Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Ranking Every Major Character Worst To Best
25. The Female Shapeshifter
Salome Jens is both cool and evil in this role. Appearing in The Search to Odo, she at first seems to be genuinely interested in him for the most peaceful reasons. Much like a treasured and lost family member, she invites him to return to the fold.
The fact that she's a warlord complicates matters.
Her ranking here is in no way a reflection of Jens' portrayal of her, rather it is the opposite. She is so hateful and dark that there was little other option than to have her here. Her crimes are multitude, not least of which being the attempted extermination of the entire Cardassian population. This is one changeling you do not mess with.
Her nature as part of the Great Link forms both the crux of her deep connection to Odo and, ironically, one of the most frustrating moments from What You Leave Behind. Odo links with her to cure her and, in doing so, convinces her to stand down and surrender to the Federation Alliance.
While this should be a cathartic moment of victory for the good guys, dramatically, it is just a little bit rushed. What You Leave Behind, due to completely fair budget reasons, re-used several older CG shots in the final battles, so to have another moment that felt a tiny bit rushed was just a little disappointing.