Odo is actually not a humanoid at all, but a shapeless blob. He must daily return to this amorphous state or risk serious damage to his health. Therefore he spends part of each day in a bucket. He resents being obliged to take a humanoid form, but this resentment only emerges in his humorless cynicism and his frequent exasperated observations about the absurd behavior of the humanoids. The Cardassians ruled Bajor and Deep Space Nine with an iron fist and they were the authority figures with which Odo dealt. Although not overly fond of their ways, nor always approving of their methods, he appreciated the Cardassian inclination to pursue order.
Then, of course, there is Quark. Never an out-and-out felon, he was nevertheless the person most likely to be involved in any criminal activity on the Deep Space Nine station. This fact, combined with the knowledge that the Ferengi philosophy invariably conflicts with the laws of other cultures, made Quark a prime focus of Odo's watchful eye. Quark is probably Odo's main adversary. Paradoxically, if anyone could be described as Odo's friend, it would be Quark. Friend or enemy, Quark is the one person with whom Odo has an actual working relationship. Ever pragmatic in his search for justice, Odo sometimes trades on small infractions to gain Quark's unwilling aid in larger matters. Quark usually thinks he's getting the better of Odo but their goals are so radically different that Odo often comes out at an advantage. All in all, the relationship between Odo and Quark is a real give and take, which both aliens seem to relish.
Odo prefers working with Commander Sisko and the Federation to working with the Cardassians. But he sometimes misses the fact that his job was, on a procedural level at least, a great deal simpler during the Cardassian occupation. Sisko first encountered Odo shortly after his arrival on the station. Called to apprehend some thieves, Odo soon almost has them at bay when one throws a deadly weapon at him. Here Odo reveals his amazing shapeshifting powers to Sisko, bending the middle of his body out of the way of the weapon. When the criminal remains belligerent, Sisko fires a phaser blast into the air to end the conflict. Odo astounds him by telling the new Commander that no weapons are allowed on the Promenade, and promptly confiscates Sisko's weapon! Odo doesn't bend his beloved rules for anybody, not even his own superior officer. The other thief is Nog, Quark's nephew, probably put up to the theft by his own family members.
Odo was at first perplexed by Sisko's desire that Quark remain on board the space station, but soon understood the reason. Odo cannot help but admire Sisko's ruthless use of Nog's situation to force Quark to his way of thinking. Later, when the Cardassians renew their interest in the station and in Bajor after the wormhole appears, Quark demonstrated without a doubt that his loyalty is to the security of the station. Disguised as the bag in which some "lucky" Cardassians place their winnings after "winning" big at Quark's casino, Quark boards their ship and disables their sensor array and other systems. He thereby enables Sisko and Dax to leave the station in a runabout without being detected.
This episode also examined the relationship between Odo and Major Kira Nerys. It seems they have known each other for a long time. In fact, a later episode ("Necessary Evil") would reveal that they first met during the Cardassian occupation. Back then--which was also about the time Quark opened up for business on Deep Space Nine--Kira was a prime suspect in a murder investigation. Odo never solved the case, largely due to an alibi provided to Kira by the avaricious Quark. Some day, another case would reveal that Kira had actually been on the station as an operative of the Bajoran underground, and that she had killed the victim, although it was in self-defense. Though this discovery would come later, Odo's near-friendship with Kira has always held a lingering doubt from the case. This doubt surfaces in their discussion regarding Kira's mixed feelings about the presence of another Bajoran undergrounder on the station, one who is regarded as a terrorist even by other Bajoran freedom fighters. His efforts to enlist her in a mission actually proves, by episode's end, to be highly destructive. Odo demonstrates his sense of justice by instructing Kira that she needs to examine where her loyalties lie, and which course of action would be best for Bajor.
Of course, in his tenure as security chief on Deep Space Nine, Odo has had plenty of dealings with freedom fighters and/or terrorist. In "A Man Alone," Odo warned a middle-aged Bajoran on the Promenade that he has twenty-four hours to leave the station. Sisko later questioned Odo's action and Odo explained that the Bajoran, Ibodan by name, is a dubious character from the Bajoran underground. Although regarded as a hero by many due to his opposition of the Cardassians and their rules, he was, in Odo's eyes, nothing more than an opportunistic black marketeer.
