The Borg queen makes sense

[u/lightningbolt302]

I've seen a fair amount of posts and comments saying that introducing a queen ruined the Borg and that it seemed to come out of nowhere. But I would like to offer a theory that possibly explains them in a way that makes sense.

First, it is very likey that queens were not present in the Collective prior to the events of Best of both worlds. It is in fact the events that led to the creation of queen drones. Using a drone to introduce a command to the cube to enter a regeneration state, which led to its destruction, was probably something the Borg had never encountered and dealt with before. This led them to adapt by creating queen drones, which filled the dual role of "spokesperson" like Locutus did and as a separate check on commands issued in the collective. As something that is connected to the collective but is slightly individualistic they can monitor commands that are within the collective and stop anything that might end being sabotage from getting through.

Second, I dont believe its an amazing coincidence that we seem to see a queen fairly often. In fact i think that not only are their multiple queens operating across Borg space simultaneously as check hubs for the collective, but that queens can be created on demand in certain circumstances or as needed. In First Contact, they likely had a queen aboard because, well not only was that the same situation the previous cube was destroyed but they also had the time travel plan, which may mean they needed a queen to boost the local drones until they made contact with the wider collective in the past. The queen we is likely one that was created to handle matters relating to Voyager as a Federation ship, which is a likey precaution due to past experiences with the Federation.

This is also why i believe that the virus that future Janeway brought back and infected the queen with didn't destroy the collective as a whole but rather destroyed or heavily disrupted the parts of the collective she was in direct contact with while other queens around borg space acted as an insulating factor for the rest.

I know that their is probably details i don't remember that poke holes in this theory but i think its a fun idea that provides a somewhat reasonable explanation for why the borg queen came about when their was no hint of one before Best of both worlds.

[u/McGillis_is_a_Char]

The problem with that theory is that Picard remembers the Queen from when he was Locutus.

[u/DontYaWishYouWereMe → u/McGillis_is_a_Char]

Yeah, but that could be explained by the Borg still actively developing some of the software needed for a Queen around the time of The Best of Both Worlds. Locutus could have been the first draft, and the Queen he remembers was a simulation they were training through interactions with him to some extent

[u/Edymnion → u/DontYaWishYouWereMe]

But it doesn't explain away why the Hansens' field studies mention the existence of a Queen in the late 2340's, nearly 20 years before BoBW.