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| Worf (2375) | |
| Lt. Commander Worf (2375) | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Species: | Klingon |
| Born: | 2340 |
| Parents: | Mogh (biological)
Sergey and |
| Siblings: | Kurn (biological) Nikolai Rozhenko (foster) |
| Marital Status: | K'Ehleyr (mate, deceased) Jadzia Dax (wife, deceased) |
| Children: | One son, Alexander Rozhenko |
| Actor: | Michael Dorn |
| Worf (2364) | |
| Lieutenant Worf (2364) | |
Worf – son of Mogh, of the Klingon House of Martok, of the Human family Rozhenko; mate to K'Ehleyr, father to Alexander Rozhenko, and husband to Jadzia Dax; Starfleet officer and soldier of the Empire; bane of the House of Duras and slayer of Gowron; Federation ambassador to Qo'noS – was one of the most influential Klingons of the latter half of the 24th century.
Early Life
Sunrise over Khitomer
Mogh, patriarch of one of the Klingon Empire's Great Houses, was given a son in 2340. The scion of the House of Mogh was born on the Klingon homeworld, Qo'noS, and given the name of a respected ancestor, Worf. Five years later, Mogh took the mother of his children and his eldest son to live on the Khitomer colony. The younger, infant son of Mogh, Kurn, remained behind, in the care of family friend, Lorgh. (TNG: "Sins of the Father")
After arriving at their new home, Mogh took Worf on a ritual hunt, in the company of a garrison warrior, L'Kor. The boy had not yet reached the Age of Inclusion, and was barely able to hold a bat'leth, but he was eager. Worf was mauled by a beast, leaving behind a scar and memory he kept throughout his life. (TNG: "Birthright, Part I")
In 2346, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire were officially allied, but a conspiracy between the Romulans and the House of Duras left the Empire open to betrayal. Romulan forces attacked the Khitomer colony, killing nearly all the 4,000 Klingon colonists, including Worf's parents. (TNG: "Sins of the Father", "The Neutral Zone")
The Rozhenkos
Foster parents Sergey & Helena Rozhenko.
The colony's distress call was answered by the Federation starship USS Intrepid. An Intrepid chief petty officer, Sergey Rozhenko, found Worf buried in the rubble, alone and left for dead, and cared for him. Sergey took Worf to his homestead on the farming colony of Gault, and informed his wife Helena that they would raise the Klingon child as their own. Worf was raised alongside his elder human brother, Nikolai Rozhenko. (see Family: Nikolai Rozhenko) (TNG: "The Neutral Zone", "Heart of Glory", "Family", "Homeward")
Worfs orphaning and subsequent adoption by the Rozhenkos is seen in the Lost Era novel The Art of the Impossible.
As the sole Klingon in a small farm culture, Worf had some difficulty adapting to his new circumstances. Soon after his arrival on Gault, the seven-year-old bloodied the noses of five teenage boys, whom Worf deemed "disrespectful". A far more consequential, albeit accidental, incident occurred in 2353. At thirteen years of age, Worf led his school's soccer team to the championships, and he was determined to win. With the score tied late in the second half, a crucial play led Worf and an opponent, Mikel, to leap up and 'head' a high-flying ball. Worf thrilled at the contest, laughing as he threw himself into the goal-making shot. His roar of triumph was dashed by the sight of Mikel bleeding on the grass. Worf hadn't felt the contact, but the impact of Klingon ridges against a Human skull had snapped the boy's neck. Mikel died the next day. The deadly lesson in Human frailties made a huge impact on Worf's nascent character, by teaching him restraint from customary Klingon exuberance. That learned self-control, interpreted by some as a denial of his Klingon heritage, was a large factor in setting him apart from others of his species for much of his life, (TNG: "Family"; DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")
Sergey took his boys on camping trips in the Ural Mountains on Earth. The howling wolves frightened Nikolai, but the animal's cries kept Worf awake with fascination, until the urge to join them... to become something wild... nearly overwhelmed him. The restlessness of his "difficult adolescence" came with a desire to assume the mantle of his Klingon heritage. Going far beyond cooking a few Klingon dishes, his parents actively encouraged Worf's quest to find himself. (DS9: "Change of Heart"; TNG: "Family")
- Ronald D. Moore stated: "Most of his knowledge of Klingon lore and beliefs comes from books and that may color his thinking a bit. Some of the traditions and rituals he clings to may not be practiced by the Klingon population at large. I think it's also safe to assume that there's a fair amount of diversity in Klingon society and that Worf's study of societal conventions was probably focused on the traditions and rules associated with his own family." [1]
Coming of Age
At fifteen years of age, Worf voyaged to Qo'noS, where he stayed with cousins of the House of Mogh in 2355. Two years older than the traditional age for such a moment, he made the formal declaration of his intent to become a warrior and performed the Rite of Ascension. During the ceremony, Worf was presented with a well-forged knife, a gift from a Klingon who had known Mogh. Seeing the Great Domes of Qo'noS made him feel at home, but his kin rejected his marked Human taint. (TNG: "The Icarus Factor", "Rightful Heir"; DS9: "The Sword of Kahless")
Worf found solace in the mountains, fasting for three days before undertaking the Rite of MajQa. After six days of meditation in the sweltering, volcanic Caves of No'Mat, the legendary Klingon warrior Kahless the Unforgettable appeared to Worf in a vision and prophesied that Worf would do something that no other Klingon had ever done before. (TNG: "Birthright, Part I"; DS9: "The Sword of Kahless")
Worf became the first Klingon to enter Starfleet Academy. Nikolai Rozhenko had joined the Academy as well, but dropped out after his first year. After completing his training and studies he became the first Klingon to graduate from the Academy. His achievement seemed to be Kahless's prophecy fulfilled. (TNG: "Homeward"; DS9: "The Sword of Kahless")
- Peter David's Starfleet Academy books show Worf's roommate at the Academy was a Brikar named Zak Kebron, who later becomes a prominent character in the New Frontier novel series. In a scene cut from DS9: "Resurrection", Worf mentioned that he had served as an ensign aboard the USS Hawk prior to his posting on the Enterprise-D. It is likely that this was his first assignment after graduation and his only posting before taking his position on the Enterprise as a junior lieutenant.
Service aboard the USS Enterprise-D
Lieutenant Worf in 2370
In 2364, Lieutenant junior grade Worf was assigned to one of the most prestigious postings available to a young officer in Starfleet, as a command division bridge officer on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. (see Friendships: Jean-Luc Picard) Worf spent most of his first year on the Enterprise-D as a relief officer for the conn and other bridge stations. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")
Worf was permitted a variation from the Starfleet uniform dress code, and wore a Klingon warrior's sash, sometimes called a baldric by Humans, over his regular duty uniform. Worf's quarters were on Deck 7, in Section 25 Baker until 2370, when he moved to Deck 2, Room 2713. (TNG: "Rightful Heir", "Phantasms")
Following the death of Natasha Yar at the hands of the Armus entity, Worf was promoted to the rank of full Lieutenant and assumed Yar's responsibilities. In 2365, Worf transferred to the operations division and officially became the Enterprise-D's chief tactical officer and security chief. After seven years of service aboard the starship, Worf rose in rank to lieutenant commander in 2371. (TNG: "Skin of Evil", "The Child"; Star Trek Generations)
Captain Picard and Commander Riker aboard a holodeck, promoting Worf in an elaborate ceremony
Borg encounters
Q performed a tremendous service for the peoples of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants in 2365, when he gave the Enterprise-D a preview of the oncoming Borg juggernaut. Worf and his security team were the first Starfleet officers to take on Borg drones when two boarded his ship. Worf, along with Commander William T. Riker and Lieutenant Commander Data were the first officers to infiltrate a Borg cube, gathering the first real clues about the true nature of the new threat. (TNG: "Q Who?")
Worf played a significant role in repelling the Borg invasion of the Federation in 2366. At his tactical station when the Enterprise-D engaged the Borg cube, he was unable to prevent the abduction of Picard when drones appeared on the bridge. His hands triggered the ship's weapons, firing upon his assimilated Captain, now Locutus. On Riker's orders, Worf and Data boarded the cube, and were able retrieve Picard, allowing Dr. Crusher to restore their Captain's Humanity. It was one of the most dangerous missions of his career, but six years later he would say he had no doubt about the outcome, likening the exploits of his companions to the sagas of ancient warriors. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I & Part II"; DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")
Regardless of his optimism, in 2368 Worf was wary enough of a wounded and isolated Borg drone that he earnestly recommended killing it on sight, but his words went unheeded. The decision to rehabilitate the drone, restoring a sense of individuality (naming him "Hugh") and returning him to the collective, nearly proved disastrous. Rather than infecting the collective with freedom, as Picard hoped, only a few drones were affected, and only to the point of rendering them susceptible to manipulation by Lore, Data's brother and nemesis. (TNG: "I, Borg", "Descent")
Q encounters
Like so many who have encountered the powerful trickster, Worf immediately developed a strong antipathy towards Q. Worf's contempt for Q's character was plainly expressed with a complete disregard for the being's immense power. During their first meeting in 2364, Worf asked Picard, "and now, sir, a personal request. Permission to clean up the bridge?" (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")
"Sorry."
In his latter visits, Q frequently took pleasure in teasing Worf ("Macro head, micro brain") into more slow burns. In humbled circumstances, stripped of his powers from the Q Continuum, Q desperately asked how he could prove to the Enterprise-D crew that he was, indeed, mortal. Worf helpfully suggested, "die". (TNG: "Hide and Q", "Deja Q")
Q tried to teach Picard a lesson in love in 2367, and forced him and his crew to play out a detailed Robin Hood fantasy scenario. Worf found himself in tights and jerkin, dressed as the character Will Scarlet. He was not pleased with the situation ("Captain, I protest! I am NOT a Merry Man!"), nor was his temper soothed by Geordi La Forge's idle plucking of a period-mandolin. Worf ripped the instrument from his senior officer's hands and smashed it to kindling against a tree ("Sorry.") (TNG: "QPid")
Klingon affairs
The exposure to Klingon society that Worf longed for began in earnest in his time aboard the Enterprise-D. Slowly, exposure led to inclusion, and in a few short years, the forgotten orphan of the House of Mogh was a player in the highest levels of the Empire's politics.
The Enterprise-D picked up three Klingons from a disabled cargo ship in 2364, and for the first time in nearly ten years, Worf spent time in the company of (renegade) Klingon warriors. One of the rescued was mortally wounded, and Worf joined in the Klingon death ritual for Kunivas, exposing non-Klingons to the event for the first time. The charismatic Korris, tried to provoke Worf to anger, and became intrigued by the wolf he found in Starfleet-sheep clothing. Korris tried to enlist Worf in taking the starship, but could not budge the officer's loyalty. Worf's oath was tempted a second time by Commander K'Nera, who offered Worf a place in the Klingon Defense Forces. Worf politely declined. (TNG: "Heart of Glory")
More than 20 years after the Khitomer Massacre, the honor of the House of Mogh was called into question in 2366. Worf's brother Kurn (see Family: Kurn) brought the news that Duras ,of the rival House of Duras, had accused Mogh of betraying the Empire by facilitating the Romulan attack on the Khitomer colony. With Kurn and Picard by his side, Worf appeared before the Klingon High Council to protest their judgment of guilt, and provided evidence that would have exonerated his father. Chancellor K'mpec dismissed Worf's defense, knowing the true traitor of Khitomer was Duras' father Ja'rod. Considering the cost of his appeal and revelation of the truth – Duras' powerful clan inciting a civil war, and his intention to kill Kurn – Worf kept his silence and accepted a discommendation that ruined his name throughout the Empire. (TNG: "Sins of the Father")
Chancellor K'mpec was dying a year later, and he asked Picard to serve as the Arbiter of Succession – giving the Captain oversight of the competition between Duras and Gowron, both with claims on the title of Chancellor. The event coincided with Worf's reunion with K'Ehleyr, an iconoclastic ambassador and Worf's former lover, who introduced their child, Alexander (see Family: K'Ehleyr and Alexander).
