Ori (Stargate)
[6] Producer Brad Wright believed the Ori were still within the overriding theme of Stargate, as they are "aliens playing gods" in their relationship with ordinary human folk.
"[7] For Cooper, "the followers of the Ori were the interesting part," and he "wanted to do a story that was in some way reflective of the differences between people's beliefs that we see around us in our society, and how conflicts arise as a result of that.
"[6] Cooper was particularly interested in the interaction between Ori followers and other normal human beings and the resulting "mysterious aspect and quality to religious belief and the passion that it invokes."
The producers therefore inserted the Ori into the story's background, similar to the way there was very little direct interaction between the actual deities of the religion and mankind in real life.
[5] In Season 10, the Ori sweep through the Milky Way galaxy, forcing SG-1 to start from scratch again in finding technology, resources, and allies to fight against them.
Robert C. Cooper considered the backstory "pretty complicated" but felt the show gave the answers to the audience members who wanted to delve deeper.
[7] After much time, believed by Daniel Jackson to be thousands of years, the Alterans discovered the Milky Way, where they eventually seeded life and built their empire.
[16] After millions of years, both the Alterans and the Ori learned how to ascend and evolved,[11] forming two groups that continued to oppose each other, even at the higher planes of existence.
The Ori fabricated an entire "Origin" religion, based on the false promise of ascension in order to take power from their human followers.
[18] Even after the Ori were destroyed, their followers and Priors continued acting in their name to oppress thousands of people since, for the most part, they were ignorant to the demise of their "gods."
The Book of Origin contains tales of how the followers of the Ori returned to the path of enlightenment and achieved Ascension, although some skeptics consider these merely "fables meant to fill a soul bereft of hope with purpose.
[3] The fact that on Earth fire has some evil or Satanic associations in many modern religions prompted Daniel to posit that the Ancients had influenced this negative connotation in order to identify the threat the Ori pose.
The initial incursions were achieved through lone Priors who were sent to worlds in the Milky Way galaxy, preaching to the populace and distributing copies of the Book of Origin.
The show features powerful Ori weapons in "Ethon," ships in "Camelot," control chairs like that in "Counterstrike" and Supergates in "Beachhead."
[7] Comparing the Ark to television as it is "a box that light comes out of, and you believe what it says," Cooper left it open whether the choice to do it without guns was ultimately the better method.
[11] The Doci (Latin docere, "to teach"), played by Julian Sands, represents the Ori in their home galaxy and leads the Priors.
[9] As the Ori are incapable of directly affecting the material universe in the Milky Way Galaxy due to the protection of the ascended Ancients,[3] they send the Priors as their representatives to circumvent this rule.
[4] Cooper said the Priors have "these incredible, superhuman powers,"[7] which allow them to perform deeds which they convince people are miracles,[3] attack enemies,[3] and resurrect the dead.
This process drastically alters their appearance: albino skin and hair, a tracery of raised lines on the chin and cheeks, and indentation of the skull just above and behind the eyes.
Tomin is intended as a representation of the Ori warriors,[5] and Cooper described Guinee as a "fabulous actor who instantly creates that humanity and empathy ... while he's mass-murdering people.
From a creative standpoint, Adria's character was created to give Vala Mal Doran a story and personality arc as a member of the SG-1 team.
Within hours of being born, the child reaches the apparent age of four and heals her mother's pain, knowing that Vala is not a believer in Origin.
[25] Being the only surviving Ori after the events of "The Shroud," Adria alone controls the power generated by the followers of Origin–becoming the closest thing the Stargate universe has seen to a true god.
After an Ancient device known as the Ark of Truth affects her galaxy's believers, Adria is last seen in Stargate: The Ark of Truth in a battle with the Ancient Morgan le Fay, which in Cooper's view started as a fight in the human realm of existence and continues on the ascended level similar to what happened with Anubis and Oma Desala in "Threads."
[6] In the second episode of season 9, it is shown that not all Humans in the Ori Home Galaxy believe their gods to be benevolent as is seen in the case of the Anti-Ori Underground.
Even though the group lives in the shadows of Ori society, they have collected a number of artifacts that they have kept hidden, since such pieces of technology contradict the book of Origin and thus would be destroyed if discovered.
All known members of this movement–Harrid (played by Stephen Park), Sallis (April Amber Telek), Fannis (Paul Moniz de Sa), Seevis (Michael Ironside), and Denya (Daniella Evangelista)–die shortly after their introduction.
In reviewing the first part of Season 9, Steven Graves of TV Zone was concerned that "mining Arthurian mythology for season 9 may prove to be a mistake for Stargate," comparing scenes of "Avalon" to "a god-awful Merri Olde England pastiche straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, complete with unwashed peons, an overbearing church and witch-burning.
"[28] He however commented about "Origin" that "Stargate SG-1 seems to be establishing an interesting set of themes this season, providing a timely commentary on religious evangelism and intolerance with its new villains, the Ori.
"[28] Regarding "The Fourth Horseman," he thought it was "doubly nice" to see an SG-1 story where the apocalyptic events have an effect on contemporary Earth instead of on alien planets.
