Cylon-on-Cylon Violence
In the Season 3 premiere, I thought it was intriguing that D’anna Biers (Number 3) points out that Caprica Six was the first Cylon to commit violence against another Cylon. (As you remember from Episode 218, “Downloaded,” Six cracked D’anna over the head with a giant rock and then freed Anders.)
But immediately after this revelation, Aaron Doral shoots Caprica Six point blank in the head because he’s unhinged by her arguing for Baltar’s life. “She’ll come back,” Doral says to Baltar, “but you won’t.”
So, the Cylons, who have been around for at least 40 years, have never perpetrated violence on one another until the rock-over-the-head incident, which, when it occurred, seemed to strike fear into Six and Sharon as to how they would be punished.They apparently escaped punishment, but the deed becomes a widely-known first in Cylon history. And then Doral pops Caprica Six without hesitation. Did her one act of violence initiate Cylons into a new era of self-destructive behavior?
Six told Gaius once that what made humans human was “murder.” We know the Cylons have few qualms about killing humans, but until now we thought they never killed each other. Assuming the Centurions still haven’t broken this taboo, does this mean the human-looking Cylons are now more human than before?By Six’s definition, they are human now.
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Well one thing that sticks out to me was a comment I was made by one of the Cylons I can’t remember which but it was something like: unlike humans we respect life. I believe that was in season two or it may have been one. lol. But I remember it being said.
Now you can see the hypocrisy in that statement though because how can the Cylons truly respect life but commit a mass genocide and hunt in the first place. And if they are truly God fearing then what does thier religion say about how to treat humans. Do they have commandments? Or more specifically do they have “Thou Shall Not Kill?”
What constitutes actual meaniful life to a Cylon? Is it just their own kind or does it extend toward the human population. Some cylons see it as the former and others the latter or both. We humans if we are Christians believe in thouh shall not kill but if we come across a cockroach we would stomp on it without hesitation. Do you think that some Cylons even with their devout religious beliefs regard humans the same way?
I think Doral killing Six was just as much punishment for killing Deanna as much as it was to scare the hell out of Baltar. By the way would Mr. Rogers pull out a nine and pop the King? lol. And if it was punishment that would suggest the Cylons with their religion also practice “Eye For An Eye.” Their reading from the Old Testament.
Caprica Six being shot in the head in this episode probably does not count as murder. I would think it should count as an act of violence for sure, but it was not the extinguishing of a life. Everyone knew she would be back after downloading, good as new. She just seems to have been not on the same page as everyone else and they wanted to shut her up / freak out Baltar for a while.
Does Cylon killing human count as murder to the Cylon religion? Maybe they just see it as necessary. I don’t know if there is a Cylon equivalent to the Ten Commandments, but Christians have killed in the name of religion (Crusades, Northern Ireland) even though they have commandments against it. If the Cylon(s) see it as a religious order to wipe out 20 billion humans then they should be able to justify it within their religion.
Juwan, Interesting points. The “Humans don’t respect life like we do” line was spoken by D’Anna Biers (Number 3) as she pointed a gun at Anders in the 2.5 episode “Downloaded,” and Six convinced her to let Anders live so they could interrogate him.
For what it’s worth, and I’m sure you know this, many other earth religions condemn killing as well. In fact, while Christians would stomp on a bug without thinking twice, Buddhists would pick up the bug and move it to safety.
I would have liked to see Mr. Rogers packin’ heat. *grin*
Ken- I agree that regardless of a commandment or law that forbids killing other people, killing in the name of religion itself seems to outweigh those laws, at least sometimes.
I think it also depends on how humans are defined by Cylons, and vice versa. In our own history violence is often justified by de-humanizing others and making them therefore less like us. If the Cylons see humans as animals or sub-Cylon, then I guess they could justify their killings. But we do know at least a few of the Cylons have second-guessed that, and Six and Sharon have both fallen in love with humans, so maybe the definition is in question for the Cylons too.
What about in 33 when Athena kills a Six?
What if Cylon on Cylon killing is the underlying storyline? Think about it- why dont the seven known cylons talk or know about the other five? Could it be in the past that the seven killed the five on Kobol(every forshadowing glimpse of them shows them as ghost-like)? God’s punishment to the seven for this behavior was their enslavement to the human race. The question of course is why- maybe because the seven (or one in particular) wanted to be the chief Lord of Kobol (or God) to the humans. Pick any of the seven for this role – or maybe a thirteenth cylon we have yet to see (Baltar would be perfect for this role). The other five rebelled against this notion and were killed.
Also the twelve colonies we know could have been deceived by these murderous cylons and the thirteenth colony left for Earth and still celebrated the original one true god and praised the five dead cylons (enshrinement Temple of Five).
The repeating storyline can be broken by cylons and humans living together in peace with a pure belief in one true god.