Teyla Emmagan

"Leaving my fellow Athosians for a home here in Atlantis was a very difficult decision. I was their leader &mdash; for some, the only leader they'd ever known. And despite the fact that I was as close as a trip through the Stargate, there were moments when I felt I'd betrayed them. I sometimes still second-guess my decision. But then I remember that I can do more here to help my people and the rest of the humans in this galaxy than I ever could on my homeworld."

- Teyla Emmagan

Teyla Emmagan is the leader of the Athosians from the planet Athos, and was one of the first to speak to the Atlantis expedition. She is an original member of the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team.

Background information
"You were born for a higher purpose &mdash; to be the leader of our people."

- Charin

She is the daughter of Tagan and Torren Emmagan. She lost both of them by a young age. Teyla has a rare ability to sense the Wraith, due to one of her ancestors having Wraith DNA spliced into their genetic makeup. Since this was discovered, she has been able to make contact with Wraith minds on occasion, with varying degrees of success.

Teyla's leadership qualities are very respected in Atlantis and she is often considered the unofficial third-in-command of Atlantis and has on occasion been left in charge when both the current leader of the expedition and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard are away.

2004
When Colonel Marshall Sumner and Major John Sheppard's team arrived on Athos, she greeted them. She could tell that Sumner did not respect her but Sheppard did. When Sumner wished to search the abandoned city, she warned against it. Later, she showed Sheppard the caves where her ancestors hid from the Wraith. Once inside, Sheppard found a necklace that she had lost years before. On the way back, three Wraith Darts came through the Stargate. She was beamed into one of the Darts and taken to the Wraith homeworld. She awoke on a Wraith Hive ship and Toran was the first one chosen. She was rescued by Sheppard and Lt. Aiden Ford and saved Ford's life on the way to the Puddle Jumper. They made it to the Jumper safely and they returned to Atlantis. She later joined the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team with Sheppard, Ford, and Dr. Rodney McKay.

While enjoying some down time, Major John Sheppard tried to explain to her the game of football. When Jinto accidentally released the Shadow creature, she had the idea to allow the creature to go through the Stargate to M4X-337.

On a recon mission to the Wraith homeworld, she and her team were attacked by Wraith warriors. While fleeing back to the ship, Major John Sheppard was attacked by an Iratus bug. On the way back to Atlantis, the Puddle Jumper became lodged in the Stargate. After using salt and iodine to try to remove the Iratus bug, Dr. Carson Beckett suggested the use of a Defibrillator to stop his heart. When Sheppard could not be revived, Lt. Aiden Ford had her take him though the event horizon. After Dr. Rodney McKay managed to retract the drive pods on the Jumper, Ford blew the rear hatch to propel the Jumper through the gate. Beckett then revived Sheppard when he reached Atlantis.

When her team encountered the Wraith for the fifth time in nine missions, Dr. Elizabeth Weir concluded there must be a spy in the city. Weir set up new security protocols that restricted the movement of the Athosians despite her rejections that none of her people could be working for the Wraith. When Halling and several other Athosians were thinking of leaving Atlantis, she convinced them to stay as the investigation would only prove their innocence. During a Puddle Jumper exploration of Lantea, Major John Sheppard and Lt. Aiden Ford discovered the mainland. When Halling wished to move to the mainland, she decided to stay in the city and was concerned for them. After the Athosians relocated to the mainland, she and her team traveled to an unnamed planet. While deciphering ruins, Sheppard sent her with Ford to find the inhabitants to help with the translation. While they were away the Wraith attacked the ruins. Cut off from the Stargate and abandoned by the rest of their team, Teyla and Ford were forced to fight their way to the gate. During the fight, Ford dove out of the way of a Wraith stunner blast and hit his head, knocking him unconscious. Teyla managed to drag him through the gate to safety. When they returned to Atlantis, Sgt. Bates accused her of working with the Wraith and had Dr. Rodney McKay search her belongings. He found the necklace that Sheppard had found in the Athosian caves and discovered it was a Wraith transmitter designed to detect Ancients. She the joined the rest of her team on an ambush to capture a Wraith on the same planet. They were successful and able to capture Steve.

When her team's Puddle Jumper crashed on M7G-677, she stayed in the village with Major John Sheppard while Dr. Rodney McKay and Lt. Aiden Ford searched for the Electromagnetic field generator the Ancients left on the planet. When Ford and McKay unplugged the Zero Point Module and a Wraith relay device activated, she tried to convince the villagers not to kill Sheppard for destroying it. When the Wraith sent a probe, Ford and Sheppard attempted to shoot it down but failed. Fortunately, McKay was able to reactivate the device and the probe shut down.

On a mission to Hoff, she warned the Hoffans that if they used the Hoffan drug that the Wraith might wipe them out for being an inconvenience. When Steve was brought to Hoff in order to test the drug, she helped guard him. When half the people that received the drug fell ill, she assisted Dr. Carson Beckett in trying to treat them but most died including Perna.

When the Atlantis expedition was running low on food, she brought her team to the Genii homeworld and introduced them to Tyrus and his daughter Sora Tyrus. After meeting with Cowen and coming to an agreement on trading C-4 and medical supplies for food, she and Lt. Aiden Ford stayed for the harvest ceremony while Major John Sheppard and Dr. Rodney McKay returned to Atlantis to discuss the trade deal with Dr. Elizabeth Weir. When Sheppard and McKay returned and found a secret Underground Bunker, they were arrested by Tyrus and Sora and brought inside. She was surprised that the simple farmers turned out to be far more than they seemed. After a loose alliance was formed between the two, she and her team joined Cowen and Tyrus on a mission to a Wraith Hive ship. Once on the Hive, she and Tyrus stayed back to free cocooned humans while they download information to the Wraith data storage device. Once they were alone Tyrus stopped her from freeing anyone and killed a man asking for help. This alerted the Wraith to their presence and Tyrus was shot with a Wraith stunner. With the Wraith closing in she had no choice but to leave him and return to the Puddle Jumper. When they returned to the Genii homeworld and Cowen tried to double-cross them, she drew her weapon but was not forced to fire as Cowen surrendered when two Jumpers decloaked.

