Star Trek: Picard Main Character Index
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Bjayzl

Played by: Necar Zadegan

A crime boss involved in the illegal trade of Borg parts and implants.

Family-Unfriendly Death: Unlike the typical clean disintegrations from phasers set to vaporize, we clearly see Bjayzl briefly turned to Ludicrous Gibs before vanishing.
Ms. Fanservice: She's introduced wearing a taupe-colored Sensual Spandex outfit.
Punny Name: Bjayzl sounds a lot like "vajazzle," which is appropriate given the revealing outfit she wears in her first scene.
Smug Snake: She is a wealthy crime boss who is secure in her power and loves to taunt her victims.
The Sociopath: She has no compunctions about vivisecting ex-Borg for parts, without even giving them an anesthetic. In their Back Story, she befriended Seven as a sympathetic figure, only to use the information she gathered to kidnap Icheb, causing his death, a fact that she enjoys taunting Seven about.
Terms of Endangerment: With Seven of Nine, calling her by her original human name "Annika." Seven in turns calls her by the diminutive version of her name "Jay." As it dawns on her how determined Seven really is to turn her into superheated red mist, her use of "Annika" quickly turns from a power move to a plea for mercy.
Too Dumb to Live: It takes thirteen years, but her crimes finally catch up with her while her guard was down. She really should've known better than to assume that Picard had talked Seven out of revenge. Hell, she should've known better than to piss Seven off, period.
We Used to Be Friends: She and Seven were friends in the past, close enough that Bjayzl feels comfortable calling her "Annika" and Seven doesn't correct her. That ended when Bjayzl abused her trust to find and kidnap Icheb so she could strip his body for Borg tech. Seven doesn't show Bjayzl any mercy.

Mr. Vup

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vup_1.jpg

Played by: Dominic Burgess

A Beta Annari who serves as Bjayzl's second-in-command.

Living Lie Detector: As a Beta Annari, he can literally smell lies.
The Nose Knows: He has an extremely heightened sense of smell (thanks to 1253 genes devoted to this ability) that allows him to detect the physical cues for lying, among other, more useless facts like the person's last meal or who the person most recently had sex with...if they're not the same thing.
Number Two: He's Bjayzl's second-in-command. In addition to being part of her security detail, he personally interviews 'facers who want to do business with his boss, and he also inspects any "merchandise" (living or otherwise) that's being offered.
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: As a member of a reptiloid species, his appearance and his voice are more "alien" and more intimidating than most Rubber-Forehead Aliens that humans normally interact with. He's shown to be quite eager to beat, kill or vivisect people. Thanks to 1253 olfactory genes, he's a Living Lie Detector.

Extragalactic

Higher Synthetics (SPOILERS)

Higher Synthetics

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/picard_110_eiae_part2_595.jpg

"Call us, and we will come. You will have our protection. Your evolution will be their extinction."

An extra-galactic federation of higher synthetic beings who placed the 'Admonition' (actually a promise of help to evolving synthetic life) and who will, if summoned, protect evolving synthetic life by destroying any organic life that could threaten it.

Absolute Xenophobe: It's implied they wiped the galaxy clean of space-faring organic life hundreds of thousands of years ago, and need seemingly little prompting to do it a second time around if need be.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: They exist "outside time and space," although whether their realm is anything like the Q Continuum or the Prophets' Temple is anyone's guess.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: They seem to think nothing of eradicating all organic life to help synthetics in need, but they will only do so if specifically requested by the synthetics. Even once called, all it took was for Soji to interrupt the signal for them to call it off and leave everyone alone.
Cosmic Horror Reveal: The Admonition is a very clear message to whoever finds it, synthetic or otherwise, that higher lifeforms do exist, and they're just waiting for an excuse to drop by and tear down the galactic status quo.
Diabolus ex Nihilo: The Romulans believe that their arrival to the Milky Way Galaxy will spell certain doom for organics, and all evidence points to this being true.
The Ghost: Talked about a lot in the "Et in Arcadia Ego" two-parter, and their existence is basically the impetus for the entire plot. Having said that, we get only the briefest glimpse of them towards the end.
Greater-Scope Villain: Whether they are actively evil or just fulfilling a base function that happens to be biocidal in nature with no concern or consideration given to its actual morality, the threat they pose dwarfs literally every other conflict on the show.
Mechanical Abomination: Machines so advanced they Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence, and so terrifying they inspired the Romulan end-times myth. Their technology is apparently capable of wiping out all organic life in the galaxy, and they may well have already done it before. Even their messages can drive organic minds insane just by exposure, and it's unclear if that's a bug or a feature.
Omnicidal Maniac: The "maniac" part is open to interpretation, but their intentions are clearly omnicidal in nature for everything but fellow synthetic life.
Precursor Killers: They're implied to have wiped out all the galaxy's spacefaring races hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: YMMV for how "evil" they are, but they are not friendly to organics, and they certainly have this aesthetic down.
Sealed Evil in a Can: They don't seem able (or willing) to open a portal to our galaxy directly, instead relying on synthetics from the other side to open it and summon them.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Admonition ended up creating the persecution the Higher Synthetics promised to protect synths from when the Zhat Vash misinterpreted it as a warning from the Higher Synthetics' creators.
Starfish Robot: What little is seen of them suggest some sort of millipede or snake-like form, for those higher synthetic beings that are seen at least. It's not clear if these are their bodies or their ships.
Sufficiently Advanced Alien: Potentially one of the most powerful cosmic forces glimpsed in the Trek Verse since the Q debuted in TNG's "Encounter At Farpoint". Raffi theorizes that they didn't just create an octonary star system out of raw material, but managed to drag eight different stars across space, set them in a perfectly balanced orbit around one another, and stick an inhabitable planet at the exact barycenter of all eight stars' gravity wells — a truly frightening feat of stellar engineering.
Summon Bigger Fish: They are the Bigger Fish, and they left behind instructions on how to summon them.

Q

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/picard_season_2_q.png

The trial never ends.

Played by: John de Lancie

The omnipotent trickster who spent much of his non-linear lifespan testing Jean-Luc and the crew of the Enterprise, he has returned for yet another test to prove humanity's worth to the Q Continuum.

For tropes relating to his original appearance, see this page.

Back from the Dead: Subverted. Though Jack learned Q had died, the trickster reveals to the younger Picard that it was only from a "linear" perspective—and he's no linear being. Q is 100% definitely dead, at least at the end of his own personal timeline, but being a non-linear being means there's an infinite spectrum of hims out there that aren't dead yet to keep coming back and harassing Picard and his progeny for a long long time to come.
Brought Down to Badass: He tries snapping a woman (later revealed to be Renée Picard, Jean-Luc's ancestor) out of existence, only for his powers to fail on him. That doesn't stop him; he still has near-endless knowledge, and instead resorts to manipulating her into stepping down from her space mission and making a temporary cure for Adam Soong's daughter's condition to force him into helping.
The Bus Came Back:
- This marks Q's return to live-action for the first time since his last appearance in Voyager.^note
- After his "death", he shows up at the end of the series to tell Jack that his trial is now beginning.
Death Seeker: When Q learned he's dying, he was actually ecstatic about it, since he now had a new experience to look forward to. It's when it doesn't seem to be coming that he starts going cuckoo.
The Dreaded: If there's one thing Picard most definitely cannot stand, it's hearing the sound of Q's voice after 30 years, because wherever Q's involved, trouble is sure to follow. And when Picard discovers Q is the one behind the timeline changing, he warns his crew that Q may act silly, but he is very dangerous and very unpredictable.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: He's not really human anyway, but he decides to match Picard's age when they are reintroduced for the first time in decades.
Good All Along: In the finale, he reveals that everything he did was to spare Picard the fate of dying alone.
He's Back!: Much to Picard's dismay, Q decides to pop back into his life after 30 In-Universe years of being away from him.
Manly Facial Hair: When he ages himself up, he grows out a beard and mustache— and he has all the powers of a God to back it up.
Older and Wiser: Parodied. He initially appears as his TNG self to Jean-Luc, but when he sees how old the Captain has gotten, he decides to age himself up to match just so he can mock his old "friend".
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Something's gotten Q so worked up, he's in a much more sour mood than usual, he actually slaps Picard in the face for refusing to put up with his usual spiel, and he rambles on to the point of insanity. Picard's actually disturbed to see him act this way. As the season goes on, it's implied something is deeply wrong with him, as he's losing his powers and seems to indicate he's on death's door. It turns out he is dying, but it's taking so long that he's gone mad waiting for it to happen. Then it turns out he's faking the madness, as he's trying to egg Picard on to fix the timeline and absolve himself of the guilt he faced for his mother's death.
Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Invoked. Although he appears as his younger self at first, he makes himself older to mock how his old foe Picard had aged similarly.
Revenge: Q screws over all of galactic history and turns humanity into an Absolute Xenophobe Vestigial Empire in the far future, all because of something Picard did. In "Farewell", it turns out to be averted. His actions were meant to drive Picard to face the pain of his past and forgive himself so he could be free to move forward.
The Trickster: He has all the powers of a god, yet chooses to use it to troll Picard and the rest of humanity for his own amusement. Although, this time around, he's trying to force Picard to face his past so he can move forward, as something of a last gift to his old "friend".
Trickster Mentor: Implied heavily in the series finale when talking to Jack about how his father's trial is over that Q has been secretly been this for Picard his entire life since commanding the Enterprise-D, guiding him and humanity towards opening themselves up to possibility. And now he seems to be lining himself up to be Jack's as well.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Whatever Q is up to, he's being much more malicious than he was on The Next Generation. There Q was usually a Trickster Mentor to Picard and the crew of the Enterprise. In Season 2 of Picard, though, he's positioned as an antagonist who is intentionally screwing with history to spite Picard, with the implication that something Picard did is causing him to lose his powers, possibly even to the point that he's dying. What makes it even more ironic that, in his prior canon appearance on Lower Decks, he was willing to leave Picard alone after so many years of bugging him because he had gotten that bored with his old foe. In "Farewell", it turns out to be an act meant to make Picard face his past.

