| “ | I'm watching you, Quark. | „ |
| ~ Odo. |
Odo was one of the primary protagonists on the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well as other media based upon the series. He was played by the late Rene Auberjonois.
Biography
A Changeling, Odo was sent out at some point in the past with 100 other infant Changelings - including Laas - by the Founders of The Dominion to explore the galaxy and report back to the Great Link what he found. They also hoped that he and the other 100 infants would attract the attention of the Progenitor to help replenish their slowly dying race. The Great Link was not expecting him to return until the 27th century at the earliest.
Odo was eventually discovered in the Bajoran system in his natural gelatinous state. Doctor Mora Pol began examining him and it was only after Odo former a tentacle and slapped Mora's hand that Mora realized the gelatinous mass was alive. Eventually able to assume humanoid shape Odo learned how to function in society thanks to Dr. Mora.
Leaving the institute Odo became a neutral arbiter to the Bajoran people. Summoned to Terok Nor by Gul Dukat, Odo was tasked with investigating a murder on the station as part of an attempt to draw out Bajoran resistance members operating on the station. It was during this investigation that Odo met Kira Nerys for the first time.
Odo eventually became the chief of security on Terok Nor. He was seen as an honest man both by the Bajorans and Cardassians. When the Cardassians withdrew from Bajor Odo remained on the station and continued as security chief as the Federation was invited to administer the station, now named Deep Space Nine.
At first Commander Sisko and Odo did not trust each other. Sisko came to like Odo, who was not afraid of stating his position and was honest to a fault. Odo was standoffish to the rest of the command staff but eventually they were able to work their way through the emotional walls Odo had built up and became friends with many of them.
Odo became the bane of the station's Ferengi bartender Quark. Odo made it his mission in life to ensure that Quark could not get away with anything. The two men were not enemies, but were not quite friends either.
Unaware of his origins, Odo felt a strong need to learn about his species and where he came from. The shape shifting assassin Meta attempted to bribe Odo with this knowledge but Odo refused to accept the bribe when trying to arrest him.
In 2371 Odo finally rediscovered his people, but to his horror found that they were the Founders of the Dominion, who ruled their Gamma Quadrant empire with an iron fist and passed themselves off as gods to their subject races. Odo decided not to remain with his people but returned to the Federation.
Odo was friends with Kira Nerys since her resistance days, and worked with her as she became first officer on DS9. The two eventually fell in love with each other, and their love even won out over his desire to return to the Great Link.
As the Dominion prepared for open war against the Federation Odo remained loyal to the Federation despite a number of attempts by the Female Changeling and other Founders to turn him to their side. When Odo harmed another of their race defending his comrades, the Founders punished him by forcing him to become human for several months. Odo eventually regained his abilities to change shape when a dying infant Changeling merged with him in the last moments of life.
The Dominion soon went to war against the Federation along with their Cardassian subjects. The war was one of the most destructive conflicts of recent memory, with millions dying on both sides. The Federation, Klingons, and the Romulans fought hard to push the Dominion back to the Cardassian homeworld. By then the Cardassians had turned against the Dominion after their former allies began treating them as a conquered race. In response the Female Changeling ordered her troops to commit genocide against the entire race. Odo was able to convince her to stop the slaughter and surrender for war crimes trials while he returned to the Great Link to help convince the Founders to trust others again.
Novel Continuity
Odo found the Great Link unreceptive to many of his ideas, and he spent much time in humanoid form. Laas, who had also found his way back to the Link, acted as the spokesperson for the Great Link when they relayed their decisions to Odo.
Despite their continued distrust of the solids the Dominion told the Alpha Quadrant powers that the Dominion would remain within their borders and the Alpha Quadrant was welcome to explore the Gamma Quadrant. Odo had the Jem'Hadar elder Taran'tar sent to the Alpha Quadrant as his emissary.
When Link heard the Progenitor apparently emerged after years of hiding Odo and some other Changelings went to find the being and ask him to replenish the Great Link. However they only found the remains of a giant Changeling. Saddened over the loss the Great Link dissolved as the individual Changelings gave in to their despair.
For the next several years Odo ran the Dominion as Laas attempted to find the others and convinced them to return. Since the majority of the Dominion never saw the Founders day to day life for most Dominion members was unaffected. Odo focused on keeping the political situation stable on reforming the Dominion into more of a democracy, working hard with selected members of both the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta in the hopes that they would be a positive influence on the rest of their species.
Odo was trapped in the Alpha Quadrant in 2383 after the Typon Pact attack on Deep Space Nine destroyed the station and caused the wormhole to close. He spent the next two years living on Bajor and searching for other Changelings in the Alpha Quadrant. In 2385 he moved to the new Deep Space Nine, and was there when the wormhole reopened.
Online Continuity
By the 2380s Odo served as the Great Link's ambassador to the solids. He met with Laas and tried to encourage him to return to the Link, but Laas declined as he wanted to continue his search for other members of the 100. The Great Link later released a statement that any Changelings in the Alpha Quadrant without the Great Link's consent should be considered rogue.
Odo met with the Alpha Jem'HaDar Lamat'Ukan and tried to get him to return to the Gamma Quadrant, but Lamat'Ukan refused on the grounds that Odo was a "false god."