The Sonchi ceremony over the body of K'mpec was interrupted by an explosion that proved to be an attempt on the life of Gowron, perpetrated by Duras. The contenders were offended by the dishonored Worf presenting the result of Enterprise-D's investigation, but with Klingon glee, Worf revealed the evidence that implicated Duras. Concurrently, K'Ehleyr discovered the truth of Worf's discommendation as well as the scope of the House of Duras' treachery. Besieged from both sides, Duras confronted K'Ehleyr and murdered her. The question of succession was ultimately decided by Worf. Exercising his Right of Vengeance, he challenged Duras to duel, and left his bat'leth in the chest of the last Klingon to know the truth of the Khitomer betrayal. The death of Duras allowed Gowron to become the new Chancellor. (TNG: "Reunion")
Worf accepted a commission as a Klingon imperial officer
The civil war K'mpec had feared broke out in late 2367, when the House of Duras and allies rebelled against Chancellor Gowron's leadership. Worf felt it was his place to help his people, and resigned from Starfleet to side with Gowron. Worf's influence proved instrumental in the war when he ordered Kurn, who had control over a fleet of ships, to back Gowron. Starfleet came to his aid without getting directly involved when they were able to reveal that the Duras family were garnering support from the Romulans. With help from Starfleet, the Romulan involvement was stopped, thus enabling Gowron's forces to quickly end the war and solidify his position as Chancellor. In appreciation for Worf's help, Chancellor Gowron restored honor to the House of Mogh, gave his brother Kurn, who publicly announced his bloodline to Mogh, a seat on the Klingon High Council, and gave Worf the life of Duras' illegitimate son, Toral. Worf, unable to kill an innocent boy, let Toral go and returned to Starfleet without incident. (TNG: "Redemption & Part II")
In 2369, while the Enterprise was docked at Deep Space 9, Worf was met by a Yridian named Jaglom Shrek. Shrek told Worf that Mogh may not have died at Khitomer after all, that he might have still been alive, living with Romulans in a remote prison camp. This disturbing fact, if true, would have dishonored Worf and his family (even Alexander) for three generations, since a true warrior would fight to the death rather than allow himself to be captured by the dishonorable Romulans. With advice from Data and Troi, Worf decided to meet Shrek and guide him to the Carraya sector, where the prison camp was located.
On the surface, Worf had found L'Kor, now an old man. After identifying himself as the Son of Mogh, L'Kor informed Worf that his father died at Khitomer, and that a number of prisoners were taken to this camp at the Carraya Sector. Worf attempted to free the prisoners, but the leaders refused, and instead took custody of Worf. Inside the main prison camp, Worf found Klingons and Romulans living together in harmony. Unfortunately, in their isolation, the Klingons abandoned all honor and had forgotten their warrior ways. He found the young Toq, was using the gin'tak battle spear to plough the local farmland, and he found a Klingon girl Ba'el, who knew nothing of her heritage, or the Khitomer Massacre. When Worf told the camp members that Klingons are now allies with the Federation, the Klingon elders laughed in disbelief. To calm himself afterward, Worf performed a mok'bara outside. All the younger Klingons watched in awe and whilst Worf told the stories of Kahless to them, Ba'el became infatuated with him. Despite attempts by Gi'ral to stop her advances, Ba'el refused and agreed to escape with Worf. Then Worf found out that Ba'el was Romulan. Tokath, the Romulan leader of the camp was her father. When Worf confronted Gi'ral about why she married a Romulan, Gi'ral explained it was due to her sorrow at losing her Klingon husband at Khitomer. Worf left and continued his influence on the camp's youth. He taught hunting with Toq, and after catching an animal, delivered it to the main hall as a feast. Tokath was horrified at the sight and pointed a phaser at Worf. By then, Worf had exerted enough influence on the camp. Toq, L'Kor and even Ba'el had blocked Tokath's path, and he had to let Worf go. Worf returned to the Enterprise. (TNG: "Birthright, Part I", "Birthright, Part II")
Ba'el was the daughter of the male Romulan Tokath and the female Klingon Gi'ral, living in the Romulan prison camp on Carraya IV. Her first contact with the outside world came in 2369 when Worf came to the camp. She fell in love with Worf and protected him when Tokath was going to kill him for influencing some Klingons to leave. Ba'el never left the planet as she felt she would not be accepted by either Klingons or Romulans because of her mixed heritage. (TNG: "Birthright, Part I")
Although it had a profound influence on the settlers of Carraya IV, it also forced Worf to challenge his own beliefs. To renew his faith, Worf decided to visit the Caves of Boreth, and re-summon Kahless the Unforgettable. He was about to give up, when Koroth convinced Worf to have one more go. It was this attempt that made Kahless appear before him, for real. Kahless seemingly returned to lead the Empire once more. Despite this Kahless correctly recalling the story of the forging of the bat'leth (known only to the clerics of Boreth, convincing them of his authenticity), knowing the story behind Worf's first Kahless vision, and passing tricorder scans, Worf was still skeptical of the Klingon's authenticity. When Gowron claimed that Kahless could not recall any of his legendary stories, Gowron challenged him in combat, to which Kahless lost. The loss forced the clerics to reveal the truth about this Kahless, that he was a clone. Despite the discovery, Worf was instrumental in getting this clone of Kahless installed as emperor to the Klingon people. The position had not been held for centuries and was ceremonial but he felt that the Klingon Empire had lost its way from Kahless' original teachings and thought the new emperor could bring further stability. (TNG: "Rightful Heir")
Other notable missions
"We were like warriors from the ancient sagas. There was nothing we could not do." - Worf
Worf's first major task was to take command of the Enterprise-D saucer module and lead it to safety, when the ship separated prior to engaging Q for the first time. The order ran contrary to his nature and Worf briefly objected, before Picard shut down his aggressive young officer and reminded him of his duty. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", "All Good Things...")
Worf was present for the first Federation contact with the Romulans since the Tomed Incident, when a mysterious third-party's devastating attacks on Romulan Neutral Zone outposts alarmed the powers on either side of the border. Worf was enraged by the prospect of dealing with the race responsible for the Khitomer Massacre, and was rebuked by both Picard and the Romulan Commander Tebok, who urged, "silence your dog, Captain." (TNG: "The Neutral Zone")
That year, Worf was a member of the away team sent to investigate the Iconian gateway located at the Romulan Neutral Zone. The experience with Iconian technology would serve him well many years later, in the Gamma Quadrant. On another away mission, to Theta 116 VIII, he participated in a recreation of the pulp-novel The Hotel Royale. (TNG: "Contagion", "The Royale")
Worf helped expose Ardra as an impostor trying to take control of Ventax II, despite her attempts to take the form of Fek'lhr. (TNG: "Devil's Due")
The Enterprise was caught in an energy field, which threw them away from an M-class planet inhabited by the xenophobic Paxans. The energy field was designed to erase the memories of the crew. However, Worf's surgically-mended arm proved that something happened at the Paxan homeworld, and for someone deliberately erased their memories of the event. To appease the Paxans, the crew agreed to have their memories erased again, only this time, no clues would be left. (TNG: "Clues")
A month later, the Enterprise had become trapped in the Tyken's Rift whilst trying to find the USS Brattain. The insanity and fear brought out by the Tyken's Rift caused Worf to nearly kill himself with a ceremonial knife, also used in the Hegh'bat ceremony. (TNG: "Night Terrors")
When Kieran MacDuff altered the memories of the crew and the computer (including Data's) with a plasma energy beam, Worf temporarily took command of the Enterprise, because his sash gave the mistaken impression that he was the highest ranking officer. (TNG: "Conundrum")
In 2369, Worf had been reassigned by Admiral Alynna Nechayev to infiltrate Celtris III. Starfleet Intelligence had discovered bursts of theta-band subspace emissions from the planet, indicating an illegal metagenic weapon in operation. Worf, Dr. Crusher and Picard were part of the intelligence team sent to investigate. After Picard was captured by Gul Madred, Worf and Crusher escaped back to the rendezvous point, where they informed Captain Jellico of the situation. (TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I, & Part II")
Worf helped Byleth understand the humanoid emotion of antagonism. (TNG: "Liaisons")
On stardate 48650.1, in 2371 Worf was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. He later assisted Commander Riker in identifying a weakness in Lursa and B'Etor's old D12 Bird-of-Prey. The ship was destroyed by the Enterprise in the battle of Veridian III. (Star Trek Generations)
Service on Deep Space 9
Worf in 2372
The Enterprise-D at Deep Space 9
While awaiting reassignment following the destruction of the Enterprise, Worf took an extended leave of absence from Starfleet to evaluate his future. He returned his son to Earth to live with the Rozhenkos while he himself took refuge on Boreth. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Federation, Captain Benjamin Sisko and the crew of Deep Space 9 were having trouble keeping order with the Klingons present at the station. When the treaty with the Klingon Empire was threatened during the Klingon's invasion of Cardassia in 2372 (after the Enterprise-D had been destroyed), Sisko stated, "The only people who can understand Klingons... are Klingons." It was at this time he requested the help of Worf.
Worf again became a player in galactic politics as the Federation tried to avert war between the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Union. Worf was the Federation's best link to Chancellor Gowron and a meeting between them was arranged. He was asked to resign from Starfleet and join Gowron on the Klingon campaign to invade Cardassia. Worf felt the war was wrong and that it was incompatible with his loyalties with the Federation. As a result, Gowron threatened to strip Worf and his family of their honor, confiscate their lands, and treat them as traitors to the Klingon Empire. When Worf again refused Gowron made good on his threat.
The Klingons failed to bring down the Cardassian government with the Federation protecting them and an enraged Gowron withdrew the Khitomer Accords and made an enemy of the Federation. Following the mission, Worf was considering resigning from Starfleet to take a berth on a Nyberrite Alliance cruiser. After learning this, Sisko offered Worf a position as the strategic operations officer, which Worf humbly accepted. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")
When the USS Orinoco was sabotaged by the True Way in 2372, Worf, along with Major Kira Nerys, Sisko, Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax, and Chief Miles O'Brien were lost in the transporter. However, Odo and Michael Eddington managed to save their transporter signatures on the station's computers. The character data was saved in the holosuite (where Julian Bashir and Elim Garak were running a holosuite simulation). Worf's character data was superimposed onto Duchamps, a holosuite character who played the henchman to Dr. Noah. (DS9: "Our Man Bashir")
Worf's quarters on DS9 were on Level 3, Section 27, Room 19. (DS9: "Inquisition") When Worf married Jadzia Dax, he moved into her quarters, which were located in the habitat ring, Section 25 Alpha. DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited...", "Resurrection").
