STAR TREK: PICARD: 3x05: "Imposters": What's up with Jack?
Beware: Season 3 spoilers! If you have not watched the first five episodes of STAR TREK: PICARD season 3, get thee to your streaming device and watch! Then come back for some crazytalk 23-and-me speculating. =)
So! I have some kooky thoughts and theories about Jack Crusher's heritage…
Jean-Loc passed his residual connection to the Borg collective on to his son. When he was a child, he had terrifying nightmares, which were actually visions of disoriented, perhaps crazed & dying Borg, as the Collective disassembled in the years after alternate Janeway's infection of the Borg Queen. Dr. Mom was able to come up with a treatment that rid him of the visions so that he could sleep. Whether she somehow only treated the nightmare symptom or actually learned of and addressed the Borg-y root of the issue, there's no telling yet. Years later, Jack is once again receiving messages and information via this psychic link, originating from a Borg, ex-Borg, or Borg-adjacent entity.
At some point before JL's visit to Casperia Prime w BC, a Bajoran tablet came into his possession and was accidentally broken (seen in JL's home in season 2). This released a Pah Wraith which had been imprisoned within. The Pah Wraith possessed JL, but did not assume full conscious control. Instead, realizing that his host was already taking steps toward the PW's own goal, it rode shotgun in JL's mind and body, and let nature take its course. Together with Beverly, JL and the PW conceived the Pah Wraith version of the Prophets' Emissary, a mortal who can commune with the Pah Wraiths and serve as their autonomous agent in the mortal realm.
Red eyes have been seen to be a sign of possession by a Pah Wraith.
Ben Sisko's mother Sarah was fully possessed by a Prophet when she met and married Ben's father Joseph and gave birth to Ben. In Jack's case, the PW possessed JL after he and BC were involved, so the PW did not need to exert active control of JL to bring its progeny into the world.
If Sisko is the Emissary, what is Jack? I have a feeling that he may be the Eschaton or perhaps the Sacrifice or Offering, a being fated to bring about a cataclysm (freeing the PWs and/or trapping/killing the Prophets?), possibly killing himself in the process.
When Seven shot the Changeling wearing Sidney La Forge's form, the Changeling's eyes went red on its death. Not quite the same effect as with Jack's eyes, but I'm gonna say it's close enough for now. To me, that means that at some point a Changeling visited the Fire Caves of Bajor and left with a Pah Wraith passenger, maybe possessor, maybe partner. I haven't decided if PWs would be controlling rogue Changelings (and other non-Changeling hosts?) or are partnered with them. In either case, would every Changeling be partnered with a PW or carry a fraction of a single PW (I don't remember seeing that in PWs or Prophets before), or Sideeye/Sidney was the only or one of only a few Changeling's possessed by a PW.
PWs and Prophets appear to their faithful and agents as familiar faces and voices. We are hearing the PWs call to Jack in his visions in the voices of people he knows. Perhaps JL has translated enough of the tablet's inscription to know or say the right thing to free his son from a dark destiny. Or—Beverly's influence, guidance, and love will prove that nurture can overcome nature, and JC will throw off the fate the PWs planned for him, Hellboy-style.
While pregnant with JC, BC used the genetic modification techniques of Species 8472 to eliminate the genes responsible for Irumodic Syndrome, inherited from JL. These techniques were acquired in an exchange of information between Voyager and the 8472 humanoid mimics in the Delta Quadrant. BC employed 8472's techniques without adjustment, and in doing so—knowingly or not—boosted some of JC's baseline physiological characteristics because the mods included and assumed some of 8472's natural attributes, including a powerful immune system, a very resilient healing factor, and telepathy. JC does not have these attributes at the level of an 8472, but at a high level for a human.
8472s in humanoid form had to learn to sleep, as their original bodies do not need it. This is how JC, as a child and now as an adult, can go for days without sleeping. His visions are a consequence of some entity or entities tuning into his latent telepathy. His BOURNE IDENTITY-like fighting prowess is also enabled via telepathy, either by remote control or a psychic "download" of skills.
If this crazytalk turns out to be even close to accurate, I really hope that his vision experiences connect to a conspiracy of warhawk 8472s who are masquerading as (meatier) Changelings in order to frame the Founders for a series of terrorist attacks and plunge Starfleet and perhaps the Alpha Quadrant back into war with the Dominion.
NB. The genetic modification of JC makes him an augment, forbidden and outlawed in the Federation. This is another reason that BC cut herself off from her friends and Starfleet.
While pregnant with JC, BC used the genetic modification techniques of the Founders to eliminate the genes responsible for Irumodic Syndrome, inherited from JL. These techniques were reverse engineered from studies of Founder, Vorta, and Gamma and Alpha Jem'hadar biology. The Founders engineered their follower species and could dial specific physical and mental qualities up and down as desired. Embedded, but perhaps not recognized by Starfleet or BC herself, in the Founders' mod processes are traces of Changeling genetic sequences, the creators' signature on their work. Combined in human DNA, these sequences express themselves in an enhanced immune system and healing factor as well as a psychic connection compatible with Changeling linking.
The psychic connection resulted in JC's childhood nightmares, which BC treated. There's no telling yet if she only treated the nightmare symptom or learned the root cause of the issue, but she is recognizing its return now.
NB. The genetic modification of JC makes him an augment, forbidden and outlawed in the Federation. This is another reason that BC cut herself off from her friends and Starfleet.
Take some or all of 1 thru 4 and mash them up good. Like, he's part Borg—maybe thanks to Jean-Loc's nanoprobed sex cells, or maybe thanks to actual Borg-rewritten DNA—and an Irumodic Syndrome-free augment! Or—he's part Borg, which is where his visions come from, but also playing host to a Pah Wraith, which is where the voices and ninja skills come from. Try one of your own!
I've had several more notions that I couldn't quite extrapolate into meaningful theories, but maybe some new pieces will fall into place for them in episode 6. If they do, I'll try to work them out in another post.
