Why didn't the Tok'ra use Jaffa or just Teal'c as incubators?

[hart37]

Okay so I've started watching SG1 again and was wondering why Teal'c didn't kill "junior" and replace him with a Tok'ra symbiote. I am up to season 3 before tratonan was discovered and would think it a better substitute than the Goa'uld. My guess would just be that the guys didn't think of it when writing the episodes

[KyshaMalini]

I would think since "junior" wasn't causing Teal'c any problems, there wasn't really much point in doing so?

[Forseti (a.k.a. Thor's lawyer)]

Remember that the Tok’ra were a dying race, because their Queen, Egeria, was long since lost and presumed dead?

In Goa’uld/Tok’ra biology, only Queens are able to produce new larvae, whereas ordinary symbiotes are supposedly asexual and infertile. The number of Goa’uld Queens is unknow, but I think it was implied that there aren’t (weren't) that many (left).

So, the Tok’ra didn’t need Jaffa incubators, because all symbiotes were fully grown and they weren’t able to produce any young.
If they would have had another Queen

Spoiler:

or if Egeria would've been retrieved earlier from the Pangarians

, it would probably have been a different story.

[SaberBlade]

There were no immature Tok'ra Symbiotes. The Tok'ra were about 2,000 years old so they needed hosts, not incubators.

[Eestlanna]

I wonder, why didn't the Tok'ra use the Goa'uld larvas to grow them as Tok'ra. Or did the Goa'uld larvas have all the information of the Goa'ulds without even meeting any of the Goa'ulds?

[AquaGamer53]

I wonder, why didn't the Tok'ra use the Goa'uld larvas to grow them as Tok'ra. Or did the Goa'uld larvas have all the information of the Goa'ulds without even meeting any of the Goa'ulds?

I believe the Queens passed on their memories to the larva which is why all the Tok'ra are against the Goa'uld, because Egeria imprinted her views on her children.

[blueray]

I believe the Queens passed on their memories to the larva which is why all the Tok'ra are against the Goa'uld, because Egeria imprinted her views on her children.

^this. the memory is genticly passed down. which is why the tok'ra is a dying race because since their queen was lost and now dead, there are no more offspring. and if a goa'uld says oh i'll switch to your side, as shown in the show there is no garentee they will are really loyal.

[hart37]

I did forget about there only being Egeria as queen. I wonder also though if Egeria had the memories of the Goa'uld within her as she was the first to rebel? If so what a thing to have to live with.

[Forseti (a.k.a. Thor's lawyer)]

It’s certainly possible that she possessed the ‘evil’ memories of the Goa’uld that came before her, but chose to adopt a different, friendlier philosophy. On the other hand, she wasn’t an ordinary symbiote, she was a queen and probably a very old one (same generation as Ra, Yu and Hathor). As a queen, she might not have inherited any memories, or maybe she suffered from a genetic mutation which resulted in her having other, higher morals than her brethren. Since we don’t really know anything about Goa’uld Queens, any guess goes.

Slightly off topic, I think there might be a sort of loophole for the Tok’ra to save their race (or at least their philosophy and collective history). Remember Shifu, the Harcesis a.k.a. the human offspring of two symbiotes (Apophis and Amaunet/Sha're) with the genetic memory of these symbiotes? If two Tok’ra (hosts) mated, wouldn’t their child have all the memories passed down by Egeria. If so, the Tok’ra would eventually die out as a symbiote species, but they could go on as a human tribe.

There are problems though: Firstly, since humans can’t pass over their memories genetically, the human Tok’ra would last only one generation. Secondly, because all Tok’ra are basically siblings, things may be somewhat awkward and biologically ill advisable. Then again, this didn’t seem to be a problem for Lantash/Martouf and Jolinar/Rasha. If the latter wouldn’t have died…

[lordofseas]

It’s certainly possible that she possessed the ‘evil’ memories of the Goa’uld that came before her, but chose to adopt a different, friendlier philosophy. On the other hand, she wasn’t an ordinary symbiote, she was a queen and probably a very old one (same generation as Ra, Yu and Hathor). As a queen, she might not have inherited any memories, or maybe she suffered from a genetic mutation which resulted in her having other, higher morals than her brethren. Since we don’t really know anything about Goa’uld Queens, any guess goes.

Slightly off topic, I think there might be a sort of loophole for the Tok’ra to save their race (or at least their philosophy and collective history). Remember Shifu, the Harcesis a.k.a. the human offspring of two symbiotes (Apophis and Amaunet/Sha're) with the genetic memory of these symbiotes? If two Tok’ra (hosts) mated, wouldn’t their child have all the memories passed down by Egeria. If so, the Tok’ra would eventually die out as a symbiote species, but they could go on as a human tribe.

There are problems though: Firstly, since humans can’t pass over their memories genetically, the human Tok’ra would last only one generation. Secondly, because all Tok’ra are basically siblings, things may be somewhat awkward and biologically ill advisable. Then again, this didn’t seem to be a problem for Lantash/Martouf and Jolinar/Rasha. If the latter wouldn’t have died…

It's unknown if the genetic memory lasts more than a generation within the Harcesis. We've never seen a Harcesis have a child.

[hart37]

Slightly off topic, I think there might be a sort of loophole for the Tok’ra to save their race (or at least their philosophy and collective history). Remember Shifu, the Harcesis a.k.a. the human offspring of two symbiotes (Apophis and Amaunet/Sha're) with the genetic memory of these symbiotes? If two Tok’ra (hosts) mated, wouldn’t their child have all the memories passed down by Egeria. If so, the Tok’ra would eventually die out as a symbiote species, but they could go on as a human tribe.

There are problems though: Firstly, since humans can’t pass over their memories genetically, the human Tok’ra would last only one generation. Secondly, because all Tok’ra are basically siblings, things may be somewhat awkward and biologically ill advisable. Then again, this didn’t seem to be a problem for Lantash/Martouf and Jolinar/Rasha. If the latter wouldn’t have died…

Interesting idea though. It's a shame that SG-1 isn't still being made because that could have been a cool episode. With a twist like the child was Rosha/Jolinar's and Martouf/Lantash's being the obvious choice because we knew they were together.