Nicholas "Nick" Ballard is the archaeologist grandfather of Dr. Daniel Jackson. However, since childhood, Daniel addressed him as "Nick". When Daniel's parents died, Nick was too busy with his travels to take him in, something which Daniel always resented.
Biography
Background information
In 1971, Nick discovered a mysterious crystal skull in Belize and was transported to P7X-377, where he met giant aliens made out of mist called the Omeyocan However, when no one, not even Daniel, believed his story, Nick had himself committed to a psychiatric institute in Oregon. Daniel visited him regularly until they had a major argument in 1995, shortly before he was recruited into the Stargate Program, over the fact that Daniel did not believe his theories about the giant aliens and Nick did not believe Daniel's theories about the pyramids being landing platforms for alien spaceships.
After the funeral of Daniel Jackson's parents, Nick took him to a diner where Daniel had waffles. After Replicator version of Samantha Carter killed Daniel by stabbing in the chest, he found himself in a diner similar to one that Nick took him to. (SG1: "Threads")
Nick's investigations of Central America and search for the Fountain of Youth led to him compiling copious notes. Daniel used these when he went in search of a Goa'uld healing device/weapon which he believed was hidden in a lost temple of Telchak. Nick's research declared that "all waters flow to the healing device" and this was Daniel and Bill Lee's starting point in their hunt. (SG1: "Evolution, Part 1")
2000
In 2000, SG-1 brought Nick to Cheyenne Mountain to solve the mystery of Daniel's disappearance after he came in contact with another crystal skull. Unknown to SG-1, Daniel had actually been shifted out of phase with the rest of the world around him, only for Daniel to realize that Nick could see him due to his own past contact with a skull. Although Nick initially believed that Daniel was merely a hallucination, Daniel was eventually able to convince Nick that he was real. Using information Daniel had overheard while he was out of phase, Nick was able to convince Major General George S. Hammond and Colonel Jack O'Neill to return to the planet with the skull and allow the process to complete itself, allowing SG-1 to make contact with the Omeyocans that Nick had encountered twenty-nine years earlier. Nick chose to remain on the planet to teach and learn from the alien beings. (SG1: "Crystal Skull")
Behind the scenes
- In the episode "The Other Side," Daniel stated that his grandfather was Dutch, it's not clear whether he was referring to Nick or his other grandfather. However Nick seemed to have a convincing Dutch accent.