USS Defiant missions
Whenever Sisko was not commanding the USS Defiant, Worf would get a chance to demonstrate his command. One of the first missions he commanded was the science mission headed by Lenara Kahn. The Trill science team was attempting to create Starfleet's first artificially-created stable wormhole. Worf found it hard to be excited about a science mission, claiming that his dreams were more exciting. (DS9: "Rejoined")
While beside a gas giant in the Gamma Quadrant, where the Defiant was escorting Quark to continue negotiations with the Karemma, the Jem'Hadar opened fire on the Karemma starship and the Defiant as punishment for their treason. Captain Sisko was severely injured in the incident, leaving Worf to in command. Taking command at engineering (the bridge had been damaged by Jem'Hadar fire) Worf found many engineers (especially Muñiz and Stevens) unused to his authoritarian methods. After receiving advice from Miles O'Brien, Worf undertook a more interactive approach. Better able to work under this style of command, Muñiz and Stevens were able to devise a way to destroy the Jem'Hadar attack ship. By modifying the main deflector, the Defiant successfully defeated the Jem'Hadar. (DS9: "Starship Down")
In a subsequent mission, Worf had to escort some Cardassian freighters across a volatile sector of Klingon space. After being hit by Klingon warships that continually cloaked and decloaked, he opened fire on the next ship that de-cloaked. However, this ship was a Klingon civilian transport, and Worf destroyed it. The Klingon Advocate Ch'Pok demanded that Worf be extradited to the Klingon Empire for punishment.
The Federation decided to stage a court martial with Admiral T'Lara as chair and with Sisko as defense, and Ch'Pok as prosecution. Had it not been for Odo's discovery that there were no civilians on the destroyed ship, Worf would have had to return to his dishonored home. After the court martial, which the defense won, Worf remarked at how difficult command was. Sisko replied, "Wait until you get four pips on your collar." (DS9: "Rules of Engagement")
Following a year of hostilities and border skirmishes between the Federation and Klingons (See: Second Federation-Klingon War), Odo discovered that Gowron may have been replaced by a Founder. In order to establish whether Gowron was a shapeshifter, Starfleet Command ordered Sisko to lead a team (which included Worf) to expose Gowron as a shapeshifter. The team would pose as Klingon warriors being inducted into the Order of the Bat'leth. The team would each plant polaron emitters that, when activated, would force a shapeshifter to lose its shape. Worf initially found it difficult to turn the team into convincing Klingons. However, Sisko helped him refocus, and with practice, the team pulled through. The plan worked out relatively well on the surface, and Sisko was ready to activate the polaron emitter. However, just before he could activate the emitters, Martok, chief military advisor and overseer of the Cardassian invasion, recognized Sisko through his Klingon disguise, and the entire team were thrown into prison. While incarcerated, the team managed to explain their mission to Martok. It turned out that Martok had always suspected that Gowron may have been a changeling, but he was waiting for the right time to expose him. With the polaron emitters destroyed, Worf decided that the only way to expose Gowron as a shapeshifter was to get him to spill blood. Once released by Martok, Worf fought Gowron in a duel. Gowron's Klingon-like honor and behavior led Odo to find it was not Gowron, but Martok who was the Dominion Changeling agent. After he was destroyed by the Klingon warriors, it was discovered that his mission was to destabilize relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. With Worf's help in uncovering the Dominion presence as the common enemy, he helped reunite peace between the Federation and Klingon Empire. (DS9: "Broken Link", "Apocalypse Rising")
A couple of months later, the Defiant was tasked with the mission of sending the Bajoran Orb of Time back to the station. However, Defiant passenger Arne Darvin had other ideas, and used the Orb to travel back to 2268, to the time of Captain Kirk and the first USS Enterprise, and the year the tribbles had invaded Klingon space. Darvin's plot was to kill Captain Kirk and eliminate the tribbles before they would have a chance to invade Klingon space. While searching for Darvin, Worf (along with Odo, Bashir and O'Brien) encountered Klingons scarred by the augment virus of the 22nd century. When Bashir and O'Brien asked how the augmented people could be Klingons, Worf could only respond with "We do not discuss it with outsiders". The crew apprehended Darvin on Deep Space Station K-7, and returned to the present. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles", DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
The Dominion War
In 2373, Elim Garak had received a encoded transmission from his father, Enabran Tain. It stated that he had survived the Battle of the Omarion Nebula and was being held by the Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant. Garak convinced Sisko that he could enter Dominion space but only under supervision from Worf. In order to avoid detection whilst in Dominion space, Worf decided to hide in a nearby nebula. The diversion proved to be a bad idea, as that nebula housed the first Dominion invasion fleet, on its way to invading the Alpha Quadrant. Worf knew that they were planning to enter the wormhole, and that the Dominion War was about to begin. Before they were captured by the fleet, Worf managed to transmit a message to the wormhole relay station about the impending invasion. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow")
Worf and Martok in the Dominion internment camp
Worf and Garak were taken to Internment Camp 371, where they discovered Enabran Tain, the real General Martok, and surprisingly, the real Julian Bashir. Bashir had been captured for a month and had been replaced by a Changeling infiltrator. All the prisoners knew they had to escape, to warn DS9 about the Changeling. Although Tain died at the camp shortly thereafter, Garak devised a plan to modify his transmitter to contact their runabout in orbit and escape from the internment camp. The transmitter was tucked away in a cramped compartment, and Garak had to overcome his acute claustrophobia to complete it. Worf and Martok commended Garak's courage, stating that "There is no greater enemy than one's own fears". Once the prisoners escaped, they managed to warn DS9 that Bashir had been replaced by a Changeling. Kira managed to destroy the Bashir Changeling before he could blow up the Bajoran sun. (DS9: "By Inferno's Light")
From then on to the end of the year, the Dominion sent weekly fleets through the wormhole to fortify the Cardassian sectors. Starfleet, needing to find a way to halt the buildup, decided to block the entrance to the wormhole with a minefield. Sisko assigned Kira and Worf to deploy a field of self-replicating mines, all of which would need to be deployed before any could be activated. Starfleet forces were unable to assist in the deployment, so the Defiant and IKS Rotarran had to do it alone, and they only had one day to finish the minefield. Weyoun approached the station with 300 Dominion and Cardassian ships, and when Sisko refused their ultimatum, Gul Dukat opened fire, starting the Second Battle of Deep Space 9 and the Dominion War. While the Dominion's fire power proved ineffective to the station's shields, Worf, in command of the station's weapons array, managed to destroy 50 ships, and the Rotarran helped protect the Defiant so it could complete the minefield. With the minefield deployed, and the station vastly outnumbered, Sisko ordered all Starfleet crew members to evacuate the station. Due to the conquest of DS9 by the Dominion, Worf had been assigned to the Rotarran as first officer. (DS9: "Call to Arms")
Unlike the rest of Starfleet, first officer Worf, ever the warrior, relished the opportunity to engage in combat with the Dominion. A joint operation where the Defiant played a decoy to three Jem'Hadar attack ships allowed the Rotarran to decloak and help destroy those ships in the front line. However, both ships had been called back to Starbase 375 for retreat. By now even Worf was beginning to lose morale from the retreats from the Dominion. What the alliance needed was a victory, something that Sisko had been planning all along – Operation Return, the plan to retake Deep Space 9.
The original plan of taking three Federation fleets and a Klingon contingent were scuttled when Sisko received word that the minefield was about to come down. The second and fifth fleets had to take Deep Space 9 themselves. Even so, Martok and Worf tried to convince Chancellor Gowron to send some ships to the battle. Although it took a long time Gowron realized that both an ally and enemy was telling him the same thing, so agreed to send the ships. Outside the Bajoran system, the Federation was on the verge of losing the battle (Sisko had fallen for a trap set by the Cardassians), but then Worf and Martok's Klingon forces entered at an opportune moment. They inflicted enough damage on the Dominion for the Defiant to poke through the lines. The Defiant went on to retake the station and win the battle. (DS9: "Favor the Bold", "Sacrifice of Angels")
In 2375, Worf became disillusioned with the leadership of Gowron. Gowron feared Martok's growing popularity and devised a plan to discredit Martok and end any potential threat to his authority. Gowron began ordering Martok on near-suicidal missions against Dominion forces, hoping that a string of defeats would weaken Martok's popularity and discredit him as a military leader. Recognizing that Gowron was jeopardizing the entire war effort, Worf tried to convince Martok that he should challenge Gowron for the leadership. After Martok refused, Worf decided to challenge Gowron himself, citing his faulty battle planning, his dishonorable conduct in trying to discredit Martok, and poor strategies at the later stages of the Dominion War. After a brief battle, Worf killed Gowron; by right he was acclaimed the new chancellor of the Klingon High Council. However, Worf stepped aside and nominated Martok to the position. After the war, Martok asked that Worf be appointed Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire. Thereafter, Worf left Deep Space 9 to take his new post on Qo'noS. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind", "What You Leave Behind")
Service aboard the USS Enterprise-E
Lieutenant Commander Worf protecting the Ba'ku people in 2375
In 2373, Worf was ordered to take the USS Defiant and join the fleet of ships set to intercept a Borg cube in Sector 001 on a course for Earth. Along with the USS Bozeman and USS Lexington, the Defiant was heavily damaged by the cube and Worf was considering a kamikaze attack, when the USS Enterprise-E came to Worf's rescue. The Enterprise-E took on board the survivors of the Defiant, including Worf. Reunited with his old crewmates, Worf assisted in destroying the cube with the tactical information divulged by Picard. After it was destroyed, Worf discovered that a sphere was travelling back in time to 2063, in an attempt to prevent first contact between humans and Vulcans. After destroying the Borg sphere, Worf successfully helped destroy the Borg deflector array and prevented the Borg from changing history. (DS9: "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places", Star Trek: First Contact)
In 2375, Worf visited the Federation colony on Manzar to establish a new defense perimeter against the Dominion. At this opportunity, however, he visited his old friends on the Enterprise-E, which was on a diplomatic mission nearby. For a brief period Worf rejoined his old crew to reveal Admiral Dougherty's conspiracy concerning the Ba'ku relocation. (Star Trek: Insurrection)
Worf rejoined his old crewmates on the Enterprise-E on Earth when he attended William Riker's and Deanna Troi's wedding ceremony. Following the Earth wedding and while en route to a second ceremony on Betazed, the second wedding was postponed as the Enterprise-E detected positronic signals from the Kolarin system. Upon discovering that the source of the positronic signals was the Soong-type android, B-4, Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway of Starfleet Command assigned the Enterprise-E to Romulus to begin new peace talks with the new Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire, Shinzon, who was a human clone of Picard. The peace offer turned out to be a trap and in the end Worf, together with Romulans, had to face Shinzon and the Remans. Finally, he admitted that the Romulans fought with honor, possibly getting over his life-long grudge against this species. (Star Trek Nemesis)
Personality
Worf's intense desire to become a part of his lost culture was matched by enduring loyalty to the world that adopted him in his darkest hour. Those impulses forged a character of indomitable courage and integrity, uncompromising idealism, and a more-Klingon-than-Klingon facade that was occasionally lifted to reveal romanticism, gentleness, and humour.