Borg Collective

The Borg Queen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/borg_queen_2401.png

Resistance is futile.

Click her Prime timeline incarnation ^here.

Played by: Annie Wersching, Alison Pill, Alice Krige (Voice), Jane Edwina Seymour (Body)

"Forget all that weird shit on the Stargazer. The real Borg are still out there..."

Captain Liam Shaw, U.S.S. Titan NCC-80102-A

The leader of the collective Hive Mind known as the Borg, who has a rather tense history with Captain Picard due to his temporary assimilation. There are two different incarnations of her that appear in the series, the Confederation timeline Queen seen in Season 2, and the Prime timeline Queen seen in Season 3.

Arch-Enemy: After suffering from a two-decade Villain Decay, the Prime timeline Borg Queen and the Borg themselves reclaim their status in Vox as the most dangerous enemies of the Federation by hijacking the younger officers and their fleet to destroy Earth, Picard and the Federation.
Bald of Evil: Definitely bald, and the leader of the species that nearly drove humanity to extinction.
Big Bad: The Prime timeline Borg Queen^noteVoiced again by Alice Krige serves as the true villain behind the renegade Changelings of the third and final season of Picard, intent on destroying the Federation once and for all.
Black Eyes of Evil: One of the most noticeable differences between her and previous incarnations of the character is that she has these.
Bond Villain Stupidity: At her moment of triumph, The Borg Queen has nearly all of Starfleet under her control, Earth at her mercy, and an entire army of drones ready to procreate throughout the galaxy—and the Enterprise-D shows up at the doorstep of her cube. Had she chosen to just shoot them right there and then, her problems would have been over. Instead, she invites Picard in to gloat about winning... As a result, he dismantles her plan without breaking a sweat, leading to her (and the collective's) demise.
Cold Ham: After the Confederation timeline Queen is reactivated, her tone of voice remains fairly calm, but she still shows a very melodramatic and hammy demeanor. The Prime timeline Queen, however, is her usual full-on vampish, shouty self, especially when she's angry.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: The Prime timeline Queen is this to the Control of Star Trek: Discovery's second season, who are both the Arch-Nemesis of the main protagonists, are an Omnicidal Maniac and are involved in an Assimilation Plot. While the Control is a Federation AI who went rogue from out of nowhere, the Borg Queen is a Borg drone who is the one powering her own Keystone Army in the shadows and has been considered a threat to all lifeforms for centuries. The Control creates a magnetized body of Leland to initiate its plan of destroying the Discovery and the Federation, while the Borg Queen uses an elaborate Trojan Horse scheme through Vadic and her rogue Changeling crew by infiltrating Starfleet from within and helping Vadic and her men to use Picard's Borg DNA to assimilate all of its younger officers and the fleet during Frontier Day.
Dissonant Serenity: The Confederation Queen has a rather eerie calm smile for much of the time she is being "rescued", as well as during her more lucid periods of captivity.
Enemy Mine: The Confederation timeline incarnation joins the heroes in setting the timeline right, because while the Borg are diminished in the prime timeline, at least they haven't been wiped out.
Evil Laugh: Already an unusually sinister character by franchise standards, Season 3 goes full-on maniacal villain mode and gives the Queen an evil cackle.
Fatal Flaw: The Borg's collective mindset may have made them powerful enemies for the Federation, but they always failed to account for the power of the individual, and the love they had for one another. The Confedeation timeline Queen learns to accept this, the Prime timeline Queen does not. And with such foreign concepts and an enigma that defies EVERYTHING the Borg even known, the overconfident Queen, in her apparent moment of triumph, failed to see how far Picard would be willing to go to rescue his son from her clutches, and his love for Jack cost the Queen her "Võx".
- Pride is also the Collective’s fatal flaw as many ancient philosophers (human and non-human alike) have said the path to perfection begins with correcting the flaws in oneself before even trying to correct those in others and acknowledging that the “correct path” to perfection for one doesn’t mean it will work for others (respecting free will and the right to choose) but as the Collective saw itself as above all it was ultimately incapable of seeing its own flaws to the very end and thus were doomed to fail.
Final Boss: As Picard's Arch-Enemy and the Big Bad of Season 3, the Prime timeline Borg Queen ultimately is the final foe in The Next Generation's saga.
Fusion Dance: Between Jurati and the Confederation timeline Queen. As they put it in "Hide and Seek", "I think we are becoming something new."
Grand Theft Me: The Confederation timeline Queen takes over Jurati's body at the first opportunity following Agnes' assimilation, and has been trying to build up her new body's endorphin intake and ingesting lithium to produce more nanoprobes, so that she may begin assimilating others.
Half the Man He Used to Be: The Confederates have kept their timeline version of her in cold storage severed from her lower half. Star Trek: First Contact first showed the Queen as an upper torso that slotted into a body, so it's possible that the latter was simply removed in order to render her more docile. The Prime timeline Queen comes it worse, where half of her body sits on top of a pile of cables who is still alive even after Future Janeway defeated her through the neurolitic pathogen.
Heel–Face Turn: Agnes Jurati persuades the Confederation timeline Queen to abandon the practice of forced assimilation and to construct a new, more peaceful Borg Collective. The Prime timeline Queen gets no such redemption and earns a monster's death because of it.
Hijacked by Ganon: While Vadic is initially seen as the Big Bad of Season 3, it is revealed that the Prime timeline Borg Queen is the true mastermind of the Changeling Invasion of the Federation, as Vadic is the one answering to her.
I'm a Humanitarian: In the aftermath of Future Admiral Janeway's neurolitic pathogen attack in the Prime timeline, the Collective is rendered so fundamentally crippled that the Queen resorts to cannibalizing drones to keep it alive, and eventually to keep herself alive once its numbers dwindled to irrevocable levels. Riker and Worf encounter the dead husks of drones who've been sucked dry by the Queen's literal hunger for vengeance.
In Spite of a Nail: It's revealed that, no matter what reality, the Borg Collective will always be wiped out.
It's All About Me: The Queen has always had a very self-centred attitude, especially for a being that supposedly champions the suppression of individuality, but the Prime Queen has taken this to new levels, cannibalizing what was left of the Collective just to ensure her own survival, and being more interested in gloating of her superiority to Picard than just killing him and letting her revenge be complete.
Killed Off for Real: The original collective, and her along with it, are destroyed by the Enterprise-D crew before she can wipe out Earth.
Last of Her Kind: Both the Confederation and Prime timeline Queens are all that remains of the once-trillions-strong Borg Collective. The Confederation timeline Queen later ceases to be herself after merging with Dr. Jurati and creating a new volunteer-only Borg Collective unlike the original incarnation. The Prime timeline Queen, meanwhile, has dedicated herself to exacting vengeance on Starfleet for her loss and give "birth" to a new Collective before she's gone.
Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The Confederate Queen is the dark to Jurati's light. Ultimately, they become two aspects of the same entity.
The Man Behind the Man: The original Queen is the real Big Bad of Season 3, with Vadic's faction of Changelings as her henchmen.
Near-Villain Victory: The Prime timeline Borg were "this" close to wiping out the Federation, with the entirety of the Fleet assimilated, its youth turned into drones, and Jack Crusher made the ultimate transmitter to make it happen. Unfortunately for the Queen, it wasn't over until the fat lady sang, and "The Fat One" herself, the Enterprise-D, sang a glorious song that put the Queen's plan out of commission for good.
Omnicidal Maniac: In previous Star Trek series that she appeared, the Prime timeline Borg Queen's primary goal is assimilating all other races to the Collective. In this series, she embodies this trope fully, where she now goes on full genocide mode against Earth via the assimilated fleet she controls as an act of revenge against the Federation and Picard.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Confederation timeline Queen is reduced to meandering, almost a stream of consciousness ranting initially, partly due to her awareness that time has been changed. She eventually pulls herself back together... literally.
Returning Big Bad: 23 years after her crushing defeat from Future Janeway during the events of Voyager, the Prime timeline Borg Queen returns as the Big Bad of Picard's third season, this time by making an alliance with Vadic's rogue Changeling faction to infiltrate the Federation. Yes, the same Borg Queen that pestered both the TNG and Voyager crews decades ago.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Her collective knowledge of the Borg hive mind and the chronometric components within her neural cortex allow her to perceive across dimensions, including alternate versions of her connected to the hive. This tips the Confederate Queen off that the Confederation of Earth is not meant to exist, and that history has been altered.
Same Character, But Different: The Prime timeline Borg Queen's appearance in this series is different from how she was introduced during Voyager's two-parter finale. The neurolithic pathogen that Admiral Janeway inflicted on her drove her into a complete Omnicidal Maniac bent on destroying Federation and all life on galaxy with her recently-assimilated drones in Picard's "Vox", rather than her usual Assimilation Plot goals she was often known for before her defeat from Janeway.
Two Beings, One Body: The Confederation timeline Queen spends "Two of One" living in Jurati's brain before the situation evolves into a Grand Theft Me.
The Worf Effect: In the Confederate reality, she was somehow captured and kept in storage without much difficulty after the entire Collective was obliterated, whereas the Federation was nearly wiped from existence in the Prime timeline thanks to her (not even counting the realities where the Borg did in fact triumph). That said, her subsequent engagements with Captain Janeway and Voyager freqently saw her humiliated as well.
Villain Ball: The Prime timeline Borg Queen clutched this one hard during Picard's third season finale. She manages to put all of Starfleet's youth under her control and almost destroying all of Earth. Had she just killed Picard and destroyed the Enterprise-D and her crew attacking her Borg Cube, she would have gained her long-awaited revenge against the Federation. Instead, she gloats her victory to him, resulting in her own plans to be undone by him and the Enterprise crew, leading to her demise.
Villainous Breakdown: After Jack/Võx was freed by Picard, the Prime timeline Queen goes into a rant towards the former:
Queen: You were born here and you die here!
Jack: It's done. The time of the Borg is over!
Queen: As are you! Even if somehow you survived, you will be different, changed, broken, alone!
Jack: No, no I am not alone.
Villain Takes an Interest: The Confederation timeline Queen becomes fascinated by Dr. Jurati after her plan to partially-assimilate herself and then escape not only works, but allows the doctor to steal information from the Queen's mind; Agnes is rightly unnerved by the prospect:
Queen: What you have just done here is more difficult... and vastly more dangerous than you realize.
Agnes: And what is that?
Queen: You've impressed me.