After the discovery of M5S-224's powerful atmosphere, she traveled to Earth with Major John Sheppard to brief Stargate Command on the situation in the Pegasus galaxy. After the briefing, Sheppard took her shopping and then to his apartment. When some of Sheppard's deceased friends began to arrive, he knew something was wrong and shot one of them to see if they were real. Fortunately, this was all an illusion created by the inhabitants of the planet and she never left Pegasus.

During a trip to the mainland with Major John Sheppard, they discovered a storm approaching Atlantis. She, with the assistance of Dr. Carson Beckett and Lt. Aiden Ford, evacuated the Athosians from the mainland. However, by the time the last of the hunters arrived at the Puddle Jumper, the storm was about to hit and Beckett insisted he lacked the skill to fly through it. Ford eventually persuaded Beckett during the eye, to return to Atlantis after learning that a Genii strike team infiltrated the city. After arriving back on Atlantis, she along with Beckett and Ford saved Sheppard from a Genii trap at the Naquadah generator. She was teamed up with Beckett to use a Jumper to distract the Genii in Stargate Operations but on the way to the Jumper bay Beckett was knocked out by Sora Tyrus, who wanted to be alone with Teyla, so she could avenge her father's death. The two battle each other with knives and hand to hand. After Teyla defeated Sora, they carried Beckett to safety in Stargate Operations.

When Major John Sheppard, Dr. Rodney McKay, Dr. Brendan Gall and Dr. Abrams lost contact with Atlantis while exploring a planet in the Lantean system, Lt. Aiden Ford was sent by Dr. Elizabeth Weir on a rescue mission. He assembled a team consisting of her, Sgt. Markham and several Marines. When they arrived in orbit above the planet, Sheppard ordered them to fire a Drone weapon at the Wraith survivor killing him.

2005
While sparring in the Atlantis gym with Major John Sheppard, a team of scientists released an Ancient nanovirus. They were told by Dr. Elizabeth Weir to stay put as she had quarantined the city. When Dr. Peterson breached quarantine, Sheppard ordered Sgt. Bates to open the doors on the gym despite Weir's refusal. They put on Hazmat suits and are able to find Peterson. He ran for a transporter and Sheppard shot him but not before he entered the transporter and transported to the Mess hall. Once he entered the mess hall the cities senors detected the virus and the city entered a quarantine lockdown. Once they realized they could move through the city because of their hazmat suits, she headed for the mess hall to calm everyone down and Sheppard went to McKay's lab. Once in the mess hall, she was attacked by Lt. Crown and her hazmat suit was torn exposing her to the virus. Fortunately, Major John Sheppard was able to overload a Naquadah generator, causing an electromagnetic pulse, which deactivated the nanites.

On a mission to Proculus, her team's Puddle Jumper was attacked by Wraith Darts. They were saved by a mysterious force from the planet below. After landing on the surface, they were introduced to Chaya Sar.

While searching Atlantis, she, Major John Sheppard and Lt. Aiden Ford found a room with a woman preserved in a Stasis pod. After reviving her it is discovered that she is an alternate Dr. Elizabeth Weir.

She and the team went to Dagan to search for a Zero Point Module, after an alternate Dr. Elizabeth Weir gave them five addresses with a guaranteed ZPM on them. When they discovered the Quindosim Chamber, she entered the chamber with the rest of the team while Lt. Aiden Ford stayed above ground. Ford was then shot with a tranquilizer dart and knocked out by Commander Acastus Kolya's men. Koyla took Dr. Rodney McKay and Allina to help him locate the ZPM and put him in the chamber. She, along with Major John Sheppard and Ford came up with a plan to ambush Koyla and his men with stun grenades. After Sheppard retrieved the ZPM they sprung the trap and overtook the Genii. The team had acquired a ZPM, but since McKay told Allina, who was a member of the new Quindosim that the Atlantis expedition weren't the Lanteans they hoped and took the ZPM until the Ancients came back to reward, despite the fact they all ascended. McKay tried his best to convince Allina of the impending Wraith siege, but lost. They returned to Atlantis and were informed by Dr. Elizabeth Weir that the Long range sensors had detected three Wraith Hive ships.

With three Wraith Hive ships on their way to Atlantis, she and Major John Sheppard traveled to a planet in their path to do recon. They met with Orin a friend of her father and warned them of the approaching Wraith and told him and his family to meet them in the forest after dark. They headed into orbit and scanned the fleet as it exited hyperspace. They headed back to the Stargate as Sheppard felt there wasn't enough time to save anyone but were cut off when the Wraith dialed in. They headed to the spot she told Orin and waited for him. After a long wait a man named Arja and his family arrived and she uncloaked the Puddle Jumper. Eventually, Orin and his family arrived and they headed back to Atlantis.

