Were the Founders underutilized during the war?

[Fury]

I've been rewatching the entire series during the summer on dvd and was thinking about Homefront/Paradise Lost as well as Apocalypse Rising. In those episodes, the writers of DS9 set up the tremendous threat of Changeling infiltration. You have the the paranoia on Earth that nearly leads to a military coup and a brief war between the Klingons and the Federation by replacing Martok. Then the end of Season 5 comes and we finally have a full on conflict; except the Founders don't seem to be incredibly relevant to the fight. We know they're out there operating, but we never hear or see it. Understandably they're later vunerable because of the virus, but for a large portion of the war (at least one year) we never heard of them mucking up stuff for Alpha Quadrant alliance by infiltration.

I don't know, personally it's seems dissapointing to set up this huge threat and never really capitalize on in it once the war began.

Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

Off the top of my head I can think of several key acts of subversion by Changelings: Two Starfleet Admirals were replaced, one on Earth infiltrated Starfleet and helped sow suspicion and doubt, one attempted to start a war with the Tzenkethi; Dr Bashir was replaced and attempted to ignite the Bajoran sun; A Changeling replaced a Romulan Captain and helped destroy the Romulan Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order fleets.

You could say, a little goes a long way.

The Founders had another huge threat in that they created thousands of legions of genetically engineered cold blooded, highly skilled, highly motivated and relentless killers who worshiped them as Gods and obeyed their every command until death. You see the Founders hand in whatever they do.

 

[sbk1234]

Would it have been plausable for the absolute dictator/diety leaders of the entire Dominion to risk their lives in fighting in the front lines, or engaging in undercover espianage. World leaders today don't do that. Especially considering that the war was not fought on Dominion soil.
I'd say the founders took part in the war quite actively, considering.

 

[Navaros]

I agree with everything in the original post and in my view yes the Founders were under-utilized.

I would have liked to see the Fouders used a lot more. Not just for espionage, but also for assasination. And on the front lines using their T-1000-esque skills. Just like how Laas killed the Klingon.

 

[Hermiod]

During the war itself, it's possible that Founders in the Alpha Quadrant were too much of a rare commodity to risk sending on too many infiltration missions. They were cut off from the Gamma Quadrant either by the minefield or by the Prophets for the entire war.

In addition, the entire Link had been infected by Section 31's disease by the time the war started, and we know the effects that had on a Founder's ability to change shape.

 

[anti-matter]

Who really knows how many other undiscovered changlings infiltrated other governments and made all the wrong decisions to reduce its efficiency?

Changling infiltrators are like the CIA...you never hear about their successes ... just their failures.

 

[nx1701g]

Well the majority of the Changelings probably couldn't get to the Alpha Quadrant. Remember that the Prophets weren't letting the Jem'Hadar through and they were pretty much locked out of the Alpha Quadrant.

Plus if the Founders were used too often then people would have lost interest in them quickly.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I think it would have been interesting to see more of the 'behind the scenes' stuff with the Founders. We saw a fair amount with the Cardassians, the Vorta...and even the Jem'Hadar got an episode or two.

Might have been interesting to see more of the Founders as well.

 

[od0_ital]

I think that for the Founders, less was more. After all, it only took four of 'em to drive an admiral nuts & try to take over the Federation.

And, if there had been more than just the Female Founder in the Alpha Quadrant, she wouldn't have needed to Link with Odo durin' the station's occupation.

 

[DanTheGrey]

I would suspect that after the failed takeover of Earth, they pulled back in order to marshall their troops for the war. The female Changeling probably "sacrificed" herself to move amoung the solids and secure Cardassia.

I wouldn't be surprised that once they got to conventional ground war they retreated since they are too valuable to actually be in the forefront of a battle (usually). The real question is how many were "lost" when the Prophets made the fleet disappear.

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

I agree with PKTrekGirl, but the only interaction we could observe between Founders was between Odo and the Founder that led the war. Every other communication would take place while they were linked. Facinating for a while . . . .

Oh, and remember the time when Odo was judged? The link used Odo to deliver false information that almost led to the assination of Chancelor Gowron.