Vala Mal Doran is a fictional character in the American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by former Farscape actress Claudia Black, Vala was created by Damian Kindler and Robert C. Cooper as a guest character for the season 8 episode "Prometheus Unbound" (2004). Because of the on-screen chemistry between Black's Vala and Michael Shanks' character Daniel Jackson and the character's popularity with the producers and the audience, Claudia Black became a recurring guest star in season 9 (2005–2006) and joined the main cast in season 10 (2006–2007).
"Prometheus Unbound" introduces Vala as a seductive and mischievous human with a Goa'uld background from an unnamed planet. In season 9, Vala and Daniel set off the arc of the show's new villain race, the Ori. After giving birth to the Ori's new leader in season 10, Vala joins the SG-1 team to stop the enemy, eventually becoming a permanent member of both SG-1 and Stargate Command. Claudia Black resumed her role in the 2008 direct-to-DVD film Stargate: The Ark of Truth, which finishes the Ori arc. Black also appeared as Vala and her Goa'uld alter ego Qetesh in the 2008 film Stargate: Continuum. However, she was not supposed to return for the announced third Stargate SG-1 direct-to-DVD film that was scheduled to be filmed in spring 2009, but was abandoned. For her portrayal of Vala, Claudia Black was nominated for a 2006 Saturn Award in the category "Best Supporting Actress on Television", and won a Constellation Award in the category "Best Female Performance in a 2006 Science Fiction Television" in 2007.
Role in Stargate Character arc Information about Vala's past is revealed over the course of several episodes of seasons 8 through 10 of Stargate SG-1. "Family Ties" gives insight into Vala's background with her father Jacek, a con artist who had left her and her mother to pursue his scams. As mentioned in "Flesh and Blood", Vala also had a stepmother named Adria, whom she held in little regard. Vala: "Mother raised me." / Jacek: "Which one?" / Vala: "My mother." Vala (to Jacek): "You were never there for Mother! Even though you always expected us to be there for you, whenever you needed a place to hide or capital to help set up one of your latest scams!"Vala: "She [the Orici] wanted me to give her a name." / Daniel: "And..." / Vala: "Adria. I told her it was my mother's..." / Daniel: "Not?" / Vala: "Stepmother. Witch of a woman." Vala became an involuntary host to a Goa'uld named Qetesh in her adult life, but the Tok'ra were able to remove the symbiote. Vala: "This was one of the many planets that Qetesh ruled over when I was her host. As you know, a Tok'ra eventually removed the symbiote but not before her people rebelled and tortured me thinking we were one and the same." Vala: "Ten years ago, a Tok'ra incited a rebellion on my planet. When people rose up against the ruling Goa'uld, and once the Jaffa had been overcome, the Goa'uld was captured alive, tortured, and beaten for days on end. I was host to that Goa'uld at the time. The people didn't understand that it was the symbiote that had ruled over them so harshly. I guess the Tok'ra felt responsible. He rescued me, removed the Goa'uld symbiote, nursed me back to health." At the time of Vala's first encounter with SG-1 team member Daniel Jackson in the season 8 episode "Prometheus Unbound", she has become a thief and a con artist. She attempts to steal the Earth ship Prometheus for her own purposes, but when Daniel evades her sexual advances and thwarts her plans, she escapes.
In the season 9 opener "Avalon", Vala seeks out Daniel at Stargate Command. Needing his linguistic skills, she uses a Kor mak bracelet to bind them together for a treasure hunt on Earth. The discovery of an Ancient communication device transports Vala's and Daniel's minds to a village in a distant galaxy where the local villagers kill Vala in a trial by fire, but a Prior, a servant of a race named the Ori, resurrects her. After Vala's and Daniel's safe return to Earth, the removed bracelets cause temporary after-effects that prolong Vala's stay at Stargate Command. In an attempt to stop the Ori from invading the galaxy in "Beachhead", Vala goes missing and appears to have died. Vala re-appears in the late season 9 episode "Crusade" and informs SG-1 via the communication device that she is in the Ori galaxy. The Ori had impregnated her against her will many months before, and Vala saw herself forced to marry a local villager named Tomin to make the pregnancy plausible. When Vala tells SG-1 about the Ori army approaching, the communication link is severed. Vala is last seen onboard one of the invading Ori battlecruisers in the closing scene of the season 9 finale "Camelot" when she goes into labor.