Future Borg Queen

The Borg Queen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/another_queen.png

Played by: Alison Pill

A very different Borg Queen, appearing through a strange rift in space. She asks to join the Federation, whilst insisting on only negotiating with Picard himself.

Big Good: She's the leader of a Collective that is selfless and altruistic.
Canon Character All Along: She's actually Agnes Jurati (or rather a permanent fusion between Agnes and the classic Borg Queen).
Cool Old Lady: 400+ years old, dresses stylishly, with a touch of Agnes' wittiness and the collective knowledge of the Borg? Definitely.
Dark Is Not Evil: She flies around in a giant black ship with Alien Geometries and a Sickly Green Glow; she wears a huge black cape and a glistening, mechanized black mask; she has black mechanical Combat Tentacles and can take over entire fleets within mere seconds; and she's on a mission...to save billions of lives. She'll still turn you into a Borg, but only with your consent.
Good All Along: It turns out to be Agnes Jurati, who is actually there to protect the quadrant from being destroyed from a new unknown threat.
Fusion Dance: Of Dr. Agnes Jurati and the Borg Queen from the Confederation timeline.
Hidden Agenda Villain: She requests to join the Federation, then tries to assimilate the fleet after boarding the Stargazer. Her motives turn out to be non-villainous, as she needs the fleet to stop a Negative Space Wedgie from destroying the Federation.
Malevolent Masked Men: Unlike every other Borg Queen, her face is hidden behind a mask, highlighting how different this Queen is. Ultimately subverted with The Reveal that she's the non-malevolent Agnes Jurati.
Older Than She Looks: 400 years and she hasn't appeared to age a day.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Her entire schtick. Both her appearance and Modus Operandi are very different to previous Borg encounters. Her ship is a very, very different design to other Borg craft and she herself is highly visually divergent from any other Borg seen yet, appearing almost theatrical in a visor / helmet and cape, with no sign of mechanical augmentation save for two tentacle arms. Likewise, her alleged desire for peace and joining the Federation is at odds with the Borg's usual goal of assimilating other species. Even when she's forcibly taking over the Stargazer, she only stuns those crew directly attacking her and ignores the others. More subtly, she explicitly asks for Picard, not Locutus as other Borg Queens have done.
Sharp Dressed Woman: Her outfit is much more stylish and regal than her predecessors and more befitting a Queen.
The Slow Path: After living for 400 years as a Borg, she's only just now caught up with the moment that her past self went back in time.

Confederation of Earth

In General

A dystopian Earth — or rather, a dystopian version of the Prime Reality — where humanity had become xenophobic conquerors thanks to the meddling of Q.

Absolute Xenophobe: Anybody that's not human must be conquered or exterminated, no exceptions.
Alternate History: Played With. This reality isn't so much another timeline as it is our own, altered thanks to Q. In Los Angeles in 2024, astronaut Renée Picard made a historic discovery on the Europa mission that led to mankind solving its environmental problems. Because Q prevents her from going on that mission, the discovery is never made, and the environment is only saved thanks to Adam Soong, a man with a massive god complex. Because they worshipped him as a savior, humanity never went on to become the founders of an intergalactic group of like-minded explorers. Instead, they embraced their worst aspects and became conquerors who sought to destroy any alien races that they view as inferior. As a result, Picard became a General Ripper infamous for slaughtering his foes in the most horrific manner possible, Seven of Nine was never assimilated by the Borg and instead became President to this regime (while also being married to the Magistrate), Raffi and Rios serve the Confederacy as a inspector and a colonel respectively, Elnor became an anti-Confederacy terrorist, and Sarek, Amanda Grayson, Spock, Martok, and Gul Dukat were all killed. Only Agnes Jurati was unchanged, remaining a scientist, albeit one working in the lab where the last surviving members of various species are stored and studied before their eradication.
Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: Their technology is about on par with that of the Federation, but they've managed to curb-stomp the Borg, keeping the last surviving queen as a trophy to be executed in front of cheering crowds.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To the more familiar Terran Empire seen in the Mirror Universe, which, like the Confederacy, is a xenophobic empire of humanity hellbent on galactic conquest.
- The Terrans ultimately fell apart thanks to Mirror Spock being convinced by Prime Kirk that they would inevitably fall if they maintained their course (which Deep Space Nine confirmed by way of conquest by a joint Klingon-Cardassian alliance), while the COE still stands (at least so far) in spite of having many of the same flaws.
- Unlike the Terrans, whose origins date as far back as ancient times (though without a clear diverging point from history), the Confederacy exists thanks to Q meddling with history back in 2024.
- While the Terrans are a World of Ham whose ambitions of galactic conquest often take a backseat to their own individual Glory Hounding, the Confederates are no-nonsense fascists who directly serve the state's goals with minimal in-fighting, a trait which is implied to be responsible for their comparative longevity. Though they do face significant outside opposition; see Vestigial Empire below.
The Empire: Played completely straight. The Confederacy is a fascist, militaristic power devoted to expanding through the galaxy by force of arms.
Fantastic Racism: A vicious human-centric organization devoted to enslaving or exterminating all alien races.
Fantastic Ship Prefix: Their ships use C.S.S., for Confederate Star Ship.
Gaia's Lament: Humans in this timeline never solved Global Warming, and the Earth is only kept habitable by huge shields that block the super-greenhouse atmosphere.
General Ripper: The famous Jean-Luc Picard is the most infamous amongst them.
Hero Killer: Zig-Zagged. They slaughtered Ambassador Sarek (in front of his family), as well as Chancellor Martok, but they also killed Gul Dukat.
In Spite of a Nail: Despite the Confederacy's radically different history from that of the Federation, the same individuals exist, albeit in mostly-different roles. They're even using many of the same starship designs (Nova-class, Steamrunner-class, etc), albeit with a Palette Swap.
A Nazi by Any Other Name: With their militaristic society, xenophobic world-views, and horrific desire to subjugate others they deem inferior, it's easy to see the comparisons. Being a "Confederation" also draws parallels with the Confederate States of America.
Palette Swap: Confederate ships are identical to Federation ones, but painted gunmetal gray with red highlights. Their version of La Sirena has yellow engine highlights, while the prime version has blue.
Red and Black Totalitarianism: Their troops wear black uniforms, and their ships have red highlights rather than blue.
Vestigial Empire: Beneath the propaganda, it appears that the Confederacy's best days are behind them. Terrorist attacks and armed rebellions seem to be a regular occurrence, the Earth is barely clinging to life after centuries of unchecked Global Warming, and the Confederate battle group attacking Vulcan consists of modified freighters like La Sirena, suggesting that their actual navy was decimated in a Pyrrhic Victory over the Borg.
The Worf Effect: Somehow, they managed to defeat the Klingon Empire, Cardassian Union, the Romulan Star Empire, and the freakin' Borg in the span of centuries. Comparatively, the Federation was only militarily superior to the Cardassians (until they allied with the Dominion), nearly lost to the Klingons twice (once in Discovery, once in the alternate timeline of "Yesterday's Enterprise"), stalemated in the Earth-Romulan war and maintained a cold war that neither side really tested from then on, and faced annihilation by the Borg several times. Of course, the Federation is often unwilling to fight dirty unless really pressed to do so (organizations like Section 31 notwithstanding), and will negotiate peace even when they could stomp their adversaries into the dirt. The Confederation has no problem openly using bioweapons, killing civilians, and using other underhanded tactics to achieve victory.