While coming from a species frequently regarded as aggressive and enthusiastically boisterous, Worf often gave the first impression of being a rather dour and reserved, though vaguely threatening, individual. Beverly Crusher described Worf as a tall Klingon who rarely smiled. Likewise, Jadzia Dax referred to Worf as a man difficult to get along with, but she did see him as a good person. Jadzia admitted that whenever it came to Klingon culture, Worf would always get misty-eyed with sentiment. (TNG: "Remember Me"; DS9: "Children of Time", "You Are Cordially Invited...")
Worf's conservative nature and respect for tradition occasionally brought him in of the side of issues that brought him in conflict with the views of his friends. Antipathy for his species' historical enemy made him refuse to donate tissue from his body that may have saved a dying Romulan officer in 2366. He helped Rear Admiral Norah Satie uncover treason among the crew of the Enterprise-D in 2367, leading to unfounded accusations against Captain Picard and crewman Simon Tarses. After the witch-hunt was stopped, Worf apologised for the trouble he helped cause, but Picard commended his vigilance, reminding him of the difficulty of spotting a villain. During what should have been a romantic vacation on the pleasure world of Risa, Worf joined Pascal Fullerton's New Essentialists movement, helping them to sabotage Risa's weather modification network. (TNG: "The Enemy", "The Drumhead"; DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")
Worf' s reputation for a lack of humor, inspired regular teasing from those close enough get away with it, like Riker, or too powerful to care, like Q. It pleased Martok and Jadzia Dax to no end whenever they could squeeze a joke from the tight-lipped Klingon. Worf denied his lack of humor to Jadzia once, claiming that he was quite amusing on the Enterprise-D, causing her to theorize. "it must have been one dull ship." ( DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited...", "Change of Heart")
Although shy about it, Worf enjoyed singing Klingon operas. While at a bar on Qualor II in 2368, Worf requested that Amarie play Aktuh and Maylota and briefly graced the patrons with his baritone voice. He was stranded for some time in an escape pod in 2375, and passed the time taking advantage of the favorable acoustics. Though he initially denied the private performance, Ezri Dax guessed that he had been singing Shevok'tah gish. Chagrined, he admitted to actually singing Gav'ot toh'va, a piece with rather ambitious solos. (TNG: "Unification II"; DS9: "Penumbra")
The combination of his human upbringing and Klingon taste buds made for an unusual palate. Among traditional Klingon foods like live gagh for breakfast, he loved his Mother's version of rokeg blood pie. Guinan introduced Worf to a treat that he relied on with regularity for satisfaction, "warrior's drink". He did not react well to Romulan ale, and agreed with its' prohibition. (DS9: "Inquisition"; TNG: "Family", "Parallels"; TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise"; Star Trek Nemesis)
Physicality
Worf was an admirer of Natasha Yar and her martial arts skills, and joined her on the ship's parrises squares team. Three days before she died, Worf placed a wager that Yar would be victorious in an upcoming martial arts competition. (TNG: "11001001", "Skin of Evil")
Worf ran regular Mok'bara classes, of which Deanna Troi and Dr. Crusher became regular students. Worf ran several classes of differing difficulties, such as the beginning and advanced levels. Advancing between levels required that one pass an initial gik'tal. (TNG: "Birthright, Part I", "& Part II", "Lower Decks")
Physical Combat
Worf was a proven expert with both the bat'leth and his personal mek'leth. He had won a bat'leth tournament on Forcas III just before his birthday. While teaching his moves to his young son Alexander, he described the bat'leth as an extension of one's body. (TNG: "Reunion", "Parallels")
That year, the fugitive Roga Danar escaped the brig of the Enterprise-D to return to Lunar V, Worf led the security staff in an attempt to recapture. but Roga managed to evade phaser explosions, transporter locks, decompressions and force fields to reach the shuttlebay. Worf and Roga fought hand-to-hand but his opponent's genetic enhancements proved too powerful for Worf. (TNG: "The Hunted")
Worf's unarmed combat skills progressed to the point that, while being held in a Dominion prison camp, he defeated twelve consecutive Jem'Hadar soldiers in honorable combat, and forced the thirteenth to yield in deference to his courage. Martok promised that a song would be written of Worf's accomplishment (DS9: "By Inferno's Light").
Ailments and injuries
During a diplomatic mission to convey delegates from the Beta Renner system to Parliament, Worf was temporarily possessed by an energy being, displaced from its natural environment by the passing of the Enterprise-D. The being passed on to Beverly Crusher and eventually, Captain Picard, before the incident was resolved. (TNG: "Lonely Among Us")
The ship had picked up a Zalkonian in the final stages of an evolutionary change. Since he had suffered memory loss, the crew just referred to him as John Doe. When Worf tried to stop him from stealing a shuttlecraft, John Doe emanated an energy bolt in self-defense. Unfortunately, that bolt proved to be fatal to Worf, who had been declared dead by the medical crew. However, John Doe's strange transformations allowed him to heal Worf's injury and restore his life. (TNG: "Transfigurations")
In 2365, Dr. Katherine Pulaski discovered Worf suffered from rop'ngor, normally a childhood disease, and protected his dignity by keeping his illness secret. In gratitude, Worf invited Pulaski to participate in a Klingon tea ceremony, where he beguiled her with Klingon love poetry. (TNG: "Up the Long Ladder")
One day, while performing an inventory check, a cargo container fell on Worf, injuring his back and leaving him paralyzed. Unwilling to live on as a paralyzed Klingon, Worf asked his commanding officer Riker to perform the hegh'bat. Riker refused to aid such a ritual, quoting "that right falls to the eldest son". Opposition from Riker, Troi and Dr. Crusher, in addition to Alexander's lack of knowledge of Klingon culture led Worf to change his mind. He permitted Dr. Toby Russell to perform a dangerous and experimental procedure to replace his spinal column. The surgery was a failure, and Worf was declared dead. However, due to the redundancies of Klingon physiology, where every organ in the Klingon body had a backup organ that activates whenever damage occurs to the first, his internal backups were intitiated and Worf woke up. It took time, but with the help of his son and Troi, Worf made a full recovery. (TNG: "Ethics")
While the Enterprise was upgrading its sensor array, Worf, along with Riker, Kaminer, Edward Hagler, Sariel Rager, and La Forge, was abducted by mysterious solanagen-based lifeforms for strange experiments. Since they were abducted in their sleep, many began to experience afterimages of the experiments. Worf experienced one such flashback when he went to get his hair cut by Mot. When he saw the scissors Mot would be using, it reminded him of the blade used to probe him. In order to discover the location of the aliens, Worf suggested planting a homing device on Riker so when his next abduction came, they would locate him and the aliens. (TNG: "Schisms")
Later that year, when the Enterprise became affected by Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome, Worf was one of the first crew members to devolve. He de-evolved into a Klingon prehistoric venomous predator, and after he sprayed Beverly Crusher with venom, he went on a rampage and terrorized the entire ship, killed Ensign Dern, and tried to mate with Deanna Troi, who had devolved into an amphibian creature. (TNG: "Genesis")
While the rest of the Enterprise-E crew enjoyed the age-reversing qualities of exposure to metaphasic radiation on the planet of the Ba'ku, Worf suffered the indignity of an affliction normally suffered by Klingons half his age, a gorch. (Star Trek: Insurrection)
Family
Alexander
Father and Son in 2372
Worf was unaware of Alexander's existence for the first years of the boy's life, until K'Ehleyr introduced their child in 2367. Under the Empire's discommendation at the time, Worf hesitated to acknowledge his son and thus perpetuate dishonor into the next generation of the House of Mogh. As K'Ehleyr's lay dying from the stabs of Duras, her last act brought the family together. Worf raged the Klingon death ritual, terrifying his son, but he brought Alexander to his mother for the last time, telling him, "You have never seen death... then look – and always remember." After avenging K'Ehleyr's death, Worf confirmed to Alexander that indeed he was his father (see also: K'Ehleyr). (TNG: "Reunion")
K'Ehleyr held little regard for Klingon traditions, let alone indoctrination, conflicting with Worf's theories of Klingon child-raising . Despite trying to teach Alexander about the Klingon artifacts located in his quarters (including a bat'leth), Alexander seemed to show no interest. After K'Ehleyr's death, Alexander was sent to live with his grandparents, but the Rozhenkos found that raising a Klingon child was now more than they could handle in advancing years. Helena returned the boy within a year to be with Worf. Lwaxana Troi's influence added to Worf's headaches, but father and son settled in to a home life aboard the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "New Ground", "Cost of Living").
Worf and Alexander played sheriff and deputy pursuing a dangerous criminal in an ancient-west theme holodeck program. One of Data's experiments accidentally turned all the holodeck characters into manifestations of Data, and disabled the holodeck safety protocols. With his son Alexander kidnapped, Worf arranged for his return by agreeing to a duel with the villain in the town square. Worf managed to survive by manufacturing a makeshift force field. (TNG: "A Fistful of Datas")
When Alexander was approaching his first Age of Ascension, Worf was appalled to discover that Alexander did not want to become a warrior. An encounter with K'mtar (a future Alexander from an alternate timeline) forced Worf to let Alexander follow his destiny. (TNG: "Firstborn")
Once the Enterprise-D was destroyed, Alexander was sent back to his grandparents. While he was growing up, Alexander decided he wanted to join the Klingon Defense Forces after all, eventually ending up on the Rotarran, Martok's ship. When reporting for duty, he referred to himself as Alexander Rozhenko instead of the son of Worf. A confused Martok asked what this house of Rozhenko was, to which Worf replied that Alexander was his son. Martok and Worf became concerned when Alexander was not getting along with his Klingon comrades. He interrupted a fight between Alexander and Ch'Targh when Alexander was on the verge of losing. Alexander revealed that he hated feeling like the unwanted son that Worf would rather get rid of. Worf tried to explain that the Jem'Hadar will not go easy on him, and that if he didn't learn how to fight quickly, they would kill him. After Alexander mistook a battle simulation as the real thing, the crew accepted him as the ship's fool. However, in the real battle, he successfully sealed a leaking plasma impulse injector. After this victory, Martok and Worf deemed him worthy of joining the House of Martok. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior", "Sons and Daughters"
When Alexander revealed that he would be transferring to the IKS Ya'Vang, Jadzia Dax decided to push forward her wedding ceremony to before he left so that he could serve as Worf's Tawi'Yan. With the date moved up, Alexander was allowed to participate in Worf's Kal'Hyah ceremony (Klingon bachelor party), along with Sisko, Martok, Bashir and O'Brien. Despite being a Klingon, he struggled through the ceremony almost as much as Bashir and O'Brien. (DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited...")
Jeremy Aster
In 2366, Worf performed the R'uustai ceremony with Jeremy Aster, admitting him into the House of Mogh, after Jeremy's mother was killed on an away mission. (TNG: "The Bonding")
Jadzia Dax
Jadzia Dax was Worf's first wife. The two became good friends because of Curzon's understanding and interest in Klingon culture. When they first met at Quark's bar, he instantly recognized the station's science officer as the new host of Curzon, a name honored amongst Klingons, to which Jadzia responded (in Klingon) that she is more attractive than Curzon was. Worf, however, was distracted by Drex, attempting to stir up trouble in the bar. When Worf managed to stop Drex and take his dagger, Dax said in amazement, "He's good."
