[Remissus]

Michael Eddington of Deep Space Nine is one of my favorite villain characters- Something of a Don Quixote and Brutus combined, successfully stabbing The Sisko in the back after having been a regular cast member for many episodes and then heading off on a misguided quest to play the sort of hero he desperately wants to be, at the head of a lost cause.

But he seems to undergo a really strange metamorphosis between his appearance in 'For the Uniform' and his final role in 'Blaze of Glory.' The Eddington in the latter entirely lacks the self-righteous heroism and romanticized ideals of earlier episodes; The idea of potentially millions of Federation citizens dying no longer bothers him in the slightest, nor does he care if the Dominion War expands to harm innocents. Both these things would seem contrary to the established personality of the character himself. I've had people tell me this is the result of the Maquis being nearly wiped out, but... I'm just not buying it. I don't think the very fabric behind the person would switch this drastically, realistically speaking. I think it would have been more believable for this to only /further/ his delusions of grandeur, as the last surviving man of a lost cause.

What does everyone else think?

[Soral]

I think if an indepth discussion of Michael Eddington is had then we should also acknowledge the change that his character experienced from his first appearance to his final in "Blaze of Glory." Simply put, in all of the other episodes he was in, Michael Eddington was not a family man.

He spoke of ideals and visions of grandeur that focused on how "people" were being affected by the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ). Cal Hudson was the predecessor to Eddington and, while he had lost his wife some years later, his reasons for joining were the same as Eddington's. We got to see two types of betrayals against Captain Sisko this way...first by a close friend of many years and the second by an officer under his command that he had come to greatly respect.

If I recall correctly, Eddington wasn't married until a few weeks before Sisko forced him to surrender. And he didn't meet his wife until some time into his being a Maquis and after having left DS9. Eddington was often one to quote how he wasn't much of a family man as well or at least made references that could be taken that way.

So with this change and his focus on the protection of not only the maquis as a people, but on his "family" it makes perfect sense for him to change his ideals in the face of the threat that the Dominion were. The Cardassions were an enemy they knew how to fight, but the Dominion and Jem'hadar outmatched them at every turn. It's hard to hold on to the ideals of self-righteousness, heroism, and romanticizing his actions when the reality is that the maquis were facing their very extinction. So in the face of that kind of reality, with that kind of enemy to contend with, Eddington's priorities shifted to the safety of his family.

So while I agree with and even understand the way the episodes played out...I have to admit that I feel a bit cheated. I think he was a misplaced character, but only in that he was all but forgotten after he was captured. We didn't see him again for some time in between episodes. Not until it was time for him to make his final appearance. I would have liked to have seen the story arc of the Dominion going after the Maquis run a few extra episodes. Build up the events of "Blaze of Glory" over multiple episodes and let us get absorbed by the character of Michael Eddington again. The cat and mouse antics between him and Sisko were awesome and I just wish there had been more before he was finished.

[Cehus]

Excellent analysis, both of you. From my many playthroughs of Deep Space Nine, I've always found Eddington to be the "lovable bad guy". Yes, he gave the protagonists a rather large thorn in their back when he turned traitor, but what I want to know is was he always scripted to turn out the way he did? Or when the prospect of Michael Dorn's appearance came along, did they just find him superfluous and write him into a more minor role?

[Soral]

There is certainly a possibility of that, Cehus. I often wondered how his character was originally designed as well. He appeared in a handful of episodes and they were so sporadic that I thought he was going to be short-lived. Then he became more of a regular and I was hoping that he was going to be the new Worf on the station, even Odo was starting to come around to him. He's another character that was a big part of the DS9 universe, as much as Garak or Nog in my opinion. I thought he was a well written character in that he "brought" something to the story being told. I just wish they had used him more and further developed his story than what they did.