Star Trek/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


This characters page is for the species that populate the Star Trek 'verse.

Humans

"They're a wonderful, friendly people--as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts...deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers...put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time...and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people will become as nasty and violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon."

Vulcans

"Live long and prosper."

Klingons

"Today is a good day to die!"

Romulans

"We are creatures of duty, Captain. I have lived my life by it. Just one more duty."

  • Arch Enemy: On TNG. Not as powerful as the Borg, not as ruthless as the Cardassians, but more recurring than either and are behind half the evil schemes in that series. Arguably this again in Enterprise.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: In the novels, they often come across as dignified and traditionalist aristocrats rather then simply as bad guys, though the Romulan characters that appear on TV sometimes do have that aspect to them.
  • Evil Counterpart Race / Shadow Archetype: To Vulcans.
  • Man Behind the Man: If some villain is implied to have a secret benefactor, the benefactor will probably be the Romulans. Especially if the villain is a Vulcan or a Klingon, just to show how traitorous or gullble they are as both species regard the Romulans as long-standing enemies.
  • Officer and a Gentleman: The more admirable of Romulans tend to be this way.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy
  • Secret Police: Known as the Tal Shiar.
  • Space Romans
  • Strawman Emotional: Disagreed with Surak's logic and left to start their own, more amoral, militaristic society.
    • Though overall, they are still very composed and disciplined. Ironically despite their imperialistic empire, they seem to contradict the idea that Vulcans who don't control their emotions are a dangerous menace, since on a personal level they rarely if ever violently lose their temper or hint at uncontrollable emotions. In-universe this is attributed to their lack of suppression; there is no emotional build-up to blow off when they lose their cool.
  • Worthy Opponent: Several of the most memorable Romulan characters in the original series, as well as a number of times in the novelizations.

Cardassians

"They were cunning warriors...always had a plan within a plan leading to a trap...it was an honor to kill them."

Borg

"Resistance is futile."

Bajorans

Ferengi

"All I ask is a tall ship and a load of contraband to fill her."

"Would you buy a book called Suggestions of Acquisition?!"

  • Meaningful Name: The name "Ferengi" is a corruption of the word "farhang," which was a derisive word used in some parts of Southeast Asia to describe European colonialists merchants.
    • Variations are used across Asia, ultimately all distortions of the word Frank, i.e. somebody from France, mistakenly interpreted to mean all Europeans.
  • Space Pirate: Their original characterization when they were planed to be serious villains. Implicitly Retconned to be just a few who couldn't make it in "legitimate" business.
  • Straw Capitalists
  • This Loser Is You: Word of God paints the Ferengi as 21st-century humans, particularly Anglo-Saxons.
    • Turned on it's head a little though, if Quark can be trusted, in that while Ferengi are greedy as a virtue and sexist/xenophobic as a culture, they've also never taken it to the same extreme that humans have, citing that the Ferengi never had concentration camps, slavery or massive-scale warfare. In particular, Quark states that the Ferengi would have negotiated a mutually beneficial deal with the Dominion, as opposed to the Federation's "Independence at any cost" stance.

Trill

Vorta

"I live to serve you."

Jem'Hadar

"Victory is life."

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