Star Trek Icons: Is The Borg Queen Seven Of Nine’s Mother?
Star Trek: Voyager's Seven Of Nine & The Borg Queen Share A Unique Connection
Creatures hailing from all around the known galaxy are suddenly and inexplicably going batty Borg bonkers. They’re asking this bold question: Is The Borg Queen Seven Of Nine’s Mother?
Whoa… Say what!? Have ya flipped your Starfleet tinfoil hat? Are you overcooking and fracturing your dilithium crystals? OK. You know the drill. Serenity now! Pins and needles, needles and pins, it’s a happy life form who broadly grins!
Sure, I know what you’re most likely saying to yourself in absolute shock. Hardcore Trekkers undoubtedly will snicker heartily. They’ll say authoritatively, ‘Of course not! Annika Hansen is an Earth woman, a Borg – or more precisely, she’s a former Borg drone – who was assimilated as a child along with her real parents, Erin and Magnus Hansen, two bold Federation researchers who fell into the Borg collective clutches while observing them on a cultural information gathering mission.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, right?
Yes, sure, it’s all quite simple, straightforward and direct. The thrilling, spacey adventures of Star Trek: Voyager brought us all closer to grasping the nanoprobe nuances of Borg life. Scores of humans and other species are regularly assimilated and brought kicking and screaming into the bountiful Borg family. So, why do so many people think the fabled Borg Queen is Seven of Nine’s mom?
Because in a real sense, she is her mother.
Our Journey Into The Borg Wild
One can view Seven of Nine’s parents, the Hansens, as sort of animal researchers, plying their exploratory craft in the wilds of space. Much like say primate pioneers Diane Fossey or Jane Goodall, who while trying their best to remain uninvolved, monitored and scrutinized aspects of primate behavior by living alongside them in the wild.
The Hansens certainly didn’t want to be captured and assimilated, but when they were, little Annika was taken along for the Borg wild ride. And that, as best we know, is where their parental duties ended. The collective took over at that point. Seven’s parenting became streamlined; it was supervised by Borg drones and most likely augmented and supported by those nifty implants. Remember Locutus and his laser eye? Oh, how I’d love one of those gadgets!
It’s said that a Borg drone is never really alone – as long as they’re connected to the collective, the hive mind always keeps them company. Indeed, the cybernetic collective consciousness is always monitoring the thoughts and desires of each Borg member. On top of that familiar hierarchy is the Queen herself. The Borg Queen is not only leader and chief Borg strategist, but she’s also quite the maternal Queen. She’s arguably big, bad momma. Here’s what she said to Admiral Kathryn Janeway in Voyager’s final episode, Endgame.
You wish to ensure the well being of your collective. I can appreciate that.
Before that, earlier in the episode, The Borg Queen told Seven of Nine solemnly, “We’re family.”
Just what any mother would say about protecting her family – or in Seven’s case, child.
Family, as they famously say, you can’t choose em, or in this case, you can’t choose who assimilates you into their family. One thing’s for certain, once the Borg Collective get a firm hold of you, there’s little chance of you leaving the family - in one whole, sane piece, anyway.
In the end, we’re left with a family soap opera which makes The Godfather, The Waltons or The Sopranos realize there’s another family way more complicated than their own.
The manipulative Borg Queen may not be Seven of Nine’s mother – biologically. But just as is the case with an adopted child or foster family, the rearing of the individual by an adopting family has great impact and influence on the future development of the person. In Annika’s case, as Seven, she left one collective – The Borg – to eventually join her Starfleet family, Captain Janeway’s Voyager crew. So maybe, in the end, Seven comes out on top. She has two Moms – one, the ruthless Queen of the Borg, one a Starfleet monarch, commanding her warp capable kingdom headed home.