Jadzia gave him a copy of her calisthenics program, which Worf mistook for Curzon's program. At this, Jadzia challenged Worf to a bat'leth match, which Jadzia lost. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")
When Worf moved his quarters to the Defiant, Jadzia gave him her collection of Klingon operas, and suggested that he play them through the Defiant's communications systems. Worf accepted them as a thoughtful gift, especially after Jake Sisko helped retune and remaster them. (DS9: "Bar Association", "In the Cards")
Worf became romantically involved with Jadzia Dax in early 2373. It started when Quark's former wife Grilka came aboard the station. When Worf had an instant crush on Grilka, he couldn't fathom how she could have married a Ferengi. Jadzia's explanation of the full story (DS9: "The House of Quark") merely exacerbated Worf's confusion. In order to win her heart, Worf decided to perform deeds that were uncharacteristically Klingon, such as throwing Morn off of his stool, demanding bloodwine, and insulting Grilka's bodyguard, Thopok. However, since Mogh's family honor had been disgraced, Grilka could not possibly mate with Worf.
Dejected, Worf chose to help Quark win Grilka's heart, with advice from Jadzia. By controlling Quark's movements using a remote control device, he helped Quark defeat Thopok and win the heart of Grilka. Then Jadzia jumped on Worf and the pair had their own mating ritual. As required by tradition, Worf demanded that Jadzia marry, but Jadzia responded that Worf was not a traditional man. (DS9: "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places")
The romance had a rocky start. In their first holiday together (to Risa), Worf grew immediately jealous of Arandis, the chief facilitator at the resort planet and Curzon's former lover. Even though Jadzia explained that she had moved on long ago, However, after a heart-to-heart talk with him, Jadzia helped Worf get over his jealousy. (DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")
When Dax found out from Sisko that Worf would be accompanying Elim Garak on a suicide mission to find Enabran Tain, she took back her Klingon operas, motivating Worf to survive his mission to the Gamma Quadrant with an embrace. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow")
Worf and Jadzia Dax's wedding
When war broke out between the Federation and Dominion in late 2373, Worf and Jadzia were separated when they were reassigned. Dax was given command of the Defiant, while Worf was assigned to a Klingon ship. Jadzia vowed that when DS9 was retaken and they returned to their former positions, Jadzia would wed Worf. This spurred Worf on through the early days of the Dominion war. While all of Starfleet was grim from the news that the Seventh Fleet had been defeated at the Tyra System, Worf could only think of one thing: the fact that the ritual targ sacrifice would take place after the wedding ceremony, where tradition dictated that it take place before. He was bugging Martok about it ever since they left Deep Space 9. He was, however, concerned for Dax's safety after her symbiont was injured when she bore the brunt of an explosion near an M-class planet in a dark matter nebula. When she was rescued by the Rotarran, Worf was relieved to see she recovered from the injuries. (DS9: "Call to Arms", "A Time to Stand", "Rocks and Shoals", "Sons and Daughters")
Following the successful Battle of Bajor in early 2374, Dax decided to marry Worf within the week. All she had to do was appease Lady Sirella, mistress of the House of Martok, and Sirella would wed the two. This proved more difficult than expected, since Sirella, not wanting aliens to pollute her house, opposed the marriage. When Dax refused to stop a party, an enraged Sirella screamed that there would be no Klingon wedding. When Dax asked for a Bajoran-style wedding led by Sisko, a quivering Worf decided to call the whole thing off. After some fence-mending by Sisko, Dax and Worf eventually resumed the wedding, and the pair married in Quark's Bar. (DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited...") Later on, after Jadzia lost a game of tongo to Quark, Worf, who had also lost a bet on that game to Miles O'Brien, then told Jadzia afterward that he would rather lose a bet on her than win one on someone else. Jadzia felt that was one of the most romantic things Worf had ever said to her. (DS9 "Change of Heart")
The marriage proved strong. When Lasaran, a Cardassian defector, contacted Starfleet Intelligence in 2374, Worf and Jadzia were ordered to rendezvous with him and return him safely to Federation space. During the mission Jadzia was seriously wounded by a Jem'Hadar energy weapon. The anticoagulant properties of the weapon put Jadzia's life in danger and Worf abandoned Lasaran in order to save her. The action caused Worf to receive a reprimand, and Captain Sisko believed it would prevent him from ever receiving his own command, but Worf stated he had no regrets. (DS9: "Change of Heart")
By late 2374 Jadzia and Worf had decided to attempt parenthood, despite the extreme difficulties posed by the disparate biologies of Trill and Klingons. Worf had already proved his ability in fatherhood by babysitting the O'Briens' son, Kirayoshi, and with the help of Bashir, Jadzia and Worf could attempt to conceive. In thanks she visited the Bajoran temple on the Promenade, where she was attacked and killed by Gul Dukat, who was possessed by a Pah-wraith and was attempting to destroy the Orb kept in the temple. (DS9: "Time's Orphan", "Tears of the Prophets")
In 2375, Worf led a mission to destroy a Dominion shipyard. He dedicated this mission to his late wife, in order to ease her entrance into Sto-Vo-Kor. (DS9: "Shadows and Symbols")
K'Ehleyr
In 2365, he became involved with K'Ehleyr, a Human-Klingon emissary who would become his first mate and the mother of his child, Alexander Rozhenko. When Worf tried to undergo the Klingon Mating Ritual, K'Ehleyr refused, stating to Worf: "Don't give me any of that Klingon nonsense." They parted afterward. (TNG: "The Emissary")
K'Ehleyr returned to the Enterprise-D in 2367 and revealing their son to Worf for the first time. In the intervening years she found she needed Worf after all, and wanted to finish the mating ritual. Worf's discommendation held him back. Despite K'Ehleyr's refusal to care for tradition, acknowledging Alexander would mean his dishonor as well, and preclude whatever future the boy might have in the Empire. Worf's refusal to detail the nature of his discommendation prompted K'Ehleyr to start her own investigation, an action that triggered the attention of Duras and her subsequent murder. Worf and Alexander who found K'Ehleyr, dying from multiple stab wounds. Her whisper confirmed the identity of her killer, and brought Alexander's small hand to his father's as she died.
Worf performed the Klingon death ritual and consoled his son in Klingon fashion before he abandoned the symbols of Starfleet and Empire. With only his bat'leth, he boarded Duras' Vorn claiming the Right of Vengeance under Klingon law. After the first blows were exchanged, Duras reminded Worf the cost of victory – Duras' death meant Worf's family name may never be cleared. Worf's family name suddenly meant little against the memory of K'Ehleyr, and he answered, "Then that is how it shall be!", and left Duras' corpse on the deck. (TNG: "Reunion") (See also: Alexander)
Kurn
In the Enterprise's second Officer Exchange Program, Worf was reunited with his brother Kurn, whom he had not seen since he first left his homeworld as a child. Kurn used the exchange program as pretence to reunite with Worf, and to inform Worf that his honor was put into question because the Klingon Empire announced that their father had betrayed the Klingons at the Khitomer colony by giving the Romulans strategic information. When Worf challenged this ruling, Kurn was also present. When Worf decided to accept the dishonor (to prevent civil war), it was also decided to keep Kurn's bloodline secret to protect his honor. (TNG: "Sins of the Father")
When Gowron ascended to the throne after the Klingon Civil War and restored the honor of the House of Mogh, Kurn gained a seat in the High Council. For a time, it seemed that the house of Mogh would thrive and would even one day inherit the throne, but then Worf condemned the Klingon invasion of Cardassia.
An enraged Gowron had the House of Mogh stripped of its honor and had Kurn thrown off the High Council and continued on the course for war without Worf's help. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")
Four months after Kurn lost his seat on the Klingon High Council, he arrived at DS9 seeking help from his brother to perform the Mauk-to'Vor ritual. He felt that the ritual, which involved Worf killing him, was the only way to restore his honor. After receiving orders from Sisko not to carry out the honor killing, Worf arranged for his brother to have cosmetic surgery and his memory wiped so he could start a new life with no ties to the House of Mogh. (DS9: "Sons of Mogh")
Martok
Worf and Martok
Worf always had high respect for Martok, even when he was replaced by a Changeling. In 2373, Worf found the real General Martok in Dominion Internment Camp 371. Martok was forced to face the Jem'Hadar in daily fighting contests (one of which led to the loss of his eye), until Worf replaced him. The way Worf won each battle so impressed Martok that he felt his actions were worthy of song. Having been healed by Bashir, and trained by Martok, who was at ringside for each of his contests, Worf defeated all the Jem'Hadar guards, so the Jem'Hadar First, Ikat'ika, had a go. Worf, already badly injured by previous fights, was losing and was about to let Ikat'ika kill him, when he experienced a moment of tova'dok with Martok. Worf stood back up one more time, refusing to yield Ikat'ika. It was then that Ikat'ika realized that he could not defeat his opponent, only kill him, something which "no longer held his interest". Ikat'ika himself yielded the match. Deyos, the leading Vorta officer of the facility, had Ikat'ika executed for refusing to kill Worf. It was at that moment that Garak had finished the transmitter and all the prisoners escaped back to Deep Space 9.
