Betazoid society

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I know this question I'm about to ask was never dealt with onscreen (apart from the joke line about "Mr. Troi" in one of the films), so if anything, it's a novel-related question, therefore I'm asking it here:

Is it true that Betazoid society is matriarchal, and the males take the last names of their wives? For example, if this is true, Lwaxana would not have taken the name Troi from Ian - he took it from HER family (i.e. Ian had another last name before he married Lwaxana).

I seem to remember something about this from The Art of the Impossible, though I could be a bit fuzzy on this point....

On the other hand, the "Mr. Troi" joke aside, I don't remember Will Riker taking Deanna's last name after they got married. Maybe it's up to personal preference?

 

[Pavonis]

I'm sure it's up to personal preference, just as it is now.

I always imagined that Lwaxana's husband's bachelor surname was Andrew, hence the typical reference to him as Ian Andrew Troi. Or was it Ian Andrew-Troi?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

References to Betazoid history are surprisingly rare, given how ritualistic their nobility is in its customs and traditions (I assume that's an outgrowth of the need to centre yourself in your own identity before becoming comfortable with insights into others? Natural for a race of telepaths). Although given that it's an entire planetary civilization with (presumably) millennia of history, I'm sure they can have a wide variety of social systems. For my part, I often assume that one of the leading Betazoid societies was, or ended up, matriarchal and this is retained in a semi-official capacity by segments of the nobility because it's tradition. Certainly Lwaxana seems to assume that her position as eldest female of the house grants her certain responsibilities and attendant privilige, but maybe that's just her .

Of course, there are lots of possibilities. Perhaps males and females had segregated lines of authority and a mother had authority or responsibility over her daughters but not necessarily male relatives? They could be matriarchal/matrilineal within the female half of the family while their overall family unit isn't necessarily so straightforward? The daughters might be required to revere the mother while the sons and husband have a different set of requirements? Or maybe Betazoids are like the Vulcans - it's always been said, explicitly, that Vulcan clans are matriarchal, with an "Eldest Mother" or matron leading them, yet the individual family unit seems to be quasi-patriarchal, with the father the leading influence. It seems Vulcan matriarchy is for the higher or wider levels of a family while the smaller unit seems to often settle into what looks like a patriarchal system. Vulcan is a matriarchy that seems to delegate a lot of political and familial authority to males, those loyal to the elder female who leads the clan. Perhaps Betazoids are like that?

Or maybe Lwaxana was being scandelous and deliberately took her human husband's name to get attention and start waves of gossip? Following custom all the time is a heavy duty (or so she often claims); perhaps she delights in subverting it now and then if it will play into the personality she cultivates?

 

[F. King Daniel]

*Gong!*

*nibble nibble*

*Gong!*

*nibble nibble*

*Gong!*

 

[Deranged Nasat]

*Gong!*

*nibble nibble*

*Gong!*

*nibble nibble*

*Gong!*

I assume that all the repetitive, ritualistic aspects of Betazoid society are intended to encourage self-regulation and self-understanding as a means of avoiding getting lost in other people's emotions or desires. They'd need things in which to "ground" themselves, I imagine.

 

[F. King Daniel]

 

[Christopher]

...it's always been said, explicitly, that Vulcan clans are matriarchal, with an "Eldest Mother" or matron leading them, yet the individual family unit seems to be quasi-patriarchal, with the father the leading influence.

Where, in canon, has it been explicitly stated that Vulcan clans are matriarchal? Or are you speaking solely of the literature?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

...it's always been said, explicitly, that Vulcan clans are matriarchal, with an "Eldest Mother" or matron leading them, yet the individual family unit seems to be quasi-patriarchal, with the father the leading influence.

Where, in canon, has it been explicitly stated that Vulcan clans are matriarchal? Or are you speaking solely of the literature?

Oops. You're right, sorry; I meant Trek lit. "Always said" was a bit of a misphrase. I should have said "it's been explicitly stated in several of the novels".

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm sure it's up to personal preference, just as it is now.

I always imagined that Lwaxana's husband's bachelor surname was Andrew, hence the typical reference to him as Ian Andrew Troi. Or was it Ian Andrew-Troi?

Deanna named her own son "Ian Andrew" (in 'The Child') so I assume those were her father's first and middle names.

 

[Pavonis]

^Well, Franklin Roosevelt's middle name was taken from his mother's maiden name, Delano, so middle names can be borrowed from surnames, too. Andrew is a legitimate surname.

 

[CNash]

I'm surprised that no TNG episodes actually visited Betazed, or gave any insight at all into Betazoid culture besides Lwaxana's idiosyncrasies and the fact that they conduct marriages in the nude. It was a real missed opportunity.

 

[Pavonis]

Betazed was visited in "Menage a Troi".

 

[CNash]

Ah, so it was. Blame my faulty memory for that one. Still, compared to - say - Klingon culture, the Betazoids didn't get that much development as a species over the course of TNG, despite having one on the bridge.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Ah, so it was. Blame my faulty memory for that one. Still, compared to - say - Klingon culture, the Betazoids didn't get that much development as a species over the course of TNG, despite having one on the bridge.

True. It's a shame, because I get the impression they just wanted a telepathic (then empathic) character and justified it lazily with "she's an alien" (half-alien), without really thinking about how a society of telepathic humanoids would function. As someone who's always been fascinated with ideas of telepathy, joined minds and emotional unities, I find it a bit disappointing. Some of the books have dealt with telepathy well, and some have explored Betazed, but strangely enough the two haven't really ever come together for me. We haven't had the definitive "Betazoid guide to telepathy" book.

 

[JD]

I'd love to get an Spock's World, Worlds of DS9 type story for Betazed. Do we even know when Earth made first contact with them, or what kind of a government they even have?

 

[Christopher]

Star Charts says Betazed joined the UFP in 2273, though that seems a little early to me. Aside from that, there's nothing definite established in the literature about its contact history.

 

[JD]

Was there a reference to Betazed being involved in either TOS or ENT era events? I swear I remember being shocked when I read a reference to that effect somewhere.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

The earliest appearance (in terms of internal chronology) of a Betazoid that I'm familiar with was in "The Last Roundup" (2294). There, it was hinted that they'd only recently joined the Federation, and that their telepathy was still something of a novelty to most people. A character was thinking something along the lines of "his people have a proven ability to read minds at a distance". The concept was clearly intriguing and new to her.

That is, I'm assuming "Parkan", President Ra-Ghoratreii's telepath, is Betazoid. The name certainly sounds Betazoid.

The earliest mention was in The Good That Men Do, when the hired-pirate-who-didn't-kill-Trip mentions Betazoid weddings, and Trip thinks something along the lines of "I guess Betazoids are a race we haven't encountered yet".

 

[F. King Daniel]

FASA's TNG Officer's Manual had some pretty interesting ideas about Betazoids. IIRC, it claimed contact was made about a century prior to TNG's first season, and that the position of Ship's Counsellor was created especially for this race, to utilize their empathic powers.

Oh, and that their homeworld was Haven *facepalm*

 

[Paper Moon]

I second JD's desire for a Betazed world-building story.

Re: one of the OP's questions, I've always sorta figured that Betazoid society was historically matriarchal and that, traditionally, the husband takes the wife's name. Obviously there is some personal preference in the matter by the 24th century, just as there is here in the 21st, but I always felt that the "norm" was for the male to take her name.

Lwaxana just doesn't quite seem the sort to give up her name... and from what little I've seen of him, Ian seems not to have been so wrapped up in himself that he would lose sleep over losing his birth surname.