External visions

Many characters appear to receive dreams, visions, messages and compulsions from outside themselves. Some turn out to be humanoid Cylons, but several are not.

Dreams and Visions

Roslin's dreams

• A few months after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, Laura Roslin dreams that she is being pursued through a forest by a group of Marines. A copy of Leoben Conoy saves her, and then appears to be sucked away. Later, a copy of Leoben Conoy is found to be stowed away in the fleet, and he is executed by being sucked out an airlock exactly as he was in Roslin's dream (Flesh and Bone).
• Roslin, possibly under the influence of chamalla experiences several visions, including of Kobol as it was, and of serpents, 2 and 10.
• Roslin, taking chamalla again, experiences a dream of the Opera House where she wears an unusual brocade dress and appears younger than normal. In this dream, she chases Hera Agathon and encounters Sharon Agathon, Caprica Six, Gaius Baltar and the glowing figures of the Final Five. It is later discovered that Sharon and Six also experience the same vision (Crossroads, Part I).
• The vision of the Opera House continues, with further visions of the Final Five.
• Roslin dreams she is on a ferry with Emily Kowalski on a river which borders the afterlife. Kowalski sees her dead family on shore, and goes to join them. This matches a description Kowalski made earlier of one of her own dreams. Roslin sees her own family as well, but tells them she is not ready. When she awakens she discovers that Kowalski has in fact died during Roslin's sleep. Baltar has been speaking frequently of the river seen in the dream (Faith).

The Music

Four people hear a mysterious melody. It makes them compulsive, so that they subconsciously recite lines from the song, before they eventually congregate in a room where they become aware that they are Cylons; members of the Final Five (Crossroads, Part II). Later, these four again hear fragments of the music and are drawn to the pristine Viper in which Kara Thrace returned from her supposed death. That Viper turns out to be able to receive a signal which serves a beacon towards Earth. Thrace thinks that the message is coming from a "higher power." (Revelations)

Number Three's dreams and vision

• The Three acting as an overseer on New Caprica dreams that she visits the tent of Dodona Selloi. Three goes to visit Selloi when she awakens, and Selloi tells her she has a message from the Cylon God: Hera is alive and Three will hold her in her arms. Selloi's predictions prove to be accurate; Baltar finds Hera in the aftermath of the Battle of New Caprica (Exodus, Part I and II).
• After the Cylons leave New Caprica, Three dreams that she is aboard Galactica, fleeing from a group of Marines. They corner her in front of a hatch marked "end of line" and execute her. When she awakens, Three orders a Centurion to shoot her, possibly believing her dream to be instruction from God. While she is downloading, Three finds herself in the Opera House on Kobol where Baltar's internal Six (above) showed him Hera's cradle. Five mysterious figures wearing white robes are also present (Hero).
• In the Temple of Five she enters a beam of light at the moment of the Nova, and again sees herself in the Opera House with the five white-robed beings. Baltar, standing next to her does not see this. After seeing the vision, she dies, bleeding from the head (Rapture).

Starbuck's Mandala

Kara Thrace has, since childhood, had an image in her head identical to the drawings in the Temple of Five believed to be the Eye of Jupiter. She drew it in large on the walls of her home on Caprica. She is not aware of the source of the image ("Valley of Darkness", "Rapture").

Starbuck and Leoben

Starbuck states that she has been regularly having dreams about Leoben Conoy since she left New Caprica. She also apparently hallucinates Cylon Raiders on two separate occasions. While flying a Viper mission, she has a flashback to her mother's death, however a being who looks like Leoben (but who is not) appears in the flashback (Maelstrom).

Projection

Cylons employ a virtual reality technology called projection which provides a complete illusion of being in a different or imaginary space (Torn).

Tomb of Athena

When the Tomb of Athena is activated, all present experience a realistic 3-D virtual reality environment showing a grassy field at night with a modified version of the night sky of Earth. It is unclear if the objects provide tactile feedback, or whether this is an optical "holodeck" effect or fed directly into their brains (Home, Part II).

Adama's Hybrid Vision

When young William Adama places his hand into a liquid filled tank on a Cylon base near the end of the first Cylon War, he perceives a vision of a hand grabbing him from the tank, and sees tortured people around the walls. As the vision ends, the hand releases him, then vanishes. He hears the voice of the First Hybrid telling him that "all this has happened before..." He does encounter real people locked in the next room, but is unable to free them (Razor).

Final Five Hallucinations

Two of the revealed Final Five have experienced realistic visions or hallucinations.

Saul Tigh repeatedly sees Ellen Tigh in the place of Caprica Six in her cell, dressed in Six's outfit. He also experiences some sort of hallucination, sufficient to distract him from urgent duty, of himself shooting William Adama in a manner similar to the way Boomer did ("Escape Velocity", "He That Believeth In Me").

Galen Tyrol, while conversing with Admiral Adama hears and sees him say, "I guess she just couldn't take being married to a Cylon, being mother of a half-breed abomination.", although the admiral does not say this (Escape Velocity).

Virtual Beings

Main article: Virtual beings, describing Baltar's inner Six and Caprica Six's inner Baltar.

Compulsions

Several characters engage in behavior seemingly driven by forces outside themselves. The Music, cited above as a vision, also triggers a compulsion.

Boomer's Compulsions

Sharon Valerii undergoes several unconscious compulsions to sabotage Fleet operations. Eventually these push her to shoot William Adama, revealing her as a Cylon agent. She has been programmed to think she is human, the compulsions were the result of her special programming ("Water", "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II").

Tyrol's Compulsion

Galen Tyrol feels an unexplained compulsion on the algae planet to wander into the hills. He is drawn to the Temple of Five which he is unusually equipped to recognize (The Eye of Jupiter). He is so drawn to the temple he disobeys direct orders to destroy it. Given that he's one of the Final Five and has in fact been there before, his compulsion may have been his buried memories unconciously guiding him.

Tyrol later hears the music, and learns that he is one of the Final Five.

Prophecies

A number of characters become aware of unusual information they should not know that is later confirmed.

Selloi's Prophecy

Dodona Selloi reports receiving a message from the Cylon god regarding Hera Agathon along with other information. The prophecies are accurate. She does not appear to think it odd to pass on a message from the Cylon god, who otherwise is not apparently known to the Colonial faith (Exodus, Part I).

Leoben's Predictions

Leoben Conoy tells Kara Thrace she has a special destiny while she interrogates him, and repeats this at future meetings. He also recounts knowledge of her difficult history with her mother and predicts that the Fleet will find Kobol, which it will help them find Earth. However given that the Cylons probably know Kobol's location that that time, he could be anticipating this from the Fleet's course (Flesh and Bone).

During her bizarre imprisonment on New Caprica, he predicts that Kara will embrace him and tell him she loves him and that he has "seen this.". When she returns for Kacey Brynn during her escape, it plays out exactly as he foretold, but he is also telling her to do so, making the prophecy self-fulfilled (Exodus, Part II).

Yolanda Brenn

Yolanda Brenn recounts almost completely Leoben's statements to Thrace, and adds further details about her relationship with her mother (Maelstrom).

Unknown Oracles

Socrata Thrace consulted oracles during the youth of Kara. They informed her of her special destiny and this drove her to be far too tough with her daughter.

First Hybrid

The first Hybrid declares that he has been waiting for his meeting with Kendra Shaw for a very long time, though he should not know her name. He also declares that Kara Thrace will "lead humanity to its end" and is the "harbinger of death." He is aware he is about to be destroyed, but expresses confidence he will go on to another existence. He declares that "his children believe [he] is a god." (Razor)

See Also

• Opera House Prophecy