Tosk & Jem'Hadar

[BrotherBenny]

Has anyone wondered how the Tosk and Jem'Hadar are so alike and yet no one ever followed up on it?

I mean they're both genetically engineered sentient beings bred for combat, either as foot soldiers or to be hunted; they can both shroud and the effect is identical (it was intended to be so, apparently), etc.

Is anyone else interested in it being followed up on? We never learned anything else about the Tosk or the Hunters (the Drai as they were called in a later script).

 

[Smellincoffee]

Perhaps the Founders used the Tosk as a starting point for designing a warrior race? Tosk would have had to have been resourceful and strong to survive a hunt. We know the Jem Hedar are genetically engineered, so perhaps the bone-armor is just as artificially-created as their ketracel white addiction.

 

[Christopher]

I recall reading that the producers of DS9 assumed (in retrospect) that the Dominion's genetic engineers created the Tosk for the benefit of the Hunters, in exchange for their allegiance or something. But they never found an opportunity to establish that onscreen.

 

[BrotherBenny]

We learned a lot about the Dominion over the course of the show, and several episodes focused on the Jem'Hadar. It would have been easy for O'Brien to throw in a line "Hey, didn't Tosk disappear like that?"

 

[Tiberius]

And then someone would say, "Yeah! That's right!" And then they would move on, leaving everyone to either:

1. Try to figure out who Tosk was (if they hadn't seen the episode
2. Try to figure out what it meant, which would be nothing unless the episode depended on it.

So it's a trivia note, nothing more. It was probably mentioned off screen.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

AFAIK, a Hunter was supposed to appear in "Broken Link" but it got changed to a Jem'Hadar (the one who takes the helm of the Defiant as it travels to the Founder homeworld) at the last minute. The Hunters would have been established as the designated navigators and trackers of the Dominion, and the Tosk were created for them - made from the same 'original' race as the Jem'Hadar were - as target practice.

 

[Anwar]

Exactly, the Dominion's soldiers were supposed to be more than the Jem'Hadar and Vorta. The Hunters were meant to be their navigation officers on Dominion Starships as well, but they dropped the idea and just had the Jem'Hadar be their main force.

The Tosk were supposed to be the Founders' gift to the Hunters.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I recall reading that the producers of DS9 assumed (in retrospect) that the Dominion's genetic engineers created the Tosk for the benefit of the Hunters, in exchange for their allegiance or something. But they never found an opportunity to establish that onscreen.

Too bad! Who the genetic engineers for the Dominion were, is one of the great unanswered questions of DS9. Didn't ever make sense to me that the Founders did all the work...

 

[Anwar]

Why not? The Founders said they used to be Explorers like the Feds, so it's not unbelievable that they were scientists as well.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

The founders were the genetic engineers obviously. They held the power and engineered the groups below them to be totally loyal. It never occurred to me that someone wouldn't think the Founders were the genetic engineers, look at their name "the Founders"!!!

 

[Tiberius]

I don't get that. Why does the name "founders" mean they are genetic engineers?

 

[Anwar]

They founded everything about the Dominion, including the genetics technology used to create the Jem'Hadar and Vorta.

Obviously, since they hang out in the Great Link most of the time they don't manage the facilities anymore but they must have done so in the beginning before they automated the places/turned them over to their constructs.

 

[Marie1]

I recall reading that the producers of DS9 assumed (in retrospect) that the Dominion's genetic engineers created the Tosk for the benefit of the Hunters, in exchange for their allegiance or something. But they never found an opportunity to establish that onscreen.

Too bad! Who the genetic engineers for the Dominion were, is one of the great unanswered questions of DS9. Didn't ever make sense to me that the Founders did all the work...

Well there were Vorta scientists... but l suspect a lot of their early stuff was stolen.