with the other four members.

Now when you analyse the scene in which D’Anna gets off the Raptor and requests the four from the fleet, it makes perfect sense that this is a scene in which the writers have had to “dig themselves out of a hole”. At first glance it appears as though D’Anna does indeed recognize the Final Five but its clear that it was filmed in such a way as to continue the charade that the Final Five humans are the same five that the cylons call the Final Five.

It’s never conclusive that she recognizes any of the other four. She did recognize Baltar, he was the only one connected via his head character at that time. He was already on the baseship which is why she only requested the four from the fleet. She simply used a mind trick to fool the colonials into thinking she knew the other four. When she starts speaking, both Tory and Tigh are looking extremely worried which is why she appears to focus her attention on them – leading you to think she already knows who they are. Tory then effectively gives herself up and in a scene that we don’t see, she tells D’Anna who the other three are. This is how she appears to know the identity of the other three when Lee tells her that he has them in the launch tube.

Another piece of clever production, designed to dig themselves out of a hole and at the same time maintain the illusion that the Opera House figures and the Final Five humans are one and the same!

UPDATED 18/07/2008 23:58

In an interview with Aaron Douglas prior to May this year, he had this to say…

Jamie: Are we going to have to wait till the very end to know who the final Cylon is?
Aaron: Nope. You’ll know, I don’t know if you’ll know in the first ten, but somewhere around there.
(Source)

During the writers strike he said…

Aaron: I was curious quite a bit but it was certainly a shock when I found out who it is. I never would have expected that person. It is revealed in the last thing we shot so if we don’t come back, that will be the end of the show. (Source)

Two for the price of one!

Katee Sackoff has also previously said that she had been told, but seemed sceptical…

Katee: We do know who the fifth [and final] Cylon is, but…(Source)

After filming episode 14, when asked if she knew who the final Cylon is, Katee replied…
Katee: ”Um…no. Maybe. No, no. Maybe. I don’t know. Does that help you at all?”
Katee: ”We’ve been told who it is. I personally don’t believe it, I think that is something that is going to be kept until the very end.” (Source)

All of these quotes came well before the filming of the grand finale, and it seems fairly obvious by the actors reactions to that finale that the final cylon wasn’t revealed until the very end. Ron confirms this…

Will the identity of the fifth and final Cylon be something you reveal early in the fourth season?
Ron Moore: It will be late in the season, it won’t be in the first half. (Source)

Ron’s comment directly contradicts Aaron’s and Katee’s comments, its almost as though the actors were told who it was early in Season 4.5, and then told again at the end of the show!

Around the time they filmed the grand finale, Grace Park indicated that all was revealed, it seems likely she was talking about the final episodes….

Grace Park: “There’s one episode where everything is explained and I had to read it three times, I had to sit down with [executive producer] Ron Moore and he had to break it down.” (Source)

With the Final Cylon Solution, this makes a certain amount of sense. We know that there are in fact two unrevealed mortal LOK – both Baltar and Starbuck.

It would fit in with the style of the show that they keep this charade up and add further confusion by implicating Starbuck as the final cylon early in Season4.5 (probably Revelations Pt II), then in full dramatic style in line with the grand finale, reveal everything – that neither Starbuck nor Baltar are true cylons- but rather it is Baltar that hosts the final cylon.

Also bear in mind that due to the writers strike, it wasn’t entirely certain that they would get the chance to film the remainder of Season 4. They had already commited to revealing the final cylon before they got the go ahead to film the remaining episodes. So it would make sense to provide some sort of conclusion to the show just in case, and then use the “bonus” episodes to reveal answers to hopefully every other mystery that has been generated in the previous seasons including the “true” final cylon.

Who was Caprica.Six talking to prior to the attack on the colonies?

There has always been the question of who Caprica.Six was talking to in the gardens on Caprica just before the attack when she says…

Caprica.Six: It’s about time. I wondered when you’d get here.