When lbodan is murdered in a holosuite, a classic variation of the locked-door mystery scenario, suspicion falls on Odo, and Sisko must remove the shapeshifter from the investigation. To make matters worse, the Bajorans on the station are soon stirred up against Odo, goaded by a bearded Bajoran no one has seen before. We soon see how isolated Odo is from the other beings he must deal with in his lonely life. Luckily, there are those who share his sense of justice, and who stood beside him against mob violence. Dr. Bashir managed to uncover the bizarre truth: Ibodan cloned himself, murdered his own clone, and left the holosuite, explaining why DNA traces only revealed the presence of Ibodan. The bearded man is actually Ibodan in disguise. Ibodan is unpleasantly surprised when Odo arrests him for murder again--this time for killing his own clone!
This storyline revealed the real odds with which Odo deals every day. Unaware of his own origin, forced to live among and mimic the shape of aliens, he is truly a being alone in the universe, with only his own moral code to protect him. He was further isolated in the episode entitled "Babel." He was one of the few characters not afflicted by the aphasia virus left on the station by terrorists. When the crisis peaks, Odo has no choice but to accept Quark as an ally.
Odo's resourcefulness and courage are undeniable. These traits are exemplified by his willingness to go face-to-face with the hunting aliens who invade Deep Space Nine in "Captive Pursuit." Like Sisko, Odo is appalled by the nature of the hunt involving Tosk. He is not too territorial to protest loudly when O'Brien insists on escorting Tosk to alien custody; and he is sensible enough to pick up Sisko's hint when O'Brien helps Tosk escape. He is, after all, more interested in justice than he is in mere protocol.
Odo takes his position on Deep Space Nine seriously, perhaps too seriously. He is loath to surrender any of his authority. Even so, in "The Passenger," he allowed--with his usual lack of humor--a Starfleet security officer named Lieutenant George Primmin to take charge of security measures surrounding a crucial deuridium shipment to the station. As Primmin takes charge, one of the most compelling mysteries of Odo's career was unfolding. Rao Vantaka, a murderer who has left a trail of death across the galaxy in the past twenty or thirty years, arrived on the station. Vantaka was a prisoner of Ty Kajada and arrived only to die in Doctor Bashir's arms. Vantaka will going to make trouble anyway: it seems that Ty Kajada, after having tracked her prey for twenty years, is not convinced that he is dead, as he has convincingly faked his own death many times in the past.
Vantaka was on his way to steal the very deuridium shipment that is about to arrive. Deuridium is particularly valuable to Kobliads, the species to which Kajada and Vantaka belong, because it can actually be utilized to extend their life spans. The apparently deceased Vantaka was particularly obsessed with life extension--at least with the extension of his own life, since he seemed to place little value on the lives of others. Odo had to cooperate with Kajada in her efforts to make sure that the criminal is really dead.
The shapeshifter really had his hands full with Vantaka, Kajada, and Primmin. Odo soon found that all his files--and all active files on the station--have been wiped from the computers. Odo's annoyance at Primmin's presence led him to offer his resignation to Sisko, who assured Odo that he is still in charge of all security on DS9.
In "Vortex," an alien named Croden is involved in a robbery planned by Quark, but kills a Miradorn in the process. In custody, Croden is in danger of being killed by the Miradorn's surviving twin. Odo must prevent vigilante justice from claiming his prisoner's life. Croden has something that might interest Odo: he claims to have visited a planet in the Gamma Quadrant where there are shapeshifters, an entire civilization of them. He shows Odo an artifact containing a mineral which transforms, right before Odo's eyes, into metal, and then back again. He tries to win the shapeshifting constable's sympathies with the alluring possibility of an answer to the riddle of Odo's origins. He claims to know the way to the shapeshifter colony on an asteroid in the Chamra Vortex.
