why did the Prophets choose a non-Bajoran as their Emmisary?

[indolover]

Since Sisko is not Bajoran, would he necessarily have loyalty to Bajor? Wouldn't it make sense to make a Bajoran the Emmisary, so at the least they could better immediately identify with him?

Also, say if in the future (post-DS9), the Federation was at war again. Would the Prophets let him leave the wormhole, since Sisko is human, a Starfleet officer and a Federation citizen, and his own people would be in danger?

 

[Damask]

The Sisko is of Bajor!

 

[Admiral Shran]

Because it could be no one else.

 

[Photon]

Since Sisko is not Bajoran, would he necessarily have loyalty to Bajor? Wouldn't it make sense to make a Bajoran the Emmisary, so at the least they could better immediately identify with him?

Also, say if in the future (post-DS9), the Federation was at war again. Would the Prophets let him leave the wormhole, since Sisko is human, a Starfleet officer and a Federation citizen, and his own people would be in danger?

What if they'd chosen Rom or Quark

 

[TheGodBen]

They didn't choose him, he was the Emissary, he was the one that taught them about linear life. They just created him later.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Yeah; but wasn't Sisko's momma one of them alien whozits?

 

[flemm]

They didn't choose him, he was the Emissary, he was the one that taught them about linear life. They just created him later.

Indeed. And he is also the one that taught the Prophets to get involved in linear events and be gods to the Bajorans (Sacrifice of Angels). In a very real sense, Sisko chose them. By being "intrusive" and forcing the Prophets out of their isolation and indifference to life in linear time.

 

[Avon]

the sysqo was of an underrepresented demographic

 

[Vanyel]

I think it was because he was half Prophet. They needed him to stop Dukat.

This really make no sense though. If they exist outside of time, and the past present and future are all one to them, then surely there must have been an easier way to stop Dukat. Like having someone destroy that thing he used to free the Pah Wraith, or having it get "lost" as junk and thrown out in deep space where it'd never be found.

 

[Damask]

Yeah; but wasn't Sisko's momma one of them alien whozits?

Sisko's mom was only a Prophet after Sisko met the Prophets. It's not linear!

 

[indolover]

The way I understand it is that the Prophets sent the Sarah Prophet to meet Joe Sisko, and both of them conceived Benjamin. So the Prophets in a sense pre-destined Ben to be their Emmisary.

Even still, Ben is human and not Bajoran, so it doesn't make sense for the Prophets to make him have more loyalty to Bajor than the Federation.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Entities with religions around them always do zany things. How much ink has been spilled pondering religious mysteries like the 'Trinity'?

 

[Mr Silver]

Because Humans have something the Bajorans don't that was required by the Prophets, therefore they sent a Prophet to Earth to be part of Benjamin Sisko's conception, since the Prophets don't exist as "Linear Beings", they foresaw Benjamin Sisko's existence as an ordinary Human and his visit to the Wormhole (in one such reality, perhaps where Sarah, does actually fall in love with Joseph) and they decide to make that reality happen and then wait until Sisko finds his way to them, through the normal, uninfluenced chain of events (Sisko joins Starfleet, Saratoga Commander, Borg, Transfers to DS9, Discovers Wormhole)

Thats my theory

 

[Damask]

The way I understand it is that the Prophets sent the Sarah Prophet to meet Joe Sisko, and both of them conceived Benjamin. So the Prophets in a sense pre-destined Ben to be their Emmisary.

That can't be correct though. The Prophets didnt know who Sisko was when they "first" met him. It was only after Sisko taught the Prophets about linear time that Sisko became their Emissary.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

The way I understand it is that the Prophets sent the Sarah Prophet to meet Joe Sisko, and both of them conceived Benjamin. So the Prophets in a sense pre-destined Ben to be their Emmisary.

That can't be correct though. The Prophets didnt know who Sisko was when they "first" met him. It was only after Sisko taught the Prophets about linear time that Sisko became their Emissary.

The Prophets are NOT LINEAR. Everything happens at once with them - while Sisko was there explaining baseball, Zek was there being changed, Quark was there getting them to change Zek back, Sisko was there with Akorem what's-his-name who thought HE was the Emissary, Sisko was there convincing them to do away with the Dominion Fleet and Sisko was there after the fight in the Fire Caves. That is the entire point of Sisko having to teach them the concept of linear time - because to them 'then,' 'now,' and 'later' are all the same.

It's a self-sustaining loop, the Prophets made sure he came into being so that he could meet them and teach them this concept.

