Star Trek/Characters

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


 * Star Trek the Original Series
 * Star Trek the Next Generation
 * Star Trek Deep Space Nine
 * Star Trek Voyager
 * Star Trek Enterprise
 * Star Trek

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.""


 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Boldly Coming
 * Humans Are Diplomats
 * Humans Are Special
 * The Kirk
 * The McCoy
 * Most Writers Are Human: Which is why all Star Trek series to date have centered around a human captain.
 * Planet of Hats: Averted; we're the only planet that doesn't have a hat.
 * Several characters have commented on how relatively fast humanity expanded compared to other species and how quickly humans tend to pick up a skill or job. Humanity's hat seems to be taking everything Up to Eleven.
 * We All Live in America: Or at least European; all other cultures seem to have died out. All the names are surname-last, alien cultures that borrow elements from other Earth cultures are seen as mind-blowing, and the French all sound like grumpy Englishmen.

Vulcans
""Live long and prosper.""


 * The Atoner: They were once a Proud Warrior Race that was probably even fiercer then Klingons or humans. Horror at the results of this made them turn to the teachings of Surak and follow the rather painful creed of the time of the show to control their violent emotions.
 * And Romulans are Vulcans who did not follow Surak. Nuff said.
 * Emotions vs. Stoicism
 * Feel No Pain
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Kuudere
 * Mate or Die
 * Memetic Hand Gesture: Their salute.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist
 * Our Elves Are Better: The original Space Elves.
 * The Paralyzer: Vulcan Nerve Pinch.
 * Pointy Ears
 * Proud Scholar Race Guy
 * Psychic Link: Mind Meld.
 * Strange Salute: The Vulcan salute.
 * The Spock: Trope Namers, makers, and codifiers.
 * Spock Speak
 * Straw Vulcan

Klingons
""Today is a good day to die!""


 * Exclusively Evil: Klingons are portrayed this way in the original series and Enterprise, but not in the others.
 * Actually, they are usually portrayed as Worthy Opponents and Noble Demons in both, especially in the latter when in at least one episode Archer gets a Klingon lawyer who serves as a Deconstruction of this (helpfully played by Deep Space Nine's General Martok, Worf's buddy), saying that neither of his parents were warriors and lamenting the way his people are becoming less civilised, as well as less honourable than they claim, but denying that every Klingon is a savage barbarian.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority
 * The Drunken Sailor: And even the greatest of Klingon heroes are not allowed to receive their honors until they have proven that they can hold extreme amounts of Blood Wine.
 * Flanderization: Originally depicted in The Original Series as calculating Warrior Poets akin to Samurai. Later became Vikings In Space.
 * Glory Seeker
 * Klingon Promotion: Trope Namer.
 * Martyrdom Culture
 * Memetic Badass: So much that some people now have Klingon weddings!
 * National Weapon / BFS: The Bat'leth.
 * Not So Different: Most of the races are of course not so different from humans. But Quark goes to especial trouble to say that Klingons and Humans are Not So Different.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy
 * Rated "M" for Manly: Their idea of a bachelor party is four days of Macho Masochism. Their idea of a honeymoon is going on a hike through the nastiest terrain in the galaxy. Their idea of a joyous wedding night is for the happy couple to gleefully beat each other to a pulp. And their idea of a wedding ceremony is to tell how two mythical Klingons showed their love for each other by teaming up to sack and destroy the heavens. Isn't that romantic?
 * Rubber Forehead Aliens

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.""


 * Affably Evil
 * Dirty Communists
 * Lizard Folk
 * Magnificent Bastards: Or, at least, they seem to produce Magnificent Bastards at an unusually high rate.
 * A Nazi by Any Other Name
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent
 * Secret Police: Known as the Obsidian Order.

Borg
""Resistance is futile.""


 * Always Lawful Evil
 * Assimilation Plot
 * Catch Phrase: "We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."
 * Deflector Shields: The built-in, personal variety. Made even nastier in that they can adapt to threats just like the rest of their technology.
 * Dirty Communists
 * Hive Mind
 * Hive Queen
 * Implacable Man: Subverted; you may be able to pick a few off, but they'll eventually adapt and keep relentlessly coming until they overwhelm you.
 * Memetic Mutation: "I am X of Borg. Memetic Mutation is irrelevant. You will be assimilated."
 * Scary Dogmatic Aliens
 * The Spock
 * The Virus
 * You Will Be Assimilated

Bajorans

 * Occupiers Off of Our Planet: They were this to the Cardassians during the occupation.
 * Rubber Forehead Aliens

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?!""
 * Adorkable: Heck, even Ferengi arms dealers are adorkable.
 * Affably Evil: Not all of them are evil, though sometimes even the good ones try to convince themselves that they really are evil. But they do tend to be weirdly likable.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: The more successful examples...
 * Honest John's Dealership: ...and the less.
 * Mad Libs Catchphrase: The Rules of Acquisition, of which there are over a hundred. Possibly the only code of honor the Ferengi follow.
 * Subverted by the Rules themselves turning out to be another scam -- at least in Quark's dream.


 * 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

 * Fantastic Caste System: The joined have more prestige then the unjoined.
 * Humanoid Aliens: The only outside difference is the leopard-like spots on the neck.
 * Living Memory
 * Mental Fusion
 * Puppeteer Parasite: An odd benevolent version.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old
 * Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Joined Trill are forbidden to marry someone they were married to in a previous life.

Vorta
""I live to serve you.""


 * Affably Evil
 * Henchmen Race
 * Just Following Orders
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Sissy Villain
 * Smug Snake

Jem'Hadar
""Victory is life.""


 * Exclusively Evil: Deconstructed.
 * Badass Army
 * Fantastic Drug: The White.
 * Henchmen Race
 * Just Following Orders
 * Meaningful Name: Related to the ranking system in Kiplings Finest.
 * Proud Warrior Race
 * Slave Mooks
 * Spikes of Villainy
 * Super Soldier
 * Villainous Valour: They take pride in their discipline and prowess and are generally treated tragically rather then as faceless mooks. If they were more chivalrous they would be considered Worthy Opponent s. As it is, even Klingons fear them.