Does Worf Hate His Kid?

[Mojochi]

He can't possibly hate him more than most of us do, but he sure as heck doesn't seem to get anything positive out of the deal. At best, he only finds a few moments where he can tolerate being around him. He certainly seems to hate being a dad, & especially being a dad to this specific kid. He views the entirety of the thing as either a burden an annoyance or a daunting responsibility that he is unqualified for (Which comes off as more of a copout)

What does that say about him, that in some ways, he is absentee or negligent? He did love the mom. So much so, that I think it's a sore subject for him, like maybe Worf is taking out his pain at losing K'Ehleyr on Alexander, as if Alexander is a constant reminder of that loss, (the kind of thing you might talk to your girlfriend the counselor about, at some point) Or how that loss saddled him with a kid, so maybe resentment, a bit.

There's also the fact that it was sprung on him, but how long can that be an excuse? Certainly not years... years where he sends him off, or willfully refuses to get to know him or let him in emotionally or whatever Klingons might do instead. He acts as though raising a kid who is one quarter human is unthinkable & undoable for him, when it's very possible that HE is among an infinitesimally small percentage of Klingons better prepared for that task than any other. He grew up around humans

I swear, that laser game with Guinan, she pegged his entire life as a dad in 60 seconds.

Somehow I get the impression that in the back of his head, part of him thinks about Alexander's human side the same way he thinks about other disabilities. (Like paraplegia for example) Something tells me he's probably thought the best thing for Alexander would be ritualistic suicide, to save him from the dishonor of living as part human

 

[Timewalker]

I think part of Worf's problem is that K'Ehleyr refused to marry him - so in Worf's mind, Alexander might be his biological son, but not in the same way as being part of a real Klingon family.

Sometimes I think Alexander would have been better off if Lwaxana had adopted him.

 

[Amaris]

Your last option works for me. I think Worf loves Alexander, but he hates not knowing how to approach him. To Worf, being a Klingon means meeting certain personal principles, and a set of core behavioral rules that a child, Klingon or no, doesn't quite care to abide by. So he sees Alexander as a young, undisciplined little boy who should instead carry the Klingon tradition of honor and self-sacrifice. See, Worf was more Klingon than Klingon, and he expects Alexander to act the same, so that when he doesn't it just confuses and angers the hell out of him. He wants the best for Alexander, but he doesn't know how to make it happen.

Just my two bits.

 

[Vger23]

Worf hates everyone.

 

[Timewalker]

There's a really good TNG fanfic on fanfiction.net that's about Tasha Yar's Academy years - and her friendship with Worf (they were cadets at the same time). Tasha meets Worf's family (the Roshenkos) and there's a subplot about Nikolai and how irresponsible he is.

It's unfortunate that the author never finished that story. It's the only TNG fanfic I ever really got into that wasn't a parody.

 

[Mojochi]

Worf hates everyone.

Amen. Ironically however... He may be the only one who liked Pulaski lol

 

[Leviathan]

To be fair, a lotta viewers hated his kid. Like a whinier version of wesley....

 

[Triskelion]

Worf still had too much to prove to himself to worry about a dependent. He put personal honor over his family, and so he lost Dax the same way he lost Keh'leyr - not being there for them. And he lost Alex, and he lost the honor of his House, and Mogh was dead. All he had left was Martok's charity.

 

[Herbert]

Worf hates everyone.

Except anyone who brings him prune juice

 

[Herbert]

Worf got blindsided by K'Ehleyr. At first he didn't know what to do. I don't think hate plays into it at all. He was just trying to figure out how to be a dad to a son that he didn't know and a son that didn't know him. The fact that Alexander didn't know, nor even appreciate, his Klingon heritage certainly didn't help the relationship.
I have no idea how or if they expanded on their relationship on DS9. I didn't watch that show beyond the first couple of seasons

 

[DonIago]

I don't think Worf was prepared to be a father, and the fact that Alexander's interests were so divergent from his own just complicated matters from there.

When I was in high school my dad and I would fight all the time (usually over the dinner table...great times...). It didn't mean that we didn't love each other (most of the time), it was just that...to my best guess...he didn't really understand me, and his model of parenting wasn't conducive to my helping him to understand me...nevermind that I was a teenager, which as we all know is the least understandable form of life in the universe.

 

[Jedman67]

Worf being a good father wouldn't make for good TV drama, so he's miserable as a dad and doesn't know how to be a good dad, let alone a good klingon dad.
Then Alexander comes back from the future to try to kill young Alexandar to save himself being embarrassed in life, so Worf tries to be a better dad.
In DS9, Alexander magically ages 10 years and enlists in the KDF; when his ship is assigned to DS9 and he realizes Worf is there, he wants nothing to do with Dad until Worf brings them to victory.
Then Alex doesn't hate Worf anymore but doesn't really love him and the writers decided that he was too complicated so basically never brought him back again.

 

[Sakonna]

I have no idea how or if they expanded on their relationship on DS9. I didn't watch that show beyond the first couple of seasons

It's DS9 that screws it up. TNG left the Alexander arc in such a good place, "Firstborn" is a perfect resolution, with Worf finally letting go of all his issues with Alexander and parenting, and deciding to just be a father to the son he actually has.