When she was having trouble sleeping, Major John Sheppard asked Dr. Kate Heightmeyer to speak with her but she was not receptive at first but went to see her. Heightmeyer asked her about her ability to sense the Wraith which sparked her to visit Charin to find out way she had this ability. She told her about several people who were taken by the Wraith but returned to the village. After a short time, the returned began to hear voices and became violent. They were killed or forced out of the village. One that survived was her ancestor. She and her team traveled to the planet and discovered a Wraith Lab. They discovered a Wraith data storage device and brought it back to Atlantis. Dr. Elizabeth Weir was able to translate the Wraith language and discovered that the Wraith Scientist was splicing Wraith DNA into Humans and she has a small amount of Wraith DNA in her genetic makeup. She then tried to tap into the Wraith telepathic network and connected with a Wraith on the approaching Hive ship. When the Wraith began to feed on someone, Weir ordered Dr. Carson Beckett to pull her out. She insisted on going back in and was taken over by the Wraith and Beckett pulled her out. While under Wraith control, she gave the position of the Alpha Site and it was attacked. She wanted to back again because she was close to finding out the Wraith battle plan. Weir agreed and she was taken over again and had to be stunned by Sgt. Bates. When she awoke, she told them that the Wraith were coming to Atlantis to get to Earth.

With three Wraith Hive ships heading to Atlantis, she assisted Major John Sheppard in choosing a new Alpha Site. On a mission to M1M-316 she and her team encountered a Dinosaur like creature and had to evacuate. When the returned, Sgt. Bates accused her of disclosing information to the Wraith until Sheppard explained that it was not the Wraith that forced them to evacuate. She followed him in the hall and confronted him. When he said he felt she should not be allow to roam the city unescorted, she slugged him and Sheppard and Ford had to separate them. Later when Bates was attacked, she was questioned by Sheppard but denied her involvement. This was proven true when Dr. Carson Beckett found Wraith DNA on Bates' uniform. After the location of the Wraith was discovered, she was part of the second team to search for him. After Sheppard's team was stunned by the Wraith, her team double timed it to his position and stunned the Wraith before it could feed on Sheppard. Once the Wraith was in the Atlantis brig, she tried to enter his mind to find out what he had done to the city but the Wraith attack her mind and caused her great pain. Sheppard was forced to shoot the Wraith to stop him. After the team of Marines from Earth arrived, Colonel Dillon Everett visited her in the gym and told her to stay out of the way because of chance she might be taken over by the Wraith. After the defeat of the first wave of Wraith Darts, she sensed the presence of Wraith within the city and offered Everett her and several Athosians help in locating them. When the Wraith headed for one of the Naquadah generators, her team was able to cut them off and kill them. During the second wave, most of her team was stunned and her radio was damaged. She came upon Dr. Rodney McKay who was surrounded by two Wraith warriors. She killed them and escorted McKay to the ZPM room and they installed the Zero Point Module and raised Atlantis' shield. When twelve more Hives reached Atlantis, Sheppard and McKay came up with a plan to cloak the city. In order to stop the Wraith from firing on the shield, she connected with them and relayed their intention to destroy the city. The Wraith stopped firing and they faked a self-destruct by detonating a nuclear warhead above the shield and cloaked the city.

After the siege, the senior staff of Atlantis returned to Earth though the Stargate. She was left in charge while they were gone. She kept in touch with several of her offworld contacts but there was no sign of Lt. Aiden Ford.

When Major Evan Lorne and Dr. Parrish were exploring P3M-736, they came across a Wraith corpse. Lorne sent the body back to Atlantis and Dr. Carson Beckett discovered the enzyme sack had been removed. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard recognized that Lt. Aiden Ford was responsible and took his team and Lorne's team to the planet to search for him. During the search, she was paired up with Sheppard and they came across Ronon Dex who stunned them with his Particle magnum. They awoke tied up in a cave. Ronon explained that he was a Runner and that the Wraith were hunting him. Sheppard was able to convince him that they were not enemies and that Beckett could remove the Wraith tracker. Ronon allowed Sheppard to return to Atlantis and bring Beckett but kept her as a hostage. When Beckett arrived, she assisted him in removing the tracker.

She was on a mission on Thenora to search for any survivors during the Wraith culling there. However, there was none. On the way back to the Stargate, Dr. Rodney McKay and Lt. Laura Cadman were scooped up by a Wraith beam. She and Major Evan Lorne attempted to shoot down the Wraith Dart but failed. Fortunately, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was able to shoot it down. Back on Atlantis, she sparred with Ronon Dex and was impressed with his skills.

During Ronon Dex's first mission as part of Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team, the team landed their Puddle Jumper on the penal island on the planet Olesia. When the prisoners attacked, Ronon was shot in the ankle with an arrow. Fortunately, the Poros came and drove the prisoners back allowing the team to retreat to the Jumper. They were then lead to the city and greeted by the Magistrate. On their way back to the Stargate, their Jumper was shot down by the prisoners. They are captured and restrained by the leader Torrell. Eldon, the prisoner who designed the explosives and was assigned by Torrell to help Dr. Rodney McKay fix the Jumper, offered to free them if they take him with them. On the way to the Jumper, a Wraith Dart came through the gate. This forced the prisoners to abandon the Jumper and go into hiding. The team is then able to retake the Jumper and McKay works on the Dial Home Device. Unfortunately, the prisoners returned and attacked. She, Sheppard and Ronon attempted to fight them off but were overrun. Torrell tries to force them to take the prisoners with them at gunpoint but Sheppard refuses. Suddenly, a Wraith cruiser approaches and McKay attempts to dial the gate but the power has cut out. Sheppard has him divert power to the Drone weapons and fires at the cruiser. Dr. Elizabeth Weir radios from a cloaked Jumper that the cruiser is damaged but two more are closing in. Sheppard tells her to dial one of the backup planets to the Alpha Site and the prisoners escape. She then dials Atlantis and the team along with Eldon escape the planet.

