PRIOR STAFF

The Priors of the Ori carry a tall staff emblazoned with the symbol of Origin, upon which rests a large pale blue crystal. Although the Priors are more highly evolved and have been granted powerful telekinetic abilities and great insights into the secrets of the universe, the staff they carry seems to channel and magnify their powers, granting them the ability to perform great miracles, both to create and destroy. When activated through mind control, the staff's crystal glows with a brilliant blue light. Through their staffs, Priors have been known to perform miracles, grow crops, heal the sick, restore the dead, levitate, deflect, torture, kill, or spread disease, and they also channel their unique brain chemistry to pilot the Ori warships.

In Ver Ager, a Prior used his staff to restore Vala to life after she had been burned to death at the altar. On P8X-412, the power of the Prior caused a plague to spread throughout the village, and the brilliant glow from his staff restored the villagers to health. On Kallana, the Prior's staff deflected the villagers and caused a force field to develop that would collapse the planet. On P9X-844, the anti-prior device successfully neutralized the Prior's powers, preventing him from channeling the power of his mind through his staff. When Gerak used his staff to send a brilliant wave of energy through the SGC that would cure the Prior plague, he instantly burst into flames. SG-1 theorized that the Ori may have put in place a physiological failsafe to prevent him from turning against his gods, but the same fate had also come to the Prior first brought from P3X-421 to Earth. He too had vanished in flames, bringing into question whether their deaths had been their own doing or triggered by a power of the staff beyond their control.

Cross Reference: Anti-Prior Device, Ori, Ori Warship, Prior

Episode Reference: Avalon, Origin, The Powers That Be, Beachhead, Babylon, The Fourth Horseman, Arthur's Mantle, Crusade, Flesh and Blood, Counterstrike, The Quest, Line in the Sand, The Shroud