Spoilers The Gorn should sue this show

"Eating the heart of one's enemy" has always been a Klingon thing.

 

GORN CAPTAIN: Wait for me. I shall be merciful. And quick. But first, don't forget to smash that Like button and click Subscribe!

 

La'an: No! ...No! You can't get away. ...From Hell's heart, ...I stab at thee. For hate's sake I spit my last breath ...at thee.

(activates auto-destruct sequence on USS Archer to try to destroy the fleeing Gorn ship)

Spock: All that matters to La'an is her hate.

Uhura: Do you suppose that's all she ever had, sir?

Pike: No, but that's all she had left. Warp factor two, Number One. Set course for Starbase Four.

 

Why is it so hard to believe that an "Alien Lizard-like" Race wouldn't actually behave like an "Alien Lizard-like" Race?

Perhaps they don't want to be friends with creatures who don't look like them or act like them.

Isn't that what ALIEN means?

It's not like we haven't seen something akin to this in our entertainment before ...

 

I don't remember Kor, Kras, Koloth, Korax, Krell, or Kang threatening to eat the hearts of their enemies.

 

It's not on the menu, but you can request it from the chef.

 

"This time, we will reach the Albino! And when we do, I will cut his heart out and eat it, while he watches me with his dying breath!"

— Kang (DS9 "Blood Oath" [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_Oath_(episode)])

---

From DS9 "Covenant" [http://www.chakoteya.net/DS9/559.htm]:

EZRI: Would it bother you if Odo believed in Klingon religion?
KIRA: Not if he got something out of it.
BASHIR: He'd get to eat the hearts of his enemies.​

 

I do. See Corporal Captain's post above.

If you're quibbling over "always", I will amend to it's been long established that Klingon's eat the hearts of their enemies.

 

Worf also considered it a key reason why Jadzia didn't go to Sto-vo-kor when she died (and therefore needed his help).

[From "Image in the Sand..."]
O'BRIEN: She's not in Sto-vo-kor.
QUARK: You mean Klingon heaven? What would she be doing there? She wasn't a Klingon.
O'BRIEN: As far as Worf is concerned, she was. She did join the House of Martok.
BASHIR: Then what makes him think she's not in Sto-vo-kor?
O'BRIEN: For one thing, she never ate the heart of one of her enemies.
QUARK: She always was a little squeamish.

 

Yes, I was indeed quibbling over "always."
Star Trek Lore established in the eighties, nineties, and aughties is less dear to me than what was established in the sixties. The revisions of Middle Period Trek - especially between 1994-2005 - do not come to my mind as easily as the much older material or the newest material. My apologies.

It's not that I hate those incarnations of Star Trek, it's just that I haven't revisited them as often as I have Classic and the Modern stuff.

 

That's entirely fair. Apologies if I came off a little snarky.

 

No problem. I often worry that I'm coming across as too obnoxious on this forum.

 

As many has pointed out, eating the heart of the enemy was indeed a practice, more of a ritual.

However the imagery of someone smiling while he picks the flesh off a smooth human skull doesn't exactly seem ritual. It seems more like something one would do at a barbeque.

 

BBQs can be a ritual. Prometheus honked off Zeus at Mecone that way.

 

GORN CAPTAIN: Ha! I can't lose! This Earthling is mine! You are completely helplessss! I have you now! I shall enjoy devouring you and laying my eggs inside your mushy skull!
KIRK: Wait! You don't want to do that! You're better than that! Besides, I can introduce you to a better food and egg-nurturing medium! On my honor as Captain of the Enterprise!
GORN CAPTAIN: I'm listening. I hear every word. Go on.
KIRK: It's this:



And with that, Edward posthumously fosters peace with the Federation and the Gorn which lasts well beyond Burnham's time...

 

IIRC, the Klingons on the stranded sarcophagus ship were starving

 

Remember when it was common knowledge among Starfleet personnel that the Klingons don't take prisoners? Until the next movie when they did. And three movies after that. And the next movie after that.

Remember when it was common knowledge among Starfleet personnel that the Ferengi eat the people they capture? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Reports of an intractable enemy species or a newly encountered mysterious species are often going to embellish on the horrfying nature of the foe you faced. Later on as you build a greater rapport with the species and come to learn more about their culture a more nuanced, less fight or flight biased evaluation of that culture will tend to set in.

Or they could just be as scary as La'an's report suggests. Well have to wait and see.

 

God, I hope they are.

It would certainly help explain why they don't succumb to some random Starfleet Captain's inspirational speech within twenty-five minutes after meeting humans, and don't start wearing shoes and going to Sunday School like proper Federation citizens.

 

That would seem to imply that Worf has...

Sunday School? Hew-mons don't believe in souls.

 

They cut the scene where Worf pulled out Duras' heart and ate it. It was too violent for broadcast tv.