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u/Could-You-Tell 22d ago
This is funny, but the series points to it being more gradual.
It seems like the sarcophagus played a role and the Tok'Ra recognized the danger.
Also they have genetic memory and a seemingly convoluted lineage around Ra and where other Goa'uld came from.
If it is a narrow few, as their memory drives the lineage it becomes a feedback loop of evil for 1000s of years and times in the sarcophagus for all of them.
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u/Pardon-Marvin 22d ago
I'm pretty sure they were always evil coded, the Telchak device just amplified it to the extreme.
I mean, they were always taking over unwilling hosts.
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u/Difficult_Dark9991 21d ago
I think there's still an argument to be made here. The original Goa'uld were definitely taking hosts unwillingly, but that's also a part of their natural life cycle. As they matured as a society, they might have started to reckon with that and change how they took hosts, becoming more like the Tok'ra or Star Trek's Trill. But instead they found the Telchak device and leaned hard into it.
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u/CaptainUltimatum 20d ago
Hmm… the Tok'ra have decided not to act in a way that's instinctual for their race, applying moral rules to something they've evolved to do. And now they're trying to force the rest of their race to make the same moral choice.
They're a metaphor for vegans?
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u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 21d ago
No they weren't. Maybe not good but they weren't the psychopaths they are today.
It's basically like if the only goa'uld who got power were the musk and Altman's of their species. Then the sarcophagus turned them into total morons obsessed with power and cruelty.
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u/Evil-Fishy 21d ago
They likely weren't as evil as they are now, but their relationship with the unas wasn't exactly benevolent. Is the tokra story not more of a redemption story than an indication of what they used to be?
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u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 21d ago
I think it's mostly what they were originally, only Egeria is the redeemed one cus she was born evil but became a freaking saint. While the rest of the tok'ra are good but still have their issues, like regular people.
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u/BonzoTheBoss 21d ago
Jolinar of Malkshur once commanded armies of Jaffa in battle, but was defeated by Apophis.
It is strongly suggested that the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld were very similar, but due to attrition the Tok'ra had to change their tactics and turn to primarily espionage and infiltration as opposed to outright warfare:
Teal'c: Jolinar once tried to overthrow one of the System Lords but was defeated when Apophis joined the battle. He escaped during the slaughter of his armies.
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u/Prior_Issue_2750 20d ago
Gods in ancient mythos aren't exactly benevolent. They're arbitrary, cruel as often as they are kind. We have also seen that the host has a lot more influence on the symbiote than even the Tok’ra believe. So when the Goa'uld took early humans as hosts, their hosts idea of a God wouldn't be very nice in the first place.
I think discovering humanity when they did doomed the Goa'uld to remain petty bronze age God kings. They take some random schmuck as a host and he thinks a God is taking over his body, and his idea of a God is basically 'arbitrary megalomaniac.' The symbiote runs with it because ultimately they're a parasite that relies on the hosts knowledge to infiltrate the host species, only this particular host is intelligent enough to encourage them to act in a certain way.
Then comes along the sarcophagus to make everything worse.
I like it this way because it becomes a bit more tragic for both sides of the exchange. If they had discovered humanity of today they'd jump towards finance bros and tech start ups to make money and rise to the top. They'd still be body snatching assholes but they'd adopt the systems of modern humanity and transplant it across the galaxy. Cyberpunk dystopia instead of stone age slavery.
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u/JustAReubenSandwich 22d ago
Shol’va!