WARNING: Some of the following may contain spoilers for episodes you haven't seen, especially if you live outside the United States, which has currently seen all of season 1 & 2, and 3, and is currently on season 4.
Rygel was the ruler of over 600 billion people, not all Hynerians, in the Hynerian Empire.
Rygel was overthrown by his cousin Bishan in a coup (who was either aided by the Pks or else he just handed Rygel over to the Pks afterwards to keep prisoner). Rygel has since been kept prisoner for over 250 cycles (according to his profile on the Sci-Fi Farscape page--BUT in PKTG, Rygel stated he had been a prisoner for over 130 cycles).
Whenever he is nervous or frightened, he farts helium.
He has a fondness for "procuring" items from their owners for use in bartering.
He was responsible for the prison break of Zhaan, D'Argo and himself by bribing the maintenance droids at the last checkpoint and securing the cell codes.
He really, really hates starburst.
Rygel hasn't got a clue how to cut anything with a knife because he's always had someone else to do it for him.
Hynerians are an acquatic species, and Rygel HATES mud (because you can't swim in it, breathe it, and it sucks you down).
He bites.
According to Zhaan, Rygel has at least part of the spirit of his most honored ancestor, Rygel I (Rygel the Great) residing in him. Rygel also stated that his ancestor had it "so very easy".
Rygel is quite ready to look out for #1, which, of course, is himself. His first reaction is to leave his shipmates behind rather than risk his own neck. However, he has (occasionally with prodding) proven this wrong on a number of times.
He is extremely fond of food and occasionally goes on a food binge. Not a pretty sight to look at afterwards.
An episode which features our dear Dominar a great deal. However, he most likely wished he'd stayed in bed, since he was kidnapped, held for ransom, and his shipmates were more than ready to leave him behind. However, since he had "borrowed" an essential crystal from Moya's propulsion unit, they were forced to rescue him.
During his captivity (in mud, no less), he agrees to allow the Hynerian Empire to become a subject empire to the Consortium of Trao in return for them paying his ransom. However, he later gleefully tells Jotheb (a prince of the Trao and fellow prisoner) that he is a deposed monarch.
Rygel informs John after his rescue that he has a choice, take him back to Moya or vivisect him there to get the crystal.
Rygel also showed his mischievious side in this episode, when he hands the crystal to Aeryn, telling her "I did wash it." and after she takes it, saying "Well, I think so." just to get a reaction from her.
The first ship Rygel was kept prisoner on was the Zelbinion, which was a Peacekeeper cultural treasure now lost for over 100 cycles. Rygel was tortured there by Captain Durka for many cycles.
Rygel confronts his fears about the Zelbinion and Captain Durka in this episode and makes a kind of peace with that time in his life in himself. However, later events gave that peace a serious blow (see Durka Returns).
After consuming tannot root on the planet Sykar, his bodily fluids became explosive. Thanks to Aeryn Sun, he was cured of this condition, though he had to be frozen for his own (and the others') protection.
Voluntarily agreed to ingest the root again after he was cured in order to save the lives of his shipmates.
Performed the Hynerian Ceremony of Passage (an especially funny bit in this episode), declaring John "officially dead" and then claimed all of John's possession as his own. Later when John woke up, and caught him with the goods (he was holding John's boots), Rygel informed John that the others wanted to jettison him but he convinced them that he could save John's life.
Rygel shows his ruthless side, as he, Zhaan, and D'Argo quite willingly cut off one of Pilot's arms in order to obtain starmaps back to their homeworlds.
Rygel has secret ways in and out of his cell on Moya.
Hynerian earbrows are quite sensitive.
Rygel is not a "body breeder" and is somewhat shocked (and possibly intrigued) by Zhaan's offer of sensual pleasure, at least until she mentions returning to Delvia first--then he snaps back to his old self.
Rygel was mistaken by D'Argo (who was under the influence of Moya's genetic material and having been out in space for approximately ¼ arn) for D'Argo's son Jothee. Needless to say, his excellency was not very happy with being tucked into bed and taken for piggyback rides.
Rygel didn't play a large part, as I recall, in this episode, other than to be offended at Zhaan offering to show him her naked blue extrimities.
Rygel is a skilled Tardac player, easily defeating Staanz, the renegade Zenenatan pirate and later skillfully manipulating the game so that he delibrately lost to Kcrackin (leader of the Zenenatan pirates), an abominable player, so that he would take the false tracking signal of D'Argo's comm link and head in the opposite direction of their shipmates.
Rygel had 70,000 servants during normal times, and an additional 50,000 servants during festivals, most of whom were female. According to Rygel, the servants job was to "keep him fed, entertained and NOT BORED."
Rygel had many wives, and had a dream at the beginning of the episode of one of his last sexual encounters with some of them.
The Acquarans believe Rygel to be a god, because their priestens (who were the only ones who could read the texts) had told them so for many cycles. Rygel denied godhood, of course, but did bask in the glow of their treating him as their ruler (which he was), something his shipmates don't do.
Rygel also freed the Acquarans from their enforced isolation (which was inflicted upon them by his ancestor, Rygel X) by destroying the machine which prevented their own powered machines from working.