On a mission to Doranda the team discovers an Ancient outpost. While Dr. Rodney McKay and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard worked on the outpost to prefect Project Arcturus, she and Ronon Dex embark on a trading mission to Belkan. Once there, Ronon learned that a fellow Satedan had survived the destruction of Sateda. They track down the man and it turns out to be his former regiment mate Solen Sincha. He tells him that 300 more Satedans managed to make it to the shelters west of the capital, and later moved to other planets like Belkan and Manaria. He also informs him that Kell, Ronon's Task Master during his military training, was among the survivors. Soon after, when Kell came to Belkan to trade, Ronon had Teyla set up a meeting and shot him on sight. In his own words, "Kell commanded several infantry divisions on Sateda. When the Wraith came, he ordered thousands to their death just to save himself. He was... he was a traitor and a coward. My only regret is that his death was quick." Teyla understood his motivation but warned him the others would not approve and they agreed to keep it between the two of them.

On a mission to an unnamed planet, she learned that the villagers were being terrorized by what they call the Daimos. Their description of it is very similar to that of a Wraith. Ronon Dex offered his help in killing it but Lt. Colonel John Sheppard orders him to wait until morning and the whole team would go. The next day, Ronon successfully tracks a female Wraith into a cave. The team chases her inside but she hides behind a man named Zaddik. Zaddik explains that her name is Ellia and she does not feed because of a serum he created. She helped Ellia use her telepathic abilities to locate the adult Wraith that was killing the villagers. She, Sheppard and Ronon left to kill it. When Ellia took Dr. Carson Beckett's retrovirus and transformed into a creature closer to that of an Iratus bug, she was knocked unconscious and Sheppard and Ronon were forced to kill her but not before she feed on Sheppard's arm. Back on Atlantis, Beckett discovers that he was infected by the retrovirus and began to change into a creature like Ellia. When Sheppard escaped from his quarters, she helped track him down and Ronon stunned him with his Particle magnum. Beckett came up with a plan to use Iratus bug embryonic stem sells to replace Sheppard's mutating cells. She and the team traveled to a planet with Iratus bugs but they were unable to get close enough to get any eggs without the bugs attacking. Beckett then realized that Sheppard was producing pheromones and could enter the cave unharmed. Sheppard succeeded in gathering the eggs and Beckett developed a cure.

She and her team traveled on the Daedalus to the Ancient ship Aurora. Since there was no life support they were forced to wear space suits when they beamed over. After Dr. Rodney McKay got life support functioning, she and Ronon Dex searched the ship and counted the stasis pods.

She and the team were taken by Lt. Aiden Ford's Coalition, to formulate a plan to destroy a Wraith Hive ship. She, Ronon Dex and Dr. Rodney McKay were dosed with the Wraith enzyme. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard beamed everyone into the Wraith Dart and headed through the Stargate. While approaching the Hive the Dart went on Autopilot and forced Sheppard to unload his cargo blind. Most of Ford's men were beamed off a ledge. Believing Sheppard did it on purpose, Ford turned off his radio against Teyla's wishes. When Sheppard landed the alarms sounded and they were captured as was Sheppard. Once in a cell the group managed to escape by using his knives to hit the door controls but they were quickly captured. The Wraith separated the team this time and put Teyla in a cell with Ronon and Kanayo. While in the cell, Kanayo began to experience withdrawal and died. After Ford escaped and saved Sheppard from the Wraith Queen, Sheppard freed them and beamed them into a Dart. After firing on the other Hive and forcing them to fight, Sheppard headed for the Spacegate and traveled to an uninhabited planet to release her and Ronon. They then headed back to Atlantis.

On a mission to an unnamed planet, her team discovered a doorway. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard attempted to cross the threshold and was pulled in. She and Ronon Dex tried to pull him out but were unsuccessful. Dr. Rodney McKay discovered the doorway was to a Time dilation field. After McKay returned to Atlantis and used a probe to find the location of the Zero Point Module, they entered the field and retrieved Sheppard.

When Charin fell ill, she and Dr. Carson Beckett traveled to the mainland to perform an exam on her. Beckett suggested implanting a pacemaker for her heart but Charin refused. When Stargate Command informed the Atlantis expedition that The Trust planted a bomb in Atlantis, she helped evacuate the Athosians to the city and onto the Daedalus. After Charin died, she preformed the Ring Ceremony.

On a mission to the Lord Protector's Planet, Ronon Dex stopped the Lord Protector's Guard from raping Petra. The guard attacked him and Ronon slit his throat. When Otho prepared to wipe out the village, she organized the villagers to defend themselves. Otho fired Drone weapons at the village but they shut down after Dr. Rodney McKay drained the Zero Point Module.

2006
After her team discovered two stasis pods in orbit in the Kohal system and the inhabitants consciousness were transferred into Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, they began to fight each other. She and Ronon Dex went to search for them but were evaded by Phoebus, the consciousness in Weir, and Ronon decided to search for Thalan, the consciousness in Sheppard, because he knows how he thinks but doesn't have a clue how she thinks. She cornered Phoebus but was stunned by Thalan with Ronon's Particle magnum. When she awoke, Phoebus had locked down the city and trapped her in the same section as Thalan. She was able to locate him and shot him with a Wraith handblaster. Phoebus demanded she bring him to a security camera and kill him or she would use Halon gas to kill the cities population. She did as instructed but was stopped from killing him after Dr. Rodney McKay regained control of the city. Phoebus entered the room and held her at gunpoint. She was able to give Thalan the stunner and he shot Phoebus. Major Evan Lorne entered the room and she instructed him to keep both of them bound until Dr. Carson Beckett cleared them.

