Why didn't Worf go off on Dukat after Jadzia's Murder?
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Admiral Shran, I have already posted one nonsensical explanation. I believe my work as a fan is done. Posting nonsensical explanations is almost a profession for us.
Let the writers do the rest, I say.
Let the writers do the rest, I say.
I always considered it as obvious..... Worf didn't know where Dukat was..... nobody knew where he was. The only people who knew was Wyoun and Damar.... but then once he took off on his spiritual quest, nobody knew where he was.
He appeared on Empok Nor when he kidnapped Kira, but then was gone..... the next time he appeared was when he started screwing around with Kai Winn, but even she didn't know it was Dukat until much later on.... and would anybody expect her to notify Worf where Dukat was, let alone know he killed Dax..... what did she care?
Worf knew where Duras was and he knew he had the opportunity to come after him and gut him like a trout..... Dukat was illusive almost right to the end.
There's no point running around the galaxy hunting for one man when you have no idea where he is. If the opportunity came and he knew where he was, I'm sure he would have took off faster then a heartbeat.
As I saw it.... Dukat never blamed Damar, because Damar explained right after he killed her that she was a traitor to Cardassia..... and in their culture, that's what you do..... Dukat blamed Sisko because it was his station she lived on and he blamed him for brainwashing her into helping the enemy..... because Sisko broke through the lines and stopped the reinforcements coming from the Gamma Quadrant, he lost Terok Nor, he lost Bajor, and he didn't have enough time to escape with Ziyal.
Damar in his eyes, was acting as a true soldier of Cardassia and chances are, if the roles were reversed, Dukat would have shot Damar's daughter..... it's the Cardassian way, which is why he forgave him and tossed the blame on Sisko.
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^ I always thought another large part of it is that Damar always supported Dukat, and defended him. He was a loyal follower, who from Dukat's viewpoint recognized (let's say) the greatness and worthiness of Dukat as the firm but benevolent leader. Given Dukat's view of himself, I'm assuming he therefore sees Damar as a man of vision. To blame Damar would therefore be to undercut himself - to remove one of the few aspects of his life that actually helped him justify his self-image. So Damar "can't" be blamed, and he has to cast around for someone else to attach the blame to.
I'm a little hesitant suggesting these things, because while I didn't mind pah-wraith Dukat as much as some of us here, I do think the writers did a poor job with his goals and motives mid-season 6 onwards. It's not so much his story arc that bothered me - sure, have him as emissary of the pah-wraiths, only think it through a bit more and give him sensible motives. So, I do think the writers were quite probably being lazy and a bit nonsensical in having Dukat blame Sisko, but on the other hand, I can justify it in a way that works well enough for myself as a viewer.
It doesn't make sense-sense, but I can see it making twisted Dukat-sense, while skirting clear enough of complete nonsense. Then again, I also see why to some people it might cross into the last category.
I'm a little hesitant suggesting these things, because while I didn't mind pah-wraith Dukat as much as some of us here, I do think the writers did a poor job with his goals and motives mid-season 6 onwards. It's not so much his story arc that bothered me - sure, have him as emissary of the pah-wraiths, only think it through a bit more and give him sensible motives. So, I do think the writers were quite probably being lazy and a bit nonsensical in having Dukat blame Sisko, but on the other hand, I can justify it in a way that works well enough for myself as a viewer.
It doesn't make sense-sense, but I can see it making twisted Dukat-sense, while skirting clear enough of complete nonsense. Then again, I also see why to some people it might cross into the last category.
If he was going to blame a non-Cardassian, why didn't he blame Kira, who was 1) close friend of Ziyal and therefore could be assumed to have had a lot more influence on her than Sisko, 2) actually there on the station at the time, and was the person who instigated and lead the resistance actions on the station that Ziyal got involved in? And certainly nobody could argue that Dukat had less of a difficult history and fixation on Kira compared to Sisko... So why Sisko, who 1) was never particularly close to Ziyal, 2) was far away to have any influence on her at the time?
There's just one logical answer, and it's the obvious one: plot contrivance.
Anyway, I'm grateful that there wasn't any " Worf seeking revenge for Jadzia" plot since it would have felt repetitive, and it had been done better on TNG, and would have just distracted from Dukat's role(s) in the show, which was NOT to be Worf's nemesis. Heck, I don't think they had ever been in the same scene together, let alone exchanged words...
Dukat was sexually attracted to Kira, as you may recall. Perhaps that--and how in "Return To Grace" he encouraged their friendship--caused him to blank her out of his mind.
Well, first, I wan't really convinced that Dukat blamed Sisko, per se.... But to keep that assumption for now, I would say that Sisko, more so than Kira, represented the ideals which, in his mind, corrupted her. Sisko is so very Starfleet, Kira is a harder-edged Bajoran. Dukat understands and comprehends the Bajoran mind. The Starfleet mind is so very foreign and alien to him. Thus, the foreign is what he blames for the introduction of alien characteristics into Ziyal.
Not that I disagree, but in a possible attempt to justify...
