History DeepSpaceNine / FederationAndBajor

[[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Main Characters Page]] | [[{{DeepSpaceNine/StarfleetCrew}} Starfleet Crew]] | '''Federation And Bajor''' | [[DeepSpaceNine/QuarksBar Quark's Bar, Family, and Other Ferengi]] | DeepSpaceNine/CardassianUnion | DeepSpaceNine/KlingonEmpire | DeepSpaceNine/TheDominion | DeepSpaceNine/MirrorUniverse

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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Major/Colonel Kira Nerys]]
[[quoteright:180:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kira_ds9_8503.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/NanaVisitor

->''"Major, you've been breaking one too many for fourteen and a half years! Cardassian rules, Bajoran rules, Federation rules -- they're all meaningless to you, because you have a [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight personal code]] that's always mattered more. And I'm sorry to say, you're in slim company."''
-->-- '''Odo''', "The Circle"

The most visible Bajoran and, at least initially, TheLancer, Major Kira of the Bajoran Militia was Sisko's second-in-command and the [[NumberOne first officer]] of Deep Space Nine. She resented Starfleet's presence, thinking of Bajor as having swapped one set of occupiers for another. Grew up as a Bajoran [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters freedom fighter]] and is thus skilled in guerrilla warfare, as well as capable enough to take on a Klingon in [[ActionGirl hand-to-hand combat]]. Begins her story arc angry and broken, but slowly [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosts]] over the course of the series. Kira is her family name and Nerys is her given name, said last as part of Bajoran naming custom (like Japanese names).
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* ActionGirl: Good lord, she beats the stuffing out of a ''serial killer'' while the equivalent of ''[[PregnantBadass nine months pregnant]].''
* AntiHero: She is one of the most ruthless protagonists in ''Trek'' canon.
* AssInAmbassador: Kira claims to be always diplomatic. [[GilliganCut Cut to her handling affairs...]] ("Visionary")
* BookEnds:
** Kira's stint as commander of [=DS9=] was short-lived; she grouchily hands the office over to Sisko upon his arrival. At the very end of the series, she's given control of the station again -- having grown wiser, less gung-ho, and more even-tempered. This is symbolized by Kira inheriting Sisko's baseball.
** At the start of the series, she just finished being an insurgent against the Cardassian Occupation. At the end, [[spoiler:she is once again an insurgent ''helping'' the Cardassians fight the Dominion on their own soil]]. The situation is noted several times.
* BreakTheCutie: That's quite the achievement but Silarin Prin, from 'The Darkness and the Light' episode managed to do that, ''twice''. First, he [[spoiler: killed all the friends Kira made]] during her days at the Shakaar Resistance cell, except Shakaar himself. Second, he cracked her armor by trashing her actions and ideology, backing it with some good points. She managed to defend herself, but considering what she said to the rescue team after their fight, it's obvious Kira thought he was right to some extent, even talking in the same manner he did.
* BrokenBird: The horrors she has seen... well, it could break your heart.
* ChildSoldier: She joined the Resistance when she was twelve, and was only fourteen when she fought in the Resistance liberation of the Gallitep labor camp (i.e. Space Auschwitz).
* ColonelBadass:
** Promoted in the seventh season. (Nana Visitor joked that Kira should open a [[UsefulNotes/KentuckyFriedChicken fried chicken joint]] on the Promenade.)
** CommandingCoolness: Bajoran Colonel or not, since Sisko was a Captain by that time, the highest Starfleet rank he could confer was Commander. This was done to provide Kira with formal Starfleet duds, which arouse ''slightly'' less animosity amongst the Cardassian rebels she's supposed to train. Her time as an officer has honed (rather than dampened) her instincts as a terrorist, as well: Kira learns that being subtle--using a scalpel rather than a pipe--is much more effective and disruptive.
* CombatPragmatist: Fair tactics do not keep you alive in the Bajoran Resistance. Kira, therefore, doesn't use them.
* CustomUniformOfSexy: Later traded in her padded-shoulder uniform for a [[CombatStilettos high-heeled]] number, in the grand ''Trek'' tradition. The other members of her militia are stuck wearing the garish red & pink number.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Cardassian Occupation. In other words, she is a [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Holocaust survivor]].
* [[SonOfAWhore Daughter of a Whore]]: A trip through the Orb of Time revealed her mother, Kira Meru, was one of Dukat's "comfort women" during the occupation.
* DefrostingIceQueen:
** At the start of the series Kira is always all business and is suspicious of Starfleet. She calms down after Sisko saves her life and proves that he's willing to defend the Bajorans.
** Largely moves away from this trope altogether as the series progresses. CharacterDevelopment comes into play as we learn that Kira, while always wearing "armor" to some degree, is more then capable of kindness, and genuine human(oid) emotion.
** She mellows out a lot towards Quark after he saves her skin in "Sacrifice of Angels". She goes from casually calling him a goblin and threatening him with physical violence to pulling a lot of strings inside the Federation bureaucracy to get him a high-profile prisoner for a trade. Keep in mind she's a Bajoran citizen and virtually have no power over such matters.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Initially. Demoted to Tritagonist after the arrival of Worf. Nana Visitor, to her credit, knew that her early prominence wouldn't last, and very much took it in stride. She still remains a critical character, although more of her adventures take place off-screen during the Dominion arc.
* EnemyMine: As the station's Number Two, she slowly learned to grin and bear it when negotiating with the likes of Romulans, Cardassians, et al. Her end-series arc saw Kira deployed to Cardassia-Prime to whip them into guerilla fighters like herself.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Punch that console like you mean it, girl!
** The first time we meet her, she's in the middle of a screaming match with the Bajoran provisional government, and when she sees Sisko the first words out of her mouth are a rather tart "I suppose you'll want the office." About the only thing we ''don't'' see in those first thirty seconds is her soft side - it takes us half a season to see ''that''.
** Practically every one of Kira's scenes in "Emissary" counts. From rummaging through Promenade rubble in a tank top (despite being a senior staffer), telling Bashir to stick his Federation smugness where the sun doesn't shine, her wild instructions to O'Brien to make the station move, to playing the equivalent of RussianRoulette with torpedoes.
* FanServicePack: After the season 4 opener, Kira received a tighter uniform with no shoulder pads, plus high heels. She is the only Bajoran militiaman (albeit a Major) to be seen wearing it. Part of it may have also been that Terry Farrell is 8 inches taller than Visitor, but one suspects fanservice was involved also - after all, Jonathan Frakes is 9 inches taller than [=LeVar=] Burton and Burton never wore heels.