Or in other words, don't think about it too much, your head will explode.

 

[JustKate]

The Prophets are NOT LINEAR. Everything happens at once with them - while Sisko was there explaining baseball, Zek was there being changed, Quark was there getting them to change Zek back, Sisko was there with Akorem what's-his-name who thought HE was the Emissary, Sisko was there convincing them to do away with the Dominion Fleet and Sisko was there after the fight in the Fire Caves. That is the entire point of Sisko having to teach them the concept of linear time - because to them 'then,' 'now,' and 'later' are all the same.

It's a self-sustaining loop, the Prophets made sure he came into being so that he could meet them and teach them this concept.

Or in other words, don't think about it too much, your head will explode.

Yeah, exactly DGCat. Whenever one of us poor mortals considers non-linear beings, including the entity that my religion calls "God," well, these seeming paradoxes occur. If you're like me, you can kind of "get" non-linear-ness every now and then, but only flashes and it won't last because we're just not wired that way. The more you think about it, the more your head spins. Or possibly explodes.

 

[Navaros]

They didn't choose him, he was the Emissary, he was the one that taught them about linear life. They just created him later.

They created him after he taught them something - that makes no sense.

I realize that is the absurd premise one must accept based on the poorly-written wormhole alien plotline, but it's too crazy to accept IMO. Better to chalk it up to what it really is IMO, and admit it's an irreconcilable writing fubar.

As for the thread title: the wormhole aliens only care about themselves. The idea that they care about or are related to Bajorans is a big marketing scam (identical in principle to the Guidelines/Rules Of Acquisition marketing scam in Quark's dream). The Sisko was a strong leader, whereas the Bajorans were weaklings. Hence, the wormhole aliens made the best choice they could for their protector.

 

[TheGodBen]

They created him after he taught them something - that makes no sense.

Only if you're stupid or being wilfully obtuse due to a bias against a particular species or story arc.

It's a temporal paradox, one of dozens that you'll find throughout Star Trek, including DS9. Do you also complain that Children of Time doesn't make any sense because old-Odo changed the course of the ship so that they didn't crash, but that means that old-Odo didn't exist to change the course of the ship so they actually did crash, which means that old-Odo did exist and blah blah blah? Because most of us just accept that as a conceit of the story that's not logical to us but makes sense in an odd way.

PROPHETS: What is this?
SISKO: Memories. Events from my past, like this one.
PROPHETS: Past?
SISKO: Things that happened before now. You have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.
PROPHETS: What comes before now is no different than what is now, or what is to come. It is one's existence.
SISKO: Then, for you, there is no linear time.
PROPHETS: Linear time? What is this?
SISKO: My species lives in one point in time. And once we move beyond that point, it becomes the past. The future, all that is still to come, does not exist yet for us.
PROPHETS: Does not exist yet?
SISKO: That is the nature of linear existence.

The Prophets do not perceive reality in the same way that we do, and they would have had no concept of cause and effect unless Sisko told them about it. In the same "moment" that Sisko explained the concept to them, they created him so that he could explain it to them. It doesn't make sense to us, but that's because we have no comprehension of a non-linear existence. It would be like trying to imagine the universe with a fourth spacial dimension; our brains would not be able to comprehend it, but that doesn't mean that such universes can't exist.

 

[Jono]

The Prophets might not have "created" Sisko but rather ensured his existence. There might have been a specific or perceived threat to Ben's life between just prior to conception to three years old, which the Prophet's felt required someone to watch over their future Emissary, so they dispatched a member of their species to safeguard Ben's birth and first few years

As for the thread title: the wormhole aliens only care about themselves. The idea that they care about or are related to Bajorans is a big marketing scam (identical in principle to the Guidelines/Rules Of Acquisition marketing scam in Quark's dream). The Sisko was a strong leader, whereas the Bajorans were weaklings. Hence, the wormhole aliens made the best choice they could for their protector.

I tend to agree with the first part. I don't think the Prophets really cared about the Bajorans. The Bajorans just happened to be living on top of the super max prison holding their dread-foes. So the Prophets dealings with the Bajorans were simply tied towards their goal of keeping the Pah-Wraiths locked away rather than for the betterment of the Bajoran people.

 

[Zeppster]

Yeah; but wasn't Sisko's momma one of them alien whozits?

This is one of the dumb plots they came up with that makes no real sense. It almost makes a bad ass not a bad ass that he was because he almost had no choice in his life is what it says. It's why I still contend the first 6 seasons of the show were amazing the last season was complete crap. This is just one of the many problems with the last season+