The S7 were created by the Opera House figures – the original programmers and the Head.Six theory explains that this is how the S7 can see head characters at anytime. RDM has previously stated that this scene from the miniseries will not be explored, but he can now weave this dropped plotline back into the story (see Exactly what did D’Anna see in the Temple of Five! for how this comes about)

With the Head.Six theory, he now has a way in which he can resolve this long standing question and at the same time resolve this issue of how Baltar initially connected to his LOK companion.

My guess is that Caprica.Six was talking to her own head character, remember head characters can appear as anybody. In Downloaded she was obviously surprised to see Head.Baltar as if the phenonemom of a head character was a new thing to her, so for this idea to work, the head character she saw back on Caprica would have to appear as someone other than Head.Baltar, then the surprise expression on her face in Downloaded would still work out.

The Final Four connected with their companion LOK when they reached the Ionian Nebula but the question remains of how and when did Baltar first connect with Head.Six. Now all RDM would have to do is create a script that somehow caused a transferral of Caprica.Six’s head character to Baltar at the point of the blast. Then Head.Six would immediately transport Baltar forward in time to avoid the main part of the blast thereby saving his life and explaining how he survived with just a few scratches.

(For an explanation of LOK time travel, see TPBLAD and Time Travel)

This would nicely wrap up a question that has been around since the mini-series.

There are rumours about the finale including scenes (possibly flashbacks) of Caprica – maybe this is an indication that RDM does indeed intend to revisit this issue.

Earth / The Promised Land

Kobol

Where are the colonials going next, now that they realize Earth is a nuclear wasteland?

“They have no more prophecy to follow, no more signposts, so now what do they do?” – Mark Stern (Source)

Adama - “And zeus warned the leaders of the 12 tribes that any return to Kobol would exact a price in blood.”

Zeus is the leader of the 13th tribe. I expect that during the finale all will be revealed – that six of the LOK are mortal and an integral part of the fleet, the others residing in TPBLAD. Once the cycle is complete and the ‘plan’ of rejuvenating mankind comes to a close, it frees the colonials to return to Kobol and live in harmony with the Gods just like they did 2000 years ago.

Razor hybrid: And then, they will join the promised land, gathered on the wings of an angel. Not an end, but a beginning.

This also nicely explains the similarities with the past, where it appears the 13th tribe left for Earth around 4000 years ago and then mysteriously seemed to return almost immediately with a chronicle of their journey which was documented by Pythia 3600 years ago. Incidently, this would make the fleet the current 13th tribe!

Is the journey to Earth simply designed to teach the colonials a lesson, to make them realize their tendancy for self destruction and thereby rejuvenate them – at least for a couple of thousand years!

Collaborators

At last we can finally make sense of the scene at the start of Collaborators where Baltar appears to be having a dream with Adama/Tigh and Roslin and Head.Six appears and starts talking to them. This is verging on speculative but its interesting all the same.

Adama: In my opinion it wasn’t his fault.
Tigh, with both eyes intact: I hate to admit it, but the Admiral’s right. He was in an impossible situation. I’d have probably done the same in his position.
Roslin: Well, if that’s the way it has to be then that’s the way it has to be. (She stands and addresses Baltar.) No hard feelings?
Baltar: None. Mistakes were made, no doubt. There’s no question. But the past is the past. I think we can all agree that we’d like to move o­n.
Head.Six enters: You fools. You‘re being too lenient, he betrayed you. Actively sought your deaths. Doesn’t that matter to you? Don’t you have any self-respect?
Baltar: Wouldn’t bother, they can’t hear you…
Head.Six: Don’t make me angry, Gaius.
Adama: You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.
Roslin, taking off Baltar’s glasses: I’ve always wanted you.
Baltar: Oh, no.
Roslin: What?
Baltar: I’m dreaming, aren’t I?
Roslin: Yes, you are.
(Roslin kisses him.)

