Tiny Ron was "Maihar'Du", The Grand Nagus' personal servant for almost all seven years of Deep Space Nine, it was only fitting he appear in Voyager at least once.
We only got to see his helmeted head in the previous episode, as he tries to Interrupt Voyager's attempt to retrieve The Doc from the Alpha Quadrant and is shocked by Seven to get him to stop.
But here, his race in named: The Hirogen. I think they used "Tiny" Ron because The Hirogen are supposed to be all Huge. You can see their stature emphasized in later Episodes. And Tiny's role in this is effective, because Tuvok and Seven are dwarfed by his mass, his hand can encompass Sevens head twice around.
I have grown to love The Hirogen, especially as they showed up repeatedly in Voyager as either enemies or friends to Voyager. At first enemies, later collaborators and finally friends.
What we learn in this episode is that they are a race of Hunters. Where the Klingons are Warriors, The Hirogen are Hunters, but they have many of the admirable traits of Klingons. I would almost say they are like "The Predators" but a little bit more accessible than any Predator we saw in any of the Predator or AVP films. Also, The Hirogen have Butts for Heads, but we don't get to see this yet. Here, they are in full Combat/Hunting Armor, which we learn later is protection against even a Neutron Star. But at this point in the Series, they are a Threat, and Tuvok gives Janeway a dire warning about them. But the same would have been said about The Klingons in The Original Series.
Tiny's character - He is the "Alpha" Hirogen - He wants a Trophy so he chooses Seven's Intestines. But she is loathe to part with them. Besides, I don't think The Borg have found a way to replace them in a Drone, although The Borg Queen does not seem to need any intestines. When asked what purpose her intestines could possibly serve "Tiny" informs her that Interesting Intestine-Trophies will make him popular, honored by men and pursued by Women. We never really did get to see a Hirogen Woman, since they are somewhat reptilian, I suppose they lay eggs. So various of Seven's Borg or Human parts would be "Objects D'Art" when hung on this Hirogen's Bulkhead.
I think many fans of the "Riddick" Chronicles will be surprised to see one of the Blades that Richard B Riddick uses in "The Chronicles of Riddick" - The one he uses to kill a whole troop of Necromongers on he surface of "Crematoria".
And the Hirogen Ships are a little too tough for Voyager's weapons to handle. They use Monotanium Hull Plating, which is resistant to Phasers and Photon Torpedos.
The Hirogen are the Guardians of the Galaxy Spanning Communications network that Voyager found in the previous episode- It is not clear if they actually made it, but they own it, and use it. So Tiny's ship is guarding this main Node, which is powered by a Forced Quantum Singularity, which we know is what Romulans use to power their Warp Drives and Cloaking Devices.
The Quantum Black Hole in this array is being held stable by a Field, which Voyager is manipulating when fired upon by some other Hirogen ships. Needless to say, all of the Hirogen ships get sucked into the Singularity and Voyager almost follows them in, like a toilet which is being flushed.
So Janeway in defending herself causes the destruction of the whole network, and makes new enemies of the Hirogen, at least for a time.
Too bad "Tiny's" Ship got sucked in, it would have been good to have him as a recurring character. We never got to see how his Butt-Style Head looked under the helmet!
There is a hint of some ominous ways The Hirogen collect their Trophies, they have huge machines that appear to liquefy all of their Prey's Internal Organs, Voyager had found Discarded Prey in a ship nearby. Seems like "Skin" is one thing The Hirogen do not prize as a Trophy. Unfortunately, this is never explored further in the rest of Voyager. It would have been interesting to see more of this process, albeit gruesome.
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