Spoilers Lorca Theory

[MikeS]

There's no real spoilers in here - as far as I'm concerned anyone who visits these forums without first catching up with the show deserves what they get. This is however a potential spoiler as I have a theory concerning Captain Lorca that I am surprised no one else has pointed out on TrekBBS (or at least I could not find in any search, apologies of there is an existing thread)

What if the moody, broody Lorca isn't the Prime Lorca but actually Mirror Lorca? "Our" Lorca having gone down with the Buran as all good Captains should and Mirror Lorca using this event to infiltrate our universe.


The evidence:

"I need you, Burnham" - why was Lorca so intent on getting Michael out of prison? To figure out a Tardigrade and Spore Drive? No, anyone could have figured that out, it is because he needs her to impersonate Mirror Burnham. To get himself into the Emperor's Palace.

The "mancave" with a Gorn skull, 10 years before first contact with that species. But not in the Mirror Universe, we saw them in In a Mirror, Darkly

The female security chief who said they were "closer than close". His personal guard from the Mirror Universe?

He sleeps with a phaser under his pillow, a Terran trait which disturbs "our" Admiral enough to order psyche tests, after which he seems happy to abandon her.

And he definitely purposefully made that jump to the Mirror Universe.

Any other clues I've missed?

 

[cbl1]

You may not have read many of the other threads. This has been the speculation for some time. I have even seen main stream new articles mention that fans theorizing Lorca is the MU Lorca.

Some have speculated the scar on his back was from an agonizer booth.

Personally - clue for me would be the phaser under the pillow. If I were a MU captain I sure would keep one there.

 

[Hythlodeus]

There's no real spoilers in here - as far as I'm concerned anyone who visits these forums without first catching up with the show deserves what they get. This is however a potential spoiler as I have a theory concerning Captain Lorca that I am surprised no one else has pointed out on TrekBBS (or at least I could not find in any search, apologies of there is an existing thread)

What if the moody, broody Lorca isn't the Prime Lorca but actually Mirror Lorca? "Our" Lorca having gone down with the Buran as all good Captains should and Mirror Lorca using this event to infiltrate our universe.


The evidence:

"I need you, Burnham" - why was Lorca so intent on getting Michael out of prison? To figure out a Tardigrade and Spore Drive? No, anyone could have figured that out, it is because he needs her to impersonate Mirror Burnham. To get himself into the Emperor's Palace.

The "mancave" with a Gorn skull, 10 years before first contact with that species. But not in the Mirror Universe, we saw them in In a Mirror, Darkly

The female security chief who said they were "closer than close". His personal guard from the Mirror Universe?

He sleeps with a phaser under his pillow, a Terran trait which disturbs "our" Admiral enough to order psyche tests, after which he seems happy to abandon her.

And he definitely purposefully made that jump to the Mirror Universe.

Any other clues I've missed?

yeah you missed a couple. in the last episode alone we had
- Burnham being served the same octopi-related food that Lorca was seen eating earlier this season by Mirror Saru
- Burnham mentioning that the light in the MU is different and Lorca conviently has no problems with his eyes anymore
- the smirk
- his very MU response to the bombardement of the rebels

that written, this theory has been discussed in a number of threads before. odd that your search didn't find anything

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Some have speculated the scar on his back was from an agonizer booth.

Agony booth doesn't leave scars

 

[MikeS]

You may not have read many of the other threads. This has been the speculation for some time. I have even seen main stream new articles mention that fans theorizing Lorca is the MU Lorca./QUOTE]

that written, this theory has been discussed in a number of threads before. odd that your search didn't find anything

Yes, very odd. Perhaps I used the search function incorrectly. Or, if there's nothing wrong with the search function, perhaps there's something wrong with the universe!

 

[cbl1]

My mistake - its reference is the Agonizer from TOS (triangle shaped Agonizer device).

There are about a dozen posts on the theory in the "Despite Yourself" thread.

 

[Michael]

Truth be told, I'm not really sure why this is such a popular theory with fans. What's so fascinating about him being from the Mirror Universe? In the past, the only interesting aspect of MU characters was the contrast with their regular counterparts. Otherwise they're just characters with a dark past, are they not?

 

[NaughtyTrekkie]

yeah you missed a couple. in the last episode alone we had
- Burnham being served the same octopi-related food that Lorca was seen eating earlier this season by Mirror Saru
- Burnham mentioning that the light in the MU is different and Lorca conviently has no problems with his eyes anymore
- the smirk
- his very MU response to the bombardement of the rebels

that written, this theory has been discussed in a number of threads before. odd that your search didn't find anything

But if Lorca is from MU, why was he so emotionally involved int he klingon war?
And why did he wait the destrusction of klingon Sarcophagus ship to return in the MU?

