Others
From SGCommand
- "I think I understand why you came back Daniel. I wouldn't have liked their company either."
- —Vala Mal Doran
The "Others" are the Ancients who have ascended and follow their rules of non-interference. However, they may not all be Ancients as when Daniel asked Oma if The Others in the Diner were Ancients, she responded "some of them" indicating that there's more than one species ascended as part of the Others. Because of their fierce belief in non-intervention and free will, they have laid out somewhat cruel punishments towards those who break these rules, usually forcing them to watch the damage done as a result of their actions. For example, the Others forced Oma Desala to watch Anubis use his ascended knowledge to take over the Milky Way and kill millions, while the planet of Velona was wiped out when they planned to use knowledge provided by Orlin to conquer other planets. (SG1: "Ascension", "Threads")
When Oma gave Daniel a second chance at ascension, all the Others did was watch her. They refused to even interact with Daniel and allowed Anubis to go ahead with his plan to destroy the life that they created. The only thing that caught their attention was when Oma sacrificed herself to stop Anubis as she'd finally learned her lesson. Given Daniel's return, the shutting down of the Stargate and the freezing of the self-destruct countdown, Daniel may have convinced them to intervene at least enough to send him back alive as Oma was no longer around to do it.
Despite these harsh punishments, it is the Others firm beliefs in free will and natural development that cause this actions. They feel that if they were to use their powers for even the best of intentions, it would make them no better than the Ori. While the rules generally do not apply if one of them returns to the lower planes before influencing events (such as when Orlin descended himself to help Earth manufacture a cure for the Ori plague), there have been exceptions to this, most notably when Merlin was developing a weapon capable of destroying ascended beings. (SG1: "The Fourth Horseman, Part 1", "The Fourth Horseman, Part 2", "Arthur's Mantle", "The Pegasus Project")
However, there's some times when The Others will let things go at least somewhat before intervening. An example is when Morgan le Fay helped Daniel and SG-1 find Merlin's weapon by appearing to them to guide them. She was disguised at first, but Daniel saw through her guise and The Others didn't intervene at first. They let her give out the Stargate addresses the team needed, but only intervened when she crossed the line and went to tell them exactly what they needed to know. Apparently enough of them agreed with her that they let her do that, but not enough that they let her cross the line completely. For that they banished her, but they did allow her to remain an Ascended Being, perhaps recognizing that she did what was nessasary. Another time they didn't intervene is when SG-1 rebuilt Merlin's weapon. SG-1 wasn't sure why as it was built with Merlin's ascended knowledge, but Daniel figured they may have wanted his plan to work and let it go. Adria believed that they wanted the Ori destroyed and allowed SG-1 to do it for them. Destroying the Ori saved them as the Ori planned to destroy them, and while they still refused to interfere in the war, Morgan believed that The Others owed the Tau'ri for saving them and intervened directly in the war. At first all she did was send visions to Daniel which may not have been enough for them to stop her, but she later worked directly with them, using her powers to help them. That was at a point that The Others were unable to intervene as she was in the Ori galaxy and thus enemy territory, but if she wins her battle with Adria, it is unknown whether or not they'll punish her further and if so how.