* FantasticCasteSystem: According to the old Bajoran caste system, she was supposed to be an artist. The castes were abandoned during the occupation, but her parents were still apparently disappointed and embarrassed that she never showed any artistic talent. When she attempts to be artistic during "Accession" when Akorem Laan is temporarily the Emissary, she ends up sculpting one of the ''worst'' pieces of pottery that's ever existed; it doesn't look like '''anything'''. [[MyNewGiftIsLame She ends up giving it to Sisko]], drolly noting that it's "a Kira Nerys original."
* FantasticRacism: Against Cardassians, because she was on the other end of it from them during their brutal occupation of her planet. Growing past it is part of her character development, beginning with the episode "Duet" and culminating perhaps in "Ties of Blood and Water".
* FemmeFatale: "Necessary Evil" is Noir to the core. The episode has Constable Odo employing a gumshoe monologue to parody the Captain's Log, and flashbacks to a murder he investigated while working for the Cardassian occupiers. Interestingly enough, Major Kira turns out to be the real murderer.
* FieryRedhead: She makes her temper very clear from the moment she's introduced.
* GirlinessUpgrade: In year two, [[FutureSpandex the outfit got tighter]] and [[CombatStilettos heels came out]], eventually leading to the inevitable ''Star Trek'' catsuit. According to Visitor, the original outfit made her walk like Creator/JohnWayne.
* HotBlooded: Kira is very passionate about what she believes in, although she is capable of following orders when the chips are down.
** There have been several cases where her emotions overrided her logic, like trying to open a room that was exposed to space because her friends were in there despite several security guards trying to stop her.
* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: Bajoran/Changeling. Odo's species being shapeshifters, it's implied that he brings certain special skills to the bedroom. He outright transforms into a cloud of sparkling gas at one point to give Kira an idea of what the Great Link is like. It's safe to say this is not the first (or last) time his shapeshifting skills have been used for kinky purposes.
* HughMann: Ironically for a guerrilla fighter trained in infiltration and espionage, Kira sticks out like a sore thumb in alien environments. Watching her attempting to blend into TheRoaringTwenties or [[TheSixties the Summer of Love]] is cringe-worthy.
-->'''Kira:''' ''(wearing a stupid band-aid over her nose)'' I...? uh... I broke my nose.
* IAintGotTimeToBleed: Kira gets knifed in the back and what does she do? ''Merely pulls the d'k tahg out of her back and judo chops the Klingon who stabbed her.'' When Bashir rushes over, she dismisses her injury as {{just a flesh wound}}. ("The Way of the Warrior")
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: As mentioned, she's a former Resistance fighter, and not of [[LaResistance the prettier variety]] either.
-->'''Kira''': ''None of you'' belonged on Bajor. It wasn't your world. For ''fifty years'', you ''raped'' our planet! You lived on our land and you took the food out of our mouths, and I don't care whether you held a phaser in your hand or you ''ironed shirts'' for a living; you were ''all'' guilty and you were '''''all legitimate targets!'''''
-->- "The Darkness and the Light"
* IronLady: She scares the piss out of most of the male characters. Yes, Garak too.
* KickedUpstairs: Sisko requested a Bajoran national to accompany him as a token of goodwill. The Bajoran Provisional Government seized the chance to get Kira out of their hair.
* TheLancer: At first.
* LastNameBasis: For the first few seasons, very rarely is she called by her given name, Nerys. Even into the later series, the only people who regularly call her this are Jadzia Dax, her closest friend, and Odo, her love interest. And even Odo only switches over once they actually get together.
* LoveEpiphany: Or as she calls it, a "moment of pure clarity." Good thing she doesn't waste time, because it took her the better part of a decade to figure it out.
* MajorlyAwesome: For most of the show's run.
* TheMcCoy: A darker version, as she is not afraid to PayEvilUntoEvil, a la her stint with the [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized Resistance]].
* MeaningfulName: "Kira" means "strong woman" in Slavonic.
* MoeCouplet: With Odo.
* NumberTwo: Of Deep Space Nine and, initially, the ''Defiant'' despite not being a member of Starfleet; essentially shares the role with Worf from season 4 onward. Worf plays the eager pupil to Sisko's salty teacher, while Kira shares a somewhat more fraternal bond with him.
* NotSoDifferent:
** With Garak, interestingly, while as liaison to the Cardassian LaResistance. Most of the rebels were rather oafish soldiers and Garak and Kira were notable for having the most experience with [[CloakAndDagger sinister doings.]]
** With the Cardassians who occupied Bajor. By every single definition out there she's just as much of a war criminal as them.
* OddFriendship: With O'Brien. When she moves in with the O'Briens as the surrogate carrier of their child, the B-plot of an episode is dedicated to them realizing their mutual attraction and coming to terms with it.
* ObliviousToLove: Justified, as Odo admits that he'd been doing his best to conceal his feelings for her.
* ParentalSubstitute: Kira Nerys' father Taban was shot by the Cardassians, and died alone in the caves. After the events of "Second Skin," Kira gains a surrogate father-figure in the form of a seditious Cardassian, Ghemor, who opposes the policies of his world. Ghemor later comes down with a terminal illness; after learning of something he did during the Occupation, Kira storms off, only to be convinced to return as "he doesn't deserve to die alone." She returns and stays with him until he dies, and then buries him next to her father.
** The reason he came to Kira as he was dying says a lot about their relationship, and about him. He was following an old Cardasian death tradition: Giving all your hoarded secret knowledge about your enemies to someone you trust to use it in a way that will grant you posthumous revenge. Granted, Ghemor had no heirs, but to pass this knowledge down to a non-Cardassian (let alone a Bajoran) is almost unheard of.
* PatrioticFervor: Kira's loyalty to Bajor is absolute, even if her dismal feelings toward her own government are on display. When it looked like Kira might be called away due to a regime change, Sisko was struck dumb while Kira had to blink back tears. No matter how much she owed and respected this man, she could not turn away from her duty. ("Accession")
-->'''Kira''': ahem... If you don't hit it off with Major Jatarn, I can think of a few other people. It shouldn't be that hard to find someone to replace me.\\
'''Sisko:''' I don't doubt I can find someone to fill your post... but ''replace'' you?
