The Breen: An Overpowered Threat Or Just One Tiny Enemy?

After rewatching DS9 and playing as the Breen in Star Trek Bridge Commander I tried to convince myself that they were overpowered, but were they??

The Breen were a reclusive, powerful humanoid race that lived on the Planet Breen which was located in the Alpha Quadrant. The Breen were shrouded in mystery and were, therefore, one of the most underestimated races in that quadrant of space.

The Klingons were among the first who discovered that they did not tolerate incursions into their space. Chancellor Mow´ga ordered an entire fleet to invade and conquer Breen but never returned. The Romulans contact with the Breen resulted in the saying “Never turn your back on a Breen.” During the 24th century, the Breen conducted several raids on other Alpha Quadrant species and managed to capture the Ravinok in 2366. All survivors were used for slave labour in Breen operated dilithium mines. In the 24th century, a lot was unknown about the Breen and their government

(CBS) The Wreckage of the Ravinok – DS9: “Indiscretion”

In 2375 the Breen entered an alliance with the Dominion and started off with an attack on Earth causing huge destruction but with great loss to their own fleet. Now one question needs to be answered: Were the Breen really that overpowered? or are they just a one-time big hit.

After entering the War the Breen managed to get back the Chin´toka system because of the fact that they managed to disable all but one Federation-Romulan-Klingon alliance ships thanks to a so-called energy dampening weapon which well-drained the target´s energy. After a short while, Breen engineers began retrofitting the Dominion ships with said weapon.

Because of the fact that the Klingons managed to adapt to the only useful thing the Breen had it became obvious that a victory for the Dominion was not as close as expected. This caused them to fall back. A full-scale invasion was launched by the Federation-Alliance after all ships have been modified so that the energy dampening weapon was of no use. The Federation-Alliance had huge losses during the Battle and the Breen demonstrated a willingness to die which was close to the one the Jem´Hadar had.

(CBS) Energy dissipator hitting the U.S.S. Defiant – DS9 “The Changing Face of Evil”

The answer to my question is quite simple the Breen was a one-time big hit but to be fair a very powerful one. Without the Klingon ship that survived the second battle of Chin´Toka and the capture of a energy dampening weapon the Dominion might win thanks to them but as soon as their weapons had no effect the only advantage the Dominion had thanks to them was their now extremely huge fleet which would have been enough to defend Cardassia Prime and destroy the attacking fleet.

But if all the events that happened during “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” took place exactly the same way the Breen were just there like a spare part you could shoot at the Federation and not anymore as an effective weapon after their own energy dampening weapon turned out to be useless.

From my perspective, the Breen are a very interesting race. But honestly, I don´t think that they should have been featured that often. If you have them showing up in just a few episodes and make them a mysterious threat just like the Borg before “Voyager” kicked them to hell and the silent enemy from “Star Trek: Enterprise”.

This would have made them even more interesting and powerful.

If you want to support this channel maybe consider becoming a Patron by clicking HERE

Watch the newest video below:

Join the conversation

Leave A Comment

« Due to GDPR, EU users need to be logged into Facebook to read and leave comments »

Share this post

Facebook
Twitter
Reddit
Email
WhatsApp

Latest From Treksphere