Star Trek Theory: The Red Angel Is Just Discovery's A.I.

New clues suggest that Star Trek: Discovery's Red Angel could possibly be the sentient A.I. of the Discovery from a thousand years in the future. In the Short Trek episode "Calypso," fans learned that the titular starship survives intact into the 33rd century and its onboard computer upgraded itself, taking the name Zora. Could Zora, in fact, be the Red Angel traveling back through time to affect the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery in the 23rd century?

Thus far, the Red Angel has been linked to (or is creating) seven red signals in space. The U.S.S. Discovery under the command of Captain Pike has investigated three signals and each one led to a rescue mission. The first saw Pike and Michael Burnham save Jett Reno from an asteroid. Next, the Discovery's crew saved the humans living on Terralysium from an extinction-level event. Finally, on First Officer Saru's homeworld of Kaminar, the Red Angel saved the Kelpiens from being wiped out by the Ba'ul.

The Red Angel is also somehow linked to Spock; it visited the Vulcan as a boy and helped him save his half-sister Michael. It visited him again two months before season 2 began. Spock seems to have suffered emotional damage that led him to be confined to - and become a fugitive from - a Starfleet psychiatric facility. While it's unclear what the Red Angel wants with Spock, here is the evidence the mysterious entity could be Zora, the 33rd century A.I. of the Discovery.

The Red Angel Is A Humanoid Using Future Technology

When the Red Angel saved the Kelpiens, Saru's heightened eyesight allowed him to see the crimson apparition in more detail than ever before: the Red Angel is no space god but appears to be a humanoid in a mechanized suit "exhibiting technology far beyond present Federation capabilities". The Red Angel also seems to be shaped like a female.

Also, as Section 31's Ash Tyler explained to Pike and Burnham, the Red Angel is capable of time incursions. It traveled back to the 21st century and brought humans about die in World War III to a new world in the Beta Quadrant. All of this points to the strong possibility that the Red Angel could be Zora, the Discovery's A.I. from a thousand years in the future going back and affecting the past.

The Discovery Evolves A Thousand Years In The Future

In the Short Trek "Calypso," the Discovery is floating all alone in an unknown region of space. It had been waiting for new orders for nearly a thousand years and it was abandoned long ago by its crew when the ship saved Craft, a human soldier from Alcor IV adrift in an escape pod. After beaming Craft into the medical bay, Zora introduced herself as the Discovery's A.I. and explained that she spent the last millennia evolving herself. Craft and Zora had a bit of a romance before he chose to return to his family on Alcor IV, leaving Zora all alone once more.

Craft leaving her could theoretically be what prompted Zora to become the Red Angel and begin affecting the past - all instances specifically involving the Discovery. After all, Zora would possess the 100,000 years of galactic history recovered from the sphere in the episode "An Obol For Charon" - information that could possibly include the secrets of time travel. Zora also created a hologram human body for herself; it's not a great leap to make that she could then replicate a humanoid body and the tech Saru saw the Red Angel using. Craft also had a tattoo of a cyclops owl from Alcor IV, which Zora zoomed in on; this could have inspired the Red Angel persona.

If the Red Angel is Zora, it opens up a slew of new questions, especially about why the Red Angel has been visiting Spock since he was a boy. It remains to be seen what the Red Angel's true intentions ultimately are, but it could be a poetic discovery for Pike, Burnham, and their crew that their own ship from the future is manipulating their adventures in Star Trek: Discovery season 2.