Was Garak put off by Ziyal's Bajoran blood?

[Brutal Strudel]

Trek liked to play with attitudes toward miscegenation: in the episode of TNG where the Ferengi abducts Luwaxana Troi, his second (played, iirc, by Ethan Philips) was repulsed by non-Ferengi woman. In DS9, Dukat was shown to have a definite weakness for Bajoran women while Garak seemed just the opposite--recall him telling Kira in "Second Skin" that she never looked lovelier. I wonder if one of the reasons he kept Ziyal at arm's length was tha she was not Cardassian enough--she had Bajoran nose ridges and her scales were rather subdued.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

I doubt it. He kept her at arms length because she was, in his eyes, a naive child, not to mention the daughter of his worst enemy. He just didn't want to get too close to her.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Maybe he was gay.

 

[Kegek]

No, it was definitely her Cardassian parentage than her Bajoran that troubled him. Her father was Gul Dukat, a hated enemy of Garak's because Garak was involved in having his father executed. Garak didn't consider it out of the realm of possibility that Ziyal was getting closer to him so as to take revenge. Never mind that Kira, Ziyal's de facto guardian, took very badly to the idea of her spending time with Garak. And as he admitted himself at the end, he had no idea why she loved him to begin with.

Garak may have defended the Cardassian occupation in "Things Past", but he doesn't seem to have hated the Bajorans, or considered them inferior. Dukat did, he had a love-hate relationship with them - bluntly, he hated them for not returning his love. And aside from Aamin Marritza's impersonation of Gul Darhe'el, we don't get a lot of similar venom.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I don't think he thought them inferior, just not attractive--along with all other non-Cardassian humanoids. Dukat had nothing but contempt for Bajorans as people but simply adored them as things (sex objects); for Garak, it may have been somewhat the reverse.

 

[anti-matter]

For one thing Ziyal being the great Gul Dukats daughter came with a lot of implied baggage. .... "touch my daughter and bad things will happen to you".

Then another thing is well ... I'll just come out and say it was my perception that Garak was gay. Now I can't really explain why I felt that way...but that's the way it is.

imo Garak was accepting of Ziyal's lineage he just wanted Cardassian company...remember they put him on DS9 because it was cold as a punishment. One of the 1st things he enjoys with Ziyal is the sauna. I'm thinking he could have been very happy to continue that relationship as platonic ...even with the great Gul Dukat out of the way.

 

[Jono]

I think it was just Garak couldn't let anyone close to him because of the years of been an Obsidian Order agent.

 

[anti-matter]

^Oh yeah that's a big one too. I forgot about when Garak met his father on that penal colony moon...he regretted not killing Garaks mom for having him. Ouch! that's harsh. In the Order close personal relationships are considered a libility that could be exploited.

 

[mrs260]

I actually think annoying Dukat was a non-trivial reason for Garak to pay attention to Ziyal--he seemed delighted when Dukat attacked him for it, and he definitely played up his friendship with her in front of Dukat.

I don't think Garak was exclusively gay, but I do think he put Ziyal firmly in the "little girl with a crush" category. He was lonely, so he socialized with her anyway.

 

[DanTheGrey]

Honestly I think that Garak genuinely felt something for Ziyal, however, she was the daughter of his mortal enemy, he seemed loathe to form attachments that he couldn't gettison because of his Obsidian order background and finally he was much much older than her.

All things considered they were taking it slow and he wanted to make sure that he wasn't being played by her. The truth is that he probably cared for her very much, he just needed to come to terms with the fact he actually felt that way at all.

 

[JM1776]

I don't think Garak (or the writers themselves) knew how he felt about Ziyal from ep to ep ... or even moment to moment.

It may have been their most realistically-portrayed relationship, thus.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Very nicely said. As such, her Bajoran heritage could have been one factor among many.

 

[indranee]

he was uncomfortable with her youth, not her ethnicity. at least, that's how Robinson played it, I think. I could be wrong. has he said/written anything about this?

 

[indranee]

Brutal Strudel said:
I don't think he thought them inferior, just not attractive--along with all other non-Cardassian humanoids. Dukat had nothing but contempt for Bajorans as people but simply adored them as things (sex objects); for Garak, it may have been somewhat the reverse.

as sex objects or not, it's clear that Dukat had a weakness for Bajoran women.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

indranee said:
he was uncomfortable with her youth, not her ethnicity. at least, that's how Robinson played it, I think. I could be wrong. has he said/written anything about this?

Nope. I'm just extrapolating based on the sub-texts concerning exogamy that ran through the various shows.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Brutal Strudel said:
Maybe he was gay.

"Maybe"? He as much as said, "kid you're barking up the wrong tree."

 

[Smiley]

It would make sense to me for Garak to pretend he's gay when he isn't. That way, if enemies attempt to seduce him, they will send the wrong gender, and they will be easier to resist.

 

[ladyheather69]

I don't think he was put off at all. In fact, I think that he truly did feel something for her, but because of his Osidian Order background and not forming attachments, I am not sure he knew how he really felt about her until she was gone. And being the daughter of his enemy, well that didn't help the relationship along.

But as JM1776 said, I do agree that this was one of the most realistically portrayed relationships with the "do I or don't I" like her from one ep to anohter.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Probably because we saw so little of it.

 

[Frodo Lives]

At the very least, I'd say Garek was bi.

Though, does this mean Ziyal was a fag-hag?