They discover that Croden is wanted on several charges on his home world of Rakhar. He is considered to be an "enemy of the people." Commander Sisko assigns Odo to take the prisoner Rakhar and hand him over for extradition. The voyage is complicated by the pursuit of the Miradorn, who will, if he must, kill Odo along with Croden in his quest to avenge the murder of his twin. The Miradorn attacks just as the runabout arrives near the Chamra Vortex. Because the Miradorn ship completely outclasses Odo's runabout, Odo decides to go into the Vortex, where ionized gases hide them.
Once again, we see that Odo's primary motivation is justice. When he realizes that Croden is the victim of institutionalized injustice, he is more than willing to lie outright in order to help the man and his daughter find a better, more peaceful future.
Odo's vulnerable side came to the fore in "The Forsaken," when he is trapped in a turbolift with Lwaxana Troi! In this episode, Odo captures a thief who stole Lwaxana's prized jewelry. The notorious Betazoid woman becomes fascinated with Odo and starts giving him more attention than he would like. A series of systems failures assail the space station and the two are trapped together. Here we learn a lot about Odo: raised in a lab on Bajor, he was used as a source of amusement. He was asked to change into any object the researchers imagine, animate or inanimate.
Odo's confessions are soon interrupted as the end of his daily cycle grows near, and he must revert to his liquid state. No one has ever seen him in that state before (except, presumably, the researchers who "raised" him) and he is somewhat embarrassed by its approach. To put him at ease, Lwaxana Troi removes her bright red wig, revealing the more ordinary real hair beneath. Then she forms her skirt into a pouch into which Odo flows. This scene is an interesting encounter in lowered defenses.
Later, Lwaxana Troi hints to Odo that their next encounter might be intimate in another manner entirely. Needless to say, Odo has never met anyone quite like her, but it seems he finds her style intriguing. Of course, humanoids are generally interesting through the eyes of an amorphous shapeshifter.
Security chief, alien, shapeshifter: Odo's origins are shrouded in mystery. Fifty years before the arrival of the Federation at Deep Space Nine, he was discovered adrift in a spaceship in the Denorios asteroid belt near Bajor. The newfound being had no memory of who he was or where he originated. Named Odo by the Bajorans who discovered him, he lived on Bajor for many years after his discovery. Able to transform himself into any object--a chair, a pencil--he was regarded as a freak by many, which may account for his grim and isolated personality. He opted to take a generally humanoid form in order to function among the races, Bajoran and Cardassian.
Lawman
In time Odo became the head of security on the station. The head Cardassian, Gul Dukat, trusted Odo because of his sincere interest in justice and the fact that he was immune to all temptations. Money, food, sex and the vices of most humanoids held no interest for the shapeshifter, who may not actually even possess a natural gender; no one knows for sure. Gul Dukat was willing to risk the occasional instance where Odo's impartiality would conflict with Cardassian political interests. This was preferable to giving the job to an ambitious Cardassian who might use the position to build a power base, and this was a great deal easier than co-opting a Bajoran for the job. A Bajoran in the position of security would very likely have been a member of the Bajoran resistance, something Dukat could not risk.
The More Things Change...
It was quite a remarkable tribute to Odo's honesty that the Federation--and the Bajorans--allowed him to retain his position as security chief on the Deep Space Nine station. This role appealed to him. hen the Cardassians left, they stripped both planet and space station of everything of value. In the ensuing chaos, Odo clearly saw himself as a much-needed preserver of law and order, as well as a force for continuity. Much to Odo's chagrin, Commander Sisko also felt that Quark was an equally important force for continuity, and asked the Ferengi to stay as well. So their cat-and-mouse game can continue indefinitely.
Odo and Kira
Odo is always pragmatic, and is dryly bemused by procedural matters. When Lursa and B'Etor, the Klingon sisters of the late Duras, show up suspiciously on Deep Space Nine (in the episode "Past Prologue"), Odo thinks the best way to forestall any trouble is to alert the Klingon government to the presence of these renegades and then hand them over. He is hardly surprised, though, when Commander Sisko prefers to watch and wait. (Sometimes, if Odo had his way, there wouldn't be much happening in any given episode of the show!) Dryly, he comments that life under the Cardassians was easier. Is there a glimmer of cynical humor in Odo's acerbic comments? Perhaps. But Sisko's does approach gives viewers the chance to see a rat observing a shady Klingon transaction then morphing into Odo. He's the perfect undercover cop!
