Worf
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| Worf | |
 Worf on the bridge of the Enterprise-D |
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| Species | Klingon |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | February 8, 2340 |
| Home planet | Khitomer (raised on planet Gault by adoptive human parents) |
| Affiliation | Starfleet, Klingon Defense Force |
| Posting | USS Enterprise-D tactical officer and relief helmsman (1st season), chief of security IKS Hegh'ta executive officer Celtris III special operations Deep Space Nine strategic operations officer USS Defiant first officer IKS Rotarran executive officer IKS Koraga, commanding officer Ambassador to Qo'noS USS Enterprise-E tactical officer |
| Rank | Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Captain (Klingon Defense Force), Ambassador |
| Portrayed by | Michael Dorn |
Worf, played by Michael Dorn, is a main character in both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and also the films based on The Next Generation.
Worf is the first Klingon main character to appear in Star Trek, and has appeared in more Star Trek episodes than any other character. He is one of the few characters to be a regular in more than one Star Trek series. Chief Miles Edward O'Brian (Colm Meaney) is another.
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[edit] Casting
Worf was at first not intended to be a regular character, since Roddenberry wanted to avoid "retreads of characters or races featured prominently in the original Star Trek series," and so the June 1, 1987 cast portrait did not include Worf.[1] Several "tall, slim, black actors" auditioned for Worf before Michael Dorn came along, walking into the audition in character and not smiling.[2]
[edit] Character story
[edit] Backstory
Worf is the son of Mogh. When Worf was a child, his parents and family were killed by the Romulan attack on the Khitomer outpost. Worf and his nanny Kahlest survived the attack, as well as his brother Kurn. Worf was then adopted by a human couple, Sergey and Helena Rozhenko, who raised him in Minsk and on a small farm colony on the planet Gault, a world of about 20,000 inhabitants, almost all of them humans (revealed in DS9 episode "Let He Who is without Sin..."). His brother was raised on the Klingon homeworld, and was not revealed as being alive until they were both adults. Worf did not take the Rozhenko's last name, preferring to be addressed by the Klingon designation "Worf, son of Mogh" (however, his son Alexander Rozhenko, who was raised for a brief time by the Rozhenkos, does use their surname).
It was during his time on Gault that the 13-year-old Worf, captain of his school's soccer team, accidentally killed another boy during a championship game by throwing himself at him as the two children went after a ball that flew into the air, something which Worf would feel guilty for the rest of his life.
In 2357, he went to Starfleet Academy, graduating in 2361 with the rank of Ensign, becoming the first Klingon officer in Starfleet.
[edit] The Next Generation
In 2364 Worf was assigned to the USS Enterprise-D as relief flight control and tactical officer with the rank of lieutenant junior grade (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"). The next year he was promoted to lieutenant and made permanent security chief following the death of Natasha Yar. (TNG: "Skin of Evil"). His and K'Ehleyr's son, Alexander, was born in 2366, without his knowledge, the same year he brought the orphaned Jeremy Astor into the House of Mogh through the rite of R'uustai (TNG: "The Bonding") and the same year he learned that he has a brother, Kurn (TNG: "Sins of the Father").
After accepting a ritual loss of honor from the Klingon High Council in order to protect the Empire from a scandal (TNG: "Sins of the Father"), K'Ehleyr informs Worf of their son's existence. (TNG: "Reunion"). K'Ehleyr is murdered by Duras, whom Worf then kills. (TNG: "Reunion") Later he resigned from Starfleet to fight on Chancellor Gowron's behalf in the Klingon Civil War. (TNG: "Redemption, Part I"). In appreciation, Gowron restores Worf's honor (TNG: "Redemption, Part I") and Worf regains his Starfleet commission. (TNG: "Redemption, Part II")
Worf avoided romantic attachments with non-Klingons during his first few years on board the Enterprise-D. As Worf explained to both Riker and Guinan, he felt that non-Klingon females would be too fragile, and that he would have to restrain himself too much.
In 2371 he was promoted to lieutenant commander (Star Trek Generations). After the destruction of the Enterprise-D, he was on detached leave (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior"). Eventually, Sisko asked for Worf to join the crew of Deep Space Nine, but Worf continued to appear on TNG films.
Worf and Troi end their relationship following the destruction of the Enterprise-D at Veridian III and Worf's reassignment to Deep Space Nine.
[edit] Deep Space Nine
Worf soon falls in love with fellow officer Jadzia Dax, and the two marry. In the DS9 episode "Change of Heart", Worf prematurely ends a mission to contact a Cardassian informant inside the Dominion in order to save his injured wife Jadzia. The informant is subsequently executed by the Dominion, causing Captain Benjamin Sisko, the commander of Deep Space Nine, to caution that Starfleet might not grant Worf his own command after this incident, but adds that had he been forced to choose between his duty and his wife, he would have done the same thing.
