Characters / Battlestar Galactica 2003 Main Characters

The main regular castmembers of Battlestar Galactica (2003)

Main Human Characters

Commander Adama

Commander William 'Bill' Adama (callsign: Husker)

"It's not enough to survive. One must be worthy of survival."

Played By: Edward James Olmos, Nico Cortez (Razor flashbacks) Luke Pasqualino (Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome)

An almost-retired Commander who was assigned to Galactica in the twilight of his career to oversee her decommissioning. As a veteran of the First Cylon War, where he served as a Viper pilot on the selfsame Galactica, Bill Adama is actually one of the better choices for command in the second war, not to mention a Cool Old Guy.

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• Abusive Parents: "A Day in the Life" shows he believes he was this to Lee and Zak of the neglectful kind, believing his committment to his work and struggles with showing emotion were harmful to them, and that his wife Carolanne’s constant berating of him was justified, to the point of divorcing her and letting her take custody of the boys under the belief she would provide a more stable home life for them. When he admits this to Lee, Lee reveals that Carolanne was an alcoholic and abusive at least verbally if not physically, and notes she probably never loved Bill.
• Adaptational Jerkass: The infallible Adama of the original series Bill is not - he can be very blunt at his best and ruthless at his worst.
• Adaptational Wimp: In terms of authority, at least. Original series Adama led all of humanity, while this version only leads the military.
• A Father to His Men: His troops look up to him, and he cares deeply for them. Ironically, he was probably more distant with his son than the rest of the troops under his command at the beginning of the series.
• Beard of Sorrow: He's unshaven in "33" shortly after the destruction of the colonies.
• Becoming the Mask: A few episodes show him putting on the mask of being The Stoic has left him unable to take it off, and with difficulty expressing emotion.
• Big Good: Leader of the human military, though he shares this role with Laura Roslin who is leader of humanity as a whole.
• The Captain: And is later promoted to Four-Star Badass.
• Catchphrase: "Sometimes you gotta roll the hard six."
  • ("...What does that mean, sir?" "I dunno, it's, it's something my dad says.")
• Chekhov's Gun: When shown shaving with his straight razor, Adama will always cut himself with it, symbolizing whatever turmoil he's feeling that episode.
• Commanding Coolness: To the awesome power.
• Combat Pragmatist: "The Adama Manuever".
• Cool Old Guy: He gets along quite well with his younger crew, who affectionately refer to him as 'the old man'.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He gets rather jealous of how chummy original series Adama gets with President Roslin in the non-canon crossover comic.
• Cultured Badass: Starts off every morning by reciting a poem.
• Death Glare: A true master of this, also known as "The Adama Glare".
• Embarrassing Nickname: Like many callsigns, his began as one. Husker as in someone who husks corn. As a rookie, his co-pilot insisted on characterizing him as a "Farm Boy" even though he was from Caprica City and had never grown up on a farm.
• Fisher King: His deterioration in Season 4.5 eerily mirrors Galactica's own.
• Four-Star Badass: Gets promoted over the course of the series, leading to him attaining the rank of Rear Admiral.
• Henpecked Husband: He was this to his wife Carolanne, who spent her time verbally abusing him and generally turning his every action into another sign of his cruelty, out of love for her and because he genuinely thought she was right. Lee later expresses his own belief that she never actually loved Bill.
• Hidden Depths: "A Day in the Life" shows he’s filled with guilt and self-loathing.
• Like A Daughter To Me: He repeatedly says this to Starbuck. He has the same feeling, to a somewhat lesser extent, for Boomer, which explains a lot of his interaction (good and bad) with her and Athena. Shows shades of this in Season 3 with Kat as she is dying from radiation poisoning after saving a civilian transport.
• Machine Empathy: He seems to be able to feel when Galactica is hurting.
• Manly Tears: He has a full-blown breakdown when Tigh reveals to him that he's a Cylon. He sheds these again in the finale when Laura dies.
• Mighty Glacier: On the few times he's seen in action, he's generally capable of felling an opponent with a slow deliberate punch.
• Papa Wolf: Very protective of his crew.
• Parental Substitute: For Starbuck.
• Rank Up: Roslin formally promotes him to admiral following Cain's demise in order to prevent control of the Fleet from falling in the hands of another officer again.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: How he ended up in command of the Galactica in the first place, after a mission to spy on the Cylons aboard his previous command went horribly wrong. Court-martialing and discharging him would have publicly exposed the operation, so he was sent to serve on Galactica with the hope that he would take the hint and retire when the ship was decommissioned.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: A very intelligent and perceptive man who is also excellent at directing and managing people around the ship.
• Specs of Awesome: His spectacles are used to emphasize his status as an aged, knowledgable veteran.
• The Stoic: Bill is almost always calm and collected in even the most dangerous situations. Whenever he shows genuine emotion, it’s a bad sign. "A Day in the Life" shows that his status as this is due to him having genuine trouble with showing emotions to people.
• Team Dad: As you'd expect from a Papa Wolf and A Father to His Men.
• Wedding Ring Removal: Despite their bitter divorce he continues to wear his ring from his marriage to Carolanne for the duration of the series. He finally removes it in the Grand Finale when he places it on Laura's finger after she succumbs to her cancer.

