Stargate, Daniel, Knowledge
Mar. 19th, 2005 05:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyIn The Torment of Tantalus (season one), we have this key conversation:
Ernest: "The Torment of Tantalus."
Catherine: "What?"
Ernest: "Tantalus was a king in Greek mythology banished to Hades, forced to stand in water that receded when he tried to drink."
Catherine: "Everlasting, unending temptation."
Ernest: "He was reaching for something that was…um…out of reach. That sounds familiar."
Catherine: "Some might say that's what makes a man great. If we all accepted what was within our grasp—"
Ernest: "Sometimes what we have is of more value. It takes a great man to recognize that. I didn't. I was a fool."
As the episode makes clear, Daniel is the one suffering the torment of Tantalus -- eternally reaching. No matter how much knowledge that he attains, he remains unsatisfied, hoping to discover more.
Daniel: "I have to finish this."
Ernest: "It's not worth it."
Daniel: "This is."
Ernest: "Nothing is."
Daniel: "Well, our history as a people would be very different if everyone felt that way."
Ernest: "No prize is worth attaining if you can never share it! There would be no point! Believe me. I know."
Despite Ernest's words, Daniel chooses to stay. He chooses the pursuit of knowledge over his search for Sha're, just as he chose it over staying safe with Sha're in the first place. The only reason that he agrees to leave is when Jack makes it clear that he's staying, too. Daniel's own life is an acceptable casuality when reaching for knowledge, but other people's aren't.
Daniel wants to know -- this is something that was engraved on his character from the very beginning, the movie, when he searches past what academia accepts. He doesn't care about the cost to his reputation as long as he knows the truth. And as long as the risk is solely to himself, no cost is too high in the search.
Daniel still suffers the torment of Tantalus, still reaches for the knowledge that lies just beyond his grasp. Because of this, he always believes that he's meant to be doing something more, something bigger and better. Daniel is in a constant state of 'not enough', eternally working to learn more. It's what's made him such an asset to the SGC and to Earth. It's the source of his greatest triumphs and his most spectacular failures.
God, I love him.
Ernest: "The Torment of Tantalus."
Catherine: "What?"
Ernest: "Tantalus was a king in Greek mythology banished to Hades, forced to stand in water that receded when he tried to drink."
Catherine: "Everlasting, unending temptation."
Ernest: "He was reaching for something that was…um…out of reach. That sounds familiar."
Catherine: "Some might say that's what makes a man great. If we all accepted what was within our grasp—"
Ernest: "Sometimes what we have is of more value. It takes a great man to recognize that. I didn't. I was a fool."
As the episode makes clear, Daniel is the one suffering the torment of Tantalus -- eternally reaching. No matter how much knowledge that he attains, he remains unsatisfied, hoping to discover more.
Daniel: "I have to finish this."
Ernest: "It's not worth it."
Daniel: "This is."
Ernest: "Nothing is."
Daniel: "Well, our history as a people would be very different if everyone felt that way."
Ernest: "No prize is worth attaining if you can never share it! There would be no point! Believe me. I know."
Despite Ernest's words, Daniel chooses to stay. He chooses the pursuit of knowledge over his search for Sha're, just as he chose it over staying safe with Sha're in the first place. The only reason that he agrees to leave is when Jack makes it clear that he's staying, too. Daniel's own life is an acceptable casuality when reaching for knowledge, but other people's aren't.
Daniel wants to know -- this is something that was engraved on his character from the very beginning, the movie, when he searches past what academia accepts. He doesn't care about the cost to his reputation as long as he knows the truth. And as long as the risk is solely to himself, no cost is too high in the search.
Daniel still suffers the torment of Tantalus, still reaches for the knowledge that lies just beyond his grasp. Because of this, he always believes that he's meant to be doing something more, something bigger and better. Daniel is in a constant state of 'not enough', eternally working to learn more. It's what's made him such an asset to the SGC and to Earth. It's the source of his greatest triumphs and his most spectacular failures.
God, I love him.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-19 04:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-21 04:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-09 10:22 am (UTC)But I still love him.
Oh and TTOT is one of my FAVORITE eps. Such love for it really.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-10 05:45 am (UTC)And, yeah, Daniel's love for knowledge and his willingness to sacrifice himself (but not knowingly sacrifice other people) is part of why I adore him so much.
And Torment is really a fantastic episode.