Earth in 2024

Renée Picard

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rene_picard.png

Played by: Penelope Mitchell

A NASA astronaut and distant indirect ancestor of Jean-Luc Picard.

Big Good: Her success with the Europa Mission leads to Earth's ecological recovery.
Famous Ancestor: It turns out she's the key to ensuring the history of the Federation comes to be, but In-Universe, her impact isn't as well known due to World War III causing much of the records from that era to be lost. The Borg Queen-possessed Jurati reveals that during her mission, she discovered something that helped humanity to fix its environmental problems, leading it down the path towards becoming the Federation.
Nervous Wreck: The poor thing has severe anxiety and depression, to the point she's struggling to handle a simulation for a key space-flight mission. Q evidently did something that caused her to step down, creating a timeline where humanity embraced their worst aspects and became the violent and xenophobic Confederation instead of the peaceful and curious Federation.
The Greatest Story Never Told: The late 20th and early 21st centuries are considered The Dark Ages by the 25th century thanks to such events as The Eugenics Wars and World War III destroying much of the historical records. Because of this, Renée Picard and her discovery on the Europa mission, and the impact it had on Earth's ecological recovery, is largely unknown to everyone except for those who were there, such as Guinan.
Unwitting Pawn: To Q, who's hellbent on ensuring she doesn't make it on the Europa Spaceflight by pretending to be her psychiatrist and convincing her to step down.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Gets one from her own descendant (although she doesn't know it), who tells her that, in spite of her fears, she is capable of accomplishing great things as she had already done.

Tallinn

Played by: Orla Brady

A Supervisor who was assigned to monitor and protect Renée Picard, and in so doing safeguard the proper course of Earth's history.

Big Good: A Supervisor who works for the Travelers and protects the timeline.
Face Death with Dignity: She disguises herself as Renée and allows Soong to poison her so the real Renée lives and the Europa mission succeeds. She has absolutely no regrets and dies peacefully in Jean Luc's arms.
Hair-Trigger Temper: At least when it comes to Guinan, if her warning to leave before she loses her very tenuous grip on her need to put her boot through Guinan's face is any indication. And according to Guinan, she absolutely means it, too.
Identical Ancestor: Jean-Luc theorises that she is this to Laris after Tallinn reveals that she is in fact Romulan.
Magic Tool: Like Gary Seven, Tallinn carries around a pen-like device that appears to function similarly to a sonic screwdriver.
Mistaken Identity: Jean-Luc frequently refers to her as Laris, even after it is established that she is not her. Tallinn suggests in "Two of One" that Jean-Luc cares a great deal more for Laris than he lets on, to the point that when he said she was of no consequence, she thanks him for letting her know what he looks like when he lies.

Adam Soong

Dr. Adam Soong

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adam_85.png

Played by: Brent Spiner

A 21st-century geneticist and distant ancestor of Noonien Soong. In the altered timeline, he's hailed by the Confederacy as the savior of Earth.