President Roslin

Laura Roslin

"One of the interesting things about being president is that you don't have to explain yourself to anyone."

Played By: Mary McDonnell

The Secretary of Education under President Richard Adar, Laura Roslin was attending the de-commissioning ceremony on Galactica when the Cylons attacked (as the ship was to be turned into a museum). Forty-third in the line of succession, she was sworn in as the lawful replacement President of the Twelve Colonies. Immediately, many cast doubt that a former schoolteacher could be president, especially under such dire circumstances, but Roslin handles the office with more aplomb than even her supporters could have expected.

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• Baldness Means Sickness: Laura eventually loses her hair due to cancer treatments. She usually wears a wig while in public and a scarf while in private or while exercising.
• Big Good: As President of the Twelve Colonies, she shares this role with Adama, who leads the military.
• Canon Foreigner: She had no equivalent in the original series, where President Adar was succeeded as leader of the Colonials by Adama himself under martial law.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has a very sarcastic sense of humor.
• Death by Origin Story: Her father and two younger sisters died in a car accident. After grieving for several months, she agreed to become part of Adar's campaign for President as a way to move on. That tragedy set everything in motion for her eventual arrival on Galactica.
• Determinator: She has her breakdowns and moments of despair, but Laura Roslin will never give up. Even when she's practically bedridden and at death's door, she summons the strength (with the help of some injections) to join the mission to rescue Hera.
• Fiery Redhead: She is fierce and more than willing to talk back to anyone who questions her.
• Go Out with a Smile: In the Grand Finale, she passes on peacefully flying in a Raptor over the lands of Earth with Bill by her side, getting to take in its beauty before fading away with a happy smile on her face.
• Hanging Judge: She really likes doing this early on, namely by hurling people out into the vacuum of space.
• Iron Lady: She's far more stern than her opposition expected from a "kindergarten teacher".
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Roslin can be a downright ruthless pragmatist, but also has a strong empathetic side and is firmly dedicated to safeguarding the survival of mankind and reaching Earth.
• Moses Archetype: Roslin is the leader of her displaced people who, guided by divine visions, leads them to a promised land they can make a new home in. She ultimately succeeds but tragically passes shortly after it's discovery, able to see the land but never being able to live there herself.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Shows some signs of becoming this by early Season 4, by which point she openly regards the Quorum of Twelve as a nuisance rather than a body she's answerable to, passes laws without consulting the Quorum and is openly disdainful towards them whenever they question her decisions. Admittedly, it's somewhat understandable since, on top of all the usual stresses of her job, her cancer has returned by this point.
• Our Presidents Are Different: She is definitely President Iron. When pushed too far, she becomes President Action. Her belief in the Pythian prophecies causes some to think of her as President Lunatic. She crosses the line into President Scheming once by allowing her cabinet to fix an election. The plan falls through, however.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: For the most part, though she also proves herself to be disconcertingly manipulative as the series goes on.
• Second Love: For Bill, who started out the series still hung up on his bad relationship with Carolanne.
• Secretly Dying: She initially hides that she has cancer from the vast majority of her citizens in order to keep some measure of stability and not have to burden the populace with yet another piece of bad news. She does go into remission thanks to Hera Agathon's blood before it comes back and slowly gets worse over the course of the series before it ultimately kills her.
• Team Mom: Spends a lot of her time as President trying to stop the constant infighting and backstabbing that's endemic among the survivors. She can be very stern - even ruthless - when necessary though.
• The Topic of Cancer: She has terminal breast cancer and receives her diagnosis just before the Cylon attack. She struggles with it throughout the course of the series and it doesn't pull punches about how brutal the illness and treatments are.
• Trauma Conga Line: The Pilot Miniseries timespan is a brutal period for her. First, she discovers she has cancer, then the Cylons launch their devastating attack which kills just about everyone she knew, and then she's thrust into the role of President. Really, it's no surprise that she's breaking down into tears while being sworn in as President.
• Unexpected Successor: Forty-third in line, in fact. She was the Secretary of Education and was off-planet when the Cylons launched their attack, making her the only known member of the President's Cabinet to survive the genocide of the Twelve Colonies.
• Warhawk: Roslin's humble origins belie her ruthlessness, particularly in contrast to Adama. Between the two of them, she is more likely to resort to extreme measures, such as advocating the assassination of Admiral Cain and using biological weapons against the Cylons.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Has committed acts of terrorism, meddled with democratic elections, and had people executed in order to safeguard mankind's future.
• Your Days Are Numbered: She has breast cancer and her deterioration is not pretty. She soldiers on regardless, even joining the crew personally to help in rescuing Hera from the Cylons and ultimately passing on peacefully after getting to see the second Earth.