This is often interpreted as nothing more than a dream, but its clear now that this is a conversation between Baltar (mortal LOK) and four of the other LOK that exist in TPBLAD. They are talking about Baltar failing in his role to protect Hera. It’s no surprise that this conversation took place right after Head.Six learnt that Hera was still alive (end of Exodus Pt II).

Does the fact that Head.Six says “actively sought your deaths” imply that Hera is in someway responsible for the continued survival of the LOK? Hera is born with “6″ as a cue to make her seek out Caprica.Six, could Hera be a reincarnated form of one of the LOK in TPBLAD or since the S7 are a creation of the LOK, perhaps Hera is a new LOK!

(See Hera and the Beacon clue)

UPDATED 7 July 2008 21:21 GMT

MovieWeb: Do the final 5 have model numbers, and if there are 12 Cylons and 12 Gods, are there any direct pairings between the Gods of Greek mythology and the Cylon models?

Ron Moore: The final 5 do not, in fact, have numbers. The pairing of the 12 colonies and the 12 Gods and the 12 tribes and the number 12, while there’s the certain repetition of the numerology in the show, there’s not that direct correlation that you’re asking about. (Source)[2]

There are 12 Lords of Kobol. They are split into two groups, those that take mortal form through reincarnation and those that stay within TPBLAD acting as guides to their mortal companions. All of this takes place periodically in order to rejuventate mankind through a cycle of destruction and rebirth.

Head.Six: I’m an angel of God sent here to help you….just like I always have been (Torn)

The 12 Lords of Kobol

Grace Park: “There’s one episode where everything is explained and I had to read it three times, I had to sit down with [executive producer] Ron Moore and he had to break it down.” (Source)

Reincarnated forms

Each mortal form has a cue installed into their subconscious prior to their birth. In the case of the Final Four, this is the watchtower tune. In the case of Starbuck it is the mandala. They are entirely human and therefore don’t possess any special powers[3], the cues are used as a guide to allow them to realise who they really are – when the time comes.

(In the same way, Hera is born with the number “6″ as a cue, leading her to seek out Caprica.Six)

RDM: 3/26/2007 — They arrived at a certain point in space and they were made aware of who they are. The music manifests a dawning awareness. These are four of the final five, which puts them in a separate category from everybody else… A lot of the specifics of the back story of how this came about will reveal itself over the course of the next season. Those four are trying to figure out their own story. They don’t really understand what this all means. Tigh’s been in two wars and wondering, how could this be? A part of next season’s storylines will uncover how they came to be who they are and the specifics of that… It was something I came up with this season as I worked toward the finale. The conceptual framework in which these guys are Cylons, it all sort of works once we laid down their individual back stories… but they are different fundamentally. (source: Post-Gazette)

The problem is that the cues have led the Final Four (and therefore the audience) into mistakenly thinking they are true cylons, whereas in fact they are only cylons within the conceptual framework of immortality.

TPBLAD

The other six Lords of Kobol, stay in the space between life and death and act as guides for their companion mortal LOK. They use the Opera House to appear as head characters in order to communicate and exert their influence.

Starbuck

Kara is a special case. She appears to be “lost”, she cannot be contacted via the Opera House.

Hybrid: And in the midst of confusion, he will find her, enemies brought together by impossible longing, enemies now joined as one.

Leoben stands on the shore of TPBLAD, the river/stream – a metaphor for the space between life and death so he can reach out and contact her when she is on the verge of death without requiring the Opera House.

Leoben finds Kara at the Maelstrom gas giant planet.

Sharon: …that’s the spot where your god supposedly stood and watched Athena throw herself down o­nto the rocks below out of despair over the exodus of the 13 tribes

Kara is, or is at least playing the role of Athena who 2000 years ago commited suicide by throwing herself onto the rocks below, in Maelstrom she commits suicide by hitting the “hard deck” on the gas giant planet[1].

She doesn’t actually die, she is saved before her Viper explodes (explained in TPBLAD and Time Travel!)

