| This article is about the Goa'uld. You may be looking for the Asgard also called Zeus |
Zeus was the 'son' of Cronus (one of the most influential System Lords), and 'brother' to Hera, Poseidon, and Hades. (SG1: "Fair Game")
Appearance
Zeus was a Goa'uld System Lord who appeared as a 50 year old male human with full gray hair and beard, preferring to wear the armor of his Jaffa warriors along with an Olympian tunic rather than the more cumbersome Jaffa armor which most other System Lords seem to prefer. Almost all of his First and Second Primes have been descended from his very own hosts and their children, as he believed that they came from a superior breeding stock to that of other beings; he even managed to rebuild this after his first defeat by Cronus. In addition, he was prone to cycle through the same names for his servants, often giving the name of a fallen soldier to the next promising son from his own lineage; through this, many of his servants have held the same name.
Biography
Rise to power
He once controlled many planets which were taken from him by Cronus, including the planets Olympus and Stennos. The 'son' of Cronus, Zeus rose to power by plotting against his 'father', concocting a plan with his fellow 'siblings' which involved none other than Cronus' own queen, Rhea, to overthrow the Titans. Zeus insisted that the group strike against the strongest of the Titans, throwing the balance of power into question and causing them to fight amongst themselves. Choosing Cronus as their first target, the group succeeded in defeating him, though Cronus himself still lived, and this action sent the remaining underlords into chaos just as Zeus had planned. Perhaps if the underlords had united against the Olympians as their common enemy then things would have ended differently, but instead Zeus simply picked off his competition and took the pieces left in Cronus' wake; he became the same despot, corrupt System Lord that his 'father' had once been.
Fall
Zeus remained in power for centuries, and little changed among this Thunder God's retainers. But all was not well for Zeus; Cronus, not staying idle, had managed to retain his core worlds and so began plotting against his former 'son', sending agents to infiltrate Zeus' throne world of Delos to spread discontent in order to incite a rebellion. Along with this, these agents also told tales of the "benevolent" Titan whom Zeus had unjustly cast out of power in order to make way for Cronus' return. At the same time, Cronus gathered his fleet of Ha'taks and prepared for an all out attack on all of Zeus' holdings. Directly coinciding with this attack by the Titan was a rebellion on Delos; Zeus was confronted in his very own palace where his Jaffa either lay dead or rebelled against him; his fleets were utterly devastated. It was then that Cronus revealed himself to his 'son', taking his place and banishing Zeus to the hell-planet known as Tartarus.
Regaining power
Though Tartarus managed to break most people, either driving them to insanity or indeed to death, Zeus managed to cling fervently to his life for centuries. Luck was with him, however, as just when it seemed that his torment would never end, SG-1 killed Cronus and, in the chaos that ensued his death, Zeus managed to escape and return to his former holdings once more with the help from an unknown benefactor. Zeus didn't waste a moment, and started to spend all of his resources and time in an effort to reclaim his throne; this proved to be difficult as many of the former Olympians were in fact either defeated and dead, or were no longer united with each other. In addition to this, much of Cronus' territory was up for grabs among the other System Lords, and so Zeus needed to deal with their forces to gain rule over what he had once dominated. He soon managed to garner an impressive fleet, as well as the armies to crew it, and took advantage of the opportunities created when any of the other System Lords fell; he quickly gained much of what he had once held. (RPG: "Living Gods: Stargate System Lords")
Discovery by Earth
He was found on Olympus by an SG team during the middle of an enormous celebration along with his First Prime, Heracles. The team found the two among the party-goers and believed them to be in an approachable mood, even friendly and beneficial. Zeus used their trust to his advantage, informing them of the co-ordinates of an "evil" Goa'uld who was in fact one of his rivals. The SG team went to kill this Goa'uld, not realizing they were being used, but Zeus eventually tired of them and had no further use of the group instead attempting to eliminate them.
After Cronus' death, Zeus chose to attempt expanding his empire and did in fact claim a world which the SGC had previous cleared of any Goa'uld activity. When the SGC learned of this, they sent an SG team to eliminate this new threat to the natives but, upon arriving at the planet, they discovered that the natives did not want them to eliminate Zeus, considering him to be a beneficial lord who was protecting them from other System Lords. The SG team then had the choice of either abandoning the natives to the potentially devious Goa'uld or somehow overthrowing him in a way that did not gain them the natives' ire. It is posible that they chose the second path . (RPG: "System Lord Plot Hooks")
Related Articles
External links
- Zeus on the Wikipedia