page_title: Odo (Star Trek)
section_title: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
hierarchical_section_title: Odo (Star Trek) / Overview / Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
caption_attribution_description: English: René Auberjonois in Marconi, Bologna, Italy in 2010.
context_page_description: Odo, played by René Auberjonois, is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is a member of a shapeshifting species called Changelings and serves as the head of security for the space station Deep Space Nine on which the show is set. Intelligent, observant and taciturn, Odo uses his unique abilities throughout the show to maintain security on the DS9 station and, later, aids the Bajoran people and the Federation throughout the Dominion War against his own people, the Founders.
context_section_description: The original Writer's Bible from 1992 for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine described Odo as follows:
  Odo, an alien male, middle-aged curmudgeon, and a shape-shifter. In his natural state he is a gelatinous liquid. He was a Bajoran law enforcement officer on the space station under the Cardassians. Starfleet decides to have him continue in that role, since he's extremely savvy about the Promenade and all who frequent it. His backstory is: 50 years ago, with no memory of his past, he was found alone in a mysterious spacecraft that appeared in the Denorios asteroid belt. He was found by the Bajoran and lived amongst them. At first he was sort of an Elephant Man, a source of curiosity and humor as he turned himself into a chair or pencil. Finally he realized he would have to take the form of a humanoid to assimilate and function in their environment. He does it, but resents it. As a result, Odo performs a uniquely important role in the ensemble: he is a character who explores and comments on Human values. Because he is forced to pass as one of us, his point of view usually comes with a cynical and critical edge. But he can't quite get it right, this humanoid shape, though he continues to try. So he looks a little unfinished in a way. He's been working on it a long time. Someone might ask him: Why don't you take the form of a younger man. His answer: I would if I could. He has the adopted child syndrome, searching for his own personal identity. Although he doesn't know anything about his species, he is certain that justice is an integral part of their being, because the necessity for it runs through every fiber of his body – a racial memory. That's why he became a law man. He has a couple of Bajoran deputies; he doesn't allow weapons on the Promenade, and once every day he must return to his gelatinous form.
  Actor René Auberjonois describes Odo as "a very unformed being" who was  "trying to get some kind of shape to his life". Co-creator of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Michael Piller, speaks of Odo's role within the show as being prompted by needing "a character who represented the traditions of Spock and Data, the outsider who looks in at humanity."
  Late in the fifth season, in the episode "Children of Time", an Odo who has lived an additional 200 years tells the "current" Kira Nerys that he has loved her from the time their friendship first began. With this revelation, Kira and the "current" Odo eventually become a couple.
  According to the backstory of the series, Odo was found adrift in his natural gelatinous state in the Denorios Belt in the Bajoran system. Doctor Mora Pol studied him for seven years, not initially recognising him as a sentient being. Doctor Mora was later forced to recognise Odo's sentience when he copied a beaker on a laboratory table. Odo's name stemmed from the Cardassian language word "Odo'ital", meaning "nothing", which was the loose translation of the "unknown sample" label in Bajoran on his laboratory flask. Later on the story was slowly developed:  Over 200 years before, the "Changelings" "Great Link" [a planet in the Gamma Quadrant where Changelings exist in their "natural "gelatinous" form) had sent out 100 "Changelings" "Infants" in containers throughout the universe in order to see how other alien races to react to the presence to "Changelings". Of those sent out four have been accounted for:
  An unnamed "Changeling" which took the shape of a key in a locket who ended up in possession of Constable Odo ["Vortex"]
  An infant Changeling. Bought by Odo from Quark, Odo tries to teach the "infant" shapeshifting abilities. However the infant is dying due to radiation poisoning; it "joins" with Odo so that he can regain his "Shapeshifting" powers ("The Begotten")
  "Laas". Over 200 years old he ended up on the Valara planet where the name "Laas" means "Changeable"; he left when he realized that he was only being tolerated and would never be accepted. He ended up on Deep Space Nine. He killed a Klingon in self-defense who was going to assault him and with the help of Major Kira he escaped. He vows to search the 
caption: Odo was portrayed in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by actor René Auberjonois
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