Saul Tigh

This article is about the character from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. For the original character see Colonel Tigh.

Colonel Saul Tigh is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Hogan.

Biography

Overview and personality

Saul Tigh is a former Colonial Viper pilot (though never as accomplished as the Adamas or Kara Thrace). Memorabilia in his quarters suggests that he flew with a squadron named "Vigilantes". His father, a viper pilot, and grandfather, a Presidential advisor, were also named "Saul Tigh". He has struggled with alcoholism for much of his life, a problem that stems from the first Cylon war and his depression after he was mustered out of the fleet. Despite this, he has excellent tactical skills and is fiercely loyal, especially to William Adama.

Tigh is gruff and sometimes rather unlikable, although he once observed that "If the crew doesn't hate the XO, then he's not doing his job." He and Kara Thrace have a particularly onerous relationship; he regards her as an insubordinate hothead, while she considers him mentally weak. Tigh attempts to bury the hatchet at one point, but does it in such a high-handed manner that he fails to accomplish anything. They appear to have reconciled at some point during the colonization of New Caprica. Tigh also has a strong dislike of Gaius Baltar; this turns into murderous rage during Baltar's tenure as head of the collaborationist government. Tigh had a particular respect for his subordinate Felix Gaeta, going so far as to defend him after he makes a foolish mistake that separates Galactica from the civilian fleet. Though this respect all but evaporated after Tigh suspected Gaeta of collaboration with the Cylons on New Caprica. It is unclear how Tigh feels about Gaeta after he found out it was Gaeta that had supplied the human resistance with vital information.

He is from a military family and has lived his entire adult life in the service; as such, he is one of the most military-minded people in the fleet. He expresses contempt at civilians' unwillingness to forego such comforts as "a thimbleful of water a day" and seems genuinely shocked that they refuse to accept martial law. He has an unrelenting moral vision and sense of duty, to the extent that he publicly refuses to shake hands with Tom Zarek, a terrorist-turned-politician, even though it would be politically expedient to do so.

Early life and the First Cylon War

Tigh entered the Colonial Fleet as an enlisted man during the first Cylon war. Still a teenager, he was serving on the Brenik when it was boarded by Cylon Centurions. The bloody hand-to-hand shipboard combat that ensued left him with mental scars that would last for the rest of his life. He remains convinced that, although they are machines, the Cylons truly hate the human race. He is also frequently able to anticipate Cylon tactics from his considerable combat experience. Tigh was eventually commissioned as an officer and a pilot.

Some time after the first Cylon war, he was mustered out of the service, and took low status work in civilian freighters for several years. He met William Adama during a bar fight that began when Tigh was taunted by his shipmates over his wartime service, and the two quickly became firm friends. Adama was instrumental in saving Tigh from his most self-destructive tendencies. After his remarriage, Adama was able to use his new wife Anne's connections to get first himself and then Tigh reinstated in the Colonial Fleet.

Return to the Fleet

He has a strained relationship with his wife, Ellen: as Adama later puts it, there were rumours that "she slept with half the Fleet while Saul was in space." He divorced her after her infidelity was discovered; he carried a great deal of bitterness about this, to the extent that he attacks a fellow officer who mentions it during a card game. After Ellen's reappearance on the Rising Star and move to the Galactica, they rebuild their relationship.

Up until approximately one year before the Destruction of the Twelve Colonies, he served as William Adama's executive officer on board the Battlestar Valkyrie. After a failed Black Ops mission along the Armistice Line, the two friends are reassigned to the less prestigious Galactica to serve out the twilight of their careers.

After the Destruction of the Twelve Colonies

In the long years of peace, Tigh carries out his XO duties competently but unexceptionally. That all changes with the return of the Cylons. Almost immediately, Tigh is tested: after a nuclear missile hits Galactica, he has to decide whether to seal off the affected area and doom the crew serving there or fight the fire and potentially lose the ship. After several seconds of hesitation, he orders the area sealed, killing 87 of the crew, but saving the ship.

Tigh leads the marine detachment sent to terminate Laura Roslin's presidency. Declaring that it isn't worth it to sacrifice democracy, Captain Lee Adama puts his gun to Tigh's head. Calmly telling him, "this is mutiny, you know that," Tigh takes control of the situation after Roslin surrenders and is able to take both Roslin and Lee into custody.

Tigh's greatest challenge comes soon after, when Sharon Valerii shoots Commander Adama. As Galactica's interim commander, Tigh has to deal with both military matters and mollifying the civilian population. His first test comes when he orders an emergency jump to forestall a potential Cylon attack. Galactica jumped to a different location than the rest of the civilian fleet. With the fleet's only surgeon on another ship (and thus unable to perform surgery on Adama), Tigh orders the ship's computers to be networked in order to reunite with the fleet as soon as possible. Adama has strictly forbidden any networks on Galactica, as the Cylons could easily infiltrate them.

