Tag: st meta

Joined Trill Names

thereallieutenantcommanderdata:

The convention of using the symbiote’s name as a kind of surname for a joined Trill is really odd to me.  At least, as it translates into our culture, perhaps their own culture has different conventions

But the thing is, “Jadzia” and “Dax” are different people.  When you address her as “Lieutenant Dax”, you’re effectively addressing the symbiote while when you address her as “Jadzia”, you’re addressing the host. So, it’s not the same as, say, the distinction between saying “Captain Sisko” and “Benjamin”, because “Sisko” and “Benjamin” refer to the same person

So, it seems to me that it would make more sense to simply treat “Jadzia Dax” as a single name (”Jadzia-Dax”), and then using either “Jadzia” or “Dax” by itself would be reserved for times when one is referring solely to the symbiote or solely to the host

And there’s certainly precedent for treating aliens as having single names.  Worf’s full name is “Worf Son of Mogh”, but “Son of Mogh” isn’t treated as a surname.  He’s “Lt Worf” not “Lt Son-of-Mogh” or “Lt Moghson”.  And Spock was only ever Spock, and there’s no official canon for his surname (there’s a semi-canonical name but I can’t remember it)

i can sort of see how the connection of people who shared a symbiote is comparable to a family, as another line of descent comparable to patrilineal surnames. it makes sense that in trill culture, your symbiote becomes more important and that it sort of replaces any other kind of family tree you had before. it fits in a lot with how trills pre and post joining are considered different people. at least, this was the easiest way that i could make sense of this question when i watched it. i wonder if joined trills are technically disowned by their family too, if their culture sees the joined trill as a new person (or maybe trills don’t ever have last names? it’s been a while) (i can also see joined trills being disallowed from receiving inheritances, so that you can’t profit from just having had previous hosts. there is also that law about meeting people who knew a past host, i guess they’d have a lot of laws to avoid joined trills abusing their status for money or power or connections)

jazzypizzaz:

elfinestarkadder:

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) 

and also is a single dad and a good dad and the only captain who is a parent within the show, a family man, 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 that’s 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 that’s it and what’s more i’ve 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 sisko’s personality or motivations when throughout the show he’s often the voice of measured reason, juxtaposed with kira nerys, former terrorist, is beyond me, except actually it’s not at all because like I Know Why, but, you know

i n t e r e s t i n g 🙂

#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 sisko’s 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#he’s a lot like kirk in that regard#except kirk’s love is for his ship and his duty and his sense of exploration first and people second#and with sisko people /always/ come first  (via @brinnanza)