To the Trill with the license to thrill, happy 60th birthday!
It’s television. Things can happen. Trills didn’t originally have spots either. They just changed it.
Trills didn’t originally have spots either
Are Trills mentioned prior to DS9?
They’re in a TNG episode. The symbiote controls the host in that episode too. It isn’t a blending.
Well, they call it a blending of the minds in that TNG episode (“The Host”), but once Riker takes on the symbiote, he doesn’t retain much of himself at all. He’s all Odan (the Trill character). Riker is only able to host the symbiote briefly before becoming very ill. Once the new host arrives, they take on Odan’s personality completely. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Trill were obviously in a prototype stage for that episode, as they appeared without spots, and with forehead ridges instead.
I always thought we really missed out on a chance for there to be a more intense overwriting of Ezra with Jadzia, or one of the other hosts. She seemed so meek! Give me a St. Alia situation, where the current host can’t stand against the memories of previous ones, and make it more compelling than taboos and stuff!