Star Trek’s Temporal Wars Explained (& What They Mean For Discovery Season 3)

With the crew of Star Trek: Discovery stranded in the future, the Temporal Wars introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise are more relevant than ever. In the 22nd century, Captain Jonathan Archer had several run-ins with rogue time travelers acting on different sides of the Temporal Cold War, but now Discovery must deal with the ramifications of those actions in the future. When the Discovery crew reunited with Starfleet, they found time travel had been outlawed due to the conflict, making their presence in the future illegal. Although the Burn wreaked havoc upon Starfleet’s future after the factions reached a peace, these warring time travelers also caused many changes in the 32nd-century Federation. The Temporal Wars put Discovery in a precarious position, and its history had a significant impact on the future as Discovery found it.

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In Enterprise, Archer came into conflict with several factions of the Temporal Cold War, each using proxies in the 22nd century to tilt history in their favor. Starfleet’s future came into the conflict when temporal agent Daniels, a representative of the Federation from the 31st century, infiltrated Archer’s crew to bring the captain up to speed about the temporal powers attempting to manipulate the timeline. At its worst point, the Temporal Cold War heated up to all-out war where operatives made massive changes in history, including infiltrating Earth’s history to change the outcome of World War II. Enterprise managed to prevent this from ever happening, and that solution brought the wars to a close. The Temporal Wars complicated the Star Trek timeline considerably, and Discovery finally has the chance to deal with those complexities.

Star Trek is in new territory jumping after the Temporal Wars, so the consequences that resulted from a timeline-shattering conflict are finally unfolding. The Discovery has no way of undoing their illegal actions since Michael Burnham destroyed the Red Angel suit. The time jump solved many of Discovery‘s prequel-related problems, but they have walked into new problems already set up in the far future. The Discovery crewmembers are now technically criminals. Starfleet seems willing to overlook the charges, but that doesn’t mean the crew is safe from repercussions yet since the Federation was not the only player in the wars. The breach of the peace accords could still land Discovery and the Federation in trouble with other powers. The destruction of time traveling technology also means Discovery might be permanently stuck in the future.

Although Discovery expected the time jump to be permanent, Star Trek has used many time travel methods across the shows and movies, so there was always a possibility that the crew could find their way back to an earlier time. If Discovery is ever to leave this era, they must find a method of time travel outside of Federation control or find fellow temporal criminals. However, the timing of the Temporal Wars in this future may present an even bigger problem. Since Daniels was from the 31st century, the Temporal Wars have not been over long by the time of Discovery’s arrival, which means the Federation was involved in the conflict shortly before the Burn rocked their foundations. With the two events set so close together, it’s possible the Temporal Wars will connect to the Burn as its mysteries are revealed.

Discovery has not heard the last of the Temporal Wars, especially since their continued presence in the future is a violation of the agreement that ended a history-shaking conflict. They may have saved the future, but now they have to deal with the fallout of the whole timeline. Star Trek: Discovery threw the crew into a future already massively changed by the Temporal Wars, but the consequences of the conflict may not be done playing out.

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