Poll Rugal Pa'Dar

[Kilana2]

Those Cardassian orphans could be a part of the future of a new rebuilt Cardassia. But I don't know if they would even be accepted in Cardassian society if they were to somehow make it back to Cardassia.

With the decimated Cardassian society after the Dominion attack and considering what happened to Ziyal they should re-evaluate their stance against orphans or even hybrids (like the child Cerin Mika had with Dukat). Rugal could help those children. I would also mention Natima Lang. I saw that Una McCormack dealt with the topic in Enigma Tales. Haven't read it yet, so I won't dig any further.

 

[mlbach]

I disagree that Garak wouldn’t be good with children. The expression on his face when he responded to the young girl in the orphanage spoke volumes. He told Bashir that orphans have no status on Cardassia. (Neither do bastards, which he was.)
I think we can be assured that orphans and hybrids will be needed to help rebuild Cardassia after the Dominian war. Most of the children that survived the bombing would be orphans.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Garak doesn't seem like a person who would be good with children

I am sure that note made it to casting when they planned to show ziyal on the station.

 

[matthunter]

I disagree that Garak wouldn’t be good with children. The expression on his face when he responded to the young girl in the orphanage spoke volumes. He told Bashir that orphans have no status on Cardassia. (Neither do bastards, which he was.)
I think we can be assured that orphans and hybrids will be needed to help rebuild Cardassia after the Dominian war. Most of the children that survived the bombing would be orphans.

From his own backstory, Garak seems regretful that he never got much of a normal childhood. Of the one story he spun to Bashir when his implant was breaking down, I believe the one about him letting the Bajoran kids go the most, even if he claims it was because he just wanted to go off and eat rather than spend time on a fruitless interrogation.

 

[Roundabout]

I am sure that note made it to casting when they planned to show ziyal on the station.

Ziyal was significantly older than Rugal, at that stage in life. IIRC, Rugal was not quite a teenager when his story happened, while Ziyal was just pass her teenage years, or about that age, when she appeared on DS9. Ziyal could have been considered a young adult; at least, she seemed rather mature.

Anyway, Garak had a romantic interest in Ziyal. It was an odd pairing, a middle age man and the relatively young Ziyal. Peculiar as the relationship may have been, as long as they both consented.

I am not saying that Garak was a bad person. It's just that I don't think Garak's habit of spinning tales and being shady would have helped him to connect to Rugal or be a positive influence on the kid.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Ziyal was significantly older than Rugal, at that stage in life. IIRC, Rugal was not quite a teenager when his story happened, while Ziyal was just pass her teenage years, or about that age, when she appeared on DS9. Ziyal could have been considered a young adult; at least, she seemed rather mature.

The original actress clearly played Ziyal much younger, much less mature than what we saw when Ziyal was in a relationship with Garak.

 

[kkt]

The original actress clearly played Ziyal much younger, much less mature than what we saw when Ziyal was in a relationship with Garak.

Yes. In-universe, I explain that the malnutrition in the work camp delayed her development, and she matured rapidly after getting health care and a decent diet.

 

[mlbach]

Wasn’t there a line in the episode that she was only thirteen?

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I believe that the dialogue you're thinking of suggested that Ziyal was about thirteen when she left Terok Nor on the Ravinok, after whichshe spent around six years as a prisoner, making her nineteen when we first meet her and perhaps about twenty when she arrived on DS9. Garak's age has never been stated (it would probably have been a lie anyway!), but given that he was played by 51-58 year old Andrew Robinson, I think we can reasonably assume that he and Dukat were contemporaries.

 

[mlbach]

So Garak is old enough to be her father.

 

[DonIago]

...I mean, right now someone young enough to be my kid could still be in their 20s...