Why did the Founders send Odo into space?

[Sakonna]

I'm wondering if anyone has any brilliant rationalizations for something that has never quite made sense to me... why did the Founders send Odo and the other baby Changelings into space? I recently rewatched "The Begotten", and Odo's explanation there -- they wanted to learn about solids, and what better way to learn than to see how they treat Changeling babies -- really doesn't hold water for me. The Founders low opinion of solids seems totally fixed, and informed in every aspect by the absolute conviction that the solids will kill them if they have the chance. These are the people you send your babies adrift in space towards? Murderous, inferior beings you are certain want to eradicate your entire species?

And then when Odo does actually make it back, having learned quite a bit, none of them seem interested in listening to it.

It just can't square any of this backstory with the Female Changeling telling Weyoun that Odo is worth more to them the entire Alpha Quadrant.

 

[USS Triumphant]

It would make an interesting story if the ones who were sent out in Odo's batch were actually a rebellious faction within the Joining - they essentially wiped them and sent them away, and wiped some of the knowledge of it even from themselves to eliminate the apostate thoughts they had put into the Joining and keep the rebellion from spreading further.

Odo is precious both because he is one of them, but also because *they* don't entirely understand how he ended up where he was.

Or... something else.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Don't many species set their young or undeveloped selves adrift?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I believe them that it was a form of recon. A way to find out where the biggest threats in the galaxy are.

 

[hux]

How did they actually do it? They just pointed them in 100 directions then flung them outward and let the inertia carry them for centuries or there was some kind of propulsion technology involved?

How long were they babies? Surely they must have been infants for an extremely long time for them to get as far as they did.

 

[Terok Nor]

"No Changeling has ever harmed another".

Tell that to all those babies you sent to oblivion or into the arms of the solids.

 

[Search4]

Yes, this was way off the mark. Unless baby founders have warp drive, they'd still be milling around more or less where you left them...

The Founders are paranoid and don't want to separate from the group. And they don't want solids to know Founders are changelings. Fine. So they take "babies" (whatever those are - presumably not-yet-sentient goo) and fling them around for recon. Perhaps one per star system to check out the locals. And only a small fraction survive or return... just a ridiculous way of doing recon. How about a cloaked ship with sensors, etc?

So you have to assume this is some cover story. Now you can make up the "real" reason. Renegades... defective goo... colonization without risk to the mass...

 

[T'Girl]

And they don't want solids to know Founders are changelings

They never made any effort to conceal this from "the solids." Are you think of a specific reference?

 

[Timo]

Well, Founders not listening to anything their agents might want to tell them is certainly consistent - they are amazingly inflexible mentally for a species that flexible physically!

How did they actually do it? They just pointed them in 100 directions then flung them outward and let the inertia carry them for centuries or there was some kind of propulsion technology involved?

The best way for accomplishing the supposed mission would be to infiltrate from the get-go. Essentially, a baby would be slipped in a random Solid's cargo shipment, just as was done with the one that cured Odo, and would then travel in all sorts of fantastic stages across the galaxy, learning from each step. A physical "launching" sounds too restrictive an interpretation.

How long were they babies? Surely they must have been infants for an extremely long time for them to get as far as they did.

Laas kept on traveling after growing up to at least "teen" specs. Odo got "uplifted" from baby to toddler by the Solids he met, supposedly hastening his progress a bit. Yet Odo was still thought to be ahead of his schedule. Supposedly, the plan was for the babies to grow up at whatever pace, well, happened to them, and then return, well-experienced, well-educated. And probably capable of morphing into warp drives, too.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Too many anthropomorphisms are driving this discussion. Yes, humans tend to care and shelter their young extensively (with notable exceptions, of course). However, there are plenty of species that abandon offspring in an underdeveloped state, doing little to care for them until they reach or approach a mature state. It's quite possible that at the point that the infant changelings were released, they were at a sufficiently low state of development that the founders, as a species and a society, invested little in protecting them. The fact that they implanted desire to return home might indeed reflect the fact that they only recognized the offspring when they reached a certain level of development, particularly shapeshifting. If changelings tended to rely on some sort or zoochrony in reproduction, than the decision to turn their young over to the generosity of other species might be hard-wired into their mentality.

 

[Timo]

Agreed that the concept of "infant Changeling" may be a complete misunderstanding, not even necessarily a case of active misleading. Founders, supposedly immortal and not necessarily even integer in number, are among the least likely lifeforms to believe in procreation of any sort in the first place. They could very well bud off pieces of themselves purely for the purpose of having Solids poke at them and reveal/confirm their evilness, this being the only "intel" the Founders need in order to sustain their static lifestyle and belief system.

A member of the Hundred being created and then returning to the Link; a shard of a shattered glass that was Odo in camouflage returning to join the greater body of Odo - neither need be considered an act of procreation. Nor would the loss of the lesser part be much of a loss, except as a matter of principle.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Grendelsbayne]

In regards to the question of the pace of growth of such 'baby' changelings, the impression I got from the show was that a young changeling's growth (at least in their ability to perceive and mimic the world, if not necessarily in size - though, weren't they supposed to grow larger as their shapeshifting abilities developed?) may very well have been dependent on external stimuli. The thing they seemed to need more than anything else was practice. You can't really try to mimic things if there isn't anything around to mimic, so I would assumed that a baby's true growth would simply be on hold as long they're floating in empty space (however long that might be) and wouldn't start until reached an environment with reasonably consistant stimuli.

 

[bbjeg]

When you think of it, with their warp ships and clone army, they didn't really need to launch offsprings into the galaxy. A probe would have sufficed.

"No Changeling has ever harmed another".

Tell that to all those babies you sent to oblivion or into the arms of the solids.

Agreed. There was no way they knew there wasn't a star on the other end of the wormhole Odo went through or if one of the solids that found a Changeling scount didn't enjoy torturing alien goo. They clearly put their own kind in harms way.

 

[The_Baroness]

More to the point, why did they bother if they weren't going to listen to a damn thing he had to tell them about solids when he came home anyway...

 

[dahj]

There wasn't any room in the Link.

 

[apollo1984]

I believe them that it was a form of recon. A way to find out where the biggest threats in the galaxy are.

I would say this, plus to gather intel on potential weaknesses too. The dominion always sent the Vorta in first as the carrot next was the Jem'Hadar as the stick. By sending people like odo out first gave them a chance to see which one would be more effective, why send the stick if the carrot can get them to do the same thing.