Kobol
Encyclopedia
Kobol is the name of a planet
in the fictional Battlestar Galactica
universe.
Within the context of both Battlestar Galactica stories, Kobol is the birthplace and original home of humanity, from which the civilization departed and formed the Twelve Colonies
on other worlds. According to legend, there was also a thirteenth tribe who settled on a "lost" colony, a planet called Earth, whose location remained a mystery to the populations of the other twelve.
series (1978–79), particularly the series episode "Lost Planet of the Gods
", Kobol orbit
s an irregular variable
star
, and its encompassing system of planets lies immediately adjacent to a "magnetic void
". The people of Kobol developed space-faring technology, and within the story it is suggested that their population likely reached the limits inherent in occupying a single planet, and, coupled with other disasters or factors (such as the star around which Kobol revolves), motivated humans to leave the planet. Eden
was the name of a city on the planet, and, according to Commander Adama
(Lorne Greene
), was "the first to fall" to some unknown cataclysm.
In scenes that were filmed, but deleted from the final broadcast of the episodes, Captain Apollo explains that in its final days, Kobol was stricken with terrible overpopulation and waste. The surface and atmosphere of the planet were in fact so polluted that only the absolute strongest of creatures could still survive. After the human inhabitants of Kobol fled the planet and founded the colonies, they deliberately destroyed all of their technology and spacecraft; it took several centuries to rebuild even the most primitive ships for exploring the stars. The scene where this dialogue takes place was filmed for the episode "Lost Planet of the Gods
", but only appears onscreen in the expanded telemovie version (it was edited out of the original airing).
Also unexplained is the culture
of then-Kobolian society
and its division into thirteen distinct tribal cultures. Twelve of these groups traveled through the magnetic void and eventually settled a group of habitable planets in a common stellar system. These settlements became the colonies depicted in the series, known collectively as the Twelve Colonies of Man
. For some unexplained reason, the thirteenth tribe presumably traveled a greater distance and in the opposite direction, settling on Earth
. At the time the original series began, there had been no contact between the thirteenth tribe and the Twelve Colonies. As the centuries pass, the people of the Twelve Colonies generally considered the existence of Earth and the thirteenth tribe a myth
.
Kobol is rediscovered in the aforementioned "Lost Planet of the Gods
", which depicts at least part of the planet as being a desert
, with ruins
similar (or possibly identical) to the Egypt
ian Pyramid
s of Giza; parts of the episode were filmed on location at Giza.
television series, Kobol appears to be a lush Earth
-like planet
with high mountains and dense forests. The details of its solar system, however, have not been discussed. In contrast to the original series, Kobol's ruins appear to be more Greco-Roman analogous than Egyptian
. In the final episode
of the series, it is revealed that Kobol is one of two planets on which humans possibly evolved
naturally (the other planet being our Earth
).
Kobol has much of the same mythology of the original series. The thirteenth tribe is noted to have settled on a planet they named "Earth", and there has been no contact between it and the other tribes, which are known as "The Twelve Tribes of Kobol". It is later revealed that the 13th tribe is composed entirely of Cylons, meaning that the humans of Kobol had created the original humanoid Cylon race, the "Final Five" being the only apparent survivors of that race.
Galactica discovers Kobol, but when it sends a survey team to its surface, their Colonial Raptor
is shot down by a squadron of Cylon Raider
s dispatched by a Basestar orbiting the planet. Galactica manages to destroy the Basestar, but there is evidence of a Cylon presence on the planet surface.
According to Colonial scriptures, humans lived on Kobol with their gods, the Lords of Kobol
. An unspecified conflict spurred the humans of the time to flee Kobol onboard the Galleon in the face of "The Blaze". It was said that for any who return, Kobol would exact a price paid in blood.
Kobol is the location of the Tomb of Athena, located near the Gates of Hera. An ancient relic, the Arrow of Apollo, was required to gain entry to the temple ruin in which it is said clues could be found to finding the way to the thirteenth colony, Earth. Within the Tomb were statues representing each of the Twelve Tribes. When the arrow was placed on the statue representing Sagittarius
, the location of Earth was revealed. Earth can see the twelve zodiac
constellation
s which were imprinted on the original flags of the Twelve Colonies. Also, the Colonials recognized in the map a nebula that is visible to Earth; in reality, the Lagoon Nebula
.
The Kobol opera house
and forum
, though a ruin in Galacticas time, was apparently once an important civic building on the planet. Five characters, human and Cylon, have experienced visions of the opera house in its original state thousands of years ago, the visions focusing on Hera Agathon or the
final five Cylons.