 

[Psion]

I'm wondering if Lorca is actually from a third universe and arrived in the Discoverse via the Mirror Discoverse. But maybe his moral ambiguity is best explained by the idea that not all Terrans are evil.

 

[Hythlodeus]

But if Lorca is from MU, why was he so emotionally involved int he klingon war?
And why did he wait the destrusction of klingon Sarcophagus ship to return in the MU?

idk, I'm not one of the writers. Ask them.
Maybe he just cares?
Look, I'm from Europe, from a country that recently elected an extremist right-wing government in all its ugliness. That doesn't mean, just because my country has to fight to restore sanity, that I don't care about US struggles to return to state of at least not total insanity. Even though the US is far away.
It is totally possible to care about the MU and the PU at once and it seems, MU Lorca was trying to change the status quo with his assassination attempt on the Emperor anyway.

 

[ITDUDE]

Not much of a spoiler. It’s a given.

 

[Vger23]

Truth be told, I'm not really sure why this is such a popular theory with fans. What's so fascinating about him being from the Mirror Universe? In the past, the only interesting aspect of MU characters was the contrast with their regular counterparts. Otherwise they're just characters with a dark past, are they not?

I agree...I really hope that this isn't true. Lorca is a fascinating character AS IS and I have been very invested in his development and progression thus far as a wounded, flawed human being from our universe. The fact that he's not a typical shining-knight captain is very intriguing and a huge plus for this series.

I'd be deeply disappointed if it all turns out that he was "TEH BAD LORCA!!!1!1!"

 

[Hythlodeus]

I'd be deeply disappointed if it all turns out that he was "TEH BAD LORCA!!!1!1!"

hmm.. not everyone in the MU is evil. Smiley wasn't as far as I can remember. Sarek appears to be more or less the same, excluding awsome facial hair, and Lorca WAS disappointed that the MU didn't offer a 'better version' of himself...

 

[Vger23]

hmm.. not everyone in the MU is evil. Smiley wasn't as far as I can remember. Sarek appears to be more or less the same, excluding awsome facial hair, and Lorca WAS disappointed that the MU didn't offer a 'better version' of himself...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Lorca's appeal as a character (for me personally) completely dematerializes if he was not a born-and-raised citizen of the UFP and a graduate of Starfleet Academy in the prime universe.

My whole appreciation for the character is that it demonstrates that Humans who go through that path don't need to be boy scouts and paragons of virtue (Picard, Janeway) who speechify and negotiate every problem away. They can still be flawed, normal Human Beings. As a card-carrying member myself, I resonate much more strongly with that than any ready-made squeaky-clean hero we could have been presented with.

The fun was going to be in watching Lorca's journey to re-discover his humanity after the war and to go through a healing process.

If we are robbed of that with some MU trickeration...I'll be really REALLY fucking bummed.

 

[Hythlodeus]

Is there any other way to be bummed?

but, I get what your sayin. His ambiguity was what made me fall in love with that character and I wasn't a big fan of this specific theory a month or so ago. but I think it is dishonest to ignore all the obvious foreshadowing and the writings on the wall at this point.
It is all in the execution, as far as I'm concerned, so let's see how it plays out.

 

[Shawnster]

Not to mention that the phaser under the pillow was portrayed as some kind of PTSD resulting from his captivity on the Klingon ship. Making that "normal" for Lorca really guts a lot of what they've developed in the form of a troubled Captain haunted by his past decisions.

 

[shapeshifter]

Signs Point To Yes

Agony booth doesn't leave scars

No but an angry Emperors whip would.

 

[BillJ]

Agony booth doesn't leave scars

Though the portable agonizers may...

 

[Hythlodeus]

well if the magic 8 ball agrees, I guess that settles it then
/thread

 

[cultcross]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Lorca's appeal as a character (for me personally) completely dematerializes if he was not a born-and-raised citizen of the UFP and a graduate of Starfleet Academy in the prime universe.

My whole appreciation for the character is that it demonstrates that Humans who go through that path don't need to be boy scouts and paragons of virtue (Picard, Janeway) who speechify and negotiate every problem away. They can still be flawed, normal Human Beings. As a card-carrying member myself, I resonate much more strongly with that than any ready-made squeaky-clean hero we could have been presented with.

The fun was going to be in watching Lorca's journey to re-discover his humanity after the war and to go through a healing process.

If we are robbed of that with some MU trickeration...I'll be really REALLY fucking bummed.

This is my take. I'm annoyed that the Mirror Lorca theory looks more and more likely. I would really like it if this interesting nuanced character was actually just that.