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Less so now that she's gotten tangled up with Starfleet, but this is ''definitely'' part of her past.
* PowerHair: It varies somewhat. For most of the series she has it cut very short and brushed back, but in the pilot and final season, it's chin-length.
* TheQuisling: Unwittingly, after Dukat takes the station back. The first part of the revelation came one morning when a Cardassian soldier brought her a mug of tea. The second was when a Vedek, who Kira asked to not protest the Dominion control, committed a HeroicSuicide by hanging herself in public. Kira then realized just what she had become.
* RankUp: Originally a Major in Bajoran Militia, she is promoted to Colonel after Sisko takes an extended leave of absence. She is later sent to Cardassia to help Damar organize his rebellion in embryo and teach them the finer art of guerrilla warfare. Sisko grants her the rank of commander (complete with proper Starfleet swag) in order to help her gain the trust of those Cardassians who still harbor mistrust of her old uniform. She becomes the new station commander of [=DS9=] in the finale.
* RedOniBlueOni: Red (practically scarlet) to Sisko's Blue.
* ReligiousBruiser: A true believer in the Prophets who toasts each evening with a restful meditation and candlelit prayer. However, it is not all hymns and spreading peace for the Major, who still threatens to snap Quark’s arm at the merest hint of inappropriate advances.
** She's devout enough that a Prophet chose ''her'' as its physical vessel in "Reckoning." The Pah-Wraiths decided to fight dirty by possessing Jake to fight her.
** Doubtless Kira's fierce devotion to Ben Sisko was informed by his status as Emissary, as foretold in Bajoran scripture. If it comes to a coin-flip between Kai Winn and Commander Sisko, Kira will come down on Sisko's side ''every time''.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Her backstory as a leader of the Bajoran Resistance. (Kira admits that if she had had possession of the ''Defiant'' during the Occupation she would have destroyed [=DS9=] and hit the Cardassians so hard that they would be begging for peace. ) Adjusting to peacetime is a major component of her arc.
* SecondLove: Odo is arguably this for her, after [[spoiler:Vedek Bareil]], who [[spoiler:was tragically killed]] early in the series.
* ShellShockedVeteran: The Occupation was not fun for her. Like many Bajorans, she had never tasted peacetime until just recently.
* ShowSomeLeg: She sometimes took on this role during the Occupation: Sneaking into Cardassian settlements and pretending to be a [[WoundedGazelleGambit harmless girl]] or a comfort woman. Even an Occupation-era Odo fell for her act.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Kira somewhat... overestimated the threat she posed to the Cardassian security apparatus, as revealed in her dossier. Dax and O'Brien attempt to keep it out of hands, but no luck. ("Battle Lines")
-->'''Kira:''' A MINOR OPERATIVE whose activities are limited to RUNNING ERRANDS for the terrorist leaders?!
* SupportingLeader: Leads the ground assault on [[spoiler:Cardassia Prime. As irony would have it, her troops are composed of rebelling Cardassians, whom she trains using the same guerrilla tactics that overthrew Bajor's occupation]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Her part was originally written to be ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' RecurringCharacter Ro Laren, but Michelle Forbes didn't want to commit to a TV series. By a couple episodes in, however, Kira had become a character in her own right and developed her own personality and history. {{Showrunner}}s later remarked that Kira - who was emphatically ''not'' a member of Starfleet and didn't trust the Federation one whit - provided much more opportunity for drama and conflict.
* [[TenMinutesInTheCloset Ten Hours In The Closet]]: Used to resolve a months-long disagreement between Odo and Kira (specifically, his falling under the influence of the [[spoiler:[[BigBad Female Changeling]]]]) in "You are Cordially Invited" - so we never ''actually'' hear the discussion, we just find out that they've been up all night talking. Incidentally, Visitor and Auberjonois pitched a fit about this and insisted that any other arguments between the two be resolved ''on''screen.
* {{Tsundere}}: Normally ''tsuntsun'' but liable to go ''deredere'' in certain romantic situations, usually around Bariel or Odo.
* [[UglyGuyHotWife Ugly Guy Hot Girlfriend]]: With Odo.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With O'Brien, during the time when she is the surrogate carrying Miles and Keiko's baby. Both Kira and O'Brien naturally freak out when they realise they're developing romantic feelings for the other, having gotten closer during this time.
* UptightLovesWild: She's the "wild" one, being considerably more fiery than the much more sedate Odo.
* WalkingTechbane: Bones had the transporter phobia. Pulaski the mistrust of androids. Kira's nemesis? ''Holodecks''. Not only does she consider it a frivolous waste of time, Kira seems to have difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality; when Dax dragged her into a Camelot scenario, Kira ended up slugging Lancelot before he could kiss her.
** In "Civil Defense," Kira's unorthodox way of jimmying open the doors Ops is to unholster her gun and shoot the controls. When it comes disabling the life support system, reliable Kira [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer once again pulls out her gun]] and fires happily at the console.
** Justified when Quark attempts to trick her into a holosuite so he can scan her to make a holographic copy for a customer.
** Finally [[CharacterDevelopment gets over it]] towards the end, when Vic Fontaine's 1960s-era Las Vegas holoprogram is overrun by TheMafia, she wholeheartedly volunteers to be one of the most pivotal members of the heist group: seducing a holographic Mafioso named Frankie Eyes to [[DistractedByTheSexy keep him distracted]] from the rest of the group operating inside the casino.
* WhatMeasureIsAHumanoid: Kira's not ''human'', but close enough.
* WhatTheHellHero: More than a few people are uncomfortable about her terrorist past. She is unrepentant due to the IDidWhatIHadToDo nature of fighting the Cardassian Occupation. Nevertheless, it does cause her a not-insignificant amount of {{angst}}.
* WhenSheSmiles: How Odo feels about her.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Almost a decade's worth with Odo before TheyDo.
* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: In "The Darkness And The Light", Kira outright screams her defense of terrorism (at least when it comes to OccupiersOutOfOurCountry) to a Cardassian who's taking revenge on members of her former resistance/terrorist cell, who maimed him in a bombing.
* ZipMeUp: Odo. Interestingly, this is ''after'' they've gotten together - so he kisses her shoulder along the way.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Odo]]
[[quoteright:180:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deepspaceodo_4016.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/ReneAuberjonois

->''"You are the thin, beige line between order and chaos."''
