Spoilers Zhat Vash created the Borg?

[BorgTheory]

IMHO there are two big problems with this fan theory.

1. The Borg are not synthetic life - they are augmented biological life.

2. In terms of off-camera stuff, Stewart only agreed to having the Borg being included in this series if the plotline would not involve any "typical Borg" elements, because they've been done to death. I think the resurrection of the Borg as their historic existential threat would thus be a nonstarter for him.

Borg are failed synths, like cancer to the universe. They seek perfection and that’s what the twins are.
My theory absolutely is vastly different than any previous Borg stuff. I am sure Stewart would be ok with it as long as he was able to get his preferred social messages out via the show.

 

[Desert Kris]

I think it's interesting that there's kind of been a weird association between the Borg and the Romulans that has always been just off screen, something that we can only guess at by reading between the lines.

Consider the first season finale "Neutral Zone" which reintroduces the Romulans in the context of several destroyed colonies and outposts in a mysterious way. The Romulans agree to some kind of information exchange, but given how secretive they tend to be, it's pretty easy to conclude they didn't give anything away about the Borg.

The Romulans do say something about they have been in isolation from the rest of the galactic community for quite a long time (was it decades?) preoccupied with something. Could there isolation have been a quarantine of some kind? I always got the impression they were dealing with the Borg, and somehow did learn to cope with them in some way, or already did know how to deal with them or hold them at bay successfully. There's a sense that the process of dealing with the Borg required a lot of resources to stymie them, so maybe the Romulans were isolated from the rest of the galactic community because of quarantine protocols as well as focused resource allocation.

I'm not keen on the idea that the Romulans actually created the Borg. Encountered them in the distant past, sure. Maybe the original Vulcan colonists that eventually settle and become Romulans encountered an earlier version of the Borg, sure. Or maybe there's shared knowledge of an encounter that Vulcans and Romulans have, but Vulcans wouldn't recognize what was encountered earlier as Borg, but Romulans have more information to connect the dots between older and newer iterations of the Borg.

Alternatively, I wonder if there's something in the cultural schism that echoes what is seen in the Borg. Maybe they associate AI, computers, and certain types of technology with the movement towards denying/minimizing emotions and emphasizing logic. Maybe some Vulcans tried to make it easier to embrace a de-emphasis on emotions artificially with technology that interfaces with the brain to help regulate brain chemistry. And that flirtation with brain regulating technology parallels what Romulans see in the Borg.

 

[Tarek71]

I think it is more likely that the Borg Queen, who used to regard Androids as obsolete in the new Order, deliberately sabotaged a Cube to give the Romulans a target they could not resist. Manipulate the Romulan fears about AI's, sow dissension and mistrust in the Alpha Quandrant, and the Drones have a sleeper program to reactivate them when the time comes to retake the Cube after the Romulans and Zhat Vash have outlived their usefulness. Maybe.

 

[Tarek71]

In other words, the other way around. The Borg became aware of the Zhat Vash through assimilated Romulans and decided that they would be useful in eliminating the Android threat, causing immense damage to the Alpha Quadrant. In rewatching the episode, one of Romulan Drs said the drone had been in storage for 14 years. That's about the time of the attack on Mars. No way that's a coincidence.

So she knows that maximizing damage to the Romulans would be achieved by sabotaging the rescue fleet. Using Synths to do it, while thus stoking fears about synths among the Romulans and Federation, who then turns on the Syths, weakening the Syths, Romulans and the Federation simultaneously.

 

[BorgTheory]

There is no way that Borg Cube is not going to come alive and start some big time destruction.
Fans will be pissed if that cube never activates as they have been dropping suggestions along those lines in many scenes on the cube.

 

[Crazyewok]

They call it the artifact. Things don’t become artifacts after only 14 years.

Except it also stated it was operational until 14 years ago

 

[SolarisOne]

Fans will be pissed if that cube never activates as they have been dropping suggestions along those lines in many scenes on the cube.

You might. I won't. #FuckTheBorg

 

[Tarek71]

There is no way that Borg Cube is not going to come alive and start some big time destruction.
Fans will be pissed if that cube never activates as they have been dropping suggestions along those lines in many scenes on the cube.

And I am sure the timing of the Cube with the events on Mars and the destruction of the Romulan star are not coincidental. The Borg, Romulans and Synths are linked somehow and the events involving them.

Working Theory:

- Borg were aware Romulus was in trouble. She could have sent 500 Cubes to help with the evacuation, but eliminating a major power like the Romulans was the goal.
- Borg Queen locates Lore and uses him to foment Synth uprising. Namely, destruction of the rescue fleet.
- This will maximize Romulan casualties while also ending Federation production of Synths, whom BQ views as a threat to the Collective
- Meanwhile, she deliberately sabotages a Cube in or near Romulan space, knowing that Zhat Vash will use Borg tech against the Synth enemy. She's doing Palpatine/Sidious here and manipulating both sides in conflict.
- When the time comes some sleeper, reactivation signal, Order 66, or whatever will be sent. Cube and Drones come alive. Borg attack on weakened, divided Quadrant commences.

 

[Timo]

Or, the Borg continue their tradition of having no plan and no original thinking, and the Cube is merely the victim of swallowing something it could not chew. Using something that immense and scary as mere backdrop is iMHO dramatically satisfying: this giant Chekov's Howlizer never need fire, as its value as the biggest Red Herring of all time is even greater.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Crazyewok]

And I am sure the timing of the Cube with the events on Mars and the destruction of the Romulan star are not coincidental. The Borg, Romulans and Synths are linked somehow and the events involving them.