Then when Worf arrives on DS9, the initial hand-wave acknowledgement of Alexander's absence is fine. He says Alexander is happier on Earth with his grandparents. Of course in season 5 TNG the grandparents say they can't handle him anymore, but he's older now, the crash of the Enterprise really drove home the danger of the Starfleet life, you can go along with it because both writers and fans don't want to deal with more Alexander. They had successfully maneuvered themselves to a place where we could respect Worf's "good dad" resolution on TNG, but didn't have to actually see the kid anymore. What could be more perfect than that? You could head cannon whatever you wanted into the empty space (I just assumed they were communicating regularly and visiting occasionally -- a healthy, if distant, father/son relationship)

And then they couldn't leave well enough alone! That stupid "Sons & Daughters" episode unravels the whole thing, and for what? It's one of only two appearances Alexander makes on DS9. He does not in any way seem to be the character we know from TNG. Continuity-wise it does not connect to "Firstborn." The story they tell is bad and unsatisfying, and wastes an episode of the Dominion Invasion arc.

Aside, "Sons & Daughters" also has one of the worst lines of dialogue in DS9:

"When a father and son do not speak, it means there's trouble between them."

Brilliant insight, Martok.

 

[Kor]

Aside, "Sons & Daughters" also has one of the worst lines of dialogue in DS9:

"When a father and son do not speak, it means there's trouble between them."

Brilliant insight, Martok.

For the biker viking cavemen Klingons of the 24th century, that's probably one of the most profound things any of them has ever said.

Kor

 

[Nightdiamond]

It's DS9 that screws it up. TNG left the Alexander arc in such a good place, "Firstborn" is a perfect resolution, with Worf finally letting go of all his issues with Alexander and parenting, and deciding to just be a father to the son he actually has.

Then when Worf arrives on DS9, the initial hand-wave acknowledgement of Alexander's absence is fine. He says Alexander is happier on Earth with his grandparents. Of course in season 5 TNG the grandparents say they can't handle him anymore, but he's older now, the crash of the Enterprise really drove home the danger of the Starfleet life, you can go along with it because both writers and fans don't want to deal with more Alexander. They had successfully maneuvered themselves to a place where we could respect Worf's "good dad" resolution on TNG, but didn't have to actually see the kid anymore. What could be more perfect than that? You could head cannon whatever you wanted into the empty space (I just assumed they were communicating regularly and visiting occasionally -- a healthy, if distant, father/son relationship)

And then they couldn't leave well enough alone! That stupid "Sons & Daughters" episode unravels the whole thing, and for what? It's one of only two appearances Alexander makes on DS9. He does not in any way seem to be the character we know from TNG. Continuity-wise it does not connect to "Firstborn." The story they tell is bad and unsatisfying, and wastes an episode of the Dominion Invasion arc.

Aside, "Sons & Daughters" also has one of the worst lines of dialogue in DS9:

"When a father and son do not speak, it means there's trouble between them."

Brilliant insight, Martok.

Yeah, true. In TNG it seemed like eventually Alexander became more well behaved, and they came to some mutual understanding about the warrior thing.


DS9 made Worf look like an absent father, who just left his son with his parents and didn't bother to keep contact.

He didn't even put up a good defense; "I'm a warrior, I lead a warrior's life". That was his explanation. And all that did was make him look like a Klingon oddball. Like he takes that stuff way too seriously, even other Klingons don't go that far.

And Alexander really came off---different. The contrast was too different to accept. And then abruptly taking him off the show after just 2 episodes just made the whole thing seem odd.

 

[Sakonna]

And Alexander really came off---different. The contrast was too different to accept. And then abruptly taking him off the show after just 2 episodes just made the whole thing seem odd.

So true. I was going to say that if they had to have Alexander, the way to do it was just put Brian Bonsall in there for "You Are Cordially Invited", but even that would have been weird. And it's another easy hand-wave (he can't travel all the way from Earth in the middle of this highly dangerous war!)

 

[Jayson1]

I think Worf does love his son but doesn't respect him. He see's him as being weak and not having what it takes to make it in Klingon society. PLus he himself wasn't raised by Klingons so in some ways I think Worf has problems knowing how to interact with Klingons. He knows all the traditions but doesn't really know what they are like as, real people and only knows the sterotypes. It would be like a white guy who tries to bond with some black people but instead of just seeing them as people he relies to much on stuff he might have watched on tv like "Do The Right Thing" or "Boys to Men" etc in terms of how he tries to speak with the people. That's one of the reasons why he tosses around the word l "honor" all the time. He doesn't realize that Klingons are going to be like most people and have things that are honorable and not so honorable about them. Granted he is also sort of like tthis with humans and other aliens as well. Worf is basically just not all that good with people.

Jason

 

[Balok's Decoy]

I definitely get the impression that it's more about Worf not wanting anything to do with raising a kid (because he's a warrior yada yada yada) than it has to do with Alexander himself. At least in TNG. In DS9, the fact that Worf was a terrible dad basically made Alexander ill-equipped to being traditionally Klingon, which made Worf resent him, even though it was basically Worf's fault that he turned out the way he did. Sigh. I love Worf, but god he was a shit dad.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Worf hates everyone.

LOL yup, pretty much. He doesn't even seem that fond of Jadzia, to be honest. I still don't understand that relationship at all.

 

[Paradise City]

Worf is brought up as a fish out of water and is never really fully comfortable in his own skin. Alexander, in his turn, is young Worf amplified. i.e he's VERY troubled.

So the idea of shouldering the burden of raising this troubled reflection of himself just short-circuits Worf. He can just about manage to be a Klingon himself, he just can't handle raising a Klingon. I think it's an interesting angle actually. It's sad to see them both so hostile to each other in DS9 after their last episode in TNG. No, I don't think Worf hates his son, but his son does confound him.

I think he said so in The Grounded episode in his log -- that he'd rather face an army of whatever monsters than face one little boy. That early log actually sums up Alexander for Worf up until DS9.