# I think I found a plot hole in the Dominion War (DS9, Spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740 "2004-09-09T05:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/1 "2004-09-09T05:29:16Z")
So, in the final season, in the episode _When it Rains…_ we discover that Odo is infected with the mysterious Founders’ Disease. It is theorized that he got the disease when he linked with the Female Founder in _Behind the Lines_ at the beginning of season 6. But, to everyone’s horror, we learn that the disease was given to Odo by Section 31 when he was on Earth, in _Homefront_ and _Paradise Lost_ way back in season 4. So, that’s all good. Odo must have transmitted the disease to the Female Founder in _Behind the Lines_. But, how did the virus get back to the Great Link. At the end of season 5, they mined the entrance to the wormhole, which is why the Female Founder was trapped, by her own admission, in the alpha quadrant. And in _Sacrifice of Angels_, Sisko convinces the wormhole aliens/prophets to stop all the Dominion ships coming through the wormhole. Now, it’s never made entirely clear, but I always assumed that this meant the wormhole was closed to everyone. We never see anyone come or go through the wormhole until after the war ends, so how did the few changelings in the alpha quadrant transmit the virus to the rest of the Great Link? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/2 "2004-09-09T14:08:30Z")
More importantly, how was the wormhole used for conquest of the other end on three separate occasions, even though the wormhole aliens vowed they would stop anybody who tried to do it? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/3 "2004-09-09T15:52:42Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > how was the wormhole used for conquest of the other end … wormhole aliens vowed they would stop anybody who tried to do it? The fleets snuck through while the wormhole aliens were watching _Friends_. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/4 "2004-09-09T16:54:01Z")
I’m at work right now and don’t have access to my DS9 Companion but I’m pretty sure he infected the Great Link in S4 or S5 when he was stripped of his abilities and excommunicated. When I get off, I’ll try to remember to look at the book (it’s sitting open on the floor beside my bed… such a wonderful little book) and find the episode to see what the writers and producers have to say about that plot point. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/5 "2004-09-09T17:12:34Z")
A more difficult but rewarding trivia game to play in the Star Trek universe is to spot \*non-\*holes: Find instances of a solution being indicated in one episode, then used to solve a similar problem in a later episode. The trick is that the second episode needs to have been written by somebody other than the one who wrote the first episode. We had a thread a while back about maddening plot holes in the Trekverse. It went to a great many pages, the final result being “This is what happens when you have a different writing crew every episode.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/6 "2004-09-10T03:40:29Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I’m at work right now and don’t have access to my DS9 Companion but I’m pretty sure he infected the Great Link in S4 or S5 when he was stripped of his abilities and excommunicated. Well that makes perfect sense. :smack: That happened at the end of season 4, before the wormhole was mined and after Section 31 gave Odo the virus. How did I forget that? Plot Hole averted! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/7 "2004-09-10T03:48:02Z")
Glad to hear I’m right. I came home and looked in the book but the last ten episodes of the series are treated as one since it’s just one huge storyline and I really didn’t want to have to wade through it all considering how out of it I’ve been all day. And what three conquests are you talking about Ethilirist? And non-holes? I’m a bit fuzzy brained from too much sleep so can you put it in Pakled for me or something? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/8 "2004-09-10T09:28:19Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > More importantly, how was the wormhole used for conquest of the other end on three separate occasions, even though the wormhole aliens vowed they would stop anybody who tried to do it? When did they vow this? They only ever stopped the 1 Dominion Fleet, and this was because Sisko demanded it. And as ‘punishment’ didn’t they say something about Bajor never being his home or something? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/9 "2004-09-10T14:16:04Z")
**OOW** : The series premiere? When they went into the Wormhole and Sisko got to lie in a vat of yellow jello and experience non-linear time? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-found-a-plot-hole-in-the-dominion-war-ds9-spoilers/263740/10 "2004-09-10T14:26:21Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > **OOW** : The series premiere? When they went into the Wormhole and Sisko got to lie in a vat of yellow jello and experience non-linear time? I remember the sequence (never liked it personally), but I don’t recall that promise/vow being made, just a discussion about Sisko ‘living’ at Wolf 359 and general confusion about linear time.