Changeling Disease Question

[Ketracel]

ok I just don't get this. So Odo gets sick, he is taken to the Great Link, and they say that they made him come so they could judge him for killing another changeling.

they then make him a "solid"

But later on we learn that it was Section 31 who created the changeling disease and infected Odo and that Odo then infected the whole Link.

So was this simply something they changed midway? Otherwise, I can't understand why the chageling woman wouldn't have said 'What? why are you melting? you're sick! get away!!'

Has this already been asked on the board?

 

[DS9Continuing]

Two different diseases.

The S31 disease was implanted during the "Homefront/Paradise Lost" two-parter, when Odo was at Starfleet Command. Odo was only supposed to be a carrier, not suffer from it himself. It laid dormant until late in the seventh season, when frequent shape-shifting brought it on.

The Founder's disease was administered (it is generally believed) by Weyoun in "To the Death." I have a feeling there was no actual virus as such - it was more a function of the closeness of the Link that they managed to manipulate his ability to hold his shape.

Pure coincidence that they both happened at the same time - plus the whole "not written yet" thing.

 

[nx1701g]

^ Apparently there is a scene in the episode "To the Death" where Weyoun puts his hand on Odo's shoulder and infects him. I haven't seen it, but it's in the script and mentioned in the Companion.

 

[Timo]

An alternate explanation is that the red-dressed female who comes out of the blue and "befriends" Odo at the beginning of "Broken Link" is in fact the vector for the disease, an evil spy on a mission...

This would give the Founders exact timing. It just wouldn't do to infect Odo with something slow-acting and then perhaps have him fall ill during a time when the wormhole is unavailable.

Also, it's rather unlikely that Weoyun in "To the Death", a completely random Vorta on a mission originally unrelated to Odo or the Alpha Quadrant, would carry the Founder-killing disease. Reliable and reverent or not, the Vorta couldn't be trusted with a dangerous thing like that, not if every one of them (or a random selection of them) were to carry the weapon for an unknown length of time "just in case".

Of course, it's possible that Weoyun's real mission was to infiltrate DS9 and attack Odo, and that he was the only Vorta carrying the weapon. But that would be quite a coincidence, now wouldn't it?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hermiod]

There's a problem with convincing Weyoun to harm a Founder, even if the order comes from another Founder I suppose.

By "Broken Link", we knew that the entire Alpha Quadrant had been infiltrated by Changelings who were much more skilled in taking humanoid form than Odo was. It could have been anyone at any time. For all we know, it posed as say Kira or Quark for five minutes, infected him and then left without the real person ever knowing about it.

 

[nx1701g]

Timo said:
An alternate explanation is that the red-dressed female who comes out of the blue and "befriends" Odo at the beginning of "Broken Link" is in fact the vector for the disease, an evil spy on a mission...

Didn't she appear later in the episode as well though in pretty much the same role of friend to Odo? If I had been tasked with infecting him I would have gotten out of there after doing it.

That doesn't rule it out as a possibility though.

 

[Kegek]

The friendly female was a fairly obvious plot device to demonstrate how Odo changed as a result of becoming solid - he's not interested in her prior, afterwards, he is.

I think Weyoun's sneaky pat-on-the-shoulder in 'To The Death', implied by the writers to be the moment, makes perfect sense. It's exactly the kind of thing Weyoun would do - poison you with a charming smile.

 

[Camren]

Weyoun wouldn't harm a Founder, I can't believe he played any part in infecting the Female changeling, he was completely loyal to her. Okay he was willing to kill Odo but Odo wasn't a Founder, Weyoun finally realised that and did what he thought was in the best interest of the Dominion when ordering Odo to be killed.
Besides, there had been several occasions when the Founders themselves were content to leave Odo to die, so maybe the Vorta did not revere the '100' Changelings as they did those in the Great Link.

 

[nx1701g]

Camren said:
I can't believe he played any part in infecting the Female changeling, he was completely loyal to her.

Where did that come from? I think it's been pretty safely established that Odo himself infected the Female Changeling with the Starfleet version of the virus.