#kor dahar master

[jaegermonstrous]

So I've got Thoughts on Worf. Disclaimer, these are all heavily informed by own experiences and background, ymmv. Also disclaimer, I haven't gotten around to watching PIC yet. It's on my list, but I'm not there yet. But anyway.

So, Worf in TNG is pretty much our biggest exposure to the Klingon culture so far, and he's pretty consistent with the other Klingons we see. He's a big and tough warrior guy with the Stoic Warrior Thing going on. He's constantly getting his ass handed to him to show the audience the bad guys of the week are Serious Business. He's a pretty awful father, but we have no reason to believe other Klingons are much better. He's apparently got enough of a soft/personable side that he dates Deanna Troi for a bit [no shade to the actors here, but the logic behind that pairing has never worked for me, or at least the writers never did enough legwork to make it believable to my ace and autistic self]. But mostly, he's a Big Stoic Warrior Man from a culture of Big Stoic Warrior Men.

But Worf in DS9 is much less isolated from other Klingons, and it's here where - to me - he becomes incredibly interesting as an example of someone trying to reconnect with their heritage as an adult, especially someone who's either felt pressured to perform their culture "correctly" to an outsider [Federation] standard, or who's never had significant contact with the huge diversity of their culture and kind of internalized the idea that "this is how you perform my culture correctly" from a very limited amount of sources, and therefore become kind of an asshole about it when people [other Klingons] don't do or be as you expect them to.

From the doylist perspective we can just say "well, the DS9 writers really diversified the Klingons," but I find the watsonian perspective far more interesting; here you have Worf, the first and [so far] only Klingon serving in Starfleet, who was removed from his culture as a young child and raised by Humans [no shade to the Rozhenkos here, I think they did their best to raise Worf with an awareness of his origins]. He's been aware most of his life of being the only Klingon in a room full of Humans and other Federation species, most of whom have Expectations of what Meeting A Real Klingon would be like. So Worf, with his mostly second-hand knowledge of Klingon culture and a huge wall of Expectations surrounding him at every turn, becomes what he thinks of as The Ideal Klingon. He's stoic, he's gruff, he barely ever cracks a smile, and when you put him in the room with a bunch of diverse DS9 Klingons, he comes across as a caricature.

Let's look at some of the DS9 Klingons, and I think you'll see what I mean.

First up - Kaga, the Klingon chef. I personally love Kaga, and I wish we had gotten to see more of him. He's our first real indicator that Klingons in DS9 are Built Different. He's cheerful, he doesn't dress in a warrior's armor, he plays that Klingon accordion thing and sings to his patrons. He's a glimpse of what Klingons outside the military are probably like. I love that the DS9 writers did this, showcasing that Klingons [like so many of the non-Humans we get in DS9] are just people.

Next, we have Kor, the Dahar Master. Again, I adore Kor. In some ways he's a throwback to TOS Klingons, who were conniving, and mocking, and just generally Untrustworthy and would 100% stab you in the back if they thought it would get them what they wanted. But he's also a fantastic example of a DS9 Klingon. Kor is old, and tired, and kind of a drunk, and beginning to lose touch with his abilities and reality. But he's also clever, and cunning, and you can really see the intelligence and the ferocity that made him so formidable to Kirk and the TOS crew back in the day. And he's also charming and kind of a sweetheart, and he genuinely loves Dax like family. He's well-rounded in a way we don't get to see Worf be for a while. And even when we contrast Kor with Kang and Koloth, two other Klingons from the same era who align more with the TNG Stoic Warrior Man stereotype, you can see where their characters are much fuller. They have a history and a familiarity with each other and with Dax that really shines through. I mean, they swore blood oaths with a Trill. Yeah, Dax had to work really hard to be accepted by the Klingons, but once Curzon crossed that line, Kang, Koloth, and Kor were ride or die for Dax.

Third - General Martok. Martok is IMO the best foil to Worf, and sort of an example of who Worf might be someday [again, I haven't seen Worf in PIC yet]. And I really love Martok as someone who's very like Worf in a lot of ways, but also highlights how Worf has really made himself into a caricature of what Being A Klingon is all about. Yeah, Martok is big and tough and stoic, but you also see in the prison camp and later how that's not all of what Martok is. He has faith in and respect for his fellow prisoners in the camp, even the Romulans [who you'd think would be the last people a Klingon would ever trust or respect]. He's a Wife Guy, which I just adore. He's got a sharp sense of humor, he's got trauma from being held as a prisoner of the Dominion for so long, he's friends with Local Twink Julian Bashir.