Working Theory:

- Borg were aware Romulus was in trouble. She could have sent 500 Cubes to help with the evacuation, but eliminating a major power like the Romulans was the goal.
- Borg Queen locates Lore and uses him to foment Synth uprising. Namely, destruction of the rescue fleet.
- This will maximize Romulan casualties while also ending Federation production of Synths, whom BQ views as a threat to the Collective
- Meanwhile, she deliberately sabotages a Cube in or near Romulan space, knowing that Zhat Vash will use Borg tech against the Synth enemy. She's doing Palpatine/Sidious here and manipulating both sides in conflict.
- When the time comes some sleeper, reactivation signal, Order 66, or whatever will be sent. Cube and Drones come alive. Borg attack on weakened, divided Quadrant commences.

Completely unborg like.

The Borg assimilate not destroy.
They have no interest in politics, powerplays or destroying major powers. Only farming technologically advanced species for tec and assimilating them if the chance arises or they need new drones.

They only come in force or try and knock a power out if they present a major threat.

My guess is the borg will come in force for the Fed's after janeways stunt.

 

[Tarek71]

Completely unborg like.

The Borg assimilate not destroy.
They have no interest in politics, powerplays or destroying major powers. Only farming technologically advanced species for tec and assimilating them if the chance arises or they need new drones.

They only come in force or try and knock a power out if they present a major threat.

My guess is the borg will come in force for the Fed's after janeways stunt.

I think the Queen would appreciate power, politics and eliminating and reducing threats. That just makes logical sense.

 

[Scout101]

Except it also stated it was operational until 14 years ago

uss Constitution is an artifact of the Revolutionary War and also an active naval vessel. Borg ship could easily be really old AND having been in use until recently. Plenty of ways to use the terminology that doesn’t require it to be long abandoned AND in use 14 years ago

 

[Crazyewok]

I think the Queen would appreciate power, politics and eliminating and reducing threats. That just makes logical sense.

And that's goes against everything presented about the borg so far.

The Borg exist to acquire technology to perfect themselves. That's it.

They don't engage in outright conquest unless it adds something to the collective.

And only once have we seen them go I to fullout war genocidal war with species 8472 which only because they where a direct and immediate threat.

There MO seems to be to send one ship at a time.
If they assimilate a few ships and captains their girl is complete as they gain that species technology and battle tactics.
After that, anything else is a bonous.
If the cube succedes and they assimilate the target? Cool.
If not? O well you loss a few hundred thousand expendable drones and better yet that species will advance it's technology! So next time you send a cube you have even more goodies to assimilate!
It's win/win

Only when a species gets too much of a threat do they send in a few dozen cubes.

 

[Tarek71]

And that's goes against everything presented about the borg so far.

Not at all. The whole purpose of the attack was the assimilation of Earth and the Federation. She goes to the extreme of actually travelling back in time, preventing first contact and assimilating the planet. She experiments with assimilation of android Data, but previously these were referred to as "obsolete" in the new order. Whole civilizations have been overrun. They are not tech pirates, who just steal stuff, and then head home. That is exactly counter to what we have seen.

They think they are raising quality of life of all species and bringing themselves and others closer to "perfection". They can make temporary, transactional alliances as they did with Voyager against 8472. The BQ can and does think strategically. And this is not about genocide, it is about weakening the major powers in the Quadrant.

 

[Enterprise1701]

It's been stated the cube only stopped working 14 years prior and that the deborged romulans are the last thing it assimilated.

So no it's not a ancient relic.

They call it the artifact. Things don’t become artifacts after only 14 years.

I hate to say it, but I think the showrunners are intentionally disregarding the traditional age requirement of an "artefact" for the sake of using a word they like.

 

[Tarek71]

Artifact just means that it is a cultural product. Like "artificial", it distinguishes culturally created object from found or naturally occurring objects. A "Borg artifact" just means something created by the Borg. It could have been made 10,000 years ago or the day before yesterday.

 

[TPezz]

Interesting theory!

it’s a little bit similar to what I originally thought. Kind of a grandfather paradox type story.
Perhaps Soji is actually the original Borg Queen, since she is part human, part synth. Due to some time travel type technobabble, she’s able to travel back in time to start assimilating early species. The Zhat Vash know this and so are trying to stop her turning evil, however it’s actually because of their efforts that she does turn evil.

Picard is able to stop her turning into the Borg, basically erasing them from the timeline, so Picard was never actually Locutus.

This would mean that technically, Data, who we all know and love, is actually the origin of the Borg.

 

[BorgTheory]

I hate to say it, but I think the showrunners are intentionally disregarding the traditional age requirement of an "artefact" for the sake of using a word they like.

That’s absolutely shoddy writing and breaks basic writing guidelines

They can’t “re-mean” a word for the sake of their plot.

It’s like Vader saying to Luke during that Father scene and Lucas changed the meaning of the word Father to mean something completely else, like Doctor.

 

[Phily B]

Don't explain The Borg.

I'm enjoying the show. But please don't do this. The more we delve into The Borg, the less cool they become. We don't need to know their origin.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

ar·ti·fact /ˈärdəfakt/
noun
noun: artefact; plural noun: artefacts; noun: artifact; plural noun: artifacts

1. 1.
   an object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest.
   "gold and silver artifacts"
2. 2.
   something observed in a scientific investigation or experiment that is not naturally present but occurs as a result of the preparative or investigative procedure.

Doesn't have to be something old, just something being studied.