Battlestar Galactica "The Final Five" Part 1 Battlestar Galactica: The Final Five #1 Dynamite Entertainment Writers: Seamus Fahey and David Reed Pencils: Nigel Raynor Colors: Iven Nunes Letters: Simon Bowland Cover B by Nigel Raynor 2009

The legend of the Final Five Cylons begins here.

Read the summary of this issue at the Battlestar Wiki

Notes from the BSG chronology

This issue takes place 4,000 years before the fall of the Twelve Colonies. 

Didja Know?

Battlestar Galactica: The Final Five is a four-issue mini-series published by Dynamite Entertainment in 2009.

Co-writer Seamus Fahey was a writer on the fourth season of the TV series as well, penning the episode "Faith". He also wrote the three-issue Starbuck arc of Battlestar Galactica: Origins (issues 9-11) for Dynamite Entertainment.

Starbuck

Apollo

13th Tribe Delegate Michael Tigh

Pythia

Woman in Red (Head Six)

Caprican delegate (unnamed)

Magnus Baltar (not fully named until "The Final Five" Part 2)

Ellen

John Cavil

Didja Notice?

This issue opens with the death of Starbuck as seen at the end of "Maelstrom".

    In panel 5 of page 2, during the riots on Kobol 4,000 years ago, the Library of Haephestus is seen. People are burning books from the library. This may be an allusion to the Library of Alexandria that existed here on Earth from roughly the 3rd Century BC to the 3rd Century AD.

    The spelling "Haephestus" seen here may be a misspelling of "Hephaestus" as used here on Earth, the name of the Greek god of fire, metallurgy, and carpentry.

On page 3, Michael Tigh visits Maniae Asylum, where he visits Pythia. In ancient Greek mythology, Maniae was a spirit of insanity and frenzy.

Michael Tigh is presumably an ancestor of Saul Tigh. Possibly the name "Michael" is borrowed from that of the actor who played Saul Tigh, Michael Hogan.

Pythia is revealed to be having visions of a beautiful blonde woman in a red dress who seems to be the Head Six seen by Baltar 4,000 years later. After Pythia's death, Michael Tigh begins to have visions of her.

On page 5, the Kobollian courthouse has the banners of the Twelve Tribes hanging along its outer walls.

In this issue, the Kobollian police force are seen to wear armor and helmets that look similar to the design of the "modern" Cylon Centurions.

    On page 9, Aurora is said to be the goddess of the dawn in the Kobollian religion. She is the same in ancient Roman religion.

    Later in the issue, Aurora is said to have loved a mortal man. This is also true of the Roman goddess.

    It's hinted that Head Six is actually Aurora. Though we don't see Head Six at that moment, Pythia tells Michael, "Aurora is here with us." Pythia has already seen the woman and Michael soon will. Also, note that Head Six claimed (though it was probably just part of her role as faux Caprica Six) to be in love with the mortal Baltar.

The Thirteenth Tribe's resurrection facility on Kobol has a design very similar to the Cylon resurrection hubs seen in the TV episodes. At the end of the issue, the facility is revealed to actually be a spaceship itself, lifting off from the ground to escape the rioters who want the lives of the Thirteenth Tribe.

On page 17, Pythia's handwriting is a little difficult to make out, but she writes one of her prophecies as, "They will journey to a distant and unknown star, under the watchful eye of the One."

There are hints that Pythia will be reincarnated 4,000 years later as Kara Thrace (Starbuck). From her visions, she tells Michael, "They all burn. All of them. Dots disappearing into the sun. And I'm there. A ship...in a storm, I'm lost. I see the destination. The end point, it's so clear to me. It ends in fire. On Aurora's wings, at a place called Earth." Her first three statements seem to be about flying the rag-tag fleet into the sun in "Daybreak" Part 3. Her statement, "A ship...in a storm, I'm lost," may be a reference to Starbuck's death in the planetary maelstrom in "Maelstrom" and may explain why we see that scene at the beginning of this issue.

At the end of the issue, the Thirteenth Tribe designs a duplicate body for the man John Cavil who gave his life to help rescue tribe members from the burning building after the suicide bomber attack. But how were they able to design a body and download his mind so quickly? Does their resurrection process differ from that used by the Cylons 4,000 later?

In panel 3 of the last page of the issue, Michael gazes out a view port of the resurrection ship in space and a ship that is reminiscent of the Ship of Lights from BSG70 is seen in space just before he has his first vision of Head Six.
Unknown ship in this issue	Ship of Lights from BSG70 episode "War of the Gods" Part 1