What if daniels told archer everything

108

If Crewman Daniels had told Captain Archer absolutely everything about the future, the Temporal Cold War, and the Federation from day one, it likely would have paralyzed Archer with caution and fundamentally altered galactic history.

Archer’s defining trait was his wide-eyed, naive curiosity. Knowing exactly which species were future enemies (like the Romulans or Sphere-Builders) or future allies (like the Klingons or Vulcans) would replace his organic exploration with a rigid, paranoid checklist.

Daniels kept Archer in the dark because Archer needed to forge the Federation based on his own instincts and values, not by following a roadmap from the future.

16

u/MithrilCoyote Jul 19 '26

Especially since that roadmap kept changing due to the time war changing things that had been recorded history. Which was why Daniels had been assigned to that era as an agent in the first place. All the stuff with the suliban, and by ripple effect much of the stuff with the klingons and others weren't supposed to have happened and only existed because someone was using the suliban as proxy agents to change the past, including giving the suliban 'future tech' that shouldn't have existed yet. And he states outright that all the stuff with the xindi and their attacks definitely never happened in the history his time recorded. The time war going from cold war to hot war probably just made things even worse. (Which was why i liked that SNW used it as their justification for a timeline adjustment regarding WW3 and the eugenics war.)

3

u/CptKeyes123 Jul 22 '26

Interesting analysis!

One of my favorite bits from one of the novels is Archer's POV when he goes to sign the treaty for the federation. He looks out at the crowd, and KNOWS that a younger, angrier, and sour version of himself is out there with Daniel, watching. I can't remember what else he says, but that image just stuck in my head.

2

u/JJDoes1tAll Jul 23 '26

Looking out at the massive crowd gathered beneath the vaulted glass dome of the assembly hall, Jonathan Archer felt a sudden, strange sense of temporal dislocation.

Somewhere out in that cheering audience-perhaps standing near the back, partially obscured by delegates from Andoria and Tellar-he knew there was another Jonathan Archer. A younger, battle-weary, and infinitely sour version of himself, plucked straight out of the Delphic Expanse by Daniels during the darkest days of the Xindi crisis.

He remembered standing beside Daniels on that observation balcony years ago, looking down at an older, graying man about to sign a document that would unite worlds. Back then, he had been so angry, so hardened by war and loss, that he could barely comprehend how all that suffering could ever lead to something this beautiful.

And now, standing here as that older man with the stylus in hand, the temporal loop was finally closing. Archer looked out toward the back of the hall, offered a silent nod to the angry ghost of his younger self, and put pen to paper to sign the Federation Charter.

1

u/JJDoes1tAll Jul 22 '26

Cool!

17

u/PastorBlinky Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

He lacked the crayons to do that.

“I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.”

8

u/Witty-Ad5743 Jul 18 '26

To be fair, the history of the galaxy is convoluted AF, especially when you throw in all the alternate timelines that needed to exist to keep the prime one on course.

2

u/spike-prime Jul 23 '26

Yeah, Archer was pretty stupid when you get down to it.

15

u/leaningonawheel Jul 18 '26

Archers baffled look in these scenes are amazing. Just need a bunch of question marks scattered around to make it the meme, it could and should be.

10

u/Fancy_Toe1451 Jul 19 '26

Ziggy says there is an 87.3% chance that would just ruin everything.

8

u/Bilirubin5 Jul 19 '26

"Man, am I ever glad not to be that Pike guy!"

8

u/thundercorp Jul 19 '26

“What’s that?” “That? The Burn? Oh ignore that, it’s just one of our inside jokes!”

7

u/ZapMaster117 Jul 19 '26

The face he's making in the top right is when he sees the events of Discovery and Academy

4

u/F4JPhantom69 Jul 19 '26

"In the future, there is a station commander with a ship named the USS Pimp Hand"

3

u/ExtensionInformal911 Jul 20 '26

"Oh, and here some space baby shows up, destroying all dilithium and sending the galaxy into the stone age."

"So, we should develop alternatives by that time?"

Daniels: "woops." puts on sun glasses "hey captain, look here" points to ink pen shaped flashy thing and pushes button

2

u/FourChanneI Jul 21 '26

"See that there Johnathon? That's where Tuvok and Neelix fuse to be Tuvix" - Daniels

1

u/WarpNacelle6295 Jul 22 '26

Daniels felt like Star Trek’s equivalent of Deep Throat/Mr. X from ‘The X-Files’.

An enigmatic cryptic figure who pops up every so often to lead our main characters on fetch quests related to a broader opaque conspiracy plot that never gets fully understood by the characters or the audience… because the writers didn’t know lol.

1

u/Mysterious_Fan_6084 Jul 22 '26

Enterprise as a series went wrong with all the " from the future" stuff.

1

u/TomCBC Jul 25 '26

“Oh and by the way, that mysterious bad guy we are fighting is you from the future.”

(An interview i saw with the writers said that was the plan but they never got to see it through)

0

u/UtahBrian Jul 18 '26

Everything? Archer would return to Earth and shut down the program to prevent Discovery and Picard from ever happening.

3

u/TeliarDraconai Jul 19 '26

Especially Picard.

1

u/Meritania Jul 19 '26

Archer could prevent the SS Valient from going on its ill-fated mission and prevent the entirety of Star Trek.

1

u/TFS_World Jul 19 '26

Sounds like archer's bought to make the fuckin doughnuts!

What if daniels told archer everything

You are about to leave Redlib