-->--'''Lwaxana Troi''', "The Forsaken"

A [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifter]] (or "Changeling", a clever double-meaning) who serves as the ornery Chief of Station Security. His obsessive qualities make him something of a maverick; however he runs the station so smoothly that everyone, from Dukat's regime to the new management, winds up acceding to his territorial nature. Functions as TheSpock initially, later becoming TheJudge. Originally a bit angsty over not knowing his origins; eventually discovers [[spoiler: that his own people are the leaders of the Dominion and thus the enemy,]] which doesn't help with the angst one bit. While not particularly strong on manners or civil liberties, when it comes to impartiality, Odo's your man.
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* AbusiveParents: Odo views Dr. Mora this way for a long time thanks to the unpleasant methods Mora used in researching him, even after learning that Odo was an organism rather than vaguely organic goop. There's also the name Odo itself: from the Cardassian word for "nothing.[[note]]odo'ital, their term for "unknown sample"[[/note]]"
** Because of his painful infancy memories, Odo becomes very upset when Mora suggests he return to Mora's science facility for medical treatment in "The Alternate".
--> '''Odo:''' I am not going back to the center with you.\\
'''Mora:''' Why? We'll work through this together. We'll solve it together like we used to.\\
'''Odo:''' ''NO!!''
** Mora contends that he had Cardassians breathing down his neck for results and his methods motivated Odo to develop, and the two men eventually reconcile.
** Furthermore, the Founders themselves. Their method of exploration involves sending their ''infants'' out helpless to gauge how they'd be treated. Odo was probably lucky compared to others, as the episode "Chimera" illustrates.
* AchillesHeel: He must revert to his [[ShapeshifterDefaultForm liquid form]] every sixteen hours to regenerate. If prevented from doing so, he experiences pain and physical deterioration. Garak takes advantage of this weakness when he tortures Odo using a device that prevents him from reverting to his liquid form.
* AlwaysOnDuty: Odo has a little trouble loosening up, especially around the senior staff (ostensibly his best friends). This is explored in numerous scenes such as Vic's lounge in "His Way" and Jadzia's bachelorette party in "You Are Cordially Invited"; although Odo only shows up to investigate 'noise complaints', he discreetly gestures to his deputies that he's giving them the night off.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl:
** In "Children of Time", his future self ''rewrote history'' to save Kira. Kira, however, wasn't pleased, and it created a rift between them that took months to heal. Possibly why he defies it later, when he tells the senior staff ''not'' to purge a Prophet from her body, as she is quite willing to risk her life in their battle.
* AnOddPlaceToSleep: In a bucket. Beat ''that'', Worf.
** After [[spoiler: losing and then regaining his shapeshifting powers]], he tried to keep to sleeping in a bed (as he rather enjoyed it), but kept sliding off when he reverted to his gelatinous form.
* AndAnotherThing: A staple of his investigative/interview technique, in the great tradition of Series/{{Columbo}}.
* AppropriatedAppellation: "Constable", Kira's derogatory nickname which he adopted. They were later to become close friends, and eventually lovers.
** During the series, it's revealed that Odo's name is a shortened form of a Cardassian term, ''odo'ital'' ("nothing", a mistranslation of the Bajoran "unknown sample"), that the Cardassian overseers gave him during the Occupation.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: A significant part of why he's such an effective criminal investigator, along with the eidetic memory that comes with being a Founder. He was able to correctly sniff out that the Founder poised to overtake the Klingon Empire had actually replaced ''Martok'' instead of Gowron.
* BadassArmfold: To emphasize his closed nature. He also enjoyed folding his arms right before an impending arrest.
* BadassBoast: "Doctor, if a Klingon ''were'' to kill me, I'd expect nothing less than [[WarriorPoet an entire opera]] on the subject."
* BigBrotherIsWatching: He is always watching or listening in on Quark's outbound calls. ''Always.'' ("The Wire") He also offhandedly admits to monitoring Worf's calls after he arrives on the station, his reasoning being that Worf's detective work might not be up to standard and would require the Constable to step in and "take over."
* BodyHorror: When an illness causes his physical appearance to deteriorate, such as the Section 31 virus and the infection inflicted on him by the Founders to force him back to the Great Link. Also when Garak tortures him using a device that prevents him from regenerating, he looks like a fresh rotting corpse.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Regardless of its 'administrative' role, Starfleet really wanted no part of Constable Odo's gumshoe approach. Sisko, who manages to keep Odo from resigning in protest, admits he can relate to the Constable's forthright nature and pride in his own work. He would later praise Odo as "the best law enforcement in this sector -- maybe the whole damn quadrant!"
* BrutalHonesty: The only thing blunter than Odo's manner of speaking is his ''face.''
* {{Catchphrase}}: "It's been my observation..."
* CombatPragmatist: Odo really is an effective weapon during wartime, being able to slide out of walls and turn into ropes to trip people up.
* CowboyCop: With a dash of TheSheriff. He (usually) follows the rules to the letter, but isn't above letting the small fish go free in pursuit of a bigger offender. Contrast with Worf, who doesn't share Odo's discretion and bungles a few cases.
** Odo is actually rather contemptuous of vulgar 'law' since, in his experience, it's merely a vehicle to maintain the status quo. In "The Wire," he casually admits to intercepting all of Quark's long-distance calls, as well as the sheer illegality of it. But, if it's in "the interest of station security"... He also chafes under Sisko's new Starfleet regulations and bylaws -- which he receives almost daily -- and constantly protests to be left alone.
--->''"At the request of Commander Sisko, I will hereafter be [[CaptainsLog recording a daily log]] of law enforcement affairs. The reason for this exercise is beyond my comprehension, except perhaps that Humans have a compulsion to keep records and lists and files. So many in fact, that they have to invent new ways to store them microscopically. Otherwise their records would overrun all known civilization. My own very adequate memory not being good enough for Starfleet, I am pleased to put my voice to this official record of this day: [[{{Anticlimax}} Everything's under control]]. End log."''
** It's played as a joke, but also an unsettling look into how his species thinks. In the Great Link, Changeling society is permissive and free of boundaries. And yet they are ruthless in enforcing structure on solids.
* CelibateHero: At first. In the first season, he admits that he has never "coupled" and fails to see the appeal of it. Subverted later in the series when Arissa takes his virginity, when the Female Changeling enchants him, and when he and Kira fall in love.
* CharacterTics: The short, businesslike nod he gives to acknowledge orders from his superiors. It's basically series shorthand for 'this is now guaranteed to happen'.