Starbuck

Lieutenant Kara Thrace (callsign: Starbuck)

"Pilots call me Starbuck, you may refer to me as God."

Played By: Katee Sackhoff

An excellent pilot considered the best shot and manueverer in the squadron, with a rebellious streak a mile wide. This makes her genuinely awesome, both in and out of the cockpit... though the show also deconstructs just what happens when you have a genuine Military Maverick on your hands. The Cylons, particularly Twos, claim that she has a "special destiny," and ultimately she uses Magic Music to lead the fleet to Earth. ...After dying and being returned as some sort of Angel Unaware.

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• Abusive Parents: She was raised by her mother, a divorced Colonial Marines NCO repeatedly rejected from officer training, who took out her frustrations on Kara by doing things like slamming the door on her fingers. In a somewhat unusual variation, rather than calling her useless or so on, Socrata Thrace believed Kara was special and criticized her for not living up to her full potential.
• Ace Pilot: One of the best on the show.
• Action Girl: Since The Main Characters Do Everything, even though she's an Ace Pilot, she's also skilled as infantry/SWAT.
• The Alcoholic: While she's a relatively high-functioning alcoholic as compared to Col. Tigh, she still drinks far more than is healthy and Katee Sackhoff herself once stated that Kara "drinks most of her calories".
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Her ultimate fate.
• Back from the Dead: Played with. While the being that appeared at the end of Season 3 certainly believed herself to be Starbuck, it's hinted that she may or may not be the original Kara, while definitely being an angelic entity sent by God to lead the Colonials to Earth-2 either way.
• Blasphemous Boast: While training the new pilots in Season 1, she orders them to refer to her as "God" in order to intimidate them.
• Blood Knight: As evidenced by this quote:
  "You know, everyone I know is fighting to get back what they had. I'm fighting because I don't know how to do anything else."
• Boom, Headshot!: Shot the Raider she hijacked in Season 1 right in its bio-mechanical eye. While both of them were flying in space.
• Boyish Short Hair: Kara often wears her hair this way, most noticeably in the Miniseries and Season 1.
• Broken Ace: Even before the vast majority of the Colonial military was killed, she was one of their best pilots. However, she has stunted her own career by accumulating demerits from bad behavior, and is eventually revealed to have an extremely dark past and a lot of accompanying emotional baggage that causes her sanity and composure to begin to break down multiple times throughout the series.
• Broken Bird: Her dad left, her mom was an abusive hardass, and her fiancé died in a flight accident after she lied about his pilot test results - and that was all before the Cylons attacked. Her high amount of unprocessed trauma ends up pushing her into risky or borderline suicidal behavior often enough that her extreme recklessness is a major part of her character, up until she actually does die; when she returns, she is still somewhat unhinged for different reasons but puts herself at far less needless risk.
• Career-Ending Injury: Pre-series. Kara was on track to become a professional Pyramid player until a knee injury prematurely ended her career.
• Cartwright Curse: Zak ends up dead as a result of her passing him through a test he failed, while Sam is first left behind on an irradiated Caprica, then later rendered brain-dead by a bullet to the head. At the very end, when it looks like she finally has the chance to be with Lee, she disappears into thin air, leaving him behind.
• Cigar Chomper: A rare female version.
• Daddy's Girl: She was much closer to her pianist father Dreilide than her domineering mother Socrata, though he later abandoned them.
• Death Seeker: A major recurring element of her character until the end of season 3, and comes into direct focus in the episodes "Scar" and "Maelstrom."
• Freudian Excuse: The constant physical abuse Kara suffered at the hands of her mother, coupled with her father's abandonment of her, goes a long way towards explaining why she's so dysfunctional as an adult.
• Gender Flip: Starbuck in the original series was a man. Here, Starbuck is a woman.
• Good Bad Girl: Due to being a Distaff Counterpart to her womanizing namesake from the original series.
• Heroic BSoD: Goes through one after realizing that she's not a mortal human anymore.
