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Colonel Tigh is the executive officer (XO) of the battlestarGalactica and is a close personal friend of Commander Adama. Tigh has a no-nonsense demeanor that assures that the day-to-day operations and efficiency of his battlestar remain consistent. His friendship with Adama allows Tigh the ability to speak frankly in matters of protocol and defense. A former pilot himself, Tigh is stricter on the younger Colonial Warrior's behavior as he is all too aware of their importance as well as their tendencies (and need) to become rowdy.
Despite his reputation for being strict regarding regulations and discipline, Tigh reveals a lighter side when he covers for Greenbean in front of Council Security. After security leaves, Tigh light-heartedly reprimands Greenbean, before ordering that Apollo's bachelor party be in full swing when he and Starbuck return from their patrol. Colonel Tigh is more of a sceptic than Adama, and is quite concerned when Adama orders the Fleet to head into the magnetic void (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I").
When CylonRaiders attack while Adama is on Kobol, Colonel Tigh commands Galactica in his absence. Tigh is surprised when the previously ill pilots report for duty during the battle. He points out that they are barely able to stand, to which Boomer replies that it is fortunate that the Viper is flown in the seated position (TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II").
When Adama is reluctant to send out a patrol to search for the lost Apollo, Tigh is able to convince him otherwise. Boomer and Starbuck are already waiting in the launch tubes, and successfully find Apollo and guide him back to Galactica without attracting the attention of the Cylons (TOS: "The Lost Warrior").
On Colonel Tigh's suggestion, Adama orders the Fleet to maximum speed (rather than moving at the speed of the slowest ship) as they neared the Ravashol pulsar. They hoped to make the ships of the fleet more difficult targets by increasing the spacing between the ships, and reduce the collateral damage inflicted should one of the ships take a hit from the pulsar. Fortunately the pulsar is destroyed before the Fleet gets into range (TOS: "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part II").
After Cylon Raiders destroy two of the three Agro Ships, Colonel Tigh personally inspects the only one that survives. He learns that the fleet's entire crop supply has been destroyed in the attack and that the fleet's supply of seed has been exhausted and must be somehow replenished. This prompts Adama's mission to Sectar to trade an energizer for the needed seed (TOS: "The Magnificent Warriors").
Picking up a great deal of civilian Cylon radio traffic, Tigh reports that a large concentration of Cylons are nearby. Adama orders the Fleet to a halt, awaiting word from the recon patrol. Before the patrol can return, Colonel Tigh reports a large contact approaching. It appears to be a battlestar, and a communication comes in on Fleet Com-Line Alpha (which is only used between Colonial warships). Adama believes the message to be a hoax, as they are the last remaining Colonial war ship. Adama is delighted to learn that the message is from Commander Cain, and the sensor contact is Pegasus.
The honeymoon does not last long, however. Adama is forced to relieve Cain of command of Pegasus when he refuses to redistribute fuel from his ship to the other ships in the Fleet. Adama appoints Tigh to take command of Pegasus. Tigh takes his place on the bridge of Pegasus, and insists on beginning the fuel transfer over Tolan's objections. Before any transfer can take place, though, Cylon Raiders attack. Cain has his command returned to him, and the crew of Pegasus cheers when they hear the news. Tolan asks Tigh not to take the cheers personally. Tigh understands and asks, "How can you fight a living legend?" Colonel Tigh resumes his role as executive officer aboard Galactica (TOS: "The Living Legend, Part I").
As a Cylon attack approaches, Adama and Tigh begin to realize that the Cylons are attacking in force. They order the ship's compartments to be sealed, to prevent a hull breach. All squadrons are launched to defend Galactica. The Raiders are not fighting back, and two manage to slip through. One is destroyed near the bridge. Despite closing the blast shield the bridge sustains heavy damage, and Adama is critically wounded. Tigh orders Omega to call for Dr. Salik to take care of Adama, and assumes command. The other Raider explodes against the port landing bay, causing explosions fires throughout the ship. Tigh realizes that the Raiders were likely packed with Solonite or some other high explosive, in order for them to have exploded with such force. The explosions have damaged the ship's automated firefighting systems. A plan to extinguish the fires using Vipers firing boroton fails. Tigh puts mushies near the air ducts in hopes of helping Muffit find them. Muffit appears out of the Core Command air ducts, and they attach a note and some lifemasks to him so that he can ferry them back to the trapped survivors in the rejuvenation center. Muffit completes his task, delivering the lifemasks and the note. The fire is successfully extinguished by Apollo and Starbuck, and Adama recovers from his successful surgery (TOS: "Fire in Space").
Commander Kronus berates Colonel Tigh for drinking before going on duty (TOS: "Take the Celestra").
After a hard-fought game of Triad, Apollo, Boomer, and Starbuck are informed by Colonel Tigh of an emergency meeting in the war room. Bojay's patrol has gone missing. The warriors are deployed to investigate, but Tigh doesn't like the looks of the seismic readings, and is afraid Bojay's patrol has crashed. The patrol discovers the wreckage of a ship, and returns with Count Iblis. Colonel Tigh is immediately suspicious of Iblis. Tigh later informs Adama that Iblis had visited Core Command, and Adama is furious. Tigh is in Core Command with Adama when the mysterious lights begin appearing around the Fleet (TOS: "War of the Gods, Part I").
Colonel Tigh presents Commander Kronus with the Star of Kobol during an award ceremony, while Adama gives the speech. At the reception afterwards, Commander Kronus berates Colonel Tigh for drinking before going on duty. Tigh accepts the criticism, and respectfully leaves the reception early to get to his work. Later in Core Command, Starbuck requests permission to take his Viper aboard the Celestra under the pretense of a "maintenance scan" of his Viper's electronics. Tigh isn't convinced, but grants permission to the warrior. He also informs Cassiopeia, who reclaims the concert tickets from Starbuck in the Viper bay (TOS: "Take the Celestra").
Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh are alerted by Apollo, Starbuck, Cassiopeia, and Sheba of the Gamma frequency signal they receive in the Celestial chamber. A Viper patrol is launched to investigate, and discovers a Cylon basestar. Adama is tired of running, and wants to launch an assault against the basestar, in a bid to escape the Galaxy without Cylon pursuit. Colonel Tigh briefs the Viper pilots on the capabilities of the basestar, painting a grim picture of the situation. The attack is successful, and Galactica escapes the galaxy, hoping to find Earth (TOS: "The Hand of God").
The Colonel Tigh Limited Edition Collectible Figure is an 1/6-scale mixed-media figure, and is part of the Amok Time release circa 2008, following their take-over of the Original Series license from Majestic Studios after its dissolution in 2007.
As is typical of 1/6-scale mixed-media figurines, this piece features multiple points of articulation (rotating head, arms, legs), is clothed using materials that replicate the look of the costume worn by the character, and includes certain accouterments.
To aid in the display of the figurine, the piece comes with a two-piece display stand consisting of a display base with the show's logo and the support arm that cradles the figure around its torso.
The figurine was officially cancelled in 2010, when Amok Time's license for the Original Series 1/6 scale line expired.[1]
The figure was billed as featuring "classic BSG accessories" and display stand, and accessories were not itemized in sales descriptions from the Amok Time's online listing circa 3 March 2008.[2]
A prototype for this figure was shown at Toy Fair in 2008, and displayed alongside Adama and Athena figurines on a replica of the upper command section of Core Command.[3][4]
A point of comparison to Majestic Studios' figures, Amok Time's prototypes featured greater accuracy on their likeness to the character whom portrayed them.
1. Nuclear destruction of Original Earth, c. 2000 BCH (resurrected in orbit) 2. suffocated by Number One, c. 32 BCH (resurrected with false memories) 3. Poisoned by Saul Tigh on New Caprica, 2 ACH (resurrected on a Resurrection Ship, memories returned) 4. Eventually died after 4 ACH settlement on New Earth
Ellen Tigh is the wife of Colonel Saul Tigh, a genius scientist, and a Final FiveCylon. According to Sam Anders, she spearheaded the experiments that allowed Cylons to resurrect. She and the other four members of the Final Five Cylons are responsible for creating the humanoid Cylons that planned and carried out the Cylon Holocaust.