** He also features a condescending grunt (''...Huh'') that almost qualifies as a CatchPhrase. Usually aimed at Quark - in fact, it's the last thing he "says" to him.
* CluelessChickMagnet: Odo might be the sharpest law enforcer on the beat but when it comes to ‘humanoid coupling’ he is completely at sea. When Garak tries to set him up with the foxy owner of The Celestial Café he completely misses his cue and lets her sashay out of sight!
-->'''Odo:''' The next time you call me, it had better be to report a crime.\\
'''Garak:''' Now that you mention it, I've ''just witnessed'' a crime.
* TheComicallySerious: He actually invokes it sometimes.
* ControlFreak: Odo gets pissed off when his furniture is moved by ''centimeters''. He later learns his entire race is like that [[spoiler: which is part of why they formed the Dominion.]]
* DatingCatwoman: A brief sexual relationship with the Female Changeling, under the guise of learning about solids and their personal habits. Really, she had hoped to brainwash him into letting go of Kira.
* DeadpanSnarker: When he's not being TheComicallySerious. Quark is his principal victim, naturally.
* [[{{DefrostingIceQueen}} Defrosting Ice King]]: Starts the series perplexed and often disdainful of humanoid habits, such as courtship rituals which involve "bad poetry and sacrificing plants." As the series progresses, he participates in humanoid activities and comes to appreciate his colleagues.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: As an adopted Bajoran, a holdover from the Cardassian occupiers, a Federation consultant on matters of internal security, and a member of the Dominion's founding race, Odo has inside knowledge of all the majors players in the war. His return to the Great Link is the final gesture toward peace.
* DirtyBusiness: Years after the fact, he still feels guilty for having worked for the Cardassian occupiers. He admired Arissa for escaping from a dishonorable life whereas he did not.
* DoesNotLikeGuns: Prefers to use shapeshifting whenever possible, out of his reluctance to take a life. He outright refuses to use firearms on many occasions. The one time he actually fights in an open battle (the episode "To The Death"), he uses his shapeshifting powers to create CombatTentacles.
* DontYouDarePityMe:
** When Odo falls ill, Kira doesn’t bring Odo flowers or try to keep him company; Kira knows him better than anybody and brings him this week's criminal activity report! ("Broken Link")
** When he catches Section 31's virus, he once again says he doesn't want anyone's pity, not even Kira's.
* EasilyForgiven: See FaceHeelTurn.
* EmotionalMaturityIsPhysicalMaturity:
** He has the appearance and psychological makeup of a middle-aged man. However, he was adrift in space as an infant Changeling for an unknown amount of time, meaning that he is likely chronologically older than he appears.
** Inverted in regards to how other Changelings see him. He's only been active for about 30 years, which is considered young and immature by Changeling standards.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Stomping around the Promenade like he owns the place, getting in Sisko's grill, and barking that he doesn't allow phasers in that area. This ''after'' discovering that Ben Sisko is new CO.
* EvilMentor: The Female Changeling.
* ExpressiveHair: Odo's hairstyle communicates his obsession with tidiness and order. Very rarely does Odo's hair fall past his face; when it does, it signals that he is figuratively and literally 'coming apart'.
** It's also an exact copy of Dr. Mora's hair, showing that despite the anger he feels towards him, Odo still bases part of himself off Dr. Mora.
* FaceHeelTurn: A short one in Season 6, when the [[ManipulativeBastard Female Shapeshifter]] links with him. It comes off rather as MoreThanMindControl, but it's a ''huge'' blow to Kira's resistance group and it nearly gets Rom executed.
* FantasticRacism: He's on the receiving end of this when he is a suspect in a Bajoran's murder. His office is vandalized and an angry mob threatens to kill him.
** His fellow Changelings are baffled that Odo is not overtly racist toward "solids." The Female Changeling tries to pull Odo from his life among humanoids several times, and the Changeling infiltrator invites Odo to leave them. Even Laas is profoundly distrustful of humanoids.
** FantasticSlur: Odo bristles whenever someone calls him a shapeshifter. While the term is accurate, it carries negative connotations among the more hostile "solids" (on Bajor and elsewhere).
* FilmNoir: Repeatedly notes that he's a BIG fan of the PrivateDetective genre--especially the cases of Literature/MikeHammer, but he's also quite fond of the works of Creator/RaymondChandler and Creator/DashiellHammett. "Necessary Evil" (the episode where the character quote comes from) has a big-time Noir "vibe", down to Odo giving a PrivateEyeMonologue; and "A Simple Investigation" is also pretty pulp-ish, though less dark. Unsuprisingly, both are Odo-centric episodes.
* [[spoiler: FinalSolution: Averted. He prevents a Changeling genocide when he agrees to return to the Great Link and cure the other changelings of a devastating disease engineered by Section 31.]]
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: He spends much of his time in humanoid form in order to interact smoothly with solids. And with good reason; in "Chimera," Quark observes that Odo's liquid form triggers primal fears in humanoids, thanks to evolution.
* GutturalGrowler: Harumph!
* HardBoiledDetective: Doesn't play by all of Starfleet's rules, has a distinctly cynical worldview, and more than once follows his cases to a conclusion that nobody likes.
* HatesSmallTalk: Inevitably leading up to making small talk with Worf about how they hate small talk.
* HotSkittyOnWailordAction: In the "Chimera" episode, he embraces Kira while in the form of shimmering light.
* HulkOut: An encounter with an alien gas disrupts Odo's body, turning him into a giant monster reminiscent of Yellow Devil from ''Mega Man''. An emotional trigger is required for the change, and afterward Odo had no memories of his actions. ("The Alternate")
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** A downplayed example; Odo is often an insufferable RulesLawyer and ObstructiveBureaucrat who enforces laws unfailingly, even on children who are loitering. On the other hand, Odo can't stand other influences interfering in his work and greatly resents Starfleet regulations forcing him to do things like make records of his arrest. It becomes unsettling when you discover that while Odo is a mild example (he resents his orders but he still follows them), but the rest of his race take it to an unsettling degree; the Changlings have no laws or barriers for themselves yet dictate strict orders and penalties on everyone under them.
** He looks down on collaborators as much as any Bajoran, but he himself is technically a collaborator, since he worked for the Cardassians for several years.