3/8/2007 — Question: Was it a bullet that penetrated Kara’s canopy or something else?
RDM: This was left deliberately vague. What do you think it was?

Leoben: See, there’s nothing so terrible about death. When you finally face it, it’s beautiful. You’re free now. To become who you really are.

12 Cylon Models

The Opera House figures were responsible for influencing the cylons to create the S7 (see The Head.Six Theory). They do this by proxy leading the S7 to believe that there are five other cylons. This is why Caprica.Six believes there are 12 cylon models. The S7 aren’t allowed to think about the Final Five to avoid them realizing the truth.

(Note that this is probably why Head.Six is getting Baltar to preach the one true God so that the LOK don’t become religious entities again – the last time this happened it resulted in human sacrifice)

Since the S7 are creations of the LOK, they are built with the ability to see the LOK as a head character without requiring the Opera House – the LOK can appear to an S7 member at anytime. This explains Caprica.Six’s Head.Baltar. Remember the S7 resurrect by passing through TPBLAD and the resurrection technology comes from the LOK who reside there – the original programmers.

Baltar’s Head.Six / Head.Baltar are the same Lord of Kobol.

The “real” Final Five

Throughout the show, we have been led to believe that the five humans are the Final Five. This is a mistake that stems from the fact that the cylons aren’t allowed to think about the Final Five. It’s the LOK within TPBLAD that are the true final five and now that they have connected with the five humans, the raiders and Caprica.Six can sense them, but they incorrectly identify them. The final five humans are supposed to know the way to Earth, but its obvious that they don’t have a clue, however the five LOK within TPBLAD do know the way to Earth, since they programmed Kara’s Viper to indicate it’s location when she brought it back through TPBLAD after her time travel adventures with Maelstrom.Leoben (see TPBLAD and Time Travel!)

[1]Thanks to Mathematica for this one as well as other clues
[2]Thanks to ThPrimes for this one
[3]Although Kara is an amazing Viper pilot and Baltar an extremely intelligent scientist

So the download process includes a flashforward of something that is going to happen to her – therefore you have to say that since the download process involves passing through the place between life and death, this place must in some sense be timeless.

Hero scene

Rapture scene

As you can see, the same footage is used in both episodes clearly indicating that during her download in Hero, she experiences a vision of what will happen to her in Rapture[2].

So lets just go with the idea that TPBLAD is timeless, we know that the Hybrids can see into this space (Razor writers meeting) so this is a good explanation of how the Hybrids can see the future. They can’t see it clearly, even D’Anna’s visions of the past and future seemed scrambled and she had trouble recalling what she had seen once she had resurrected.

Maelstrom

(from Home Pt II)
Sharon: I think those are the Gates of Hera.
Sharon: …that’s the spot where your god supposedly stood and watched Athena throw herself down o­nto the rocks below out of despair over the exodus of the 13 tribes

There is an uncanny similarity with the “rocks below” and the “hard deck” that crushed Starbuck’s Viper on the gas giant planet[1].

Leoben stands on the shore of the stream/river, a metaphor for the space between life and death. It is from here that he can reach out to contact Kara.

Starbuck: You’re not Leoben.
Leoben: Never said I was. I’m here to prepare you to pass through the next door. To discover what hovers in the space between life and death.

So Leoben seems to be saying that he is helping Kara to go through a door and into TPBLAD.

The scenes at the end of Maelstrom where Kara is talking to her mother can be interpreted as a vision. However there is a much more interesting way to view it.

Leoben was showing her a scene that actually happened, the one where she found out her mother was dying of cancer. Kara recognized the scene so to her at least it was a vision of the past. This could be an induced vision or could she have actually been standing there but just not visible! Bear with me…

Leoben: She waited here. Five weeks, hoping you’d come back. She died alone.
Starbuck: I was afraid, I couldn’t watch.
Leoben: It’s not too late. She’s waiting, still.
(Kara slowly slides the bedroom door back: Socrata lying in the bed, weak and small.)
Starbuck, sitting: Momma.
Socrata, softly: You came back.