With approval from Worf, Sisko, and Gowron, Martok was honored by being made commander of the detachment of Klingon soldiers assigned to the station. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow", "By Inferno's Light")
Later, Worf convinced Sisko to release Martok after he threw K'retok off the promenade, claiming it was a disciplinary measure, and that K'retok was not injured. (DS9: "Ferengi Love Songs")
Martok was given command of IKS Rotarran and requested Worf to be first officer, with Jadzia Dax the science officer. His first mission was to locate the missing cruiser IKS B'Moth. A string of defeats against the Jem'Hadar had sapped the Rotarran's crew's morale to the point where dishonorable conduct and dereliction of duty were commonplace. When Martok refused to engage the Jem'Hadar, the crew of the Rotarran decided to mutiny, and Worf challenged Martok himself, accusing him of being a coward. In the fight, Martok severely injured Worf and retained command, and gained the crew's loyalty. This new loyalty would lead to the Rotarran's first victory over the Jem'Hadar, and the rescue of the B'Moth. Rather than punish Worf for mutiny, he thanked him for reminding him of his duty as a soldier of the Empire, and offered him a place in his House as a "brother". Together, the "brothers" turned a low-morale vessel that was on the brink of mutiny into the Klingon Empire's most distinguished ship. (DS9: "Soldiers of the Empire")
Worf, Alexander Rozhenko, Jadzia and Ezri Dax were all adopted into the House of Martok. Driven to the brink of madness by Worf's single-mindedness and longing for Dax, he could not be more pleased that the wedding to Jadzia was going ahead. He participated in Worf's Kal'Hyah ceremony (one of the few participants who had an easy time), and when Worf got cold feet, he convinced Worf to put the wedding back on track. After Jadzia died, Worf became concerned that her death was not honorable enough for her to enter Sto-vo-kor. Worf needed to win a glorious battle in her name for her to enter it, and General Martok gave him such a mission – destroy the Dominion shipyards of Monac IV. (DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited...", "Tears of the Prophets")
In late 2375, Worf was instrumental in bringing Martok to power as chancellor when he challenged the authority of then-chancellor Gowron. Upon killing Gowron in battle, Worf ceded his new position as chancellor to Martok. (DS9: "Soldiers of the Empire", "Sons and Daughters", "Tacking Into the Wind")
Nikolai Rozhenko
Worf had a contentious relationship with his elder foster-brother, Nikolai. Cavalier, inspired, and rebellious, Nikolai's antics – and the pains he caused in their mother – invoked the ire of his dutiful, honor-conscious brother. Nikolai thought of Worf as a perfectionist, and resented him never being wild or disobedient. But the sibling tensions between the two seemed to be of a commonplace, human variety. Later in life, reflecting on their childhood together, neither man made note of their genetic differences as a source of their friction. When asked if he and Nicolai were close, Worf considered, and merely said, "we are... brothers." (TNG: "Homeward")
Nikolai at the Boraalan homeworld, Worf (disguised as a Boraalan) was shocked to discover his foster brother, had violated the Prime Directive. Worf, who was a firm believer in the Prime Directive (TNG: "Pen Pals"), discovered that Nikolai had become much more involved with the Boraalans than necessary. Nikolai conceived a child with a Boraalan female, Dobara, and became very protective of the Boraalans in her village. Although his actions saved the Boraalan race (whose homeworld had been rendered uninhabitable by atmospheric dissipation), it took the holodecks of the Enterprise and vast amounts of power to keep them from finding out. While the Enterprise shipped the villagers to their new home on Vacca VI, Worf and Nikolai navigated them through an ever-changing holographic landscape (subtly altered so it would end up resembling their new home). As the power started running out, the holodeck was beginning to have trouble maintaining cohesion, and parts of the holodeck started manifesting itself. Worf calmed the villagers, claiming the images to be the sign of La Forge. They reached the new home just as the holographic simulations ran out of power and ended. (TNG: "Homeward")
Friendships
The crew of the Enterprise
In the holographic message Natasha Yar composed before her death, she noted her commonality with Worf, as orphaned warriors, and called him a kindred spirit. When Worf assumed Yar's duties after her death, he promised to uphold her example. (TNG: "Skin of Evil")
What friends are for
Though Worf was beginning to feel the Enterprise-D was becoming a true home, there came a point in 2365 when the isolation from his native society could not be ignored. Wesley Crusher's brush with a cranky Klingon inspired him to investigate, and discovered the cause of Worf's discontent. In a holodeck re-creation of a Klingon Rite of Ascension chamber, his loyal friends gathered to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his Age of Ascension and witnessed Worf endure the traditional gauntlet of painstiks. They had never seen him happier. (TNG: "The Icarus Factor")
Worf became a fixture at the staff's weekly poker games, where he liked to give the impression he took the game as seriously as combat. The "Iceman", as Riker sometimes called him, relished exorbitant bets and insisted that Klingons never bluffed (an assertion later proven false). In one game, he was prepared to wager his goatee against Beverly Crusher's hand. (TNG: "The Emissary"; "The Quality of Life")
As Guinan asked why Worf always sat alone. Worf looked at her with vague irritation with a conversation he'd rather avoid. Worf replied he would require a Klingon woman for companionship, as human females were too fragile. Despite Guinan's claim she knew one or two woman on board who may have found him a bit tame, Worf refuted this as "impossible". (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise")
Arctus Baran's capture of Picard and Riker left Data in temporary command of the Enterprise-D for period in 2370. Worf's evident dissatisfaction with Data's command decisions quickly grew into open criticism – improper conduct from an acting first officer. Data was forced to privately chastise Worf for his behavior, and quickly added his regrets if the confrontation ended their friendship. Chagrined, Worf acknowledged his errors and admitted that if their friendship had been threatened, it was his blame alone. (TNG: "Gambit, Part II")
He took the disgraced Ensign Sito under his wing, helped her regain an exemplary service record (after her involvement with the Nova Squadron crash two years previous), and got her recruited for a dangerous mission to Cardassia Prime, a mission she never returned from. Upon hearing this, Worf asked to join her friends for a drink at Ten Forward. (TNG: "Up the Long Ladder", "Lower Decks")
Jean-Luc Picard
In the 2366 incident of Galorndon Core, the Enterprise rescued a fatally injured Romulan soldier named Patahk. Dr. Crusher discovered that he had cell damage to several vital areas that would require a transfusion of compatible ribosomes and only Worf could provide the cells. Due to memories of the Khitomer incident and his distrust in Romulans, Worf refused to donate his blood. Patahk mutually agreed with Worf's decision, saying he would rather die than have his "cells polluted with Klingon filth". Picard tried to make Worf reconsider, asking (and soon begging) him for a favor as a friend, not as his commanding officer. Since it was not an order, Worf stuck with his decision not to donate blood and Picard respected his choice. Patahk died soon afterward. (TNG: "The Enemy")
When Picard was taken prisoner and replaced by a duplicate, the crew discovered the imposter from his differing behavior. Worf was one of the officers who mutinied against the imposter to side with Riker. When the real Picard returned to the Enterprise, he only needed one glance to initiate a series of events which would culminate in Worf trapping the aliens. (TNG: "Allegiance")
When the honor of Mogh was called into question over the Khitomer incident, and Kurn could not serve as cha'DIch, Worf chose Picard to act as his cha'DIch. Picard accepted, and successfully uncovered the truth about the Khitomer massacre. The truth led to Worf and Picard's contempt for the House of Duras, who were the real traitors. (TNG: "Sins of the Father")
Picard's successful tenure as Arbiter of Succession to the Klingon Empire gave Worf added respect for Picard. Despite Worf having killed Duras, going against the Federation charter and Prime Directive, Picard forgave Worf for the incident although he gave his security chief a reprimand. (TNG: "Reunion")
When the Enterprise-E was taken over by the Borg and Picard opposed the recommendation to abandon ship, Worf was labelled a coward by Picard, and responded, "If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand," implying great admiration. Picard later admitted that Worf was the "bravest person he ever knew" (Star Trek: First Contact)
Guinan
Guinan and Worf compete on the phaser range
Worf met Guinan when she first came aboard the Enterprise. Guinan introduced Worf to what would become his favorite drink, prune juice. As Guinan sat down at his table, she asked why Worf always sat alone. Worf looked at her with vague irritation as the conversation was venturing into areas he'd rather avoid. Worf replied he would require a Klingon woman for companionship, as human females were too fragile. Despite Guinan's claim she knew one or two woman on board who may have found him a bit tame, Worf refuted this as "impossible". (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise")
Guinan and Worf competed with each other in the phaser range. During the 2367 Klingon civil war, Guinan asked Worf about how his son, Alexander, was doing. Worf replied he was having difficulties adjusting to life on Earth, to which Guinan responded the time would come when Alexander found out what it really meant to be Klingon, just as the time had now come for Worf. (TNG: "Redemption")
Riker
William T. Riker, a jovial and amiable man in general, got along well with Worf. In some instances, he managed to bring out eruptions of emotion that his stoic lieutenant strived to keep in reserve. When Riker was heady with the powers of the Q, he eagerly tried to share the experience with otherwise impossible gifts for his friends. He noted Worf's isolation from his native culture, and with the best of intentions, he gave Worf an aggressively lustful Klingon female. Enraged and embarrassed, Worf refused the woman, admitting that the world she represented was alien to him and he had no place for such a "gift" in his life at the time. (TNG: "Hide and Q")
As a vital, athletic man who participated in dangerous sports like parrises squares and anbo-jytsu, Riker might have liked to think he could keep up with a younger Klingon, and joined Worf in his brutally violent Klingon calisthenics holodeck program. The exercise ended with all opponents defeated, and Worf was looking for more, rather intently, and in the specific direction of his increasingly alarmed partner. Riker hastily called an end to the session. (TNG: "Where Silence Has Lease")
Sometime after those events – where Worf had risked offending (or worse) his superior officer with a sense of impunity – a minor gesture by Worf innocently reached out to reciprocate the proffered friendship. When Riker proudly prepared Owon egg omelets for a meal with his gathered friends, only Worf could stomach the dish, eating with obvious pleasure and declaring the eggs "delicious". (TNG: "Time Squared")
Riker's practical experience with other Klingons, begun in the officer exchange program, engendered an understanding of the Klingon culture that the other Enterprise-D officers, save perhaps Picard, lacked. Worf helped bring this about, by briefing Riker with his own knowledge of the rules of the chain of command in the Klingon Defense Force. When the time came for them to participate in battle exercises in preparation for the Borg threat, Riker was given command of the USS Hathaway, to serve as the Enterprise-D's opponent. As Riker's first officer, Worf brought "Klingon guile" to bear (as the barely spaceworthy Hathaway had little else to offer), giving the Enterprise-D a worthy challenge and even coming to her aid against the Ferengi marauder Kreechta. (TNG: "A Matter of Honor", "Peak Performance")
Their friendship was jeopardized for a time, after Worf began a romantic relationship Deanna Troi in 2370. Riker's long history with Troi remained evidently unresolved, a fact that Worf was keenly aware of, and Troi refused to discuss. Picard's experience in an alternate future revealed how the existing tension could grow into naked animosity between the rivals for Troi. By sharing that foresight with his officers, Picard gave Worf and Riker the chance to halt their schism before it could fully form. (TNG: "All Good Things...")
In 2371, the senior officers gathered in the Enterprise-D holodeck for an age-of-sail-themed celebration, marking Worf's promotion to lieutenant commander. As was customary for Enterprise officers on such occasions, Worf was made to "walk the plank" over open water, and forced to leap upward to grab the dangling symbol of his new rank. Worf was the only officer in the ship's history to succeed in maintaining his balance, and dignity, by keeping his footing on the precipice. Unsatisfied with the precendent, Commander Riker ordered the holodeck computer to instantly remove the plank by mistake, when his intention was only to retract it back onto the ship. (Star Trek Generations)
Deanna Troi
Worf was distrustful and uneasy around telepaths, but ship's counselor Deanna Troi became a trusted exception. When he was severely injured in 2368, he asked her to care for Alexander if he died. By late 2370, Worf asked her to become a soh-chim to Alexander, a role she gladly accepted. (TNG: "Dark Page", "Ethics", "Parallels")
After an encounter with alternate realities showed him a life with Troi as his wife, Worf's eyes were opened to a new possibility, he began to pursue her. Though surprised, Troi welcomed the advances, and the two enjoyed a romantic relationship through 2370. Deanna wasn't thrilled by Worf's concern for Will Riker's interest in the matter, but the triangle's tension was eased by the advice of Captain Picard. (TNG: "Parallels", "Eye of the Beholder", "All Good Things...")