According to William Adama, her marriage to Saul Tigh was the reason that he took to drinking. While her husband was away from home, she apparently "went through half the (Colonial) fleet" in her sexual promiscuity. During the occupation of New Caprica, she collaborated with the Cylons and was killed by her husband, only to download to a Cylon Resurrection Ship (TRS: "No Exit"). Besides Anders who regained his memories due to a bullet to the brain, Ellen was the only one of the Final Five to ever regain her full memories which was due to her resurrection after Saul poisoned her to death in her old body.
Ellen Tigh lived on Earth two millennia ago. Like all humanoids living on Earth at the time, she was a Cylon: a member of the Thirteenth Tribe. There, she was one of five scientists researching "organic memory transfer," a technology which had originated on Kobol, but fell out of use on Earth once the Thirteenth Tribe Cylons started to procreate naturally. Galen Tyrol did a lot to resurrect the technology, but it was Ellen who made the final advance that brought it back online. She was trapped under rubble in the lobby of her apartment building when nuclear war began. Her husband and fellow researcher, Saul, heard her cries and was able to clear only superficial debris from around her before they were both killed by the subsequent blasts. Her dying words to Saul were, "Saul, it's okay. Everything's in place. We'll be reborn…again. Together." (Sometimes a Great Notion, No Exit) They and the other members of the Final Five downloaded into new bodies on a ship they'd placed in orbit. Knowing that humanity would continue to create artificial life, they made their way to the Twelve Colonies to warn them about the dangers of doing that, but it took them 2,000 years to get there due to their ship's lack of a jump drive. Travelling at relativistic speeds, they subjectively experienced much less time than that.
Upon their arrival, the first Cylon War was already in progress between humans and Centurions. Ellen and the others made a deal with the Centurions: end the war and the Final Five would help them build humanoid Cylons. They made eight models and their technology was stored in The Colony. The first creation was Number One, better known as Cavil, who was made in the image of Ellen's father John and named after him. Ellen was close to Number Seven but when Cavil got jealous, he wiped out the Number Seven copies permanently, before they could be grown to maturity. Cavil suffocated the Final Five, boxed them temporarily, then eventually unboxed them, downloading them into new bodies but blocking their real memories and implanting false ones then putting them into the human population in order to show them the evils of humanity.
She was unboxed not long after her husband and even though their true memories were gone, they ended up together again and got married. According to a comment made by Cavil, she was unboxed for at least 30 years before the attacks happened. At some point prior to Adama taking command of Galactica she celebrates what seems to be the end of Adama and Tigh's military carrer with them at a bar and is happy that Saul will be home more as she just wants to be with him. However he follows Adama into his command of Galactica and this may have contributed to their estrangment.
Colonel Saul Tigh, estranged from his wife and realizing her tendencies, finds himself burning a cigar hole in a photo of Ellen, just as action station klaxons ring throughout the decommissioned battlestar as the start of the Cylon attack.
With the Colonies destroyed, billions of people are dead and Ellen Tigh is presumed to be one of the many suffering that fate (TRS: "Miniseries").
During the attacks, she was on Picon in a bar and was chatting with a "mysterious stranger" (in reality a Cavil who wanted to see if she'd learned her lesson) and revealed that she hadn't changed. Picon was hit by nukes, and the bar was destroyed while Ellen and Cavil huddled together. Ellen survived the blast and destruction but was severely hurt. Cavil, who emerged pretty much unscathed, saved her as he felt she hadn't learned her lesson yet and needed to be alive longer to learn it. He helped her onto a Raptor and went with her to the Rising Star, where he spoke with her about the attack and the Five, but she kept drifting in and out of consciousness (still being seriously injured) and apparently either didn't hear or register what he said (TRS: "The Plan").
Commander Adama secretly visits a ship in the Fleet, telling none on his command staff of his goal. He returns to Galactica and a curious Colonel Tigh with an unexpected surprise: a living Ellen Tigh.
Ellen Tigh claims to have been on Picon at the time of the Cylon attack, on her way back home for a reunion with her husband. When the airport was hit in the attack, she claims an anonymous hero - later revealed to be a Number One - found her unconscious body and got her on to one of the last transports out, where she had been unconscious aboard the Rising Star for some three weeks prior to Adama finding her.
Following the reunion, Ellen claims she wants to make a fresh start, but no sooner as Saul (still hopelessly in love with her) agrees, Ellen influences him back to drinking heavily and begins flirting openly with other men.
Her first target is an unwilling Lee Adama during dinner with Lee, his father and Laura Roslin. Later she flirts with Gaius Baltar with greater effect - annoying her husband in the process.
Ellen Tigh's rescue claims are immediately considered suspect. No one on Rising Star can remember treating her through her long weeks of unconsciousness.
Ellen Tigh takes an unnatural interest in Adama's plans to lead the fleet to Earth, almost badgering him into trying to reveal how long the journey will take. Her actions seem to support Adama's precaution of having Baltar scan Ellen's blood sample to see if she is a Cylon (unbeknownst to her husband).
Baltar's tests conclude that Ellen Tigh is human, and this quiets Adama's suspicion. But Dr. Baltar self-sabotages his own Cylon detection efforts, fearing that exposing a humanoid Cylon would expose him in his duplicity in the Cylon attack, or to assassination.
Commander Adama points out, "Cylon or not, (Ellen Tigh is) nothing but trouble." (TRS: "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down")
On Colonial Day, Ellen Tigh states her belief that terrorist-turned-politician Tom Zarek is "the future," and greets him warmly over her husband's objections.
Later on in the next day, after Wallace Gray's poor showing at the Quorum, Ellen Tigh and Zarek talk over a drink, vaguely discussing their own ambitions.
An associate of Zarek, Valance, is later found dead. Colonel Tigh is among the few who know where the man was held.
The following evening, at Gaius Baltar's victory celebration, Shortly thereafter, Ellen Tigh dances with her husband and tells him of a "surprise" she has arranged on the Rising Star. She tells him not only to enjoy some time alone there with her, but to discuss "his future" with some people there. She then embraces her husband and locks eyes with Zarek, seated across the room (TRS: "Colonial Day").
After Adama's attempted assassination, Ellen Tigh encourages her husband to take extreme measures to assert his authority, sometimes in contrast to the more reasoned approaches he is proposing.
Ellen Tigh convinces her husband to let the Quorum of Twelve witness the delusional Roslin, whom she saw earlier in a poor state. But, thanks to a smuggled chamalla dose, Roslin shows her resolve and power, which invigorates the Quorum (Resistance).
Colonel Tigh begins to relent and considers reconciliation with the captains of other ships in the Fleet, but Ellen goads him into advocating "stern measures." Her pressures lead her husband to drink and take irrational steps, including a standoff on the Gideon that leaves four people dead.
Soon after Lee Adama escapes with President Roslin from the brig, the colonel receives a scolding from his wife in his quarters when the recently awakened Commander Adama arrives. Ellen is asked to leave, her hand gripping the door frame fiercely in frustration of her turn of fortune as she leaves (TRS: "Resistance").
Ellen Tigh's insistence to her husband for action with the supply boycott returns to terrorize her when Lieutenant Joe Palladino later attempts to exact revenge on Colonel Tigh for the Gideon incident, tying up Ellen and holding her husband at gunpoint. Colonel Tigh is able to defuse the situation (TRS: "Final Cut").
Ellen Tigh seems to spend much of her time in the Fleet bar-hopping on ships like Cloud 9, where she is held hostage in a terrorist action. Galactica marines later storm the bar and rescue the group (TRS: "Sacrifice").
