Sarcophagus (Stargate)

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In the Stargate fictional universe, the alien species Goa'uld use a device called a sarcophagus to rapidly heal injuries and extend their lifespans. The device can also bring the recently deceased back to life.

In the Stargate feature film, Daniel Jackson encounters a sarcophagus for the first time after being killed by a blast from a Jaffa's staff weapon, awakening inside with no wounds on his body. He uses the device again to revive his wife Sha'uri, who had been killed by another staff. Later in the Stargate SG-1 television series (in the episode "Need"), Jackson becomes addicted to the device, demonstrating symptoms common to the Goa'uld who regularly use them, including paranoia, egotism, and megalomania. The general rule seems to be that when the sarcophagus is used to heal someone who has been badly injured, the side effects are insignificant. However, when an already healthy person rests inside the sarcophagus, they become increasingly addicted to the device's effects and eventually develop a more malevolent personality (the Lazarus Pit system used by Ra's al Ghul and others in the DC Universe works similarly). Their prolonged use of the sarcophagus is one of the reasons why the Goa'uld are so evil (the other reason being their genetic memory, passing down their malevolent thoughts from one generation to the next). These factors make the sarcophagus a potent plot device-protagonists are wary of its effects and refuse to use it, whereas antagonists use it with abandon. This means that when protagonists die, they will only be resurrected under complex circumstances, whereas when antagonists die, they can be resurrected if there is any doubt as to the state of their body.

The first sarcophagus was created by an ancient Goa'uld known as Telchak. The sarcophagus was derived from the Ancient's healing device (a sample of which was recovered from South America in season 7 by Jackson), a technology which was too powerful itself to be used upon normal humans. The Tok'ra do not use the sarcophagus, claiming that it damages the soul (as demonstrated by Jackson in "Need"). However, a sarcophagus is known not only to give life, but to actually sustain life in a form of stasis for several thousand years (As demonstrated by the Goa'uld Hathor , who had been sealed away in a sarcophagus for almost 2,000 years, without any age or ill-term effects). Another Goa'uld, Marduk, was known to have been sealed away in a sarcophagus for 4,000 years, along with a vicious and dangerous creature intended to devour the Goa'uld. Because of the sarcophagus's special ability to keep the Goa'uld alive, it may have taken the vicious creature a long while to slowly devour the Goa'uld. For the Goa'uld trapped inside, it was a long, painful, and agonizing process that resulted in an "eternal torture" (But the Goa'uld itself possessed the creature's body). The Goa'uld use the device on prisoners when their torture methods accidentally or intentionally kill their victims. The limits of the sarcophagus were demonstrated by Lord Yu, whose extreme age reduced the effectiveness of the sarcophagus's regenerative powers. This confirmed that as powerful as sarcophagus technology is, it cannot grant true immortality.

The Stargate term is derived from a Sarcophagus, being a stone container for a coffin or body. Both structures appear to have an alabaster interior, and fans of the show have pointed out that while the regeneration machine clearly is not constructed from this material, its existence (if real) could explain the use of alabaster in the construction of Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi.

Technology in Stargate		Edit
Tau'ri	GDO | Horizon | IDC | Stargate Iris | Kull Disruptor | P90 | MALP | The Seeker Project | Naqahdah Generator Wraith retrovirus | F-302 | Prometheus (BC-303) | Daedalus-class Battlecruiser
Goa'uld/Tok'ra	Al'kesh | Death Glider | Ha'tak Mothership | Hand Device | Healing Device | Intar | Memory Recall Technology | Sarcophagus | Staff Weapon Tel'tak | TER | Tunnel Crystals | Zat | Zatarc detector
Ancient	Ancient City Ship | Ancient Control Chair | ATA Gene | Atlantis | Aurora-class Battleship | Dakara Weapon | DHD DNA Resequencer | Drone Weapon | Healing Device | Project Arcturus | Puddle Jumper | Repository of Knowledge Ring Transporter | Sangraal | Stargate | Time Dilation Device | Zero Point Module
Asgard	Beliskner-class ship | Daniel Jackson-class ship | O'Neill-class ship | Thor's Hammer
Other	Wraith Dart | Wraith Hive-Ship | Supergate | Ori Mothership
Lists by race	All | Tau'ri | Ancient, Aschen, Asgard, Goa'uld, Ori, Tok'ra, Tollan, Wraith | Other