Asgard
{{canon}}
{{Infobox Race
|race=Asgard
|image=Thor.jpg
|species=
|dist=The Asgard are an advanced humanoid race, that are ancient and benevolent. They assumed the personae of beneficent protective gods on many worlds and assumed the role of protectors of the Milky Way galaxy. Their physical forms changed gradually when they began to use scientific means to artificially extend their lifespans. They gifted all of their knowledge and technology to the Tau'ri before the Ida Asgard committed mass suicide due to the failed attempts to repair the genetic degradation caused by continuous re-cloning, and unwilling to allow their technology to be plundered by other races. However a rogue group known as the Vanir were still alive in the Pegasus galaxy, consumed with the desire to survive, believed that the ends justified the means. Their primary goal was survival, as they did not wish to end up like their distant cousins, which would result in the loss of a hundred thousand years of history.
Physiology
{{Quote|My body does not possess the adrenal gland that produces epinephrine in your system.|Hermiod|Allies}}Over 30,000 years ago, the Asgard were a tall (approximately 2m), generally humanoid species that reproduced sexually. Their physical forms changed gradually when they began to use scientific means to artificially extend their lifespans. The "modern" Asgard averaged about one meter in height, with grayish skin tones, small, skinny limbs, large heads and black eyes (bearing a striking resemblance to the "Roswell Grays" described in countless UFO stories). Their body, now weakened by several millennia of cloning, is more susceptible to the discharge of a zat'nik'tel than other races (Loki fell almost immediately while most human and Jaffa stand for a moment). When individuals spoke, the areas above what would be the temples on a Human would slowly pulse in and out. The species possessed no adrenaline glands within their bodies and did not have epinephrine pumping through their lymphatic system. {{Cite|ATL|Allies}}
Cloning
{{Quote|I mean, all they wanted to do was live a little longer. We're no different. Sequence DNA. Cure diseases. One fatal mistake, and they doom their entire race.|Daniel Jackson|Unending}}thumb|left|[[Goa'uld">
thumb|left|[[Goa'uld Control crystal|crystals containing Thor's consciousness.]]
The Asgard, pursuing means of extending their lifespans, began to use cloning technology. The mental patterns of Asgard that became ill or fatally injured were preserved by "downloading" them into computer memory crystals. The patterns were later placed in a new cloned body. This made the Asgard effectively immortal at the cost of the ability to reproduce sexually. This prevented the natural process of evolution, making Ascension impossible without assistance. {{Cite|SG1|Unending}}The excessive use of the cloning process began to damage and degrade the Asgard genome. This would result in the eventual extinction of the race unless a cure could be found. The Asgard devoted considerable time and resources to the project, but their best efforts proved fruitless. (The Vanir had more luck in dealing with this issue than their Ida counterparts, primarily because they were willing to experiment on humans when the main faction would not. Even so, they were not able to eradicate the problem, only postpone it.) The final attempt to solve the problem resulted in a rapidly progressing, fatal disease. {{Cite|SG1|Descent|Covenant|Reckoning, Part 1|Reckoning, Part 2|Unending}}
{{Cite|SGA|The Lost Tribe}}
History
Early history
The Asgard evolved on the planet Hala, in the Othala (galaxy)|Othala galaxy. Their collected history and culture would span over 100,000 years. They began exploring outside their galaxy around 28,000 BC. At some point, the Asgard began a program of cloning their people and transferring their minds into these bodies as a means of vastly extending their lifespans. At some point in time, the Asgard were hit by a plague that they called Barion's syndrome, a disease that wiped out 60% of their population and within a generation over 75% of the survivors of the disease became sterile and suffered from cellular degeneration. The remaining 10% of the population did not have the necessary genetic diversity to reverse the trend away from genetic breakdown. {{cite|RPG|Roleplaying Game}}30,000 years ago
thumb|right|An Asgard ancestor in stasis.">
thumb|right|An Asgard ancestor in stasis.