(taking a short trip into the delusional depths of Dukat-land)
Maybe Dukat has hope that Kira will one day "see the light" and acknowledge his righteousness? He never seems to truly "get" that she truly, really despises him. I suppose he simply can't accept that a Bajoran, or a woman, or particularly a both-the-above would ever really hold him in contempt. For he is a natural leader, don't you know, with a superior grasp of the realities of the social order (and he just happens to be on top) who treats his subordinates and mistresses and vassals and anyone else dependent on his power, with benevolence and a firm but understanding hand.
So she can't be the one to blame, for she will "one day" be a part of his perfect little Dukat-centric world. But Sisko, he's not a part of that world, for he usurps Dukat's position. Sisko's just a rival. First he "takes" Dukat's station and office, then he wins the Bajoran people's love and praise (which "should" have been Dukat's!!). Kira Nerys even serves loyally at Sisko's side. Sisko is the biggest threat to Dukat (as far as he sees it), because Sisko always gets what should be or was Dukat's. So if something goes wrong...I'm betting Sisko ends up taking the blame somehow.
That didn't stop him from accusing Kira of supposedly turning Ziyal against him earlier in "In Purgatory's Shadow".
As for the nature of his feelings for Kira, if I may quote a writer this time, Ron Moore said in an AOL chat that Dukat hates Kira; the fact that he also wants her is not a contradiction because those two things are not mutually exclusive.
I see where you are both coming from on this, but I am not buying it. Frankly I cannot imagine Worf would give a rats butt about Ross's approval or disapproval, and I would have expected him to allow nothing to prevent him from avenging Jadzia's death.
Worf is a Klingon warrior who hunted down and killed the murderer of his previous mate DESPITE the efforts of starfleet (i.e. Riker) to stop him. My memory may be failing me, but I'm pretty sure Picard had no idea that Worf was going on a revenge mission to kill Duras. In fact he would have explicitly opposed such a course of action as Worf well knew, but he went ahead anyway. For a Klingon, legal boundaries would be an insufficient deterrent in the face of a matter of honour, regardless of the uniform he wore. I would contend that Worf proved that fact multiple times throughout his career.
Furthermore, we have seen on several occasions where his loyalty to other officers whose lives were in danger prompted him to swear vengeance should they be killed by their adversaries. For example the case of Sisko in "To the Death" where he vowed to kill Omet'iklan if the latter carried out his threat to kill Benji.
Finally, and most tellingly of all, this is an officer who disobeyed the explicit orders of his superiors and condemned millions of innocent people to death in "Change of Heart" simply and solely because he could not allow his wife to die.
Clearly this is a man who would never allow starfleet admirals, regulations, the threat of court martial or even death to stand in the way of avenging the death of this same wife AND HIS UNBORN CHILD. Not a chance in hell. Dont forget Jadzia wasn't just his wife, she was carrying his child too.
So I agree with the OP. Its damned strange that Worf never expressed ANY desire to kill Dukat, let alone set out on a mission of vengeance. So strange in fact that I have to regard it as an inexplicable oversight on behalf of the writers.
No, she wasn't. They were just planning to have children.
Anyway, the reason why Worf apparently wasn't even bothered with trying to find Dukat is the same reason why Dukat had to kill Jadzia in the first place: plot contrivance.
Ah yes, plot contrivance.
well i can picture the situation in front of me.
"Commander, what are you doing?" Ross asked looking at Worf stading next to Dukats corpse. Worf straightens out his uniform and looks down at the beheaded Dukat. Then at the bat'leth in his hand. Finally back at Ross.
"Admiral, this isnt what it looks like. You see, i had no intention of avenging my wife's death. i was simply going about my business when he showed up out of nowhere, and tripped on my bat'leth. It was an accident..."
"Commander, what are you doing?" Ross asked looking at Worf stading next to Dukats corpse. Worf straightens out his uniform and looks down at the beheaded Dukat. Then at the bat'leth in his hand. Finally back at Ross.
"Admiral, this isnt what it looks like. You see, i had no intention of avenging my wife's death. i was simply going about my business when he showed up out of nowhere, and tripped on my bat'leth. It was an accident..."
I could easily see Worf looking at Ross with a deadpan expression, and explaing the corpse with, "He was in my way." 
Eh....yeah.
Ahem. Of course I'm wrong there and you are correct.
Notwithstanding my brain fart above, i still think its not credible that Worf would not seek vengeance on Dukat. Plot contrivance indeed.
I dont know why the heck I thought she was pregnant. Indeed they were just planning to have kids with the assistance of Bashir (and possibly the prophets).
Having watched all 7 seasons through at least 5 times, I have no excuse. *Shakes head*
I will be over here in the corner looking sheepish, if anyone needs me.
I think that the whole this is something that could have used a couple of either flashbacks to or mini-episodes during the off season (and yes, I know they weren't doing those at the time of DS9, but the whole discussion is hypothetical anyway) to allow us to see some events relating to the death of Jadzia - the season six finale became interested solely in Sisko and the effects on him after Jadzia's death.
