Object
Jeremy Aster's Blanket
A soft, well-worn childhood blanket—familiar weight and texture, edges showing gentle wear—that the alien reconstruction places with Jeremy in his recreated home. Characters touch and react to it: Jeremy fingers the fabric, comforted and convinced by its tactile reality; Troi reaches to remove it and is physically resisted. The blanket functions as an intimate, tangible anchor in a flawless illusion, carrying the smell and memory of home that persuades the grieving boy to stay.
2 appearances
Purpose
To provide tactile comfort and emotional reassurance as a personal security object for Jeremy; in the scene it serves as a deliberate comfort item within the alien-created illusion.
Significance
The blanket operates as the story's emotional fulcrum: it proves convincingly real to Jeremy, becomes the alien intelligence's instrument of seduction, and forces Troi and Picard into a moral and tactical dilemma about ripping comfort away versus preserving an illusion that endangers the ship.
Appearances in the Narrative
When this object appears and how it's used