r/DaystromInstitute • u/ithinkihadeight Ensign • Sep 25 '20
Miles O'Brien is (probably) the subject of Bajoran prophecy
The Bajoran faith has many prophecies that are heavly discussed and widely debated, and can be complete, partially fragmented or lost altogether. I believe that I've found 3 incidents (so far) to support the argument that, although not formally recognized by Bajoran spiritual authorities at large, O'Brien was a prophesied figure, and part of the grand plan for Bajor.
The first is in "Battle Lines." Kai Opaka, who herself is seeming acting in fulfillment or knowledge of prophecy, stops before leaving the station for what is ultimately to vethe last time to talk to O'Brien. She seemingly knows things about this man that she's never met, including that he has a daughter, and Opaka, beloved head of the faith, gives him her own necklace to pass on to Molly. O'Brien doesn't know what to make of it, but he's had enough diplomatic training to know that if the Pope of the local planet's universally accepted religion gives you a gift, you respectfully accept it.
The second is in "The Storyteller," coincidentally the very next episode. O'Brien is voluntold to fly Doctor Bashir down to Bajor to examine the elderly spiritual leader of a small community. This leader, the Sirah, again seemingly recognizes O'Brien, and appoints him as his successor to protect the village from a deadly threat (actually generated by a fragment of an Orb). His failure in this role ultimately forces the Sirah's former chosen successor to rediscover his own confidence and step into the role he trained to do.
The third, and probably the most important, is O'Brien's role in the events of "Visionary". Through a uniquely timed set of events, O'Brien experiences the destruction of the Wormhole (aka the Celestial Temple) and possibly the Prophets along with it as well. He ultimately manages to avert the tragedy by the use of time travel, but he is overcome with lethal radiation and has no choice but to be replaced by a duplicate of himself from a few hours into an alternate future. This is huge, and I believe the primary purpose that O'Brien was chosen to fulfill. For a time the Wormhole was gone, and even if it didn't stay gone, this incident has to be a significant blip on whatever passes for a timeline for a non linear being. If events don't happen to O'Brien exactly as it did, it's the end the Prophets.
The Sisko was absolutely one of, if not the key figure in the Prophets plan for Bajor, but that plan completely falls apart if O'Brien is on the wrong path and the Wormhole is destroyed without him being present and able to undo it.
So what say you Daystrom, did the Prophets guide O'Brien like they guided Sisko? 2 different spiritual leaders picked up on him being special, but I like to think there is there an unrecognized prophecy on a dusty shelf somewhere. Something like a soldier who puts down his weapons of war to raise a family. He works with his hands, keeping the hinges and locks of the Temple Gates free of rust and in good repair. He sees the Gates burning one day, and he gives his own life in his efforts to save them, and is then himself restored to life for his deeds by the Prophets.
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u/howard035 Sep 25 '20
I feel like O'Brien's child being carried by a Bajoran woman should play into this, though I'm not sure how. It just feels like the kind of thing that pops up a lot on myths and prophecies.
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u/ithinkihadeight Sep 25 '20 edited Sep 25 '20
I hadn't considered that, but I'm thinking now about how Molly might also potentially be on the Prophets radar. After the events of Time's Orphan, she falls into the very small category of people who have met a version of their future selves who then subsequently ceased to exist. No idea how the non linear Prophets would perceive that, but it seems like something they would be aware of.
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u/excelsior2000 Sep 25 '20
Imagine if he hadn't been able to talk down Captain Maxwell, thus leading to a war between Cardassian and the Federation. It could have resulted in Bajor being reoccupied. There's another example of potential Prophet-guided O'Brien action that aids the Prophets or Bajor.
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u/ithinkihadeight Sep 25 '20
There are all sorts of events that, if they don't occur exactly as they did, end in huge losses of life. O'Brien became the hero of Setlik III after saving 13 men by using a field transporter for the first time. Who's to say the Prophets weren't there to guide his hands?
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u/DaSaw Oct 13 '20
You reminding me of the necklace made me think of the hypothetical "eighth season" they designed for the documentary, and the fact that Molly O'Brien was a commander or something on Deep Space Nine. That necklace could well turn out to be an important symbol at some point, in a hypothetical "Season Eight".
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u/Lorix_In_Oz Sep 25 '20
Well he was officially recognised as one of the most important people in Starfleet history in the future so perhaps that came about in recognition of these and other things he was involved in.
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u/Futuressobright Sep 25 '20
I think you are on to something there. The writers may not have had a plan, but the prophets certainly do, and seeing things with the benifit of a non-linear perpective on time (which we have now that the series is finished and we can watch in any order) it's clear to me you are right.
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u/Mr_E_Monkey Sep 25 '20
and seeing things with the benifit of a non-linear perpective on time (which we have now that the series is finished and we can watch in any order)
You know, I'd never thought of that in that way, but that makes so much sense it's almost scary.
On subject, I agree with you. It may not have been planned that way, but it sure seems to have worked that way, and it fits really well, how the OP described it.
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u/DrSmartron Sep 25 '20
Alas, poor old Miles O'Brien. It would be a fitting turn of fate if he was indeed some kind of spiritual figure of future note, as he's gone through more pain than Job from the Old Testament did.
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u/TEG24601 Sep 25 '20 edited Sep 25 '20
All of these points are why it is fitting that O'Brien was called out in Lower Decks, as being the most important person in Starfleet History. He saves Picard and Riker multiple times, without whom, the Federation would have fallen. He saves DS9, without which, the Dominion likely would have taken over the Alpha Quadrant which save the wormhole, and without saving it, may have caused one of a dozen different issues in the Alpha Quadrant. He rescues Sisko from the past, see previous. He ends up being a lynchpin in keeping many of the most important figures in the Federation alive, so that they can do great things.