By the next year, the romance seemed to have dissolved amicably, and eventually, she and Riker resumed their relationship. Worf's only visible unease at their wedding in 2379 was the result of imbibing too much Romulan ale, and the prospect of appearing naked at their Betazed marriage ceremony. (Star Trek Generations; Star Trek: Insurrection; Star Trek Nemesis)
Deep Space 9 Companions
By contrast, Worf found it quite difficult to adjust to life aboard Deep Space 9, right from the day he arrived. When Worf entered Quark's bar, Quark asked if he wanted bloodwine (since he was Klingon, and every Klingon Quark met ordered only bloodwine). When Worf asked for prune juice, Quark laughed in disbelief. Worf did not share his humor, so Quark was forced to bring him the prune juice. It would be the first of many confrontations with Quark, and the Ferengi in general (whom Worf thought unworthy to serve in Starfleet) (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior", "Little Green Men")
When Worf discovered Quark was dealing with a smuggling operation, he was confounded as to why security officer Odo never arrested Quark. After a disappointing response, Worf decided to take matters into his own hands. When the next smuggled crystal arrived, Worf stepped forward and arrest Quark. It was then that Odo shapeshifted himself and revealed the entire operation as a setup. Odo was going to follow the smuggler and uncover the entire Tarkalean smuggling operation. However, thanks to Worf's interference, Odo had to settle for the middle man. (DS9: "Hippocratic Oath")
Events came to a head one day when Worf's quarters were robbed by a burglar. The response by Odo proved to be disappointing to Worf. This event happened to coincide with a union strike taking place in Quark's bar. Dr. Julian Bashir and O'Brien were betting who would enter Quark's bar despite the strike. Both unanimously agreed that Worf would not enter the bar, recalling he would rarely enter the bar even before the strike. When they saw that Worf actually entered the bar, O'Brien approached Worf to talk some sense into him. This proved a serious mistake, and led to the three of them being thrown into the brig. At this final incident, Worf decided that the only way to adjust to life aboard the station was to live outside it, on the Defiant. Eventually, Worf managed to adjust to the activities of the station, even enjoying a Ferengi tooth sharpener in the process. (DS9: "Bar Association", "Little Green Men")
Benjamin Sisko
Worf and Benjamin Sisko became personal friends thanks to Sisko's experiences with Curzon and Jadzia, as well as being Worf's defense in his extradition proceedings against Ch'Pok and the Klingon Empire. Sisko also risked his own life to keep Worf alive. The Defiant crew had joined the Dominion in an attempt to destroy the Iconian gateway at Vandros IV. Worf was one of the officers who found tolerating the Jem'Hadar difficult. After a brawl erupted between Worf and Toman'torax (who was threatening O'Brien at the time), Omet'iklan decided to have both officers punished. For his disobedience, Toman'Torax's punishment was execution by his commanding officer, Omet'iklan. Upon seeing that Sisko's punishment would merely be confining Worf to quarters, Omet'iklan described the Federation as weak, and vowed to kill Sisko once the Iconian gateway was destroyed. Worf vowed to protect Sisko against the death threat. (DS9: "Rules of Engagement", "To the Death")
When it was discovered that there was a Changeling in a high position in the Klingon Empire, Worf took part with Sisko in a daring mission to uncover the identity of the changeling. (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising")
When Kira was praying for the Emissary during his visions of 2373, Worf surprisingly understood her faith in the Prophets (as opposed to the rest of the crew). He felt that the strength of Sisko's faith would be what pulled him through. (DS9: "Rapture")
Worf helped Sisko capture and apprehend the Maquis leader, Michael Eddington. He helped reorganize the Defiant after its computers were disabled by Eddington's cascade virus. Worf also modified and fired a quantum torpedo so it would release trilithium resin into the atmosphere of Solosos III, the act of which forced Eddington to surrender. Worf had assumed the quantum torpedo was going to be used on Eddington's Maquis fighter (DS9: "For the Uniform")
When Garak persuaded Sisko that he could enter the Gamma Quadrant to search for Enabran Tain, he only allowed him to do so if Worf could accompany him. Later, Worf asked Sisko if he could join General Martok on the Rotarran; Sisko needed a good officer like Worf defending the station, but Worf described his moment of tova'dok with Martok and convinced Sisko to allow Worf to join the Rotarran. He did not oppose Martok's request that Worf remain on the Rotarran even after the Battle of Bajor, knowing that he was the only officer he knew that could never get enough work. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow", "Soldiers of the Empire")
When Sisko was reassigned to Starbase 375 in 2374, leaving Jadzia Dax to command the Defiant to the Argolis Cluster, both he and Worf were concerned for the safety of the ship and her crew. Sisko reassured Worf that Dax would want to get back for the wedding, while Worf suggested that Sisko get some rest. (DS9: "Behind the Lines")
Sisko took part in Worf's Kal'Hyah ceremony, and tried his best to last the entire four days. He motivated O'Brien, Bashir and Alexander throughout the entire four day ceremony. After Sirella called off the wedding, Sisko convinced both officers that they were in love and that they could not call off the wedding. (DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited...")
Worf took command of the Defiant, trying to search for survivors of the USS Honshu, gunned down by Cardassian destroyers. Two of the survivors were Sisko and Dukat, trapped near the Badlands. When Kira relayed Starfleet's orders to call off the search for Sisko, the message came through garbled with interference. Despite Bashir's claims that the message was too unclear to understand, Worf knew what the message ordered, and said it would be dishonorable to disobey them. Fortunately, Dukat relayed a distress signal detailing the location of Sisko. (DS9: "Waltz")
Worf found the Captain to be intimidating, but he kept it secret from Sisko. It was Ezri Dax who had to reveal this fact to Sisko.(DS9: "Afterimage")
Worf would participate in Sisko's grudge game against former Academy classmate, Captain Solok. Although he performed well in training, Worf received three strikes when he faced the Logicians. Both Sisko and Worf were enraged that he did not obtain a single run. (DS9: "Take Me Out to the Holosuite")
Miles O'Brien
Worf knew Chief O'Brien from his early days in the Enterprise, although their relationship was that of a noncom and his superior. However, they would both be participants in the crew's poker games. O'Brien would be a participant in Wesley Crusher's Age of Ascension recreation for Worf, where he would comment on the power of the Klingon painstiks. (TNG: "The Emissary", "The Icarus Factor").
Although Worf had to man the bridge at O'Brien's wedding to Keiko, he gave O'Brien a Klingon weapon as a wedding gift. In 2368, when the Enterprise was damaged by a quantum filament, Worf was forced to deliver Keiko's baby daughter, Molly. He humorously noted that Molly resembled Miles. (TNG: "Data's Day", "Disaster")
The friendship would really take off when Worf transferred to Deep Space 9. O'Brien was the first person to greet Worf when he arrived. Later he introduced Worf to the game of darts, describing it as "poker, but with pointed tips". Once Worf accepted the role of strategic operations officer (with a change of uniform from yellow to red), O'Brien commented how good Worf looked in red. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")
When the Defiant was damaged by the Jem'Hadar during their Karemma negotiations, and Worf found commanding the engineering team difficult, it was O'Brien who helped Worf take a different approach to command. (DS9:"Starship Down")
When Worf discovered that the O'Briens were having another child, he altered his holiday plans to coincide with the birth, just so he wouldn't have to deliver O'Brien's baby (like he did with Molly). (DS9: "Accession")
- Worf's holiday plans were deliberately written into the series so the writers would have an excuse for Worf being with the Enterprise crew for Star Trek: First Contact, and not at Deep Space 9. The episode DS9: "Accession" aired just before filming for Star Trek: First Contact had begun. However in the movie Worf joins the crew of the Enterprise by commanding the Defiant.
In 2372, Worf participated in recovering a Jem'Hadar ship from Torga IV, the last mission of Enrique Muñiz. Although Worf believed that Muñiz would not survive from his wounds, O'Brien did not agree and clashed with Worf's pessimism. Worf was later proved right however, and Muñiz did pass away. Once the mission was over, O'Brien and Worf performed the Klingon tradition of ak'voh in front of Muñiz's casket. (DS9: "The Ship")
O'Brien politely refused Worf's offer of help when Keiko, possessed by a Pah-wraith, fell down the promenade crossway. (DS9: "The Assignment")
O'Brien had to undergo a ritual fasting with Julian Bashir and Sisko as part of Worf's Kal'Hyah ceremony, which was different than what he thought it would be. He couldn't last the four days (even vowing to kill Worf at one point), and when he heard the wedding ceremony was called off, he and Bashir immediately ordered a large feast of Earth and Bajoran food. However, Sisko stopped them and helped put the wedding back on track. (DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited...")
At one point, Worf and O'Brien, while watching Jadzia and Quark playing a game of tongo against each other and a group of Ferengi waiters, Worf made a bet that Jadzia had the game in hand. He wagered to O'Brien that if she won, he would owe Worf a bottle of bloodwine. If Jadzia lost, however, Worf would then owe the chief a bottle of Irish whiskey. In the end, however, Worf ended up saying that he would need time to come up with O'Brien's payment. (DS9: "Change of Heart")
After Jadzia Dax died at the hands of Gul Dukat, O'Brien was one of the first people who attempted to cheer up Worf. While drinking bloodwine and reminiscing about old crewmates (most notably, Reginald Barclay), O'Brien found out what was bothering Worf – the fact that his wife did not die an honorable death, and thus could not enter Sto-vo-kor. O'Brien then directed Martok to help Worf, who assigned him the mission to destroy the Monac IV fleet yards. (DS9: "Tears of the Prophets")
It was O'Brien who helped Worf ease his hostility to Ezri. Over a bottle of bloodwine, O'Brien asked how Jadzia would feel if she knew how poorly Worf treated Ezri. When Worf claimed that there was no way to know, O'Brien refuted the claim, suggesting he talk to the one person Worf had been avoiding. After keeping her in Starfleet, Worf and O'Brien attended Ezri's promotion party. (DS9: "Afterimage")
When O'Brien's authorization code was used to access sixteen cases of bloodwine sent to Martok by Sirella, Martok and Worf had to quiz O'Brien on where the cases went. O'Brien had to explain to Worf and Martok that Nog must have taken the bloodwine to barter for a graviton stabilizer. Worf and Martok gave O'Brien one day to find the bloodwine. Fortunately, Nog had returned with 16 cases of 2309 bloodwine bought from his cousin Gant, an even better vintage than the ones Nog took. (DS9: "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River")
Ezri Dax
Ezri Dax's relationship with Worf did not go quite as smoothly as Jadzia's, despite many of Jadzia's friends and colleagues quickly accepting the presence of a new Dax in their lives. Initially, Worf wanted nothing to do with her, or even Dr. Bashir, considering Ezri's presence and her relationship with Bashir an affront to his wife's memory. However, he soon realised that his actions were more of an affront, and relations between them began to warm. (DS9: "Afterimage")
During the latter half of the year, Worf commanded the IKS Koraga when it was destroyed by the Dominion; his escape pod was rescued by Ezri Dax, with whom Worf was captured by the Breen. After undergoing an interrogation (which included killing one of the clones of Weyoun), Worf and Ezri were freed by Legate Damar as part of his resistance to the Dominion. (DS9: "Penumbra", "Strange Bedfellows")
Kor
Although Kurn's new life gave him a chance to regain honor, Worf had to continue living with his dishonor. Kor (considered a hero, according to Worf) offered him the perfect opportunity to regain his honor. Kor, who disliked the High Council enough to consider any enemy of it a friend, revealed to Worf that he and Jadzia knew the secret location of the legendary Sword of Kahless, stolen by Hur'q pillagers a millennia ago. If Worf could find the sword and present it to the present emperor it would almost certainly restore his honor among his people. Kor accepted Worf's request to join the expedition, knowing it would annoy Gowron.
Dax, Kor and Worf find the Sword of Kahless
Although the antechamber that apparently held the sword had been ransacked, Worf discovered that a holographic projection hid the true chamber. With the help of some Hur'q DNA, Kor, Worf and Dax gained access to the hidden chamber, where they found the legendary sword. Worf believed that the discovery of the sword was one of the events in his life that his vision of Kahless foretold him accomplishing.
