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Why do many Star Trek fans insist that Trelane could have been from the Q Continuum, when he needed a device to enhance his powers?

GalacticCriminal
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  • The dupe explicitly answers this. Because he was later retconned (in an EU novel) to be a Q – Valorum Oct 07 '17 at 11:27
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    Novels are not considered canon. – GalacticCriminal Oct 07 '17 at 11:31
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    You asked why some fans think he's a Q, not whether he's a Q in canon. – Valorum Oct 07 '17 at 11:34
  • I was just given my opinion as well, My intention wasn't to be a jerk :) – GalacticCriminal Oct 07 '17 at 11:35
  • For the record, the encyclopedia (which is canon) thinks his article should be cross-referenced with the one on the Q; https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/21806/is-trelane-related-to-or-associated-with-the-q-continuum/82250#82250 – Valorum Oct 07 '17 at 11:41
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    Omnipotence precludes error, how do you explain Trelane's mistakes? Also reading that stub, I read the comments and many felt the same as I do that He isn't Q. I'm not arguing with you BTW, I just like to debate. :) – GalacticCriminal Oct 07 '17 at 11:53
  • He's young. As we see with Amanda, omnipotence isn't one of the Q's powers inherently. – Valorum Oct 07 '17 at 12:06
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    Omniscience precludes error, omnipotence doesn't. All knowing and all powerful are separate things. – Separatrix Oct 07 '17 at 12:13

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An omnipotent being that made several mistakes? Fire without heat, food and drink without taste? He makes a mistake of the current era. A true Q wouldn’t make such errors. Spock even calls Trelane out on his mistakes, stating that he’s not omnipotent, that he only knows only forms of human society, not the substance. Kirk concludes that a machine is helping him and Kirk guesses correctly that it’s the mirror, due to the fact that Trelane never strays far from it.

Kirk shoots the mirror during a duel with Trelane and his powers for a time diminish. Yes he still had powers, but it could also be speculated that he had other devices on the planet. Trelane even at one point says to Kirk, “Did you think the mirror was my only source of instrumentality of power”. Eluding to that he needed technology to use his powers and he did in fact have other devices. I think it’s more likely that being he needed to use a device(s) that he could be of the same species of the god aliens from Pollux IV. They also had powers that were enhanced with devices. (TOS episode Who Mourns for Adonais) Being an omnipotent being, precludes error and Trelane makes many errors.

Q- Squared,or any other novels wouldn't count.The Star Trek franchise has always had the standing guidelines that it’s not canon until on screen, i.e. in a Star Trek televised episode or movie.

Milton made a valid point in Paradise Lost, about how the nature of God as traditionally presented as an absolutely good being; actually diminishes God's ability. Due to God being seen as good, God can only do good, and thus is not actually omnipotent in a functional sense. In fact one could argue that the Christian God almost doesn't qualify as intelligent or omnipotent, as that entity would lack the capacity to deviate from a rigidly defined set of parameters.

The Q, on the other hand, are functionally omnipotent. Not only are they capable of everything allowed within reality, they're capable of changing the rules of reality itself. They can choose to die as well as live, and they can choose to do good or evil. They can also produce baby Q's, meaning they theoretically still have the capacity to evolve to be even more powerful over time. Of course that's slightly problematic from a logical standpoint, but that hardly matters. The Q have the perfect solution to paradoxes; they just change the rules the rest of the universe is using. Trelane has none of those awesome powers!

GalacticCriminal
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