When Seven of Nine was separated from the Borg collective, she had a difficult time assimilating to human life. Star Trek: Voyager painted her as a strong-willed, almost unyielding character at first, but she soon became a part of the crew. Even with her quirks and tendency to take things too literally, she made friends and found a home aboard the ship. But that didn’t change her past or her future, and for Brannon Braga, both of those were tragic. She was a human/Borg hybrid with death and destruction in her past and uncertainty and distrust ahead. Which is why Braga thought she should die in the final episode of the series, Endgame, and he even argued for it to happen.
Sacrificing herself to help the crew get home could have been seen as the ultimate gift to her friends. Beyond that, it could have possibly given her that atonement she was always seeking. She never forgave herself for the lives she’d destroyed while she was a member of the collective, and even though she had no choice in her actions, she still saw herself as culpable. Braga always considered her a “tragic character,” which, to him, meant she couldn’t change that much. Her past would always haunt her.
While Seven of Nine has moved on to Star Trek: Picard, she has suffered even more since leaving Voyager. The loss of Icheb sent her on a mission for revenge fueled by hatred. And there doesn’t seem to be a strong, positive influence in her life at present. Obviously, she and Chakotay didn’t remain a couple very long, and, with the loss of the man she called a son, she is essentially alone.
Granted, she now has PIcard’s crew and a possible romantic interest with Raffi, but there is still that part of Seven, not just the Borg implants, that will always remind her of who she is and what she’s done. And though she found a level of happiness aboard Voyager, it’s difficult to imagine she will ever find enough to be at peace. And it makes me wonder if death will be her ultimate fate before Star Trek: Picard ends its run.