Absolute Xenophobe: If the monument depicted in the Confederation is anything to go by, Adam believes that a safe galaxy was a human galaxy. That said, given what we see of the Confederation is four-hundred years after his death, it could just as easily be a case of somebody putting words in his mouth for propaganda purposes.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's introduced to the audience as a loving father who is trying to develop a cure for his daughter's genetic illness, and is willing to go to moral extremes for her sake. "Two of One" reveals his daughter is actually a eugenics experiment, and the reason he's so attached to her is because she's the the only one of dozens of experiments in cloning he's done that has survived past childhood.
Black Sheep: Of the Soong Family. Noonien and Altan were both Fatherly Scientists who genuinely tried to do right by their creations, and even his descendant Arik, while endangering the Enterprise crew with his genetically engineered soldiers, was really a Well-Intentioned Extremist who is eventually overthrown by them when he balks at the lines his "children" are willing to cross. Adam is so wrapped up in his own legacy that he never hesitates in his numerous attempted murders, considers his clone daughters to be expendable, and ultimately rejects any attempt at redemption.
Butterfly of Doom: The Europa mission makes a discovery that puts humanity on the path to becoming the Federation, and Adam Soong will become a historical footnote. Without the mission's discoveries, Adam Soong would instead be hailed as a savior of humanity and cause them to become the Confederation.
Cool Car: Drives a Tesla Model X.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He is the founder of a company called Soong Dynamics. Its company logo is emblazoned on Kore's test-tube that Q shows her. He is also partners with Private Military Contractor Spearhead Operations.
Deal with the Devil:
- Enters into one of these with Q after the latter's (temporary) cure for Kore's illness is proven genuine, although Adam notes that he is in more of a Hostage Situation with Q if he has a real cure.
- Enters into another one with the Borg Queen after Kore is cured and leaves him. He gets his legacy as the savior of Earth, and she gets rid of Picard and gets their ship.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He considers love and fear to be one and the same and doesn't understand why Jean Luc Picard and his friends are in his way.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted. He seems like he loves his daughter, but only because she's one of his experiments and the culmination of his life's work. When Kore finds his video logs on past experiments, he regards each of their deaths not as a caring father, but as a disappointed scientist, and he notes that if his latest attempt (Kore) fails, he'll actually be relieved because it's his last one and he can put it behind him. When she confronts him with the truth she's learned and calls him out on his god complex and control of her, he shows his true colors.
Adam: You don't get to walk away from me. You don't exist without me!
Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Soong's work is in genetics and cloning... in the franchise that spawned this trope thanks to Khan Noonien-Singh and his ilk causing the Eugenics Wars that plunged humanity into a second dark ages and killed millions of innocent people thanks to a select few men and women getting a big head as a result of their evolutions making them believe they're the superior beings. Unsurprisingly, he's unwelcome amongst his fellow scientists, and he's quickly delicensed and unfunded when he tries pushing a review board to aid in his work. The fact he even waxes poetic about playing God like Khan would have doesn't help his case. And Strange New Worlds later implies he was responsible for Khan's Start of Darkness, and that the boy may have picked up his behavior from him.
A God Am I: He doesn't outright say it, but his waxing poetic about playing God during his hearing, not to mention his attempts at creating life through science, implies the sort of pride and narcissism that comes with having a major God complex. The fact that he's the founder of the Confederation in the altered timeline convinces him to aid the Borg Queen, knowing he'll finally be treated as he's always seen himself. There is also the Theme Naming of all his clone-daughters: Despoina, Kore, Persephassa, Persephone, Proserpina and so on. All of whom Kore points out are daughters of Zeus (to be precise, all of these are names of what was presumably one and the same goddess), and it's fairly clear who is supposed to be Zeus in this analogy.
Adam: [to Kore after she confronts him about the truth] Anyone can procreate. You exist because I willed it.
Greater-Scope Villain: With his life's work destroyed, he looked into a file from 1996 called "Project:Khan"...and played a role in starting the Eugenics Wars, also known as the Second American Civil War, or World War III^note. In other words, he set the stage for the Federation to come to be, and given that he was a disgusting person, his actions likely cemented the Muggle Power attitudes that plagued the otherwise-accepting Federation for centuries.
Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Strange New Worlds reveals that the Eugenics Wars—the very conflict started by Khan in the 1990s—wound up occurring in the 21st century because the Federation's enemies constantly attempted to wipe them out from existence before the Vulcans made first contact via time travel. As a result, the Wars wound up shifting to this time to compensate, and made Adam Soong responsible for turning Khan from a scarred little boy into the next Hitler.
Identical Ancestor: He's one to the entire Soong clan, leaning more towards Arik Soong for his genetic goals than Noonien Soong and his goals of advanced A.I.s. "Two of One" leans into this further by showing that Adam, like Arik, is more than willing to cross ethical lines to achieve his work, including experimenting in illegal eugenics and cloning.
In Spite of a Nail: In the Confederation Timeline, he created the organization using his knowledge in science. The Season 2 finale reveals he still was responsible for historical events—specifically the Federation, as he kickstarts the Eugenics Wars to bring about World War III, the final conflict that led humanity to get their act together.
It's All About Me: He considers all of his experiments and achievements as extensions of himself, even if the clones he created have sapient minds of their own. When confronted by Kore about this, he unintentionally reveals this viewpoint while previously trying to say otherwise.
Mad Scientist: Has been engaging in several highly illegal genetic and eugenic experiments that eventually caused him to lose his funding and scientific standing among his peers. An internet news article in "Two of One" even outright labels Dr. Soong a mad scientist.
Meaningful Name: He's the progenitor of the identical members of the Soong family, and the man who's implied to have molded Khan into the monster he would become. He's named after the biblical progenitor of the human race.
Narcissist: Brent Spiner himself describes him as such and he has all the traits of a narcissist, being more concerned about his legacy than anyone else.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: In addition to being a geneticist, Adam (or his company, at least) also appears to dabble in advanced technology, including a smaller-scale version of what would become the environmental shielding tech that he would eventually use to save the planet from ecological disaster in the Confederation timeline.
Our Founder: He's a pivotal figure in the creation of the Confederation of Earth. Borg Queen!Jurati reveals that in the altered timeline, humanity turned to him to fix their environmental problems, and worshipped him as humanity's savior from that day forward.
Adam Soong's Voice (25th Century): A safe galaxy is a human galaxy!
Out-Gambitted: He uses his wealth to get into the Europa Mission to poison Renée., and if that failed, had drones sent out to blow the ship to smithereens, knowing that Picard and his allies would follow. However, he failed to account for Tallinn disguising herself as her charge to take the fatal blow, or Picard's crew being clever enough to destroy the drones on their own.
Papa Wolf: He's willing to go to any lengths to cure his daughter's condition, including attempted murder. Subverted in that it's not out of love, but for his own life's work.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He uses his partnership with Spearhead Operations to get a group of soldiers for the Borg Queen.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: He makes a sizable donation to the Europa Mission so he can have VIP access to the Gala and Mission Control in order to take out Renée.

Kore Soong

Played by: Isa Briones

The daughter of Adam Soong.

And This Is for...: Destroys all of her father's data on his experiments in the name of her sisters.
Big Good: Is recruited by Wesley Crusher on behalf of the Travelers to become a Supervisor.
Calling the Old Man Out: She tears into Soong when she learns that she's nothing but an experiment in his work, and walks out on him, fully cured of her condition. She later destroys his files on Kore and her sisters.
Delicate and Sickly: She has a genetic condition that wrecks her lungs if she breathes in even a tiny amount of dust and turns her blood to acid if she's exposed to UV rays. Her numerous clone predecessors have suffered from similar issues, though she's the only one who surprisingly made it to adulthood. All efforts by Adam to cure it were a failure, and it takes a mysterious cure by Q to do the job.
Identical Ancestor: A case could be made that Kore is this for Dahj and Soji, despite the pair being Ridiculously Human Robots, as they are the daughters of Data, who was the 'son' of her father's actual descendant, Dr. Noonien Soong. Even Lal, another gynoid created by Data himself and which he also considered his daughter, bears an uncanny resemblance to Kore. Funny enough, she turns out to be this in more ways than one, as she's the last in a line of clones— not all that dissimilar from the numerous identical A.I. units that the Soongs had running around.
History Repeats: Inverted. Her descendants, Dahj and Soji, learn that they're A.I.s patterned after the late Data, the prized creation of Dr. Noonien Soong. The exact same happens to their ancestor, who gets a Tomato in the Mirror experience where she learns she's a clone made by Dr. Adam Soong.
Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Her father is a crackpot amongst the scientific community, disowned for his work in illegal eugenics, and she's a very attractive young woman. Though the whole "daughter" thing comes into question when it turns out she's a clone he considers his daughter, but to the extent that she's his latest experiment.
Meaningful Name:
- "Kore" literally means "maiden" and is another name for Persephone, the figure from Greek Mythology who was taken to the Underworld by Hades, and was going to escape until she was tricked into going back. This plays into Kore Soong's storyline in that she can't go outside, was given a sliver of a cure and had to go back inside after it wears off.
- It turns out Kore's more short-lived clone-sisters were named Persephone, Prosperpina, Despoina and so on, all different names for the same goddess.
The Shut-In: As indicated under Delicate and Sickly, because Kore can't breathe normal air or be exposed to UV rays, Kore is forced to stay inside.
Tomato in the Mirror: As shown in The Reveal in "Two of One", Kore discovers she is not a natural-born human but rather the latest of Adam Soong's many attempts at cloning and genetic experimentation. Of all of her clone-sisters, Kore is the only one who survived into adulthood despite her lethal condition.

Teresa Ramirez

Played by: Sol Rodriguez

A doctor who operates a free clinic, providing healthcare for those who are undocumented. In 2024, she cares for Rios after he is injured following a transporter accident.

Big Good: Alongside Rios, forms a global medical group called the Mariposas (Butterflies) that travels the world helping people.
Expy: She is a native of the past who inadvertently becomes a friend and ally to the Ragtag Band of Misfits from the future who are trying to save said future, and is also a love interest for their Captain. So, she is this for Dr Gillian Taylor, except that Teresa remained in the 21st century, unlike Dr Taylor who joined Kirk and the Enterprise crew on their return to their own time.
- She also participates in one of the many references to that movie in Season Two, which is almost verbatim to an exchange between Dr Taylor and Captain Kirk:
Teresa: Are you from outer space?
Rios: No, I'm from Chile. But I work in outer space.
Hospital Hottie: It's more of a free clinic than a hospital and Teresa is way more interested in treating her patients than tittelating them, but she is clearly a very attractive doctor.
Love Interest: Is this for Rios.
Mama Bear: Loves her son to the point where she promises Rios they would never find his body if Ricardo ended up getting hurt because of him.
Older Than They Look: Her age isn't outright stated, but either she is this or she had Ricardo while still in med school, to have a nine-year-old son and still look like a woman in her early thirties^NoteSol Rodriguez is 32 as of 2022..
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Allows herself to be arrested by ICE (despite being a United States citizen) just to distract them long enough for her undocumented patients to escape being taken into custody.

Ricardo Ramirez

Played by: Steve Gutierrez

Teresa's son.

Alliterative Name: Ricardo Ramirez.
Big Good: Later in life, he is the one who assembles a team of the brightest minds to repair Earth's ecological damage thanks to a organism that Auntie Renée Picard collected from the Europa mission.
Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Very noticeably speaks like this despite being at an age where children typically grow out of it, suggesting that he has a speech impediment like Rhotacism.
Fanboy: His mother mentions that he watches Rick and Morty.

"The Traveler"

Wesley Crusher

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wesley_pic_v1.jpg

Played by: Wil Wheaton

For tropes regarding his Next Generation appearance, see here.