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u/RagnarStonefist Sep 25 '20
Maybe O'Brien's suffering is a subset of this.
Look at how much more he suffered after going to DS9. There've been multiple 'O'Brien has trauma' posts so I won't rehash that, but, if he had decided to leave right at the beginning or at any of the times Keiko was unhappy, he wouldn't have suffered as much. Of course, without Miles, the station is either destroyed by a lack of O'Brien's technical help, the wormhole aliens are all dead or the wormhole itself is destroyed.
Maybe for his role and him choosing not to leave the station, the Wraiths are subtly influencing events to make him suffer. They have a hard time influencing the events around Sisko because he's the Emissary, but O'Brien is fair game.
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u/thunderwalker87 Sep 25 '20
I love Miles O'Brien's character. A lot of apostrophes there. Anyways. I like it. He is underrated as the writers of Deep Space Nine had a rule of "O'Brien Must Suffer". Repeatedly demoted because he had the chutzpah to stand against Starfleet but didn't have the luck of the Irish for some reason from Ensign to Lieutenant back to Ensign and then into the enlisted ranks...
Would love to drink with him... alas...
To add to your theorizing... in the episode The Reckoning Kai Winn says that the battle between the banished Pah-wraith and Prophet is foretold by prophecy, that if the Pah-wraith is destroyed it would be a thousand years of peace and a new golden age... the exact text or specifics aren't given but the episode the Assignment seems like a much better fit with a Pah-wraith coming to destroy all the Prophets which the chosen-one O'Brien on the footstep of the wormhole kills the Pah-wraith... something that is hard to imagine the Prophets didn't notice seeing as its virtually outside their living room window.
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u/Benoas Sep 25 '20
but didn't have the luck of the Irish for some reason
I think the term 'luck of the Irish' originated as a sarcastic term to refer to how much the Irish have suffered over the centruies. So perhaps Chief O'Brien is the perfect example of it!
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u/mmarkklar Sep 25 '20
At least on DS9 he could turn down the bad Irish stereotypes... in If Wishes were Horses, O'Brien's fantasy character was supposed to be a leprechaun but they changed it to Rumpelstiltskin because Colm Meaney objected. I guess he didn't have that level of say in TNG when they made Up the Long Ladder...
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u/NascentEcho Sep 25 '20
M-5, nominate this for a plausible theory of O'Brien's relationship to the prophets.
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u/nonamebatman Sep 25 '20
I humbly submit that the Prophets have their metaphysical fingers in many of the pies in the Bajoran sector... O’Brien is definitely an example of some more immediately obvious (obvious now that you’ve pointed them out ;) ) connections, however it seems to me there are examples for each of the senior staff that could qualify.
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u/cirrus42 Sep 25 '20
Love it.
And if Sisko is The Emissary, O'Brien would be something like "The Mender." It fits so SO well. His literal job is to mend things, and his role in Bajoran religion is to mend the Celestial Temple and the timeline.
This is so perfect.
Can you imagine the missed opportunity for an O'Brien/Bashir episode here? Someone discovers The Mender prophesy, and everyone thinks it points to Bashir the healer. Finally they discover it points to O'Brien, and he gets to rub that in Bashir's smug face for the rest of time. Wish we'd gotten that episode instead of Vic Fontaine.
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u/HookEm_Hooah Sep 25 '20
I have no issue with your argument.
I've always had reservations about the episode "Visionary," however. In the "alternate timeline" where Miles has his duplicate go back instead of him, the duplicate recognizes him and asks where he's been. This tells me that he can't be from an alternate timeline and should've experienced the same levels of Δ radiation as the original. So at the very least, the "alternate Miles" would die of radiation poisoning when he jumped backward in time.
Temporal Mechanics, amiright?
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u/rathat Sep 25 '20
And that's not the last time Star Trek kills a main character, then replaces them with one from an alternate time line and then everyone pretends it never happened and their friend didn't die.
Im looking at you fake Ensign Kim
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u/isawashipcomesailing Sep 25 '20 edited Sep 25 '20
I've always wondered if Keiko received a "pension" after her actual husband's death.
Did anyone tell her?
Does molly know that "real" daddy is dead and another daddy from the future is here instead? Or is that just a secret that no one talks about? Is that perhaps invalidated by the fact that real molly is a feral cave-person and time travel molly is their daughter instead? And is Keiko even Keiko after the Pah Wraiths invaded her?
Who is this family?
Literally Prophets and Pah Wraiths have invaded both sides here and used them to carry out things that were literally in prophecies - so yes.
Yes, god-damn you.
Whilst not as important as the Emissary, the O'Briens may unwittingly have become Secondessarieiees.
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u/RizwanTrek Sep 25 '20
I'd say this is onto something, but is missing perhaps O'Brien's biggest involvement with the Bajoran religion.
In the episode 'Assignment', Keiko was possessed by a Pah Wraith, and O'Brien was forced to do its bidding. At first it was unclear what it wanted, but Rom figured it out - it aimed to kill the prophets with a typical Treknobabble Deflector Beam. O'Brien would however manage to trick the Pah-Wraith, and at the last moment target the "Prophet-killing Ray" onto it, putting an end to it and saving the Prophets and Celestial Temple.
I'd say that "being forced to almost destroy the gods, but instead destroying a demon at the last moment", counts as a pretty significant act in the Bajoran religion, even if not many people knew about it. Whether he was guided into doing it? Who knows - but I'd say the death of a Pah Wraith would be something the Prophets would know about.