One year after New Caprica is colonized, Ellen Tigh settles on the planet. Her husband joins her later, after Admiral Adama's insistence. Interestingly, they seem to fully reconcile during this time (possibly due to Saul leaving the Colonial Fleet which is something she always wanted so she could be with him full time). When the Tighs encounter Starbuck, both greet her warmly having apparently put aside their differences with her at some point. Shortly thereafter the Cylon fleet discovers the planet, the Colonial Fleet in orbit jumps away, and the Cylon occupation of New Caprica begins (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").
Four months after the occupation, Ellen Tigh's husband is imprisoned in the New Caprica Detention Center, resulting in the loss of his right eye. In order to secure his release, Ellen enters into a deal with a Cavil model. After her sexual encounter with Cavil, her husband is released (TRS: "Occupation").
However, as Ellen Tigh later finds out from this same Cavil, Saul is released in order to further the Cylons' plans to tighten their grip on the civilian population. Despite the release, Ellen reports back to Cavil to further fornicate with him, suggesting some sort of long term sexual agreement. In the aftermath of a session, Cavil demands that she must find out when the next high-level meeting of the resistance is to convene; failure to do so will result in Saul being recaptured and imprisoned again.
The map is later found on a dead humanoid Cylon by Anders' team after he and Fleet liaison Sharon "Athena" Agathon eliminate the Centurion attack. Ellen Tigh is soon found and forced into the underground hideout, where Colonel Tigh is told of his wife's deception and confronts his wife (TRS: "Exodus, Part I").
The resistance leaders compel Saul Tigh to execute his wife for collaboration with the Cylons. Saul carries out the execution by poisoning Ellen's drink prior to the Battle of New Caprica (TRS: "Exodus, Part II").
When Colonel Saul Tigh visits Caprica-Six in the brig, to inform her that her request to see Hera Agathon has been denied, he begins to see Ellen in Six's place. The woman he sees still has the clothes and hair of Number Six, but the face and body of Ellen Tigh. She speaks the same words as Six, but in Ellen's voice.
Later, Colonel Tigh returns to the cell where Caprica-Six is held. Wanting to find out how Cylons deal with pain and guilt, he questions Six to learn that the Cylons have modeled their brains around the human brain and have found a "human" way to shut off pain by accepting it. During this conversation, she removes Saul's eye patch in an act of tenderness, which Saul rebukes (TRS: "Escape Velocity"). However, their relationship soon becomes sexual and Tigh, still occasionally seeing Ellen in Caprica's place, impregnates the Cylon ("Sine Qua Non").
In a vision on Earth, Saul Tigh sees Ellen trapped underneath a slab of rock fallen after a nuclear blast. He tries to free her, but before they're both killed in another nuclear blast she tells him that they'll be reborn together. Coming out of the vision, Saul Tigh realizes the truth: Ellen is the last of the Final Five.
After dying on New Caprica, Ellen downloads into a new body aboard a Resurrection Ship. Initially frightened, Ellen quickly remembers her entire history, including her time on Earth, her resurrection having apparently restored all of her memories. She is soon confronted by Brother Cavil, who she calls "John." It is revealed that John was the first humanoid Cylon designed by the Final Five. It soon becomes evident that all of the seven familiar humanoid Cylons were designed by the Final Five, as well as an eighth model, Number Seven, whose line was destroyed by Cavil.
Ellen is held prisoner on a basestar for 18 months, and allowed contact only with Cavil and Boomer. After the destruction of the Resurrection Hub, Cavil threatens Ellen with vivisection unless she helps the Cylons rebuild the hub. Ellen refuses, and is soon being readied for surgery, when Boomer helps her to escape (TRS: "No Exit"). Ellen and Boomer make it back to Galactica (TRS: "Deadlock"). She is seen discussing the mission to The Colony with Tory Foster, and volunteers the Final Five to go, much to Tory's dismay (TRS: "Daybreak, Part I").
During the battle, she Tory and Tyrol take care of Anders and Ellen stays by his side during everything. She is shocked to learn that Tory murdered Cally, but both she and Tigh forgive Tyrol for killing her in revenge. She and Saul rekindle their relationship and decide to spend the rest of their lives together on humanity's new homeworld which they name Earth (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").
Does Ellen Tigh arrange for Valance's death herself, or just provide his location to a third party?
What favors does Ellen receive in return? What does she intend Saul to discuss on the Rising Star, and with whom?
Does Ellen's choice of a "getaway spot" have anything to do with her mysterious appearance aboard that ship four weeks earlier?
How surprised is Ellen by Zarek's defeat? Is her association with him still advantageous to her?
How much, if any, of her original memories did Ellen possess prior to her "death" on New Caprica? Given the revelation that Number One is based upon her father, was she aware of this when she had sex with the Cavil copy on New Caprica?
Was Ellen the one Number Three was heard apologizing to during her vision?
In the DVD commentary for the Miniseries, it is revealed that Ellen Tigh was originally depicted by executive producer David Eick's wife, Jennifer Birchfield-Eick, in the picture that Saul Tigh burns with his cigarette. The picture was later replicated with Kate Vernon taking the place of Mrs. Eick and the scene reshot, so Saul Tigh is seen burning a picture of Vernon in the retconned "flashback" sequence at the beginning of "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down."
Ellen Tigh can be profitably compared with one of Shakespeare's most memorable women. Like Lady Macbeth, Ellen is married to a man who is in the line of command, but who doesn't want the top job. She uses a combination of insult, flattery, and sexual temptation to get her husband in the game, arranges the murder of others, and even makes alcohol one of her most potent weapons (in the play, Lady Macbeth gets the castle guards drunk so that she and her husband can kill the king and princes). In the words of Lady M herself, to her husband, "Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round."
In fact, of all Shakespeare's plays, Macbeth is a particularly appropriate one for a series about evil robots who seem human on the outside ("fair is foul and foul is fair"), who are experts at lying and manipulation ("And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray us'n deepest consequence"), and who chase our heroes through the gulf of space (at least one scholar has noted that all of the play's most memorable scenes "take place either at night or in some dark spot"). Like Macbeth himself, Saul Tigh is famous for a bout of vicious hand to hand fighting in the recent war ("For brave Macbeth ... disdaining Fortune, with his brandish'd steel which smok'd with bloody execution ... carv'd out that passage").
1. Nuclear destruction of Original Earth, c. 2000 BCH (resurrected in orbit) 2. suffocated by Number One, c. 32 BCH (resurrected with false memories) 3. Eventually died after 4 ACH settlement on New Earth
Parents
Siblings
Children
Non-biologically: Considered a "father" of the eight humanoid Cylon models; Biologically: Liam Tigh† (miscarried at four months) with Caprica-Six
A tough but troubled man with a long history of alcoholism, Tigh has false memories of having served in the Colonial Fleet since his teenage years, seeing action in the First Cylon War. He is married to Ellen Tigh, whose death was incorrectly (though logically) presumed to have been permanent. Believing himself to be a widower, he entered a sexual relationship with Caprica-Six, with whom he sired a miscarried child named Liam Tigh.
Upon reaching the Ionian nebula, he and three othersbecame aware of their nature as Cylons. Since then, he has sporadically regained memories and knowledge of his prior life.
Saul Tigh lived on the original Earth two millennia prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Like all humanoids on that planet, he was a Cylon: a member of the Thirteenth Tribe. There, he was one of five scientists researching "organic memory transfer," a technology which had originated on Kobol, but fell out of use on Earth once the Thirteenth Tribe Cylons started to procreate sexually. His wife Ellen was the most gifted of the five scientists. When nuclear armageddon came, Saul found himself in the lobby of his apartment building. Hearing a voice crying out, "Saul!" from the floor in front of the tenants' post boxes, he finds his wife trapped under debris he cannot move. He pulls the lighter debris from around her, as more bombs detonate. Moments before they die, she tells him, "Saul, it's okay. Everything's in place. We'll be reborn... again. Together." (TRS: "Sometimes a Great Notion", "No Exit")
The organic memory transfer they were researching was resurrection technology, the same technology their ancestors brought from Kobol. When killed by the explosions, Saul and the other four downloaded into new bodies aboard a ship they had placed in orbit. Knowing that humanity would continue to create artificial life, they made their way the Twelve Colonies to warn them about the the need to treat their creations with kindness in order to prevent a rebellion and inter-species war. Lacking faster-than-light capability, the five travelled at relativistic speeds. From the planetary perspective, their journey took approximately two thousand years.