. In the board game the human fleet is said to be safe upon reaching this destination and then leaving, although there is no reason given for this being the case. The Pegasus expansion for the game removes Kobol as a destination, substituting a new game phase involving New Caprica. The Exodus expansion offers the Ionian Nebula as the game-winning destination.
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
in the fictional Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica TV series in 1978, and was followed by a brief sequel TV series in 1980, a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games...
universe.
Within the context of both Battlestar Galactica stories, Kobol is the birthplace and original home of humanity, from which the civilization departed and formed the Twelve Colonies
Twelve Colonies
The Twelve Colonies of Man are fictional locations that constitute the principal human civilization in the original Battlestar Galactica television series, the "reimagined" series of the same name in 2004, and in the prequel series, Caprica...
on other worlds. According to legend, there was also a thirteenth tribe who settled on a "lost" colony, a planet called Earth, whose location remained a mystery to the populations of the other twelve.
Original series
As depicted in the original Battlestar GalacticaBattlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...
series (1978–79), particularly the series episode "Lost Planet of the Gods
Lost Planet of the Gods
"Lost Planet of the Gods" is a two-part episode of the original Battlestar Galactica television series.-Re-Imagining:*This episode was remade into a nine-episode story arc in the new Battlestar Galactica starting with season one's Kobol's Last Gleaming in which Kobol is discovered and ending in...
", Kobol orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
s an irregular variable
Irregular variable
An irregular variable is a type of variable star in which variations in brightness show no regular periodicity. There are two main sub-types of irregular variable: eruptive and pulsating.Eruptive irregular variables are divided into three categories:...
star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
, and its encompassing system of planets lies immediately adjacent to a "magnetic void
Void (astronomy)
In astronomy, voids are the empty spaces between filaments, the largest-scale structures in the Universe, that contain very few, or no, galaxies. They were first discovered in 1978 during a pioneering study by Stephen Gregory and Laird A. Thompson at the Kitt Peak National Observatory...
". The people of Kobol developed space-faring technology, and within the story it is suggested that their population likely reached the limits inherent in occupying a single planet, and, coupled with other disasters or factors (such as the star around which Kobol revolves), motivated humans to leave the planet. Eden
Eden
Eden may refer to:* Garden of Eden, a place described in the biblical book of Genesis-Film and television:* Eden , a character from the Aladdin television series...
was the name of a city on the planet, and, according to Commander Adama
Commander Adama
Commander Adama is a fictional character in the 1978 movie and subsequent ABC television series Battlestar Galactica and its continuation series, Galactica 1980. Adama is the commander of the great military vessel Battlestar Galactica, commander of the refugee fleet and military commander of the...
(Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene , was the stage name of Lyon Himan Green, OC, a Canadian actor.His television roles include Ben Cartwright on the western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the science fiction movie and subsequent TV Series Battlestar Galactica...
), was "the first to fall" to some unknown cataclysm.
In scenes that were filmed, but deleted from the final broadcast of the episodes, Captain Apollo explains that in its final days, Kobol was stricken with terrible overpopulation and waste. The surface and atmosphere of the planet were in fact so polluted that only the absolute strongest of creatures could still survive. After the human inhabitants of Kobol fled the planet and founded the colonies, they deliberately destroyed all of their technology and spacecraft; it took several centuries to rebuild even the most primitive ships for exploring the stars. The scene where this dialogue takes place was filmed for the episode "Lost Planet of the Gods
Lost Planet of the Gods
"Lost Planet of the Gods" is a two-part episode of the original Battlestar Galactica television series.-Re-Imagining:*This episode was remade into a nine-episode story arc in the new Battlestar Galactica starting with season one's Kobol's Last Gleaming in which Kobol is discovered and ending in...
", but only appears onscreen in the expanded telemovie version (it was edited out of the original airing).
Also unexplained is the culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
of then-Kobolian society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
and its division into thirteen distinct tribal cultures. Twelve of these groups traveled through the magnetic void and eventually settled a group of habitable planets in a common stellar system. These settlements became the colonies depicted in the series, known collectively as the Twelve Colonies of Man
Twelve Colonies
The Twelve Colonies of Man are fictional locations that constitute the principal human civilization in the original Battlestar Galactica television series, the "reimagined" series of the same name in 2004, and in the prequel series, Caprica...
. For some unexplained reason, the thirteenth tribe presumably traveled a greater distance and in the opposite direction, settling on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. At the time the original series began, there had been no contact between the thirteenth tribe and the Twelve Colonies. As the centuries pass, the people of the Twelve Colonies generally considered the existence of Earth and the thirteenth tribe a myth
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
.