* [[ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe I Can't Believe A Girl Like You Would Notice Me!]]: This is never actually said aloud after Odo ''finally'' gets Kira. That doesn't stop it from being written all over his face every time he so much as looks at her.
** His surpise at Kira's love might spring from doubts that the Female Changeling instilled in him in "Heart of Stone".
--> '''Female Changeling:''' She's never going to love you. How could she? You are a changeling.
* IDontWantToRuinOurFriendship: After he reveals his feelings and Kira is no longer with Shakaar, Odo tells her that he ''would'' ask her out, but with the Dominion and all he wants to put it off until they have more time.
* IHatePastMe: Creator/KurtwoodSmith plays Odo's Cardassian avatar "Thrax". ("Things Past") Fascinatingly, Thrax gets to interrogate himself while Odo pulls at all of the loose strings in Thrax’s (thus his) prosecution of a case. The younger Odo was happy to work with circumstantial evidence and make snap judgements about peoples' character if it landed him convictions, caring more about order over justice.
* InterspeciesRomance: With Arissa and later Kira. His relationship with Arissa ended when it was discovered that she was [[GoodAdulteryBadAdultery married]], [[spoiler: and the latter ended when Odo returned to the Great Link to cure his people of a morphogenic virus that threatened to wipe them out.]]
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: In "The Alternate," when he unconsciously transforms into a monster several times.
* TheJudge: Later on in the show. It's explained that his impartial attitude allowed him to be the security chief on [=DS9=] even during the occupation.
** In "Take Me Out to the Holosuite," Sisko names him umpire for the baseball game because he will be this no matter what.
* KingIncognito: Way incognito. He's the only one of his kind in the Alpha Quadrant, but is revered as a God on his home turf.
** RightfulKingReturns: Although reluctant to acknowledge his God status, Odo's encounter with Weyoun 6 shook him to the core. He eventually woke up to the realization that only he could rein in the Dominion's soldiers ("build a ''new'' Dominion") and educate the Great Link on the ways of Solids.
* KnightInSourArmor
* LongingLook: Constantly at Kira.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: The Female Changeling has this effect on him for a while.
* MagicPants: {{Justified|Trope}} in that he creates clothing out of his own substance.
* MeaningfulName: His original name, Odo Ital, is derived from ''odo'ital'' ("nothing" in Cardassian, a mistranslation of the Bajoran "unknown sample"). As an infant, Odo was studied in a science facility on Cardassian-occupied Bajor.
* ModeLock / BroughtDownToNormal: In "Broken Link," where the Founders lock him into the form of a regular human (with a FrozenFace) in retaliation for his being the first Changeling to kill another. In the Founders' eyes, this was {{a fate worse than death}}. Another failing of his newfound humanity is that he can now be [[TalkToTheFist punched in the face]] which he suffers in "The Assignment".
--> '''Female Changeling:''' Oh, poor Odo. Perhaps we should have killed you. It would have been far less cruel.
** He regains his shapeshifting ability after the events of "The Begotten".
* MoeCouplet: With Kira.
* MonsterRoommate: In "The Search, Part I," he briefly serves as this to Quark, literally and figuratively. Limited space on board the Defiant means that the two must share quarters, which becomes very uncomfortable for both men when Odo has to [[ShapeshifterDefaultForm liquefy]] in order to rest.
-->'''Odo:''' I have been holding this shape for sixteen hours. I have to revert back to my liquid state, but I don't want you to watch and gawk at me.
-->'''Quark:''' I understand, completely. This is a very private moment and I won't interfere. This won't be so bad, sharing--
-->'''Odo:''' '''AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!''' I HAVE NO ''INTEREST'' IN SPEAKING TO YOU--OR IN LISTENING TO YOUR WITLESS ''PRATTLE''! SO ''STAY OUT OF MY WAY''--OR YOU'LL REGRET THE DAY YOU EVER ''MET'' ME!
* MoralityChain: Kira. In "Chimera," Laas insists that Kira is the only reason Odo hasn't left Deep Space Nine and joined the Dominion.
--> '''Odo:''' I won't have anything to do with the Founders and their war.
--> '''Laas:''' Odo, we linked. I know the truth. You stayed here because of Kira. If it weren't for her, you would be with our people. War or no war, you would be a Founder!
* MosesInTheBulrushes: He was discovered in the Denorios Belt as an infant.
* MundaneUtility: Shapeshifting is a wonderful talent for espionage. It also lets you give ''terrific'' massages.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Being a Changeling, he's stronger than he looks. Odo is shown repeatedly overpowering criminals through the series. In "Crossfire", he even stops a free-falling turbolift.
* MyGreatestFailure: Allowing Dukat to execute three innocent Bajorans as retribution for a bomb attack. There was enough evidence to at the very least arrest, but had Odo dug deeper, he would have been able to find them innocent, instead of the amount needed to satisfy the Cardassian judicial system.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: The Founders protest ''far'' too much.
* NeatFreak: Is very upset after Dax shifts all the things in his room by ''centimeters.''
--> '''Odo:''' "You humanoids are all alike, you have no sense of ''order!'' And Dax is the most humanoid person I know."
** Unfortunately, without realizing it, by being ''this'' much of a neat freak, he's being a stereotypical Changeling.
---> '''Female Changeling:''' It is not justice you ''desire,'' Odo--but order, the same as we do.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: A {{starfish alien}} shapeshifter cop. InSpace
* NotSoDifferent: Odo has an inherent need to maintain order, displaying fascist tendencies when discussing how he'd ''prefer'' to be allowed to run the Promenade. One could infer that these same traits are likely what caused the Founders to create the Dominion in the first place.
** His Mirror Universe counterpart is a brutal slave overseer, hinting at what Odo could have become without a strong moral code to balance out his need for order.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Odo finds that acting this way—or threatening to—is a good way to keep Quark in line. Paradoxically, he also complains that Starfleet regulations are too bureaucratic.
* OddFriendship: Odo can't resist Garak's tantalizing tales about his shady past, and Garak is similar intrigued by the Constable's reticence regarding his origins.
** ASharedSuffering: Also, they're both the "last of their kind" in a sense; Garak is the last remaining Cardassian still living on the station, and Odo's the only shapeshifter (as far as he knows) in this quadrant. Both of them are unable to go home, and guilt-ridden over working against their own peoples' interests.
