Larger than life
It suddenly all came to me when I read this on memory alpha:
Kira: ‘It’s like stepping on ants, Odo!’
Odo: ‘I don’t step on ants, Major.’
When you hear those lines in that episode—which I did at one point—you don’t really expect him to say that, you hadn’t considered that behaviour of Odo at all. But when you hear him say those lines, it makes sense for Odo to not even step on ants, it’s perfectly believable that Odo doesn’t and in fact, it wouldn’t be in a way if it turns out he does step on ants, but you wouldn’t consider it until you are asked ‘Does Odo step on ants?’ and this is exactly why not Kirk, Picard, Riker, Janeway, Data, Chakotay or all those other people famous for being larger-than-life and sacrificing themselves for the rest on all oppertunities are the ultimate good guys but Odo is. Because Odo would do it all as well, and more, but he never has any desire to take credit for it. Not even for his own conscience, to tell himself just how good he is. When Janeway wanted to leave behind in a shuttle to rescue the crew and close the vortex on itself, she boldly announced her plan to every senior officer and she did it for her own guilt. Odo would just sneak away in a shuttle, and Odo wouldn’t do if it there was a much simpler solution, like just planting a time bomb. and checking on the other site if it’s collapsed?
Odo is the man of objective justice, he will tell his friends the fact, he doesn’t take sides, he had to go a certain way to get there, but in the end Odo’s sense of moral is infallible. He’s larger-than-life, holier-than-thou, he’s larger-than-Star-Trek, and even more because you don’t realize it, he doesn’t use big and bold words, he acts, he doesn’t speak. And in the end its all credible because he doesn’t take any credit for it, and though that serves to convince the public, in the end it’s even less likely to occur. Rarely does he lose his temper. He’s serious, he doesn’t show a lot of compassion, and that’s because he doesn’t show compassion when you were morally fallible and he just tells you the case just like with any other person, friend or not because he is morally infallible. He’s larger than life, and maybe because it’s pretty debatable if he even is life. He’s self aware alright, but he has no metabolism except for budget reasons a season long.