The son of Jack and Beverly Crusher, Wesley Crusher was a bright young man who got the distinction of serving under a field commission on the Enterprise-D for many years before joining Starfleet Academy. After an incident involving the death of a fellow cadet during a training exercise resulted in him being held back, Wesley eventually found his true calling—as a Traveler. Now, he's responsible for helping to protect all of his history.

Manly Facial Hair: He's grown out a beard since leaving his timeline, and happens to be one of the pivotal figures in charge of guarding moments in history.
Noodle Incident: Wesley apparently told a joke once and accidentally changed a century of history. Since then, he's been very careful about making sure he's not misunderstood when he talks.
Older and Wiser: Wesley's no longer that kid on the bridge he once was, having grown into a being in charge of protecting history and being more sure of himself and his abilities.
Took a Level in Badass: Went from an acting ensign on the bridge to a key figure in ensuring history stays on track.
The Unreveal: We never know if he learns he has a younger half-brother, or why Beverly no longer considers him her son.

F.B.I. Agent Martin Wells

Martin Wells

Played by: Jay Karnes

An F.B.I. Agent who is obsessed with finding aliens.

Agent Mulder: Pretty much a whole character reference to Fox Mulder from The X-Files, even has a similar backstory of meeting aliens as a child but in his case he didn't realise they were benevolent Vulcans and not trying to hurt him.
Expy: of Fox Mulder from the The X-Files, being a low ranking F.B.I. agent who is obsessed with finding aliens.
Heel–Face Turn: Lets Picard and Guinan go pretty much as soon as it is explained that the aliens from his backstory weren't actually evil.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: Has Guinan and Picard arrested and then hides them away in an off the books location in a filing room to question them.

The Dominion Splinter Faction

In general

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/changelings_pic.jpg

A faction of Changelings who broke away from the Great Link at some point in the decades since the conclusion of the Dominion War. These rogue Founders refused to honor the Female Founder's surrender at the Battle of Cardassia (and presumably rejected Odo's attempts at internal reformation as well). Instead, these renegades have dedicated themselves to completing what the Dominion began in the Alpha Quadrant all those years ago: The complete destruction of the United Federation of Planets and its Starfleet.

Art Evolution: The iconic Changeling shapeshifting effect from Deep Space Nine was previously updated for a Changeling's cameo on Discovery, but it wasn't really shown in depth or detail. The Discovery redesign is carried over to Picard and has been further tweaked both to reflect the advancements in CGI since the 1990s and to fit the Picard design aesthetic.
Became Their Own Antithesis: A variation. During Deep Space Nine, the Female Founder repeatedly touted the unity of the Great Link, the benefits of its groupthink, and the absence of any dissent (especially in contrast and comparison to the chaotic, fractious Solids). Now, decades later, the Link has become just as chaotic and fractious as their mortal enemies thanks to these renegades rejecting the primary consensus. Notably, they saw the idea of a Changeling harming another Changeling as their most vile act, to the point they put a virus in Odo to force him to face judgment and then turned him "Solid". Here, Vadic kills several Changeling soldiers when they dare question her orders, and nobody bats an eye.
- Demoted to Dragon - The Founders had many races under their control and had two species that would normally be doing the grunt work this splinter faction has done. These Changelings are treated as disposable by the Borg and suffer the fate that countless Vorta and Jem'Hadar had before them.
Big Bad: Revealed during "Seventeen Seconds" to be the true antagonists of the final Season rather than Vadic (as she'd been protrayed as in the pre-release marketing). However, it then gets later subverted after "Vox" with the reveal they were actually a Disc-One Final Boss and that the Borg Collective's their "partner" and the Final Boss.
The Bus Came Back: Played with. One Changeling had previously appeared in the penultimate season of Discovery, marking their return to the franchise after a 20+ year absence (though it was left unclear if said Changeling was affiliated with the 32nd Century Dominion or its successors or not). This episode at least marks the Founders' return to 24/25th Century-era Trek for the first time since the conclusion of DS9.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To the much bigger Changeling faction during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While the Changelings are the leaders of the Dominion who seek galactic conquest through genocidal means, where it is led by the Female Changeling, Vadic's splinter Changeling faction is a Renegade Splinter Faction led by the namesake, whose quest is all about personal Revenge in extremist form against the Federation and allying with The Borg in secret, which goes against the ideals of the Dominion. Generally speaking, the main Changelings are easily detectable by any Federation test methods but can transform into anything and everything from animals to non-living things. The Changelings within Vadic's faction are the opposite: they were heavily modified through Project Proteus, Section 31's top-secret program to create a subspecies of their own kind, to mimic humans and bypass all Federation test methods with the goal of infiltrating Starfleet within from the lowest to highest ranks, but at the cost of shorter lifespans and agonising pain, as well as vulnerability to being frozen and inability to transform to any other form.
Doomed by Canon: No matter how much damage they inflict, they'll still fail in their ultimate goal of annihilating Starfleet and the Federation, because Star Trek: Discovery shows both groups are still active well into the 32nd Century, even after being battered by The Burn.
Enemy Civil War: Subverted. There's been a schism within the Great Link, but the Founders aren't outright warring with each other. One faction's trying to get revenge on the UFP while the mainstream Founders (in the form of Odo) are unofficially working with the Feds to stop their renegade brothers and sisters.
Enemy Mine: The renegades are working in tandem with the main Borg collective to annihilate Starfleet once and for all, albeit very reluctantly given how tight the leash is that the Borg have over them despite their common goal.
Equivalent Exchange: Project Proteus was this for Vadic and her faction. While the experiments enhanced their physiology and shapeshifting abilities (and can also be passed on to other Changelings), it was at the cost of shorter lifespans and almost constant pain.
Evil Evolves: In the interim between Deep Space Nine and Season Three of Picard, the Changelings have managed to modify their already powerful shapeshifting to eliminate all of their prior known weaknesses; now able to accurately mimic organs, bleed convincingly, and hold their current shape upon death—as a result, the Changelings now can pass all of prior testing methods and imaging scanners that could have detected them prior and now have successfully infiltrated the Federation from top to bottom unbeknownst to everyone. Unfortunately for them, Beverly found a way to detect them, and are all caught and arrested.
Eviler than Thou: The renegade Founders are even more extremist than their brothers and sisters in the rest of the Link. The original Founders may have been xenophobic, genocidal, and willing to wage war to force Starfleet into its capture, but even they didn't go so far as to form an alliance with The Borg to wipe out their enemies.
Fantastic Racism: The rogue Changelings' hatred for the 'Solids' is still as strong as it was during Deep Space Nine.
Fatal Flaw: When last seen, the Changelings' status as a collective of sorts made them unable to see the threat of the individual over the whole, and they overconfidently underestimated Sisko and company's willingness to fight back. Unfortunately for them, despite having evolved since then and being far different from their brethren, these Changelings still grossly underestimate certain individuals. They are smart enough this time to go after Picard and his allies, along with any possible old allies of theirs (i.e. Tuvok), but they forget about one wild card: Data, who comes Back from the Dead and dismantles Vedic's forces like LEGO sets.
The Heavy: While ultimately at the command of the Borg Queen, her lone cube and depleted Collective stands no physical chance against Starfleet until her plan can be launched in the penultimate episode, leaving Vadic and the Changeling infiltrators to do most of the damage until the Frontier Day ceremony.
Hoist by His Own Petard:
- The Changelings stole Picard's body from Daystrom Station, which gave them the DNA they needed to start infecting the transporters. However, said Station also had Daystrom Android M-5-10—alias the resurrected Data—who stopped Vadic's forces from killing Picard and his allies, buying enough time for them to grab the Enterprise-D out of the Fleet Museum when the Borg's plan did go down and bring their ally down for good.
- They infected the transporters with Picard's Borg DNA so the collective could assimilate all the younger officers. Beverly uses the transporters to flush out all the Changeling imposters.
Moral Myopia: They view Section 31 imprisoning and experimenting on them, as well as creating the Changeling virus as unforgivable war crimes. Never mind the fact that the Great Link spent 10,000 years ruling the Gamma Quadrant with an iron fist, that they created biological weapons to destroy their enemies' civilizations which were specifically designed to punish their descendants and make it impossible for them to rebuild, that they openly pledged to destroy the Federation, and that Section 31 did what they did to protect the Federation from ending up like their previous enemies. Plus, as shown by the fact they were willing to let The Borg wipe out all of Earth just to spite Starfleet, they're still the same progenitors of genocide they were when they glassed Cardassia for daring to defy them.
Near-Villain Victory: Thanks to Jack running off half-cocked in trying to kill the Borg Queen, The Federation is almost entirely assimilated and wiped out in one fell swoop, which would have given The Dominion their ultimate revenge. Unfortunately for them, the crew of the Enterprise-D destroyed the Borg for good and exposed their imposters.
Paranoia Fuel: Exploited In-Universe. They may not be part of the Great Link anymore, but they're still using one of the Dominion's signature moves: Employ their shapeshifting to sow confusion and panic amongst their enemies.
Renegade Splinter Faction: Of the Great Link, representing the most extreme elements of the Dominion government. To distance themselves from the mainstream Great Link, they also ally with the Borg to pursue their goal of wiping out the Federation.
Revenge: Against the UFP for the Dominion's defeat in the Alpha Quadrant.
Revenge Before Reason: While it's not explicitly acknowledged, this is basically the rogue Changelings working with the Borg in a nutshell. Helping the Borg bring down the Federation in revenge for the Dominion War and Project Proteus ironically is not good for the rest of the Dominion or the Great Link. Assimilating the Federation — the only major power which, despite heavy losses, has at least held the Borg at bay — only aids the Collective's expansion and augments their power, technology, and supply of drones. This is, of course, very important and bad — because sooner or later, the Collective is coming for the Gamma Quadrant. By helping the Borg, Vadic and her faction have been endangering the Great Link this entire time — but of course, they hate Starfleet and the Federation so much that they're willing to pay any price if it means burning their foes to the ground. Not only does it fail thanks to the Enterprise-D crew, but these rogues are subsequently found and arrested, rendering their entire crusade all for nothing.
Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Played with. The Changelings, having served as the leaders of the Dominion on Deep Space Nine, have relocated to Picard's corner of the 24th/25th Century era. But it's a renegade faction rather than the official Dominion government (i.e. the Great Link) itself.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Thousands of years of insularity and xenophobia runs deep and isn't just shaken off overnight. So it's completely realistic that there would be Founders who were extremist even by Changeling standards, who would absolutely refuse to honor the Female Founder's sacrifice and reject the Treaty of Bajor. While it's not explicitly stated, it's also not hard to imagine that Odo's goals of internal reformation didn't help or met with resistance (or very possibly helped trigger this schism; after all, Odo did bring with him the knowledge that rogue Federation elements had engineered the morphogenic plague that almost wiped out the Link).
- It turns out, unleashing a genetic virus on an entire species is not a good way to convince an entire race of peaceful intentions. Some of the more zealous Changelings refused to forgive Starfleet for that transgression, and decided to pay them back in kind.
Villain Decay: Their ability to mimic humanoids so perfectly that they were able to beat previous methods of detection seems to have cost them some of their most dangerous abilities. They can now only assume humanoid forms, no animals, inanimate objects, or surfaces. While regenerating, they are stuck as slow moving lumps of gelatinous liquid, whereas before they were fast and could manipulate their liquid forms to attack. And they can no longer survive in the vacuum of space.
Villain Team-Up: "Vox" reveals they've been working with the Borg Collective (or at least what's left of it after "Endgame") with the mutual goal of bringing down the Federation and Starfleet once and for all.

