Synopsis: An injured alien transfers his consciousness into Kes.
This episode is an illustration of what happens when the Logos-driven rational conscious ego identifies too much with the god-like power of an archetype from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious.
In “Warlord” Voyager’s crew rescues the crew of a small ship about to explode. One of its passengers, Tieran, is near death. But before he dies he uses his ability to transfer his consciousness into the body of another, to take over Kes’s body. In Kes he finds her telepathic abilities an asset in his goal, to regain rulership of his home world, Ilari. Not aware of this transference, Captain Kathryn Janeway has Voyager take the crash survivors back to their homeworld. When they reach Ilari, a welcoming party comes aboard Voyager and Kes, containing Tieran’s consciousness, fires upon them, steals a shuttle, and goes down to the planet to kill the head of state and replace him. The link between Tieran’s consciousness and Kes’s body is not compatible and becomes unstable. Eventually, Kes’s telepathic powers allow her to fight off Tieran’s consciousness and kills it.
In this episode, when Tieran transfers his consciousness into the body of Kes, to not only survive but use her abilities to regain his rule over a planet, can be analogized to when a conscious ego becomes too identified with the god-like power of an archetype. Initially there is an inflation, a feeling of unstoppable power and meaning to one’s purpose in life. And while this connection is necessary to some degree, followed by an equally necessary deflation, when the conscious ego retains association with the power for too long it becomes unstable and the inevitable downfall is more painful.
mydailysoultrek 