Counselor Troi spent a lot of time on the bridge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and her presence has led to quite the theory.
While, at times, we saw Counselor Troi actually counseling people in her office, a good portion of the time, she was on the bridge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. She would tell the captain if a species they had encountered was being forthright with him or if he should tread carefully. But some fans speculate that Captain Picard was smart enough to deduce that on his own and have come up with an alternate reason for her presence in the command center. She was there to ensure that the ship’s crew could be trusted.
It sounds far-fetched, but on a ship the size of the Enterprise, it would be important to know if someone in the command structure was considering mutiny or was a spy. One would think she’d have been able to prevent a lot of problems from happening, if this was actually the case, though, like when Geordi had been programmed to kill. Wouldn’t she have picked up on that? Or were his emotions shielded? Of course, there were many times when she was unable to feel someone’s emotions.
Fans postulate that the Federation wanted to model the Betazoid world as Betazoids could read one another’s thoughts and were, therefore, unable to be anything other than honest. That was the hope for the future of the Federation. So by having Troi on the bridge, it ensured that honesty was at the forefront at all times.
Again, this might be considered far-fetched, but it’s definitely something to think about. Of course, then you have to consider whether or not the captain was aware of the real reason she was on the ship. It’s an interesting theory if not altogether a solid one as one would think if this was the case, we would have seen her reporting to Starfleet or, at the very least, know that she was in this role at some point.
What do you think? Was Counselor Troi on the Enterprise to be something more than a counselor?