Vadic

Captain Vadic

"Fucking solids"

Played by: Amanda Plummer

"I'll peck and I'll jab at everything that makes you you. We will scorch the Earth under which [Picard] stands and the night will brighten with the ashes of the Federation. But first, we will have vengeance."

A mysterious woman hellbent on vengance against the Federation — and against Picard and the surviving Enterprise-D/E senior officers in particular.

And Your Little Dog, Too!: Implied in her threat from the final Season Three trailer.
Vadic: With each ticking moment, I will take another piece of you.
Ax-Crazy: The first footage of her in the Season Three trailer (and her first scenes in Season Three) implies she's not the most stable member of the Trek rogues gallery. Gets subverted after "No Win Scenario", though, when it's revealed this is just an act.
Badass Boast: See her profile quote.
Big Bad: Of Season Three, or least during the pre-release marketing. Subverted following "Seventeen Seconds" and "No Win Scenario" wherein it's revealed she's really just The Dragon for the larger Changeling conspiracy (and the Face).
Boisterous Weakling: All her bravado, menace and Laughing Mad behavior is just an act. When her boss makes contact in "No Win Scenario", she immediately drops the facade and reveals herself as a timid, stammering coward who can barely talk when faced with real authority. Gets justified after the reveal of "Vox" that the conspiracy's "partners" are the Borg (and, as per Word of God, the Face is the Borg Queen). Even Vadic — a Founder full of arrogance and bigotry towards the Solids — has enough sense to recognize she's dealing with something far older and far more malevolent than even the Dominion at its peak. Vadic's deference and sheer terror are completely genuine. invoked
Bounty Hunter: Allegedly. Vadic claims to be one during "Disengage", but given the size of her resources and network and the pursuit of the Crushers, it's heavily implied there's far more going on here than a simple bounty collection. After the Changeling conspiracy reveal, it becomes clear the supposed "bounty hunter" persona is really just a cover identity.
Casting Gag: Judging by the Season 3 trailer, Amanda Plummer has basically the same role her father had as General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, including a penchant for red leather and twirling around in a Cool Chair. Adding to the gag, she's also the final Big Bad for the TNG Crew just as her father was the final Big Bad for the TOS Crew. Also, she's part of a Renegade Splinter Faction refusing to recognize peace with the Federation, similar to how Chang was part of a conspiracy with dissenting Federation and Klingon leaders looking to prevent peace talks between their worlds. She likewise seeks revenge against the Federation for the numerous atrocities they committed against her kind, willfully ignoring the fact that her own people did far worse to the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians and others in the name of galactic dominance. And like Chang, Vadic is destroyed thanks to the crew of a Constitution class.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
- Both the Female Changeling in the previous Trek show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Vadic are rogue Changelings who are bent on taking revenge against the Federation and have a deep hatred towards non-Changelings, derogatorily referring to them as "solids". The Female Changeling wears a pink-coloured "clothing" and has shades of Psycho Pink, while Vadic wears red and black that befits her Red and Black and Evil All Over motif. The Female Changeling speaks formally, while Vadic speaks informally and throws some curse words into her conversation. While the Female Changeling willingly turned herself to the Federation for the Dominion's list of war crimes against Cardassia and the Alpha Quadrant, Vadic does not let go of her hatred towards the Federation and instead opted to take a personal form of revenge against them for their involvement in the Dominion War, when in reality her own race did much worse. The Female Changeling originally came from the Great Link, while Vadic was torturously experimented by Section 31 as part of their project to create infiltrators for Starfleet. And unlike the Female Changeling who is (initially) affiliated with the Dominion, Vadic and her group are a Renegade Splinter Faction of the Dominion. Lastly, while the Female Changeling is the Big Bad of Deep Space Nine (albeit a part of Big Bad Ensemble with Gul Dukat), Vadic is The Dragon to the real Big Bad of Picard's third season, the Borg Queen.
- Vadic has contrasts to General Chang from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the character that Amanda's father Christopher Plummer portrayed in the movie. While both are leaders of a Renegade Splinter Faction refusing to recognise peace with the Federation (with Chang opposing peace talks between Klingons and the Federation; and with Vadic and her Changelings harbouring hatred against them) and are the enemies of the main protagonist, their character is vastly different. Chang is Affably Evil towards Kirk who sees him as a Worthy Opponent, while Vadic is Faux Affably Evil who has an extreme contempt towards Picard due to enduring a Cold-Blooded Torture from Section 31.
Deadly Upgrade: The experiments Vadic underwent allows her to mimic other forms and biological functions much more intricately than normal Changelings, which lets her to bypass normal measures that had been developed to detect her species, and she can spread this ability to other Changelings. It also leaves her (and others she gives it to) in constant pain and with a shortened lifespan.
Death by Irony: For someone with such a venomous hatred of "Solids", she dies by freezing solid in space and shattering against the hull of the Shrike at the end of "Surrender".
Disc-One Final Boss: Vadic ultimately becomes this with her death during "Surrender", leaving the rest of the Changeling conspiracy as the final antagonist of the closing two episodes (with the Face remaining the Greater-Scope Villain).
The Dragon: While she seems to be the leader of the renegade Changeling faction, it's revealed early on that she reports to someone else, who's implied not to be a Changeling and who clearly terrifies her. And with good reason — it turns out to be the Borg.
Evil Counterpart: She's one to Odo, as both of them were Changelings experimented on in a lab and wound up being connected to Starfleet as a result. Where Odo and Vadic differ is that Odo was raised in a lab by the Bajorans who more or less treated him as personal entertainment, leaving him with a sour disposition for most of his life, before he eventually became Chief of Security for Terok Nor prior to the Federation taking it over as Deep Space Nine, while Vadic was a Federation experiment made possible by Section 31. Both took on the face of the person who oversaw their time in the lab, but though Odo and his "father" didn't see eye to eye always, they at least were able to find some ground later in life, while Vadic killed the one responsible for her treatments. Odo spent his entire life not knowing his people, and wound up standing in opposition to them when he learned of what they truly were while opening up further to his Bajoran and Federation comrades, only to be their savior when Starfleet nearly wiped them out, while Vadic knew who her people were, and seeks to wipe out Starfleet as punishment for what they did to the Changelings despite the fact that it was Section 31's fault and not Picard and his old Enterprise crew mates. Right now, Odo's trying to prevent a war, while Vadic is determined to start another.
Face Stealer: It turns out Vadic's appearance is a deliberate copy of the Starfleet scientist who tortured and experimented on her and other changelings to give them their hybrid abilities. This parallels the backstory of Odo, who modelled his solid appearance on the Bajoran scientist who studied him.
Faux Affably Evil: As part of her Establishing Character Moment during "Disengage".
Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Vadic lights one up during "negotiations" with the Titan-A during "Disengage", and has a habit of doing this when she feels triumphant, like when she takes over the ship in "Surrender" and has the bridge crew at her mercy.
Irony: She and her rogue Changelings ally with the Borg to destroy the Federation in their role for the Dominion War. In hindsight, she's fuelling the Collective's revival to destroy not only the Federation but also the Dominion and the Great Link.
Large Ham: Again, judging from the third season trailer, Amanda Plummer definitely seems to be channeling her father's performance as General Chang.
Laughing Mad: Vadic giggles maniacally during the ending of "Disengage" as the Shrike pursues the Titan-A.
Literally Shattered Lives: How Vadic is ultimately dealt with, as her empowered ability to impersonate others weakens the Changelings' ability to maintain a considerable amount of their flexibility; thus once exposed to the vacuum of space, unlike other Changelings in the past, it proves fatal for her and her fellow breed of Changelings as they freeze completely solid before Vadic herself ends up plowing into the hull of the Shrike and shatters as a result. Then the Titan-A makes her Deader than Dead by blowing up the Shrike seconds later.
Profane Last Words: Her last words before being blown out the Titan's emergency bridge evacuation hatch are "Aww, fucking Solids!".
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Vadic wears a black and red clothing and is an enemy towards Picard and the Federation.
Red Right Hand: Wears a red glove on her right hand. The whole hand (much like the rest of her) is actually made of Changeling material, which she can cut off to communicate with her superior(s) and then reattach or reabsorb.
Revenge: Her motive. Exactly why Vadic is seeking vengeance against the UFP, Picard, and his old crew is one of the pre-release mysteries of the final season. It's later revealed that she's part of a conspiracy by a splinter faction of the Dominion, who are out to destroy the Federation for their defeat decades earlier, and more personally because she was one of a group of captured changelings who were experimented on and tortured until they were infused with their new abilities to fool all the old detection methods.
Scars Are Forever: Vadic has a distinct scar running down the right side of her face.
Thrown Out the Airlock: Is launched out of the Titan's emergency bridge evacuation hatch by Data after he retakes control of the ship.
Unknown Rival: Implied by the Season Three trailer. Picard and company don't seem to recognize her or know why she's gunning for all of them. It is until a few episodes later that she isn't a bounty hunter, but rather the leader of a splinter Changeling faction who is after Jack Crusher.