Martok is also the one who talks Worf down from being such a hardline asshole. When Alexander comes aboard the Rotarran, it's Martok who helps them start to build a better relationship. When it looks like the Worf-Dax wedding is off, it's Martok who encourages Worf to soften his stance [yes, it's also implied Dax is pressured into apologizing to Sirella, but that's another post for another day]. Martok is the example of being a Stoic Warrior Man while also being a rounded person.

This isn't to say Worf doesn't grow on his own, but a lot of his growth happens in DS9 in ways that [to me] read as someone who's really only engaged in their culture in a vacuum or in an abstract way, and now he's hanging out with other Klingons, he's Making Friends with other Klingons, and he has the space [and is actively encouraged by other Klingon characters] to soften his stance and be a little more rounded.

I could also talk about Dax here, and her interactions with Klingon culture and how those affect Worf, but I think I'm done for now.

[daystroms-janitor]

I think about this scene every single day, believe you me.

“The only real question is whether you believe in the legend of Davy Crocket or not. If you do, then there should be no doubt in your mind that he died a hero’s death. If you do not believe in the legend, then he was just a man, and it does not matter how he died.“

S07E07 - Once More Unto The Breach (download) Upscaled to HD with Topaz Video Enhance AI

[defconprime]

Kor, Dahar Master

[daily-klingon]

A musical interlude, as I play The Dirge For Kor, DaHar Master on an ocarina.

Dirge for Kor the Dahar Master

Mi' qul qar'a' 'ej Do' QI' la' QI' DO' Sum, qarI' Do' QI'la'

Sutem pa' rI' tlho' mara' 'e' qor

rI'qa' rI'qa' rI'qa'

DaSo' pa qareH QI' ro'qa'

ro' qa' ro' qa' ro' qa'

See the number of fires burning clearly Good fortune for the mighty Commander

Great luck, I discipline my hails of fortune to you, Commanders Hail appreciation through your silence Our Commander Kor

Hail again Hail again Hail again

You always cloak it thereabouts the Fist of the Commander's hits

The Fist of the Commander The Fist of the Commander The Fist of the Commander

[darktiger57]

Kor, Dahar Master, Trans Ally

[cellularennui]

bang, marry, kill

[cellularennui]

The elder Kor, 100% That beautiful poet of a lush would be down for whatever

alright i’m curious. who are the hottest men across all star trek series in your opinion

[goingonanadventuremaybe]

Personal cannon. Star Trek

I’d like to think that Kang, Koloth and Kor all randomly met at some point after TOS. After several rounds of bloodwine, someone finally admitted their embarrassing Kirk story, which led OMG, KIRK, I HATE THAT GUY. And they proceeded to get drunker and drunker, until they all decided to go get cranial ridge reconstructive surgery. They all woke up with splitting headaches and awesome ridges. Kor declared them all forehead bros for life, and as much as Kang has tried to avoid those two, the three keep running into each other in the field of battle until they just got over the fact they were bffs for life.

[mylittleredgirl]

this is the funniest possible factoid from "the sword of kahless," when you think about how kor, dahar master, was introduced in both of his ds9 episodes completely shitfaced in quark's bar. i can see gowron sending him to vulcan as a way of getting rid of/punishing this legendary klingon who doesn't like him, but it's just... so so funny to imagine the vulcans trying to conduct polite diplomacy with him. when gowron recalled all his ambassadors in "the way of the warrior" you know a few vulcan attaches were like 'this is very concerning for the future of the alpha quadrant' while also breathing some very logical sighs of relief.

[unicorn-and-bluebells]

Also before anyone asks yes this is all canon this all happened in the show (and Farrell says Jadzia is pansexual) <3

doodles of my favourite worm <3

[thegreenthingslivebeforetheydie]

Jadzia knows where Kor has a scar on his chest, which means Curzon has seen him shirtless

and then he's immediately like "OMG YOU WERE CURZON gimme a kiss"

[wetwareproblem]

"To Kor! The Dahar Master, and a true warrior to the end! (oh and I guess the other six guys on the Ning'tao who also died saving us I guess)" - General Martok, who spent this entire episode bitter at how noble-born officers get all the attention over hard-working common soldiers.

