Tears of the Prophets or Orbs are a set of artifacts which featured prominently in the story arcs of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. According to Bajoran religious tradition, they were sent to the Bajoran people from the Prophets to help guide them, hence their name.
The Bajoran orbs are somewhat mysterious in that they defy scientific analysis. They are hourglass-shaped and emanate light and a visible field of energy. Each Orb has a unique power or property; some will create visions, others (such as the Orb of Time), can actually transport a person to another time. After an Orb encounter, individuals may experience later visions known as orb shadows. Although medical science explains these residual hallucinations as the result of excess neuropeptides in the brain, Bajorans believe that Orb shadows only result when individuals ignore what their Orb experience had told them.
The first four of the nine original Orbs are named in Deep Space Nine. The fifth, the Orb of Memory, is featured but not directly named. The tenth Orb, the Orb of the Emissary, is also named. The remaining Orbs (6-9) are identified in various Star Trek novels.
Bajorans believe the devices were sent by the Prophets to communicate with the Bajoran people. As gifts from their gods, these orbs are highly prized, kept in ornate jeweled cases and conventionally guarded by force fields. Nine such orbs, at least five of which were found in the Denoris Belt, were recovered by the Bajoran people during their long history. Of these nine, many were stolen or desecrated by the Cardassians during the Cardassian Occupation, and at least one is known to have fractured (see "The Storyteller"). A tenth Orb, the Orb of the Emissary, was discovered by Captain Benjamin Sisko on the planet Tyree. This Orb was (presumably) hidden there by his mother, Sarah Sisko, who was acting under the influence of the Prophets.
The Bajoran Orbs are:
- The Orb of Time
- The Orb of Wisdom
- The Orb of Prophecy and Change
- The Orb of Contemplation
- The Orb of Memory
- The Orb of Destiny
- The Orb of Truth
- The Orb of Souls
- The Orb of Unity
- The Orb of the Emissary
- A reported fragment of an orb is in The Storyteller
Read more about this topic: Prophet (Star Trek)
Famous quotes containing the word orbs:
“Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire:
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moones sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)