As said in LD 2x07 Where Pleasant Fountains Lie, Billups is from Hysperia and there is still the technicality that can force him on the throne.
This kind of condition makes me wonder what Hysperia’s political status with the Federation is. What stops Billups from e.g claiming asylum with the Federation, especially considering the Hysperians are not a powerful force?
I have three theories:
- Hysperia is a Federation colony, so they are able to apply their throne law on Billups and Billups is unable to claim asylum with a political entity he was already born into.
- Hysperia is not a Federation member, but has a scare resource (like dilithium) that makes Starfleet want to maintain good relations with Hysperia.
- Alternatively, it could be some sort of weird prime directive thing.
My interpretation was not that they can force Billups to return to the planet and perform as king, but that their laws would name him as their king and he is not willing to be negligent in his duties if he is named king because of his personal character.
In the long term, this may mean eventually he will return and become king when it is required of him, but he was trying to delay that and follow his own interests for as long as possible, since the planet currently has a functional and effective ruler: his mother.
This is why he agreed to go through the process of becoming king when he believed his mother had died, again reluctantly, but still choosing to fulfill his duties to respect his family and the needs of the people he would be ruling over, as there is no exploration of alternative heirs or loopholes or workarounds in their legal system.
Hysperia is an elaborate LARP and has no actual power over Billups beyond familial and social pressure.
This is the best answer. Billups is torn between his loyalty and affection for his home, and his desire to be a Starfleet engineer. His internal conflict is manifesting as his own insistence that these customs and traditions are binding, despite the fact that this is all very silly and no one seems to be taking it that seriously.
Right. The only thing missing from this analysis, I think, is that it’s less about his desire to be a Starfleet engineer than his asexuality. I think if his mom would just stop trying to trick him into doing the weird sex ritual he’d be happy playing with dragonbreath instead of warp plasma.
Mr. Billup’s orientation has always alluded and intrigued me.
I think most evidence points to him being asexual (like his comment in 2x07 “Will it hurt” maybe implying he doesn’t experience attraction and his general lack of demonstration of any romantic interest where every other senior officer does).
However, there are a couple of things that might point to him being gay, bi, or pan. His hologram duplicate in Crisis Point: Rise of Vindicta seemed to show almost a romantic interest in Rutherford’s character, although it could just be wanting a platonic bestie to share his engineering hyperfixation with (the platonic aspect being seen in his loneliness in the mess hall at the end of the episode). In addition, in 2x07, the soldiers sent by the queen could be evidence of her knowing Billup’s orientation.
