Why the killing?

[darkshadow0001]

I've been re-watching DS9's seventh season on DVD, and have wondered why did they decide to kill off a lot of the "minor" characters? I didn't think Star Trek was about that. I realize that in TOS a soldier here and there got killed, but at the end of DS9 it seemed as though they were trying to get rid of almost every character at the end. I find it kind of odd.

 

[Navaros]

Who are you talking about? I figure Damar, but who else?

I didn't find that they killed all that many characters. Damar is the only killed one that even comes to mind when I think of that. And some throwaway characters in "The Siege"; they killed those characters and hurt Nog's leg in that episode because they figured "It's a war so somebody has to get hurt". And Weyoun, but he's been getting killed since Season 4 so that was kind of par for the course by Season 7, even though I'm always sad to see him go.

If you mean Jadzia, the actress was leaving the show so they killed her for that reason.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Dukat had to die. Damar was marked for death because he killed an innocent (Ziyal). No amount of personal redemption could make amends. And Weyoun always gets killed. Don't worry, of course they have his template squirrelled away in the GQ.

 

[Jono]

Dukat had to die. Damar was marked for death because he killed an innocent (Ziyal). No amount of personal redemption could make amends. And Weyoun always gets killed. Don't worry, of course they have his template squirrelled away in the GQ.

Ziyal committed treason against the Dominion and Cardassia. She assaulted a guard, was an accessory to the death of two Jem'Hadar and freed 5 or 6 criminals from custody as well as committed wilful damage to a Cardassian/Dominion run facility. Damar was probably well within his rights to execute her under Cardassian or Dominion law.

I think it would have been interesting to have Damar survive but if he does that brings up a whole range of issues that they wouldn't be able to deal with given the war ended in the last episode. Easier to just kill him off and close the door.

If he lived you have the question of whether any of the allies try him for his service in the war. The Cardassians might even want a go given Damar was part of the coup that led to the war or his work as a terrorist/freedom fighter and the deaths he caused then. Plus then you have someone who might contradict the events that led to the Romulans entering the war, what would the Feds do to keep him quiet? You could probably get a novel or two just out of Damar post-DS9 if he survived.

 

[Hermiod]

Dukat had to die. Damar was marked for death because he killed an innocent (Ziyal). No amount of personal redemption could make amends. And Weyoun always gets killed. Don't worry, of course they have his template squirrelled away in the GQ.

They need to keep Weyoun alive simply because they need Star Trek: Weyoun to revitalise the franchise when the movie flops.

 

[darkshadow0001]

Gowron (Klingon High Council, sp?) got killed by Worf, Worf was almost stranded and died in the badlands, and Sisko at the end of the show. Or did Sisko die? That Bajoran Anjel got killed by Ki'win, or whatever her name was. Weyoun of course died (again ), Odo was almost murdered, Sloan killed himself. Maybe there wasn't that much, but it seemed like it. It just seemed as though season seven was almost all about death.

 

[Hermiod]

Kai Winn (Kai is a religious title, Winn was a Vedek when she was first introduced) tried to kill Dukat, who was posing as a Bajoran named Anjohl Tennan, but the Pah-wraiths weren't having any of that.

Sisko did not die. He became one of the Prophets/Wormhole aliens. He speaks to Kassidy after his supposed "death" and tells her he well eventually be back.

Damar dies almost randomly as the rebels along with Garak and Kira storm Dominion HQ on Cardassia.

Of course, none of that compares to the eight hundred million Cardassians killed in the last days of the war.

 

[Yassim]

People needed to die because it's supposedly been a war for three years, and yet no one we know has died yet. So to up the stakes, they start killing people.

But only minor characters.

 

[Jono]

The Ferengi got through the show pretty well, apart from those in the Mirror Universe. Did any Ferengi die during the show?

 

[erastus25]

The Ferengi got through the show pretty well, apart from those in the Mirror Universe. Did any Ferengi die during the show?

That's because there's no profit in death.

 

[Braxton]

Dukat had to die. Damar was marked for death because he killed an innocent (Ziyal). No amount of personal redemption could make amends. And Weyoun always gets killed. Don't worry, of course they have his template squirrelled away in the GQ.