• Hidden Depths: She's actually a pretty decent pianist. She learned how to play from her father before he left her, and she claims that the chorus to "All Along The Watchtower" is one of the few things that makes her happy.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: For as much as she may bluster and arrogantly boast to her peers, she has severe self-loathing issues and views herself as unimportant.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's often rude, insensitive, hostile and insubordinate which can occasionally lead her into conflict with other officers onboard the Galactica, particularly Col. Tigh. However, she is broadly well-intentioned and values human life, takes her job (as a pilot) seriously, is a genuinely good flight instructor, and can be kind and affectionate with people she cares about (such as Helo, one of her oldest friends in the Fleet, and Apollo).
• The Lad-ette: Drinks, chomps cigars, and generally acts like One of the Boys.
• Lady Swears-a-Lot: Probably the most foul-mouthed character in the cast. Rarely goes an episode without uttering some form of profanity.
• Meaningful Name: Kara is the name of a Valkyrie in Norse mythology. Meanwhile, Thrace refers to a Celtic tribe living northeast of Greece during ancient history who known for being very warlike and were often employed as mercenaries, to the point where they were said to be descended from a son of Ares.
• Military Brat: Kara's mother Socrata was in the military and she spent most of her childhood traveling from one colony to another.
• Ms. Fanservice: Sometimes plays this role in the first couple of seasons due to her habit of lounging around in her underwear, although she's nowhere near as straight an example as Head Six.
• My Greatest Failure: She blames herself for Zak's death.
• Not Afraid to Die: As shown in one of her earliest flashbacks in the finale, she has no fear of death. Her recklessness is sometimes framed more positively as part of what makes her seem effortlessly cool but ultimately it's a symptom of the deep feelings of worthlessness that were instilled in her by her mother, and begins edging toward Death Seeker territory as her emotions become harder for her to manage.
• Our Angels Are Different: It appears that she was resurrected as an angel-like entity akin to Head-Six and Head-Baltar after her death, albeit one where everyone can see her.
• Platonic Life-Partners: She and Helo have been close friends for a long time.
• Psychotic Smirk: Katee Sackhoff has the most frighteningly ambiguous smile in science-fiction TV since Paul Darrow as Avon in Blake's 7 (and uses in it rather similar circumstances).
• Rank Up: To captain and CAG eventually.
• Really Gets Around: Sleeps with anyone she fancies, even after she's married to Sam. Deconstructed in that she apparently has a habit of using sex to self-sabotage, such as when her relationship with Lee starts to move toward romantic territory at the Colonial Day celebration but she then turns around and sleeps with Baltar instead, despite very obviously still preferring Lee. When Lee later confronts her and asks for an explanation, she doesn't have one.
  Lee: Why'd you do it, Kara? Just tell me why.
  Kara: 'Cause I'm a screw-up, Lee, try and keep that in mind.
• Religious Bruiser: Surprisingly, she's one of the most devoutly religious characters on the show (even more so than Roslin, who has religion as a central element of her character arc). Although she plays fast and loose with societal rules, Kara takes religious sacraments and the gods in general extremely seriously – hence why she is willing to cheat on her husband Sam with Lee, but balks when Lee suggests the possibility of divorcing Sam.
• Screw Yourself: Literally. She sleeps with original series Starbuck in the crossover comic.
• She's Back: After spending the beginning of Season 4 steadily unraveling, Sgt. Matthias's death results in her snapping back to her tough-as-nails usual self.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Invoked by name in "Colonial Day", in fact.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Apollo.
• Teacher/Student Romance: She was Zak's flight instructor, girlfriend and eventual fiancée.
• Tomato in the Mirror: She's understandably distraught upon learning that she's almost certainly not a human after being resurrected.
• Walking Spoiler: After being brought Back from the Dead, she's actually an "angel" like Head-Six and Head-Baltar with the purpose of helping make sure everyone finds the new Earth.
• Wrench Wench: Has a few moments, most notably when she somehow managed to get a Cylon Raider in working condition after being forced to eject from her Viper and landing on a nearby moon.

