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On the SGC stargate there is the well known point of origin of an inverted V with a dot over the top of it. Every address dialed ends with the point of origin.

The reason behind the point of origin symbol was brought up here and the point that it can't be coordinates, since it's only one of six symbols for a coordinate has been discussed here.

But, even with some comments and suggestions, it's still not clear what this symbol does or why it has to be used at the end of every dial-out. Also, it is important to note that we've seen gates that were relocated and still worked without a change in the point-of-origin symbol.

What is the purpose of the point-of-origin symbol? And if it's just sending info about the gate itself or some coordinates, then why is it necessary to enter it at all, rather than that gate sending that information automatically?

Was the purpose of the point-of-origin ever defined?

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Tango
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    To show how much smarter Daniel was than that OTHER geek. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Feb 18 '12 at 04:07
  • @DVK: Which other geek? You mean Samantha Carter? – Tango Feb 18 '12 at 04:14
  • Possible duplicate. –  Feb 18 '12 at 04:55
  • @Keen: I address that -- it's discussed. While there are some possible purposes given, nobody can state for sure that they know what the purpose is. (I state this in the 2nd paragraph.) – Tango Feb 18 '12 at 05:02
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    @TangoOversway: I believe DVK is referring the other geek in the original Stargate movie. The one that fails to correctly translate the hieroglyphs. – bitmask Feb 18 '12 at 05:42
  • @bitmask: It's been so long since I've seen the movie, I forgot about that one! – Tango Feb 18 '12 at 05:49
  • Well, I was a real fan of the movie, without knowing the series'. Then, SG-1 and Atlantis quite disappointed me, when I finally watched them (I still haven't watched a single Universe episode). So, that's why the term "Stargate" relates primarily to the original movie for me :) – bitmask Feb 18 '12 at 05:56
  • @TangoOversway - What bitmask said. I was a fan of the movie long before SG1 came around :) And DON'T CALL Carter a GEEK! She's a lipping fighter jock! – DVK-on-Ahch-To Feb 18 '12 at 11:05
  • @Tango Gary Meyers, played by Richard Kind. He was the who claimed to know all there was to know about the stargate, but came up short, requiring Daniel Jackson to sort it all out. – Anthony X Nov 09 '19 at 17:52

1 Answers1

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To tell the gate that you are done dialing.

  • To dial within the current galaxy, there were 6 symbols for spacial coordinates, ending with a point of origin.

  • To dial to another galaxy, 6 symbols for spacial coordinates, 1 symbol for the galaxy (like an area code, seemingly), and terminating with the point of origin.

  • To dial something else, it's 8 symbols plus the point of origin. As far as I remember, this has only been seen once - when dialing Destiny in Stargate Universe.

It can't be automated in the DHD due to the ability to dial manually on Milky Way gates. I would guess it was included on the others to keep the number of symbols consistent.

(Side note, the Tau'ri symbol, the pyramid with one sun, has been seen on at least one gate besides the one on Earth. Season 2 or 3, I think it was... So the points of origin aren't unique to each gate. Based on the original description of the coordinate system, most likely the Tau'ri symbol is part of a constellation that our sun is actually in, that's only visible from some other planets.)

EDIT

So, just to add, the comments on the other question/answer reminded me of some things. From the comments, after I suggested the above without expanding on it, this was this response: (And it also came up in this answer's comments as well)

That would make sense, but there's no reason the button couldn't pop on the terminating "character" for the PoO as well. Certainly it'd be a better user experience... it would require the Gate to let the DHD know what the appropriate character is, but we know there's two-way communication (status/error codes etc) anyway.

No, it wouldn't make a better "user experience", it would introduce an inconsistency. The Milky Way gates were specifically designed to be able to manually dial in addition to using a DHD. If the DHD popped on the point of origin, you now have an extra indirection: 6 symbols if there's a DHD, then in the rare chance there's no DHD and you have to dial manually, you have to remember that there was also a point of origin.

