Trek character with the most surprising development

[Kilana2]

Who is the Trek character with the most surprising progress/development for you?
Is there someone you came to dislike, before an aha moment changed everything and the character became your favorite in the end?

For me it is Major Kira. She was the tough and gruff freedom fighter at first, totally against Federation intervention. Her affection for Odo and the fact she acted as surrogate mother for Keiko finally changed my opinion.

Same goes for B'Elanna and Seven. But I didn't have much sympathy for Seven until I read the relaunch novels. There I got to know Seven better. Kirsten Beyer managed to show another Seven: not just the sexy ex-drone, but a caring person.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Nog or Damar

 

[DonIago]

Damar. I'd written him off as Dukat's lackey for years. I never expected him to follow the course he did once he was on his own.

 

[Kilana2]

Nog or Damar

Damar was the one who first came to mind when it comes to the supporting cast. You are certainly right with Nog, too. From a greedy and green youth to a member of Starfleet. Most unusual, and not always to Uncle Quark's liking.

 

[Kilana2]

Damar. I'd written him off as Dukat's lackey for years. I never expected him to follow the course he did once he was on his own.

Oddly I never liked him. Especially not after killing Ziyan. But I was surprised to see more in him than just a drinker.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Martok is another possibility, as he was almost a regular character during the show’s final season.

 

[Kilana2]

Lwaxana became less annoying in the DS9 episodes.

 

[1001001]

Morn

 

[DonIago]

Oddly I never liked him. Especially not after killing Ziyan. But I was surprised to see more in him than just a drinker.

I do wonder how things might have played out if Ziyal hadn't been killed. But Dukat staying in charge of Cardassia would likely have ultimately been disastrous for the AQ.

 

[DonIago]

Martok is another possibility, as he was almost a regular character during the show’s final season.

I liked Martok but never felt we got a really deep look into who he was.

 

[1001001]

Dukat turned absolutely ridiculous by the end of the series.

 

[Kilana2]

I do wonder how things might have played out if Ziyal hadn't been killed. But Dukat staying in charge of Cardassia would likely have ultimately been disastrous for the AQ.

If Ziyal hadn't been killed, someone else would be dead instead.

 

[Kilana2]

I liked Martok but never felt we got a really deep look into who he was.

That's why I love the Left Hand of Destiny novels. J.G. Hertzler had a hand into it.

 

[Kilana2]

Dukat turned absolutely ridiculous by the end of the series.

An example for a failed character development. Dukat had his moments, but mostly in the earlier seasons.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Surprising in a bad way: Bashir. In that, his big twist came completely out of nowhere and made no sense.

Surprising in a good way: Nog or Rom. Nobody would have expected Nog to have interest in Starfleet or for Rom to become a mechanical genius hero once they gave up on trying to be 'Good Ferengi'.

All the other characters I can think of had pretty much the logical course of development for their character.

 

[1001001]

Tom and B’Elanna, both separately and together, developed nicely.

 

[Gul Sengosts]

Definitely Gul Dukat. Used to be a brilliant antagonist, but his part in the last season of DS9 was just absurd.

If we're talking about positive development, Bashir. Hated him early on, greatly respected him later.

 

[Jetboogieman]

Agree with so much in this thread.

Kira Nerys.

Nog.

Damar

Even Quark to an extent but that really is the power of DS9, having a static setting (for the most part) and massive story arcs allows characters so much more opportunity to grow in a very noticeable way for the audience.

Whereas the most self contained stories in all other Treks makes this a more tricky thing to achieve.

 

[Refuge]

I was never drawn to Spock much. I like Kirk and Spock just annoyed me. After endless re-runs and then nothing and now more re-runs I like Spock now and even think he might be a bit sexy.

 

[Uhura's Song]

Good topic and some good answers.

If by development you mean twist, then Kes melting away almost before they could get her off the ship was surprising to me. And the return was horrid.
Suprising in a good way, I will go with Hoshi. Terrified space linguist to badass king-fu master who breaks people's arms at Starfleet. I didn't see that coming.

In terms of well done, I would go with Nog or Kira. Also warmed to T'Pal.