Saul and the other four found their fears were justified. Upon their arrival, the first Cylon War was already in progress between humans and the Colonial Cylon Centurions. Saul and the others made a deal with the Centurions: end the war against the humans, and the Five would help them build humanoid Cylons. They ultimately made eight models for the Centurions, and their technology was stored in The Colony. The favoritism which Number One perceived Saul's wife, Ellen, displayed toward Number Seven drove Number One into a jealous rage. In addition to permanently destroying the Number Seven line, he suffocated Saul and the other four Cylons from Earth. Blocking their real memories, Number One implanted false ones in their minds, and deposited them among the human population in an attempt to prove to them the "evils" of humanity.
Saul Tigh was supposedly born on the colony of Aerilon[4].
Tigh began his military career as a deckhand[5]. By the second year of the First Cylon War, he was serving as a gunner's mate onboard the Brenik. His ship was boarded by the Cylons, where he and others fought in hand-to-hand combat, during the bloodiest period of that war. It was during this battle that he saw his first dead man, Duncan Rafferty, who was violently vivisected by Centurions ("Valley of Darkness," deleted scene). His ship was subsequently destroyed, but he survived. He was transferred to another unnamed ship, which succumbed to a similar fate as his original ship. Having borne witness to many a bloody combat, he became emotionally scarred, which had, among other impetuses, led him to alcoholism.
Tigh and Adama's first meeting.
Tigh eventually achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer. When Viper pilot numbers began running low in the war, Tigh was selected for Colonial officer candidate school, and was reassigned as a Viper pilot.[6] As a pilot, he demonstrated considerable skill, earning several medals while posted aboard Battlestar Athena.[7] After the cessation of hostilities, he was dismissed from service.
Tigh eked out an existence as a deckhand aboard a commercial freighter. He clearly experienced signs of post-traumatic stress disorder; he commented that every time he smelled grease or machine oil, he would nearly vomit, as this smell reminded him of the "stink" of Centurions ("Valley of Darkness," deleted scene). While onboard, he drowned himself in alcohol and, after a time, about 20 years after the war, encountered William Adama, who had not seen as much combat experience as Tigh himself. They became fast friends, and remained in touch after Adama was recommissioned into the service. Two years later, Tigh found himself reinstated into the Colonial Fleet at the rank of captain, thanks to his old friend, and now major, Adama.[8] His alcoholism has led many in the crew to view him with contempt (TRS: "Miniseries", "33").
Following the Cylon attack, Tigh recovered some of his old verve, and attempted to give up alcohol. However, this, combined with the initial stress of flight from the Cylons, caused him to overcompensate as a martinet, frequently driving the personnel overly hard, and berating where encouragement would prove the better option (TRS: "33"). He excused this by his view that the XO is supposed to be the "hard face" of command.
"If the crew doesn't hate the XO, then he's not doing his job."
With his drinking problem relatively under control, Tigh settled back into his role as Galactica's Executive Officer, though he still treats the ship's personnel relatively inhumanely. Apart from Adama, he seems unable to utter a sentence without cursing, or to leave any differing opinion unsneered at.
During Cylon attacks, Tigh has proven himself to be a good battle-manager and tactician. His quick actions sometimes save the ship and the Fleet from damage or destruction ("Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down," "Scattered," "Valley of Darkness").
Tigh is uneasy around President Laura Roslin (TRS: "Water"), and resents what he sees as her interfering with Adama's command (TRS: "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down") - something born out of his deep respect for Adama, which even the most heated of disagreements between them (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again") cannot disrupt, or his general inability to accept differing viewpoints.
Tigh personally loathes Kara Thrace, one of Galactica's pilots. While grudgingly conceding she is a fine pilot, Tigh does consider her an an egotistical, insubordinate youngster, and even tries to end her active service. Tigh criticizes Adama for having a soft spot for Thrace, ignoring that his whole existence in the fleet is based on a similar soft spot (TRS: "Miniseries").
Outside of Adama, Tigh has few others he regards as confidants aboard ship; and since the initial Cylon attack, he has withdrawn from interacting with the crew during off-duty hours, making him perhaps more isolated than even Adama - who is at least held in awe, and respected by the crew.
Some three weeks after the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies, Tigh is stunned to discover his wife, Ellen, had not been killed as he had thought, but was rescued from Picon, and carried aboard the Rising Star as an unconscious "Jane Doe" by an unknown person. Later, it is revealed that the person who did that was a John Cavil-model Cylon.
Despite the emotional implications from the destruction of the Colonies and life aboard the ship, Tigh is reluctantly thrust further into politics, as his wife plays her schemes. Much to his disdain, his wife attempts to procure photo opportunities with the likes of Tom Zarek - a person Tigh views with the utmost contempt (TRS: "Colonial Day"). Additionally, Ellen seems to re-establish Tigh's alcoholism with gratuitous drinking.
Despite this, Adama sends Tigh with a squadron of Marines to arrest Laura Roslin after Adama discovers that she convinced Kara Thrace to Jump back to Caprica to retrieve a historical artifact called the Arrow of Apollo from the Delphi Museum. This action deprives the Fleet of a military asset - a captured Cylon Raider, intended to have been used to plant a nuclear warhead aboard a basestar in orbit around the planet believed to be Kobol - and convinces Adama that Roslin is abusing her authority.
Onboard Colonial One, Tigh's men and Roslin's personal security agents are at a standoff when Lee Adama aims a weapon at Tigh's head and attempts to thwart the coup. Attempting to defuse the situation, Roslin agrees to be arrested and Lee Adama is arrested on charges of treason (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II").
Tigh realizing he's in a bit over his head (TRS: "Scattered)".
Tigh is present in CIC during the attempted assassination of Adama by Sharon Valerii. As guards restrain Valerii, Tigh attempts to stop the bleeding from the torso gunshot wounds Adama sustained in the attempt (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"). He keeps Lee Adama from tending to his father and throws him into the brig. However, the need for reliable officers, forces Tigh to grant Lee a parole from his arrest. After his daily duties as CAG are done, Lee promises to return to the brig when off-shift.
With Adama incapacitated and with Roslin arrested, Tigh tries to maintain order. However, his irrational and gruff command style displeases many crew members. Morale and ship efficiency began to suffer. Ellen Tigh becomes a private adviser to her husband, frequently questioning his power to command while also suggesting ways of usurping more power and quashing his opponents. Ellen Tigh's advice only exacerbates an already-deteriorating situation.
Tigh's interrogation of suspected Cylon collaborators or infiltrators is brutal. After beating, then nearly shooting Galactica copy of Valerii, other issues in the Fleet divert him from further interrogation. He orders a special cage made for her for later interrogation. Tigh also savagely interrogates Valerii's former lover, Chief Galen Tyrol as a possible humanoid Cylon himself. Tigh would have left him with Valerii in the newly built Cylon cage if Gaius Baltar did not intervene to prove medically that Tyrol is not a Cylon himself.
With Roslin in prison, uprisings begin as civilian ships refuse to supply Galactica until Roslin is released. Worse, the Quorum of Twelve demand to see Roslin. Knowing of Roslin's hallucinations in the brig, he intentionally invites the Quorum to see Roslin in her poor state in hopes of disillusioning the Quorum. However, Roslin recovers sufficiently from her Chamalla withdrawal after getting a supply smuggled to her by Corporal Venner, her guard. Tigh believes that the accounts within the Sacred Scrolls weren't to be believed, and teases Roslin in front of the Quorum on her visions. Roslin not only is able to speak to the Quorum, but decisively reinforces her decisions as well as her role in the search for the location of Earth as told in the Pythian prophesies. This act greatly impresses the Quorum, and infuriates Tigh; fearing a larger civilian government uprising led by the Quorum. Tigh institutes martial law throughout the Fleet - a move he earlier had disclaimmed - in an attempt to maintain order in a rapidly chaotic shuffle of power between the civilian and military governments (TRS: "Fragged").
