The Jem'Hadar- too rebellious?

[TheLobes]

This has always been a major problem for me. It seems that whenever we get to know any Jem'Hadar, they somehow rebel or seem just about to. I know this can result in some good episodes, and I appreciate the tension it caused within the show, but I think I would have prefered them to be almost always 100 percent loyal. Like have one or two episodes where they rebel, and that it.

I feel like this would have made them a lot more intimidating, and also would have given those few stories where they did turn against their masters a bigger impact.

What do other people think?

 

[Jono]

Were there that many episodes? I can only remember "To the Death" and "Hippocratic Oath" showing Jem'Hadar rebelling against the Dominion.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

It has been noted on occasion, usually by Vorta, that the Jem'Hadar are in fact difficult to control despite their genetic loyalty to the Founders. It makes sense to me - the Jems aren't like Star Wars droids or even clones, who just slog across the battlefields as proxy soldiers. They're clearly highly individual beings with strong drives and desires that they relate to with a fully conscious self-awareness. They're designed to be more than what they actually are, I think. Yes, they may be disposable, expendable fighters but really they're not truly cannon fodder - they're engineered warriors in the fullest sense. They're bred to be intelligent, aggressive and driven to succeed, and it's implied if not stated that they feel contempt for anything that isn't a Founder (presumably a programmed trait to aid their bloodlust). I imagine it's simply not possible to give them these traits and not have them operate as individual, fully sapient beings with a self-concept that can question itself, and adapt if desired. Perhaps it's "fortunate" that Jem'Hadar die young, before they've accumulated enough experience to start really questioning. Maybe it's only this that prevents widespread rebellion. I suppose it's a case of the Founders doing their job a bit too well. The Jem'Hadar are designed to be the perfect soldiers - but how do you balance the need for that soldier to be loyal with the need for them to demonstrate sophisticated reasoning? The Dominion probably is balanced procariously on the compromise. I always imagined it's not nearly as stable as the Founders would have the galaxy believe.

 

[toughlittleship]

I would have loved to have seen a conflict between the "Alpha" Jem'Hadar and the "Gamma" Jem'Hadar, as established in "One Little Ship". The novels have touched on it, but not in a major way.

 

[The Librarian]

One thing to note is that the quick maturation time means that the Founders don't necessarily have to keep a lot of Jem'hadar on hand, just enough to manage internal enforcement and any current expansion plans. They could have a large mothball fleet stashed away at various locations and if appears they're going to need to conquer someone or fend off an invasion, they'd only need a few weeks or months lead-in time to have an entire new generation of Jem'hadar ready to send out. They'd keep just enough around at all times to form a cadre and administer minor beatings to the neighbors when needed.

 

[The Dominion]

Those rebellious kids and their forced Ketracel White addiction...

 

[Marie1]

I would've liked to see more of it.

 

[Timo]

We might also note that our heroes aren't likely to be able to talk much with Jem'Hadar who aren't rebellious. Loyal Jem'Hadar would simply shoot first and then shoot more later - only traitors will stop to have an "adventure" with Sisko and his team. Thus, plots with rebels are necessarily more prominent than plots without...

Timo Saloniemi