O'Neill: This is new.
Daniel: Yeah, it's always something, isn't it?
The team finally find Daniel again after he was captured by Adria, but are horrified to discover that he has been turned into a Prior. Daniel insists that he's still on their side and this is all part of his plan to destroy the Ori using Merlin's weapon, but the others are unsure as to whether he can still be trusted, and the situation is complicated further by the interference of Woolsey and the IOA.
Last appearance of General Jack O'Neill and Richard Woolsey (at least in the context of SG-1).
"The Shroud" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: O'Neill ruffles Daniel's hair when he wakes up as himself in the Odyssey's infirmary at the end of the episode, a Call-Back to something he would occasionally do in the early seasons.
- Ambiguous Ending: Merlin's weapon is completed and sent through to the Ori galaxy, but it's not made entirely clear if it's worked or not. Several more Ori ships also come through to the Milky Way, and it's pointed out that even if the Ori themselves have been destroyed, the war isn't over as their human followers and Priors are still in play.
- Benched Hero: O'Neill spends some time complaining about no longer being a part of the action.O'Neill: I've always been the one that caused the worry, not the worrier.
- Cast from Hit Points: Daniel throws some kind of psychic attack at Adria and comments that it took a lot out of him before half-collapsing.
- Commuting on a Bus: O'Neill returns to help deal with the situation, though this is his last appearance on the show.
- Continuity Nod:
- Much of Daniel's plan hinges on shutting down the the wormhole to the Pegasus galaxy blocking the Ori from dialing the supergate.
- Daniel reminds O'Neill that he stood by the latter while Ba'al was torturing him to death over and over again to try and convince O'Neill to trust him.
- Woolsey claims he believes killing Daniel is the right thing to do as he doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes he made with Khalek.
- Woolsey tries to have Daniel beamed into the stasis chamber in Antarctica.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Discussed when Carter and Mitchell tell O'Neill their plan to board the Ori ship and complete Merlin's weapon themselves.O'Neill: What do you got?Carter: A crazy idea.O'Neill: I'm down with crazy. I like crazy. Crazy and I are like (crosses fingers) that.Carter: Cam likes crazy too.Mitchell: Listen. If what Jackson is saying is true, there is an Ori ship out there with a near-complete weapon on it that could prove useful against the Ori. I think we should go after it.O'Neill: You're right. That's crazy!
- Deadpan Snarker: Practically everything Daniel says is dripping sarcasm due to his frustration over the rest of the team's seeming lack of trust in him.
- Deceptive Disciple: In a rare heroic example, Daniel pretends to let Adria convert him in order to gain her trust and ultimately use his newfound Prior abilities against her. Gets double-subverted towards the end of the episode, when Adria catches the team midway through completing their plan and Daniel starts acting like he's been on her side all along before knocking her out and revealing he was just stalling her to be certain she couldn't use her powers.
- Evil Makeover: Daniel is given the same heavily-scarred albino appearance as all the other Priors, which O'Neill in particular has a lot of fun mocking.
- Face–Heel Turn: The rest of the team plus O'Neill spend a good portion of the episode trying to decide whether Daniel is telling the truth or if he really has gone darkside on them, though the trope is ultimately subverted.
- First-Name Ultimatum: After Daniel overcomes the anti-Prior device and unexpectedly beams O'Neill up the Odyssey after taking control of the ship:O'Neill: (without turning around) Daniel...?Daniel: Jack...?
- Flashback: Used to show Daniel's time with Adria following his capture.
- Friendship Moment: Most of the scenes between Daniel and O'Neill serve as a fittingly snarky tribute to their friendship over the years.O'Neill: Yep, just like old times... Except I'm here against my will, and you look like Marcel Marceau.Daniel: Yeah, you know, some things change, but others stay the same.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: Daniel mentions that Adria is busy trying to convert more followers in order to imbue the Ori with more power for their battle against the Ancients.