Around this time, an Asgard ship (its crew placed in suspended animation) left Othala (planet)|Othala. Its navigational computers were either damaged or malfunctioned at some point, and the ship drifted across galaxies, ultimately ending up in the Milky Way (whether or not the Milky Way was its intended destination is unclear). {{Cite|SG1|Revelations}}10,000 years ago
The Asgard made peaceful contact with the Ancients, the Furlings, and the Nox. They also came into conflict with the Goa'uld. Liberating several groups of Humans from Goa'uld worlds, the Asgard declared themselves their protectors until their cultures had sufficiently evolved, and threatened the Goa'uld with violent retaliation if they attempted to re-enslave the Humans. The Vanir, a group of Asgard who did not share their brethren's ethical concerns about experimenting on humans to solve their genetic degradation problems, left the Ida galaxy and traveled to the Pegasus galaxy where they could continue their experiments, which were able to slow the advance of, but not reverse their genetic problems. After the Ancients discovered they could not win their Lantean-Wraith war|war with the Wraith and left for the Milky Way, the Wraith attacked the Vanir. The Vanir's intergalactic ships were damaged beyond repair in the first battle, and, as they lacked the means to construct new ones, they were stranded in the Pegasus galaxy. In order to survive, the Vanir moved to a Toxic planet where the Wraith could not endure. At first they only needed to use simple breathing apparatus to survive, but the planet's atmosphere continued to degrade, forcing them to develop Armored exoskeletons capable of withstanding the new conditions. (Eventually, conditions would become too harsh, and they would be forced to venture out into the galaxy again.) {{Cite|SGA|The Lost Tribe}}Past to the current era
{{Quote|Our ability to enforce the treaty in this galaxy will depend greatly on the outcome of our battle with the Replicators.|Freyr|Revelations}}thumb|left|An Asgard [[Bilskirnir-class ship|Bilskirnir-class ship">
thumb|left|An Asgard [[Bilskirnir-class ship|Bilskirnir-class ship attacks a Goa'uld Ha'tak.]]
Despite the efforts of the Asgard, the Goa'uld became a great threat to the human population of the Milky Way. The Goa'uld began taking humans as hosts during this time, which greatly angered the Asgard, who realized humanity had great potential. The Asgard's vastly superior technology was more than a match for the Goa'uld, who were forced to sign a treaty with the Asgard in order to keep from being destroyed.
Unwilling to completely give the galaxy over to the Goa'uld, the Asgard freed and transplanted humans on various worlds and posed as their protective gods as they felt they were not yet ready to have their belief system completely stripped away. Accordingly, they devised a series of challenges designed to determine when these people were advanced enough to learn (and presumably cope with) the truth about their protector's true nature.
To ensure the safety of many of these planets, the Asgard and the Goa'uld brokered the Protected Planets Treaty. The treaty stipulated that the Asgard would allow the Goa'uld various benefits (the precise terms are unknown), and in return the Goa'uld would leave the humans of the various worlds mentioned in the treaty alone. The treaty could be expanded to include other worlds if both parties agreed to negotiate.
For some time the Asgard protected these planets with their advanced technology and warships but the discovery and invasion of the Replicators in their home galaxy forced the Asgard to draw away resources they had been using to enforce the treaty, leaving the planets protected in name only.
The long lost Asgard ship from 30,000 years ago was rediscovered by Asgard scientists. Within it was one perfectly preserved Asgard ancestor. The Asgard scientist Heimdall began research on it since the clone was from a time when their cloning program was "not yet irreversible". {{Cite|SG1|Thor's Chariot|Fair Game|Revelations}}The Replicator threat
{{Quote|They are the enemy of the Asgard.|Thor speaking about the Replicators|Nemesis}}thumb|right|A fleet of [[O'Neill-class ship|O'Neill-class ship">
thumb|right|A fleet of [[O'Neill-class ship|O'Neill-class ships combat a Replicator cruiser.]]
The Asgard were unable to help Earth directly in the fight against the Goa'uld because of a Asgard-Replicator war|war with a greater enemy, the Replicators.
The Asgard's energy-based weapons were ineffective against the Replicators. Human weapons, on the other hand, used simple chemical reactions to drive metallic projectiles through kinetic force, something the mechanoids could not defend against.
With the aid of SG-1, the Asgard imprisoned all the Replicators in a time dilation field on the planet Hala. They then collapsed Hala's sun into a black hole in hopes of destroying the replicators but some managed to escape and attack the new Asgard home world of Orilla. Aegir attacked the ship that dropped out of hyperspace before it could raise its shields. Not all the Replicators were destroyed however, and the Replicator Fifth managed to land on the planet.