Apollo

Captain Leland 'Lee' Joseph Adama (callsign: Apollo)

"I'm the coward. I'm the traitor. I'm forgiven."

Played By: Jamie Bamber

The son of Bill Adama, from whom he is estranged due to the death of his younger brother Zak in a flight-related accident. Apollo's opinion is that Adama pressured Zak into becoming a pilot, which Zak was not cut out for; he blames his dad for his brother's death. He also takes after his grandfather (lawyer Joseph Adama) in being rather more loyal to laws, rights and civil liberties than the uniform or any group of people. Ordered to Galactica at Bill's request to lead the ceremonial flyby for the decommissioning at the start of the series, Lee becomes the senior pilot (Commander of Air Group) after the previous CAG dies during one of the first engagements with the Cylons. Eventually promoted to Commander, put in charge of the Pegasus, and wed to Dee.

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• The Ace: Lampshaded by his callsign, as Apollo is The Ace in this universe's pantheon.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Lee has a far rockier relationship with his father than the original series Apollo; when the series opens, they're outright estranged from one another.
• The Big Damn Kiss: During what he thinks may be his final goodbye to Starbuck in "Six of One."
• Calling the Old Man Out: Does this many times to his father Bill, for getting Zak killed trying to live up to his expectations and also for being absent through much of their childhood and leaving them with their mother Carolanne, who became verbally abusive when she'd had too much to drink.
• Cartwright Curse: His pregnant girlfriend gets killed in the Cylon attacks, Starbuck gets married to Anders right after finally admitting she loves him, and before eventually dying, he has a rocky relationship with Dee before separating from her and she commits suicide. Lee is not lucky in love.
• Commanding Coolness: Spends the first half of the series as Galactica's CAG (Commander of Air Group).
• Did Not Get the Girl: In the Grand Finale, when it seems like he and Kara may finally be able to get together, she vanishes.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Lee has a pretty low opinion of many people, constantly calling them out for falling short of their ideals, and he's his own harshest critic on that. Still, he is also one of the few people in the series who will most reliably choose to do the right thing, no matter how many people he pisses off and no matter how badly he believes it will backfire on him.
• Living Emotional Crutch: To Kara, as he's almost always the one checking on her, helping her talk through her thoughts and feelings, and telling her off when she's being callous or putting herself or others at unnecessary risk. Notably, when she finds her own corpse on the destroyed Earth, the first thing she does is go to Lee to tell him about it.
• Meaningful Name: "Lee" is of Old English origin, and means "pasture" or "meadow." Lee is the one who comes up with a "return-to-the-land" plan in the finale.
• Military Brat: Comes with being Adama's son.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's got a lot of shirtless scenes showing off his Heroic Build.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Starbuck, or so they claim.
• Rank Up: Initially to Galactica CAG, then XO and later Commander of Pegasus, and eventually Vice President of the Twelve Colonies
• The Reliable One: Lee is a skilled pilot and natural-born leader and while he has his share of problems, he's definitely closer to having his shit together than his comrades (most notably Starbuck).
• Sharp-Dressed Man: When he leaves the service and gets into politics.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Starbuck.
• Straight Man: He serves as something of a straight man for the entire crew.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Is noted by Ellen Tigh to look a lot like his mother, Carolanne Adama.
• The Main Characters Do Everything: Lee is practically the embodiment of this trope. There are few military/leadership roles that he hadn't assumed or temporarily performed at one point or another during the show.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: A major part of his interactions with his father.
• Will They or Won't They?: A solid three-and-a-bit season's worth with Starbuck, putting them at the center of a mad-crazy Love Dodecahedron (Starbuck loves both Lee and Anders; Lee loves both Starbuck and Dee; Dee loves both Lee and Billy).
• Would Hit a Girl: Is perfectly willing to strike back when Starbuck decks him.

Gaius Baltar

Dr Gaius Baltar

"You have not heard the last! No more Mr. Nice Gaius!"

