It was beyond obvious that Michael Eddington was always going to be a villain on Deep Space Nine.
When we talk about the great villains on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the first two who always come up first are Gul Dukat and Kai Winn, the two central antagonists across the series. And they were incredible villains at that. The duo caused the bar to raised to its highest point ever when it came to the quality of the series’ villains.
Yet, they weren’t the only villains on the series were mentioning, One of the most popular to watch in action was that of the Starfleet officer, turned Maquis terrorist, Michale Eddington. His betrayal wasn’t that surprising but it wasn’t exactly obvious either. At least not on your first watch.
His arrival showed a stark disrespect for Odo who was the Constable of the space station. Eddington was the one to whom Starfleet entrusted the security of the station towards. This doesn’t mean that Eddington shared in the Federations concerns of Odo, in fact, he wanted to consider Odo a friend.
Yet, his arrival marked a very xenophobic moment in the show’s history, and Eddington was the face of that decision. That wasn’t a sign that Eddington couldn’t be trusted, but it was the first of many small moments that clearly gave away Eddington’s eventual turn.
Michael Eddington was always the villain
During his time on Deep Space Nine and subsequently the Defiant, Eddington behaved oddly. He disabled the Defiants’ cloaking shields upon an order from a Starfleet admiral, but instantly came forward, threw said Admiral under the bus, and then started becoming chummy with Captain Benjamin Sisko.
Almost too chummy. The way Eddington spoke to Sisko, especially about Sisko’s recent promotion to captain, really tipped the hand that Eddington wasn’t like everyone else. He wasn’t chatting with Sisko to further see how Eddington could improve his lot, but he spoke to Sisko as if he was mourning his own career. As if Eddington wanted to be what Sisko was; a captain of a Starfleet vessel.
But knowing all along he was never going to earn that spot.
By the time his turn came in “For the Uniform”, it should’ve been obvious that Eddington was off and couldn’t be trusted. And while he himself was just a tool by the Federation to keep an eye on Odo, fans should’ve known nothing could come from a man who would follow such orders.