When the team exited the chamber, they came face-to-face with Toral, son of Duras, an individual whose life Worf had spared following the Klingon Civil War. After a brief battle with Toral and his bodyguards, the team made a dash back to the ship, being chased by Toral. However, while heading back to the ship, Kor and Worf encountered a difference of opinion about the sword. Worf was disgusted when Kor used the sword to eat a vole: "The sword is not something that you use to shovel food down your mouth". When it came time to sleep, Kor and Worf could not sleep, for fear that if they did sleep, the other would seize the opportunity to steal the sword and reap the glory. After a restless night, the team had to maneuver across a steep chasm. Kor lost his footing and nearly fell down the slope. Worf, barely able to hold onto Kor, told him to let go and drop onto a ledge beneath him. Kor, preferring to die rather than let go of the sword, refused and climbed back up with the help of Dax. Kor took a look at the ledge, and found that it was too small to support his weight. This proved too much for Kor, and he decided to fight Worf in battle. If it wasn't for Toral catching up to the team, they would have killed each other. After dealing with Toral, the team realized how much the sword was dividing two Klingons. They decided that the Empire was not ready for the return of the sword, so they beamed it into space, to be lost until Klingons were ready for it. (DS9: "The Sword of Kahless")
In 2375, when Kor came to the station looking for command of a ship, Worf discovered that Martok held a personal grudge against Kor. Kor was responsible for striking Martok’s name from the officers' list because his family was from the lowlands of Ketha Province, and due to his influence, Martok was barred from even enlisting as a common soldier. In order to mend ties between Martok and Kor, Worf managed to sneak him into the IKS Ch'Tang. The Ch'Tang was part of a small fleet assigned to raid the Dominion base on Trelka V. Kor was experiencing lapses in concentration, one of which nearly led to the destruction of the Ch'Tang. While trying to retreat from enemy space, the crew discovered they were being pursued by ten Jem'Hadar fighters. If the Ch'Tang could not find a way to delay the Jem'Hadar fighters, they would not be able to reach friendly space in time. Worf planned to use the IKS Ning'tao to divert the pursuers, a move that would be suicidal. However, before he could reach the transporter, Kor used a hypospray to take Worf's place. Although Kor would not return from the battle, he bought enough time for the Klingon fleet to escape. (DS9: "Once More Unto the Breach")
Alternate Realities
- When the Ambassador-class starship USS Enterprise-C emerged from the temporal rift in 2366, it created an alternate timeline. In this new timeline the Federation was suddenly at war with the Klingons, causing Worf to disappear, replaced by Natasha Yar, who, in our own timeline, died in 2364. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise")
- In a computer fantasy created by Barash for Riker, Worf had gained a scar from an unknown battle, a fact which Riker used to prove he was in a fantasy. (TNG: "Future Imperfect")
- After he returned from a bat'leth tournament on Forcas III, Worf had encountered a quantum fissure, where he had deeper relationships with Deanna Troi in multiple alternate timelines. In at least two timelines the two were married and had two children: Shannara Rozhenko and Eric-Christopher Rozhenko. In one timeline Worf was promoted to full commander and appointed first officer of the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Parallels")
- In Q's anti-time timeline, Worf and Troi were deeply involved, but Troi's subsequent death led to a rift between William Riker and himself. He later served as a member of the Klingon High Council, and was the governor of the Klingon colony of H'atoria in 2395. (TNG: "All Good Things...")
- In an alternate timeline created by the Defiant's time travel back 200 years, Jadzia Dax and Worf had married and fostered a large family whose descendants formed a significant part of a colony numbering 8,000 people, including Yedrin Dax and Brota. (DS9: "Children of Time")
- In another alternate future timeline, Worf also had the ability to "pull his weight with the other Klingons" during the early 25th century. (DS9: "The Visitor)"
- In yet another alternate future timeline, Worf was killed on the floor of the High Council in 2410, while his son, Alexander, helplessly watched. (TNG: "Firstborn")
Also see: Willie Hawkins
Memorable Quotes
"A warrior's drink!"
- - Worf, on sampling his first taste of prune juice (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise")
"Good tea. Nice house."
- - Worf, responding to whether he was enjoying his tea (which he clearly was not) (TNG: "The Survivors")
"Human bonding rituals often involve a great deal of talking... and dancing... and crying."
- - Worf, on Human weddings (TNG: "Data's Day")
"Sir I protest! I am not a merry man!"
- - Worf (TNG: "QPid")
"You are not Fek'lhr!"
- - Worf (TNG: "Devil's Due")
"What are his rights in this century? Will there be a trial, or shall I execute him?"
- - Worf (TNG: "A Fistful of Datas")
"Nice hat."
- - Worf, to Kira (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")
"It is not enough to look like a Klingon. One must act like one"
"Are you questioning the validity of my plan?"
"Very convincing captain, but was it your intention to challenge me to a battle to the death?"
- - Worf' and Sisko (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising")
"Look at you! You stand so far away from me. You speak so softly. Are you afraid of me, or just disgusted by my presence?"
- - Worf' to O'Brien (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising")
"Perhaps today is a good day to die!"
- - Worf (Star Trek: First Contact)
"Assimilate this!"
- - Worf (Star Trek: First Contact)
"Today is a good day to die!"
- - Worf (DS9: "By Inferno's Light")
"Our women are considered our partners in battle. Formidable warriors."
"And great fun at parties."
"True."
- - Worf' and Jadzia Dax (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising")
"Death to the opposition!"
- - Worf (DS9: "Take Me Out to the Holosuite")
"Do not hug me."
- - Worf (DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")
"I am a Klingon warrior and a Starfleet officer; I have piloted starships through Dominion minefields; I have stood in battle against Kelvans twice my size; I have courted and won the heart of the magnificent Jadzia Dax! If I can do these things, I can make this child go to sleep!"
- - Worf, referring to babysitting the O'Briens' son (DS9: "Time's Orphan")
"You're a good friend, Worf."
"I know.
- - Ezri Dax and Worf (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil")
"I do not understand."
- - Worf (Various)
"How did you like command?"
"Comfortable chair."
- - William T. Riker and Worf (TNG: "The Emissary")
Chronology
- 2340
- Born on Qo'noS to Mogh.
- 2345
- Brother Kurn is born. Moves to Khitomer along with his parents while Kurn remains on Qo'noS.
- 2346
- Raised by the Rozhenkos on Earth after the Khitomer Massacre in which his parents are killed.
- 2353
- Moves to the Gault colony. Becomes captain of his school soccer team.
- 2355
- Travels to Qo'noS, where Kahless the Unforgettable appears to him in a vision.
- 2357
- Joins Starfleet Academy.
- 2361
- Graduates the Academy to become the first Klingon Starfleet officer.
- 2364
- Serves onboard the USS Enterprise-D as a lieutenant junior grade.
- 2365
- Involved with K'Ehleyr, a Human-Klingon emissary.
- 2366
- Promoted to lieutenant. Meets Guinan and is introduced to favourite drink, prune juice. Reunites with brother Kurn, who asks to challenge family dishonor. Joins Picard and Kurn to discover truth of Khitomer massacre. Accepts discommendation to avoid civil war.
- 2367
- Meets his son, Alexander, for the first time. Kills Duras in claiming revenge on the death of K'Ehleyr. Resigns from Starfleet to assist the forces of Gowron against the forces of the Duras family in the Klingon Civil War.
- 2368
- Delivers O'Brien's first child, Molly. Loses first backbone, and is declared dead, until redundant backbone activates. Takes son Alexander into his care.
- 2369
- Meets the inhabitants of Carraya IV, where he has a brief infatuation with Ba'el, Instrumental in having a clone of Kahless the Unforgettable installed as the emperor.
- 2370
- Helps Nikolai save the population of Boraal II to relocate them to Vacca VI. Travels accidentally between various quantum realities, upon his return asks Deanna Troi to be Soh-chim to his son, then begins a romance with the Counselor.
- 2371
- Parts amicably with Deanna Troi. Promoted to lieutenant commander. Sends son to live with parents after the destruction of Enterprise, whilst undergoing extended leave to the caves of Boreth.
- 2372
- Recalled from extended leave and re-assigned to Deep Space 9. House of Mogh is disowned and stripped of all lands. Brother Kurn requests Mauk-to'Vor. Refused, and instead has memory erased.
- 2373
- Begins romantic relationship with Jadzia Dax. Fights against the Borg incursion into Sector 001. Takes holiday to Risa. Captured by the Dominion and placed in Internment Camp 371. Discovers and frees the real General Martok. Serves as first officer aboard the IKS Rotarran under General Martok. Participates in Second Battle of Deep Space 9.
- 2374
- Helps Sisko escape from Dominion territory. Reunites with Son, Alexander on board the IKS Rotarran. Convinces Gowron to spare ships for Operation Return. Helps the USS-Defiant break through Dominion lines. Successfully retakes station. Marries Jadzia Dax. Saves Dax from anti-coagulant wound. Considers fatherhood and attempts to conceive a Trill-Klingon child. Jadzia killed by Dukat.
- 2375
- Commands the IKS Koraga, which is subsequently destroyed. Visits the old crewmates onboard the USS Enterprise-E to reveal Admiral Dougherty's conspiracy concerning the relocation of the Ba'ku. Returns to DS9; slays Gowron in personal combat and installs Martok as Chancellor, left DS9 for his new assignment as the Federation Ambassador to Qo'noS.
- 2379
- Rejoins his old crewmates on the Enterprise-E on Earth. Battles with Shinzon and the Remans alongside with the Romulans, potentially ending his life-long vendetta against them.
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Appendices
Background Information
Worf was played by Michael Dorn. Part of the premise Gene Roddenberry wrote for Star Trek: The Next Generation was that it was set at a time when Klingons had set aside their differences with the Federation, and had become their allies. Robert Justman proposed a "Klingon Marine" serve on the Enterprise as a symbol of this. The character was later made a full Starfleet officer, and was one of the last additions to the permanent cast. Dorn, an avid fan of Star Trek, then got his opportunity to play Worf, the first Klingon in Starfleet. He became a regular cast member for the show throughout its seven-year run.
Worf's originally-planned backstory, in the TNG Bible, was that he had been on a Klingon ship in one of the last Earth-Klingon battles; and had been rescued by Starfleet, at the age of 8. The episode "Heart of Glory" established the sneak Romulan attack on Khitomer.
As part of several sweeping changes for Deep Space Nine's fourth season, Worf was added to the regular cast list, which he held until the end. Ira Behr, the show's executive producer, said that fitting Worf into the show was one of the biggest challenges he had to face during the show's run. However, he felt he had managed this task well. Ronald D. Moore commented: "I've been happy to see the changes in the character since he was brought onto DS9 – I think we ran the danger of "de-fanging" Worf by the end of TNG and there's been a concerted effort made to roughen him up and give him some sharper edges. He's more likely to err now, more likely to do the wrong thing for the wrong reason... I think that makes him more interesting as a character and more compelling to write for." [2]
In addition, he also appeared prominently in the game Star Trek: Armada. Due to his appearances in two series, four movies, and six games (and counting), the character Worf holds the record of the most appearances in Star Trek.
Apocrypha
- In Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier and Starfleet Academy novels, Worf's roommate at Starfleet Academy was Zak Kebron, a Brikar.
External links
- Template:NCwiki