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I know it sounds strange, but hear me out.

Harry Mudd was last seen trapped on a planet of super advanced androids that operated with a shared consciousness. These androids wanted to study humans in order to serve, and were willing to imprison the entire crew of the Enterprise to achieve that goal. They were not malicious, merely single minded.

As we know, the crew of the Enterprise were able to escape via a cunning use of silliness, which the androids could not process. But when the Enterprise left, Harry Mudd was still on that planet. Up until this point the androids had tried peaceful methods of obtaining humans to study (adopting attractive non-threatening appearances and serving humans) which were unsuccessful, as we saw in the episode "I, Mudd" (S2E8 of TOS).

Here's where my theory comes into play. The androids still had the directive to study and understand humans, but they had reached the limit of what they could learn from mere observation. One of the Alice series gyndroids said that their medical facilities were capable of placing a human brain in an android body, so they are capable of incorporating biological material into their technology, and if they incorporated Harry Mudd into their shared consciousness, they could learn a great deal more. But the Norman android clearly stated that Harry Mudd was a flawed specimen, and their need to understand humans would likely remain after assimilating him. They would likely seek out new specimens to learn from, and they would likely abandon their peaceful approach since it was not as effective as merely assimilating the specimen into their "collective".

I know that the Borg's directive is purely to assimilate all organic life, but this could be a natural conclusion to Norman's claim that the best way to serve humans is to control them. What better way to control humans than incorporating them into a single-minded collective?

Bear in mind that if the chronology of this theory does not fit, the Star Trek universe has had multiple instances of time-travel, and it is possible for any chronological inconsistencies to be explained away with time-travel.

Having outline my little theory, I have a request. If there are any things in the Trek Universe (excluding the rebooted cinematic universe) that could support or invalidate my theory, please alert me to their existence.

Is there anything to support or reject this hypothesis?

Mithical
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Magikarp Master
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  • This seems like an opinion based question. StackOverflow is for asking questions that have objective answers, not for asking subjective and speculative questions. – RichS Jun 19 '17 at 17:31
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    @RichS - Although it's posed as a theory, we have enough info to make a qualified guess. Note that we've had other similar questions that have been well-received by the community; https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/141063/is-there-any-connection-between-the-bynar-and-the-borg/141070#141070 – Valorum Jun 19 '17 at 17:37
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    we already have a question about the borgs origins, would not all subsequent questions be dupes of that, and this then really just be a potential answer. – Himarm Jun 19 '17 at 18:14
  • https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/426/what-was-the-origin-of-star-treks-borg – Himarm Jun 19 '17 at 18:14
  • @Himarm - None of those definitively address the genesis of the Borg. They just offer conflicting non-canon origin stories and various fan-theories. – Valorum Jun 19 '17 at 18:18
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    Possible duplicate of What was the origin of Star Trek's Borg? – Himarm Jun 19 '17 at 18:20
  • @Valorum this should be put in as an answer on that question, and voted on accordingly. otherwise we could simply ask a question about every answer we want to type up, without the negative downvotes of a wrong answer. – Himarm Jun 19 '17 at 18:21
  • @Himarm - We can't turn those answers into a definitive list of who's not responsible. – Valorum Jun 19 '17 at 18:25
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    This is called "Small Universe Thinking." – Ham Sandwich Jun 19 '17 at 18:32
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    Okay, may I ask for a general consensus on what should be done with this question? I understand that it appears similar to other questions about the origin of the Borg, but I would argue that it is fundamentally different to those questions as it is a theory about the possible origins of the Borg. "Who broke the vase?" and "Did you break the vase Timmy?" are different questions with potentially different answers. I can understand not wanting to allow wild speculation like "is Deadpool the progenitor of the Borg?" but I feel I gave enough evidence to make it a relevant question. – Magikarp Master Jun 19 '17 at 18:58
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    For me - David Mack's Star Trek: Destiny trilogy is the best origin story for the Borg. It's not tv/film canon, but the recent slate of novels have made serious efforts to be consistent with each other and the existing "official" canon. – NKCampbell Jun 19 '17 at 19:30
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    If its all Mudd's fault, then clearly the Tribbles also evolved into Species 8472, and their war with the Borg actually goes all the way back to those days. – T.E.D. Jun 19 '17 at 19:53
  • Well, there is logic to your suggestion TED. The extremely rapid rate of reproduction that the Tribble undergoes would mean that they would be capable of evolving and adapting at rate one would normally expect to see in viruses and bacteria. This would allow them to evolve into the apex of biological life-forms. I assume you suggestion was in jest, and I do love the idea of 2 of the biggest threats in the Trek universe originating from I, Mudd and The Trouble with Tribbles, but the suggestion holds some merit in my opinion. – Magikarp Master Jun 19 '17 at 20:01
  • STTNG episode "Q Who?", the very first Borg story has these lines: PICARD: Guinan, how much more can you tell us about these creatures? GUINAN: Bits and pieces. PICARD: Anything would help. GUINAN: They're made up of organic and artificial life which has been developing for thousands of centuries. -
    • This seems to imply that the Borg have existed as Borg for hundreds of thousands of years and thus all of the suggested origin stories for the Borg are set countless thousands of years too late.
     – M. A. Golding Jun 20 '17 at 01:23
  • @M.A.Golding that would be an answer to this question. – SQB Jun 20 '17 at 08:15
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    @M.A.Golding - Was thinking exactly along those lines. Perhaps the androids sensed the danger, and shunted the Tribbles off into a alternate dimension until they could figure out how to evolve enough to compete and wipe the Tribbles out. Turns out Androids and Tribbles are the pirates vs ninjas of the Trek Universe. – T.E.D. Jun 20 '17 at 13:31

2 Answers2

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Harry Mudd is almost certainly not the progenitor of the Borg.