Colonel Jack O'Neill, with the knowledge gained from the Ancients' Repository of knowledge, invented a Replicator disruptor|weapon that blocked communication between the Replicator cells permanently. Thor was able to construct a larger version capable of affecting an entire planet. The Asgard aided SG-1 when the Replicators invaded the Milky Way, but were unsuccessful. Eventually SG-1 and the Tok'ra Jacob Carter/Selmak destroyed the Replicators with the Dakara superweapon, eliminating them entirely from the Milky Way Galaxy. {{Cite|SG1|Nemesis|Small Victories|Unnatural Selection|New Order, Part 1|New Order, Part 2|Reckoning, Part 1|Reckoning, Part 2}}Fighting the Ori
thumb|right|An [[Kvasir's O'Neill|Asgard ship">
thumb|right|An [[Kvasir's O'Neill|Asgard ship in Battle of P3Y-229|battle.]]
Although the Goa'uld and the Replicators had been defeated, new threats arose, such as the Ori. In the face of this, the Asgard continued to provide aid to Earth by providing technologies for the development of the Daedalus|Daedalus-class, and "lending" them the Asgard engineer Hermiod. The Asgard also participated in critical events such as the Battle of P3Y-229. {{Cite|SG1|Reckoning, Part 1|Reckoning, Part 2|Camelot|Flesh and Blood}}Extinction of the Ida Asgard
{{Quote|As a race, we are dying. Very soon, we will all be gone.|Thor|Unending}}Their final attempts to repair the genetic degradation caused by continuous re-cloning failed, and unwilling to allow their technology to be plundered by other races, the Asgard decided to commit mass suicide and destroy their planet, but not without passing on their legacy. They gave Stargate Command an Asgard computer core|Asgard computer database containing all their knowledge, and made significant modifications to the Odyssey consisting of all their most recent technology. As the upgrades were completed, three Ori warships arrived and attacked both Orilla and the Odyssey. The Odyssey fled with one Ori ship in pursuit, while the other two prepared to attack the planet. At that moment, the Asgard caused Orilla to explode, destroying the planet, the two ships, and the Asgard. The Asgard's upgrades to the Odyssey saved the ship and gave the Tau'ri an advantage in the war as the Asgard plasma beam weapon|new plasma beam weapons installed on the Odyssey gave the Tau'ri weapons capable of destroying Ori motherships and almost any other ship they came across. {{Cite|SG1|Unending}}
Rise of the Vanir
thumb|150px|A [[Vanir">
thumb|150px|A [[Vanir Asgard.]]
A few months after the death of the Asgard, the Atlantis expedition encountered Fenrir, an Asgard scientist who had been exiled from his people after his test of a new weapon resulted in the destruction of an entire solar system. Although Fenrir was devastated when he learned of the loss of his people, he nevertheless sided with the expedition over the Wraith after Teyla Emmagan assured him that they had only deceived him to spare him the pain. Fenrir in his warship, destroyed a Wraith fleet that was attempting to cull the Humans of the planet Heruun. He was subsequently killed when a Wraith Hive queen|Queen sacrificed herself to mount a suicide bomb run on his ship, but Colonel Samantha Carter was able to take control of his ship and use it to destroy the Wraith Hive ship. {{cite|SGA|Nightfall}}{{Quote|We're talking about the deaths of millions of people. How can you be so callous?|Daniel Jackson|The Lost Tribe}}
{{main|Vanir}}
The Vanir were encountered in 2008 by the Atlantis expedition. After the expedition's discovery of Janus' lab, they invaded Atlantis, captured a key component of the Attero device, and kidnapped Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Daniel Jackson. They forced Jackson and McKay to activate the device, rendering the Wraith unable to use their hyperspace drives. The Vanir didn't care that a side effect of the device would cause any activated Stargate to overload and explode. Their plan was foiled when Lt. Colonel John Sheppard took Katana Labrea's Traveler ship to the planet and destroyed two of three Vanir spaceships in battle while the third escaped to hyperspace. The device was shut down by Jackson and McKay and subsequently destroyed by the Daedalus from orbit. {{Cite|SGA|First Contact|The Lost Tribe}}
