History Characters / StargateAtlantis

* MotorMouth: Rodney is to ''Atlantis'' what Daniel Jackson is to ''SG-1''.

** David Hewlett and the ''Atlantis'' Writers addmited this was part of the challenge of bringing Rodney over to the spinoff. They had to strike a balance between making Rodney a likeable character that audiences would care about every week, yet also ''not'' lose sight of how much of jackass Rodney can be.

* EveryoneHasStandards: While years as a Runner left him somewhat paranoid and hard to get along with, Ronon is always willing to give others a chance to prove themselves. This attitude prompted him to break ties with the V'drai, a group of Runners who taught Ronon most of his skills shortly after the destruction of Sateda, as the group's commander attacked a village of harmless natives on the ''chance'' that they would betray the group to the Wraith in future, whereas Ronon declares that he would be cautious giving others his trust but he would also give them a chance to prove themselves rather than jump to the worst possible conclusion.

* BeleagueredAssistant: Is constantly put upon by Dr. [=McKay=] and often acting as his helper/second fiddle, despite the fact that he's still the ''2nd top scientist'' in an organization full of Earth's best and brightest.

* CatchPhrase: Well not exactly a catch phrase, but he does have a habit of storming away cursing in Czech when people irritate him.

* FakeGuestStar: He's one of the most frequently appearing characters, and one of the few recurring faces to last over all five seasons, but Zelenka never makes it to the opening credits.

* ForeignCussWord: His swearing in Czech when he's annoyed and frustrated.

* GeniusDitz: Can come off as a bit forgetful and comical and is often proven wrong my [=McKay=]. But then its easy to forget, he is the number 2 scientist on the whole base, as [=McKay=]'s second in command.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Subverted, sort of, it's [[CloningBlues complicated]].]]

* CloningBlues: After his death, a clone of him is found in Michael’s lab, six months later with the exact memories and personality. It turns out that Michael cloned him to help with his research into the Hoffan drug and that he has been hoping for a rescue for almost two years. Learning that he’s not the ‘original’ causes him no end of confusion and grief.

* SecondLawMyAss: Sensing that they may GrewBeyondTheirProgramming and didn't want to be weapons, the Ancients have wiped them out, though some have remained and repopulated. Despite the hatered, their programming doesn't allow to harm humans, as Ancients descendants, directly, so they had [=McKay=] give them more freedom, then they've removed the ThouShaltNotKill restriction themselves.

* TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe: Because they're the creations of the Ancients, their ships and weapons are on their level, which they can also mass-produce, making them the most dangerous race in the Pegausus galaxy and the Wraith had to reprogram them to temporarily make them dormant. Unfortunatelly for Asurans, humans in the Milky Way have access to more updated Ancient tech and the Asgard weaponry, and their threat gets reduced once [=SGC=] manages to bring the warships over.

* HatePlague: They have a written-in programming to attack Wraiths, and have deduced that killing humans in the Pegausus Galaxy is one way to achieve strategic victory. Some Asurans like Niam are aware that their thoguhts are not their own and want that programming gone.

* RedHerringShirt: It's hard to know if it was intended, but Ladon is only given a minor role as the scientific specialist on Kolya's invasion team during the Genii's attack on Atlantis in Season One, with only slightly more attention that the generic mooks that Sheppard obliterates. He takes on a much greater role in later Genii episodes.

* MoralityPet: His sister, who is DelicateAndSickly.

* BoobsOfSteel: Her bust size is modestly larger than Weir or Keller, more in line with the similarly badass Carter, and she can and will kick your ass.

* GoingNative: Like his ProudWarriorRace guy counterpart on SG-1, he adapts to living in Earth culture over the course of the show. First he clashes with the military chain of command and can barely disguise his annoyance with diplomats and scientists. As he lightens up he begins to work well with Atlantis's Marine detachment and becomes a low-key movie buff. When Atlantis travels to Earth in the finale, his response to assurances that Stargate Command will make sure he gets home is "I am home." In the follow-up novels, while he is grateful to learn that his people are working to rebuild life on Sateda, he declines an offer to return to the planet full-time, both because he felt that he wouldn't be a good fit for the offered role and because he has come to identify himself more as a Lantean than a Satedan.

* StraightMan: To Sheppard and [=McKay=].

* MajorlyAwesome: In the first season.

[[folder:Rodney McKay]]

* CrazyCulturalComparision: Invoked in the sequel novels when various Wraith discuss the Atlantis expedition. Given the matriarchal nature of Wraith culture, they regard Elizabeth Weir and Samantha Carter as the equivalent of the ‘queen’ of Atlantis, with Teyla as a junior queen. Linking to this perception, John Sheppard is regarded as the shared consort of these queens (Carter is also believed to have another consort in another galaxy, a clear reference to her ShipTease with Jack O’Neill), while Woolsey is considered a “blade” who rules Atlantis on the behalf of his Queen after Carter returned to her galaxy.

* MadeOfIron: Exactly how tough an individual Wraith is seems to vary quite a lot based on factors such as how recently it's been since they've fed, but generally an average Wraith seems to be quite a bit harder to put down than an average Jaffa. "The Defiant One" was able to regenerate from a full mag of P90 submachine gun fire ''and'' a grenade to the face, but that's definitely on the extreme high end of how much punishment they can take.

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Despite being a commander rather than royalty the trope certainly fits, as she deals with the pressure of being leader of Atlantis with incredible control throughout the series. She may ''feel'' terrified but she'll be damned if anyone ''sees'' it.

* ItsAllMyFault: Sheppard faces this in particular in the novel "Casualties of War", when he actually tries to resign because his attempt to acquire a new weapon against the Asurans got Atlantis involved in a tribal conflict on the planet, which ([[spoiler:apparently]]) led to Ronon and Reyla's deaths before he learnt that the new weapon could cause neurological damage to humans.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Sort of. He will invariably screw Atlantis over the moment that the tide might turn in his favour, but unlike almost every other Wraith, he ''will'' also keep to the letter of his bargains. Unfortunately, he's also very good at LoopholeAbuse. This is pointed out by Sheppard when he explains that dealing with Todd feels like walking around with a live grenade in your pocket.

* GeniusBruiser: He's an exceptional fighter and a brilliant scientist, being implied to be every bit as smart as [=McKay=] - certainly, smart enough to hack his systems.

* GoingNative: Like his ProudWarriorRace guy counterpart on SG-1, he adapts to living in Earth culture over the course of the show. First he clashes with the military chain of command and can barely disguise his annoyance with diplomats and scientists. As he lightens up he begins to work well with Atlantis's Marine detachment and becomes a low-key movie buff. When Atlantis travels to Earth in the finale, his response to assurances that Stargate Command will make sure he gets home is "I am home."

%%* BareYourMidriff: All of her civilian clothes.

* MedievalStasis: Like the Goa'uld, they wipe out any human cultures that advanced technologically enough to potentially be a threat to them. They seem to be much more efficient at it than the Goa'uld are; while the Milky Way galaxy has many human and non-human cultures more technologically advanced than Earth, and even several that have developed technologically ahead of the Goa'uld, the most advanced human cultures in the Pegasus Galaxy (the Genii and the Satedans) are at a level around World War II-era Earth.

* IdenticalStranger: Heyerdahl appeared in the first season (the first few episodes, in fact) as a leader of the Athosians.

* YouLookFamiliar: Heyerdahl appeared in the first season (the first few episodes, in fact) as a leader of the Athosians.