Battlestar Galactica: Who is the Final Cylon?

And we pretty much know how that all worked out.

Here we are half-way through Battlestar Galactica's (the new series by Ron Moore, that is) fourth and final season, and I don't believe we're any closer to knowing who that elusive last Cylon is than we were back in January. Still, it's fun to speculate. And Ron has left an entire galaxy for us to wonder about.

When looking at the Cylons, there are certain things we know for certain. We know that there are multiple types of Cylon models. There are Raiders (the flight models - basically fighter jets with brains), Centurions (the robot warriors often called "bulletheads"), and the humanoids (known as "Skinjobs" to the Colonials). The humanoids are known to have 12 distinct models, but until Season 3, only 7 were seen on screen. The last are known as the Final Five, and are a mysterious subset of the Cylon race. The Cylons know very little about them, but these Final Five do seem to have great importance to both human and Cylon. But what?

Searching for knowledge of the Five, D'anna (Number 3) earned extended exile from her people (they put her model in permanent storage). Gaius Baltar, once Vice President of the Colonies and then elected President, also sought them, wondering if he were one of them (a question many of us still ask). Then, at the climax of Season 3's finale, four of them came out of hiding. These Four were revealed to be four of the Human Fleet's highest individuals. There was Tory Foster, who is the President's chief aide, Galen Tyrol, Galactica's chief mechanic as it were, Sam Anders, once husband to Kara Thrace (herself an enigmatic individual) and now a Viper pilot, and finally Colonel Saul Tigh, Galactica's Executive Officer. In Season 4, these have questioned and explored, to differing degrees) their newfound heritage.

But that leaves ones nagging question for us fans, doesn't it? Who is the Fifth?

Well, I can't possibly review every single candidate. The list is simply too long. But I will discuss some of the major talking points on the web right now. I have two videos on YouTube (username: trueedge2097) discussing Cylon Speculation. These were made before Season 4 debuted. I still maintain the candidates I discussed are relevant. I'll mention this briefly here.

First, about Kara and Baltar. Before Season 4 debuted, I had already discounted these two. I believed they were just too obvious, and Ron Moore hasn't made very much obvious in his show. Now that the series is winding down, I'm more convinced than ever that Kara Thrace isn't. I'd even say the same for Baltar, but he remains a questionable figure, enough that I'm still open to interpretation.

But there was that photograph. Ron Moore released a photograph of the main cast seated around a table, reminiscent of Da Vinci's Last Supper. In fact, it was called the Last Supper photo. It featured all of the main cast at various positions, with one seat vacant and a glass placed right in front of that. This was known to be fore the Final Cylon, who is missing from the photograph. Thus no one pictured in the photograph can be the Fifth. This means Baltar, Kara, Roslin, and both Bill and Lee Adama are out. But is the photograph really honest, or just another red herring thrown out by Ron and the producers? It's still up for debate.

Then there's D'anna's statement once she returned. In the last aired episode of Season 4, she says she knows who Final Five are (she saw them after all). Strangely, she says only 4 are in the Fleet. What? This is where I'm going to draw criticism, I know. But I think we're missing something here. Too many of us are quick to assume this means that the Fifth cannot be anyone in the Fleet. That may not be the case. There are two different ways to interpret D'anna's statement, and they lead to different conclusions.

The first assumes that she's truthful. If she's not misleading us, there are five possible outcomes that could still place the Fifth in the Fleet.

First, D'anna did NOT say "the Fifth is not in the Fleet". She said, "Four. Four are in the Fleet." That's it. Listen to it carefully. We're quick to assume that this means the Fifth isn't there (which is, admittedly, the implication). But if the Fifth IS in the Fleet, her statement is still true. Four ARE in the Fleet. So we can take it just at face value.

Second, D'anna did see the Five, but she lingered at one specifically. It is possible that she was so focused on apologizing to that one that she didn't get a good look at the last face. Admittedly, this one breaks down when you consider that D'anna knew all of the Four quite clearly.

Third, along the same lines as the last, we are probably asking too much of D'anna. Does she really EVERYONE in the Fleet? Maybe it's simply someone she doesn't know. When you consider that the Four are all former members of the New Caprican resistance, and D'anna was actively involved on New Caprica, this makes some sense. The Fifth may be someone who was on Galactica or Pegasus at the time, thus far away from Caprica.

Fourth, the Fifth may be someone who is dead. Perhaps the Fifth was killed on New Caprica, or in one of the many battles. That Cylon may have returned as someone new (Nicky or Hera perhaps), and that someone new is someone D'anna does not recognize. Thus, the Fifth IS there, but as far as D'anna is concerned, it's not.

Fifth, this Cylon may simply not be activated yet. This would make a good deal of sense, if you think about it. The Four were activated at the same time, by the same stimulus, the music in the nebula. But the Fifth was not there. Would it really be wise for D'anna to out this individual? She'd have to activate it first, and she probably doesn't know how to do it. Thus, she says there are only Four in the Fleet, until that Fifth can be revealed.

But there's another way to interpret D'anna's statement. D'anna may not be telling us the truth. This is D'anna, remember. Ron Moore stated that the D'anna's like to dominate, to be in charge. Well, here D'anna gave away some valuable information, but she managed to turn it in her favor at the same time. She really is a Warrior Princess! But witholding that last Cylon will give her another edge later on. Let's keep this in mind when we speculate.

The last element to the puzzle is this. One of the producers said that the Final Cylon has been planned since the end of Season 1. Well that gives us a vague timeframe. We know it should be someone from Season 1 at least, but who? Who's left?

Well, I discussed a few candidates in my videos, like Gaeta, Dualla, Cottle, and Tom Zarek. I think there can be reasonable speculation for each of these, still. A lot of people on the web seem to favor Zak Adama, Bill Adama's dead son. He has been an important figure, and he did appear in Season 1. But I think this is problematic because the Adama family tree is well established. We know Zak was born to Bill and Carolanne at one point. So how does he become a Cylon, an artificial construct? That's the problem here.

But there is one Adama we're overlooking. Joseph Adama, Bill's father. At the end of Season 1, he was mentioned with some fervor. Bill handed Lee Joe's old lighter. And his library was a great influence on Lee in the past, to the point of helping him as a legal counsel at Batlar's trial. Definitely, he's an important figure. But what I find compelling about him is that he's very mysterious. We don't know where he came from or where he is now. We assume he's dead, but that is not mentioned. Strange. When you consider he'll be a big part in the prequel series, Caprica, it really makes me wonder. In Caprica, he'll have direct connections with the birth of the Cylons.

Perhaps Joseph Adama is the Fifth Cylon, a remnant from the last time cycle, who leads to the recreation of his own race, and is now on Earth in hiding, awaiting the rest of his kind and the human race.

It's all speculation at this point. Any character is still potentially a candidate. There's a lot of the show still left, and Ron Moore is not finished with us yet. Who knows where this will end?