As a fan of Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars it is inevitable to start to compare aspects of the two. The last episode of BSG has got me thinking about the character Gaius Baltar and his plight. It has also forced me to apologies to darth maul517 because I now find myself being hypocritical in my augment in his last blog, Trust.

For those of you who do not follow the story of Battlestar Galactica the character of Gaius Baltar is a scientific genius who is self-centered, egotistical, cowardly, weak and a womanizer. Through his many character flaws he lets a woman get close to him and his work with the ministry of defense. This act unbeknown to Gaius allows the Cylons to infiltrate the computers of the 12 colonies and defeat all of their defensive systems that allowed for the complete destruction of the 12 colonies. Baltar only found out about the deception minutes before the attack. He would survive and find himself in the fleet of survivors fleeing the Armageddon.

Gaius has much in common with Anakin. Their downfalls were brought about by their love for a woman. And their problems are only compounded by keeping secrets from those they need to trust. Gaius's interaction with his fellow humans after the attack is clouded by his secret of his part in the death of countless billions. He doesn't feel guilty to the contrary his rational min has equated away any blame on him for the attack but he knows full well that the rest of humanity would not see it that way and would want vengeance. Gaius would lose the only thing he really values his own life if it were known. So Gaius' actions throughout the series are actions to help him cover up any ties he has with the attack. Anakin we all know had his secrets the secret of the tuskens, the secret of his marriage. Both of which if known would have cost him a great thing he valued, being a Jedi.

Both Anakin and Gaius are told they are the Chosen ones. Anakin is told about his destiny by the Jedi Council. Gaius is told by the image of the Cylon woman in his head whose uncanny ability to predict thing shows she is more then some psychosis. This idea weighs heavily on a lot of Baltar's actions in the series.

I found myself to be hypocritical in that I blame Anakin for keeping secrets from the Jedi Council but I blame the survivors for Gaius keeping secrets. I feel if the small fleet of survivors were more forgiving Baltar could have been more open from the beginning thus averting many of the problems that would plague the fleet due to Baltar's paranoia. I can't help but think what good would come out of throwing the worlds' most brilliant mind out an airlock out of some sense of vengeance over a weak man's mistake. Yet I still hold Anakin responsible for his actions throughout the saga. I don't know what it is maybe their are just some subtleties I am not seeing yet but I hold two opposing positions on a similar situation