The supply situation leads Tigh to deploying Marines in forcibly retrieving supplies. On one ship, a riot leads to four deaths and many injuries due to the pilot's inexperience in managing such a situation. Unlike Adama (who likely would have taken direct responsibility for the "Gideon Massacre"), Tigh places blame solely on the pilot, absolving himself from the incident.
The shootings, Tigh's decision for martial law, and his unwillingness to discuss anything with anyone except Ellen Tigh (and the unconscious Adama) becomes the dividing point of those wanting to press on to finding Earth, and those wanting to settle on Kobol (Season 2). Tigh's drinking spirals further out of control, leading to more erratic behavior and causing great concern regarding his ability to effectively command, particularly among the CIC staff. The situation comes to a head when Roslin, tacitly aided by other officers and crew on Galactica, escapes the brig in an attempt to hide amongst the many ships in the Fleet with the aid of Tom Zarek. Tigh chases down the escaping Raptor using the CAP, having the Viper fire across the bow of the fleeing Raptor to persuade it to return. The Raptor brazenly continues onward, leading to a crucial decision for the Colonel. Tigh allows the Raptor to escape rather than shooting it down, which would have killed Adama's son and the President and could have destabilized the fleet.
Fortunately for the fleet and Colonel Tigh, Commander Adama regains consciousness shortly after the escape and asks what had happened during his absence. Tigh confesses that he has "frakked things up good," but Adama reassures his friend, saying, "I never had much use for people that second-guessed my decisions, especially if they've never held a command. They don't understand the pressure to make a call that affects the lives of thousands, and you have no one to turn to for backup." Despite all the serious problems that Tigh created, Adama doesn't blame him, telling Tigh that whatever bad calls were made, they would pick up the pieces together (TRS: "Resistance", "Resistance").
Both Adama and Tigh underestimate the number of ships that secede from the main fleet to join the faction that sought the Tomb of Athena with President Roslin (TRS: "The Farm"). Tigh backs up Adama while he maintains a similar official position on Roslin and the separated ships as Tigh has. However, after Adama realizes that survival of the entire Fleet would only come if everyone held together, Adama begins to prepare a journey to Kobol to retrieve the remainder of the Fleet and reach out to Roslin (TRS: "Home, Part I"). At first Tigh seems to believe that Adama is retrieving the faction by more military means, and scoffs at Roslin's religious views on the quest until he realizes that Adama is beginning to follow Roslin's information, taking her reports and visions seriously. Tigh is left in command while Adama successfully reunites the Fleet and reconciles with Roslin (TRS: "Home, Part II").
After Adama's return to command and Roslin to the presidency, for a moment the Gideon incident is almost forgotten. Before she is invited to Galactica, reporter D'Anna Biers prepares a story about the incident, which could destroy the public's view towards Tigh, and eventually Galactica. However she drops the subject in favor of a Galactica documentary. Lt. Joe Palladino, the pilot in charge of the boarding operation to Gideon, blames Tigh for the discredit to his reputation. He begins to terrorize Tigh and his wife, but Tigh later manages to subdue Palladino (TRS: "Final Cut").
Things once again turn on their head when Galactica has a chance encounter with the battlestar Pegasus, a modern type of battlestar and the flagship of Admiral Helena Cain. Cain, being the superior officer, assumes complete command of the Fleet. The naturally suspicious Tigh is wary about this mixed blessing, but takes it in stride like everything else up until now. When he begins to regularly speak with Pegasus’s own XOJack Fisk, his suspicions slowly prove to be well founded.
Fisk's conscience-clearing sessions with Tigh reveal that Admiral Cain was responsible for a set of atrocities, the most damning being the pillaging and stranding of a small civilian fleet in open space. When Tigh relays this information to Commander Adama, Adama reminisces about their own questionable activities, particularly their actions regarding the Olympic Carrier. However, Adama keeps Tigh's warnings in mind and they help him in his decision to stand up to Cain later on (TRS: "Pegasus" through "Resurrection Ship, Part I").
When the presidential election arrives, Colonel Tigh is charged with overseeing the vote tallies on Galactica. When it appears that Baltar would win the vote, Tory Foster, President Roslin's aide, approaches Tigh and Dualla to conspire to steal the election for Roslin, foreseeing certain disaster in a Baltar presidency. Tigh, never a fan of Baltar's to begin with, organises the counting of fraudulent ballots in order to keep Baltar out of office. The plot is overturned when Lt. Gaeta reports irregularities to Tigh, who all too obviously tries to sweep the affair under the carpet. Gaeta then informs Admiral Adama, who lets Tigh and Dualla off the hook and the official vote tallies are "revised" without the public learning of the Roslin campaign's attempt to steal the election.
One year later, after the fleet settles on New Caprica on the orders of President Baltar, most of the military staff have all but retired from active service. Col. Tigh is one of the few officers still serving aboard Galactica, but the day eventually comes when Admiral Adama discharges his friend and XO from his duties to let him return to civilian life with his wife. On the surface of New Caprica, the couple run into Kara Thrace at Galen and Cally Tyrol's union rally. The former colonel and captain share an unusually warm embrace, having put their differences behind them at some point in the preceding year. However, their reunion does not last as a large Cylon fleet appears in orbit over the planet and the Cylons occupy New Caprica without firing a shot. Tigh and his wife are last seen watching in utter shock as Cylon Centurions march through the streets of New Caprica City (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").
Two months into the occupation of New Caprica by the Cylons, Tigh is organizing and recruiting for the resistance on New Caprica along with Galen Tyrol and Jammer. When the Cylons begin to find the weapons hidden by the Resistance, Tigh orders them to be stored in the Temple, believing it to be the safest place as the Cylon respect the sanctity of the Temple and will not search it, disregarding any moral concerns. When the Cylons discover the weapons, Nora is shot and Cally Tyrol and her baby barely escape. This leads several members of the resistance movement to question whether Tigh is going too far. After Tigh plans an attack that could endanger patients at a hospital, Jammer reports him to the Cylon authorities (TRS: "Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance"). The Cylons imprison Tigh and tear his right eye out. Ellen's sexual efforts with Cavil lead to Tigh's eventual release (TRS: "Occupation") though this is later revealed to be a Cylon ruse to blackmail Ellen into collaboration with the Cylons as well as find the location of a high level meeting of the Insurgency.
After Ellen is discovered to have betrayed a meeting with Sharon "Athena" Agathon to the Cylons, fellow Resistance leader Samuel Anders compels Tigh to execute Ellen for her actions. Reluctantly, Tigh kills his wife by giving her a poisoned drink after which he cries over her body.
Tigh handing Ellen her poisoned drink.Tigh actively participates in the exodus from New Caprica, leading an attack on the shipyard with Galen Tyrol, during which they are aided by Vipers launched from Galactica.
Adama welcomes Tigh back on Galactica (TRS: "Exodus, Part II)".
Following the escape, he initially resumes his post as the executive officer of Galactica, but is unable to conceal his contempt for those who colluded with the Cylons, such as Felix Gaeta. In a face-off with Admiral Adama, in which the senior officer orders Tigh to "sleep it off," it is clear that the events on New Caprica - most notably, his wife's death - are still adversely affecting Tigh. Following that he spends a lot of time in his quarters trying to cope with what happened to him on New Caprica and is temporarily replaced by Karl Agathon.
He eventually becomes the apparent ringleader of the Circle, a group of six people authorized by then-President Tom Zarek, charged with bringing collaborators to justice. Tigh is among the less scrupulous members but nonetheless opposes Charlie Connor's suggestion of summary executions. Thirteen people fall victim to the Circle's mandate, including Jammer (TRS: "Collaborators").
