Hi guys! I got this idea from @Mojochi in the TNG forum and I thought it might be neat to start one in here! In my opinion, DS9’s characters were always a little bit more complex than TNG or the original series, people weren’t polarized as “good” or “bad”. The characters generally had a lot more depth and some followed the antihero path for sure. Who do you think is the most “good” person on DS9? The most well rounded and selfless person? My pick goes to Quark...jk jk I think honestly I would have to say Odo. His decision making was very straightforward and he really kept to his code. As all characters do, he definitely had some weak moments, but he really did aim to make the station a better place. He cared about the good of everyone, except for maybe Quark and Garek haha Who’s your pick?
Odo's a good choice. Sometimes it feels like he's distancing himself. Lord knows there's a lot of history with him, when the Cardassians ran the show. So maybe he's just trying to keep from getting too close, & when he has gotten close, it's does tend to affect his virtue, like with Kira. Man, these characters are hard to break down this way I wish I knew them a bit better to judge it, but I keep coming back to Rom. Has he ever done anything that wasn't good natured? I mean other Ferengi treat him like he's a dunce, but mostly that's because he's not an opportunistic creep, like they expect each other to be
Rom is a great choice. There’s a couple times I can recall when he acted more like a Ferengi. One time Rom was plotting to kill Quark, and there were a couple other situations where he lied or something small. Generally a good guy though, and a great dad.
Kira's a possibility too. Very religious and makes a sincere attempt to follow it even aspects she doesn't like.
I thought about her, but she’s so driven by her love life. For instance I was watching the episode where we meet “alternate-timeline Bareil” and she made some choices that were pretty selfish in nature because she loved him. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same, but watching that today I was kind of disappointed. It’s also fresh in my mind. Generally speaking she does follow her faith very closely. It’s definitely the cornerstone of her character. She holds her morals pretty strictly. She would probably be #2 or #3 IMO on the goodness scale.
Jake? Everyone else has so many questionable areas that I can't single out anyone. We see them being great onscreen, but they have all sorts of moral compromises in the past or off camera.
Probably Leeta. She was sweetness and light personified. Ezri was basically flawless too. Kira, despite the actions she was forced to take during The Occupation, was a really nice person too who genuinely tried to adhere to her faith.
I agree that Ezri and Odo were among the best persons. Ezri is all around kind and positive character. Odo was cranky but his committment to justice and order make him an excellent person, and he had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor which gives him points in my book.
It’s always difficult for me to consider Ezri since she was only in season 7. I feel like we didn’t see a lot of character development from her. We also didn’t see her go through as many trials in life as some of the characters who were around longer. We have less to hedge her on because we didn’t see as much of her. Jake is definitely someone who made good choices and seemed to see the best in people. Especially since he was so young, he wasn’t as immature as his peers (Nog or even Wesley from TNG).
Odo, who handed over innocent men for execution when he refused to do due diligence? Odo, who obsession with a certain Bajoran not only almost brought about the assassination of Bajor's First Minister, but also led to the disappearance of a community? Odo, who checked out when others were attempting to halt the growth of the Dominion occupation? Odo, who made a bad strike call?
He made some mistakes, yes, and the writers couldn't resist giving him some blemishes as the series wore on. I disliked some of the choices that the writers made, especially how he behaved during the Dominion occupation of DS9. I still like him better than most of the other characters because of his portrayal in the early seasons, when he truly was the outsider committed to justice.
I think Miles would nominate Julian. "Well, the truth is he's an extraordinary person. A real sense of honour and integrity, great sense of humour, warm, caring." ...but only if he could be sure that Julian wouldn't find out.
They all had blemishes, but Odo's stand out. Compare them to Bashir's: he arguably harassed Dax and a couple of patients, but he also sacrificed himself to cure the Dominion's blight and the disease the Federation inflicted on the Founders (something which made Odo's intervention in WYLB possible).
If I could judge Bashir solely on The Quickening, then he is the most heroic character in the entire history of Star Trek. Honestly, aside from the episodes you mentioned, where his idealism and selfless heroism shines, most of the time, I couldn't stand the guy.
Bashir was self motivated like 90% of the time. I would say the opposite for Odo. He may have made some poor decisions at some points but overall he always had the safety of others on mind. Bashir was more concerned about his sexual prowess. I still like him a lot but he’s definitely not on my list for most selfless. Also, Odo being the only one of his kind that was fighting on the federation side had to be incredibly difficult. I can’t imagine if I was the only human fighting with aliens against my people. I definitely would have had some weak moments as well.
A *young* Odo might screw up early on his career. The DW one is a particularly inexcusable failing though.
That kind of echoes what was said about Tasha over in the TNG thread. I'm not sure that really disqualifies Ezri. You just have to take what you know about the person & go by that Here's an interesting thought I had about her though. Is she a totally different person, or do we count her as an extension of Jadzia, & everyone else she's been, for that matter?
I would say different person, same memories though? I don’t 100% fully grasp the Trill/symbiont but I do recall the conversation Jadzia and Sisko had before her wedding with Worf. She mentioned that she negotiated the khitomer treaty and Sisko corrects her saying Curzon did that, not her. I always assumed they had each other’s memories but total free will separate from each other. I could be wrong though, I have a difficult time grasping it haha