When Major Evan Lorne's team were thought to have died on M1K-177, she and Ronon Dex headed the investigation. They questioned Dr. Lindsay and some villagers on 177. One of the villagers gave them a set of photographs of several Atlantis expedition personnel including Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Rodney McKay. They brought their evidence to Dr. Elizabeth Weir.

Her team captured a Wraith, later to be known as Michael Kenmore and tested the Iratus bug retrovirus on him. She tried to convince him that the two of them were friends and sparred with him as part of his physical therapy. When he discovered his true nature, she and her team took him to the Alpha Site. She offered him food but he used telepathy to force her to free him. He took her hostage and traveled to another planet. As Michael had began to revert to a Wraith, he tried to feed on her but was shot by Ronon Dex and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. They were able to elude the Wraith and return to Atlantis.

When the supervolcano on Taranis was about to erupt and the Stargate fell into the lava, he assisted people to the Daedalus beam out locations and to the Ancient ship Orion. She and Ronon Dex were cut off from the Orion while waiting for the last family. They began to suffocate from the ash but were beamed to Daedalus on its return.

A few weeks later, Michael Kenmore brought a Hive ship to Atlantis, so that they can use Dr. Carson Beckett's retrovirus to spread amongst their rival Wraith factions, and an alliance was formed despite her objection. After the Hive and the Daedalus left to test the retrovirus, Zelenka informed Dr. Elizabeth Weir that the information the Wraith transmitted contained a computer virus that accessed the Aurora mission reports and the location of all the planets in their database. After the two Hives attacked the Daedalus and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Rodney McKay and Ronon Dex went missing, Weir ordered the Daedalus and Orion to pursue and intercept them before they reached Earth. When Major General Henry Landry ordered Weir to return to Earth, she was left in command of Atlantis. After a Hive ship was detected heading towards the planet, she prepared the cities defenses but they were contacted by Sheppard aboard the Hive. She was able to pilot the Hive to M8G-352 and transferred the Human-form Wraith to the planet. After they left Beckett and a team there and returned to Atlantis, a Hive was detected heading towards M8G-352. She again piloted the Hive to M8G-352 and rescued Beckett and fired on the camp of Wraith. When the second Hive arrived, she and her team escaped on a Puddle Jumper and were rescued by the Daedalus.

When Lucius Luvin came to Atlantis, he came under the influence of Lucius' herb. She was part of the team sent on a mission to M6H-491 to retrieve more herb for Lucius. When Lt. Colonel John Sheppard kidnapped Dr. Carson Beckett, she, Ronon Dex and Dr. Rodney McKay searched the mainland for them and brought them back to Atlantis. She was later cured by Beckett.

On a mission to an unnamed planet, she and her team were attacked by the villagers. They headed back to the Stargate but everyone but Dr. Rodney McKay were shot with tranquilizer darts. Fortunately, McKay was able to return to Atlantis after being shot in the glute by an arrow. She and the team woke up in a cage and Ronon Dex remembered having come to his planet as a Runner. Having stayed on this planet for too long caused the Wraith to attack it. The leader of the village, Keturah, was led to believe that the Wraith would no longer cull them in return for Ronon. Ronon grabbed a knife and threatened to kill himself if they didn't release his friends. Ketutah complied and released her and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. They returned to Atlantis and were greeted by Major Elliot Rutherford, who was preparing to mount a rescue mission. They grabbed weapons and headed back to the planet but it had already been culled. They returned to Atlantis and McKay was able to adjust the Long range sensors to find the location of the Wraith tracker on Ronon's homeworld Sateda. They traveled to Sateda on the Daedalus and found Ronon in an abandoned hospital. Ronon refused to leave without killing the Wraith Leader. She and Sheppard, with the help of McKay and Dr. Carson Beckett, helped him fight off more of the Wraith hunting party, with Ronon leading the charge. Eventually, the entire Wraith hunting party composed of at least twenty-five individuals was wiped out. Ronon's wish was granted when the Wraith Leader came down to the planet's surface to fight Ronon one-on-one. Ronon was almost defeated until the timely intervention of Beckett and a Drone weapon. (Beckett had enough of seeing Ronon go through that and killed the Wraith saying "if he doesn't like it he can shoot me".) Beckett killed the Wraith, saving a grateful Ronon and they returned to Atlantis.

On a mission to Asuras, she was mind probed by the Asurans. When they were released by Niam, they escaped to a Puddle Jumper and the Asuran city-ship exploded.

When Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was captured by Commander Acastus Kolya and feed on by a Wraith, she was part of the team sent to raid a suspected Genii safe house but it was empty. When the traitor in Ladon Radim's ranks turned over the gate address, she once again joined the team and rescued him.

When Rod came to Atlantis from an alternate reality, she found his constant corrections of her Athosian history annoying.

When Major Leonard's team went missing on M1B-129, she and her team were sent in to search for them. After finding the bodies of several of the team as well as several Genii, they found a Wraith device. They headed back to the Stargate but Leonard used C-4 to blow up the Dial Home Device and then shot at them from the tree line. With the DHD destroyed they headed back to the Wraith device so Dr. Rodney McKay could shut it down. Once there the device began to affect everyone else but her because of her Wraith DNA. When Ronon Dex began to hallucinate, she and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard chased him through the forest and she was shot in the leg by Leonard. Sheppard was able to find Leonard's camp and patch her wound but he to began to hallucinate. She was able to convince him to take her inside the cave and she deactivated the Wraith device.

