Welcome, Hugh, to center stage as Star Trek: The Next Generation explores what it means to be an individual.

The Borg; a mysterious, powerful, hive-minded, pseudo-species of cyborgs; first appears in the Episode “Q Who”. Their massive cube spaceship displays its awesome power in a brief scrap with the Enterprise D before letting the humans escape. But, not long afterwards, the Borg reintroduce themselves to humanity by kidnapping and assimilating Captain Jean-Luc Picard in an attempt to take over The Federation and Earth itself (“The Best of Both Worlds”, “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”). The experience leaves Picard deeply resentful and traumatized, and humans begin to search for a way to stop the Borg from being able to conquer entire species.

An opportunity to finally put an end to the Borg presents itself when the crew of the Enterprise discovers a dying Borg in the Episode “I, Borg”. After being nursed back to health to be caged and experimented on, he introduces himself as Third of Five and is later given the name Hugh. Doctor Beverly Crusher and Lt. Geordi La Forge hesitantly work on creating a virus that would destroy all Borg, all the while getting to know Hugh and wrestling with the morality of killing a being who is developing a sense of individuality.

Hugh’s initial lack of individuality arguably makes him less of a sentient being. He refers to himself as “we” because his entire identity is found in the Borg collective. Separated from the collective for perhaps the first time in his life, Hugh had no thoughts of his own; he could do little more than repeat the indoctrination of the hive-minded Borg. Almost unable to think for himself, Hugh is viewed by all as subhuman and identical to all other Borgs. If he has no individuality is his life worth anything?

Hugh first begins to find individuality through identifying as himself. Previously, he had only asserted “we are Borg” where his status as Borg was the most important part of his existence. After being given the name Hugh, he started to think of himself as an entity that can survive apart from the Borg collective. Hugh’s journey to discovering individuality required him to be able to have an identity that was not dependent on anyone else. As his sense of self develops other characters start to view him as a sentient and in a position where morality can be applied to his situation. Discussing what should be done about Hugh, Guinan voices her concerns that, “I am not sure he is still a Borg” (“I, Borg”).

The turning point in Hugh’s journey towards asserting himself as his own person is his ability to understand emotions. He is able to express the concept of loneliness, as well as recognize feelings of friendship. The phrase “I am Hugh” shows that he fully realizes his individuality and, therefore, has become his own being.