Eligius III

Eligius III
Eligius III file on screen
Type	Colony ship
Located	Currently unknown Sanctum orbit (former) Skyring orbit (former) Earth orbit (former)
Inhabitants	Mission Team Alpha (former) Mission Team Beta (former)

“	Eligius III was a colonizing mission. According to the file, the mothership went to five planets that met necessary conditions for life, dropping mission teams on each one.	”
— Bellamy Blake

Eligius III was an interstellar spaceship owned by the Eligius Corporation which originated from Earth. Its mission, which was launched before the First Apocalypse, was colonization of five distant potentially habitable worlds, leaving mission teams on each world to determine habitability and then to create a colony if possible.

The ship's complement of crew and passengers were inoculated with Nightblood; allowing them to withstand the increased radiation from the habitable world's two suns. However, according to Emori, the radiation levels are good.

The ship's status, as well as that of the crew and its mission, wasn't known to the survivors aboard Eligius IV. It was assumed that the ship had arrived at its destinations; however, this can't be verified because the mission was launched shortly before the Nuclear Apocalypse. It's unknown if they made any attempts to communicate with Earth in the intervening years.

So far, the ship went to five potentially habitable worlds; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon, which were named after the letters of the Greek alphabet. Where the ship itself ended up and if it even reached all five worlds is currently unknown. If the ship ever radioed its status back to Earth, it was after the First Apocalypse and the message was thus never received. It was originally thought that the Disciples came on Eligius III, but it was later revealed that they came to Bardo through the Temporal Anomaly, as Earth had its own Anomaly Stone and were descendants of the Second Dawn doomsday cult.

The fate of the Eligius III remains unknown.

History

236 years before Eligius IV arrived on Alpha, Eligius III was assigned to a colonizing mission. It visited five different habitable worlds in proximity to a black hole. It first arrived on Alpha where Mission Team Alpha was deployed with a thousand Nightblood embryos to begin a new colony. Becca Franko helped with the tech on Eligius III. The other planets that the ship was going to visit, were known as Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. However, Mission Team Alpha was unsure if any of them were actually habitable. Planet Beta, renamed Skyring by Hope Diyoza, was also habitable, but Mission Team Beta's transport ship crashed on the planet, killing all but Doctor Colin Benson. Due to the planet being further out from the black hole than the other mission planets, time ran faster on Skyring. Though the Disciples were originally believed to be descended from another colony team, it was later revealed that they were descendants of Second Dawn cultists who came to Bardo through the Temporal Anomaly.

It is still unknown what happened to Eligius III.

Mission

Phase One of the mission was to test whether or not a settlement could successfully survive on each habitable world. Phase Two was to populate the colony using embryos genetically modified with Nightblood. Supplies such as motorcycles, Nightblood, guns, food, water, building supplies and other materials were given to each group to try to survive. All the original members of Eligius III used Becca's cybernetic implant technology known as the Memory Drives in order to keep log of their findings.

Mission Team Alpha

The Alpha mission successfully built a settlement and a radiation shield after learning about the eclipse and the bugs. 

Members

Deceased:

Russell Lightbourne

Josephine Lightbourne

Simone Lightbourne

Caleb Mason

Miranda Mason

Jasmine Mason

Victor Lee

Faye Lee

Kaylee Lee

Daniel Lee

Ryker Desai

Priya Desai

Gabriel Santiago

Mission Team Beta

The Beta mission ended with all but one of the team being killed in a crash on Skyring, ending any attempt at creating a colony. The sole survivor, a quantum physicist named Doctor Colin Benson, studied the Temporal Anomaly on the planet before eventually dying of unknown causes. His Memory Drive was later recovered and reviewed by Doctor Gabriel Santiago of Mission Team Alpha.

Members

Deceased:

Colin Benson

Other Missions

It was originally thought that Bardo was settled by one of the other mission teams and that the Disciples are descendants of that team and/or their colony. However, it is later revealed that they were Second Dawn cultists who came through the Temporal Anomaly from Earth itself.

It is unknown whether Eligius III made it to their destinations or not, as the ship's status remains unknown.

