- "A-maz-ing."
- ―Ayiana[src]
Ayiana is the name given to an Ancient woman who lived (initially) on Earth between five and ten million years ago.
Biography
Background information
Ayiana watches the others leave her behind on Earth.
When the Ancients took the city of Atlantis to the Pegasus Galaxy, she was the one Ancient left behind in the Ancient outpost in what would later be called Antarctica. (SGA: "Rising, Part 1")
2002
Millions of years later, she was unearthed in a block of ice not far from where the second Stargate was discovered over four years before. Her name, which is the Cherokee word for "eternal bloom", was given to her by Dr. Francine Michaels, one of the researchers who found her (Michaels' grandfather was one-quarter Cherokee); her true name remained unknown to the expedition. SG-1 and Dr. Janet Fraiser were called in to study her. They were shocked to discover upon defrosting her that she was, in fact, alive in a state of cryogenic suspension, although apparently in a more advanced form than that used in conventional Ancient Stasis pods. This was deduced from that fact that she did not appear to age at all during the millions of years she was in stasis.
Ayiana in the stasis.
She was the first indication that the Ancients were advanced humans who evolved (not necessarily on Earth) millions of years ago. It was later surmised that they were the first evolution of humanity while the humans currently living on Earth and throughout the Milky Way are the second evolution (this is later confirmed in the episode "Avalon, Part 1"). After spending only a few hours with Jonas Quinn, she was able to fully understand every word of English that he said and could even speak some herself. This was another sign of how advanced she and her people were compared to present day humans. She also possessed the ability to heal almost any injury, though she was severely weakened in the process of healing others.
Unfortunately, Ayiana carried the Ancient contagion that had ravaged her people millions of years ago and infected all of the researchers as well as SG-1 and Fraiser. Feeling enormously guilty for this, Ayiana used her abilities to heal them despite the huge risk to herself. She succeeded in completely healing all but Colonel Jack O'Neill before she collapsed. She was subsequently brought to Stargate Command where she died soon afterwards from exhaustion. O'Neill, fortunately, was soon cured when he blended with a Tok'ra symbiote. (SG1: "Frozen")
2005
Three years later, it became known that the virus which wiped out most of the Ancients millions of years ago (the virus Ayiana carried) bears similarities to the biological weapon created by the Ori. (SG1: "The Powers That Be")
Behind the scenes
- Ayiana is one of only two Ancients appearing both in Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, the other being Moros.
- Ona Grauer later played Emily Young, the wife of Everett Young, on Stargate Universe.