Jadzia Dax

Lore & Background

Jadzia Dax is a joined Trill. "Jadzia" is the name of the young Trill woman, while "Dax" refers to a slug-like symbiont that resides in her abdomen; Jadzia's actual family name was never revealed on the show. While Jadzia is 28 years old at the beginning of the series, the creature Dax is roughly 300 years old, having previously been hosted by seven other Trills. Prior to Jadzia, the Dax symbiont had been hosted by Lela, Tobin, Emony, Audrid, Torias, Joran, and Curzon. The burden of seven lifetimes' worth of memories is not always a positive one; several episodes of Deep Space Nine focus on Dax's struggle with her dual nature. In the first-season episode "Dax", the previous host Curzon Dax is accused of murder, leading to an extradition hearing to determine whether Jadzia can be held responsible for crimes committed during another lifetime. In the second-season episode "Invasive Procedures", an unjoined Trill named Verad attempts to steal the Dax symbiont. In the third-season episode "Equilibrium", Dax begins to experience unsettling mental problems and learns that the Dax symbiont had been previously joined with Joran Belar, a psychologically unstable host candidate who later committed a murder. In the fourth-season episode "Rejoined", Jadzia Dax encounters Lenara Kahn, the current host of the symbiont Kahn, who had been previously joined to Nilani Kahn, the wife of Torias Dax.

In Their Own Story

When the show began, the writers had difficulty defining the character of Dax. Michael Piller explained, "Having a Trill seemed like a really, really good idea at the time, but it was the most difficult character for us to define. Jadzia Dax escaped us." Ira Behr spoke further on the character, announcing that they had intentionally changed the character early in the series. He said, "We changed Dax in year two. Originally, she was going to be the Spock character, the wise old owl, the wise old man. And then we realized that she could be the one who's ready to go out and kick anyone's butt, and go out and have an adventure and have fun, and be kind of witty and mercurial." Speaking in 2002, Terry Farrell said of playing Dax, "It was a character who had lived seven lifetimes, been a man and a woman." She added, "They tried to find what they wanted in adjusting me here and there, and I think really what happened was surrender to that it was all new for this Dax, Jadzia Dax, this experience of the seven lifetimes." When asked how she would like Jadzia Dax to be remembered, Terry Farrell said, "wisely mischievous."

Reader's Guide

Jadzia Dax is the chief science officer of the space station Deep Space Nine. She is close friends with station commander Benjamin Sisko. Later in the series, she becomes involved with the Klingon character Worf, and they marry during the sixth season of the show. In the sixth-season finale Jadzia dies but the Dax symbiote survives, and in the seventh-season premiere returns with a new host Ezri Dax, played by Nicole de Boer. The make-up used on all Trill comprises lines of dark spots that run from the temples and down both sides of the head, neck, and body. Prior to the symbiotic joining, Jadzia earned academic degrees in exobiology, zoology, astrophysics, and exoarchaeology.

Did You Know?

• Jadzia Dax is Dax's eighth host; the symbiont is roughly 300 years old while Jadzia is 28 at the start of the series.
• The Trill spots makeup was suggested by Michael Westmore after Rick Berman disliked the Odan forehead appliance on Terry Farrell, saying 'What did you do to her head, she used to be beautiful?'
• Terry Farrell described Jadzia Dax as 'wisely mischievous' when asked how she wanted the character remembered.
• In the second-season episode 'Invasive Procedures', an unjoined Trill named Verad attempts to steal the Dax symbiont from Jadzia.
• Michael Piller wanted to add lines to Star Trek: Insurrection acknowledging Jadzia's death and its impact on Worf, but Rick Berman overruled this.