Dukat

Lore & Background

Prior to the start of the series, Dukat held the military title of Legate (Admiral) and was the head of the Cardassian occupation government of the planet Bajor as well as commander of the Cardassian-built station originally named Terok Nor. When the Cardassians are forced to withdraw, he is demoted to Gul (equivalent to Captain). In his debut appearance in the pilot episode 'Emissary', he takes a Cardassian warship to Deep Space Nine to demand from the new Starfleet-appointed commander Benjamin Sisko one of the recently discovered Orbs of the Bajoran Prophets. In 'Indiscretion', Kira Nerys accompanies Gul Dukat on a search for a lost Cardassian starship, where it is revealed he is trying to track down and kill his illegitimate half-Bajoran daughter Tora Ziyal. He ultimately resolves to take her home with him. In 'Return to Grace', Dukat is disgraced with the Cardassian military as a result of this move, reduced to commanding a freighter with Ziyal and his deputy Damar. With Kira's help, Dukat commandeers a Klingon Bird Of Prey and sends his government their battle plans. When he hears that the Cardassian government still wants to negotiate with the Klingons, he decides to use his new ship to launch a one-man war against the Klingon Empire, leaving Ziyal with Kira at Deep Space Nine. In this capacity he helps Sisko, Miles O'Brien, Odo and Worf infiltrate the Klingon Empire in the season five premiere 'Apocalypse Rising'.

In Their Own Story

Dukat's character returned to a more antagonistic role in season five's 'By Inferno's Light', where he is revealed to have negotiated Cardassia's joining the Dominion, becoming head of the Union's government in the process. He leads an invasion force which recaptures Deep Space Nine in the season finale 'Call to Arms', effectively starting the Dominion War and retaking his old command. Dukat loses the station again in the sixth season episode 'Sacrifice of Angels', where Damar kills Ziyal in retaliation for having helped the Federation. Mentally broken, Dukat is easily captured by Starfleet. He escapes their custody when he and Sisko are marooned in 'Waltz', during which Dukat experiences hallucinations of Kira, Damar and Weyoun, comes to accept his hatred for the Bajorans, and swears vengeance on all Bajor before escaping. Toward this end, Dukat allies himself with—and is for a short time possessed by—the Pah-wraiths, arch-enemies of the Bajoran Prophets, and renders the latter's Orbs useless, killing series character Jadzia Dax in 'Tears of the Prophets'. Dukat returns in season seven at the head of the cult of the Pah-wraiths in 'Covenant', but he is quickly disgraced in front of his followers by Kira and goes into hiding again. In 'Penumbra', he seeks Damar's help to find a surgeon to make him look like a Bajoran. In this guise, he convinces Kai Winn to join him in his efforts to free the Pah-wraiths from their imprisonment in the Bajoran Fire Caves in 'Strange Bedfellows', even when she discovers his true identity in 'The Changing Face of Evil.' Their plan is put into action in the series finale 'What You Leave Behind', where the Pah-wraiths choose him as their emissary instead of Winn. Sisko, emissary of the Prophets, arrives to stop him and at Winn's advice shoves himself, the Pah-wraiths' holy book, and Dukat into the burning fire caves, sealing Dukat in the Fire Caves with the Pah-wraiths forever.

Reader's Guide

Dukat played a versatile role throughout the series and was often a nuanced character. In the words of Deep Space Nine co-executive producer Ronald D. Moore: 'I don't think of him as being completely evil through and through ... He can be charming. He can be generous. He can do the right thing. All of that somehow makes his 'evil' actions all the more despicable, because we know that there was the potential in there for him to be a better person.' Ultimately, despite the character's versatility, 'Dukat is a bad guy. A very bad guy.' He is described in StarTrek.com as 'the most complex and fully developed villain in Star Trek history'.

Did You Know?

• Marc Alaimo previously played a Cardassian named Macet in the Next Generation episode 'The Wounded'; the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch novel Demons of Air and Darkness explains that Macet is Dukat's cousin.
• Dukat appears in 35 of the series' 176 episodes.
• In the season four episode 'Indiscretion', Dukat is revealed to be searching for his illegitimate half-Bajoran daughter Tora Ziyal, initially intending to kill her.
• Dukat is demoted from Legate (Admiral) to Gul (equivalent to Captain) after the Cardassian withdrawal from Bajor.
• In the series finale 'What You Leave Behind', Dukat is sealed in the Fire Caves with the Pah-wraiths forever after Sisko shoves himself, the Pah-wraiths' holy book, and Dukat into the burning caves.