Serious discussion only please.
This is in reference to TNG 7x07 Dark Page which, along with all other Star Trek episodes, I have seen dozens of times.
Watching Dark Page, it has always been my interpretation that a wolf stalked the Troi family picnic at Lake El’Nar on Betazed, lured the family dog away, and subsequently killed Kestra after she followed the dog while Ian and Lwaxana were distracted by baby Deanna. To me, the prominent presence of the wolf associated in Lwaxana’s mind with the tragedy, as well as the deep growling audible from the wolf in the scene where it taunts the dog away from the picnic, make this narrative interpretation the obvious choice.
This topic arose earlier in (and was unceremoniously kicked out of) the Trek Lit forum in my thread originally discussing Thad Troi-Riker, when I mentioned offhand that the original Kestra was killed in a wolf attack. Several members piled on to make fun of my interpretation rather than discuss the original subject of that thread. I was pretty alarmed to discover in the course of that thread that most people choose to interpret Kestra’s death in an alternative way-- Drowning, even though drowning is never depicted, suggested, or mentioned on-screen. The involvement of the wolf in her death seems to be generally disregarded, which I find puzzling.
I have asked for a serious discussion here because a lot of the replies on the earlier thread were unconstructive. People replied just to laugh at me, or to state emphatically that she drowned but providing no supporting evidence. One member suggested that I was smoking drugs but made no substantive contribution to discussion. I would prefer to think that we come to TrekBBS for meaningful discussion, and not to be made fun of. So I would like to pursue the Betazoid Wolf attack theory on that basis.
To be clear, this is not intended to be a discussion about which explanation is more reasonable, more plausible, nor a discussion of the writer’s original intent (even though good arguments could be made for the wolf that address each of those perspectives)… Rather, that given only what is shown and stated on screen about Kestra Troi in Dark Page and various other episodes, that there is (on balance) more evidence supporting the interpretation that Kestra Troi was killed in a wolf attack than the (apparently commonly held) view that she was killed in another way.
For this discussion, when considering Star Trek canon and continuity, there are a few rules that are generally accepted in fandom, and which I have reflected on in this analysis. These include:
The Hallucination scenes, by contrast, are said to be complete distractions, random images conjured by Lwaxana to distract or thwart Deanna from getting to the Memory.
But, paying closer attention to the episode, it becomes clear that many of the elements present in the Hallucination scenes are also features of the Memory, more and moreso as Deanna gets closer to the Memory itself. There are clues hidden throughout the Hallucination as to what really happened. Ian Troi and Lwaxana are present in both. Kestra/Hedril are present in both. The wolf growl is present in both.
In fact, the very first thing we hear in the first Hallucination scene is the wolf growling, and only after that do we hear the sound of water and a splash in the background. Then, much later on, although we do hear the wolf growling again in the actual Memory sequence, there is (very notably!) never any sound of water whatsoever in the Memory.
Really, the only things that are present in the Hallucination, but not present in the Memory, are the Enterprise corridors, and Ian's house near Lake El'Nar that has all the toys Troi says she doesn't remember (the orange plush Betazoid cat, some kind of blue plush thing, the colored building bricks, and some sort of plastic music instrument-- None of which appear in the Memory).
It is clear the Enterprise corridors are simply Troi's contribution to the telepathic link. And following from that, it is easy to explain why the house on Betazed is included here even though it is not where Kestra died: It's very closely associated with the memory of Kestra in Lwaxana's mind. So is the wolf. Because Kestra was killed by it.
Even Picard, when he appears in the Hallucination, turns out to be Lwaxana in disguise-- And Lwaxana is present in both the Hallucination and the Memory. So is the wolf.
Watch extremely carefully during the Memory scene where the family dog is freaking out listening to the wolf growling at the picnic. We then see Lwaxana look up in response to the growling, with a look of fear and alarm on her face… And she is not looking at the dog. If you follow her sightline, she is clearly looking up and away from the position where the dog is. Immediately, there is a jump cut to Lwaxana in Hallucination space saying “No. No, I don’t want to see this again. I can’t!” What did she see that was so awful she had to look away and hates herself for looking away from it?
Kestra was attacked and killed by the wolf.
Finally, whereas the wolf evidence is overwhelming, there is no on-screen confirmation of "drowning." In DS9 4x21 The Muse, when Odo and Lwaxana discuss Kestra, Lwaxana never mentions drowning.
(scene starts and cuts to conversation already in progress)
LWAXANA: Kestra was six years old when she died. My sweet little girl. I lost my parents, a sister, a husband. But nothing, nothing compared to losing her. I didn't mean to carry on like that. I'm sorry.
ODO: No, don't apologise. I think I finally understand why you're so determined not to let your husband take the baby from you.
Again, this is frustratingly cut in a way that removes the context of the part of the conversation that might have elucidated the specific cause of death. But what dialogue remains here reads a lot better in light of Kestra being taken in a Betazoid wolf attack rather than by the drowning theory.
Finally, there is much better parallelism in Kestra II being a "Wild Girl of the Woods," hunting wild bunnicorn for the family's dinner in Picard 1x07 Nepenthe, in contrast with the original Kestra dying by wolf attack at a family picnic at Lake El'Nar. By comparison, the drowning theory is blunt and unsophisticated.
This is in reference to TNG 7x07 Dark Page which, along with all other Star Trek episodes, I have seen dozens of times.
Watching Dark Page, it has always been my interpretation that a wolf stalked the Troi family picnic at Lake El’Nar on Betazed, lured the family dog away, and subsequently killed Kestra after she followed the dog while Ian and Lwaxana were distracted by baby Deanna. To me, the prominent presence of the wolf associated in Lwaxana’s mind with the tragedy, as well as the deep growling audible from the wolf in the scene where it taunts the dog away from the picnic, make this narrative interpretation the obvious choice.