Now this can also be interpreted as a vision, but whats the point if Kara is simply imagining being at her mothers bedside while she dies – all the emotion in the scene is for nothing. Its makes much more sense that Kara was actually there, and it’s Leoben who took her back in time to be there! Otherwise the entire scene doesn’t have much meaning. Of course Socrata wouldn’t have noticed that Kara had aged 6 years, she was too ill to pay much attention. Also during that scene, Kara seems visible to Socrata but Leoben standing behind does not!

I only ask that you consider this time travel, not many people like the idea being part of BSG but as long as it’s restricted to the Lords of Kobol then it can work quite well.

So going back to the death scene, from Socrata’s point of view, Kara did actually show up by her bedside just before she died, albeit an older Kara.

Leoben: See, there’s nothing so terrible about death. When you finally face it, it’s beautiful. You’re free now. To become who you really are.

This explains Shelley Godfrey – the woman that appeared out of thin air and disappeared just a fast!

This also explains how Kara got her brand new Viper since when Leoben took her back in time to be with her mother, she was close to or living on a military academy site, a place that would have lots of shiny new Vipers! In fact it would have the Viper that she was using for her training so it would even have her callsign on it.

Where did the colonial distress signal come from that the Viper seemed to be picking up yet no other ship in the fleet could pick up. It wasn’t actually being broadcast from anywhere, the Viper was simply rigged while it passed back through TPBLAD to indicate a signal coming from ‘Earth’ by the ‘real’ Final Five, the Opera House figures – the human Final Five obviously have no idea where Earth is.

Now if you think this is all a bit crazy, just listen to what RDM was going to do for the last seconds of the Crossroads Pt II series finale…

4/8/2007 — The original scripted ending was that Kara was going to be in Lee’s quarters. He was gonna be rushing into his quarters. He was gonna get his helmet and his flight uniform and then he was gonna turn to go, and then he looks up, and then Kara’s standing in his quarters, and says, “Hi Lee.” Yeah. Right here. Where he comes in, he grabs his flight helmet and stuff, and he turns, and then boom. Kara was gonna be there. We were gonna play the last scene with Kara in the room. And then when I was up in Vancouver I started having second thoughts and wondering if that made it too supernatural into the next season. How would she get in there? Too many questions and did I really wanna go down that route? And decided, to protect ourselves, let’s shoot a version where he encounters her in the Viper. He gets in a Viper. He goes out, and Kara comes up next to him in a Viper. And ultimately in the cut that was the way Rymer cut it, and I decided to go with that too. It was a stronger ending, and it got us outside Galactica, you got action going and fighters, and at this point you’re unhinged in terms of where the hell it’s all going… When we talked about “Maelstrom”, this was part in parcel what “Maelstrom” was gonna be. We said we’ll kill her here, we’ll take her out of the main title credits for the next few episodes, but then she’s gonna come back at the end, and say, “I found the way to Earth.” And that fulfilled her destiny, because I think there was also questions after “Maelstrom” aired about whether that actually paid off everything. Did her death have any meaning? Her death didn’t have meaning, but the resurrection of Kara does. (Source: Crossroads, Part II podcast)

Head Characters

Going with the idea that Kara did travel back through time and looking at it from Socrata’s point of view, Kara is visible and appeared out of nowhere (just like Shelley Godfrey), but Kara has a head character that Socrata can’t see (Head.Leoben).

RDM:“There are similarities, and there are connections, between Starbuck and Baltar that will develop as time goes on” (Source)

Can this mean that Baltar was saved from dying in the explosion on Caprica by Head.Six (not shielded by Caprica.Six), just like Starbuck was saved by Maelstrom.Leoben before her Viper exploded, both being sent back in time before they were killed. After all in Kobols Last Gleaming when Baltar and Head.Six are in the ruins of the Opera House…

Baltar: I know this place.
Head.Six: Of course you do. Go inside.

