ARKAD

Arkad was a Jaffa without honor, a longtime adversary of Teal'c. He had once been a student of Bra'tac, but Bra'tac had always recognized something wrong in him. Eventually he rose to the rank of First Prime, and both Bra'tac and Teal'c faced him in battle many times, although each time his armies were defeated, Arkad himself managed to escape. At Co'rak, Teal'c and Arkad had faced each other as opposing First Primes. There Teal'c had Arkad's forces on the run, and he bombarded the planet from space, leaving no survivors. Arkad's parents and sister were killed that day, and shortly afterward someone slipped into the village where Teal'c's mother lived and slit her throat in the night. The murder was never resolved, but Teal'c always believed that Arkad was responsible for his mother's death. However, as a First Prime, Teal'c's actions were chosen for him, and he had never been able to avenge the death of his mother.

After the fall of the Goa'uld and the arrival of the Priors in this galaxy, Arkad came to see Origin as the organized religion and source of salvation that the Jaffa had always sought. He declared himself to be the leader of the Illac Renin, an Ancient title loosely translated as "Kingdom of the Path," and he began slowly and quietly building support for himself as the new leader who would deliver the Jaffa Nation into the hands of the Ori. Arkad muscled his way into a relationship with the Ori, and by promising to bring more worlds to Origin and policing planets such as P8T-365, a Jaffa world that had fallen to the Ori and from which laborers were regularly ferried off-world to mine raw naquadah, Arkad began stockpiling weapons grade naquadah in various locations to be used in a coordinated attack on Earth. He opposed the organization of a Jaffa Council meant to unite the Jaffa Nation against the Ori, and when a peaceful leadership summit was organized at Dar Eshkalon, Arkad ordered its destruction. Explosive devices planted by Ba'kal, a Jaffa in his service, killed 30 and critically wounded many others, including Teal'c and Bra'tac. Teal'c warned that Arkad was a monster who had existed solely on the fringes in the past, but who now was using fear and tyranny to gain control of a significant Jaffa fleet and could become as great a threat to the Jaffa and to Earth as anyone in the galaxy. When he recovered from his injuries, Teal'c set off alone to avenge his mother and the victims of Dar Eshkalon.

Meanwhile, Arkad requested safe passage to the SGC, where he insisted that he would never have authorized an attack on the summit or on Earth. He claimed his fleet was more powerful than any Goa'uld has ever marshaled by tenfold, but that the real threat came from a radical sect of Jaffa who fear the Tauri and oppose the peaceful movement to embrace Origin. He offered to use his influence to thwart any terrorist threat to Earth and asked in return only that the Jaffa be free to follow Origin if they so choose, and he insisted that his only goal was to peacefully coexist and to avoid unpleasant conflicts. SG-1 heard him out, but remained suspicious, however the IOA insisted that no action be taken against Arkad, and they ordered that Teal'c be found and stopped at all costs.

On Arkad's homeworld, SG-1 hoped to deter Teal'c, and Arkad prepared for the confrontation with Teal'c that he knew would come. Teal'c slipped past SG-1's perimeter and was brought before Arkad, badly wounded. The two faced each other in battle as Arkad taunted his enemy, claiming responsibility for the death of Teal'c's mother in revenge for the loss of his own family, and vowing to bring the Tauri to their knees. In a final blow, Arkad pierced Teal'c through the abdomen with his sword, but Teal'c drew upon his last bit of strength to thrust Arkad against the wall, where he was impaled on the weapons mounted there. Removing the sword from his own body, Teal'c ran it through Arkad, killing him. Because the IOA had ordered that no action be taken against Arkad, Mitchell's mission report stated that Arkad had set a trap and had taken SG-1 prisoner, but fortunately Teal'c had been there to rescue them, and Teal'c had been injured and Arkad killed in the process. After Arkad's death, the planned attack on Earth never materialized, and using intelligence from Vala's father, Jacek, SG-1 was able to locate and destroy or confiscate the cargo ships of naquadah that had been waiting on Earth and off-world in preparation for the attack.

Portrayed by: Craig Fairbrass

Cross Reference: Ba'kal, Dar Eshkalon, Jacek, Jaffa, Jaffa Nation, Teal'c

Episode Reference: Talion