Rygel, as stated before (see PK Tech Girl), got a rather nasty shock in this episode. Having made peace with what he had believed to be Durka's dead body on the Zelbinion earlier in the season, he was horrified at the sight and sound of the very man who had tortured him for so many years standing before him.
Rygel demonstrated that he does know the basics of building a bomb, though not necessarily the correct amounts of the materials to be used, when he built one to kill Durka with (and almost taking John along in the process). Rygel's bomb had the unfortunate side effect of breaking the "mental cleansing" the Nebari had imposed on Durka, returning him to his former Peacekeeper self instead of Mr. Lobotomy.
While tied to a table in Command, Rygel bravely distracted Durka from killing Aeryn by telling him to his face that Durka was a failure and always had been one because he had NEVER succeeded in all those years of torture in breaking Rygel. And then when Durka threatened to kill him, Rygel told him that he'd still be laughing then because Durka had commendeered a Leviathan that was pregnant and couldn't starburst anywhere, and that he hoped Durka enjoyed another 100 cycles in the Nebari's mind-bending machine.
Showed he cared (at least a little) about John at the beginning with his 'Go you lucky sod' line (or something similar). Also because he came along in the transport pod through the wormhole to Earth to make sure that John was okay.
Appeared to be dissected (at least to John) by the alien/humans in their scenario of what would happen if John returned home.
Rygel was not harmed, however, by was instead treated to one of his favorite delicacies, Hynerian marjols.
Tells some jokes (not something he usually does) as well as proving he's pretty good at coming up with spur of the moment verse.
He was all for abandoning Moya along with several of the others at the beginning of the episode, and as such, was partially responisble for Moya's subsequent actions.
While at the dinner at the end, he was telling the others he'd gone out among his people (I presume in disguise) who didn't recognize him. They were bad-mouthing Rygel, so he informed them who he was--at their trial.
Broke into the PK storage unit along with Chiana, which allowed the intelligent virus to escape. While Rygel was uninfected by it, Chiana was and she told the others while under the virus's influence that it was Rygel who was infected. After Rygel's capture, he was placed in a "hot" storage unit, but he was later released after the others managed to destroy the virus. However, no one apologized to his eminence for believing Chiana and dumping him in the storage unit in spite of the evidence to the contrary.
Checks up briefly on Aeryn while John is off at the PK base trying to secure the tissue sample she needed to survive. Didn't want to admit that was what he was doing, however, and went along with the out that Aeryn gave him about looking her room over for possessions that he could take if she died.
Believed wholeheartedly D'Argo's reasoning that Rygel was "needed on Command" in case a decision had to made quickly (and assured them that he would make a "quick and correct decision" if he needed to).
Rygel tells Chiana that he's the father of hundreds of progeny and "those are only the official ones by my wives". And that all the kids were tiny and handsome--like their father. And that he wasn't present at the birth of any of them (kinda reminds you of that line from Gone with the Wind, doesn't it--"I don't know nothin' about birthin' no babies")--Chiana had thought Rygel might be of some use in delivering Moya's child.
From Chiana's reactions in the pressurized storage container and just after she got out, Rygel may have tried something in there with her (though his eminence did try to apologize, but Chiana wouldn't listen).
Again showed his willingness to abandon the others at the beginning, he wanted to starburst to safety, leaving John behind on the base, but Moya's unexpected labor prevented that.
Nothing new I recall from this episode.
Hynerians have three stomachs--one reason why Rygel eats so much, according to him, is that "when the last one's full, the first is empty again".
The $64,000 question--did Rygel really intend to betray the others? There is some evidence to support that he had something else in mind, but after it failed, simply let the others believe what they were going to believe anyway rather than try to change their minds. A debate, I know, that will unlikely be resolved any time soon. Yes, Rygel told Zhaan "you bet your blue a$$ I did" when she said he went there to sell them out. But that's exactly what the others would expect him to do. Remember, Scorpius said Rygel was lying about his true reason for coming--but we never heard what that reason might be. And later in the episode, Rygel said to John as he was getting ready to go do this crazy idea of his something along the lines of "I'd go in your place if it made any sense." Could this have been a slip, which the others missed, on what his true intentions had been in going to the command carrier?
Rygel knows how to fly a transport pod.
Rygel also apparently realizes deep down somewhere that he does care about the others, a fairly major achievement for him, since he has spent the last 250+ cycles having to live by his wits and by not caring about the other people around him. He was unselfish at the end, wanting to remain to save Aeryn, John & D'Argo, a complete diametric opposite of his usual "let's get the frell out of here" attitude. He was also clearly deeply moved by John's farewell speech to him when he went to Crichton's quarters looking for something--forgiveness, perhaps, and maybe a little understanding from the one person on board that he thought might give it to him.
1. Premiere
2. I, E.T.
3. Exodus from Genesis
4. Back and Back and Back to the Future
5. Throne for a Loss
6. PK Tech Girl
7. Thank God It's Friday Again
8. That Old Black Magic
9. DNA Mad Scientist
10. They've Got a Secret
11. Til the Blood Runs Clear
12. The Flax
13. Rhapsody in Blue
14. Jeremiah Crichton
15. Durka Returns
16. A Human Reaction
17. Through the Looking Glass (originally called "The Fifth Reality")
18. A Bug's Life
19. Nerve
20. A Hidden Memory
21. Bone to be Wild
22. Family Ties
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