Ziyal committed treason against the Dominion and Cardassia. She assaulted a guard, was an accessory to the death of two Jem'Hadar and freed 5 or 6 criminals from custody as well as committed wilful damage to a Cardassian/Dominion run facility. Damar was probably well within his rights to execute her under Cardassian or Dominion law.

I think it would have been interesting to have Damar survive but if he does that brings up a whole range of issues that they wouldn't be able to deal with given the war ended in the last episode. Easier to just kill him off and close the door.

If he lived you have the question of whether any of the allies try him for his service in the war. The Cardassians might even want a go given Damar was part of the coup that led to the war or his work as a terrorist/freedom fighter and the deaths he caused then. Plus then you have someone who might contradict the events that led to the Romulans entering the war, what would the Feds do to keep him quiet? You could probably get a novel or two just out of Damar post-DS9 if he survived.

Considering the overwhelming support Damar managed to gain from the Cardassian people, I don't think they'd have put him on trial. Yes, he was involved with the coup but Cardassia was in dire straights. They eventually realized their mistake and Damar led the rebellion against the Dominion to reclaim their homeland. He would have been thrusted in as leader of the Cardassian Union had he lived. The allies would need him too, so any trial they had against him would be in his favor.

 

[Kegek]

Yeah, a lot of corpses started falling all over the place in the seventh season, to the point where they killed a Weyoun off for black humour. It's not what Star Trek is about, but it was what DS9 was about - an epic, arced story, where as a consequence a lot of the principals were going to get offed before the curtain fell.

One of the ones who didn't get mentioned was Kor; who was last heard of flying into an unwinnable battle.

 

[Hermiod]

Considering the overwhelming support Damar managed to gain from the Cardassian people, I don't think they'd have put him on trial. Yes, he was involved with the coup but Cardassia was in dire straights. They eventually realized their mistake and Damar led the rebellion against the Dominion to reclaim their homeland. He would have been thrusted in as leader of the Cardassian Union had he lived. The allies would need him too, so any trial they had against him would be in his favor.

Damar has plausible deniability. When Cardassia joined the Dominion he was just following Dukat's orders. When Dukat was captured and Damar took over, he was literally at gunpoint the whole time. He rebelled as soon as he got the chance.

Without him, the war would have gone on a lot longer with a lot more Cardassian casualties.

 

[Jono]

Though if he did go to Cardassian court then that suggests he is already considered guilt anyway.

 

[Hermiod]

Though if he did go to Cardassian court then that suggests he is already considered guilt anyway.

That depends if their pre-Dominion system of jurisprudence continued.

Weyoun was quite insistent that Dominion courts are fair. Of course, he's Weyoun, but we have no real reason to disbelieve him here.

That said, I doubt Damar would have gone to trial. At least not on Cardassia. As part of any peace treaty, I'd imagine that some Cardassian individuals may be wanted by the Federation, the Klingons and the Romulans for war crimes trials.

 

[Kegek]

I think Temis meant Damar had to die for his narrative sin; not legal ones. In the drama; he killed a sympathetic character in cold blood. He couldn't be redeemed for that, even if he joined the side of the resistance; so narratively he pays with his life.

 

[Pegaritaville]

The Ferengi got through the show pretty well, apart from those in the Mirror Universe. Did any Ferengi die during the show?

That's because there's no profit in death.

Sure there is. Quark would've gotten 500 bars of latinum for his desiccated remains if he hadn't backed out of his contract with Brunt ("Body Parts").

 

[Augustus]

Reading this thread makes me wish that my favorite star trek series, DS9, would have a time to tell more stories. Like what happens with Bajor and Cardassia post-war? What does Odo do with the Dominion, When and under what circumstances does Sisko return?
There are so many plots to deal with. I know that a DS9 movie or more TV is all but out of the question, but I sure would like to know what happened next.
I think that is why Ds9 is the best. The other series never had the same arched continuity. With the others, which I also love, it was always about a new story, with DS9 it was what was next with the same story...

 

[Anthony Sabre]

Aside from Jadzia, the only death that truly pissed me off was Li Nalas during the Circle trilogy.

Hey look! Here's Bajor's greatest war hero!
Ooops, he's dead.

 

[Augustus]

yeah, I always figured they killed off Nalas because if he was so great they would probably have to keep him for future shows and for what ever reason they didn't want to do that....