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Klingon chancellor Kesh (minor spoilers for Forged in Fire)

ToddCam

ToddCam

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
I'm posting this, not to be nitpicky (though I am), but because I hope someone will someday address this, like with the deputy on DS9 that was suddenly a nurse. Just to be up front, I REALLY LOVED Forged in Fire. Please do not jump on me.

In In the Name of Honor, Klingon Chancellor Kesh stepped down. This was in 2287. (It says so in the book!) He was replaced by Gorkon, who was Chancellor until his assassination in 2293 (Star Trek VI). This was the first mentioning of Kesh in any form of Trek, I believe.

In Forged in Fire, the majority of which takes place in 2289-2290, Captain Sulu contacts the Klingon Chancellor, who happens to be Kesh. Unless ITNOH takes place after FIF (which makes no sense, because Sulu would then had to have left the captaincy of the Excelsior and received a demotion, in addition to the date problem), that means that Kesh regained the Chancellorship from Gorkon, and yet Gorkon regained it himself in time to be Chancellor for Star Trek VI.

Here's a smily::klingon:
 
I'd think it may be something similar to President Grover Cleavlend. He served two terms, with another president in between those terms. Only time it ever happened in our history.

Of course, as shown in "Reunion" (TNG), the Klingon "election" process is a bit different then ours....:evil:

Maybe, for whatever reason, Gorkon had to do somthing that required him to temporarily turn over the keys. Remember West Wing, and the whole story arc of "Bartlett's daughter is in danger, so while he goes to save her, the White House is turned over to the John Goodman character"?

Maybe Azetbur got in some trouble with an enemy, disappearing, and now Gorkon's gotta find her and save her neck WHILE AT THE SAME TIME preserve the peace. With his experience, Kesh reluctantly takes the big chair again, to hold it until it's all over. Hmm....
 
Hey, nice idea. I'll assume something like that happened until/unless the issue is cleared up! Thanks!
 
Maybe rare in the US, happened a lot in the UK. Churchill is the obvious one but Gladstone even served 4 non-consecutive terms as Prime Minister.
 
ToddCam said:
I'm posting this, not to be nitpicky (though I am), but because I hope someone will someday address this, like with the deputy on DS9 that was suddenly a nurse. Just to be up front, I REALLY LOVED Forged in Fire. Please do not jump on me.

In In the Name of Honor, Klingon Chancellor Kesh stepped down. This was in 2287. (It says so in the book!) He was replaced by Gorkon, who was Chancellor until his assassination in 2293 (Star Trek VI). This was the first mentioning of Kesh in any form of Trek, I believe.

In Forged in Fire, the majority of which takes place in 2289-2290, Captain Sulu contacts the Klingon Chancellor, who happens to be Kesh. Unless ITNOH takes place after FIF (which makes no sense, because Sulu would then had to have left the captaincy of the Excelsior and received a demotion, in addition to the date problem), that means that Kesh regained the Chancellorship from Gorkon, and yet Gorkon regained it himself in time to be Chancellor for Star Trek VI.

Here's a smily::klingon:
Click to expand...

I wonder if there is no formal term for "former Chancellor" (which would say a lot about Klingon politics, really). And although Kesh is no longer technically the leader of the Council, he's still referred to by the "Chancellor" honorific.

Was Kesh specifically referenced as Leader of the High Council? Having stepped down, he might still have a fair amount of political power, yet not be the request-magnet the Leader of the High Council is.
 
I had always assumed that the only way to "step down" as Chancellor would be to be killed by one's successor, as that's the way Klingon politics usually works.
 
Babaganoosh said:
I had always assumed that the only way to "step down" as Chancellor would be to be killed by one's successor, as that's the way Klingon politics usually works.
Click to expand...
Well, he could also die in office, as K'mpec did, in which case there are several candidates, with the last two determined by an Arbiter of Succession, and those two fight it out, with the victor being chancellor and the loser being dead.
 
Hey, nice idea. I'll assume something like that happened until/unless the issue is cleared up! Thanks!
Click to expand...

No, ToddCam --thank you!:techman:

(Hey, it's not every day a bloke like me gets a "Mega-Dittos, Rush"!;))
 
KRAD said:
Babaganoosh said:
I had always assumed that the only way to "step down" as Chancellor would be to be killed by one's successor, as that's the way Klingon politics usually works.
Click to expand...
Well, he could also die in office, as K'mpec did
Click to expand...

Technically, yes, but K'mpec died of poison, so he was still 'killed' in that sense.

I'm guessing that Klingons, given their disposition, rarely die of purely natural causes.

in which case there are several candidates, with the last two determined by an Arbiter of Succession, and those two fight it out, with the victor being chancellor and the loser being dead.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that's how it always is. Either a Chancellor is directly challenged and loses, or his killer is secretive enough that nobody knows who killed him and thus many candidates have to fight it out.
 
Babaganoosh said:
I'm guessing that Klingons, given their disposition, rarely die of purely natural causes.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing that Klingons, with the appalling state of their medical corps, die of natural causes all the time, and from things that folks in the Federation get cured in a heartbeat.

The detailed setup for succession of a chancellor that we saw in "Reunion" wouldn't be in place if it wasn't common for chancellors to die of natural causes. Keep in mind that K'mpec being poisoned was considered unusual.

Also, let's face it, until very recently, a Klingon could easily die from an abcessed tooth. :)
 
Also, let's face it, until very recently, a Klingon could easily die from an abcessed tooth. :)
Click to expand...

OR... better yet... CONSTIPATION!:devil:

"Kahnghan, son of Gotyuckh, I regret to inform you that you are far too backed up to recover."

"Oh? Oh well. IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!:klingon:"

KAH-BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!:guffaw::guffaw:




Sorry, yall. I coudn't resist.
 
Reminds me of the line from My Enemy, My Ally where Kirk read a report about Romulan politicians dying of reportedly natural causes and reflecting that an inability to live after being poisoned was natural enough.
 
ToddCam said:
In In the Name of Honor, Klingon Chancellor Kesh stepped down. This was in 2287. (It says so in the book!) He was replaced by Gorkon, who was Chancellor until his assassination in 2293 (Star Trek VI). This was the first mentioning of Kesh in any form of Trek, I believe.

In Forged in Fire, the majority of which takes place in 2289-2290, Captain Sulu contacts the Klingon Chancellor, who happens to be Kesh. Unless ITNOH takes place after FIF (which makes no sense, because Sulu would then had to have left the captaincy of the Excelsior and received a demotion, in addition to the date problem), that means that Kesh regained the Chancellorship from Gorkon, and yet Gorkon regained it himself in time to be Chancellor for Star Trek VI.
Click to expand...
Some additional datapoints:

In the Name of Honor also refers to Gorkon as a "recently elected" member of the council, but he's mentioned as a Councillor in Vanguard: Harbinger (and maybe one or more of the Errand of... books), which take place during TOS. And one of the Mere Anarchy e-books has Kesh as chancellor in 2291.

So there's precedent for a little ambiguity on the subject...
 
I think it's safe to say that In the Name of Honor is no longer in continuity with the current crop of novels.
 
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