rightful heir

[at Quark's]

Just looking the ep 'rightful heir', and something is bugging me.

In this ep, 'Kahless', when first encountering Worf, knows his name and about the vision he had as a young child. (he uses this to convince Worf he is real)

Then, later in the ep, Kahless is revealed to be 'only' a clone, not a supernatural figure, with memories implanted from what has been written in some holy texts.

So, how did he know about Worf's vision as a child ? While I could see those priests overhearing a campfire story from worf and implanting that knowledge into the clone just to convince Worf, imho it would still be a far-fetched explanation (Worf doesn't strike me as the type just to tell such a story to people he'd only known for a few days, priests who'd just by coincidence have to overhear it, and then putting a lot of effort in such a small detail, etc). Also, from the rest of the ep, it seemed the 'Kahless' clone himself was an honest man, so deceit or trickery from his side seems unlikely.

Or is this just an oversight in the script ?

 

[Timo]

Probably the latter...

But the story of the vision is told in that steamy cave where the conspirators were burning all sorts of weird stuff. The encounter between Worf and Kahless may have in actual fact taken place quite differently from what the camera showed. Rather than rationally questioning the nature of the man claiming to be Kahless, Worf may have been high on mind-altering substances and in fact undergoing thorough brainwashing. Quite possibly, Kahless didn't tell him about the vision - Worf told Kahless about it.

Timo Salonimei

 

[at Quark's]

mmmm... that's a good and very interesting explanation, one I hadn't thought of.

Of course, such a 'deconstructivist' interpretation of that scene could be dangerous to my as of yet unshaken faith in the holy Trek canon. It might cause me to doubt more and yet more scenes. Eventually, I might even deteriorate to the point of freely admitting that it is just a tv-show ...

Heaven forbid

 

[Timo]

Oh, but it must be less an orchestrated TV show and more a candid description of a fictional reality if it involves the characters giving unreliable accounts of events, and engaging in functional substance use...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mojochi]

I actually just thought it was all part of Koroth's con. Maybe Worf had spoken to the clerics about his vision as a child, at some previous time, & The Clerics decided to use him in their scheme to pass this clone off as the real return of Kahless

Using Worf as a mark would be pretty smart. He's quite well known by then, among both Klingons & Starfleet alike. To do a little cold reading & turn a known outsider of questionable faith into a believer would be a real score, as far as cons go

After all, it wasn't long before Kahless was standing on board the Starfleet flagship. What better publicity is there than that? Word would spread like wildfire around the galaxy with that kind of attention being paid

 

[Tiberius]

Oh, pish. The used Betazoid DNA, and Kahless clone was telepathic. Worf saw Kahless, remembered his vision as a child, and Kahlessclone knew about it.

Easy.

 

[at Quark's]

But that would imply the _original_ Kahless had betazoid DNA as well, as it is stated in the ep by the enterprise computer that their DNA is identical...

 

[Tiberius]

So? maybe he did!

 

[Dick_Valentine]

They had a time machine and prior to fully activating him, sent him back in time to child-worf and gave him a vision.

They did this with quite a few Klingons to ensure when it was time for Kahless to reveal himself, they'd all have such reverence for him.

 

[Tiberius]

They had Betazoids in the caves who read Worf's mind and told the Kahlessclone what to say.

 

[at Quark's]

They had Betazoids in the caves who read Worf's mind and told the Kahlessclone what to say.

Ooooh, nice explanation!

Which begs an altogether different question:

Can Betazoids 'read' your memory, or only what you just happen to think about at that specific instant ?

 

[Tiberius]

This is what happened.

Clone Kahless. Beam him into the cavern as he wakes up. Worf looks up, sees Kahless. Worf thinks, "This is like that time I saw him the the caves of whatever they were!" Betazoid mind readers hear Worf's thoughts. Betazoids then telepathically send this information the Kahless. Kahless repeats it, and Worf thinks he's magic.

Easy!

 

[indolover]

I've seen some say here that the role of Kahless was poorly casted, but maybe part of the aura/myth of Kahless is that as a smaller man and from humble beginnings he rose to became a near God to Klingons.