Odo :)

So first off, who the hell is this guy?

Aside from being my favorite Star Trek character of all time, Odo is the chief of security on Deep Space Nine, the formerly Cardassian space station which the DS9 series revolves around. Said space station is also the cursor for this site! Neat what HTML/CSS can do.

He's a changeling, his base state being a liquid form which can merge w/ other changelings (eg, "link"), and he was initially found floating around in this state in empty space by Bajoran scientists.

Because of this, he was essentially brought up as a lab sample. Quite literally-- his name is derived from a Cardassian mistranslation of the Bajoran label of the container he was in for study, which read "unknown sample" but was translated to "odo'ital" which simply means nothing.

This was eventually spit up into two parts like a standard Bajoran name somewhat as a joke, dubbing him Odo Ital.

It took a WHILE for the scientists to realize he was sentient, and in that time (and even for some time after) he was subject to plenty of experiments that were, at the very least, horribly unethical. Read: Vacuum chambers and stuff. Because of all that, he originally thought the name was fitting. Sad as hell. He later changed his mind, though, after meeting Kira & Sisko and the others aboard the station. (He says even Quark.)

He gained a little more independance once he figured out how to take a humanoid form and left the lab, but not much. He wound up on Ds9 while it was still Terok Nor, and worked as an investigator, serving as somewhat of a bridge between the (piece of shit) Cardassians and the Bajorans under occupation, as the Bajorans trusted him to be an impartial third party who could settle disputes without the brutality of going straight to the Cardassians.

It's still telling of how much surveillance he was under in that time, though, that in the episode where Sisko mistakenly triggers a lockdown, the station's computers believing it is still in the occupation and the Bajorans are revolting, Odo is trapped in his office by a force field he immediately recognizes to be programmed into the system because the Cardassians believed he'd aid the Bajorans in a revolt.

Once the occupation ends, the station changes hands back to Bajor and the Federation, and the show begins, Odo takes his position as the security chief.

At the start of the series, he still has never met another one of his people. Once he does, he quickly realizes he doesn't want to affiliate with them, as they are horribly authoritarian, but because the changelings are natrually a collective (on the homeworld, they are bound together in thier base liquid state in what is referred to as "the great link"), he is constantly left fighting the urge to return to them, once he knows how. The first time he ever admits this, it literally has to be tortured out of him. Ouch.

Alright, so that's a backstory... but what's he actually like?

Well, I'm glad you asked. :)

The changelings all have an innate want for order, but in a lot of cases, he'll do what he thinks is right regardless of his instructions. He's rigid about rules, sure but only his OWN rules, having learned all too well from the occupation that legality does not equate to morality. As he says in A Man Alone, "Laws change depending on who's making them, but justice is justice."

He's natrually curious about the things he can't experience like those around him, such as eating, since he has no sense of taste or smell. For example, there's a scene with Kira where she's drinking coffee and it's too hot, and he asks why she doesn't just make it the tempurature she's going to drink it, and she tries to explain that it slows her down to enjoy the taste, but he just ends up nodding along while he clearly doesn't understand, going "ah, yes. Taste."

Although he's rather grumpy at times, he's not at all antisocial. He'll join the others for meals even though he can't eat, even attempting to help Sisko cook (and failing adorably. Look at this.)

He also tries to join in by creating a mug in his hand and pretending to drink out of it in another scene. I. ajhdhiabfgvjhav. Excuse me

He frequently goes kayaking with O'Brien, and reads detective/mystery novels, often from his suggestions. He'll occasionally throw out a line he read in one of the novels and end up suprised when people don't respond the way they do in his books, which will never stop being funny to me.

He also reads romance novels and tries to excuse it as work, claiming it's somehow research on crimes of passion, but given Quark catches him reading smut on the bridge of the Defiant, I reeeeeally don't think so. It's alright dude, u can fujo with the rest of us. Someone get this man an Ao3 account STAT.

He has a rather sardonic sense of humor, which, I'll be honest, is probably at least halfway responsible for me making this page. He is constantly making snarky remarks and has enough sass to outcompete an aging drag queen so natrually I cannot be normal about him. Ahem. This is not supposed to be about me. Where was I

Right. Personality description. He's sarcastic as all hell but he means well. In most cases it's deserved, anyways. Or just funny. He isn't often outwardly MEAN, with the exception of Quark, but that's different. That's how they're friends, even if they will very rarely say it.

Getting into interpersonal stuff, his closest friend throughout the show is Major Kira. Their chemistry is amazing, platonic or otherwise. There's an episode where a guy is stalking Kira/trying to make a hologram of her to uh. You can fill in the blanks here. And when Odo finds out he immediately goes after the guy, of course, but then Kira gets an idea and they wind up working together to steal the program and swap Kira's face for Quark's, since Quark made the program. The two stake out to watch him run out furiously and end up laughing at the stalker and Quark without ever revealing it was them who did it. Top tier trolling, you guys. 10/10

It's made clear within the first few seasons that Odo is pretty painfully in love with Kira, to which she is entirely oblivious of and he tries his best to keep it that way. Cue several seasons of pining. They do eventually get together, and while there seems to be some discourse around whether or not their relationship should've happened/if it was handled well, I feel like it's still a very sweet arc. I still would've liked it if they never got together. I think the slow burn, regardless of its success, is already compelling enough, but Heart of Stone killed me, and I've been rooting for them ever since. Might make a seprate page for the ship, we shall see. But I mean... just look at them. LOOK AT THEM. It is so bittersweet I love it.

Alright, alright. So why do I like him?

I started the series with a bit of a bias, since my mom originally introduced me to Star Trek in middle school by saying I would like him. "He sleeps in a bucket. just watch the show, you'll get it." Etc etc. She still says it a bunch since I watched several series before Ds9 anyways despite her advice, I think I was 14 when I finally watched it? Lo and behold, she was right. I get it. I'm a grownass adult and I'm still hung up on this goo guy. I don't think she has any idea what that did to my psyche and that's probably for the better because Star Trek started my rather short descent into being Unusual About Fandom, and here we are. Oops.

So Odo is the OG blorbo for me. Top of the list, probably forever. You would be hard pressed to find a character I like more. Yes, even compared to Drifter. I know, insane, isn't it.

I think he's mostly a kin character, if I'm using that term correctly? I relate to him in a bunch of ways. Mostly things that are probably in the paperwork for my autism diagnosis tbh, but ykw, no harm in being a little self aware. Dw buddy, I would also have Problems if someone came into my room and moved everything two inches to the left, though I would prooooobably find it funnier than he did. The bluntness and social shit is all just... very me. Hence the suggestion that got me into trek originally.

I'm also just a sucker for grumpyass character has wholesome moments and still tries to act all >:[ afterwards even though they're obviously a softie at heart. yes it's been done a million times, but there's a reason some things are overused. Look at this. Look at this and say none of it is cute. You are objectively wrong if you do, no I am not taking questions.

Moot said he activates their cuteness aggression. Honestly the best description of it to me.

While I was making this I found this section of his wiki which was way too funny not to include:

I'm cutting off here for now, but I'll probably come back and add more another time. If you've actually read this far, ty for hearing me out. If you don't understand now I doubt you ever will. Just watch the show.

*all gifs on this page can be traced to their source by copying the image address. I only made the tv one up top.