Throughout the Series

• Season Four
• Season Five
• Season Six
• Season Seven

In The Tinder Box, Eric Jackson indirectly refers to Eligius III by telling Abby Griffin that Becca Franko had first developed the Nightblood for the Eligius Mining Company to protect against solar radiation for long space missions.

In Sleeping Giants, after seeing that Clarke Griffin has black blood, Miles Shaw mentions that Eligius III had Nightbloods on board.

In Pandora's Box, Raven Reyes shows John Murphy a list of four Eligius ships and describes the missions of Eligius I, Eligius II and Eligius IV. Murphy asks about Eligius III and Raven reveals that the file is so heavily encrypted that even she can't break it after hours of trying which Raven finds to be weird. Raven's attempts to hack into the file are interrupted by Shaw's efforts to hack the ship's controls.

In The Dark Year, after Murphy mentions about the Eligius III, Raven told Shaw that when she and Murphy were on Eligius IV, she hacked the Eligius files, but couldn't hack the one about the Eligius III.

In Damocles (Part 1), Eligius III was mentioned as Diyoza says that they weren't criminals.

In Damocles (Part 2), Monty Green reveals in his video message that Eligius III was sent to a new habitable world to tap for oil, since Earth's oil supplies had run out, which is the same world Eligius IV is now orbiting.

In Sanctum, Bellamy reveals that according to the file, Eligius III was a colonizing mission and it went to 5 planets that met necessary conditions for life, dropping mission teams on each one. Eligius III came to the first habitable world called, "Alpha." The Lightbourne family, aboard the ship are also introduced. Jordan Green and the others deduced that Eligius III had arrived on Alpha about over 200 years ago.

In Red Sun Rising, a flashback shows that in 2045, a mission team from Eligius III is on Alpha. They decided to name Alpha, "Sanctum". Later, one of the members of the mission team suffers a psychosis.

In The Children of Gabriel, it's revealed that the original Prime colonists became a royal family of the current settlement because of their special blood, using Mind Drives to be constantly resurrected in new Nightblood hosts.

In The Blood of Sanctum, it is revealed that the other planets that the Eligius III was going to visit, were known as Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. After their people revolt against them, the surviving Primes decide to take Eligius IV to the other planets Eligius III went to in order to find a new home. However, this plan was foiled when most of the Primes were floated by Clarke Griffin, and Russell Lightbourne was arrested for his crimes.

In The Garden, after arriving on Skyring through the Temporal Anomaly, Gabriel Santiago recognizes the skeletal corpse of Doctor Colin Benson as a friend from Eligius III. As a result, Gabriel realizes that Skyring is in fact Planet Beta from the Eligius III mission. Recovering Colin's Memory Drive, Gabriel learns that Mission Team Beta's transport crashed on the planet, killing all but Colin. Given the presence of the Anomaly on two of the planets Eligius III went to, Gabriel doubts the choice of planets was a coincidence and suggests that the Disciples from Bardo are also the descendants of Eligius III colonists. Its also learned from a recording of Becca Franko on the Memory Drive that the five planets chosen were in close proximity to a black hole, though Skyring was further out.

In False Gods, Raven tells Indra, Clarke, Murphy and Emori that protective gear will have no effect on gamma radiation. Raven lists it as one of the reasons that Eligius III went with Nightbloods instead which they too have in the form of Clarke, Murphy and Emori.

In Hesperides, Gabriel questions Orlando about his people potentially being from Eligius III. Orlando, having mentioned the Shepherd of the Disciples' mythology, orders Gabriel not to say the Shepherd's name after he mentions the ship. It is thought that the Disciples revere Eligius III as the Shepherd that saved them from the fire that destroyed the Earth as part of their mythology. Gabriel later speaks with Orlando about the ship, stating that they both come from it and were both saved by Eligius III from the destruction of the Earth caused in part by people bastardizing their beliefs. Gabriel points out that the Shepherd wouldn't condone the acts of the Disciples but that men would.

In Welcome to Bardo, while he listens to Anders' preach, Gabriel realizes from his words that the Disciples did not come from Eligius III at all. Instead, they came through the Temporal Anomaly from Earth itself.