Following the loss of the Attero device, the Vanir began a desperate plan to save their race by forcing an Ascension|Ascended Asgard named Ran to return to mortal form, believing with her uncorrupted DNA and eggs they could save their race. Their current bodies were beyond saving by that point, but they believed with the right genetic material and enough time and work, they could restore their race to what it was. The team was able to convince them of a different solution and led the Vanir to a shrine on Earth where they were able to communicate with the Ascended and ask for Ran's help. Ran, who had previously helped Doctor Elizabeth Weir ascend before returning her to human form, listens to their plea and returns to mortal form to help them. However, she warns that while she will try, she can't guarantee success in saving the race. {{cite|ATL|The Third Path}}
Society
thumb||right|[[Jack O'Neill">
thumb||right|[[Jack O'Neill speaking to the Asgard High Council via hologram]]
High Council
{{Quote|Ultimately, the decision is not mine.|Freyr|Red Sky}}{{main|Asgard High Council}}
The Asgard High Council was the government of the Asgard. The size and structure of the council is not known, but there were seven seated members, including Freyr, Thor, and Penegal. The High Council made decisions that affected the entire race. In addition, they negotiated in name of the Tau'ri in the Protected Planets Treaty. The council members met in a great room with holographic projectors. {{Cite|SG1|Fair Game|Red Sky}}
Interaction with other races
{{Quote|They are a friend to all, protector of all, except the Goa'uld, with whom they are at war.|Gairwyn|Thor's Chariot}}thumb|right|Asgard society.">
thumb|right|Asgard society.
As a function of the Protected Planets Treaty, the Asgard set up protective measures and holographic representations of themselves on a number of planets in the Milky Way galaxy for protection against the Goa'uld and other enemies.
On the planet Cimmeria, the Asgard Thor set up Thor's Hammer, a protective obelisk that transported Goa'uld or symbiote-carriers to an underground labyrinth where only the host can leave, the symbiote dying when passing through the 'hammer'. The 'hammer' was destroyed by SG-1 when Teal'c was trapped in the labyrinth. Thor replaced the destroyed hammer with a new one that would recognize Teal'c and not harm him. {{Cite|SG1|Thor's Hammer|Thor's Chariot}}While the Asgard maintained a Asgard fleet|fleet of ships with defensive capabilities, they were not a militaristic race, and strongly disapproved of the use of technology for aggressive reasons. While they formed an alliance with the Tau'ri and were willing to give them upgrades for their ships such as Asgard shields, Asgard sensors, Asgard transporters and Asgard hyperdrives, they were unwilling to give up Asgard weapons until their race was on the brink of extinction due to a policy of not giving other races weapons, partially out of fear they'd be used by those other races against them. They also have safeguards built into the Asgard transporters to prevent it being used as a weapons delivery system. {{Cite|SG1|Disclosure}}
{{Cite|ATL|The Siege, Part 3|The Intruder}}
Language
{{main|Asgard language}}It is generally theorized that the Asgard language influenced the evolution of Germanic languages. The written language of the Asgard is composed of runes (seen on panels of Thor's ship). The known named Asgard all had names that came from Nordic mythology. {{Cite|SG1|The Fifth Race|Red Sky}}
Technology
{{Quote|Are you implying that our technology is some kind of trickery?|Freyr speaking to Colonel Jack O'Neill|Red Sky}}{{main|Asgard technology}}
thumb|left|An Asgard using a hand device to remove the Alteran knowledge from Jack O'Neill's mind.">
thumb|left|An Asgard using a hand device to remove the Alteran knowledge from Jack O'Neill's mind.
Asgard technology is dependent on Neutronium. They possessed a level of technology significantly more advanced than that of the Goa'uld and most other races in the known universe. Only the Alterans and Ori were known to be of a superior technological level, though the Nox and Furlings are speculated to have a similar technological level. The Asgard are remarkable in their technological level having reached the pinnacle of their development in only 100,000 years, younger as a species than the Alterans by millions of years.
Their ships were capable of traversing thousands of light years in minutes, and their Asgard shield|shields could withstand multiple hits from Ori warships while remaining undamaged. They had also mastered advanced Asgard transporter|transportation and Asgard holography|holographic technology.
Shortly before their extinction, the Asgard developed Asgard plasma beam weapon|energy weapons capable, with repeated strikes, of defeating Ori shields, which had previously proved impervious to everything except the unstable vortex of the Ori's own Supergate.