Was he sent back to the Opera House on Kobol 2000 years ago just like Kara went back to see her mother die. He was then sent forward in time to a point after the explosion, in the same way Starbuck reapppeared at the Ionian Nebula.

The Reincarnation Interpretation provides a more likely answer as to how he recognizes this place.

So whatever Maelstrom.Leoben did to Starbuck, Head.Six did the same with Baltar

(Thanks to genji2000 for helping me iron out these connections)
[1] Thanks to Mathematica for pointing this out
[2] Thanks to Subjekt2323 for help in identify this connection

Battlestar Galactica is a TV show and therefore isn’t subject to rigorous scientific analysis. It is full of clues that have multiple meanings which allows the writers more freedom to change the direction without creating inconsistancies in the storyline. Trying to work out what is going on is like trying to escape from a maze that is being continually built, with paths that were previously left intentionally open being blocked off as the story progresses.

What does it mean to be ‘cylon’?

David Eick- I think the audience has to start by asking the question, “What really defines a Cylon?” That’s part of what Season 4 is really going to be dedicated to. And the tip of that iceberg will be introduced in the season finale. (source: TV Guide)

There is no official definition of the term cylon for the reimagined BSG. Cylon is layered with meaning, it includes both cybernetic organism and immortal being. Looking at the show like this opens up a whole new way of solving it’s mysteries.

What is the nature of the Final Five?

RDM – 3/26/2007 …The conceptual framework in which these guys are Cylons, it all sort of works once we laid down their individual back stories… [They are all full Cylons] but they are different fundamentally. (Source)

The Final Five are cylons within the conceptual framework of immortality. Outside of that framework they are not cylons. The skinjobs and raiders are also immortal since they have the ability to resurrect. It sort of works.

The Final Five have two components which for the purposes of this article we will separate into the human character (FFh) and the Opera House figures. The Opera House figures communicate with the FFh from the place between life and death (TPBLAD) by appearing as a head character. They are two different entities! This connection was made when the fleet reached the Ionian Nebula. This is indicated by the scenes at the end of Crossroads Pt II, Tory is physically sick, Anders gets a headache and all four suffer from confusion. They then feel compelled to go to the gym so that their FFg components can get together, assess the situation and ensure that the connection has been established.

The Opera House figures communicate by appearing as a head character. So the head character is an expression of the Opera House figure and in Baltar’s mind it appears as Head.Six, in Tigh’s mind it appears as Head.Ellen. Head.Ellen appears to Tigh “superimposed” over Caprica.Six – this is exactly the same phenomenon that happened to Baltar when the raptor crashed on Kobol (Kobols Last Gleaming) and Head.Six appeared “superimposed” over Crashdown as he was helping Baltar out of the burning raptor.

Head characters appear to their host in the image of someone that the host is familiar with in order to make the host more conducive to influence. This is either intentional or simply that it is the FFh subconscious that forms the appearance of the head character.

The Opera House is what allows the connection between Opera House figures and FFh. So the “truth of the Opera House” is that it’s a communication device between the LOK in the space between life and death and their mortal companions.

Caprica.Six could sense the Final Five in the fleet after the connection was established. Only four heard the watchtower tune because Baltar was already connected through Head.Six. In Revelations, D’Anna only asked for four of the Final Five because Baltar was already on the baseship.

RDM didn’t need to decide who the four were going to be until late in season 3, the FFh could be anyone he thinks most appropriate at the time…

Tigh was one of the first names tossed out. Tyrol, Anders, and Tory. And they all had reasons why their backstories worked for the Cylons and for what the final four Cylons would be in particular. Tyrol had a connection to Sharon, obviously, had fallen in love with a Cylon. He was drawn towards the Temple on the algae planet. Anders had survived two resistance movements, very mysteriously. He had also fallen for Starbuck who has a specific destiny, the Cylons keep saying. Tory we knew the least about, so she was a bit of a wildcard. Tigh was the most problematic, and Tigh I went back and forth on all the way up to the point where we were shooting the episode and wanted to make sure that we knew what we were doing, and we weren’t blowing something. (Source Crossroads Pt II podcast)