Not possessing Adama's sensitivity or regard for the civilian population, Tigh finds them almost impossible to deal with. After locking Roslin up, he tries to keep the press and Quorum of 12 from seeing her. When they finally make it through, she reveals that she has cancer (which, in combination with other factors, means that she could be the messiah who will lead humanity to the thirteenth colony).

Perhaps Tigh's worst decision is his declaration of martial law and dissolution of the Quorum of Twelve. Like many of his decisions, it is spurred on by Ellen. The civilian ships declare that they will not resupply Galactica until the Quorum is restored. As a show of force, Tigh sends Marine contingents to important supply ships with instructions to forcibly take what is necessary. Onboard the Gideon, protesters begin to throw coffee at the Marines, inflicting a bloody head injury on one of them, and causing the others to open fire. Several civilians die and the media dub the event "The Gideon Massacre". The lieutenant in charge becomes mentally unhinged by the situation and later tries to kill Tigh.

With Adama's recovery, Tigh returns to his preferred position: Adama's right-hand man. However, with more and more civilians believing in Roslin, ships begin leaving the fleet and jumping to Kobol, where Roslin has told them to meet. After seeing the futility of allowing the family of what remains of humanity to be split apart, Adama goes to Kobol and uses his rapport with Roslin to resolve the situation.

Tigh supports Adama's reconciliation with Roslin even though he himself fif not have the political skills to hold the Fleet together, and appears to bear her no ill will. Indeed, he, along with Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla, instigate the attempt to rig the presidential election in favor of Roslin when it becomes clear that Gaius Baltar is nearly assured victory. When the rigging attempt is discovered, he confesses his guilt to Admiral Adama.

New Caprica

Saul and his wife, Ellen, join the settlers on New Caprica, a short time before the Cylon occupation.

After the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, Tigh is the highest ranking officer left on the planet, and leads a human resistance movement, with Chief Galen Tyrol and Samuel Anders as his right-hand men. He is jailed and tortured several times by the Cylons for acts of terrorism against them, and his right eye is violently ripped out. Now even more embittered, Tigh orders his men to carry out suicide bombings against the Cylons, despite qualms from others within the Human community. Tigh reluctantly kills his wife by poisoning after she betrays the resistance to the Cylons (she had previously had sex with the Cylon Cavil to get Tigh out of the jail, and was later threatened that he would be killed if she did not give them information on the resistance). While Saul views her death as necessary, he weeps bitterly as she dies in his arms.

Following the Second Exodus, Colonel Tigh is appointed as part of a group of 6 called "the Circle". The group is a secret jury created President Tom Zarek for the purpose of secretly trying and punishing known (or suspected) Cylon collaborators. Colonel Tigh, along with the other members of the Circle, secretly execute 13 people, including Tyrol's Deck hand, James "Jammer Lyman.

Following this, Colonel Tigh expresses bitterness and resentment over Capatin Karl "Helo" Agathon's continued occupation of his former position as XO of Galactica, stemming from both his lack of respect for anyone not involved in combating the Cylon occupation on the ground, and also his rage toward anyone he considers a Cylon collaborator. Admiral Adama confronts Tigh, accusing him of spreading discontent and lowering morale. Adama tells Tigh he is to stay in his quarters until he can return to being the man Adama has come to know after 30 years of service together. Tigh replies, "that man doesn't exist anymore, Bill, and you won't be seeing me again," and returns to his quarters, drinking heavily from any bottle he can find.

When Lieutenant Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek is picked up by the Galactica after three years in Cylon captivity, Tigh reveals Adama's role in Bulldog's capture, again driven by his depression and anger: "Sometimes surviving can be its own death sentence," he says bitterly. Nevertheless, this incident ultimately provides the stimulus for him to break out of his downward spiral: when Bulldog attacks Adama, it is Tigh who comes to the rescue, saving his old friend's life and making Bulldog see how he was acting as an unwitting pawn of the Cylons'. After Admiral Adama is awarded a long-service medal by President Roslin, Tigh visits Adama in his quarters. Although still not sure of himself, he shares a drink with Adama and the two begin to talk and repair their friendship.

After this point, Tigh begins to return to his former self, participating in ship-board activities. He acts as referee for the rank-free boxing competition held aboard Galactica, and calls the event to a halt after Adama's fight with Chief Tyrol and the Admiral's subsequent speech. He eventually returns to duty as Galactica's XO: before returning to duty, he stands outside the CIC self-consciously adjusting his eyepatch, then enters not via the main hatch but via a less-visible door on an upper level, eschewing the attention and praise of the CIC crew.

Naming issues

The character was originally named Paul Tigh but copyright reasons forced a name change to Saul.

External links

• Colonel Saul Tigh (Battlestar Wiki)