Future of the Tok'ra

[SF_and_Coffee]

I think your second question answers the first. I'm not aware of the Tok'ra option having been offered to any other Tau'ri outside the Stargate program... is anyone else?

But if this were real, rather than something dreamed up for a TV show, I'd take it. I'm middle-aged, with no strong ties to family or anyone here that I couldn't bear to stretch or sever, and I have various genetic risks in my family that hosting a Tok'ra would render immaterial, not to mention a genetic blood disorder that I'm already aware of having. And I'd be doing something meaningful, and have access to far more knowledge than I'll ever have here on Earth, even if I lived to be 200.

Surely there have to be a fair number of people like me on this planet, and this would be true in the SG 'verse as well. So as long as some sort of program could be put into place to find and recruit such people, the Tok'ra would have no problem getting hosts from Earth.

[Ibn Rushd]

The essential thing I disliked about the Tok'ra was that you became a hostage and had to give up your life. When watching the Tok'ra Parts 1 & 2 the first time, I wondered why Jacob had to leave right away. Couldn't Selmak have lived on Earth with him, and done normal human things?

I wouldn't want to give up my life, even if I had 5 more mins. to live because it wouldn't have been me afterwards.

[SF_and_Coffee]

The essential thing I disliked about the Tok'ra was that you became a hostage and had to give up your life. When watching the Tok'ra Parts 1 & 2 the first time, I wondered why Jacob had to leave right away. Couldn't Selmak have lived on Earth with him, and done normal human things?

I wouldn't want to give up my life, even if I had 5 more mins. to live because it wouldn't have been me afterwards.

Actually, the only reason that Jacob had to leave right away was because Selmak was an essential part of the Tok'ra group that was in the process of moving from one location to another. They kind of needed Selmak, and that meant needing Jacob, right then. But remember, Jacob was an Air Force general, so he was accustomed to having to heed the call of duty, rather than his own desires. It's probably part of what made him a good host for Selmak.

I don't think that hosting a Tok'ra would necessarily mean having to give up everything in your life, unless maybe your particular symbiote was a Council member or a very busy operative. And even so, the host would get some time to engage in activities of the host's choosing as well, I'm sure. We just never really saw any of that in the series, because it wasn't really the sort of scene that advanced the plot in any of the episodes, and an episode is only so long. Also, remember, there are a limited number of Tok'ra and they do have a job to do, so any human becoming a host would have to know that and be willing to participate. Blending isn't like getting a medical device implanted; you're blending with another individual being. You're still "you" afterward, but you're no longer alone, and you have to take that other being into account. Kind of like having a child, or maybe getting married -- it isn't just you alone anymore that you have to think about.

Not to massively plug my fanfic story or anything, but the one in my sig involves Tok'ra characters, and includes a fair bit of their interactions with their human hosts, including situations where they have in fact chosen to live intermixed with their human host's community and people, rather than off in a place that just has blended Tok'ra and no unblended humans. I wanted to show that possibility and that side of the equation, in ways that the show could not. I also know some other fic writers who have done similar things, and can make recommendations if you're at all interested. If you have specific questions, I'll direct you here, to a discussion of my story in particular, and here, to a recommendation list of Tok'ra stories in general. Both are Gateworld threads, and that first link goes to a post in which there is a sample of the type of symbiote-host relationship I envision. The character referred to as both "Frank" and" Neirin" is actually an unblended human living on a planet that has humans on it, who are in rebellion against their Goa'uld master. The rebellion is aided by a small group of Tok'ra -- a somewhat rogue group in that they favor a certain amount of direct action in tandem with humans, unlike the main, Council-led group. Cadogan is the human host to a Tok'ra named Sabar, and they live among Cadogan's people. Since almost no intelligent species short of a hive-mind is going to be completely monolithic in their thinking, it's my guess that if the Stargate 'verse were a real place, the Tok'ra would naturally have a number of members who are actually like this to some extent, and who would "march to a different drummer" so to speak.

[garhkal]

It does seem like the host is mostly ignored..

[SF_and_Coffee]

I think the host was ignored too much in the later episodes, but initially there seemed to be a fairly equal relationship between the two. I'd like to think that's how things really are.

[Snowman37]

The essential thing I disliked about the Tok'ra was that you became a hostage and had to give up your life. When watching the Tok'ra Parts 1 & 2 the first time, I wondered why Jacob had to leave right away. Couldn't Selmak have lived on Earth with him, and done normal human things?

Jacob didn't have to give up his own life, he chose to. Initially, he had to help the Tok'ra relocate. After that, he could have encouraged Selmak to find a new host. His cancer was gone, he didn't have to stay it's host. Jacob saw the larger picture and wanted to be part of it. It's as simple as that.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Actually, yes and no. Selmak said that they really can't just blend long enough to cure a disease and then un-blend again. The way I understood this in the context of the show was that while a symbiote can un-blend with a host, leaving both alive and healthy, doing too much of this takes a toll on the symbiote... and I would assume it could have some risks for the host as well. In any case, Selmak had made it clear from the beginning that theirs would be a permanent blending, and Jacob agreed to that. Going back on his word strikes me as something that Jacob would have seen as extremely dishonorable, and therefore it wouldn't have crossed his mind to do it.

Jacob knew what he was getting into, but being A) at death's door anyway, and B) a man well-accustomed to duty, he took on his role willingly.

I do see Martouf and Lantash as being pretty equal partners, if not actually weighted in favor of the host. In fact, a clue is that you almost always heard them referred to primarily as "Martouf", which was the host's name, rather than Lantash, which was the name of the symbiote. This suggests to me that Martouf was actually the dominant member of that pair. I recall having learned from the show that whichever of the two, symbiote and host, was the calmer and more collected, less volatile member of the pair tended to become the dominant partner, but that it was still generally an egalitarian partnership.

I know I certainly write my original Tok'ra characters this way.

[Snowman37]

I merely meant if Jacob didn't want to be a host for life and if Selmak could find someone who did. That's hardly changing hosts all the time.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I merely meant if Jacob didn't want to be a host for life and if Selmak could find someone who did. That's hardly changing hosts all the time.

Oh, I wasn't implying that it was. But like I said, Selmake made it quite clear to Jacob before they blended that it would be permanent, and Jacob agreed to that. He'd have felt it dishonorable to ask Selmak to let him out of the agreement, I think. Jacob was that kind of man, so he wouldn't have done it.

And I think that may also be one reason why the Tok'ra never really wanted to make it common knowledge that de-blending was a valid option after a healing, because if that got out, then they might have had people lining up to be hosts only for the sake of healing, and then asking to be released soon after... which eventually would have resulted in the Tok'ra being taken advantage of, and having to start the blend/heal/unblend revolving-door type of thing which might very well be detrimental to the health of the symbiote. Since they were a limited race anyway, due to not having a queen to replenish their ranks, they didn't really want to lose members to this sort of thing.

That would be my guess, anyway. The whole thing fascinates me, as I'm obviously writing a story with Tok'ra characters right now, and in the story there is in fact a temporary blending that occurs.