Played By: James Callis

A genius scientist working on a new navicomputer program for the Colonial military, Baltar was unwittingly instrumental in the Cylon massacre: he was seduced by a Number Six who he believed worked for a competing defense contractor, and gave her access to the program, into which she inserted a virus which managed to disable most of the fleet. Surviving via luck and reputation, Baltar now has to negotiate the Fleet while keeping his betrayal secret. There's also the fact that he now holds conversations with his version of a Shoulder Angel, who takes the form of Six. Becomes President on the platform of insisting that the fleet colonize a semi-habitable planet called New Caprica, which turns out to be a huge mistake.

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• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Unlike original series Baltar, he feels incredibly guilty about inadvertently selling humanity out to the Cylons.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the original series, Baltar was an older man with the Face of a Thug. The reimagined version borders on being a Pretty Boy.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the original show, Count Baltar was The Heavy for the Cylons and served as the de facto main antagonist for the show, was a deliberate traitor to the human race, and at times was arrogant enough to believe that the Cylons worked for him rather than the other way round. Here, Doctor Baltar is an Anti-Villain at worst, was only tricked into helping the Cylons destroy the Colonies, and while definitely selfish, cowardly and an all-round Jerkass, he is never truly evil and (very) slowly undergoes Character Development that sees him eventually become a more heroic person.
• A God Am I: Has his moments.
• Amazon Chaser: Head!Six says he has a thing for strong, powerful women, and over the course of the series, he sleeps with Kara and has an Erotic Dream about Roslin.
• Anti-Hero: At his best of days.
• The Atoner: He is trying to undo the damage he caused by letting Caprica-Six seduce him, though it's more out of self-preservation.
• Beard of Evil: Doubles as Beard of Sorrow, and Beard Of Ineffectual Cowardice— to cut it short, whenever Baltar changes his facial hair style, major character development is inbound.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He's one of the smartest men alive but would much rather spend his time sleeping around and smoking cigars.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's awkward, cowardly and talks to himself but is probably the smartest man left in the universe.
• Butt-Monkey: Quite often.
• The Caligula: During his Presidency of New Caprica he indulged in alcoholism, womanizing and wallowed in the incompetence of his subordinates while his people suffered and died. After the Cylons take over New Caprica and turn him into a puppet king, he winds up being the Only Sane Man in the whole administration, because the Cylons are just that terrible at running a government.
• The Casanova: It would be easier to count the women he hasn't slept with.
• Celebrity Survivor: Easily one of the most famous and recognizable figures to escape the Cylon holocaust (which is more than a little ironic, considering he’s inadvertently responsible for it). Helo even gives up his seat on the Raptor for him because of his status as a renowned genius scientist, and he’s elected as Caprica’s delegate for the Quorum of Twelve without even having sought the position.
• Character Development: It's a slow and gradual process that is full of road bumps and a few backslides here and there, but over the course of the series, Gaius does learn to be more selfless (to the point of even being willing to sacrifice himself on a few occasions) and step up to the plate when duty calls.
• Deadpan Snarker: You couldn't go through everything he does without developing a sense of humor about it.
• Defiant to the End: In the later seasons, Baltar develops the surprising tendency to do this, to the point of baiting Gaeta into trying to kill him due to his Sanity Slippage.
• Dirty Coward: He takes crying, pleading for his life, and refusal to take responsibility for himself to a whole new level. Though he did get better.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • It would be a real stretch to call him evil (though cowardly and narcissistic are very much fair descriptions). Still, he was absolutely horrified at Admiral Cain's appalling treatment of a Cylon prisoner.
  • When Roslin asks him if he will be endorsing the increasingly popular Tom Zarek for the office of the Vice-Presidency, Baltar tells her, in a rare moment of sincerity, that he would never support someone politically who advocates violence as a means to get his message across.
• Freudian Excuse: It's implied that his ego and personality stems from his insecurities about being a native of Aerilon, which is widely regarded as a poor backwater place, and having to hide this fact after moving to Caprica so people would take him seriously.
• Handsome Lech: He attracts women fairly easily, but can be quite the perv.
• Happily Ever After: The Grand Finale implies this of him and Caprica-Six.