Season 10 opens with Vala giving birth to a female. The Ori call the rapidly growing child Orici, but Vala gives her the name Adria after her stepmother. Attempts to turn the child away from the Ori remain unsuccessful. Having escaped the Ori, Vala is allowed sanctuary at Stargate Command and joins SG-1 on several missions, during one of which she comes face-to-face with her fully-grown daughter. Vala's provisionary acceptance on Earth is only lifted in the eighth episode of the season, "Memento Mori", in which she is finally made a full member of SG-1. Vala meets Tomin again in "Line in the Sand" and tells him the true story behind the Ancients and Ori. A final showdown in the series between Vala and Adria occurs in "Dominion", which leaves Vala with the loss of her daughter. In "Unending", the last episode of the series, SG-1 gets stuck in a time dilation field aboard the Earth ship Odyssey, and a romance between Vala and Daniel finally comes to fruition. Before the time dilation field is reversed after fifty years, erasing all linked memories in the process, Daniel and Vala express their feelings for each other. The Ori story concludes with Adria's disempowerment and Vala's and Tomin's amicable separation in the 2008 direct-to-DVD film Stargate: The Ark of Truth. Vala and her alter ego, Qetesh, appear in the alternate-timeline film Stargate: Continuum.
Characterization Official Stargate sources advertised Vala as a "scheming, unscrupulous, thieving con artist", "feisty" and "occasionally fickle", with a "mysterious agenda" and a seemingly "amorous interest in Dr. Daniel Jackson". Genre magazine TV Zone subtitled Vala as a "thief, arms dealer, mercenary" who, when given an inch, will "take a mile, and whatever else she can get her hands on." SFX described Vala as a "mischievous minx", whereas The San Diego Union-Tribune interpreted Vala as "ethically challenged". Steven Eramo of Starburst gave Vala the attributes "sexy, smart and always resourceful". Claudia Black characterized early Vala as "sassy", "intelligent", "manipulative", and "mercurial", but found it "very hard to tell what the real core of Vala is." Black later described Vala as "a new, weird element", "irritating", "very vibrant", "sort of the hair-pulling variety", "really infuriating" and "[hopefully] funny". With Vala being a departure from Black's former Farscape role as Aeryn Sun, Black regarded Vala as a comedic and energetic character with streaks of irreverence and naughtiness who "says everything that everyone else is thinking, but doesn't dare say", although both characters share "being damaged goods [in the beginning] and on a path to becoming a better person". Robert C. Cooper thought of Vala as "a bit of a wild card" and "a very sexy character, who isn't afraid to take whatever she wants in any given situation." Cooper and Black believed the character had a moral compass to her actions.
Relationships Claudia Black and Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) linked their characters' early relationship to a Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn dynamic of "not so much of tension, but rather constant antagonism". Despite the concern in early season 9 that their relationship would stagnate and dumb down their characters, Shanks felt Vala brought out a side of Daniel that he had not had the chance to play before, and Black advocated the slow revelation of Vala's layers of denial. The writers continued to develop the friendship between Vala and Daniel throughout season 10, aiming not to lose their sexual chemistry. Michael Shanks stated that by "Memento Mori", "Daniel legitimately cares about Vala and has seen some sort of redemption in her and wants that process to continue". From Black's point of view, Daniel offers "an interesting window" into "Vala's external façade to be playful with people". He helps Vala grow as a person and forces her to "develop coping mechanisms that allow her to be more adult and learn that it's ok to be honest and talk how you feel". Asked about a possible romance between Vala and Daniel before the filming of the series finale, Black predicted that a consummation of the relationship would end badly in terms of both story and on-screen chemistry. When producer Robert C. Cooper presented his preliminary script for the series finale, "Unending", both Black and Shanks protested his intended story of having Vala and Daniel sleep together without a confrontation. Shanks felt that "[t]here's always been this underlining, keeping [Vala] at arms length because of the fear of getting too close". After Cooper rewrote the scene to increase Vala's vulnerability to Daniel, and have Daniel truthfully explain his feelings of a relationship, the actors decided to play the confrontation scene as genuinely as possible, with both characters being neither completely in-character nor totally out-of-character.
Describing Vala's attitude towards bonding with other characters as "in a strange way quite level-headed" and "quite honest", Black interpreted Vala's behavior as a reaction to growing attached to people where the relationships never seem to work out. Cooper explained that by Vala's contacting of Stargate Command about the imminent threat at the end of season 9, she "has reached a point of honesty with [the SG-1] characters and possibly herself on a level that she's never had before". From the beginning of season 10, Claudia Black and Amanda Tapping requested a similarly positive camaraderie between their characters as male characters have. Tapping noted Carter's respect for Vala despite them being at opposite ends in their actions; Tapping also thought Carter finds Vala amusing instead of annoying. A scene in "Morpheus" that was intended to establish this relationship was cut for time; until the late season 10 episode "Family Ties" would accommodate this with a shopping scene, the actresses acknowledged their connection through looks and subtle nuances. By joining SG-1, Vala also shared a spot with stoic warrior Teal'c as the only alien members of the team, and actor Christopher Judge (Teal'c) explained that his character's amusement with Vala contributed to Teal'c's loosening up. The relationship between Vala and SG-1 team leader Colonel Cameron Mitchell (played by Ben Browder) was rarely emphasized in the series since Black and Browder were well known for formerly starring as star-crossed lovers in the cult sci-fi series Farscape.