Re: The Soul Key Discussion Thread <Spoilers>
Yeah, I had definitely been expecting it to be Vaughn. The stories ever since Avatar seemed to be leading in that direction.
I even remember Marco having to defend himself against accusations that Vaughn was too similar to Sisko, specifically because of the similar experiences that brought them to Bajor - single parent, wife killed by the Borg, on the verge of resigning from Starfleet, rejuvenated by contact with an Orb. I thought that all these things were in fact deliberate after all because Vaughn was intended to be the MU's Emissary.
Which makes me wonder if there was a change of plans at some point. In Fragments & Omens, Vaughn lamented the approaching end of his ability to serve in Starfleet. In Fearful Symmetry, he wondered if that moment had actually arrived. So it seemed inevitable to me that Vaughn would take the "give him back his life" aspect of the prophecy and become alt-Bajor's Emissary.
And, like NeoGothBoy74, I took the Sisko-Vaughn punch scene as an acknowledgement of that assumption.
Now, I can definitely see the appeal of the three-Kiras thing. I wonder if making Iliana the Emissary to the Ascendants was the irresistible idea from Paula Block, which required altering plans for Vaughn to be MU-Emissary to make it MU-Iliana and create the three-Kiras thing. But then, the "three" concept that has been in place since Rising Son - three Kiras, three races worshipping the Prophets, therefore three Emissaries. So maybe not.
But I don't really see how MU-Iliana fulfils the "giving her life back" aspect of the prophecy. As she was characterised, she didn't seem to have any major issues to get over that would qualify as that, beyond simply being vaguely dissatisfied with life in the Alliance.
And how does being the first to open the Temple qualify as being Emissary, when Kira, Bashir, and the entire crew of the Defiant have already travelled through the wormhole before Iliana got there?
Also, it's worth noting that, as Thrawn points out, MU-Iliana is only a place holder Emissary, a make-do alternative. I doubt the Prophets actually arranged her birth or anything - FS establishes that it was always meant to be Sisko. I guess the fact that he could still die without having fulfilled the prophecy brings the "choice" aspect back into things - just because the Prophets prophecize it, doesn't mean it's going to happen.
And that fits, because our Kira isn't the Emissary either. She is The Hand, which seems to imply her being their instrument in the linear plane. How that's different to the Emissary is unclear. She is obviously intended to lead the Bajorans' war against the Ascendants, which will bring her back into conflict with Iliana. Interesting that Iliana was right about her becoming the Emissary - she just got the wrong race. But then again, she's not the Emissary, she is the Fire - whatever that means.
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