Gul Dukat

[jonds91]

Well, I don't think he's evil actually anymore so than anyone else.
He is egotistical but not necessarily in regard to the death of his daughter.
I think a lot of us feel bad at the loss of s loved one, not because of Their suffering but because We miss them. Ziyal didn't really suffer that much, it was over for her pretty quickly .

I think Dukat had s lot of issues but he was not pure evil. That would make for an extremely shallow and boring character to have to watch every week on TV.

I don't think Dukat started out as "pure evil" and I found his character fascinating initially. Here was the leader of a once conquering army being relegated to spectator or worse. He was a mixed character having done good things and bad things. He did improve and save the lives of many Bajorans but he took advantage of the situation for personal gain. That shows two sides of his character and there was real opportunity to develop this. Instead they went down the "mustache twirling villain" angle.

DS9 was a well written show but Dukat's character, IMHO, was the weakest link.

 

[Mister Spock]

They start to develop shades of grey in the character around the third and fourth season. Dukat does start off as a sneering, unrepentant war criminal and you do see more and more often him becoming a reluctant ally and friend to Sisko. I suppose the most obvious is The Way of the Warrior where he becomes almost an anti-hero in his exodus from Cardassia after the Klingon invasion. However, a leopard doesn't change its spots (a Cardassian doesn't change their spoon?) and his narcissism gets the better of him when he sees his opportunity to regain power and authority by allying with the Dominion. The sixth season sees him lose a lot of things - his daughter, any hope of gaining either Sisko's respect or Kira's affection etc. - and his descent into madness. By the end his insanity even blinds him to the fact that despite being a patriot, he has become a traitor and led to his own people being treated by the Dominion the same way he treated the Bajorans.