Why addict the Jem'Hadar to Ketracel White?

Question

One of the few things that bothers me about the Dominion arc in Deep Space Nine is the Jem'Hadar. I enjoy the concept but I don't understand why they would be genetically addicted to Ketracel White (or anything else for that matter).

There are some obvious problems

• When they run out, the Jem'Hadar go ballistic and kill everything in sight uncontrollably.

• With the Gamma Quadrant and the supply of White cut off, Starfleet's first move was to go after 'White' production in the Alpha Quadrant. The Dominion may as well have put signs up saying "this is our weak spot."

• In Hippocratic Oath, Bashir and O'Brien meet a Jem'Hadar who was decanted without the addiction. As soon as a Jem'Hadar realizes that he doesn't need the White, he realizes he doesn't have to do what his Vorta tells him and it goes downhill from there.

Since The Dominion has already proven that it is capable of breeding loyal and obedient servants (The Vorta) then why would they use an addiction that would open them up to such obvious liabilities instead of simply breeding the qualities they wanted into their soldiers?

Answer 1

The Ketracel White is used to keep the Jem Hadar loyal to the founders as well as functioning as their sole source of food and drink. In the event that they become disloyal to the Founders (something that's apparently a rather more common occurrence than the Founders would like the Federation to believe) they can simply withdraw access to the substance and they'll all die.

BASHIR: I know that the Jem'Hadar have been genetically engineered by the Dominion to be addicted to what you call ketracel-white. And that by controlling the supply of the drug, the Founders maintain control over you.

GORAN'AGAR: The Vorta. They are the ones who control the drug. They are the ones we came here to escape.

BASHIR: Escape? You're trying to leave the Dominion?

^{_{DS9 : Hippocratic Oath}}

and

SISKO: Couldn't the Founders just order them to surrender? From what I know, the Jem'Hadar have been genetically conditioned to obey them.

WEYOUN: The Founders' ability to control the Jem'Hadar has been somewhat overstated. Otherwise we never would have had to addict them to the white.

SISKO: Sounds like the Dominion isn't quite as stable as you'd like us to believe.

^{_{DS9: To the Death}}

Answer 2

While Richard's answer is excellent, it overlooks one central point in Geewhiz's note.

"When they run out, the Jem'Hadar go ballistic and kill everything in sight uncontrollably."

This is not actually a disadvantage, if accommodated or planned for. Jem'Hadar have an incredibly short lifetime (see DS9: To the Death) and mature very quickly, going from infant to Fighting size in a matter of weeks (see DS9: The Abandoned). Given this accelerated life, if a company is compromised from white withdrawal the following strategic points become important:

• The company will self-destruct in a short time frame (DS9: Rocks and Shoals)
• If members of the company are able to survive white withdrawal, they will have trouble subverting others (DS9: Hippocratic Oath)
• The company can be materially replaced quickly. (DS9: The Abandoned)
• Direct intervention by a Founder can probably accommodate the situation (Any DS9 showing Founder-Jem'Hadar Contact).
• The second, third and fourth items may be combined for an effective, if heartless solution to an insurrection

Given the Founders view all species as subservient, and have a very long term view of strategy, it does not seem that this apparent liability would be viewed as such by them.

Answer 3

breeding a loyal dog is not as easy as breeding an attack dog

fighters have to have the ability to think for themselves in tactical situations, an individual who thinks for himself can choose to disobey his master.

short answer they couldnt do it because breeding a loyal race would remove that races ability to think tactically and a soldier who cant think tactically is worthless

Answer 4

Think of it this way.

1. You need my mother's lasagna to live.
2. Without it you will die
3. You live a long ways away from me
4. You don't like my representative that tells you what to do
5. I send the lasagna to him

Now despite you not liking the person I put in charge you need to obey him or you will die, because I only send the lasagna to him.

It ensures obedience to a chain of command especially when the top of the chain can't be everywhere.

The founders are few compared to the empire they control and those they subjugate, the vorta clones act as administrative and command authority, the jem'hadar as foot soldiers. The white keeps the jem'hadar obedient to the volta and maintains the chain of command.

We see examples of how distance from the head authority can lead to strayful alliegences in our own history. The smaller Christian faiths came from the catholic church but were the result of being thousands of miles from Rome and the Vatican, of course bishops and cardinals would visit these outlying parishes but as soon as they were gone the local leader would do things to benefit himself rather than the central authority.

In modern times large religious organizations have local authorities in place to keep all parishes/wards in line with the central message and global communications allow for a control that was lacking hundreds of years ago.

The dominion is tens of thousands of square light years so a system has to be put in place to maintain control. The vorta arr also by their nature easier to genetically keep obedient because they are not imbued with agression. Think when are you least in control of yourself, when you are angry, so the Jem'hadar even with genetic modifications to be obedient could act out in agression and then lead to a spiral of becoming uncontrollable. Solution forget about the wayward soldier and it will die because your people control what it needs to live.

Answer 5

The Vorta weren't just loyal to the founders, they revered the founders as gods. No need for a "safety switch" like a Ketracel White dependency. They don't factor into the logic behind the need to do so for the Jem'Hadar - bred to be the ultimate soldiers above all else, a safety switch is a necessity to ensure loyalty. And they really weren't exactly loyal to the founders so much as to the Vorta - the source of their Ketracel White.