After the Lanteans were rescued from their ship, the Tria, Captain Helia retook control of the city. The entire expedition were requested to leave and returned to Earth and the Athosians were relocated to a new planet. She assisted in building the village and planting crops. When Ladon Radim requested she and Ronon Dex work with the Genii in fighting the Wraith, Ronon refused but she was open to it. After learning that the Asurans took control of the city, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Carson Beckett came to New Athos to request their help in retaking the city. After returning through the Stargate, they went into orbit and retrieved Niam in order to use him to freeze the Asurans. Upon returning to the city, the Asurans fired Drone weapons at their Puddle Jumper. Sheppard did his best to evade them but had to submerge the Jumper and enter the underwater Jumper bay. Once inside, McKay discovered he could not drain the water and the outer door was jammed. Fortunately, Major General Jack O'Neill was able to manually drain the water but he and Richard Woolsey were captured by the Asurans. After Niam was reactivated and destroyed by McKay, the team paired off and headed for the shield emitters. She teamed up with Beckett and planted C-4 and an Anti-Replicator gun crystal in the emitters. When the Asurans powered up the Stardrive, she fought her way into the Chair room and Beckett used the Control chair to fire Drones at it. He was successful in disabling it but they were captured shortly after. Once in the brig, the Asurans activated the shield and were destroyed by the Anti-Replicator field. After that was accomplished, she joined the rest of the expedition returning to Atlantis.

2007
Once back on Atlantis, Ronon Dex joined her in a meditation session but fell asleep. While walking back to her quarters, she saw a vision of a Lantean woman. She was checked out by Dr. Carson Beckett and Dr. Kate Heightmeyer but was given a clean bill of health. A short time later, Dr. Elizabeth Weir began to see the visions as well. Later, it was determined that the visions were caused by a swarm of Flagisallus that was attempting to communicate. She became disoriented and bedridden by the echolocation of the Flagisallus. Luckily, McKay and Sheppard were able to divert the Coronal mass ejection with the Daedalus' shield boosted by the Zero Point Module.

When the team encountered Lucius Lavin again, Ronon Dex took up Lucius' offer to hit him and almost broke his hand on his Personal shield emitter. Later, while trying to retake the village from Commander Acastus Kolya, she, Ronon, Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Carson Beckett were captured. They were rescued by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Lucius with the help of the villagers.

After Dr. Rodney McKay was zapped by the Ascension machine, he performed the Athosian Memorial Tea ceremony in honor of the anniversary of her father's death.

She assisted Lt. Colonel John Sheppard in trying to convince Baden to make peace with the Geldarans. When the Daedalus arrived and simulated a battle, she convinced Baden of the ruse by telling him the Puddle Jumper was destroyed.

While trapped on a Moon Base that was losing orbit, she was taken hostage by Jamus and placed in the Pattern storage module to ensure that Jamus' people survived. She was saved when Lt. Colonel John Sheppard piloted the Shuttle to the planet and removed her and the other survivors from stasis.

On the mandatory rest day, she was returning from the Atlantis gym with Dr. Harriet Hewston when Hewston exploded. She was hit in the side by a piece of shrapnel and rushed to surgery. Dr. Carson Beckett was able to repair the damage rather easily. After Beckett was killed in an explosion, she was present at his funeral despite her injuries as a testament to him.

After Dr. Rodney McKay discovered a Geothermal Mobile drilling platform, she and her team along with a group of scientists traveled by Puddle Jumper to the ocean floor. Once on station, she began to sense a Wraith presence. She reached out with her mind but found nothing. While McKay and the scientists worked in the control room she paired with Ronon Dex and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard paired with Dr. Elizabeth Weir to search the station. Once she was alone with Ronon, she attacked him and knocked him unconscious. She used a control panel to shut down power in sections of the city and raised several forcefields in the corridors. She was found by Sheppard, Weir, Ronon and McKay disorientated with no memory of attacking Ronon or shutting down power throughout the station. She revealed that there was a Wraith Queen and it took control of her. After Sheppard and Ronon captured the Queen, she entered her mind and discovered the self-destruct on the Wraith cruiser she came from had been activated. Later, she was able to convince her that McKay fixed the cruiser and tricked her into disabling the self-destruct before Sheppard killed her.

After Atlantis lost contact with the Taranian settlement, her team was sent in to investigate. They discovered the Taranans were experimented on and killed by allowing Iratus bugs to feed on them. They also discovered Bug Pods and were attacked by Bug People. After destroying several pods, she was captured by Michael Kenmore. He intended to allow an Iratus bug to feed on her but was saved by Ronon Dex. When Michael released the rest of his creatures, she was able to escape in Michael's Wraith Dart.

After Dr. Elizabeth Weir disappeared and Colonel Samantha Carter was appointed Atlantis commander, Teyla took Dr. Jennifer Keller to New Athos for routine inoculations, only to discover that the Athosians were missing. After the offworld medical check, Keller discovered that Teyla was pregnant. A famed seer named Davos soon visited Atlantis. He privately told her that he was aware of her pregnancy and that the Athosians were alive, but he did not know where they were.

2008
She is forced to reveal the truth to Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, who takes her off the team in response. She later pilots a Wraith Hive ship to a secret Wraith cloning facility and engages a Queen in mental battle, her own abilities boosted by those of her unborn child, but her baby is nearly killed and she realizes that Sheppard was right to take her off the team.

She was later led into a trap by Michael Kenmore and was captured. She learns that he was the one who kidnapped her people and turned many of them into Hybrids. He planned to use her baby to complete his research into creating the Hybrids. She was later rescued by the clone of Dr. Carson Beckett (who she was shocked to see), but was quickly recaptured by Michael and taken away.

While Michael's cruiser engages the Daedalus, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Ronon Dex and Dr. Rodney McKay boarded the ship to find and rescue her. While Sheppard and Ronon take out the hyperdrive McKay is forced to deliver her baby, which turns out to be a boy. Teyla convinces Kanaan (the father of her baby and one of Michael's hybrids) to help them escape and got away in a Wraith Dart while the Daedalus destroys Michael's cruiser although it is speculated that Michael escaped on a cloaked Puddle Jumper. In the Atlantis infirmary Teyla decides to name her son Torren John, after her father and Sheppard.

