Off the bat, I have to say that Garak was hands down one of my favorite characters on DS9. But something has always puzzled me. Why did the Bajorans allow Garak to stay on DS9 (Terek Nor) after the occupation? We know why HE had to say, but why did the Bajorans allow him to stay? To my recollection, there were no canon sources that addressed the Bajorans motivation for letting him stay. Did he bribe/blackmail a Bajoran official? Any Speculation?
Why was Garak allowed to stay on DS9 (Terok Nor)
- Thread starter poloronbeam
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They probably considered it poetic justice, in a way - a Cardassian, *any* Cardassian, being forced to stay behind while all of his fellows leave. They wanted Garak to feel alone and abandoned.
Now of course the Bajorans didn't openly harass or torture Garak. Just having him be there, alone and (as far as they knew) helpless, was all the revenge they needed.
Plus, as Garak himself said: he's a very good tailor, after all.
Now of course the Bajorans didn't openly harass or torture Garak. Just having him be there, alone and (as far as they knew) helpless, was all the revenge they needed.
Plus, as Garak himself said: he's a very good tailor, after all.
While I like Garak, I don't see why so many people see him as their favorite character.
It's interesting that the Bajorans left him alone for the most part. We know there's a lot of Bajorans who are angry and will attack any Cardassian no matter who.
I guess the writers had to sort of leave the plothole open for his premise to work.
It's interesting that the Bajorans left him alone for the most part. We know there's a lot of Bajorans who are angry and will attack any Cardassian no matter who.
I guess the writers had to sort of leave the plothole open for his premise to work.
^ Plus I'm sure Garak had a fair amount of self-defense training. Any Bajoran who tried to attack him would probably not live too long.
Because to target him specifically and say that a law-abidin' (as far as they knew) private citizen couldn't open and run a business on their Federation-administrated space station would send the wrong message to the Federation about their policies of diversity and equality & stuff.
Garak didn't establish the tailor shop until the Cardassians abandoned the station and Starfleet took over operations. Sisko allowed him to stay, on the chance that he might have access to sensitive information. Since he had Starfleet's approval, that might have been enough for the Bajorans to avoid making trouble.
This quote from Garak to Ziyal in A Call to Arms to me implies that although Garak's exile from Cardassia wasn't his choice, it was actually his idea to live among the Bajorans, even if it wasn't ideal. I would guess that Garak requested and was granted asylum from the Bajoran government as he "sought shelter" among them.
...And these people won't be the ones who establish businesses aboard the formerly Cardassian space station. So Garak has found the sweet spot: in the middle of Cardassian-haters, but at the calm eye of the storm at the same time.
How long the station remained in anarchy (or potentially iron Bajoran grip) between Cardassian departure and Starfleet arrival, we don't know exactly. There was a Starfleet presence there already before Sisko arrived: the E-D folks were patching up the worst of the damage, and even they were not credited as having been the very first.
What happened immediately after the Cardassian exodus is also unclear. It apparently really happened overnight, without much warning, and the Cardassians who did the leaving were probably divided between those swearing never to return, those who were sure they were going to return in, oh, about six days, eight at most, and then Bajor would have hell to pay - and those very few who saw the whole picture, knew that Cardassian internal politics would prevent a return, and foresaw UFP meddling and the opportunities inherent in Cardassia maintaining a more clandestine or indirect presence.
Garak would probably be quick to recover and take his place in the latter lot...
Timo Saloniemi
But it still doesn't answer why the Bajorians themselves would have allowed Garak to stay on the station given their strong negative feelings (at that time) towards Cardassians, and especially in light of the death and carnage that the Cardassians inflicted on the station during their departure. Does Bajor have some type of "squatter right's" that applies to ALL humanoids that would allow anyone, even an alien member of an opposing occupational force, to take some type of proprietary "ownership" of a shop that is governed under a Bajoran sovereignty? As I speculated before, is it possible that Garak bribed/blackmailed an influential Bajoran official in order to be given permission to stay?
But who granted him that shelter, and why wasn't it revoked by the Bajoran Government after the Cardassians left, especially given Bajor's distrust (at that time) of Cardassians?
This explanation works for me. The Bajorans made him hands-off to look good to the Feds.
Literal truth in what Garak says?
IIRC in the Terok Nor novels it's Dukat's superior (aka the Legate who rescinds Dukat's access codes in "Civil Defense") who sends Garak to Terok Nor to rankle Dukat, though it's at the instruction of Enabran Tain. When the withdrawal comes up Dukat takes some pleasure in leaving Garak behind.
My apologies for not answering your original question completely. I'm afraid like most I can only offer my own speculation with a basis on what we saw on screen. My take on it is this:
We know the Cardassians left the station in pretty bad shape (Emissary) and that they also have a penchant for setting some pretty nasty booby traps behind (Civil Defense, Empok Nor), and we can assume that the Bajorans felt that the station was a pretty valuable asset worth keeping. So I see our ever-resourceful friend Garak approaching the Provisional Government (or whoever is in charge of restoring the station) with a proposal that he would help the Bajorans find and bypass all the various booby traps (especially the ones designed to kill non-Cardies), grant Cardassian computer access, and the like in exchange for asylum and accommodation on the station. Having a Cardassian that they can make use of "just in case" reduces any potential future problems (such as the issues in Civil Defense). So it was not an ideal arrangement for either party, but one that served both.
Or if you prefer your Garak to be a bit more sinister, with his background in the Obsidian Order and inside knowledge Garak was probably aware of many secret collaborators in the upper ranks of the government that the Bajorans themselves didn't know about and used that leverage to pull whatever strings he needed to secure his place on the station.
Because the Bajorans never made any effort to police who gets to hang out in the civilian section of the station and who doesn't. Odo was the only one controlling the doorway, and he's fine with anyone who follows the rules.
A few exceptions aside, Bajorans as a species don't seem to be a particularly vengeful lot. They took in Cardassian war orphans, they exiled collaborators instead of executing them. Can you imagine these events taking place on Earth? We'd kill Cardassian children and collaborators in a heartbeat. I don't think human reactions can necessarily be assumed for Bajorans in all circumstances.
I don't think we'd be killing children, that's just inhuman and monstrous. Executing the collaborators for treason and crimes against humanity, yes.
Here's a related question: why was Garak allowed to stay on the Defiant during the war? As a strategic asset, the last place I'd want him would be on the front lines...
Mark
Mark
I always thought of Garak as a bit of a windbag, especially for someone who is supposed to be an Intel Agent/Interrogator. It would strike me that the less you say in at least the former, the better. One could argue that talking as much as he does is simply a well-worked muscle for disinformation, but I think he just likes the sound of his own voice, plain and simple...
Yes this is exactly what I got from the character. I very much enjoyed Sisko kicking the shit out of him in "In the Pale Moonlight"
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