- Gone Horribly Right: During "Prototype", Daniel angrily held Woosley accountable for Khalek's rampage and how it wouldn't have happened if the bureaucrat had heeded his warnings to kill him while they still had the chance. This time, Woolsey does not want to get burned again and immediately champions the 'Kill the Dangerous Advanced Human' option upfront when the IOA decides Daniel's fate. Daniel is well aware of the irony in-universe and lampshades he was afraid this might happen.
- Human Popsicle: Once O'Neill and Landry make it clear that they aren't going to allow Daniel to be killed, Woolsey suggests freezing him in stasis until they're certain that he's not a threat. Daniel has other ideas.
- Join or Die: Mitchell states that one of the reasons Daniel is scarily good at being a Prior is that he averts this trope and focuses on preaching about the benefits of Origin rather than threatening would-be converts with death.
- Kill the God: The team complete Merlin's weapon and send it through the supergate in the hopes of killing the Ori with it.
- Living Lie Detector: Lampshaded when Carter states that she doesn't think hooking Daniel up to a polygraph is going to do much good; O'Neill responds that they've got something better. Cut to Daniel being interrogated by Teal'c.
- Morality Pet: During a flashback, Adria stresses to Daniel that it's important they work together to "save" Vala.
- Power Nullifier: The team use the anti-Prior device to cancel out Daniel's powers while they interrogate him, though he's eventually able to overcome its effects. Daniel later takes the device with him to the Ori ship and uses it on Adria.
- Power of Trust: Daniel tries to invoke this with the other characters, particularly O'Neill, with varying degrees of success. O'Neill later turns it back on him:O'Neill: (imploringly) I'm trusting you.Daniel: (indicating that he's still restrained) Oh, yes, I really feel the faith.O'Neill: Well now you have to trust us. Let us finish what you started.
- Race Against the Clock: Daniel claims that Merlin has placed a failsafe in his mind ensuring that he will revert back to his regular self in a day or so, meaning that the team need to make up their minds about whether or not he can be trusted and get to implementing his plan as soon as possible.
- Sharing a Body: Daniel claims that Merlin's consciousness is still inside his mind following his use of the Ancient repository. This is seemingly confirmed when Merlin appears to take over briefly and Daniel's whole demeanor and manner of speaking changes to become much more formal.
- Ship Tease: In addition to the tension between Daniel and Adria, Vala sits in Daniel's lap like it's the most normal thing in the world while he's restrained, and he doesn't even comment on it. In a flashback, Adria also states that she can now see why Daniel was able to win her mother's "affections".
- Spanner in the Works: Daniel's plan did not anticipate that SG-1 would take so long to try and capture him (or other factors like Woolsey).
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Mitchell threatens to have Daniel beamed out into space if he tries anything after the team first capture him.
- Touched by Vorlons: Daniel explains that he had to get Adria to turn him into a Prior in order for his plan to work, as only Priors are able to fly the Ori ships.
- Trojan Horse: Everybody's afraid this may be the purpose of Daniel's 'plan' and 'capture': To trick the SGC into re-opening the Supergate.
- True Companions: Made especially apparent by the other characters' disgust at Woolsey's suggestion as to what should be done with Daniel, despite their own doubts as to where his loyalties lie.
- "Uh-Oh" Eyes: Adria's eyes flare gold and then fill with flames when she catches Carter and Teal'c on board her ship.
- Villainous Crush: Adria seems to be rather infatuated with Daniel during their scenes together, and in one flashback she kisses him before turning him into a Prior, something that borders on
Squick territory when you take into account the fact that chronologically Adria is less than a year old. - Wham Shot: When the Prior's face is revealed at the beginning of the episode and we see that it's Daniel.
- The World Is Always Doomed: Lampshaded:Daniel: Jack, you have to believe me.O'Neill: Why?Daniel: Why? Well, because... oh, I don't know, the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance?!O'Neill: You know, that old chestnut's getting a little... old.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Daniel openly admits that he's playing this by the second half of the episode, as the team took longer than he expected to capture him and he didn't account for their hesitance to believe him or the interference of Woolsey, so he has to make several modifications to his plan in order to accommodate the unforeseen factors. Needless to say, he pulls it off in the end.