• Heel Realization: At the beginning of Season 4, Baltar finally realized the severity of the consequences of his actions, and is overwhelmed with guilt. He even demands that God take his life instead of a young child, something that is usually unthinkable for Baltar to do. Played With, as he then develops a messiah complex and starts backsliding into his old ways, then realizes what's happening, and finally decides to commit to a Heel–Face Turn and do good around the fleet, then backslides again, then has another Heel Realization.
• Heel–Face Turn: Double Subverted. Baltar initially seems to be faking it after he gets his own cult in Season 4, simply gratifying his own ego, but it's eventually revealed that Baltar is entirely genuine about it and is just trying to atone for his actions. By "Deadlock", he's developed into the only person keeping peace aboard the ship by helping out civilians and keeping riots from breaking out over Galactica becoming a blended ship of humans and Cylons. He then relapses back into selfishness in the next episode, only to have another Heel Realization in the Grand Finale and give up his cult, before remaining on Galactica for the Final Battle against Cavil's forces.
• Hidden Depths:
  • It becomes clearer as the series goes on that he really did genuinely love Caprica Six. For her part, it was mutual, even if she happened to be using him.
  • Tyrol at one point laughs when Baltar says in his autobiography that he was born on a farm on Aerilon, only for Baltar to get irritated and reveal that he was. He also reveals he worked to hide his native accent to make people think he was Caprican (which he points out was very difficult) because he feared nobody would take him seriously if they realized he was from a poor, 'backwards' world.
• Hookers and Blow: The Baltar administration was marked by its groundbreaking lap dance and pill-popping initiatives.
• Indy Ploy: The first couple of seasons have him making things up off the cuff, like his Cylon screening technique. Later on, he bullshits an entire religion as he goes. Though amusingly, he was actually spot on with his religion.
• Insufferable Genius: At times. He's a genius and doesn't mind reminding others.
• It's All About Me: Six is so impressed by his self-centeredness that she thinks it would be worth taking a copy of his brain for further study. He becomes less selfish as the series goes on, however.
  Six: Even as the fate of your entire species hangs in the balance, all you can think about is how this affects you.
• It's All My Fault: When he admits to Roslin, when it's just the two of them, while delirious, seriously injured, and high on morphine, that he unintentionally gave the Cylons access to the defense mainframe, and is therefore partially to blame for the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and absolutely everything that came after. He's practically on the verge of tears while saying this, and it's clear that he's never really forgiven himself for what part he played in the nuclear holocaust.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Baltar may be a power-hungry opportunist who didn't have the fleet's best interests in mind at the time, but he's not wrong when he chews out Roslin for conspiring with the military to steal a democratically-held election from him, particularly when she herself is a leader nobody elected to begin with.
  • Baltar also makes good points later on in "Dirty Hands", when he draws attention to the fact that the Fleet is in danger of perpetuating the same kind of unjust socio-economic divide that permeated the Twelve Colonies (especially with 'dirty' jobs becoming lifelong or hereditary). His motives may or may not have pure but his own background - an Aerilon farmboy who made himself a celebrity-scientist on Caprica - means he might truly feel some empathy for the Fleet's working-class types, and even his opponents like Tyrol and Roslin eventually agree on this point at least.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being an Insufferable Genius who was in part responsible for the near-annihilation of mankind, he's quite compassionate and emotional, firmly believing that war is not an excuse for inhumanity.
• Large Ham: He definitely has his moments, particularly in Season 4 whenever he starts making speeches to his followers.
• Looks Like Jesus: Grows out his hair and beard throughout Season 3 and preaches to his own band of followers in Season 4.
• The McCoy: He's probably the most emotional person in the series.
• Messianic Archetype: In-Universe, with him becoming the central figure of a cult in Season 4.
• Misplaced Retribution: He's on the receiving end of this following the Cylon occupation of New Caprica. Several people try to murder him over the crimes committed by the Cylons, which he, for all his faults, was not responsible for.
• Morton's Fork: Lee Adama was right. Given the circumstances of the Cylon occupation of New Caprica, just what was Baltar supposed to have done?
• Mr. Fanservice: Has several erotic sex scenes and cleans up nicely.
• Narcissist: Although he gets better througout the series, he remains pretty self-absorbed. He starts off as an Insufferable Genius, not caring much about anyone but himself. He goes on to run for President of the Twelve Colonies pretty much for an ego trip. After having a crisis of guilt, he eventually discovers religion and quickly develops a Messianic complex.