* OlderAndWiser: His other self in "Children of Time" thinks he is older and wiser than his younger, emotionally-stilted self. [[spoiler:However, his actions lead to the colony being erased from time.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Odo is normally composed and emotionally rigid. Whenever he loses his composure, it's a sign that something is very, very wrong. In "The Alternate," Odo's loss of composure during his heated conversation with Mora Pol foreshadows his [[InvoluntaryShapeShifting transformation into a monstrous creature]]. In "Things Past," his hunched posture and anxiety are related to his shame over allowing the Cardassians to execute three innocent Bajorans years before.
* OrderVsChaos: Odo is outright stated to be the finest security officer in the quadrant (and possibly the franchise), and [=DS9=] has absolutely no qualms about admitting that he is an unapologetic fascist. On a Dominion scale, these urges lead to war and genocide; but they also give you clean promenades.
* ParentalSubstitute: To the Infant Changeling in "The Begotten" and the Jem'Hadar boy in "The Abandoned." With the latter, he tries to teach him IAmNotAGun, but the kid really ''likes'' being a gun and so Odo sends him to the Dominion. He has more success with the Changeling infant, but it dies before the episode is over.
* PatientZero: Of the [[spoiler:Section 31]] virus.
* PlatonicLifePartners: With Mrs. Troi. Although it is non-romantic, she is the only person (aside from Kira) that he admits to loving. He even married her to protect her and her child.
-->'''Ira Behr:''' I was told six months before the series began that Odo was going to be a Creator/ClintEastwood type... And then I was told Rene Auberjonois. And I said, 'Clint Eastwood, Rene Auberjonois. Clint Eastwood, Rene Auberjonois. Does not compute.'
* RaisedByNatives: He's a Changeling who was raised by a Bajoran scientist, surrounded by humanoids all his life.
* RageBreakingPoint: In "Crossfire," when he smashes up his quarters in a fit of romantic jealousy.
* RealMenWearPink: In "The Ascent", we learn that he reads romance novels.
* RomanticFalseLead: Arissa, and later the Female Changeling.
* RulesLawyer: Allow Odo to get his hands on a baseball rulebook, and weep.
-->"No player shall at any time make contact with the umpire in ''any'' manner. The prescribed penalty for the violation is immediate ejection from the game. Rule Number 4.06, Sub-Section A, paragraph four. Look it up, but do it in the stands. You're '''''GONE!'''''"
** ShowingTheirWork: That's the actual rule directly from the Major League Baseball handbook (as of the episode's airing).
** As part of his objectivity, he did it to both teams. Though he clearly enjoyed doing it to Solok.
** He also arrests a cleric for collecting charitable donations on the Promenade without a permit, which gets him in hot water with Kira.
* SaveTheVillain: [[spoiler: He cures the Female Changeling of a deadly disease afflicting the Changeling race.]]
* ShapeshifterBaggage: In the third episode, he transforms himself into a ''rat''. (Sorry, Cardassian vole.) [[note]]Incidentally, this is also his sole ability in the game adaptation.[[/note]] He must be an ''incredibly'' dense rat.
* ShapeshifterDefaultForm: Although he normally appears as a humanoid adult male, his natural state is a gelatinous liquid. To rest, he must regularly return to his gelatinous form.
* ShapeShifterShowdown: With a Changeling infiltrator in "The Adversary."
* ShapeshiftingSquick: He and the Female Changeling have sexual relations in humanoid form during the occupation of Deep Space Nine. She tells him that it's nothing to the intimacy of the Great Link.
* SitcomArchnemesis: Quark. In his own words, "I always investigate Quark".
* TheSnarkKnight: Always manages to have something snarky to say about ''everything''.
* TheSocialExpert: Zig-zagged. Odo is adept at reading subtle facial cues and body language, as demonstrated in "Necessary Evil". Despite his skill at reading people, he still finds much of humanoid behavior baffling and spends the series slowly learning how to integrate with humanoids.
* TheSpock: Most of the time. As the series progresses, we see more of the strong emotions beneath the surface, which occasionally cloud his judgment.
* StiffUpperLip: The Founders are not above hurting or humiliating Odo to make him come home to stand trial, and once he realizes that he can no longer keep shape, he willingly relinquishes his post -- but he ''refuses'' to be aided in the long walk from his office to the ''Defiant''. He walks along the Promenade with pride despite the fact that he could turn into a puddle of goo at any minute. ("Broken Link")
-->'''Quark:''' Then you ''are'' coming back.\\
'''Odo:''' Count on it!\\
'''Quark:''' ''(sincerely)'' [[WorthyOpponent I will.]]
* SugarAndIcePersonality: He may seem cold and unfeeling on the outside, but those who know him admit that's he's just about the sweetest man alive. Mrs. Troi and Kira are very good at bringing this out of him.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: His unconscious transformation into a monstrous form in "The Alternate," triggered by exposure to a psychotropic gas on L-S VI.
* {{Tearjerker}}: A poignant example is when he [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove confesses his love for Kira]] in "Heart of Stone." Another is when Kira comforts him as he deteriorates from the Section 31 virus in season 7. [[spoiler: When he and Kira are forced to part ways in the series finale, despite their love for each other, is perhaps the biggest tearjerker of all.]]
* TechnicallyNakedShapeshifter: He typically forms clothing out of himself while in humanoid form. On a typical episode, the only part of Odo that's not made of himself is his comm badge, which he hides inside himself when he shifts into a form that doesn't include it.[[note]]The odd exception-- cases in which hiding his comm badge inside himself is logically impossible-- are subject to the MST3KMantra alongside his many JustForFun/{{egregious}} violations of ShapeshifterBaggage.[[/note]]
* TechnicalPacifist: Wavers back and forth between this and ActualPacifist. Even after spending decades as [=DS9=]'s Chief of Security and being a prominent figure in a galactic war, Odo never used a weapon or fired a shot. He isn't averse to others doing so, and will tackle a criminal or disable a Changeling if it comes to it. In all the show's seven seasons, Odo only kills one person.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Odo is averse to killing, regardless of the situation. "The Adversary" has Odo kill another changeling out of desperation, and he is clearly distraught about it. In "Tacking into the Wind," Odo is noticeably upset that Kira, Damar and Garak had to kill the bridge crew of the Dominion ship they were on, rather than simply subduing them.
* TokenHeroicOrc / TokenEnemyMinority: Until Season 3, nobody has the slightest inkling that [[spoiler:[=DS9=]'s lowly security chief is a relative of the Dominion's {{Shadow Dictator}}s]].