Last Supper Picture

The Missing Figure. Someone is indeed absent from the table admits Moore: We have not yet revealed the final [unknown] Cylon. Does that mean the people already at the table aren’t the final Cylon? Moore laughs, you ferreted that our pretty slyly. I didn’t really want to give that away. (Source)

This is classic misdirection. You provide a clue that is quite obvious (space for the missing character), then you act disappointed with yourself when someone points it out and at the same time make them think they were clever to notice. “you ferreted that our pretty slyly” I mean come on Ron, you leave a big gaping space in the picture then you congratulate me for noticing it! I didn’t really want to give that away – then why say this unless he is wanting you to think he is giving it away!

MR: Just so I understand what I think you told EW for the story that went with the photo, none of the people in that photo is the final Cylon, right?
RDM: Yeah. I said that. I probably shouldn’t have said that [laughs] but I have said that. So, yeah [that is the case, the final Cylon is not any of the people in the photo.

None of the PEOPLE in the Last Supper picture are the final cylon - Head.Six is not a person, she is an expression of one of the Opera House figures, projected through the Opera House and into the mind of a mortal LOK. He was quite cagey the way he approached this and then later regretted saying it. Now if you put Tory in the picture who is also missing, then you have all six reincarnated mortal LOK there (FFh + Starbuck).

Natalie is also pointing straight at Head.Six - as if its a joke that the producers are playing on us where they can say they have been making it obvious that Head.Six is the final cylon!

The New Generation - "transformation is the goal"

The Opera House figures are instrumental in instigating "gods new generation". Hera is tied to the head character that Baltar sees, with Baltar being her guardian and protector. Tigh's head character tricks him into thinking Caprica.Six is Ellen because he loves Ellen and love is a requirement for the S7 to be able to successfully procreate.

Nicky = Tyrol + Cally, both human so Nicky has no importance in the storyline (here)
Hera = Helo + Sharon, human + S7, first of the new generation
Six's child = Tigh + Six, human + S7, second of the new generation

Hera is either a reincarnated form of one of the Opera House figures or more likely a new LOK. She is born with number six as a cue, leading her to seek out Caprica.Six (and Baltar, her guardian and protector). Remember the S7 are parents of the new generation and were created by the Opera House figures.

(See Hera and the Beacon clue for a complete explanation of Gods new generation)

Hybrid speech

"And the fifth, still in shadow, will claw toward the light, hungering for redemption that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering."

The hybrid is talking about two entities, not just one. The Opera House figure that appears as Head.Six is in shadow. It's host, Baltar is hungering for redemption over his guilt in the involvement with destruction of the 12 colonies.

The Lords of Kobol

Pythia talks about the flood, wiped out most of humanity, nobody blames the flood. The flood is a force of nature, through the flood mankind is rejuvenated, born again, I was not the flood you see, I blame myself, I blame myself, that God made the man that made that choice. God made us all perfect. - Baltar, The Hub

The Lords of Kobol are the mythical flood, they work behind the scenes and manipulate mankind, guiding them periodically through a cycle of destruction and rebirth. All of this has happened before and will happen again...

The original programmers

The Opera House figures and by proxy the head characters are the original programmers. Once the dumb chrome toaster cylons became self aware, they were able to be inhabited by head characters who then guided them toward creating the S7. This is where they got their resurrection technology from and its also why the Razor hybrid and guardians made a quick escape from the scene before they were 'enslaved'.

The hybrid, looking into the space between life and death could have also acted as a gateway that allowed the head characters to infiltrate cylon civilisation.Perhaps they then instructed him to build a Opera House on the homeworld so that they could appear to the cylons as the five lost cylon models.