When the team attempted to convince Todd to get the Wraith of his alliance to take Dr. Jennifer Keller's gene therapy to lose their need to feed on humans, Teyla was transformed into a Wraith Queen in order to negotiate with the Primary and underwent lessons from Todd on how to act before the meeting. On the Primary's hive ship, Teyla and Todd are shocked when the Wraith Commander takes the ship to hyperspace rather than remaining near Todd's hive. Rather than negotiate with the Primary as Teyla expected, Todd murders her and frames Teyla so she can take control over the alliance. Teyla is forced to deal with the suspicions of the Commander while waiting in a Nebula for Todd's ship to catch up with them. After learning of a rival Hive ship attempting to cull a planet in her alliance's territory, Teyla takes her ship to the planet and orders the rival Hive destroyed against Todd's wishes, leading to the Battle of the Wraith Alliance. Teyla orders the Wraith Darts to be launched and employs tactics aimed at killing as many Wraith as possible on both sides in the battle. Teyla's Hive nearly loses the battle until the rest of the team arrive through the Stargate in a Puddle Jumper and damage the rival Hive with a Drone weapon, allowing Teyla's ship to destroy it. The team is captured trying to reach Teyla and she visits them to tell them not to escape and that everything will be alright. However, this is witnessed by the Commander who attacks and nearly kills her before Todd stuns and kills him. With the Commander dead, Teyla solidifies her position as leader of the alliance and leaves the ship with the excuse that she is returning to Todd's ship as it was her original ship, but warns Todd that if he betrays his word, she will make a reappearance to remove him permanently. The rest of the team is transferred to Todd's ship and they return to Atlantis where Teyla is returned to normal.

Atlantis is invaded by Michael Kenmore who once again wants Torren and despite planning to kill everyone else with the self-destruct, he offers to take Teyla with him so she can live. She refuses his offer and later escapes with Torren. Ultimately Teyla murdered Michael by kicking his hands off of a ledge at the top of Atlantis's Control Tower, but said that in spite of his death, another will take his place as a threat to them.

2009
After the discovery of the Super-hive, Teyla stays on Atlantis to travel to the Milky Way and help out in the battle despite offers from Richard Woolsey to allow her and Ronon Dex to stay behind. She travels through the Stargate to the Hive with Ronon, Dr. Rodney McKay and Major Evan Lorne and kills the Wraith that mortally wounds Ronon and is devastated by his death. When the team links up with Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Teyla is the one to inform him of Ronon's death, and is shocked to see him alive after they rescue him when he is resurrected by the Wraith underling. Teyla escapes through the ship's Stargate to the Milky Way Alpha Site just before Sheppard detonates a Nuclear warhead he sneaked on board the Hive, destroying it and saving the Earth. Teyla later stands on the Atlantis balcony overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge with the rest of the senior staff and admires the view.

When Atlantis was stuck on Earth, Teyla acted as a representative of the peoples of the Pegasus Galaxy to the IOA in an attempt to convince them to allow Atlantis to return to Pegasus. She later confided in Rodney that her relationship with Kannan came about when she was grieving over Kate Heightmeyer's death and found comfort with him and she did not see him again before his kidnapping by Michael.

Following the revelation of Queen Death, Teyla resumed her role as Steelflower, Todd's Queen to help him gain support against Queen Death. Due to training from Todd while she had previously posed as his Queen, Teyla's mental powers were far more developed and she was now capable of killing Wraith with her mind and making others submit to her will as well as flying Wraith ships with ease. With Teyla's help, Todd was able to gain a small fleet to stand against Queen Death while Teyla gained genetic memories of the First Mother Osprey, allowing her to learn the true nature of the Wraith and how they came to be.

During the final battle with Queen Death, Teyla led a team to a Wraith cruiser repurposed as a fire ship to stop it from being used as a weapon against Atlantis. With the help of Ember and Zelenka, Teyla was able to stop the attack and decided to lead a boarding party on board Death's hive ship after noticing Queen Waterlight doing the same, knowing that Death had to be defeated "Queen to Queen." With help from Waterlight and Bronze, Teyla was able to reach Queen Death and engaged her in a mental duel. While she had previously been defeated by Coldamber in a similar situation, Teyla was now more experienced and less frightened of her powers than before. While Death's mind was powerful, she was undisciplined and unexperienced and Teyla defeated her. When Queen Death refused to surrender to her, Teyla telepathically killed her though she gave credit to Waterlight. Following the end of Queen Death, Ashes, the Wraith who had been manipulating Queen Death was brought before Teyla, Waterlight and Alabaster. Though the other Queens gave Ashes to Teyla to deal with, she chose to end the violence and turned him over to the Wraith for punishment instead.

Alternate realities

 * In the alternate reality which another Rodney McKay, known as 'Rod', came from, Rod- apparently an honorary member of the Athosian high council in his universe- mentioned that his Teyla was difficult to talk to.
 * In another alternate reality, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team went onboard the alternate Daedalus and starved to death onboard the runaway ship.

Alternate timelines

 * In an alternate timeline, Atlantis had no failsafe mechanism and all Zero Point Modules ran simultaneously so the city sank when it was flooded. Consequently, almost the entire Atlantis expedition was killed shortly after their arrival in the Pegasus galaxy. They never travelled to Athos and therefore never met Teyla.
 * In another alternate timeline created when Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was accidentally sent 48,000 years into the future, he learned that Teyla had given birth to her child, but was killed by Michael Kenmore, whilst the baby was used to perfect the Hybrids.