While the very short answer is that while we don't actually know how the Borg came into being, there are a couple of theories discussed here (Was V'ger responsible for the creation of the Borg?) and here (What was the origin of Star Trek's Borg?), none of which mention Mudd.

What we do know is that the Borg were originally intended to be an insectile species, augmented with technolology (Did the Borg originally have another name (and if so, what was it)?) and like other species mooted as possible progenitors, such as the Bynars, we can probably rule out Mudd's androids (or the species who made them) because their tech, although superficially similar isn't based on nano-technology in the same way that the Borg are.

You may also wish to note that the Borg apparently have very limited knowledge of the Alpha Quadrant and humanity in general. If they'd come from his androids, presumably via a wibbly-wobbly time-hole in order to make the timelines fit, they'd certainly know about those things.

Valorum
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    Your answer is a veritable stake through the heart of my little theory. Part of me hoped that I could make this theory work (Harcourt Fenton Mudd is my favourite character in the entire Trek universe), but I cannot let my feelings get in the way of objective fact. – Magikarp Master Jun 19 '17 at 17:43
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    @MagikarpMaster - All it takes is a stroke of the writer's pen to make it so. But I doubt they will. Mudd is a product of his time, misogynistic, pudgy and written humorously. None of those things will appear in a future Trek serial. All characters in the NuNuTrek will be skinny as rakes, muscular and joyless. – Valorum Jun 19 '17 at 17:46
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    Although - Mudd is going to be in Star Trek Discovery - played by Rainn Wilson - http://trekmovie.com/2017/05/25/rainn-wilsons-harry-mudd-to-appear-in-more-than-one-episode-of-star-trek-discovery/ – NKCampbell Jun 19 '17 at 19:32
  • @MagikarpMaster : I personally think that the Voyager episode I mention is a more definite answer, at least in-Universe. However, great answer by Valorum as usual :) – Hans Olo Jun 19 '17 at 19:36
  • @Loki - The problem is that we know that the Borg have a mastery of time travel. That makes all bets off when it comes to comparing years. – Valorum Jun 19 '17 at 20:09
  • @NKCampbell - Hmm. He's hardly pudgy, but I'll allow it – Valorum Jun 19 '17 at 20:17
  • Also I 5hink the Borg number the species in order they meet them, so what was the number for humans again? – PlasmaHH Jun 19 '17 at 20:20
  • @PlasmaHH - Species 5618 – Valorum Jun 19 '17 at 20:31
  • Magikarp Master - a sharper stake is STTNG episode "Q Who?" dialog when the Borg are introduced: Guinan tells Picard about the Borg: GUINAN: They're made up of organic and artificial life which has been developing for thousands of centuries. - This seems to imply that the Borg have existed as Borg for hundreds of thousands of years and thus all of the suggested origin stories for the Borg are set countless thousands of years too late. http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/142.htm – M. A. Golding Jun 20 '17 at 01:31
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According to the episode: Dragon's teeth from Voyager, that takes place in the 24th century, the Borg already existed in the Delta Quadrant 900 years ago from that time (~15th century AD), albeit being only a nuisance and controlling a few systems.

Therefore, I would say that there's zero chance, time-travel shenanigans aside, that Mudd was related to the Borg.

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Hans Olo
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  • I am sad to admit that I am a tad uneducated when it comes to Voyager, so I had to make a stop at memory alpha. Your answer is indeed helpful, provided that time-travel is not used as all purpose plot filler. – Magikarp Master Jun 19 '17 at 19:45
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    @MagikarpMaster Voyager is not my favorite Trek by any means, but it's definitely very under-appreciated. There are some episodes, eg Scorpion, Year of Hell etc, that are real gems. – Hans Olo Jun 19 '17 at 19:47
  • And despite it's relative low standing in the fandom, many hold Jane Way as their favourite captain. Personally, no-one will ever come close to Picard. – Magikarp Master Jun 19 '17 at 19:52
  • I meant Janeway (I missed the window of opportunity on the edit) – Magikarp Master Jun 19 '17 at 20:03
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    @MagikarpMaster - There's the right way, the wrong way and the Jane Way. – Valorum Jun 19 '17 at 20:08
  • The borg also show up in Enterprise predating Harry Mudd – dsollen Jun 19 '17 at 21:01
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    @dsollen I don't want to give any spoilers, but I think that case falls under the "time-travel shenanigans" umbrella... :) – Hans Olo Jun 20 '17 at 17:27