Kobol is rediscovered in the aforementioned "Lost Planet of the Gods
Lost Planet of the Gods
"Lost Planet of the Gods" is a two-part episode of the original Battlestar Galactica television series.-Re-Imagining:*This episode was remade into a nine-episode story arc in the new Battlestar Galactica starting with season one's Kobol's Last Gleaming in which Kobol is discovered and ending in...
", which depicts at least part of the planet as being a desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
, with ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
similar (or possibly identical) to the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian Pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
s of Giza; parts of the episode were filmed on location at Giza.
Reimagined series
As depicted in the "remake of" Battlestar GalacticaBattlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
television series, Kobol appears to be a lush Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
-like planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
with high mountains and dense forests. The details of its solar system, however, have not been discussed. In contrast to the original series, Kobol's ruins appear to be more Greco-Roman analogous than Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
. In the final episode
Daybreak (Battlestar Galactica)
"Daybreak" is the two-part series finale of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica, and are the 74th and 75th episodes overall. The episodes aired on the U.S. Sci Fi Channel and SPACE in Canada respectively on March 13 and March 20, 2009. The second part is...
of the series, it is revealed that Kobol is one of two planets on which humans possibly evolved
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
naturally (the other planet being our Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
).
Kobol has much of the same mythology of the original series. The thirteenth tribe is noted to have settled on a planet they named "Earth", and there has been no contact between it and the other tribes, which are known as "The Twelve Tribes of Kobol". It is later revealed that the 13th tribe is composed entirely of Cylons, meaning that the humans of Kobol had created the original humanoid Cylon race, the "Final Five" being the only apparent survivors of that race.
Galactica discovers Kobol, but when it sends a survey team to its surface, their Colonial Raptor
Colonial Raptor
The Raptor is a multipurpose military spacecraft featured in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. According to producer Ronald D. Moore, the Raptor is analogous to the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Prowler.-Description:...
is shot down by a squadron of Cylon Raider
Cylon Raider
The Cylon Raider is the standard starfighter used by the Cylons, in the various Battlestar Galactica movies and television series. Cylon raiders are used as the main line of defense for Cylon Basestars.- Original series :...
s dispatched by a Basestar orbiting the planet. Galactica manages to destroy the Basestar, but there is evidence of a Cylon presence on the planet surface.
According to Colonial scriptures, humans lived on Kobol with their gods, the Lords of Kobol
Lords of Kobol
The Lords of Kobol are deities featured in the fictional universe of Battlestar Galactica. The Lords of Kobol are worshiped by the humans of the Twelve Colonies...
. An unspecified conflict spurred the humans of the time to flee Kobol onboard the Galleon in the face of "The Blaze". It was said that for any who return, Kobol would exact a price paid in blood.
Kobol is the location of the Tomb of Athena, located near the Gates of Hera. An ancient relic, the Arrow of Apollo, was required to gain entry to the temple ruin in which it is said clues could be found to finding the way to the thirteenth colony, Earth. Within the Tomb were statues representing each of the Twelve Tribes. When the arrow was placed on the statue representing Sagittarius
Sagittarius (constellation)
Sagittarius is a constellation of the zodiac, the one containing the galactic center. Its name is Latin for the archer, and its symbol is , a stylized arrow. Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow...
, the location of Earth was revealed. Earth can see the twelve zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
s which were imprinted on the original flags of the Twelve Colonies. Also, the Colonials recognized in the map a nebula that is visible to Earth; in reality, the Lagoon Nebula
Lagoon Nebula
The Lagoon Nebula is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region....
.
The Kobol opera house
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
and forum
Forum (Roman)
A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...
, though a ruin in Galacticas time, was apparently once an important civic building on the planet. Five characters, human and Cylon, have experienced visions of the opera house in its original state thousands of years ago, the visions focusing on Hera Agathon or the
final five Cylons.
Board game
Kobol is the final destination and win condition of the first edition of the Battlestar Galactica board gameBoard game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
. In the board game the human fleet is said to be safe upon reaching this destination and then leaving, although there is no reason given for this being the case. The Pegasus expansion for the game removes Kobol as a destination, substituting a new game phase involving New Caprica. The Exodus expansion offers the Ionian Nebula as the game-winning destination.
See also
- List of Battlestar Galactica (1978, 1980) episodes
- List of Battlestar Galactica (1978, 1980) locations
- List of Battlestar Galactica (2004 series) episodes
- List of Battlestar Galactica (reimagining) locations
- Lords of KobolLords of KobolThe Lords of Kobol are deities featured in the fictional universe of Battlestar Galactica. The Lords of Kobol are worshiped by the humans of the Twelve Colonies...