The 100 infant changelings

[at Quark's]

Possibly because Odo is a fully developed Changeling (with lots of experience to enrich the Great Link).
The Infants they sent out might actually be the equivalent to an early fetus.
Barely more than simple stem cell clusters that need a lot of nurture and dedicated development time before transitioning to actual Changeling status.
In fact that sounds like a valid reason to use "infants" for this task.
Risking a fully grown Changeling is deemed to risky, because even losing a single one is a great tragedy.
losing a few samples split off like a sperm donation is not something you lose any sleep over nor really expect more to come off it.

I'm not sure Odo is considered 'fully developed' by other changelings. His capabilities aren't (given that he still can't mimic human faces well - or is that something he consciously chooses to do, remembering his early days? Can't remember whether that's a fan theory or something actually said in the show), and both the female Founder and Laas (who never was in contact with the founders) treat him as someone with only a limited amount of life experience, much like a juvenile. But yeah, he's certainly further along than an infant Changeling.

Did we ever get any mention of how many the Founders reasonably expected back?

I don't think so. I only recall them saying they weren't expecting anyone back for another 300 years.

 

[Oddish]

One does wonder what happened to the little guys, though...
* Are they sitting on dusty shelves in a vial labeled "unknown sample"?
* Fall into a star or a black hole?
* Get mistaken for some sort of soup and eaten?
* Or just drifting through the endless reaches of space, on and on and on. Space is SERIOUSLY empty, after all.

 

[kkt]

They're still drifing through space, until needed for a plot

Perhaps one of them will find the Sword of Kahless.

 

[Farscape One]

Maybe one of them becomes the Sword of Kahless.

 

[Swedish Borg]

Maybe one of them becomes the Sword of Kahless.

Two Swords of Kahless!!! Impossible!!!

 

[Farscape One]

As impossible as, say, cloning Kahless...

 

[Swedish Borg]

As impossible as, say, cloning Kahless...

"Cloning Kahless" with obvious diminishing returns... Ask Gowron.

 

[JesterFace]

I never understood why would a civilized species send some of their children across the galaxy just in a slim chance they might come back. Would those "kids" be very happy to come back to those who sent them away?

 

[Swedish Borg]

I never understood why would a civilized species send some of their children across the galaxy just in a slim chance they might come back. Would those "kids" be very happy to come back to those who sent them away?

I bet a great number would end up in space drifting forever... Some would fall into a black hole or some of these pesky anomalies.... How can you expect people who care so little about their offspring to care about anybody else???

 

[at Quark's]

I never understood why would a civilized species send some of their children across the galaxy just in a slim chance they might come back. Would those "kids" be very happy to come back to those who sent them away?

Probably they reckon all will be forgiven once those returning enter the Link, because then they will understand - much like they expected Odo to.

 

[kkt]

They never explained changeling reproduction and childrearing. But there are lots of critters who have dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of babies, expecting most of them to die.

 

[Timo]

The terminology might be quite misleading, too. Perhaps "infants" are things that bud off the one and only Link and later return to it slightly mutated, sustaining the vigor - but infancy is the only time they spend as individuals, their lives ceasing when they finally re-merge for good. Not procreation, but more like the act of exhaling and then inhaling again to enjoy the scents around oneself.

AFAIK, we never heard of Founder "children". Possibly an infant never grows up to approximate this type of existence? (That is, Odo technically remains an infant right until finally returning to the Link in "WYLB".)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[arch101]

I can't imagine The Borg would even be interested in a single changeling if they found one. I also think assimilating a changeling would be much like trying to assimilate Species 8472.

 

[Swedish Borg]

A Changeling could take the shape of the queen and control the whole collective and make them do whatever they want. And unlike what happened with Martok the Borg would have no means to defend themselves, they would obey any order, including one to self-destruct.

 

[kkt]

A Changeling could take the shape of the queen and control the whole collective and make them do whatever they want. And unlike what happened with Martok the Borg would have no means to defend themselves, they would obey any order, including one to self-destruct.

The Borg were much better villains the way they were first introducted in TNG, with no central command to destroy.

 

[Swedish Borg]

The Borg were much better villains the way they were first introducted in TNG, with no central command to destroy.

Yes, I've just re-watched "Q Who", the Borg seem a lot more intimidating there, don't they?

 

[JesterFace]

The Borg were much better villains the way they were first introducted in TNG, with no central command to destroy.

Very much this. After the Queen came around and other sillyness like that the Borg just wasn't a faceless enemy anymore. Earlier the Borg came and said what it wants, no negotiations.

 

[Farscape One]

"DARK FRONTIER" was when the Borg truly lost their menace.

 

[Swedish Borg]

"DARK FRONTIER" was when the Borg truly lost their menace.

IMO, they killed the Borg when they added the queen.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

I can't imagine The Borg would even be interested in a single changeling if they found one. I also think assimilating a changeling would be much like trying to assimilate Species 8472.

In one of the DS9 relaunch novels, the crew of the Defiant came across a Jem'Hadar ship that had crashed after a battle with a Borg ship. The Jem'Hadar ship had a Founder aboard who the Borg were unable to assimilate it as it just expelled the nanoprobes