Corner Characters Part Three: Leaders of the Dominion

A CONCLUSION TO THIS MONTH'S EXPLORATION OF THE MINOR CHARACTERS OF "STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE" 
by Bennett Campbell Ferguson

 Above: Salome Jens as the Female Changeling and Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun
 

WEYOUN First, he was shot; then, he died in a “transporter accident”; then he committed suicide; then an unruly prisoner snapped his neck; and finally, he was shot again and this time, remained dead.  Despite this impressive cycle of death and reincarnation, the treacherous commander Weyoun was not the first “Star Trek” character to display quasi-immortality.  But he was certainly one of the most frequently assassinated, most likely because he annoyed both his allies and his enemies—his pompous, simpering smile endeared him to no one.  But if Weyoun’s obnoxiousness irked other characters, it was to our delight. For in his happily deluded idiocy he became one of the wittiest, most terrifying, and tragic characters to step through the airlocks of Deep Space Nine.

            By the time Weyoun appeared on the show, his species (the Vorta) were already familiar to Sisko and company.  Pale-skinned and dark-haired, they’d certainly been visually memorable, but the real attraction was that they were some of the most valued servants of the Dominion, responsible for commanding legions of starships and soldiers, as well as handling diplomatic affairs.  Essentially, they were brainwashed pawns who had been genetically designed to worship the Founders of the Dominion as gods, but they were hardly mindless servants.  Instead they were cultured, sensitive leaders, better suited to conversation then combat.

            No one filled these criteria better than Weyoun.  In his first appearance, he allied with Captain Sisko, but only temporarily for as soon as the Cardassians joined the Dominion, Weyoun was sent to oversee the empire’s assimilation.  And while most would have taken this opportunity to establish strong diplomatic relations and trust, Weyoun used it mostly to smirk and lie, sneering at Damar’s alcoholism but acting as if he himself were attending some sort of drunken party for despots, not starting a war.

            Ultimately, it was his joyous personality that made Weyoun such a wonderful character.  He had no back story (at least not in the way of Dukat or Damar); he was simply a man doing his job.  Yet he was stunningly multi-faceted because he could be both nimbly delicate and horribly bloodthirsty.  In one of his finest moments during the show, for example, Weyoun ceases examining a painting to announce a man’s execution.  But, as if totally unmoved by the thought of murder, he quickly turns back to the artwork to pose a query: “Would this be more aesthetically pleasing if it were blue?”  It’s a fascinatingly strange moment.  Weyoun’s careless attitude towards killing may be sickening, but there’s also something oddly innocent about his fascination with the painting.  As one character rightly remarks, “Weyoun’s a hard one to figure out.” 

            Sadly, Weyoun’s devil-may-care theatrics ultimately led to his downfall.  But though he was often slaughtered in the line of duty, the Founders chose to clone him a total of eight times.  These clones sometimes varied (one even defected from the Dominion in the hope of insuring peace), but each Weyoun was mostly the same as the last.  In particular, they all displayed a fanatical loyalty to the Dominion’s Founders.  “It is an honor to be summoned to your presence,” Weyoun says to one Founder during the show’s final season, bowing his head and spreading his hands in deference.  In that moment, it is clear that his devotion to his masters is thoroughly sincere.  And yet in his voice you still hear traces of that grinning madman, who delights even at the thought of blood being shed.

THE FEMALE CHANGELING One of the most wonderful aspects of “Deep Space Nine” was that nearly every main character on the show had their own personal nemesis.  The story was rife with adversarial duos (Sisko and Dukat, Bashir and Sloan, for example) who didn’t just meet on the battlefield—they spent real time together, arguing different perspectives through conversation, rather than just trading blows.  As a result, they all formed powerfully intimate and volatile bonds, but I confess there is one such relationship I prefer that above all others.  It is the dreamlike, seductive war between Odo and the Female Changeling. 

            In many ways, the Female Changeling was the person Odo had waited to meet his whole life.  Despite a rewarding career as Deep Space Nine’s chief of security, he remained anguished by the fact that he appeared to be alone in the universe.  His amazing abilities—from his natural liquid state, he could take on almost any form, including the humanoid appearance he adopted for work—weren’t shared by anyone he’d ever met.  So when he finally set foot on his home world and was greeted by the Female Changeling, it concluded nearly thirty years of anguish and isolation.

            Alas, the Female Changeling was not what Odo expected.  At first she surprised him with her unnervingly holistic outlook.  Unlike Odo, who spent most of his time in humanoid form, she believed that to be a Changeling was to constantly take on different shapes, to simply experiment by existing as a bird, a branch, or even a cloud.  “To become a thing,” she tells Odo, “is to know a thing.  To assume its form is to understand its existence.”  Such a concept was compelling in itself, but there was another dimension to the Female Changeling’s beliefs as well—to her, those who could not change form (known as “Solids”) were inferior.  Still carrying bitter memories of the days when Solids had hunted and brutalized Changelings, she chose to oppress and control numerous humanoid races by taking her place as one of the dictatorial leaders of the Dominion.  “Why control anyone?” Odo asks her.  Her reply?  “Because what you can control can’t hurt you.”

            Absolute faith in the superiority of her race was a key part of the Female Changeling’s allure because in defending those beliefs, she represented a simultaneously utopian and totalitarian fantasy.  It was a balance—she often dwelt in peace with other Changelings (merging her mind and body with them to form an ocean known as “The Great Link”), but she also commanded a limitless fleet of warships that could be dispatched to any planet to unleash armies, or even horrific plagues.  Thus, the way her life blended these displays of power with blithe spirituality made for a fascinating juxtaposition, especially since it was all based upon a desire to preserve and protect her people.  And even then, there was more to her than that.  The Female Changeling wasn’t compelling solely because of how she thought.  No, everything about her was mesmerizing—her calm voice, punctuated by throaty articulations; her smooth, texture-free face, completed by a skin-toned dress that rendered her form clean and unbroken; and the way she always seemed thoroughly unflappable, even in the heat of battle.  Of course there were rare occasions when she lost control of her emotions but when she did, the results were hypnotically brutal.

            As you can probably gather, the Female Changeling was not a particularly good person.  And yet I still find myself sympathizing with her above almost all of the other characters on the show.  I love that something otherworldly about her; she was not of this world and therefore her every appearance carried the weight of surreal drama.  Still despite all that, I often feared for her.  The heroes of the show were always protected—as protagonists, their victory was assured.  By contrast, the Female Changeling was doomed to fail by the oppressive power of the show’s writers, who cast her as an immoral force to be conquered.  In that way she was one of the only truly vulnerable characters in the story and that made me care about her all the more.

            As I think back on the Female Changeling’s many appearances, I am reminded of how often her presence elevated the show.  Yet I have a slight preference for the wonderful season six episodes in which she reunites with Odo, trying to help him explore what it means to be a Changeling.  Just listen to her words of wisdom for him when he realizes he’s missed a meeting: “You have been living with the Solids’ concept of time for too long.  Let them worry about their meetings.  You are a Changeling!  You are timeless.  As am I.”