In Anaconda, it is revealed that the Disciples are the descendants of Second Dawn cultists who came to Bardo through the Anomaly, confirming that they are not the descendants of Eligius III colonists.

Appearances

Season Four
Episode	Appearance Status
Echoes	Absent
Heavy Lies the Crown	Absent
The Four Horsemen	Absent
A Lie Guarded	Absent
The Tinder Box	Mentioned
We Will Rise	Absent
Gimme Shelter	Absent
God Complex	Absent
DNR	Absent
Die All, Die Merrily	Absent
The Other Side	Absent
The Chosen	Absent
Praimfaya	Absent

Season Five
Episode	Appearance Status
Eden	Absent
Red Queen	Absent
Sleeping Giants	Mentioned
Pandora's Box	Mentioned
Shifting Sands	Absent
Exit Wounds	Absent
Acceptable Losses	Absent
How We Get to Peace	Absent
Sic Semper Tyrannis	Absent
The Warriors Will	Absent
The Dark Year	Mentioned
Damocles (Part 1)	Mentioned
Damocles (Part 2)	Mentioned

Season Six
Episode	Appearance Status
Sanctum	Mentioned
Red Sun Rising	Mentioned
The Children of Gabriel	Mentioned
The Face Behind the Glass	Absent
The Gospel of Josephine	Absent
Memento Mori	Absent
Nevermind	Absent
The Old Man and the Anomaly	Absent
What You Take With You	Absent
Matryoshka	Absent
Ashes to Ashes	Absent
Adjustment Protocol	Absent
The Blood of Sanctum	Mentioned

Season Seven
Episode	Appearance Status
From the Ashes	Absent
The Garden	Mentioned
False Gods	Mentioned
Hesperides	Mentioned
Welcome to Bardo	Mentioned
Nakara	Absent
The Queen's Gambit	Absent
Anaconda	Absent
The Flock	Absent
A Little Sacrifice	Absent
Etherea	Absent
The Stranger	Absent
Blood Giant	Absent
A Sort of Homecoming	Absent
The Dying of the Light	Absent
The Last War	Absent

Gallery

• Dedication to the Eligius III crew.
• Eligius III Outpost Mission Team

1/5

Notes and Trivia

• Jason Rothenberg said that we would learn more about Eligius III in Season Six.
• According to Rothenberg, Eligius III was sent to a new habitable world 236 years before Eligius IV arrived there.
• Individuals from Eligius IV know some things about Eligius III. Miles Shaw and Charmaine Diyoza talk about them having blood alteration and being sent to a habitable moon. Diyoza and Paxton McCreary also converse about them saying that the Eligius III crew were not criminals, hinting that they were aware of their mission or simply that it wasn't being used as a prison ship.
• In "Damocles (Part 2)," Monty states that Eligius III went to find new worlds to tap for oil as the Earth's supply was exhausted. It is possible that the Eligius III went looking for five habitable worlds as both a colony mission and a mission to find more oil.
• The ship went to five habitable worlds; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon, which were named after the letters of the Greek alphabet.
• In "The Blood of Sanctum," Simone mentions to Josephine (Clarke), that the amount of cryopods on Eligius III was smaller compared to the tank on Eligius IV. This shows that Eligius IV was an upgraded version of the Eligius Corporation's available ships.
• Mission Team Alpha is presumably named after the habitable moon Alpha.
  • It is possible that the other mission teams are likely named after the other habitable worlds that the Eligius III went to.
• The fate of Eligius III is still unknown after the seventh and final season.
  • In addition, it is unknown if any of the other planets visited through the Temporal Anomaly in that season, aside from Skyring, are in fact Eligius III mission planets.
  • It is possible that if they heard a message from Earth that a Nuclear Apocalypse had happened, they would've colonized a planet or they would've colonized the last 3 planets before hearing the message about the nuclear apocalypse, leading the colony ship to stay on the orbit of the last planet. If it was true, then the descendants of the embryos and the Eligius III crew members, would've transcended with the rest of the human race.