The S7 were created as a new race in their own right but it was discovered that they couldn't build a model that could procreate. This is why they need the humans to fulfill one of Gods most important commandments.

Since the S7 were created by the Opera House figures, they can be inhabited by head characters at any time (Caprix.Six's Head.Baltar).

The Thirteeth Tribe

Adama - "And zeus warned the leaders of the 12 tribes that any return to kobol would exact a price in blood."

Why did Zeus, one of the Lords of Kobol warn only 12 tribes not to return to Kobol when it is stated numerous times that 13 tribes left? Because Zeus is a member of the 13th tribe so he didn't need to warn himself. The Lords of Kobol, the Opera House figures, the head characters, the Flood and the leaders of the 13th tribe are all the same thing!

God

"Five pillars of the Temple were fashioned after the five priests devoted to the o­ne whose name [cannot be spoken]“

The five priests being the members of the 13th tribe that 4000 years ago were the equivalent of the current Final Five. So the “one whose name cannot be spoken” and Head.Six’s “one true God” are one and the same. His name cannot be spoken because he has no name! In this sense, God isn’t a person, a character or an entity that will make an appearance in the show – its more of an idea just like it is in all religions. The Lords of Kobol, whatever they really are still believe in a God, they still question their own existance, their God is the same God as in any monotheistic religion.

D’Anna recognizing the Final Five

D’Anna only recognized Baltar in the Temple. She didn’t recognize the other four, she just used a mind trick to get Tory to give herself up. Tory then told her who the other three were, which is how D’Anna knew their identities while they were in the launch tube.

(See What did D’Anna really see in the Temple of Five for a more detailed description)

Incidently, its interesting that Head.Six tells Baltar he is the one that is supposed to look through the Eye of Jupiter and see the faces of the Final Five. So it seems that Baltar was destined to discover the truth behind what he really is – a reincarnated mortal form of LOK.

Summary

The FF and the S7 are both cylons “within the conceptual framework” of immortality – as RDM himself says “it sort of works”. The Opera House figures are immortal, the cylons have resurrection technology and therefore they both are, in a roundabout way cylons. The Opera House figures also created the S7 and the S7 incorrectly assume that these are the lost five models so they call them cylons.

The Opera House figures communicate with both human and S7 by appearing as head characters in order to influence them. The manifestation of one of these figures appears in the Last Supper picture as Head.Six. Head.Six is an appearance of the final cylon within Baltar’s mind – she is not a person.

The Final Five humans (+Starbuck) are reincarnated mortal forms of LOK. The Opera House figures are the “real” Final Five, the ones the cylons talk about, the skinjobs “creators”. These Opera House figures + Maelstrom.Leoben are the other 6 LOK, they reside in TPBLAD and communicate with their mortal companions via the Opera House – except for Maelstrom.Leoben who stands on the shore of the stream, a metaphor for the space between life and death and from here he can reach out and contact Kara when she is on the verge of death.

Final Five, Final Cylon and Head Characters

Actors reaction to the identity of the final cylon

Sackhoff: You know, at first I was a little disappointed. I was like, “Really? That’s what you’re gonna do? Okay…” But then the more I thought about it, I was like, “Oh… this makes so much sense. That’s fantastic!” And I realized that if the fans do what I did, they’ll be happy. If they take it for what it is on camera, they’ll be like, “Excuse me?!” (Source)

Grace Park: “There’s one episode where everything is explained and I had to read it three times, I had to sit down with [executive producer] Ron Moore and he had to break it down.” (Source)

During an interview with Roslin/Six and Starbuck, Six says that you will be compelled to go back and rewatch the show. Can anyone else but Head.Six elicit this type of reaction? (Video Source)

Final notes

This theory doesn’t attempt to explain the origins of the Lords of Kobol. They could be original cylons created thousands of years ago by humans on Earth or simply supernatural god like immortal beings. I suspect that this will be an open question and left to the audience to debate for the next 20 years, just like the beings of light in the original Battlestar Galactica.