interesting how ben sisko thinks and philosophizes and struggles morally as much as any other star trek captain (cough picard cough) and regularly uses strategy and wits and manipulation to outsmart his enemies rather than approaching conflicts through force (this is the man who walked onto the station and within like an hour had smooth-talked quark into sticking around, before even dukat showed up)Β
and also is a single dad and a good dad and the only captain who is a parent within the show, a family man,Β and generally as a character has a complex inner life and complex motivations and goals and methods of achieving them
but the one main element of his character some segments of the fandom seem to focus on is action man, gets shit done, and while thatβs true enough sometimes especially compared to other captains (cough picard cough) the main thing anyone seems to cite is that he punched q in the face that one time and thatβs it and whatβs more iβve frequently seen him be ascribed qualities that as far as i can tell he really does not have in any greater abundance than any other star trek captain, like, uh, angry, for example, hmm
which how anyone can do a critical reading of ds9 that leads them to come away thinking that anger is a prominent feature of benjamin lafayette siskoβs personality or motivations when throughout the show heβs often the voice of measured reason, juxtaposed with kira nerys, former terrorist, is beyond me, except actually itβs not at all because like I Know Why, but, you know
i n t e r e s t i n g π
#literally the thing about ben sisko is that he is SO FULL OF LOVE!!!!!!!#he loves his family so so much jake and joseph and kass#and his crew which is not actually that distinct from family in his mind#he has loved three different daxes so much#he loves the station and bajor and he loves what starfleet is /supposed/ to be#ben siskoβs capacity for love is what defines him imo#picard is motivated by duty and janeway was often motivated by sheer cussedness#but sisko is motivated by love#heβs a lot like kirk in that regard#except kirkβs love is for his ship and his duty and his sense of exploration first and people second#and with sisko people /always/ come firstΒ (via @brinnanza)