• Never My Fault: Adama believes this to be the case, flat-out saying that Baltar can never take responsibility for his actions because he will always see himself as the victim. The truth is more that he is in extreme denial.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When the Cylons attempt to make him sign a death list during the New Caprica occupation, he flat-out refuses, even after Doral puts a gun to his head and makes it clear he will be killed if he doesn’t sign it. Head Six only barely talks him into giving in and signing it, and it’s pretty clear that the usually cowardly Baltar would have let himself be killed if it weren't for that.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Since The Main Characters Do Everything, he's basically in charge of "science" on the Galactica, including computer science, biology and nuclear physics. Well, there's a reason he was considered one of the greatest minds in the Colonies.
• Only Sane Man: To the Cylon administration during the Cylon occupation of New Caprica. He's literally the only one who thinks that rounding people up and making death lists is a terrible idea, especially if the Cylons want to be accepted. They ignore him.
• Pet the Dog: Praying to God to take his life instead of that of a kid and actually meaning it.
• Plucky Comic Relief: His interactions with "Head Six" (aforementioned Shoulder Angel) are often in public and frequently Played for Laughs.
• The Quisling: When the Cylons arrive on New Caprica he immediately surrenders to them. To be fair, and as Romo Lampkin later points out, the humans were totally defenseless and open resistance would have been met with destruction. Plus, to Baltar's credit, he did at least try to refuse signing an execution order for a group of prisoners that included Roslin and Zarek, and only did it because a Number Five literally held a gun to his head and threatened to shoot him.
• Rage Against the Heavens: In Season 4, after Earth is discovered to be a nuclear wasteland, Baltar goes into a public tirade against God for giving them false hope and all the suffering they were put through.
• Really Gets Around: Pre-series, he had numerous liaisons and during the course of the show. He's slept with at least Starbuck, Playa Palacios, Tracey Anne, several interns while he was president, and also seems to have a thing for Cylons, having been with D'Anna Biers, Tory Foster, and three different versions of Number Six (Caprica-Six, Gina Inviere, and Lida; and Shelly Godfrey apparently had a crush on him), four if you count Head-Six, as well as flirting with Boomer in Season 1.
• Religious Robot: Inverted; he's a human missionary spreading Cylon monotheism to the humans.
• Sanity Slippage: In "Taking A Break From All Your Worries", his nightmarish interrogation manages to cause his already frayed sanity to deteriorate further, to the point of actually trying to bait Gaeta to kill him.
• The Scapegoat: For the Cylon occupation of New Caprica. While Baltar’s initial presidency was terrible, throughout the Cylon occupation he was the Only Sane Man in the administration and was forced into going along with the Cylons’ plans, even secretly undermining them by allowing Gaeta to leak information to the resistance. Still, his lack of any public display of resistance to the occupation results in him being blamed for all of the suffering on New Caprica.
• Self-Made Man: He was born to poor farmers on Aerilon (considered a backwater colony), moved to Caprica when he turned eighteen, and became one of the leading scientific minds of the century and, from the looks of his home at the start of the Miniseries, filthy rich. Whatever his flaws, Gaius did legitimately work his way to the top and earned his success.
• The Smart Guy: Initially, he's pretty much the source of all scientific advancement aboard the Galactica, and is also tasked with additional research and information gathering unrelated to his main focus of Cylon technology (such as when he calculates exactly how much food and water the fleet will need in order to survive). He may have a lot of personal flaws, but he can easily accomplish almost any intellectual task that's placed in front of him, and is clearly exactly as smart as he thinks he is.
• Took a Level in Badass: He steps up in later seasons until he's part of the Galactica defense team in the finale, repelling the Cylons with an assault rifle.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After becoming a religious figure, Baltar does his best to invoke this because he genuinely wants to atone. He goes through some improvements and some backsliding, but ultimately makes it stick in the Grand Finale.
• Villain Ball: A lot of the second half of the series plays out the way it does simply because Baltar is way too into himself to actually learn from his mistakes. Scheming and sleazing his way into the presidency by promising the desperate fleet he will settle New Caprica (which he seemingly does solely for power, as he admits in private that the planet is barely even habitable) sees thousands of people killed, Pegasus destroyed, and Galactica damaged so badly she later has to be abandoned. He's also the one who (idiotically) gave the damaged and suicidal Gina a literal nuclear bomb only for her to use it and destroy several ships filled with civilians, which creates the radiation signature the Cylons eventually use to find the humans again in the first place. And he spends the entire New Caprica arc trying to act as The Millstone to the Cylon occupation (with understandably mixed results).
• Villain Protagonist: Deconstructed - Baltar isn't evil, just selfish and cowardly (i.e., not a hero like most of the other cast).