Ra is believed to be one of the aliens responsible for taking humans from Earth and seeding them all across the galaxy. These human colonies worship the Goa'uld as gods, serve as slave labor (such as on Abydos, where the people mined naquadah for Ra) and have no idea that their true origins lie on Earth.

As a powerful System Lord, Ra's enemies were many. He was mortal enemies with Apophis, his brother in ancient Egyptian mythology. He was also opposed by the Goa'uld Shaq'ran, and defeated the Tok'ra queen Egeria, who spawned a resistance movement within the Goa'uld. He came into conflict with Earth when the first Stargate team visited Abydos. After attempting to destroy Earth by sending a naquadah-enhanced nuclear bomb through the Stargate, Ra was killed by Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson when they transported the bomb to Ra's mothership -- which was fleeing Abydos after a rebellion by its people.

Ra had a bride, Hathor, whom he exiled to Earth. She spent thousands of years trapped in a sarcaphagus before being discovered by archaeologists. With Hathor, Ra was the father of Heru-ur, a powerful Goa'uld System Lord in his own right.

Read more about the real-life mythological figure on which this character is based at the Encyclopedia Mythica.

PLAYED BY - Jaye Davidson
FIRST APPEARED - "Stargate" the movie

KEY EPISODE(S) -
"Stargate" the movie - Ra is killed when Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson lead the Abydonians in rebelling against his oppressive rule, thwarting his plan to destroy Earth.
Children of the Gods - Earth fears that Ra may have returned when a Goa'uld attacks the base and kidnaps an officer, but learns that it was Apophis.
Hathor - O'Neill and Jackson win praise from Hathor when she learns that they killed her pharaoh, Ra.
Cure - SG-1 visits Pangar, previously controlled by Ra, and find that the Goa'uld imprisoned the Tok'ra queen Egeria there, rather than killing her.