Old Debts
According to the shapeshifter, Ibodan once let a girl die because she could not afford his price for a black market drug. Later, Odo managed to convict the man for murdering a Cardassian, but when the Cardassians left, the provisional government of Bajor set the "hero" free. Sisko was adamant that lbodan's presence is not technically illegal, but Odo is determined to get the man off the station. He sums up his philosophy by saying: "Laws change depending on who's making them, but justice is justice." Odo's commitment is to justice, on a very deep level, not to trivial and transitory rules. But to outside ears, this sounds dangerously like a man ready to go to any lengths to settle a personal grudge.
Odo Investigates
Odo is particularly challenged by the near abduction of Jadzia Dax by Klaestron intruders. The Klaestron insist that Jadzia be charged with a murder they say was committed by Curzon Dax, years earlier. Odo is bent out of shape (figuratively speaking, not literally) when these intruders almost manage to sweep Dax off the station right under his nose. Playing detective, Odo begins to suspect that the widow of the murdered man is holding back something. Examining communication records, he develops the hypothesis that Curzon Dax and this woman were having an affair at the time of the murder--not necessarily good news, as far as Sisko is concerned, since all that Odo has managed to turn up is a reasonable motive for murder! However, once Odo confronts the woman with this theory, she comes to the trial and provides Curzon Dax with a perfect alibi: he was sleeping with her at the time of the murder. Here, Odo looked beyond the obvious and brought justice to bear once again and, in the process, saved one of his compatriots on Deep Space Nine.
Behind the Scenes
Not surprisingly, Odo's nemesis Quark was involved in Vantaka's scheme. The wily Ferengi assumed that the deal was off when Vantaka died, but was surprised to see a shadowy figure with Vantaka's voice insisting that the deal is still on. Dax, meanwhile, had studied Vantaka's effects and found that he had been working on a viable means of transferring consciousness from one body to another. Dax and the Doctor agreed that Vantaka's pursuer Kajada was the most likely suspect in this scenario. Odo was thus obliged to exclude Kajada from any further involvement in the investigation. However, it is really Dr. Bashir who has been taken over by Vantaka. The resolution of this episode really tests Odo and the crew of Deep Space Nine. In the end, meanwhile, Odo finds Lieutenant Primmin to be a real asset in the investigation. He reconsiders his original harsh judgment of the young officer, who appears again on at least one more episode of Deep Space Nine. So we see that, despite his harsh ways, Odo can be... flexible.
A Hint of the Future
Finally, they land on the asteroid on which Croden claims to have encountered the shapeshifters. Odo soon realizes that it was a ruse: Croden's daughter is in a hidden cave, in a stasis device. His daughter is the only survivor of Croden's family; the repressive government of his world killed his wives as punishment for his political opposition. When the Miradorn attacks, they move the girl to the runabout. They elude the Miradorn who, firing on the asteroid, is destroyed when the gasses surrounding his ship explode. Convinced that Croden is a man driven to desperate measures by the cruel injustice of his home world, Odo reports that the man was killed on the asteroid. He then finds Croden and his daughter passage on a Vulcan ship. As a token of gratitude, they give him the shapeshifting pendant--perhaps it will someday serve as a clue to his background.
Justice is Justice
In the relatively short period of time that has elapsed since the end of the Cardassian occupation, Odo has decided that the Federation, and its local representative Commander Benjamin Sisko, are infinitely preferable to his previous experiences as an employee of the fascistic and militaristic Cardassians. And so he stays. Perhaps the Gamma Quadrant on the other side Bajor will reveal Odo's origins, but he has yet to pursue that possibility as it would mean abandoning his hard-earned position on the station. Although he does not know much about his species, he is certain that justice is an integral part of their culture. Odo does not always follow the letter of the law: he believes that laws change but justice forever remains the same.