Worf and Jadzia are married less than a year when tragedy strikes. Jadzia is attacked by the Pah-Wraiths when Gul Dukat comes onboard the station to destroy an Orb of the Prophet. Julian Bashir is able to save the Dax symbiont, which is sent back to the Trill homeworld to be rejoined with a new host, but Jadzia dies shortly afterward. The Dax symbiont is eventually implanted into a new host named Ezri Dax. Ezri is soon posted to Deep Space Nine, and this leads to a number of awkward moments between her and Worf. Eventually, the two settle into a comfortable friendship, and Ezri begins a relationship with Julian Bashir.
One of the emblems on Worf's baldric is the crest of the House of Mogh, which he continues to wear even after Klingon Chancellor Gowron strips the House of its title and properties in retaliation for Worf's refusal to join in the Klingon invasion of Cardassia ("The Way of the Warrior"). During the buildup to the Dominion War, Worf develops a rapport with then-General Martok ("Soldiers of the Empire") after escaping together with Dr. Julian Bashir and Garak from a Dominion detention center. Martok later invites Worf to be a part of his House, resulting in Worf replacing the old crest with that of the House of Martok. From this point forward, Worf is regarded as Martok's brother.
During the Dominion War, Worf is assigned as first officer to the Rotarran, the Klingon Bird of Prey under the command of General Martok. Worf's son, Alexander, is also assigned to the Rotarran after joining the Klingon Defense Force. Though Worf is initially estranged by his now adult son, and skeptical of his son's desire to serve the Empire, he eventually reconciles with him.
Following his excommunication from the Klingon Empire by Chancellor Gowron (DS9 episode "The Way of the Warrior"), Worf's brother Kurn's memory is erased by consent, in order to provide Kurn with a new identity as a way to escape the dishonor and prescribed ritual suicide that would have resulted from this event. Kurn now has the identity of Rodek, believing he lost his memory after being hit by a plasma discharge (DS9 episode "Sons of Mogh").
Later, during the Dominion War (in the DS9 episode "Tacking Into the Wind"), Worf becomes concerned with the futile and dangerous assignments being given by Chancellor Gowron to General Martok, in an attempt by Gowron to counter Martok's growing prestige. Motivated by a conversation in which Ezri Dax asks Worf to name the last Klingon leader he could truly respect, Worf challenges Gowron to a duel and kills him. With this act, Worf becomes the rightful chancellor, but he declines the honor, and with his encouragement General Martok becomes Chancellor of the High Council.
After the conclusion of the Dominion War, Worf is made the Federation ambassador to Qo'nos (the Klingon homeworld), as depicted in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series finale "What You Leave Behind".
[edit] Critical and fan reception
Many fans wear Worf costumes to conventions. The episode "Heart of Glory," which focuses on Worf and his relationship to other Klingons, is credited with planting "many seeds for successive Klingon storylines ... and new insights into Klingon culture."[3]
Theologians read Worf's scenes in the TNG episode "Birthright" as "a narrative approach to sacred texts that is frequently employed in several literary approaches to modern biblical interpretation" in which "it is not important in terms of religious value that the accounts [given in sacred texts] be accurate in referring to actual historical events; it is important that the stories communicate a message that brings meaning to life."[4]
A few fans considered the addition of Worf to the cast as marking DS9 "jumping the shark."[5] However, when it comes to TNG, more fans consider Worf and Troi consummating their romance as a shark jump for that show.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Adam Schrager, The Finest Crew in the Fleet: The Next Generation Cast On Screen and Off. New York: Wolf Valley Books (1997): 96 - 97
- ^ Schrager (1997): 97
- ^ Lincoln Geraghty, "A Network of Support: Coping with Trauma Through Star Trek Fan Letters" The Journal of Popular Culture Volume 39 Issue 6 Page 1002-1024, December 2006. "Fans of the aggressive but honorable aliens were delighted to see the Worf character given some screen time and that the Klingons were becoming an important part of the Star Trek universe once again."
- ^ Porter, Jennifer E. (1999). Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture. State University of New York Press, 206 - 207. ISBN 0791443345.
- ^ JumpTheShark.com page for DS9. With 90 votes out of 1797 as of June 6, 2008, the single word "Worf" is the fifth of five reasons the show jumped (the first is "Never jumped" and the second is "Death (Jadzia)."
- ^ JumpTheShark.com page for TNG. With 255 votes out of 2648, "They Did It (Worf and Troi)" is the third of five reasons, right behind "Wesley Crusher" and the top reason being "Never jumped."
[edit] External links
- Worf article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
- Michael Dorn at the Internet Movie Database
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