"Seeing an extraction is one thing. Actually experiencing it is another. To see the symbiote which has controlled your every move as you watch helpless from the darkest corner of you mind as it is exiled from your body and left to writhe in the light of day...that is incredible."

—Vala Mal Doran

The Extraction Ceremony is an important Tok'ra ritual, in which a Goa'uld symbiote is extracted from its host and killed.

OverviewEdit

The accused Goa'uld is placed in stasis after which the Tok'ra leaders chant in their own language a list of all the crimes they had committed, a process that can last up to three hours. After this is complete, the accused is brought out of stasis where they were allowed their final words.

As this is done, the accused is placed into the symbiote extractor where the symbiote is removed from the host by a syringe looking metal instrument, which into a small capsule. The cylinder is then taken by the Tok'ra leader who announces the name or Social Status of the accused and smashes it on the ground, almost instantly killing the symbiote inside, and letting it writhe where it lies for all to see.

It is possible this extractor is a refined method, as it differs greatly from the method Selmak describes to SG1. Selmak's description of the extration process removed the symbiote so quickly that it doesn't have a chance to release its toxin into the host and also kills the symboite in the process of the removal. However after this description the Tokra we shown having removed the symbiote Klorel, at the Tolan homeworld. They carried a live Klorel symbiote in a large symbiote vat from the process. It is also possible the extractor involves some form of beam technology as the it is shown in Stargate: Continuum to fire a beam of light prior to its penetration of the host's forehead between the eyes and that the point of extraction is very tiny compared the extracted symbiote containment cylinder.

HistoryEdit

After the capture of the last System Lord Ba'al, he was transported to the Tok'ra homeworld where the ceremony lasted for three hours with SG-1 in attendance. The host survived the process and Vala Mal Doran, having previously been a host herself, offered to help him cope. (SG1: "Continuum")