Daggoth

Template:Infobox charactersmall Daggoth is a Cerebrate and the leader of the Tiamat Brood in the StarCraft universe. Tiamat is the largest and most powerful Brood within the Zerg Swarm. In order to support his own operations, Daggoth had access to the Hunter Killer, a special and powerful type of Hydralisk.

Daggoth is one of the strongest willed Cerebrates, often advising other Cerebrates on how they could best serve the Overmind or even issuing orders to other Cerebrates. During the Overmind's temporary "illness" after the death of Zasz, Daggoth effectively replaced it until the Overmind revived.

History

Daggoth advised the Overmind's newest Cerebrate (the player), in charge of Infested Kerrigan's chrysalis, and his aid extended to "donating" Hunter Killers to the new Brood to aid in the defeat of the remnant of Protoss Exectuor Tassadar's forces on the space platforms over Tarsonis.

Upon the arrival of the chrysalis at the planet Char, its psionic emanations drew the attention of Terrans, such as Arcturus Mengsk, who dispatched General Edmund Duke to recover it. The new Cerebrate's forces defeated Duke, but Daggoth ordered the Cerebrate to hold its forces while Daggoth's Tiamat Swarm pursued them. Duke, however, managed to escape and even establish a small colony on the world.

The product of the chrysalis, Infested Kerrigan, immediately began a quest to empower her psionic abilities. Doing so required her to infiltrate a Terran science vessel, the Amerigo, and collect information on the Terran Ghost program. While Zasz accused Kerrigan of putting her own whims ahead of those of the Overmind, Daggoth supported her mission by once again by donating a pair of Hunter Killers. When she was finished, Daggoth suggested leaving them behind, in a disabled transmission. During the following video, Terrans approached the vessel with the intention of destroying it. The Hunter Killers failed to prevent the destruction of the vessel, but they did prevent the Terrans from escaping.

Infested Kerrigan's new psionic powers enabled her to detect the presence of Protoss on Char, which even Zasz had not been able to do. Discovered, Tassadar contacted her and challenged her to single combat. Kerrigan accepted.

The duel turned out to be a distraction. While she sought Tassadar, Zeratul, the Dark Templar Prelate, slew Zasz. When Kerrigan heard about this, she gloated, until she realized that Zeratul's attack had permanently slain the Cerebrate, somehow silencing the Overmind and driving the Garm Brood insane. Now the primary Hive Clusters were being threatened. Daggoth ordered the destruction of the Garm Brood. Upon its destruction, the Overmind regained the ability to "speak". During Kerrigan's revenge attack on the Dark Templar, Daggoth offered advice to her.

The Zerg Overmind travelled to Aiur in order to defeat and possibly assimilate the Protoss, leaving Infested Kerrigan behind to hunt down any remaining Dark Templar on Char. Daggoth's later actions are unknown until StarCraft: Brood War, but most likely he remained on Char.

The Brood War and the New Overmind

The Overmind did not survive its mission on Aiur. For a brief time, the Zerg ran out of control over Aiur, slaying many Protoss. Daggoth and Infested Kerrigan jockeyed for power over the weakened Zerg Swarm. Daggoth ordered the formation of a new Overmind from the union of many Cerebrates, which may or may not have included Daggoth. The new Overmind was weak, but if it came to maturity, it would gain control over all the Zerg in the Koprulu Sector, including Kerrigan. As it was, Daggoth and Kerrigan each controlled roughly half the Zerg Swarm each at the beginning of the war. Daggoth does not appear during the game Brood War, however.

The Fate of Daggoth

Daggoth's fate after the events in Brood War is unknown. Kerrigan tells Zeratul, Aldaris, and Raszagal that, "...Many of the renegade Cerebrates commanded by Daggoth have merged into a new Overmind." Some have taken this to mean that Daggoth himself became part of the new Overmind, and was subsequently killed by the Dark Templar who allied themselves with Kerrigan for that purpose. Others believe that Daggoth merely ordered the other cerebrates to merge and did not take part himself, in which case he would still be alive on Char. The question of Daggoth's fate will likely be resolved with the release of StarCraft 2.

Game Unit

While Daggoth has identical game stats and abilities as other Cerebrates, his unit portrait is different. Throughout StarCraft: Brood War, his portrait is used, in place of the Overmind's, on virtually all Zerg structures.

References

• StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment
• Battle.net StarCraft Compendium
• Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.
• Underwood, Peter, Chris Metzen and Bill Roper. StarCraft: Brood War (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.