The Borg are, hands down, one of the most beloved and famed enemies in all of Star Trek. Their oppressive, incessant tactics have pushed humanity to their limit. The fact they almost wiped out all of Starfleet is horrifying enough. Lucky for The Federation, though, Borg don’t have to stay that way. Quite a few de-assimilated Borg now live out in the universe as individuals.
As Star Trek: Picard nears, and seems to be bringing back the Borg in a big way, it also will be bringing back some Borg classics. One example is the first known Borg to ever become his own man, Hugh.
For Trekkies who need a little refresher, here is Everything You Need To Know About Hugh Before Picard.
Leader of Borg Rebels
When Hugh went back to the Borg, apparently his individuality was contagious and infected his entire collective. Within days, the cube devolved into chaos and ultimately crash-landed on a nearby planet. Quite a few drones survived, though, and adjusted poorly to being disconnected. Lore, Data’s evil brother, found them took advantage of their confusion.
However, Hugh and other Borg realized he was using them and rebelled. With the Enterprise’s help, they took the planet from Lore and created their own little outpost with Hugh as the leader. As the one who understood himself best, he was able to show the rest how to find their own personalities. That’s where Star Trek fans last saw him, before Picard.
Saved By The Enterprise
Hugh and a couple other Borg were on a recon mission when their scout ship crash-landed. The others perished, but Hugh survived. The Enterprise took the opportunity to study him. Geordi and Dr. Crusher using their engineering and medical knowledge to learn everything they could about him. Along the way, they healed him and taught him about individuality. Over time, they named him Hugh and he started to see himself as Geordi’s friend and as a single being.
If it wasn’t for The Enterprise, Hugh probably would have passed away on that planet or be recycled by the Borg for spare parts. They helped save him from certain destruction.
Almost Was Used As A Destructive Virus
The Enterprise saved Hugh from his systems failing on an alien planet. When the collective was coming to find him, Picard and the crew were looking into ways to use Hugh to cripple the Borg. If they hid a virus in his systems that activated when he regenerated, they could destroy at least a whole cube in one fatal swoop.
However, the more they learned about Hugh, the more unethical that seemed. The crew started to care about him and didn’t want to use him as a proverbial bomb. While Picard initially dug in his heels and tried to force the issue, he eventually caved like everyone else. Good for them, because they gave the cube an even more infectious virus: freedom.
Tricked By Lore
The largest problem with Borg de-assimilation is tackling the concept of individuality and losing perfection. After all, in the Borg collective the first doesn’t matter and the second is their constant goal. Without constant directives, Hugh’s cube of suddenly individualized Borg fell into complete chaos.
When they landed on a nearby planet, a roaming Lore took easy advantage of them. They were powerful, technically minded, and lost without a leader.
Even Hugh wasn’t strong-willed enough to know Lore wasn’t trying to help; he was just trying to use the Borg for his own gain.
Sacrificed Himself To Save The Enterprise
Over his time on the Enterprise, Hugh ended up making friends with Geordi and Dr. Crusher. As an individual, he was curious and very philosophical. But, even better, he became very attached to his new friends, passionately wanting to defend them.
When the Borg Cube came after The Enterprise to find him, the ship wanted to fight to protect him. Hugh, now a selfless friend of two humans, wanted to protect them all from being assimilated. Of his own free will, Hugh went back to the Borg Cube so that it wouldn’t attack The Enterprise. What a hero.
Didn’t Revert His Borg Tech
The most well-known Borg in Star Trek is, by far, Seven on Nine. After leaving the collective, she removed as many Borg parts as possible. All that was left included her ocular implant and some hand tech. She looked much closer to a human with a few tech implants than she did Borg.
Differently, Hugh and his fellow Borg rebels kept their mechanical parts. They all looked the same as before, they now just were growing personalities of their own. Even in promo images for Picard, Hugh seems to have more implants remaining than Seven. He has several parts of his face with exposed tech. It’s great improvement from before, but it’s still less removed and reverted than other Borg.
Became Geordi’s Second Mechanical Friend
Star Trek: TNG made it clear that sometimes Geordi got along better with machines than he did people. After all, his best friend was an android who struggled with emotions. Even if he got along with the rest of the crew, he and Data were nearly inseparable.
There’s no surprise that when a Borg came on board, Geordi would form a bond with a new tech-minded friend. He and Hugh talked about the philosophy of life, engineering, and became close while he studied him. When he advocated for Hugh during Picard’s initial plan, it proved how much he cared about him. Seven of Nine probably could have used a friend like Geordi, too.
No Returned Memories
Over time, Seven of Nine started to deal with random returning memories from before her assimilation. She didn’t remember them as a drone, but as she became more human? Annika’s memories started coming back to her. Seven now could remember her parents and how they became drones.
Unlike Seven, even after months with Lore, Hugh showed no signs of remembering his past life. He and all the other Borg with him had to learn how to be individuals from scratch.
It’ll be fascinating to see who he’s become in Picard.
Wanted To Save Other Borg
Hugh only had a few days to explore his individuality. However, if there’s one thing fans can say about him, it’s that he believed in the concept. Moreover, he was selfless in his pursuit of it. Almost immediately, Hugh became a heroic-type desperate to save his friends and hopeful for further Borg liberation.
He dreamed of better for himself and others when he went back to the Borg cube the first time, and that conviction only got stronger when he rebelled against Lore. After the Enterprise left them, all he wanted was a better life for his people, filled with choice and freedom.
Still Involved In Borg Liberation
After so many years of avoiding the Borg in new series, Star Trek: Picard will be bringing these old enemies back. Except, now, there clearly is a larger Borg liberation movement than ever before. Between Seven of Nine and rumors of Hugh, there are now several leaders trying to change the future of all Borg.
With the pictures of a Borg that looks similar to Hugh and the fact he’s interacted with Picard before, fans will probably be seeing him again. And if not, at the very least it’s clear he’s continued his promise of being a new leader to lead more rebels to a new age of Borg. The liberation of the Collective looks brighter with such a selfless, heroic man helping it along the way.
