Star Trek Discovery Fan Theories That Were True

Star Trek: Discovery is unlike any Star Trek series that has come before and has generated its fair share of fan theories. Depicting the Federation at a time of dire war with the Klingon Empire, Discovery's intense, serialized story and morally ambigious characters sent Trekkers a-tizzy with theories about the show's biggest conundrums. As Discovery prepares to conclude its first season, we can now look back on the awesome fan theories that turned out to be true!

There were plenty of theories about Discovery that were unfounded. For instance, due to the series' updated, feature-film quality visuals, any fans assumed that Discovery would be set in the Kelvin timeline of J.J. Abrams' reboot movies and not the Prime timeline of all of the television series. It turns out Discovery is firmly set in the TV series canon, though it is admittedly an uneasy fit. The technology on board the Discovery, like holograms and the spore displacement drive that don't appear in the other Trek series set after it, begs further explanation (which the producers promise season 2 will tackle).

As Discovery set off on its journey, many of the key characters on the show turned out to be shrouded in mysteries meant to be solved in the latter stages of the season. However, Trekkers are among the most perceptive and detail-oriented fans in fandom. Everything from the costumes, to the sets, to curious ways some characters behaved, to the various references to canon Discovery dropped were inevitably caught, dissected and debated by eagle-eyed and passionate fans. When it came to the big twists the key reveals in season 1's story were built around, Discovery's writers ultimately found that the core fanbase was much harder to surprise and fool than expected. The hardcore Trekkers were onto Discovery from the get-go and were unlocking the show's biggest mysteries well before the episodes unleashed the answers.

And yet, just because a segment of the fans saw them coming - and it must be noted that a larger group of casual fans didn't and were suitably shocked - that didn't lessen the impact or thrills when Discovery's top theories turned out to be true. With this in mind, here are three biggest and most awesome true fan theories of Star Trek: Discovery season 1:

This Page: The True Theory About Ash Tyler and Voq

Voq and Ash Tyler Are The Same Person

As soon Captain Lorca met Lieutenant Ash Tyler in episode 5 "Choose Your Pain" when he was imprisoned by the Klingons, fans quickly suspected there was something off about Tyler. Turns out the fans were right. This was confirmed in episode 11 "The Wolf Inside", which revealed the truth about the biggest theory fans had about Ash Tyler/Voq: they are indeed the same person, with both characters inhabiting the body of Ash Tyler. Ash/Voq claimed he was captured at the Battle at the Binary Stars, survived 7 months of torture, and even had to perform sexual favors for the Klingon captain L'Rell. Putting their sleuthing skills to the test, fans correctly suspected the actor credited as playing the Voq, "Javid Iqbal", didn't actually exist and Shazad Latif, who was originally cast as Voq and then ended up portraying Ash Tyler, was secretly playing both roles. ("Javid Iqbal" turned out to be the name of Latif's father.)

Here's how this went down in the course of Discovery's story: Voq was a Klingon who hoped for glory and ended up suffering unimaginably. A Son of None who hails from no noble Klingon House, Voq became the Torchbearer of the Klingon Messiah T'Kuvma. When T'Kuvma died at the Battle at the Binary Stars, Voq briefly assumed command of the Klingon Ship of the Dead alongside his paramour L'Rell, who hails from a House of Klingon Matriarchs. This was until a more powerful Klingon named Kol stole his troops and ship and banished Voq to die. Instead, L'Rell had a different plan for Voq, which would require him to make the ultimate sacrifice in his bid for glory over the Federation in T'Kuvma's name.

Related: The Truth About Ash Tyler

After a grotesque and immensely painful surgical procedure which left him with PTSD, the consciousness of the real Ash Tyler was harvested by the Klingons and placed over the personality of Voq. Even more traumatizing for the Klingon, the brutal surgery completely refashioned Voq's body to appear human and duplicate Ash Tyler's. Ash/Voq's disguise was convincing enough to pass Starfleet medical exams and psyche profiles for him to be offered a place on board the U.S.S. Discovery. L'Rell's plan, apparently, was to place Ash/Voq as a spy on Starfleet's most advanced starship and ultimately find a way to use it to end the war in the Klingons' favor. But despite integrating nicely with the ship's crew and falling in love with Michael Burnham, the trauma of dueling personalities ravaged Ash's psyche, with Voq's memories and consciousness trying to assert control.

Ash/Voq soon became a danger to himself and others until L'Rell, who was captured as a POW and held on board the Discovery, performed a Klingon procedure that deleted Voq's consciousness and memories from Ash's mind. Now, only Ash Tyler remains, but it's Ash Tyler's memories and personality living in the surgically altered former body of Voq. During one of his psychotic breaks, Ash/Voq murdered Dr. Hugh Culber. Thus, Ash Tyler has been stripped of his Starfleet rank. Now also estranged from his love interest Michael, Ash's future is uncertain. But one thing's for sure: the fans were onto Ash Tyler all along.