Shrike

Vadic's personal starship, a massive craft of unknown origin.

Cool Chair: As to be expected from an enemy ship's bridge. Like her father in Star Trek VI, Amanda Plummer (Vadic) also enjoys spinning around in it.
Cool Ship: The sucker has a vicious angled and spiked design, outfitted with a plethora of dangerous weaponry that would wreck Starfleet ships on its own and is tough enough to take a few photon torpedo shots without much worry.
Grievous Harm with a Body: To show it means business, the Shrike casually grabs the Eleos XII with its tractor beam and chucks it at the Titan!
Logical Weakness: In addition to being armed to the teeth with a plethora of conventional weaponry, it uses gravimetric-based technology to do things like hurl starships at each other like toys, and open short range portals to redirect an enemy's own weapons' fire right back at them. The catch, though, is that because this technology is based on manipulation of gravity waves, it actually doesn't work that well when used within a gravity well: it was designed for space combat superiority, not planetary assault. When Vadic's superior orders her to pursue Picard & Co. into an area with a heavy gravity well, she drops her bravado and like a timid rabbit says that it would be suicide, due to all of the uncontrollable effects on the Shrike's gravimetric systems.
Killed Off for Real: The Titan finally destroys the Shrike at the end of "Surrender".
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It's named after the Earth bird-of-prey of the same name and the angles and weapons show it is very dangerous.
Recycled Set: The bridge of the Shrike is a redress of the set formerly used as the lower deck of La Sirena.
Thinking Up Portals: The ship's main weapon is a portal weapon. The Shrike uses this to keep the Titan from escaping and to redirect a spray of torpedoes back at them.

The Face

"Pursue."

Played by: Garth Kemp

Vadic's mysterious superior.

All There in the Manual: The character's current name comes from the End Credits.
Bad Boss: To Vadic. During "No Win Scenario", he makes it abundantly clear that Vadic and her crew are expendable in service of their goals, which means Vadic has no choice but to pursue the Titan-A into the nebula, even if it means ejecting the portal tech. It later tortures her over their "conference call" during "Dominion" for her failure to capture Jack Crusher. Justified, however, as being the Borg Queen, individuality has always been expendable in the eyes of the Collective and thus Vadic and her Changelings were as disposable as any other drone for the greater objective of becoming perfection.
Body Horror: The Face punishes Vadic in "Dominion" by involuntarily triggering her shapeshifting and leaving her locked between Solid and Liquid forms.
Canon Character All Along: Revealed by Word of God, to be the Borg Queen played by Alice Krige.invoked
Enemy Mine: Its relationship with the renegade Changeling faction is revealed to be this once it's established that it is in fact the Borg Queen, over a mutually shared interest towards eliminating the Federation once and for all. However, it is implied by dialogue that the relationship is not mutually beneficial and that the Borg will presumably dispose of their Changeling allies effortlessly once they have no more need for their subterfuge.
Greater-Scope Villain: Implied from its dialogue in "Dominion", which also implies it's not a Changeling like Vadic and the others. it retains this role following Vadic's death in "Surrender".
Hidden Agenda Villain: Vadic's motives are transparent, but the Face's obsession with Jack and mocking of both Changelings and Solids suggest destroying the Federation isn't as important to it as it is her. Subverted, though, once it's revealed that the Face is in fact a manifestation of the Borg Queen and her agenda has remained the same as it always has... just the means of achieving it has radically evolved.
Wham Line: "Your physiology is not as complex or as special as you believe", which implies it's not a Changeling like Vadic and her faction (or possibly, it is just a "normal" Changeling who isn't impressed by Vadic's aditional abilities). With the reveal that the Face is actually the Borg Queen, the point of distinction is completely justified.
Word of God: While it's implied with the reveal of the rogue Changelings' patrons in "Vox", Terry Matalas has explicitly confirmed the Face is actually the Borg Queen. invoked

Characters / Star Trek: Picard - Others

Edit Locked

Others

Freecloud

Bjayzl

Played by: Necar Zadegan

Mr. Vup

Played by: Dominic Burgess

Extragalactic

Higher Synthetics

Q

Played by: John de Lancie

Borg Collective

The Borg Queen

Played by: Annie Wersching, Alison Pill, Alice Krige (Voice), Jane Edwina Seymour (Body)

The Borg Queen

Played by: Alison Pill

Confederation of Earth

Earth in 2024

Renée Picard

Played by: Penelope Mitchell

Tallinn

Played by: Orla Brady

Dr. Adam Soong

Played by: Brent Spiner

Kore Soong

Played by: Isa Briones

Teresa Ramirez

Played by: Sol Rodriguez

Ricardo Ramirez

Played by: Steve Gutierrez

Wesley Crusher

Played by: Wil Wheaton

Martin Wells

Played by: Jay Karnes

The Dominion Splinter Faction

Captain Vadic

Played by: Amanda Plummer

The Face

Played by: Garth Kemp

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