Including the point of origin every time makes it almost impossible to forget it in those circumstances.

In addition, at the beginning of SG-1 6x09, "Allegiance", we see another use of the Stargate that seems to require a DHD: In a funeral ceremony, the Tok'ra presses the red crystal on the DHD without entering an address. The unstable vortex forms to destroy the body, then immediately deactivates. Given the above, this seems to be further evidence that the DHD termination character (^D, red crystal) does not have the same function as the Stargate termination character (\0, point of origin).

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Izkata
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    Do you have a source for this - or logic behind it? – Tango Feb 18 '12 at 04:41
  • The logic is that the gate only establishes the wormhole when the point of origin is locked in. –  Feb 18 '12 at 06:20
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    @TangoOversway Point 1 is established in the original movie and the earliest episodes. I'm not sure if Point 2 is ever made explicit, but 7 chevrons + PoO is required for both the Asgard homeworld and the Pegasus galaxy. We know yet another chevron was needed for Destiny, but not exactly why or how, hence calling it "something else" – Izkata Feb 18 '12 at 06:32
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    "the Tau'ri symbol, the pyramid with one sun, has been seen on at least one gate besides the one on Earth." I believe canonically this is not true, even though it's true by visual inspection in the show - the off-world gate has that symbol because they'd only built two gate models by that point. –  Feb 18 '12 at 17:42
  • @JoeWreschnig Probably true, but I do remember them specifically zooming in on that point (so close that only 3-4 symbols were visible at once) as the Gate was spinning. Very odd of it was simply a limitation of only having a couple models. – Izkata Feb 18 '12 at 23:15
  • @Izkata: My guess is that showing an off-world gate spinning trumps technical accuracy for 99% of viewers. The normal off-world model for most of the show cannot spin (and conversely the one that can spin is difficult to move for location shoots), so if they wanted a "spinning shot", they absolutely had to use the Earth gate. In later seasons I believe they got another spinning one, and also sometimes used CG. –  Feb 19 '12 at 00:44
  • @JoeWreschnig -removes previous comment, has better info now-. So, in SG-1 8x20, the Puddle Jumper's DHD is used dialing the Antarctic gate in the alternate timeline. Not only was the Tau'ri symbol on the ship, the gate was spinning as well... – Izkata Feb 19 '12 at 04:31
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    To indicate that you're done dialing, don't you have to hit the big button at the center of the DHD? – HNL Feb 19 '12 at 11:01
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    @HNL Usually, but if you don't have a DHD and have to dial manually, how do you indicate to the gate that you're done dialing? ;) – Izkata Feb 19 '12 at 15:40
  • @Izkata Your new last paragraph makes it sound like you're saying the red crystal doesn't serve as point of origin. On a DHD the red crystal does serve that function. DHDs don't have a button for the point of origin, the red crystal locks in that symbol and establishes the wormhole. –  Feb 19 '12 at 19:04
  • @Keen It doesn't. Numerous episodes, especially early ones, have Jackson or Carter explicitly state that the point of origin will be the symbol they haven't seen before. Granted that doesn't quite match up with the other points I made before, but that was dialogue and is stronger canon than something that could have been caused accidentally by a reused prop. – Izkata Feb 19 '12 at 19:42
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    Not directly related, but you might find this information vaguely connected and useful. – Tango Feb 20 '12 at 04:50
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    Side note (resurrecting an old conversation) - It is more likely that the original Milky Way style stargate was designed to be dialed "manually" (by machine, as the SGC does it) and the DHD (which bypasses the rotation) was added later as an upgrade. The older Destiny style gate has the entire gate rotate during the dialing sequence and the newer Pegasus style doesn't have any moving parts at all. This demonstrates a relatively clear line of technological progression. Using the "Point of Origin" as a "finished dialing" cue makes a lot more sense in this context. – Thomas Aug 01 '18 at 18:27