Vala Mal Doran

Vala Mal Doran is a thief and con artist, former Goa'uld host, and member of SG-1.

Early life

Much of Vala's early life is unknown. She was raised by her father and stepmother, Adria. At some point, she was taken as a host to the Goa'uld Qetesh. Eventually, Vala was freed when a Tok'ra incited a rebellion and removed Qetesh from Vala. While she was host to the Goa'uld Qetesh she had killed ten thousand of Ba'al's Jaffa.

2004

Upon first meeting, Vala Mal Doran hi-jacked the Prometheus using Kull armour. Daniel Jackson was taken hostage and tortured, striking him and shooting him with a Kull Warrior weapon, in order to get the codes to unlock the ship's command systems, but he claimed he didn't have the codes. Vala healed Daniel's wound from the weapon with a Healing ring. Daniel thought that Vala was a Goa'uld because she could operate the healing device, but she said that she was a former host. She claimed that having been a former host of a Goa'uld permitted her to not only use the Goa'uld technology, but also to understand the systems of the Prometheus. She said that the technology was primitive. Vala took the Prometheus in order to sell it. However they were attacked by Ba'al's force in the middle of the transaction. Working together Daniel and Vala overcame the assault on the Prometheus, where she was promptly Zatted and then thrown back into the Brig. She eventually escaped and jumped ship aboard the Al'kesh she was found on. (SG1: "Prometheus Unbound")

2005

Motivated by her insatiable appetite for ill-gotten gain, Vala came to Earth bearing a stolen tablet that only Dr. Daniel Jackson could decipher. She was convinced that the tablet held the secret to an incredible buried treasure, while Daniel was convinced that some way, somehow, she was going to make his life miserable. At Colonel Mitchell's request, however, he consented to a meeting with her. Unfortunately, the tablet wasn't the only artifact Vala had stolen. She had also brought along some insurance — two ancient Jaffa bracelets that Teal'c explains were once used to bind prisoners to their guards and thus prevent escape. Before Daniel has a chance to argue, Vala clamps one of the bracelets onto his wrist and the other onto her own.

After Dr. Bill Lee tries and fails to remove the shackles, a resigned Daniel complies with Vala's demand and cracks the tablet's code. His translation leads the pair, along with Mitchell and Teal'c, into a deep and Ancient cavern on Earth. With the treasure just out of reach, they find themselves trapped. Unless they can solve a series of complicated riddles, they will never find the treasure — and, worse, they'll never get out alive. (SG1: "Avalon")

They figure out the puzzle and find a device that supposedly can help them communicate with other people. However, Vala and Daniel Jackson's minds were transported to bodies in another galaxy. There, Vala is killed by the villagers and brought back to life by a Prior. They are both later sentenced to be killed but are saved by the heroic efforts of Teal'c and Cameron Mitchell. (SG1: "Origin")

Her earlier statement that she was host to a Goa'uld is found correct when she and the others on SG-1 travel to the planet where she, in the form of Qetesh, used to rule. (SG1: "The Ties That Bind")

After a heroic and successful effort to prevent the Ori from establishing a foothold in this galaxy, she was presumed dead. After analyzing what happened, Samantha Carter makes the assumption that Vala was instead transported with the Ring transporter to the Ori home galaxy. (SG1: "Beachhead")

2006

She was found and nursed back to health by Tomin, who believed that the Ori had sent her to him. While recovering, she was impregnated by the Ori, so she married Tomin to prevent herself from being burned alive (again). She later made some controversial comments to Denya, a friend of hers, leading Denya to suspect she didn't believe in the Ori. Denya, who was also a heretic, told Seevis, the administrator of Ver Isca and leader of the Anti-Ori resistance. She was chained in the Ara for three whole days without food and water, but Tomin cut her free. After revealing themselves, Denya and Seevis allowed her access to the communication terminal that Harrid and Sallis had, but Tomin destroyed the device and killed Seevis and Denya. (SG1: "Crusade")

She accompanied Tomin with the Ori fleet, and gave birth to the Orici, whom she named Adria after her stepmother. Daniel was able to rescue Vala, and she was later made a probationary member of Stargate Command. After being kidnapped by Athena and the Trust, she lost her memory, and became a waitress. The SGC was able to find Vala, and General Landry appointed Vala to SG-1. (SG1: "Flesh and Blood", "Morpheus", "Memento Mori")

She was later reunited with Tomin who captured her and tried to train her in the ways of Origin, but ultimately helped her escape.

2008

At the end of the Ori crusade she encountered Tomin again, but this time SG-1 managed to convince him to change sides. SG-1 and Tomin took the Odyssey to the Ori home galaxy and there Vala was captured and tortured before being taken to see an Ascended Adria. Adria was somehow distracted by Morgan Le Fay and left. After Vala was shown (by Morgan) the symbols necessary to activate the Ark, she rescued Tomin and with Daniel and Teal'c headed to the room that held the Ark. She distracted Adria, allowing Daniel to activate the Ark. Adria was then weak enough for Morgan to attack and destroy her. Afterwards, back at the SGC, Vala and Tomin had a conversation about their marriage. Although Vala had the choice to return with him, she chose to stay on Earth saying that while she didn't know her place in life, she hoped it was on Earth with SG-1. She and Tomin planned to spend the rest of their lives making up for the terrible things they did. (Stargate: Ark of Truth)

Alternate realities

• In an alternate reality Carter accidentally traveled, Vala was under confinement in Area 51, possibly because of theft.
• At the extraction ceremony of Ba'al she disappeared as the original Ba'al had gone back in time and changed history. In the alternate timeline she was still Qetesh (the Goa'uld who had controlled her in the past). She killed Ba'al and was later killed by the alternate Teal'c in a massive explosion. After history was restored and the Goa'uld symbiote was extracted from the Ba'al clone and killed, she decided to stay behind and help the clone's host cope with the extraction because she knew what he was going through as a former host herself. (Stargate: Continuum)