The sum total of the Asgard's knowledge and technology now belongs to the Tau'ri; a Asgard computer core|gift to them before their destruction. However, it will likely take Earth decades, maybe even centuries, to fully understand and put it to widespread use. However, the Tau'ri have had at least some success with this as they have been able to replicate the plasma beam weapons the Asgard gifted to them and put them on all their ships within a matter of months of first receiving the technology. {{cite|SG1|Unending}}{{Cite|ATL|Be All My Sins Remember'd}}
Military tactics
{{Quote|You have demonstrated Replicator|their weakness may be found from a less sophisticated approach. We are no longer capable of such thinking.|Thor|Small Victories}}Little is known of Asgard military tactics as their advanced technology tended to dominate their enemies. They used this to achieve victory. thumb|left|Two powerful Asgard warships.">
thumb|left|Two powerful Asgard warships.
The Asgard were not above employing trickery against their enemies, such as bluffing the Goa'uld with the Protected Planets Treaty by appearing to be capable of destroying the Goa'uld while actually lacking the resources to intervene directly due to other problems. The Asgard had no hesitation in sacrificing themselves in battle, as was the case when Thor decided to self-destruct his ship in hyperspace in order to destroy a Replicator cruiser heading towards his new homeworld of Orilla.
The Asgard had some problems with developing creative or original military tactics, as their brains were simply too advanced and complicated, making them almost incapable of resorting to more primitive means in defeating their enemies. This was the primary reason why the Asgard took Major Samantha Carter to develop a tactic to use against the Replicators despite the fact that she was one of the smartest people on Earth. {{cite|SG1|Small Victories|New Order, Part 1|New Order, Part 2}}Protected Planets Treaty
thumb|right|An [[Biliskner|Asgard ship">
thumb|right|An [[Biliskner|Asgard ship defends a protected planet.]]
{{Quote|So basically, you guys are… bluffing the Goa'uld. Big time.|Jack O'Neill|Fair Game}}{{main|Protected Planets Treaty}}
On one occasion the Asgard came to help Earth when the Goa'uld decided to attack. The Asgard met with representatives of the Goa'uld, and humans, in order to put Earth under the protection of the Protected Planets Treaty. This treaty had served to maintain peace between the Goa'uld and the Asgard. Attending in name of the Goa'uld were Yu, Nirrti and Cronus. Thor represented the Asgard and chose Colonel Jack O'Neill to represent the humans. {{Cite|SG1|Fair Game|Red Sky}}
Grey alien myth
It would appear that the Asgard are the source of the "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_alien grey alien]" concept common in UFO and alien abduction accounts on Earth. It is known the Asgard have been observing and occasionally visiting Earth for a long time, likely centuries (they seem to have originated Norse mythology, of which records exist that are well over 1,000 Earth years old). It has been shown that at least some abductions have taken place, perpetrated by the disgraced Asgard geneticist Loki over a span of decades and upon citizens of a number of countries. {{Cite|SG1|Fragile Balance}}It is known that the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident Roswell, New Mexico] crash famous among ufologists was an actual event in the Stargate universe and was caused by a time-travelling SG-1. It is also known that Loki had a number of Asgard-Human hybrids which died in escape pods at Roswell. {{Cite|SG1|Roswell}}
Interestingly, some Earth UFO encounter accounts describe "grey aliens" working in concert with or under the command of "giant aliens", hulking humanoids over six feet tall of Nordic human appearance, apparently mostly with the "giants" being in command over the "greys". Sometimes the Nordic humans are also reported to be present alone, without "greys". This may be the contactees' interpretation of the Asgard use of holograms of large Nordic humans to present themselves to less developed human cultures. {{Cite|SG1|Thor's Hammer|Thor's Chariot}}
Known Asgard
thumb|right|Asgard aboard [[Odyssey">
thumb|right|Asgard aboard [[Odyssey''.]]
thumb|right|Full-body view of an Asgard.">
thumb|right|Full-body view of an Asgard.
Known colonies
Behind the scenes
Michael Shanks, Teryl Rothery, Peter DeLuise, Trevor Devall, Morris Chapdelaine, Dion Luther and Brian Jensen have all given voice to the little-grey-men.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/stargatecommand/status/943657461998899200 |title=Stargate Command tweet with a list of actors, who voiced Asgard}}</ref>
References
{{Reflist}}External links
{{Source images2}}
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