But I can't compare the death of K'Ehlyer and Jadzia - they died in two very different situations. K'Ehlyer's death was one done in peacetime by a long-time enemy of Worf's house who stuck around after it and remained close enough for Worf to kill. Jadzia's death was done during a war as an incidental casualty by a man Worf had never personally met who fled the station via a transporter that has a far longer range than Federation transporters.
Because of the war, Worf's got conflicting duties pulling on his honor, because he's sworn an oath to defend the Federation in a time of war, and he is now a line officer. If he were to go off anywhere, his sense of duty would make him request leave. Admiral Ross would obviously deny it, and would probably play on Worf's sensibilities to make him put his need for revenge aside to uphold his duty to the Federation. Worf may have planned to seek Dukat out and kill him after the war, we'll never really know.
But I can't compare the death of K'Ehlyer and Jadzia - they died in two very different situations. K'Ehlyer's death was one done in peacetime by a long-time enemy of Worf's house who stuck around after it and remained close enough for Worf to kill. Jadzia's death was done during a war as an incidental casualty by a man Worf had never personally met who fled the station via a transporter that has a far longer range than Federation transporters.
Because of the war, Worf's got conflicting duties pulling on his honor, because he's sworn an oath to defend the Federation in a time of war, and he is now a line officer. If he were to go off anywhere, his sense of duty would make him request leave. Admiral Ross would obviously deny it, and would probably play on Worf's sensibilities to make him put his need for revenge aside to uphold his duty to the Federation. Worf may have planned to seek Dukat out and kill him after the war, we'll never really know.
I would say that this is another example of Hemmingway's iceberg.
Earnest eplained that, like an iceberg, the vast majority of any good tale is underwater, hidden from sight. This part is implied by the part of the tale we see--but, if everything is up front and visible, that takes a lot of the fun out of it for the audience.
Give the audience 2+2. Let them come up with 4.
Earnest eplained that, like an iceberg, the vast majority of any good tale is underwater, hidden from sight. This part is implied by the part of the tale we see--but, if everything is up front and visible, that takes a lot of the fun out of it for the audience.
Give the audience 2+2. Let them come up with 4.
TNG had him abandon Alexander the exact same way until his Human parents forced him to step up to the plate.
Um, he didn't have an unborn child, as the post immediately before yours shows.
But Worf's attitude right after Dax was killed was peculiar. In "Images In The Sand", Worf is angry, lashing out at almost everyone, smashes things.
He complains and worries that Dax hadn't made it to Sto vo Kor Yet he says NOTHING about Dukat in his anguish-he's a non issue.
Yet despite all the things Dax had done, it wasn't enough to get her there.
It does look like a plot contrivance.
He complains and worries that Dax hadn't made it to Sto vo Kor Yet he says NOTHING about Dukat in his anguish-he's a non issue.
Yet despite all the things Dax had done, it wasn't enough to get her there.
It does look like a plot contrivance.
I love it how so many avoid my personal explanations on these things to continue on with bashing the writers as if they missed something.
He never met Dukat, and after he left Cardassia possessed and went off to kill Dax to close the wormhole, nobody..... Nobody knew where he was, thus Worf wouldn't have been able to go running off around the Galaxy to go find him, especially if he didn't know where he was. And the situation with Duras doesn't even relate in any sense. Sure he killed his mate and thus he killed him, but he knew where he was, he had the resources to go after him, he challenged him, and he killed him. He didn't have any of that with Dukat.
It's not a failure in the plot unless someone here can easily explain how he'd go about hunting down Dukat to get his revenge..... trying to whip that out of one's butt would have more holes then what actually happened in the series.
Saying it would have been cool for him to get his revenge on Dukat isn't a logical answer. Sure I would have liked to see it occur as well, but how do you propose he do this if he didn't know where he was?
If he ran off to go do his little revenge thing, chances are, his character would have been gone from the rest of the show, simply because so much else was going on and we'd all know his story would just be him running around the galaxy like a mad man, never accomplishing his goal.
He never met Dukat, and after he left Cardassia possessed and went off to kill Dax to close the wormhole, nobody..... Nobody knew where he was, thus Worf wouldn't have been able to go running off around the Galaxy to go find him, especially if he didn't know where he was. And the situation with Duras doesn't even relate in any sense. Sure he killed his mate and thus he killed him, but he knew where he was, he had the resources to go after him, he challenged him, and he killed him. He didn't have any of that with Dukat.
It's not a failure in the plot unless someone here can easily explain how he'd go about hunting down Dukat to get his revenge..... trying to whip that out of one's butt would have more holes then what actually happened in the series.
Saying it would have been cool for him to get his revenge on Dukat isn't a logical answer. Sure I would have liked to see it occur as well, but how do you propose he do this if he didn't know where he was?
If he ran off to go do his little revenge thing, chances are, his character would have been gone from the rest of the show, simply because so much else was going on and we'd all know his story would just be him running around the galaxy like a mad man, never accomplishing his goal.
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