Anyway, maybe Armus is the leftovers from the Metrons. They shed their evil, became angelic, and what was left over was Armus. Yuck.
In the same way the Metrons tests Kirk's mercy/goodness, Armus tries to test Picard and co.'s hate/negativity.
'Skin of Evil': Was it ever explained what Armus was?
- Thread starter ReadyAndWilling
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Anyway, maybe Armus is the leftovers from the Metrons. They shed their evil, became angelic, and what was left over was Armus. Yuck.
In the same way the Metrons tests Kirk's mercy/goodness, Armus tries to test Picard and co.'s hate/negativity.
ReadyAndWilling
Fleet Captain
Nobody is clear about this?
In more mundane terms, if these "ascended" beings are still fairly conventional individuals rather than some sort of a collective species, then Armus could be their worst criminals condensed into a puddle. A physical prison for individual minds that happen to show a higher-than-average tendency for evil, individuals that the ascended are too embarrassed to take with them when they go to a better place.
If the species has gone beyond individuality already, then Armus could indeed be the physical container for something more abstract that they have learned to isolate and remove from their overall existence. But "evil" is actions, not something that makes you capable of them: removing the capacity for evil would remove the capacity for most other things, too. So what these folks put into Armus would IMHO be evil that has already been committed somehow, and imprisoned for this.
Or then Armus is a lying scumbag, and "concentrated and dumped evil" has got nothing to do with it.
Timo Saloniemi
If the species has gone beyond individuality already, then Armus could indeed be the physical container for something more abstract that they have learned to isolate and remove from their overall existence. But "evil" is actions, not something that makes you capable of them: removing the capacity for evil would remove the capacity for most other things, too. So what these folks put into Armus would IMHO be evil that has already been committed somehow, and imprisoned for this.
Or then Armus is a lying scumbag, and "concentrated and dumped evil" has got nothing to do with it.
Timo Saloniemi
As noted above, metaphorically he's the waste product of a society which has cast off all evil traits. A kind of physical manifestation of the negativity they've left behind.
Physically, Armus is a combination of wet tar and metamucial.
I thought it was black printers ink (Just watched Journey's End: The Saga of Next Generation so I do know this
Metamucil is a brand name of a product: http://www.metawellness.com/en-us
As for what Armus is, he explained exactly what he is.
And it was made from Metamucil and black printer's ink.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Armus
The black printer's ink strikes me as an odd choice to have gone with. Certainly just mixing ordinary food colorings into the Metamucil would have produced the black-color of Armus.
I'd think the ink would produce numerous problems with cleaning the set, costumes and the skin of the actor(s) put in the stuff. Not to mention potential health effects of the actor being placed in it, if not from accidentally swallowing it and becoming sick I'd think the ink would be really harsh on your skin.
I'd think the ink would produce numerous problems with cleaning the set, costumes and the skin of the actor(s) put in the stuff. Not to mention potential health effects of the actor being placed in it, if not from accidentally swallowing it and becoming sick I'd think the ink would be really harsh on your skin.
I actually do buy the explanation that it was the Q.
The Q don't strike me a beings of pure light/good. There are other glowy energy types in the Star Trek universe who'd fit that description better, including the Organians.
But it's only Armus' word that the beings who "created" him were pure light & good. Can we really believe anything Armus says? Evil always lies, after all.
Like that chunk of pure evil in the microwave at the end of the movie, "Don't touch that!"
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Maybe Armus was a Medusan and just wasn't beautiful enough (by Medusan standards) to drive non-Medusans insane on sight, so they banished him. Maybe Ambassador Kollos in "Is There In Truth No Beauty" was a little person?
But perhaps they once did. We know little of them. But one thing is for certain: they didn't just suddenly come into being with that power.
There's suspension of disbelief and then there's a Kyle: "Reeeaaalllyyy???"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AYIcTVizM4
^ "Death Wish" referred to a 'New Era' among the Q. It didn't go into detail as to exactly what this meant, but I always assumed that it was the time when the Q shed their corporeal existence and became the Q we're familiar with. And possibly created Armus as well.
This episode always made me mad for killing off Tasha in such a stupid way by a terrible sludge monster. Yes, I know she wanted to leave the show but they couldn't have provided her a more graceful exit?
An interesting notion^
An interesting notion^
More like something the founders would do--but they aren't Titans exactly.
I can see an evolution of the founders where they decide to take the best of each individual sent out to live as an individual--and that part of them that was negative they got to shed.
This is where Star Trek really got close to being magical (apart from handwavium of course)
That's shades of Chronicles of Riddick, or HPL.
In his cosmos, things didn't flit from world to world--but things fell from the stars.
I can almost see these titans now, in Carcosa upon the lake of Hali--their essence drained from them--like Kirk was when his "evil" side was taken from him---slowly wasting away as they pass from view.
Would Data have been such a good and decent person if Lore hadn't also been brought into existence?
^ I'm not following. Data and Lore weren't "split off" from one being - they were created separately, with distinct programming in each.
And Data was not made more or less 'pure' because of Lore's existence. Data's programming and personality would have been exactly the same had Lore never been created.
And Data was not made more or less 'pure' because of Lore's existence. Data's programming and personality would have been exactly the same had Lore never been created.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
That does not compute. Lore's existence had a profound impact on Data's. Dr. Soong and Julianna Tainer explained several times that they built Data having learned from their mistakes with Lore, and purposely built him to be less prone to those kind sof behavioral aberrations Lore demonstrated. There's no way Data would have been the same person had Lore not existed.
He was being sarcastic.But it's only Armus' word that the beings who "created" him were pure light & good. Can we really believe anything Armus says? Evil always lies, after all.
I thought Armus was very slick...
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