Parentheses added.

[defconprime]

Dahar Master Kor from Star Trek Timelines, 2022.

[grimminsanity]

Let’s talk about this.

Okay, but like. Can someone explain to me why there’s so much hate for the design change for the Klingons? I personally find them extremely interesting to look at, designed a lot more alien than before, and their armour is utterly stunning? Like, just, wow??? I mean, I get it, they’re not humans painted up to look different like in TOS, nor are they Klingons like Worf in TNG, or the pierced design in the AOS movies, but in my mind, I VERY much picture them to be Klingon like any other Klingons shown in the series., and BOI AM I GONNA TELL YOU WHY I THINK THAT.

(look at these handsome bois, all of them are the best.)

There was often times that people attempted to connect Klingon from TOS to the ones that were shown later with brow ridges because we as humans like continuity and want everything to flow together. However, it was hard to get a concrete answer to why exactly Klingon ended up looking as different as they did compared to their first version.

Some content in the form of the canon novels, however, may have given us an answer!

Keep in mind, this is what I know of the novels and, from my understanding, is considered canon since it was brought up in or hinted at in other media.

In them, it was stated that there was a type of Klingon augment virus that spread through a large portion of the population due to Klingon researchers attempting to create a strong, better Klingon by bio-engineering them.  Through the use of human augment embryos left over from Earth’s eugenics wars that were found in a hi-jacked Klingon bird of prey that had been destroyed in orbit of the Qu’Vat Colony, they began to, essentially, splice it in with great caution. They did this in part because they feared human augments being staffed on ships would overwhelm the empire.

It worked, - how amazing right?!, - creating stronger and more intelligent Klingons, but a lot of the subjects that were used in these experiments began to show more physically human characteristics, from the simple to the blatantly obvious, including personality and loss of, - YOU GUESSED IT, - the well known forehead ridges!

(pictured: Klingon ridges dissolving due to augment DNA being used. also, a good Klingon ‘O’ face.)

One of the test subjects they used, however, had the Levodian flu, and the mixing of the flu with the augment DNA pretty much messed up all the controlled experimentation by the researchers and created an epidemic that nearly killed all the klingons.

Still with me?

Millions within months were infected. The researchers scrambled to attempt to find a cure. First, attempting to capture Doctor Arik Soong led nowhere as, lo and behold, the doctor was in a high security detention facility. Their next attempt was with Doctor Phlox with Phlox being forced to work with Antaak, the main Klingon researcher, to find that cure.

Problem is that the Klingon High Council got really tired of waiting for them to get it finished, and went on to destroy infected colony planets to clear the virus.

Basically, the research team was put under a heavy clock with nothing else to do but to not cure the virus, but stabilize it, because it would apparently take them weeks to try and make the cure. They were successful in stabilizing it early on in the infection, -  after the cranial ridges had dissolved and some minor neural re-ordering had occurred (which caused the personality changes), - and with the help of Admiral Krell, they called off the destruction of the planets! The cure was made with the new amount of time and was passed around, helping solve the problem of the whole dying and mass extinction thing.

Problem is, the cure also caused many Klingons to lose their brow ridges.

(Antaak with his ridges, prior to the cure being administered.)

(Oh! And there they go, - poof! - post cure!)

Thing is, any descendants of these Klingons would pass on the genetic human-like appearance.

This all happened back in 2154!

The Klingons we see in TOS are placed around 2267 are the descendants of those same Klingons!

No one in the Federation really thought much else about it because they simply didn’t know any other Klingons aside from them!

Among the Klingon researchers and some of the population, there was a great worry that these same Klingons would be considered outcasts due to their appearance and mental and personality changes, - cowardice, in example, was one such problem - but, were later on able to hold positions of power, even receiving the title of Dahar Master and getting their statues in the Hall of Heros on Qo’noS -  like, ie. General Kor in TOS which many people are familiar with!

Later on, it was available to some to get the brow ridges cosmetically added back on; however, there may have been more done, medically, that helped reinsert the Klingon head ridges as we see them from TNG and later on.