Captain Lorca Is From The Mirror Universe

Gabriel Lorca was like no-other Star Trek captain fans had ever met before and he immediately set off red flags among the most astute Trekkers. Introduced as the U.S.S. Discovery's Captain in episode 3 "Context Is For Kings", Lorca was no explorer-philosopher dedicated to seeking out new life and new civilizations like James T. Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard. This starship commander deviously portrayed by Jason Isaacs was a hard-driving warmonger; Lorca kept a hidden arsenal of exotic alien weapons and he flaunted his authority to enlist the disgraced Michael Burnham, Starfleet's first mutineer, to serve under him. When it was announced early on that Jonathan Frakes would direct an episode of Discovery set in the Mirror Universe, many fans saw the writing on the wall and deduced that Lorca had to be an evil Mirror doppelganger.

Lorca was particularly cruel to Lieutenant Paul Stamets, the ship's engineer and creator of the revolutionary spore hub displacement drive, which allowed the Discovery to jump to any point in the universe. Their conflicts centered on Stamets' inability to get the spore drive to function properly until Stamets subjected himself to the debilitating effects of his tech and became the ship's navigator across the mycelial network. When the U.S.S. Discovery jumped to the Mirror Universe in what seemed like an accident at the conclusion of episode 9 "Into The Forest I Go", the real truth was revealed about Gabriel Lorca and what his plans were all along.

Not only was Gabriel Lorca indeed from the Mirror Universe, but, after switching places with the Lorca of the Prime Universe due to a freak transporter accident, everything Lorca did was to ultimately enable him to return to the Mirror Universe. His severe demands on Stamets to perfect the spore drive was so the faux captain would have the means he desperately needed to get back to his reality (plus Lorca already hated Stamets' Mirror double). As for Michael Burnham, Lorca especially needed her due to her Mirror's personal relationship with the Emperor of this universe, Philippa Georgiou. Lorca was everyone's true enemy; he intended to resume his original scheme to depose Georgiou and install himself as ruler of the Terran Empire. However, Lorca never suspected Michael and the crew of the Discovery would work with Emperor Georgiou against him. In the end, Lorca died a grisly death at Georgiou's hands, but he nearly achieved all of his dreams.

Stamets himself was heavily theorized as having switched with his doppelganger at the end of episode 5. However, while Stamets did meet his Mirror duplicate in the mycelial network, it was always the same brilliant but testy engineer on board the Discovery. Meanwhile, Lorca's increasingly disturbing behavior was suspected by those closest to him, especially Admiral Katrina Cornwell, who threatened to strip Lorca of his command. Cornwell couldn't have known the man she brought to her bed was a parallel universe opposite of the Lorca she had known for years. This placed Cornwell and everyone else on board the Discovery several steps behind many Trekkers, who saw through Lorca's guise and were vindicated in the Mirror Universe.

Mirror Georgiou Is The Emperor

Fans only had a week to wonder and consider the possibilities as to who would be revealed as the "faceless emperor" Burnham described when the Discovery became trapped in the Mirror Universe, but most Trekkers never waivered from their first, best guess: the Emperor was the Mirror version of Phillipa Georgiou. Sure enough, episode 11 "The Wolf Inside" wasted little time introducing the Emperor, who has a very familiar face. Perhaps only Michael Burnham was truly shocked to find the gold-clad warlord was the evil double of her former captain and mentor, whom she betrayed.

The ease with which Trekkers deduced the Emperor's identity can be attributed to something Spock and Sarek have bemoaned throughout Star Trek: a waste of resources. Michelle Yeoh is such a highly respected actress that leaving the kind-hearted Captain Georgiou dead at the end of the second episode (despite a cameo in episode 4) would mean Discovery squandered such a talent. Fans of Trek's previous Mirror Universe episodes also were well-aware the main cast members of the given series visiting the opposite reality traditionally would take part in major events in that universe. When Michelle Yeoh returned to Discovery sneering as Emperor Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius, fans were delighted but most weren't surprised. Yeoh was simply the obvious - and best - choice, and she is a boon to Discovery whether she plays good or evil.

NEXT: Star Trek: Discovery Is One Of Screen Rant's Top 5 Favorite Shows Of 2017

Star Trek: Discovery season 1 concludes Sunday, February 11th @ 8:30 pm on CBS All-Access, on Space Channel in Canada, and worldwide on Netflix.