Religion & DS9

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by Alienesse, Sep 17, 2012.

  1. Enterprise is Great

    Enterprise is Great Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Because Ben Sisko as we know him wouldn't exist. Half his DNA came from Sarah so if his father fathered him with a different woman Sisko's DNA would be different and maybe he would be a slightly different person and thus not able to become the Emmisary.
     
  2. Ln X

    Ln X Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I dunno, looking at the bigger picture and it seems the Prophets were messing with Sisko all along. Firstly they spew out that claptrap about having no clue about linear time, yet one of their brethren went down to Earth to possess a human woman so just she could mate with Joseph Sisko. I think the Prophets are rather familiar with linear time but they forced Sisko (in his first face-to-face encounter with them) to explain to them what linear time is. Really it was a clever way of getting Sisko more used to the Prophet's way of seeing time and the universe.

    With each year the Prophets gradually moulded Sisko into becoming their Emissary. It makes sense because if the Prophets had told Sisko EVERYTHING in one go, it would probably have been a disaster giving Sisko's emotional state and the way he still grieved for his wife at the time.

    The funny thing is that the Bajorans view the Prophets as gods, but the Prophets don't seem to view themselves as omnipotent. So this whole Prophets vs Pah Wraiths is not some war of the gods but war between two non-linear races who have two very different ideologies. The Prophets seem content to sit in their realm and not use their powers to change the universe (except for the defence of Bajor), whilst the Pah Wraiths want to abuse such powers and destroy all life that is inferior to them.

    The bottom line is that all this mythology stems from the Bajorans, in other words the Bajorans made a faith out of the Prophets and not the Prophets commanding the Bajorans to worship them. The Prophets say they are of Bajor which must mean they guide and protect the Bajorans, but not to the point where say the Prophets would say erase the Cardassians out of the timeline to ensure Bajor was never occupied, because that would be a gross abuse of the Prophet's power. Hence the Prophets send down orbs and speak directly to a few Bajorans who go on to write scarred scriptures.

    I guess the Prophets did all of this because Bajor is imprisoning the Prophet's most dangerous foes in those Fire Caves, which is quite a risk on Bajor's part; something the Bajorans had no say in by the looks of things. So the Prophets decide to look out for the Bajorans and ensure those nasty Pah Wraiths don't break free and destroy Bajor. Though the Prophets were definitely off the ball when that Keiko Pah Wraith almost snuffed them out. Unless the Prophets foresaw it all so presumed nothing would happen as their foes are still bound to linear time, thus O'Brien double-crossing the Keiko Pah Wraith was destined to happen.

    So despite all the mystery, there is a certain logic to this... The Prophets appear to know exactly what they're doing and they have this grand plan in motion...
     
  3. Nightdiamond

    Nightdiamond Commodore Commodore

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    My problem with it was, if they left it with a war between two nonlinear beings with different ideologies, it would have been ok.

    To me, the whole 'penance' for helping Sisko was fascinating, and the Pah Wraith battle on DS9 was fascinating.

    But then they added Dukat being the Bajoran antichrist vs Sisko the Bajoran messiah, and it became like a comic book of sorts.

    They added the Good vs Evil- Blue vs Red concept to it, and turned it into a super religious analogy, Bajoran Style.

    Ancient scrolls with weird writing that catch on fire, weird chants, ancient fire caves, OMG, too much :lol:


    I always wondered why it is believed Sisko was half prophet, when the story says the Prophet only possessed his mother so she could give birth to Sisko.

    All that did was ensure a human male would be born, not that he would have qualities of a Prophet.