Tigh is reunited with an old comrade, Daniel Novacek and tells him the truth of his last mission. Tigh later stops him when Novacek tries to kill Adama in revenge for being the cause of him spending years as a Cylon captive (TRS: "Hero"). Tigh also referees the boxing fights organized to boost morale (TRS: "Unfinished Business"). He returns to duty during operations to resupply the Fleet's food stores (TRS: "The Passage"). When Dr. Robert, a civilian physician, is implicated in the deaths of Sagittaron refugees, Tigh initially defends his friend, saying that he worked with the resistance on New Caprica. He clashes with Karl Agathon over this, who insists on investigating Robert. However, when it turns out that Robert was killing the Sagittarons out of prejudice, Tigh orders his arrest (TRS: "The Woman King").
When Kara Thrace dies he is visibly heartbroken (TRS: "Maelstrom"), showing that he did truly care about her despite their differences. As the Fleet nears the Ionian nebula and Gaius Baltar's trial begins, Tigh is one of a few people who hear mysterious music on several occasions. When called to testify in court, he shows up drunk. Baltar's lawyer exploits this vulnerability and forces Tigh to publicly admit that he killed his wife on New Caprica (TRS: "Crossroads, Part I").
Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders and Tory Foster begin to hear a song only they can hear over and over again, driving them to distraction. They instinctively come to the realization that they are four of the final five Cylons. They decide to remain loyal to the Colonials (TRS: "Crossroads, Part II").
With a Cylon fleet bearing down on them, Tigh resumes his position as executive officer again. However, almost immediately, this decision is tested by both Tigh's waking nightmares during the onset of the battle—where he believes he will kill his friend and commander, Adama, much the same way Boomer tried to—and the return of Kara Thrace, who may be a Cylon. Even amidst this, he is the de facto leader of the "Final Four" and continues to assure them that they are different than Boomer and the other Cylons. Further, he has them pledge to kill themselves should they feel any inkling of betraying the Fleet (TRS: "He That Believeth in Me").
In an attempt to learn more about what it means to be a Cylon and how they deal with pain, Tigh visits Caprica-Six in the brig and asks her how it feels to have the blood of billions of beings on her hands. Six replies that she is just as human as he is and can't switch off her feelings, but that she has found another way to deal with her pain. During their conversation, Tigh has a hallucination of his dead wife, whose body he sees the place of Six. She tries to help him cope with his feelings and share some of her perceived clarity. In act of tenderness, she removes his eye patch, but Tigh rebukes her advances. Six then punches Tigh and kisses him when he lies on the floor (TRS: "Escape Velocity").
When Natalie offers the Colonials access to the Cylon Resurrection Hub and wants to unbox the Threes in order to learn what she knows about the Final Five, Tigh reacts shocked and fears that he will be uncovered and killed. Instead of cooperation with the Cylon rebels, he urges President Roslin to just destroy the hub (TRS: "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?").
When Doctor Cottle discovers that Caprica-Six is pregnant, Admiral Adama is angry at Tigh for "giving in to his weaknesses" and being disloyal. Tigh initially counters that Adama is risking a lot for woman he cares about as well. When Adama asks what Ellen would say about his actions, Tigh becomes furious and physically attacks Adama. The two exchange blows and Adama eventually shoves Tigh to the floor, who breaks Adama's model ship during the fall. Having vented their frustrations, both calm down. Later, Adama decides to stay back in a Raptor to wait for Roslin's return. He temporarily promotes Tigh to admiral and gives him command of the Fleet. Tigh is reluctant, recalling his previous disastrous experience in command, but takes the position (TRS: "Sine Qua Non").
Tigh's anxiousness about being revealed as a Cylon is magnified when Adama returns with D'Anna Biers. However, instead of exposing him, she forces his hand by holding the Colonials on the Cylon baseship hostage, demanding that the Cylons on Galactica are turned over to them. To prevent Adama from carrying out an extremely risky and bloody rescue plan, Tigh decides to come clean himself. He confesses to William Adama, saying that he should have done so earlier. Adama can't believe his friend, but orders him arrested and brought to a launch tube. There, Tigh also exposes Tyrol and Anders. Tigh is about to be spaced, when Kara Thrace runs into the control room and tells everyone that she has found another clue towards Earth. In an unexpected move, President Lee Adama grants the Cylons a full amnesty. Before the final jump to Earth, Tigh sits in his quarters drinking, unsure what to do (TRS: "Revelations").
Tigh and Caprica-Six accompany the survey team to Earth's surface, where the latter reaches out for and touches the former. Following their amnesty, Tigh, Anders and Tyrol wear fatigues with no rank insignia (TRS: "Revelations, Sometimes a Great Notion"), and none is shown having any authority. Tigh's sidearm has not, however, been confiscated from his wall locker.
Back aboard Galactica, a drunken Admiral Adama storms into Tigh's quarters, armed with a marine's pistol. Grabbing Tigh's pistol from its storage shelf, charging it, and dropping it on the table, Adama orders Tigh, "Sit down, Cylon!" Tigh successfully resists Adama's attemps to encourage Tigh into drinking and to be used for Adama's "assisted suicide". Tigh tries to apologize about his revelation of being a Cylon, but Adama is beyond angry. "Is that how it worked? They program you to be my friend? Emulate all the qualities I respect. Tell me jokes...and I laugh at them." Tigh counters that he wanted, chose to be his friend. Adama throws insult after insult about Ellen Tigh, in an attempt to anger Tigh into picking up either sidearm to shoot his friend. "Do it! Or I'll do it myself!" Adama says, pointing the marine's pistol to his own temple. "I'm sorry, Bill, but this is the one time I can't help you," Tigh tells him (TRS: "Sometimes a Great Notion").
In a reversal of roles, Tigh is the sober one of the two, and gives Adama a much-needed dressing-down. After listening to Adama's story of foxes that would either fight, try to cross the river, or simply give up and float out to sea, Tigh admonishes him not be like foxes choosing to drown. He reminds Adama that he is still the commander and that Tigh is still the XO of the ship; killing himself would not help himself nor their people. Thereafter, Colonel Tigh is restored to his to his rank and position on Galactica (TRS: "Sometimes a Great Notion").
Once again in his service uniform and wearing his rank, Tigh leads the round-up of the survey crews on the Earth surface in preparation for their journey toward a new home. At the water's edge, Downloaded Three informs him of her decision to give up and die alone on Earth. Their talk reminds Tigh of Adama's fox story, and he begins to walk into the sea. When chest-deep, he is compelled to reach down. In doing so, he discovers a mangled post box hatch from his apartment building lobby two millenia earlier. Like Tyrol, he has a vision of Earth's nuclear distruction. He is wearing a civilian business suit. He hears Ellen, finds her trapped under debris he cannot move. He splashes through the water as he remembers himself digging though the rubble to reach Ellen and remembers her prophesy. Ellen tells him, as more bombs go off, flashing bright, "Saul, it's okay. Everything's in place. We'll be reborn...again. Together." The vision fades as Tigh realizes the truth. "Ellen...Ellen! You're the fifth!"
Col. Tigh relieves an exhausted Lt. Felix Gaeta from duty and orders him to take an ill-fated week's leave aboard Zephyr to rest and recover. After Gaeta's shuttle raptor is lost in an emergency FTLjump while en-route to Zephyr, Tigh acquiesses to Lt. Louis Hoshi's plea for a raptor and pilot with whom to search for his lover. Gaeta is the only survivor of the seven (five Colonials and two Number Eight Cylons) aboard the raptor, and explains that one of the Eights killed everyone else before being herself killed by Gaeta. After consulting off-camera with the rebel Cylons, Tigh tells him that the incident will not be investigated. Nevertheless, the incident leaves Gaeta apprehensive about their alliance with the rebel Cylons and asks to speak with Admiral Adama because, with all due respect, Tigh is a Cylon. Tigh reluctantly approves his request (TRS: "The Face of the Enemy").
