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Marriage Of Appearances

In "Stargate: The Movie," Daniel Jackson was mistaken for an emissary of Ra, the Goa'uld ruler of Abydos. To please him, Kasuf, the Abydan people's leader, gifted to Daniel his daughter, Sha're. When Sha're unexpectedly entered Daniel's tent and began taking off her clothes, Daniel turned down her offer in lieu of continuing his attempts to communicate with the Abydans. Later, after much action and adventure, Daniel and Sha're were reunited. She told him that everyone believed them to be married, though she understood that Daniel "did not want her." Realizing the truth about their relationship, and having become good friends with Sha're over their brief time together, Daniel accepted Sha're as his new wife.

It's a classic love story (and melodramatic cliché): boy meets alien girl, boy saves the planet, boy gets alien girl. But it wasn't to last. A mere year or so later, Sha're was ripped from Daniel's arms to become a host for the Goa'uld Amaunet in "Children Of The Gods." After that, they had two bittersweet reunions, the second of which ended with Sha're's death. We saw little of Daniel and Sha're's relationship on-screen during the series, but what we did see showed their utter devotion to each other in the face of insurmountable odds. It was clear that these were two people deeply in love and equally in pain at the loss of their spouse. So why is it that some people believe that their marriage was nothing but a sham done for appearances, that Daniel stayed on Abydos only because it would be rude to turn down Kasuf's gift to him?

First, we need to examine Daniel's motives in accepting Sha're as his wife. This was a man who had nothing left for him on Earth: no family, no friends, no possessions, no job, no respect. The work he did for the Stargate program was only done because he had absolutely nothing else. So given the opportunity to travel through an untested alien device that would transport him across the universe, Daniel bluffed his way onto the team and took it. After all, what did he have to lose? So having arrived on Abydos, he discovered an amazing thing: a displaced culture mirroring that of Ancient Egypt, his particular area of study. It was an archaeologist's dream come true, evil aliens aside. And after some cultural miscommunication was cleared up, he began to form close bonds with the Abydans, Sha're included. He suddenly discovered that Sha're's father had given her to him as a gift, and that Sha're took his confusion as a rejection. But by this time he had begun to fall in love with her on his own, and he accepted their marriage for real. After they rid Abydos of Ra, Daniel had the opportunity to return to Earth... but what did he have to go back to? He chose to remain on Abydos, with his new family and the fantastic opportunity to explore the Abydan culture. He went from having nothing to having everything: respect, love, family, friends, and a brand new area of intellectual exploration.

So some say: Daniel didn't really stay for Sha're, he stayed for Abydos. Odd that one should be considered exclusive of the other. And they also say: Sha're didn't love Daniel, she was merely obliged to him as a gift by the laws of her culture. Yes, it's plausible that this could be the case, but you'd have to ignore all of the on-screen evidence of their love and affection.

Let's start with Sha're. Was she an unwilling gift to a powerful stranger, or was there more to it than that? There certainly was! The very first moment she laid eyes on him, Sha're was interested in Daniel. She gave him a long, intense look while giving him water, and on the long walk to Nagada she constantly watched him and giggled at the antics surrounding him. Though Daniel was unaware of it, Sha're already had a strong attraction to him. It's even possible that she volunteered herself to be Daniel's gifted bride. Sha're was also attracted to Daniel's mind: she was herself a student of language, being one of the rebellious few who learned the written word despite Ra's edicts, and she and Daniel spent hours teaching each other to communicate, their heads close together in the dark. Fast forward to "Children Of The Gods," and Sha're gave Daniel a heck of a kiss for someone who was supposedly "just friends" with him. The next time we saw Sha're in "Secrets," things were much bleaker, but still she and Daniel were constantly close and caring for each other in words and actions. That she did not give away Daniel's hiding place upon leaving with Apophis, though Amaunet was again in control, is a testament to the force of will she would have had to exert upon her internal captor. Her love for Daniel saved his life in that instant. Finally, in "Forever In A Day," Sha're used her last living moments to comfort Daniel about her impending death and to encourage him to keep on living his life despite the deep loss he was about to suffer. She also trusted Daniel to find and keep safe her son, the last thing she was able to ask of him, showing just how much she believed in him.

Daniel's behavior also illustrated the depth of his love for Sha're. Let's go back to the movie again for a moment. Daniel and Sha're had confessed their love for each other, the fight against Ra was raging, and tragedy struck: Sha're was killed by a Jaffa's staff weapon blast. Daniel risked everything to save her by taking her into the heart of Ra's ship to the life-giving sarcophagus that earlier restored his own life. In fact, he was caught by Ra and almost killed again, but both he and Sha're were accidentally saved by Jack. In "Children Of The Gods," upon seeing the horrible fate of his wife, Daniel begged to be taken as a host so he could at least be with her. He would do anything for her, even volunteer to be trapped forever in his own body by an alien creature. This is not the behavior of a man who is merely good friends with a woman who he only married out of social obligation. Daniel's quest for Sha're and his desperate need to find and rescue her popped up in a number of episodes, including "Fire And Water" and "Holiday," both of which displayed the intensity of his determination to save her. Daniel wasn't just traveling through the Stargate to explore other worlds and help save Earth, he was going through those wormholes with a specific mission, and every time he went through there was a chance, however slim, that that could be the day he would finally be reunited with his wife and free her of Amaunet. He came close when he returned to Abydos in "Secrets," and he tried everything he could to save her and her child, but she slipped through his fingers in the end and all he could do was hide the baby from Apophis. Finally, in "Forever In A Day," his quest ends, and we get to see just how hard Sha're's death hits Daniel. He isn't just in mourning, he's utterly distraught. He lashes out at Teal'c for killing her to save his life. He quits the SGC because he can't bear to go through the Stargate again. He begins to sever all his ties on Earth once more, plans to go lose himself somewhere on a distant dig (assuming his tattered reputation will even allow him that), almost putting himself back to the way he started in the movie, alone and lost without his love. It's only Sha're's determination and love that forces him to pick back up the threads of his life, forgive Teal'c, rejoin his friends, and continue his intergalactic travels. Her death is what stops his world from turning, and it's her love that makes it move again.

Sha're was no mere best friend to Daniel or a simple arranged marriage bride to him; she was his true love, and he hers. Though they had relatively little time together in wedded bliss, the strength of their love for each other helped them through years of horror and loss, and it was only through their love that Daniel was able to keep going after he lost Sha're. In the face of overwhelming evidence, anyone who asserts otherwise belittles them both and denies the depth of their feelings and character.

Oddities Index
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