Atlantis expedition
Teyla has a good friendship with all of the members of her team, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard in particular. When the expedition first made contact with her people, she did not like Colonel Marshall Sumner as she sensed that he did not respect her but got along well with Sheppard. The two became friends and she joined his team. Teyla trained him in Bantos fighting at his request. The two have a bond as both friends and warriors, and Teyla even named her son after him.

With Ronon Dex she has a bond of friendship as well as that of two warriors. Also she and he have a bond as the two ‘aliens' of the team, as they are not from Earth like everyone else.

With Dr. Rodney McKay she has a bond of friendship although she grows frustrated with him at times. They have somewhat of a special bond, however, as he delivered her baby for her on Michael's cruiser and he was technically the first one to hold her son.

Although not an original member of the expedition, Teyla has earned a great deal of trust from the rest of the expedition, to the point that, unofficially, she is fourth in line of command of the city, after Sheppard and McKay. Both Dr. Elizabeth Weir and John Sheppard have entrusted her with leadership of Atlantis as a whole when they were absent during their first return to Earth (The Intruder), Weir's recall by the IOA (No Man's Land), the ZPM heist of Asuras (Lifeline) and the mission to destroy the Attero device (The Lost Tribe).

John Shepard
Throughout their time together on the team they have always had a strong friendship. But once Atlantis was returned to the Pegasus galaxy their feelings developed into romantic feeling between the two. Especially when Teyla reavealed that having Torren was actually a result of a one night stand with Kanaan and it was before they started seeing each other. But after both acknowledging their mutual attraction they started seeing each other often. With Teyla having doubts because of her clan and of her having wraith DNA and not entirely sure that John would accept her. John having to decide if its right dating a team member and who is under his command. But, John accepted her heritage making her understand that it didn't bother him in the slightest. Ronon felt their relationship was making John more sympathetic to the Wraith and didn't approve at first.

Michael Kenmore
Teyla is a part of the team that captures the Wraith later come to be known as Michael Kenmore for experimentation. After he's transformed into a human, he feels a connection with Teyla so she becomes friends with him. Michael ultimately learns of the truth about himself and forces Teyla to help him escape and nearly feeds on her until she's saved by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Ronon Dex.

Later, when Michael returns during the failed alliance, he admits that while he was going to feed on her, it wasn't anything personal just his instincts. Michael approaches her after being recaptured to try to get the team to let him go free to find his own way, but is refused. After encountering Michael again, he nearly lets Teyla get fed on by an Iratus bug as part of an experiment, but she is saved by Ronon. She admits she feels bad for Michael. She knows he's too dangerous, but feels sympathy for him as it is their fault that he ended up like he did.

After she gets pregnant by Kanaan, Michael kidnaps her people and she swears vengeance on the person responsible, not aware that it is him. The two share some kind of connection, as revealed by Michael as he's able to reach across 10,000 light years and enter her mind to trick her with visions of Kanaan in order to kidnap her in order to get his hands on her baby. Teyla is also able to sense when he's worried. While Teyla was his prisoner, Michael doesn't harm her and when she inquires of her fate once her baby is born, Michael is hesitant to tell her, indicating he still does care about her somewhat from their brief time as friends. When she calls him insane, Michael is actually hurt by it indicating her opinion of him actually matters to him.

After her rescue, Michael comes after her again for her baby, but he offers to take her with him as he doesn't want her to die as he still does care about her somewhat. She refuses and escapes with Ronon's help. She considers his offer when he promises to spare her friends, but after exposing that promise as false, refuses. Teyla joins the final fight against him at the top of Atlantis' Control Tower and knocks him off the balcony. Michael is left at her mercy, but instead of saving him, she kicks his hands off the ledge, sending him falling hundreds if not thousands of feet, finally killing him.

Kanaan
Teyla and Kanaan were friends since childhood, bonding over having the same Gift of sensing the Wraith presence. As adults that friendship developed into a full-blown romantic relationship and Teyla ended up pregnant by him although she was unaware of it until later. Ronon Dex was not surprised by this as he could tell by how Teyla talked about him that she was in love with him. Elizabeth Weir noticed this as well. After Kanaan and the other Athosians are kidnapped by Michael Kenmore, she vows to find them and after being kidnapped herself, is horrified to find that Kanaan has been transformed into one of Michael's Hybrids. At first he's too much under Michael's control to help her, but she manages to break through to him and he nearly releases her, but stops when Michael shows up. Kanaan, after being broken through to by Teyla, retains his old personality, but is reluctant to help her escape as he fears for their lives and that of their child. After Michael's cruiser is disabled by the Daedalus and Teyla is rescued by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Ronon and Dr. Rodney McKay, Kanaan helps them escape on a Wraith Dart and is later transformed by Dr. Jennifer Keller back into his human form. Kanaan moves in with Teyla for at least a time on Atlantis and supports her decision to rejoin Sheppard's team, taking care of their child while she's away on missions. Teyla later admits privately to Rodney McKay that their relationship started as a one-night stand due to her grief following Doctor Kate Heightmeyer's death. She doesn't actually love Kannan who had returned to New Athos at some point as he couldn't stand living in Atlantis. Teyla kept this secret in order to protect her reputation though even Halling noticed how incompatible the two are.

Behind the scenes

 * Along with John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Elizabeth Weir, Samantha Carter, Radek Zelenka, Chuck and Walter Harriman, she is one of only eight characters to appear in all five seasons of Stargate: Atlantis. However, Carson Beckett appears in Season One to Three while his clone appears in Seasons Four and Five.