Days into the Fleet's search for a new home, Caprica-Six and Saul Tigh are in sickbay where Dr. Cottle is using a sonagram to show them their unborn child. Tigh can't see the image, when Cottle quips, "Try looking with your eyes...eye." In a moment of amazement while Assistant Layne Ishay points out the elements of the sonagram, an overwhelmed Tigh albeit happy, asks for a drink. Cottle offers a cigarette instead to Tigh as he lights one for himself, to Ishay's dismay.
In Admiral Adama's quarters, Lee Adama, Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Felix Gaeta and Karl Agathon meet to discuss the implementation of Cylon FTL upgrades to the civilian ships. Tyrol argues that the Cylons become valid citizens of the Fleet, with their own representative on the Quorum and Adama's oath of protection if they are to get the Cylon technology. Tigh comments after Tyrol fubbles with his proper pronouns for the situation that he might need a chart to help him keep it right.
Mutiny, Return of Ellen and the End of the Journey[edit]
Felix Gaeta leads a mutiny alongside a coup lead by Tom Zarek in order to gain control of the Fleet. Adama and Tigh are captured, but manage to escape and meet up with Lee and Kara. They make their way to a forgotten airlock where Baltar and Roslin escape in a Cylon Raptor to the Rebel basestar while Adama stays behind to try to retake Galactica. Tigh insists on staying with him despite being a likely target due to being a Cylon and Adama tells him that "its been an honor to serve with you my friend." (TRS: "The Oath") The two are knocked out by a stun grenade and captured by marines led by Captain Aaron Kelly who Tigh insults. He's taken to the brig where Caprica-Six, Helo, Athena and Anders already are, but they are rescued by Kara and Lee. However, Anders is seriously hurt and Kara stays behind to get him to Doctor Cottle. The freed prisoners find Kelly who defects and shows them where Admiral Adama is about to be executed and they arrive just in time to save his life. Tigh holds a gun on Narcho who's in charge of the firing squad and forces him not to tell Gaeta the truth. After Narcho refuses to help retake the ship, Tigh goes to shoot him, but is stopped by Adama who has him tied up instead. Tigh is part of Adama's march to retake CIC and helps recapture it without firing a shot, ending the mutiny. (TRS: "Blood on the Scales")
Tigh later learns some of his history from Anders who has regained his Cylon memories after being shot in the head during the mutiny. (TRS: "No Exit") He is also shocked when a missing Raptor shows up carrying Boomer and his wife Ellen who had downloaded into a new body on a Resurrection Ship after he had killed her and had been a prisoner of Cavil until Boomer helped her escape. The Rebel Cylons are excited to have all of the Final Five with them and want to leave the Fleet and leave it up to a majority vote of the Five. Tigh, remembering that Anders told him to stay with the Fleet, votes to stay and given what Anders said, they take it as a vote to stay as well, Tyrol and Tory vote to go, but Ellen is shocked and undecided after learning that he got Caprica-Six pregnant. He later asks for a private meeting with Ellen, but she summons Tyrol, Tory and Caprica-Six to tell them that they're going to leave the Fleet, doing it just to spite him as she knows how much he loves the Fleet. Tigh refuses to go saying that they can go without him and if Caprica-Six really wants to go, she can go too, but he is not going. Ellen uses this to say he loves the Fleet and Bill Adama more than he loves either of them, but Caprica-Six suddenly goes into distress and starts to miscarry the baby. A horrified Ellen apologizes saying she only wanted to hurt him, not Caprica-Six or the baby. She tells them that they can stay and should and that she'll move to the Rebel basestar and leave him alone. He at first pushes her away, but eventually allows her to comfort him. She tries to get him to tell Caprica-Six how much he loves her, but he can't seem to do it. Caprica-Six miscarries and their baby dies in the womb. Later Tigh goes to Admiral Adama and cries about his lost son (TRS: "Deadlock"). The death of their baby is also apparently the end of the relationship between Tigh and Caprica-Six.
Tigh is with Ellen, Tyrol and Tory in Joe's Bar when Kara starts playing the music, surprising them all. (TRS: "Someone to Watch Over Me") Afterwards he's shocked when Admiral Adama decides to order Galactica's repairs to stop and the ship to be scrapped for parts. The two share a toast to the ship (TRS: "Islanded in a Stream of Stars").
When Adama calls for volunteers for a rescue mission for Hera Agathon, Tigh volunteers immediately alongside Ellen. (TRS: "Daybreak, Part I") During the Battle of The Colony, Tigh coordinates the battle with Admiral Adama in CIC. When a fire breaks out near Anders, he goes up with Tyrol to put it out and stays on the balcony afterwards. During the attempt to get Cavil to stop all of this and release Hera who he has taken hostage in CIC, Tigh offers him resurrection if he agrees to let Hera go and stop chasing humanity. After he agrees the Five combine together to send the plans for resurrection to The Colony and Tigh calms a nervous Tory by saying they forgive her sins when she gets worried about everyone seeing everyone else's memories. Tigh is shocked to discover that Tory murdered Cally and can only watch as Tyrol kills Tory in revenge. After Galactica jumps away, Tigh resumes his duties as XO and reports that Galactica suffered critical structural failures and "broke her back" and can't jump anymore. After landing on their new home planet that they name Earth, Tigh and Ellen say goodbye to Tyrol who plans to go off and live as a hermit and Tigh forgives him for killing Tory, saying he'd have done the same thing if someone had done that to Ellen. Tigh and Ellen rekindle their relationship and go off to spend the rest of their lives together (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").
Col. Tigh is unabashedly pro-human and has stayed fiercely loyal to William Adama and the Fleet despite almost being killed by his son Lee Adama in a rage over his - from Lee's point of view - lifelong deception of his father and the Fleet. He has faced such deadly hostility, but has persevered perhaps in part, if not in whole, because he shares such prejudice himself. This is including serving in the Resistance on New Caprica and having no compunction in blowing up Cylons and alleged collaborators alike. He was often the first to call for the execution of any Cylons found among them. He even killed his own wife Ellen Tigh for betraying the Resistance essentially under Samuel Anders' orders.
When he finds out he is a "skinjob" he is, of course, stunned. He has a waken nightmare of himself repeating the act of Sharon Valerii shooting Admiral Adama under programming. He pledges with the other three Final Five Cylons aboard Galactica to remain loyal and at their post, but if any of them including himself showed signs of working against the interest of the Fleet via hidden program, they should be killed or turned in. Since his discovery his loyalty has not wavered. Indeed he was disappointed in Tory Foster's defection to the Cylons and Galen Tyrol's wavering of who he should belong to. Sam Anders has a similar attitude as Tigh for being loyal to humanity but not as strong - or at least not stated as strongly.
Tigh has fully accepted his Cylon nature to the point he cohabitates with Caprica-Six who is carrying the couple's child. During the mutiny he is willing to die by the side of his best friend and commanding officer William Adama despite Adama's drunken attempts to bait Tigh into killing him only days earlier. He has said that mankind has a lot to answer for regarding the treatment of the Cylons before the Second Cylon War began, but he actually argues to Tyrol and particularly Tory Foster that it is by no means entirely the fault of humankind for their own destruction:
NO! Maybe we share the guilt with the humans but we don't get to just shove it off onto them.
Like Tyrol and Foster, he has no independent recollection of his life before Cavil killed him and implanted false memories, but he was, as related by Samuel Anders, one of the Five to stop the First Cylon War the Colonial Centurion Cylons were raging some 40 years before so his attitude may moderate, but probably won't change his pro-human outlook.
Tigh is supposedly a third-generation Colonial soldier. His father was a decorated fighter pilot killed in combat and his grandfather served under President Mueller. Also, Tigh was a published military historian until personal problems became apparent (TRS: Miniseries, deleted scene). However, given Tigh's recently-revealed Cylon nature, his family history may be a fabrication. Tigh's interest in military history has not been mentioned on screen after the Miniseries, although he mentions various Cylon tactics in use from the Cylon War that came to save Galactica after being boarded by Centurions (TRS: "Valley of Darkness").
