I have recently finished One Constant Star and I was asking myself if Demora has a son. There are some hints on Memory Beta. And as to the Shatnerverse it is plausible. Otherwise I can´t imagine Demora with a child. Who cared for it during her career? According to "Tales of the Captain Table" she once took a leave of absence to care for her grandmother. But there was never mentioned a son.
In Star Trek Online, Demora has a grandson named Akira Sulu, but there's no reference to whether she had children herself.
Pathways by Jeri Taylor established Demora's son Hiromi Sulu as the Captain Sulu who sponsored Chakotay's admission to Starfleet Academy. However, Tales from the Captain's Table: "Seduced" by Christie Golden establishes Demora herself as Chakotay's sponsor. The Shatnerverse novel Dark Victory mentions Demora's grandchildren, meaning she certainly had a son or daughter in that continuity.
The question is complicated by the various continuities. There's not just one Damora. There's the Shatnerverse continuity, the main Litverse, the STO continuity and the Crucible continuity. For continuity's sake, is it possible that both Demora and her son sponsored Chakotay? That would reconcile the difference between Pathways and Seduced's versions of Chakotay's sponsorship. It does seem like every version of Damora's life we see much of in the different continuities of Shatnervers, STO and Litverse all support Damora having a son. There could be an unexpected way of going about things though. She had a female partner in One Constant Star. Perhaps her partner or partners raised her son on Earth or whatever while Damora was in space - not to say she couldn't still have had a husband later, either option or some combination seems possible as Damora seems to bisexual and polyamorous/non monogamous. Perhaps she took a job on a planet or something when she was older. I think there are ways to see how Damora could've had her career and at least one child, it just takes looking at her family arrangement a little unconventionally. It doesn't seem as if she'd have been likely to have raised a child full time, but she wouldn't necessarily have had to.
Good explanation. I´d be happy for Demora if she had a son. I was just wondering, because she never mentioned him, at least not during One Constant Star. Harriman, on the other hand, mentioned his family.
I'm terrible with timelines and haven't read One Constant Star yet. Could Demora have her son after OCS? Humans seem capable of having babies at older ages in the 24th century. I'm sure it's not intended, but I think it's possible that Demora's son wouldn't have to be her biological child. He could be traditionally adopted or the biological son of her hypothetical wife. I assume he is her biological son, but I'm just throwing out alternative suggestions. I do like it when all the pieces fit together, creating a larger shared universe.
Except that's not the only inconsistency. Both works describe or depict the events on Chakotay's homeworld leading up to Chakotay's decision to join Starfleet, and they don't agree with each other. Although maybe they could be more or less reconciled if one disregards the paragraphs in Pathways that summarize the backstory.
Like Crusher giving birth to little Renè. Beverly was even for the 24th century too old. She could have frozen her ovocytes during the time she didn´t have a serious partner. Physically she is able to raise a child. Freezing ovocytes, even for Demora a possibility. It´s not uncommon to postpone motherhood in favor of a career. During OCS Demora is in the middle of her 40ies. Beverly was even older. Everything is still possible.
I could imagine in the 24th century, or maybe even the 23rd, there could be treatments a woman could go thru to allow her to safely have a healthy child. Even in the real world women have babies in their 40s and even 50s. I remember on DS9 there's mention of Keiko going to her mother's 100th birthday party, which surely make her in her 60s when Keiko was born. As for Pathways, wasn't parts of it contradicted on tv later anyways? I still love the book anyways.
Yup. Pretty much the only backstory chapter that wasn't contradicted later on by either the show or the novelverse was the Kes chapter, since Kes had left by the time Jeri Taylor left. But it's possible that some elements from the backstory chapters could still be treated as valid, if one so desired.
It´s a long time since I have read Pathways. Only thing I remember is, that B´Elannas mother was called Prabsa instead of Miral. Otherwise these facts are known. Nonetheless, I´m looking forward to reading furthter Hikaru/Demora/Harriman stories.
Coincidentally, I actually saw Tattoo earlier in the week. In it Chakotay refers to Captain Sulu as "he" so it really can't be Demora.
"Seduced" explains that. Chakotay's father Kolopak is depicted as having rather old-fashioned ideas about gender roles, and Chakotay thinks he wouldn't approve of a female starship captain, so he doesn't correct Kolopak's assumption that Captain Sulu is male, instead playing along with it. It's a bit contrived, granted, but it is explained.
"Seduced" works around that. Chakotay used a male pronoun because he knew that Kolopak wouldn't approve of a female leader, because their tribal custom is rather rigid on that point. Chakotay was rather desperate not to give Kolopak any reason to say no, and so tried to hide the fact of Sulu's sex. EDIT: Oh, ninja'd.
Yeah, it's pretty obvious in a behind-the-scenes sense that Hikaru Sulu is likely the "Captain Sulu" whom the VOY screenwriter(s) had in mind, there, being the only Captain Sulu that every viewer out there would think of upon hearing the name. Had completely forgotten about the specific gender case in the dialogue, though.
Exactly. We know Demora exists, and we know Akira exists and his her grandson. The existence of any person in between is pure speculation. We'd be essentially making up a Human being which has not been seen or referenced directly.