Female Changeling

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

Gender:	None (female in appearance)
Species:	Changeling
Affiliation:	Dominion
Occupation:	Founder
Status:	Incarcerated (2375)
Played by:	Salome Jens

"Ever since the day you crossed paths, she's lied to you, tricked you, sat in judgment of you – I don't trust her. And I don't understand how you can."

- Major Kira Nerys to Odo

The Female Changeling was chosen by the Great Link to be a representative to Odo for his people. She was trapped in the Alpha Quadrant during the start of the Dominion War and helped coordinate the Dominion's war efforts. After agreeing to surrender to the Federation, the Female Changeling was placed in Starfleet custody and stood trial for her war crimes.

Contents 1 Life in the Link 2 The Dominion War 3 Appearances 4 Apocrypha

[edit] Life in the Link

The Female Changeling assumed a humanoid form resembling that of Odo in order to greet him on his return to the Great Link in 2371. She first told him of his people, their history, and what it truly meant to be a Changeling. However, after Odo discovered his people's identity as the Founders of the Dominion, he decided to abandon the Great Link and return home. (DS9: "The Search, Part II")

In order to discover what was the true cause of Odo's choice to live with the solids, the Female Changeling traveled to the Alpha Quadrant and lured Odo to a deserted moon. She posed as Major Kira Nerys and forced Odo into admitting his love for the Major. She had hoped that Kira's apparent death would drive Odo back to the Link, but Odo deduced that 'Kira' wasn't real and made the Female Changeling reveal where she was being kept. Afterwards she returned to the Link. (DS9: "Heart of Stone")

After Odo killed another Changeling, breaking their people's only law, the Female Changeling lured him home to be judged by the Link. His judgment was to be locked into humanoid form, losing his shapeshifting abilities and becoming a solid, although his face remained the same to remind him of what he had done. During her stay with Odo, she promised Cardassian citizen Elim Garak that his people would all die by the Dominion's hand. (DS9: "Broken Link")

[edit] The Dominion War

The Dominion War broke out with the Federation's mining of the entrance to the Bajoran wormhole, trapping the Female Changeling in the Alpha Quadrant. After spending months among solids, she felt the need to be with one of her own. She sought out Odo on Dominion-held Terok Nor. There she linked with him, and also brought him to a new understanding of his nature. (DS9: "Behind the Lines")

The Female Changeling became obsessed with bringing down the minefield that prevented reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant. She began overseeing Weyoun and Gul Dukat's war efforts. As the Dominion was forced back into Cardassian space, the Founder retreated with Weyoun to Cardassia Prime, where they set up a new Dominion Headquarters. She was forced to leave Odo on Deep Space 9, but was certain he would rejoin the Link one day, it was only a matter of time. (DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels")

By 2375, the Female Changeling began manifesting symptoms of a disease that had infected the Great Link (the morphogenic virus). Her ability to change form slowly became restricted, but she continued to command the Dominion from Cardassia Prime. (DS9: "Treachery, Faith and the Great River") Attempts to create a vaccine for the disease were ineffective. (DS9: "Penumbra") During the final months of the wars, the Female Changeling continued to deteriorate.

Towards the end of the war, the Female Changeling was so ill that she was no longer able to shapeshift. As the Federation Alliance began its attack on Cardassia Prime in what became known as the Battle of Cardassia, she ordered the Jem'Hadar to fight to the last man, so the Alliance forces would never threaten the Gamma Quadrant if they lost so many lives. Fulfilling her promise to Garak that his people would be destroyed by the Dominion, she ordered every Cardassian on the planet exterminated. Members of the Cardassian resistance, led by Kira, penetrated the command compound, when the Female Changeling was cured by Odo, who had been the original source of the disease in an attempt by Section 31 to eliminate the Dominion. During their melding, it appeared that the Female Changeling agreed to stop the attack, end the war, and stand trial for her war crimes – in exchange for Odo returning to the Great Link, to cure the rest of the Founders. The Female Changeling was taken away by Starfleet after signing the Treaty of Bajor. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind")

In the final episode, she signed the treaty, which implies she had a name of some kind. She also had a very odd writing style, and held her pen in her left hand.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Apocrypha

• In the Deep Space Nine Relaunch "Worlds of Deep Space Nine" series third book's Dominion story, a Jem'Hadar named Taran'atar goes to visit the Female Changeling in a maximum security prison called Ananke Alpha.

• In the alternate future seen in the Deep Space Nine book Millennium trilogy, the Female Changeling was killed when she refused to have the Dominion join with the Grigari, who, ironically, were commanded by Weyoun, the new self-proclaimed 'Emissary of the True Prophets' who lived in the newly-opened red wormhole.