A different serial number is given in "He That Believeth in Me" on Starbuck's gun-camera shots of Earth's moon: 245A-34DC.
Tigh's first name has been given as "Paul" on a number of websites. This is initially based on an early version of the script(PDF file), which has Adama speaking to "Paul" in their discussion of his fight with Kara Thrace. In the podcastcommentary on the episode "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down," Ronald D. Moore has indicated that the character's name initially was Paul Tigh. The name had to be changed due to legal issues that Moore was unable to recall in that podcast.
Tigh's (albeit false) age is one of the only ones which can be accurately deduced. According to a deleted scene from "Valley of Darkness," he served on the Brenik when it was boarded during the second year of the Cylon War. Tigh says that he was "just a kid. Virgin. Teenager." It is known that Colonial Day is the anniversary of both the unification of the Colonies, and (roughly) the outbreak of the Cylon War[9], and was 52 years ago (TRS: "Colonial Day"). Thus, Tigh is between 63 and 69 years old at the beginning of Season 2.
In the DVD commentary of "Act of Contrition," Ron Moore notes that actor Michael Hogan won the role of Tigh over Donnelly Rhodes, who was one of two other actors vying for the part. Rhodes went on to play the role of Dr. Cottle, Galactica's CMO.
Tigh's Cylon identity may be alluded to as early as "Occupation": not only does he have only one eye at this point, but the Cylon "scanning eye" sound effect can be faintly heard as he looks toward the open door of his cell when Cavil enters to tell him that he has been released.
In several interviews included on the Season 4.0 DVD, actor Michael Hogan cites fan polls that indicated Tigh was considered one of the least likely characters to be a Cylon. This would also seem to extend to the production crew, as a highlight of the 2006 Gag Reel shown at the San Diego Comic Con was a comedic segment suggesting that Tigh was the "13th Cylon".
Despite being a Cylon and unlike the other members of the Final Five, Tigh doesn't really display Cylon abilities. This is likely from him not embracing his Cylon side like the others do to various extents: Tory shows Cylon strength and joins the Cylons on the baseship as well as connecting to the datastream in the final episode, Tyrol shows Cylon resilance, strength, the ability to tell Cylons apart, projection and is able to connect to the datastream, Anders is physicaly connected to the datastream and acts as a Hybrid as well as displaying a Cylon IFF signal when scanned by a Raider, while Ellen resurrects and acts like a Cylon in her new body, but the only time Tigh displays his Cylon abilities is when he connects to the datastream to transmit the Resurrection data.
↑"Cylon Intelligence Report: Personnel File: Saul Tigh." Battlestar Galactica: The Official Magazine. Feb./Mar. 2006: 62. - He has recently been revealed as a Cylon presumably making this point moot.
↑Ibid. "Saul Tigh entered the fleet as a deckhand, but rose through the ranks, and was a CPO (Chief Petty Officer) by the time the First Cylon War broke out."
↑Ibid. "Tigh joined the Colonial officer candidate school, and was reassigned as a Viper pilot, something he excelled in, earning a string of medals in his post aboard the battlestar Athena."
↑Ibid. "Adama reenlisted with the service, and Tigh spent two years drinking before Adama pulled strings to get him back into service. Tigh was straightening his life out when he met his wife Ellen, whom he courted and married within two months, about 7 years before the Miniseries. Unfortunately, Ellen did not take well to military life, and her repeated infidelities drove Tigh back into the bottle. The two separated shortly before the Cylon attack.
Colonel Tigh calls his unborn son Liam (short for William) after his best friend William Adama. This was also his choice of name for a son when he and Ellen were still trying to have children. After the Thirteenth Tribe on Earth wiped themselves out, Liam would be the first pure blood Cylon born (as opposed to being built) in over 2,000 years. However, four months into Caprica's pregnancy, the fetus dies due to a miscarriage (TRS: "Deadlock").Saul Tigh measures how much alcohol he has remaining (TRS: "Water").
Regularly seen throughout the series, most commonly in the hands of Saul Tigh, this whisky colored beverage seems particularly popular among Colonial officers.
As the specific name of this alcohol remains unnamed, it is referred to as Tigh's liquor.[1]
Propworx Lot 494 and 495 note that the bottle is six-sided with faux etched graphics (unidentified L-shaped symbol) on all sides and measures 12 inches x 2.75 inches.
The bottles used by the property department were repurposed from the, now defunct, brand Brilliant Spirits, which was produced and bottled in the highlands of Scotland.
There are two types of 'L' logo used in the series. In earlier episodes, the bottles were engraved with an oval and the 'L' logo as negative space. In later episodes, just the 'L' was engraved.
This article has a separate continuity. This article is in a separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.
This article covers the various depictions of Tigh from the tie-in novelizations, comic books, and other media.
Tigh is the colonel aboard Galactica during the Battle of Cimtar, and objects to President Adar's hesitancy in launching fighters when Apollo and Zac are under armed attack by then-unidentified forces (Annihilation!).
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This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Richard Hatch continuation separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.
For the canonical depiction of this character, see: Tigh (TOS).
This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Dynamite Comics separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.
This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Dynamite Comics separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.
This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Dynamite Comics separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.
As a Viper pilot aboard battlestar Rylon in 7322, he and wingman Captain Adama are the first Warriors on site during the attack on Umbra, Caprica.
As they attempt to fight off phalanxes of CylonRaider, Adama is shot down and crash-lands into the Thorn forest near Umbra. Before crashing, Adama orders Tigh to return to Rylon for reinforcements. He does so, and is able to secure a medi-ship to pick up both Adama and the young orphaned child whom saved his life (Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck #1).
In the aftermath of the Nebula Ambush, Tigh leads a damage control team to the luxury craft Ariadna, a ship whose engines are failing and leaving Athena to determine the next steps as to planning a future evacuation of the craft's passengers. After nursing the ship back to health, Tigh and his team return to Galactica after escaping into the storm zone, committing himself to keeping Ariadna operational for as long as possible (Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #7). During the travel through the storm zone, Tigh and Apollo find themselves at odds over Adama's decline, particularly when Adama fervently professes his belief that Earth truly lies at the center of the storm zone (Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #8).
After egressing from the storm zone, Tigh tells Adama that a nearby star cluster will allow for varied opportunities for orbital concealment, so that the Fleet may lie low and resupply—and for a possible three-point strike against their pursuers, should they need to fight. However, Tigh and his damage control team return to Ariadna to address the engine issue, while Adama enlists the assistance of Dr. Madusa due to Adama's desire to abdicate command of the Fleet. In doing so, he feels that Tigh's the backbone of the Fleet in his role as executive officer, and that Tigh is far too much a warrior and not enough of a statesperson to be the commander, a belief that makes Adama feel like he's standing over judgment of his loyal friend (Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #10).
As the ship can no longer be nursed back to working order, its crew and passenger compliment are evacuated during the defense of Ariadna. Tigh and his repair crew are cut off from the last evacuation shuttle, becoming resolute in their willingness to sacrifice themselves by turning Ariadna into a bomb and using it against the single basestar pursuing them. Fortunately, Adama recovers his confidence, buoyed by the sacrifice of his friend, and brings Galactica herself into direct confrontation with the baseship. This permits a rescue shuttle to recover Tigh and his contingent, and Ariadna gives its life for the Fleet — without any further human sacrifice (Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #11).
Re-imagined Series definition: in military parlance, directive to continue the attack; otherwise used to refer to journalists (TRS: "Maelstrom")
Re-imagined Series definition: all-purpose vulgarism; Colonial version of "fuck" (see: frak)
Re-imagined Series definition: the process of using the FTL engines to make an near-instantaneous apparent faster-than-light transport of a ship from one point in space to another
Re-imagined Series definition: technology enabling travel across distances faster than the speed of light would permit, see: FTL
