Voyager, you have to be so real with me you HAVE to answer me - did Tuvok and Suder have a mating bond??
1] Trip and T'Pol talk about the fact that they share a mating bond. Evidence of this is the fact that they share certain thoughts, feelings, and images along with Trip being immune to Orion pheromones because T'Pol is immune to them. Crucially, this is phrased as T'Pol making him immune due to her Vulcan physiology meaning it's not a "He's taken so he can't be affected" thing - it's something natural about T'Pol's biology that has been passed on to Trip through some telepathic process. Sci fi magic. He becomes, in part, more Vulcan through the bond.
2] The wedding vows/pon farr ritual chant Tuvok and T'Pel say to each other consists of: I give to you all that I am, I receive from you all that I am. The Vulcan romantic ideal consists of two bodies, one mind.
3] Tuvok tells Suder the meld he initiates will consist of the two of them becoming one mind with two bodies. This alone isn't proof of anything, it's just what happens in any meld - just adding it to the list.
Suder states that the meld has been majorly and continuously affecting him. He's tried what is implied to be an exhaustive list of treatments in the past and none have worked to cure him of his violent impulses. The meld with Tuvok, however, has come as close to eliminating them completely as is possible. Tuvok in turn has had newfound difficulty in repressing violent urges - Suder's urges.
These are entirely different effects from the melds Tuvok usually performs. Typically, the melds Tuvok performs don't leave any lingering side effects. They just cure whatever needs to be cured or find whatever information needs to be found. There is no piece of one mind left in the other. This suggests to me that a different type of meld was initiated.
Notably, whatever type of meld Tuvok initiated with Suder changed both of their natural modes of being. Tuvok, who had no difficulty repressing his emotions and didn't struggle with violent urges (in the past he struggled with the emotion 'love' but not violence, suggesting it is not a natural thing but something Suder gave him) is suddenly fighting tooth and nail not to murder people and Suder, who found his own impulses overwhelming and impossible to resist, is now capable of controlling himself.
4] Aside from the very clear romantic implications that come with giving someone a flower, let alone naming one after them - we must pay attention to the content of Suder's words as well.
Two supposedly disparate elements bred and created something new and thriving. "You said they were incompatible". To me, this has romantic and sexual connotations akin to those implied by the meld itself which Suder brought up - likening it to penetration.
The meld not only changed Suder's biology (as he was born with violent impulses) but also introduced him to Tuvok's interest in florticulture. This is notable because it was not the intended effect of the meld and not something I imagine was an initial symptom of it. However, as the two of them have seemingly remained in contact Suder has gained access to more mundane, everyday parts of Tuvok. "Feelings, thoughts, even images can be shared" in a mating bond according to T'Pol and these things aren't planned - much like Trip didn't plan on stumbling into T'Pol's mindscape. It just happened as a natural consequence of their bond.
5] This is more meta but it's noteworthy to me that (to my knowledge) the only time Tuvok and Vulcan prayer are explicit it's in a romantic context. His wife prays for him and he prays for Suder.
With all of that said. Isn't it so fucking sad that Tuvok can be interpreted as having lost two bondmates? A man who sees himself as incomplete without his wife, for a time regains something similar...not a replacement by any means, but someone who can fill the empty void in his head where the dead bond lies. And then he's gone. And there's just another dead bond there now, this one without any possibility of revival.
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