In the epsiode wrongs darker than death or night,it was revealed that dukat kira's mother was his mother,that would be as least 20 odd years before starfleet took control of tekor nor,what is the actual age of dukat,if he was indeed kira meru,wouldnt dukat be in his late 50s or early 60s by the time of this epsiode?.
Dukat's age
- Thread starter Mr Pointy Ears
- Start date
If his cosmetic surgery he had done reflected his age, we could make speculations from the episodes where he looked like a Bajoran... but then again, we don't really know the Cardassian life span (where as we do with the ol' Klingons). I'm curious myself considering most legates seen in DS9 had gray hair.
Think the Pah-Wraiths gave him some Just For Men and Cialis as a part of their evil package deal
It may simply be that Cardassians are longer-lived than Bajorans (or humans for that matter) and the show simply didn't bother to make that clear. After all, we know that Vulcans, for example, leave at least twice as long as humans. And on the flip side you have a race like the Ocampa, who live only 9 years.
Some Star Trek literature features Dukat being even older. The novel Day of the Vipers features Dukat as a mid-ranking officer, with part of that story being set in 2318.
I actually worked out a theory of what the Cardassian lifespan is, based on this episode...and I agree with this. I think he was between 65 and 70 when he died.
The only problem with this theory of Cardassian ages is Tekeny Ghemor. However, I think that his more rapid aging is explainable by two things: severe stress and grief (which, if you look at every modern US president, for example, really ages a person), and a terminal degenerative illness.
Might also be that Tekeny Ghemor isn't physically old at seventy'ish - he has gray hair because that's fashionable for Legates. Were he to move on to the private sector at 80, he'd dye his hair black again, or stop dyeing it gray, or even let it revert back to the natural green...
Say, Gul Madred might be significantly older than Legate Ghemor, despite the military-style black hair, and his Dickensian childhood might in fact precede the modern Cardassian conquest spree.
Timo Saloniemi
Say, Gul Madred might be significantly older than Legate Ghemor, despite the military-style black hair, and his Dickensian childhood might in fact precede the modern Cardassian conquest spree.
Timo Saloniemi
I was quite taken with Kes/Jennifer Lien, and although I really liked the Seven character, would've preferred the retention of Kes's services aboard Voyager!
While I can see the cultural reason for dyeing one's hair gray, given their reverence for age, I think that the severe grief, stress, and physical illness that we know about for sure is a sufficient reason and it doesn't require anything more than that.
True. It does put a bit of a limit on what counts as "old" or "young" in Cardassian life, though: if such symptoms can set in at 70, it must be closer to our 40 rather than our 20.
Tekeny Ghemor need not necessarily be merely seventy, of course: he could have been nineteen in the 23rd century already, assuming the Bajoran occupation began back then. Let's remember that while Dukat's presence at Bajor has been moved to an earlier date by "Wrongs Darker", it has not merely meant that Dukat during the show is older. It also means that Dukat's claim that there had been 40 years of chaotic occupation before his becoming Prefect ("Waltz") has to be accounted for. Dukat is Prefect when Kira Meru looks like she could be 20-30, meaning 40-30 years prior to the framing story date of mid-2370s (where Meru would be 60)...
By that reckoning, Ghemor could be significantly older than Dukat. There are conflicting opinions on how long the Occupation lasted in any case, depending on the viewpoint: both Dukat and Ghemor might agree that the Cardassians were there to stay (and to massacre monks) decades before the date when the Bajorans themselves admit to having lost control of their own world.
Timo Saloniemi
Tekeny Ghemor need not necessarily be merely seventy, of course: he could have been nineteen in the 23rd century already, assuming the Bajoran occupation began back then. Let's remember that while Dukat's presence at Bajor has been moved to an earlier date by "Wrongs Darker", it has not merely meant that Dukat during the show is older. It also means that Dukat's claim that there had been 40 years of chaotic occupation before his becoming Prefect ("Waltz") has to be accounted for. Dukat is Prefect when Kira Meru looks like she could be 20-30, meaning 40-30 years prior to the framing story date of mid-2370s (where Meru would be 60)...
By that reckoning, Ghemor could be significantly older than Dukat. There are conflicting opinions on how long the Occupation lasted in any case, depending on the viewpoint: both Dukat and Ghemor might agree that the Cardassians were there to stay (and to massacre monks) decades before the date when the Bajorans themselves admit to having lost control of their own world.
Timo Saloniemi
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