posted
I'm hoping the wordy title will make this post sound better.
Today I was thinking about Cardassians, namely Dukat and Damar. Dukat starts the show as the villian, standing in for "The Occupation" in general. As the series progresses Dukat falls from favor with Cardassia, but becomes more sympathetic to us. Then he teams up with the Dominion, falls off his rocker and stays there up to the bitter end.
Damar, on the other hand, really enters the scene when he kills Ziyal. (His previous appearences are too minor to include here.) Not a very sympathetic action. Damar winds up hated by both the viewers and the characters. (Hated in the way all good villians are hated, of course.) But by the end of the show, Damar is a hero, fighting for the freedom of Cardassia.
Now, when I first started thinking about this, I thought about how cruel it was that Dukat "dies" a madman, while Damar gets off as a martyr. Even Kira seems to forgive him.
But then I had a realization. As the leaders of Cardassia, both Dukat and Damar represented everything the Cardassians had done in DS9. Specifically, the occupation of Bajor. Using this view, things are a little different.
Dukat acted in a way many of us viewers thought was honorable. Dare I say it, he was starting to act like a good guy. However, throughout all of that, Dukat never changed his views about the Occupation. Damar, on the other hand, became the only Cardassian we see (save one) to ever have the epiphany that maybe the Occupation was wrong. That's what buys him his absolution. Dukat may have redeemed himself in the eyes of many viewers, but he never took that final step.
Interestingly enough, the only other Cardassian to come out against the Occupation was Aamin Marritza, way back in "Duet". He also died for it. Curious.
Thoughts?
------------------ "Have you ever seen a bloody egg? Glass in hand, laying up in bed?" -- They Might Be Giants
posted
Bajor was originally conquered by Cardassia, and, well, nations have a habit of conquering other nations. It happens a lot.
Besides killing Ziyal, what has Damar done that was really that bad? By the time he was installed as leader he didn't have a whole lot of power.
BTW, the entire entry on Damar in the Encyclopedia is as follows:
"Cardassian officer. Damar was assigned to the freighter Groumall in 2372, under the command of Gul Dukat. Damar went with Dukat after he commandeered a Klingon bird-of-prey and began a one-ship offensive against the Klingons."
See, that was one of the great things about DS9...a minor character can go on to play a major role later on. The same thing happened with Weyoun, for example, or even Morn.
------------------ http://frankg.dgne.com/ "I received an emotional letter of complaint after a strip in which Dilbert used the expression 'jeepers cripes.' The writer chastised me for using the Lord's name in vain. I can only pray that the almightly Gosh will not darn me to heck for offending his son, Jeepers." - Scott Adams
posted
Damar and Dukat, by being leaders of Cardassia, become a stand in for all Cardassians.
It's a whole Christ complex thing. Damar took on the sins of Cardassia and died for them. So did Marritza. Dukat never did that, and instead of dying at the end, he's committed to a symbolic hell.
------------------ "Have you ever seen a bloody egg? Glass in hand, laying up in bed?" -- They Might Be Giants
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Damar probably thought the Occupation was wrong the moment he found out his family had been slaughtered by the Dominion. Of course, he was trying to figure out what kind of people slaughter innocent civilians, and Kira answered with "Yeah, what kind of people do that"?
Garak's response saying that Damar was more receptive to the comment meant that Damar was probably on the way to redeeming himself as a good guy. I am not surprised he died trying to fight for his home planet.
------------------ I can resist anything....... Except Temptation
posted
I guess Dukat was suppose to be Sisko's adversary for the most part, but had to work together once or twice. In "Defiant" Dukat and Sisko got along pretty well, he even pulled some strings or whatever so that at Sisko's request Tom Riker not be sentenced to death and his fellow Maquis be taken to a Federation prison. Later in "Explorers" Dukat was there to congratulate Sisko for getting to Cardassian space in that Bajoran solar sail ship. Perhaps the writers relized his villian potential and that he was becoming too much of a nice guy. There solution: Join the Dominion. Kill Jadiza. And pretty much go psyco by becoming a Pah-Wraith cult leader.
posted
As I recall, Dukat was not too pleased to see Sisko prove that Bajorans had the capability to visit Cardassia long before the Cardassians could repay the visit.
------------------ "We took a small flight, in the middle of the night, from one tiny place to another." -- Ben Folds Five
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