HOWEVER.

ALL OF THAT SAID.

HERE COMES MY HEADCANON OR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SITUATION FOR WHAT WE SEE IN STAR TREK: DISCOVERY.

Some times, Klingons considered these ‘augmented’ Klingons to be lesser then and were not ‘True Klingons’, - and as far as I remember, this is a thing that was talked about in canon as well, - and lo and behold, the idea of purity comes into play!

Forget that it’s a fucking dick move to do, let’s try and keep Klingons pure, guys!

How do we keep Klingons pure?

Marry between the royal houses of the High Council.

OBVIOUSLY.

To us, that may seem weird and a little squicky, but consider that this is something that royal families in our past have done on multiple occasions! It wouldn’t be that far off from thinking that the Klingon royal houses would due the same! Due to this, there have been lots of medical and genetic problems due to families attempting to keep the line pure.

Anywhere from reduced intelligence or personality changes to physical deformities, - larger, oddly shaped heads, cleft lips, blood disorders, - to what else you can think of! 

While it seems that the Klingons in ST:D are still, obviously, intelligent, it comes to our understanding that their physical differences are much different to what we have come to understand to be the norm in a standard Klingon. 

The ridges are more aggressive, pushing out the profile as well as following the line of the neck into their armour, the brows heavier, the noses wider with two nostrils and no dip slope of the nose, no hair, oddly shaped heads due to the size of the ridges, most likely, smaller ears pressed closer to the skull,  more slurring due to possible throat differences, and harsher, grating noises in the throat that we don’t normally hear even in normal Klingons.

Then again, that last one may be more due to a possible dialect change for spoken Klingon in the High Council or a possible House dialect, which, could also be possible. This is, after all, an alien language that we only know one side of. 

I don’t know, my xenolinguistics is a little rusty!

Moving on to their armour, check out this utterly stunning costume design!

The Klingons in ST:D wear more ornamental armour then we’re accustomed to seeing, sharp and almost decorative in design, and possibly breakable, though I wouldn’t advise testing it!

However, these are Klingons, and while they don’t seem practical, you can be damn sure that they’re supposed to be used in combat even if they look like the way do in ST:D.

T’Khumva, - pictured above, - is wearing something a lot more decorative  then what the rest of his people are wearing. A higher collar, sharpened points, aggressive, bold lines in a gold alloy trim, black leathers being the main base point with the gold being the accent, decorated the collar and points of the spikes with what looks to be stones. It seems he’s even wearing a house crest on his abdomen, though that may still be a design choice to go with the chest and collar piece pattern.

Let’s take a look at the others in his ‘court’.

Their style is simpler, with lower collars, with drabber and less prominent colour and designs with no aggressive lines or defining markers of a Klingon house. Less decorative and more practical. I wouldn’t think these Klingons to be servants, but maybe they are, or maybe they’re lesser nobles from lesser houses, who knows! But there is a harsh difference between their armour styles and the way T’Khumva wears his.

They’re from royal houses with those serving under them considered of their house, so obviously they’re going to wear what, to us, would be overly fancy, formal clothes, but with much more practical use to keep you from, you know, dying?

The design and style of them, from their armour to their physical appearance, even to their spoken words, phrases, and language, they are different, but not quite different enough, to not be Klingon.

All of this points to the factor that the houses have been inbreeding within their own genetic lines over a possibly lengthy time, - ST:D happens a decade prior to TOS and the virus happened 113 years in the past, a decent time for gestation and passing of genetic material dependent on Klingon breeding and reproduction standards, - and have slowly pushed further and further out from what is commonly known as the standard Klingon. 

Who knows, maybe they’ve been doing this for centuries?

I understand that people are upset about the design change due to something they have always known being shifted so drastically, I get it, but consider what I said!

What we are seeing, the Klingon High Council and their houses, could quite literally be extremely inbred specimens born from attempts of keeping the blood line pure.

I’m totally open for comments, critique, and further speculation if anyone wants to add more to this or to argue this!

IwlIj jachjaj! Qapla’!

[the-firebird69]

Dahar Master Kor Meet Lieutenant Commander Worf

District 9 bugs??

Saucers usually are Predators.