This topic arose earlier in (and was unceremoniously kicked out of) the Trek Lit forum in my thread originally discussing Thad Troi-Riker, when I mentioned offhand that the original Kestra was killed in a wolf attack. Several members piled on to make fun of my interpretation rather than discuss the original subject of that thread. I was pretty alarmed to discover in the course of that thread that most people choose to interpret Kestra’s death in an alternative way-- Drowning, even though drowning is never depicted, suggested, or mentioned on-screen. The involvement of the wolf in her death seems to be generally disregarded, which I find puzzling.
I have asked for a serious discussion here because a lot of the replies on the earlier thread were unconstructive. People replied just to laugh at me, or to state emphatically that she drowned but providing no supporting evidence. One member suggested that I was smoking drugs but made no substantive contribution to discussion. I would prefer to think that we come to TrekBBS for meaningful discussion, and not to be made fun of. So I would like to pursue the Betazoid Wolf attack theory on that basis.
To be clear, this is not intended to be a discussion about which explanation is more reasonable, more plausible, nor a discussion of the writer’s original intent (even though good arguments could be made for the wolf that address each of those perspectives)… Rather, that given only what is shown and stated on screen about Kestra Troi in Dark Page and various other episodes, that there is (on balance) more evidence supporting the interpretation that Kestra Troi was killed in a wolf attack than the (apparently commonly held) view that she was killed in another way.
For this discussion, when considering Star Trek canon and continuity, there are a few rules that are generally accepted in fandom, and which I have reflected on in this analysis. These include:
- Only what is depicted on-screen is canonical. Additional material from other sources can be noted and discussed, but ultimately what is shown on screen takes precedence. So what is mentioned in a couple of novels (two POV chapters featuring Deanna and Lwaxana, respectively, that include the word “drowned”) does not count to contradict the wolf attack.
- Deleted scenes (including filmed scenes later cut, as well as scenes that were scripted but never filmed) are not canon. If they were, Saavik would be half-Romulan and the mother of Spock’s child, and we’d have First Officer Martin Madden on the Enterprise-E. So allegedly there is a scene written, but cut from, Dark Page where Ian says “the current was too strong,” but this doesn’t qualify as a counter-argument either. Also, water currents would make sense for a river but not really for a lake and it could also be that “current” is the Betazoid word for wolf.
The Hallucination scenes, by contrast, are said to be complete distractions, random images conjured by Lwaxana to distract or thwart Deanna from getting to the Memory.
But, paying closer attention to the episode, it becomes clear that many of the elements present in the Hallucination scenes are also features of the Memory, more and moreso as Deanna gets closer to the Memory itself. There are clues hidden throughout the Hallucination as to what really happened. Ian Troi and Lwaxana are present in both. Kestra/Hedril are present in both. The wolf growl is present in both.
In fact, the very first thing we hear in the first Hallucination scene is the wolf growling, and only after that do we hear the sound of water and a splash in the background. Then, much later on, although we do hear the wolf growling again in the actual Memory sequence, there is (very notably!) never any sound of water whatsoever in the Memory.
Really, the only things that are present in the Hallucination, but not present in the Memory, are the Enterprise corridors, and Ian's house near Lake El'Nar that has all the toys Troi says she doesn't remember (the orange plush Betazoid cat, some kind of blue plush thing, the colored building bricks, and some sort of plastic music instrument-- None of which appear in the Memory).
It is clear the Enterprise corridors are simply Troi's contribution to the telepathic link. And following from that, it is easy to explain why the house on Betazed is included here even though it is not where Kestra died: It's very closely associated with the memory of Kestra in Lwaxana's mind. So is the wolf. Because Kestra was killed by it.
Even Picard, when he appears in the Hallucination, turns out to be Lwaxana in disguise-- And Lwaxana is present in both the Hallucination and the Memory. So is the wolf.
Watch extremely carefully during the Memory scene where the family dog is freaking out listening to the wolf growling at the picnic. We then see Lwaxana look up in response to the growling, with a look of fear and alarm on her face… And she is not looking at the dog. If you follow her sightline, she is clearly looking up and away from the position where the dog is. Immediately, there is a jump cut to Lwaxana in Hallucination space saying “No. No, I don’t want to see this again. I can’t!” What did she see that was so awful she had to look away and hates herself for looking away from it?
Kestra was attacked and killed by the wolf.
Finally, whereas the wolf evidence is overwhelming, there is no on-screen confirmation of "drowning." In DS9 4x21 The Muse, when Odo and Lwaxana discuss Kestra, Lwaxana never mentions drowning.
(scene starts and cuts to conversation already in progress)
LWAXANA: Kestra was six years old when she died. My sweet little girl. I lost my parents, a sister, a husband. But nothing, nothing compared to losing her. I didn't mean to carry on like that. I'm sorry.
ODO: No, don't apologise. I think I finally understand why you're so determined not to let your husband take the baby from you.
Again, this is frustratingly cut in a way that removes the context of the part of the conversation that might have elucidated the specific cause of death. But what dialogue remains here reads a lot better in light of Kestra being taken in a Betazoid wolf attack rather than by the drowning theory.
Finally, there is much better parallelism in Kestra II being a "Wild Girl of the Woods," hunting wild bunnicorn for the family's dinner in Picard 1x07 Nepenthe, in contrast with the original Kestra dying by wolf attack at a family picnic at Lake El'Nar. By comparison, the drowning theory is blunt and unsophisticated.
