Eli Wallace

Eli Wallace
David Blue as Eli Wallace
First appearance	"Air"
Portrayed by	David Blue
In-universe information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Stargate Command personnel
Family	Maryann Wallace (Mother)

Eli Wallace is a fictional character in the Canadian-American television series Stargate Universe, a science fiction drama centering on the adventures of a present-day, multinational scientific team unable to return to Earth after an evacuation to the Ancient spaceship Destiny, which is traveling in a distant corner of the universe. He is portrayed by American actor David Blue. Blue auditioned for the role when he heard they were casting characters for the new show. Wallace is considered to be a slacker, yet at the same time a genius. Wallace made his first appearance in the pilot episode, "Air", first broadcast in the United States and Canada in 2009.

Character arc

Eli was an extremely gifted child with both a high IQ and strong creative intuition. At age 14, he grew closer to his mother, Maryann, when his father abandoned them ("Time"). He was accepted into MIT's advanced mathematics program where he studied for several years. However, his mother, a nurse, contracted HIV from an accidental needle prick, and he dropped out of school to care for her. Needing a supplemental income and flexible work hours, he started several odd jobs when they were available; he often needed to quit because of the frequency and duration of his mother's treatments, as well as the unpredictable nature of acute attacks, leading to periods of unemployment.

During one such period in 2009, Eli discovered an online game called Prometheus, featuring several extremely difficult puzzles widely believed to be 'unsolvable' by the gaming community. In truth, the game itself was a recruiting tool developed by Stargate Command at the urging of Chloe Armstrong, who insisted that the medium might be an unconventional way of finding new talent; as such, the puzzles were based on real Ancient artifacts and calculations left behind in the Ancient Database, which required learning their alien language and solving mathematical proofs. Deeply engaged, Eli spent many of his off-work and unemployed hours for over a month solving the problem, only to have the game abruptly end. Within a day of finding the solution, Dr. Nicholas Rush and General Jack O'Neill, arrive in person to offer him a chance to see the fruits of his labor (but do not elaborate on the details). He politely refused, prompting them to beam him aboard the George Hammond; Rush wins Eli over by promising that the Air Force will provide his mother with the best medical care they have to offer.

Eli is transported to the Icarus Base to help Rush solve the mystery behind the ninth chevron of the Stargate. He jokingly gives himself the nickname "Math Boy" during a dinner conversation, which sticks. Though his formula is initially unsuccessful, during an attack on the base, Eli solves the problem under extreme pressure, allowing Rush to dial the ninth chevron. As a result, the remaining Icarus personnel are sent to the Destiny, an Ancient spaceship several billion light-years from Earth.

On Destiny, Eli quickly proves his value through his intelligence and creativity, quickly translating many of the ship's systems and deciphering the technology onboard; while not as well-versed on the Ancient language as Rush, he demonstrates more adaptability in leveraging their discoveries, notably by using the Kino technology to scout gated worlds, record diaries from the crew, patrol as security drones, and improvise a material sled for hauling cargo. Each of the main leaders come to rely on Eli for different reasons: Rush respects Eli's intelligence, even when he secretly resents it; Young relies on Eli as a "second opinion" because he does not trust Rush; and Wray trusts his motivations, as she believes Rush does not want to return to Earth. As a consequence, Eli is a frequent participant in secret plans and meetings, causing the crew to come straight to him when they feel that they are being left in the dark.

As such, Eli increasingly confronts his own fears of abandonment and his self-doubts as the leaders and crew come to rely on him. He initially bonds with Chloe Bennet, hoping to pursue her romantically; however, her interest in Lt. Scott causes Eli to keep things platonic, becoming her most trusted confidant on the ship and a surrogate "big brother". Eli is particularly close to Sgt. Riley, with whom they share technical interests, and he is particularly hurt by Riley's death in the line of duty. His relationship with Rush is initially strained, as Rush sees him as a competitor and someone with "unearned" success, as Eli's natural intelligence and creativity are nearly on par with his own, even without having completed college or dedicating himself to years of additional study, as he did.

In season 2, Rush quietly mentors Eli to develop greater objectivity and focus, with their relationship becoming less adversarial. After the Lucian Alliance boarding party is defeated on Destiny, Eli begins a romantic relationship with one of their technicians, Ginn, which improves both his morale and confidence. Eli and Rush find that their relationship becomes more complicated when Ginn volunteers to use the Ancient Communication stones to swap places with Amanda Perry, a brilliant former colleague of Dr. Rush's with whom he becomes involved with romantically. Dr. Rush and Eli's relationship strains over the use the stones, as Rush's romantic gestures are physically shared with Ginn. In spite of this, Eli supports Ginn throughout the process and advocates forgiving her part in the Lucian raid. When Simeon, a Lucian alliance hard-liner, believes that Ginn has betrayed valuable intelligence, he murders Ginn while Amanda Perry is using her body. Eli is devastated by the loss, as is Dr. Rush, and both attempt to pursue Simeon with the intent of killing him in retaliation; however, Eli is talked down by Lt. Scott and Sgt. Greer, both of whom acknowledge that Eli is not a murderer. Even when Rush eventually does kill Simeon, Eli is still deeply disturbed by this chain of events. Later, when Ginn and Amanda Perry's memories resurface in Wray when she uses the stones, Eli has a chance at closure by reuniting with Ginn, briefly, and by transferring her consciousness and memories to Destiny's computer banks, which Eli finds more satisfying than trying to avenge her.

The end of season 2 is a cliffhanger for which Eli is crucial: everyone on the ship has been put into stasis pods except for Eli, who volunteers to stay behind (in lieu of the untrustworthy Dr. Rush) to figure out how to fix the final, malfunctioning stasis pod so that he too can go into stasis. Before fixing his pod he goes to the observation deck and looks out at the stars as Destiny shuts down most of its systems around him. Eli smiles enigmatically as the show ends.

Conceptual history

"You tend to take parts of your roles home with you, which is why it's always good when you're playing a fun role."

— Blue talking about his work on SGU.

David Blue became a fan of Stargate SG-1 when it moved from Showtime to the SCI FI Channel (now known as Syfy) and used to watch it when he came home from school. He also later caught up with Stargate Atlantis. His interest in the franchise later influenced him to audition for one of the main roles. Blue was shooting a scene for an episode of Ugly Betty when he heard that the Stargate Universe producers were casting actors. He soon after had an audition and a screen test. Blue has commented that he wanted the role even more when he heard that Robert Carlyle had been signed on for a part.

Blue had never acted in the science fiction genre before being cast for Stargate Universe. Prior to Stargate Universe, he was best known for his portrayal of Cliff in Ugly Betty. Blue himself has said that Stargate Universe is "completely different" from his previous work.