* [[UglyGuyHotWife Ugly Guy Hot Girlfriend]]: With Kira.
* UnusualEars: While in humanoid form, his ears are smooth and blunted, like [[UncannyValley his facial features]].
* UnwantedFalseFaith: To those Dominion devotees he encounters.
* UptightLovesWild: You really can't get more uptight than Odo.
* VikingFuneral: In his supposedly last log entry as Chief of Security, a freezing Odo expressed his wish that should his remains be discovered on the mountain, that they be cremated and returned to the wormhole where he originated from. ("The Ascent") This is not unlike the standard photon torpedo burial for Starfleet Officers; However, Odo preferred to have the ashes placed in his sleeping bucket.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Quark, eventually. Even early on in Season 2, Sisko notes that when Quark has been hospitalized, Odo looks like he's lost his best friend.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: 99% of the time.
* WhatBeautifulEyes: Arissa thinks that Odo has ‘bedroom eyes’. Fortunately, even a guileless prude like Odo can still get laid in the ''Star Trek'' universe.
* WhatMeasureIsAHumanoid: Odo is not ''human'', but close enough.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Gets this from Kira when he explains that his older self [[spoiler:erased the Gaian colonists from the timeline]] to save her life. She is ''not'' happy to be made the cause of that.
** When he becomes involved with the Female Changeling and neglects his resistance responsibilities during the occupation of Deep Space Nine. Given the Founder's brutal tyranny and the Female Changeling's previous antics, this was [[LoveMakesYouDumb not his smartest move]]. Kira angrily calls him out on it.
* WhenHeSmiles: Odo usually has a dour expression on his face that denotes disdain and toughness, but when he does smile, his happiness is so palpable and innocent.
* [[WillTheyOrWontThey Will They Or Won't They]]: Almost a decade's worth with Kira before TheyDo.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler:Subverted]] in the series finale.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: He hates the collaborators who sold out Bajor to Cardassia, but he also carries a lot of internal guilt for the things he did while working for the Cardassians.
* YouJustToldMe: He seems to grasp the criminal mind to such an extent that he can manipulate them into giving up at least a nugget of information. Not bad for someone who seems otherwise bewildered by humanoids. As for Ferengi (Quark and Rom), he plays them like fiddles.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jake Sisko]]
[[quoteright:180:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jakeds9_3028.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Cirroc Lofton

->'''Quark:''' [[WhyAreYouNotMySon Why can't you take after your friend here?]] ''He'' knows enough to stay out of Starfleet. Even a Hew-man can see there's a lot more profitable opportunities out there for a young man with ambition.\\
'''Nog''': Uncle, he wants to be a ''writer''! There's no profit in that!
-->-- "Facets"

Benjamin Sisko's son. A rather inexplicable member of the main cast, but he was ''always'' in the starting credits, even when guys like Garak and Nog started featuring more than him, and he had a tendency to vanish for several episodes at a time. However, some of the most critically acclaimed writing and acting on the series were the Jake/Ben Sisko scenes. He blessedly avoided becoming another CreatorsPet, for the most part, via actually ''suffering'' sometimes, in his growth as a character; also showed the impressive insanity--sorry, ''[[RefugeInAudacity testicular fortitude]]''--to remain behind and try to be a journalist covering [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Dominion-occupied [=DS9=]]].
----
* AbsenteeActor: In the first six seasons, he would often vanish for multiple episodes at a time; more inexplicably he's missing from the majority of the last season. Hell, Morn appeared in more episodes than Jake!
* ActionSurvivor: When he first starts facing dangerous situations on his own his first impulse is to bolt ("Nor the Battle to the Strong") or freeze ("Shattered Mirror"), as it probably would be for most of us. In time he develops into someone who can take decisive action in small doses - he rescues his father from a Pah-Wraith worshipper at the top of Season 7 - but he always remains a non-confrontational character.
* {{Adorkable}}: Especially when he's trying to pick up women.
* TheArtifact: After [[TheScrappy how badly]] [[CreatorsPet Wesley]] [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Crusher]] was received, Jake was conceived as the anti-Wesley (a perfectly normal child), and it was his friend, recurring character Nog, who would join Starfleet. But it meant that in the later seasons, as he grew up and the Dominion War was underway, Jake had very little to do while Nog, among other recurring characters, got more to do.
* BlackAndNerdy: Writing is pretty nerdy given all the research inherent in the job.
* BreakTheCutie: "Nor the Battle to the Strong." Up until this episode, Jake's always had his father around when things have gotten tough, but he's suddenly thrust into the middle of a violent and bloody war and ends up on his own. Needless to say, he doesn't take it too well.
* ADayInTheLimelight: In the Season 5 episodes "Nor The Battle For The Strong" and "In The Cards".
* DirtyCoward: "Nor the Battle to the Strong" [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] this idea. At first, Jake is contemptuous of a soldier who shoots himself in the foot, but then he realizes just how powerful fear can be when he's caught in battle and abandons Bashir.
* {{Foil}}: To Wesley Crusher from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Both are children of Starfleet officers (Dr. Beverly Crusher and Commander[=/=]Captain Benjamin Sisko) who grow up in space and whose growth are shown throughout the series are shown, both of whom lost a parent as a result of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Wesley's father died on an away mission while serving under Picard, while Jake's mother died during the Battle of Wolf 359 while Picard was assimilated into the Borg). Both differ from one another in many key areas. Wesley dreams of becoming a Starfleet officer, while Jake is content to pursue a career in writing. Wesley traveled throughout space aboard the ''Enterprise'', while Jake mostly stayed on ''Deep Space 9''. In addition, Wesley was oft stated to have hidden potential that made him ''very'' special, while Jake is just an ordinary kid. The last point also played a role in how their characters were received: Wesley was a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] CreatorsPet, while Jake was much more well-liked by the fandom.
* GoingForTheBigScoop: Sensibly, Jake decides that if he were to miss his shot in covering the Dominion occupation of Bajor, he will never hack it as a serious journalist. (It doesn't exactly ease the blow on his grandad, though.) He banks on the fact that the Dominion won't want to upset the Bajorans by hurting the Emissary's son, although he knows it's a pretty risky bet. It pays off: Weyoun is far too conscious of public relations to harm an adolescent boy (and realizes Jake's value as a potential bargaining chip in case of attack...), and he actually develops a sort of fondness for the clingy newsie--like a pet.
* LikesOlderWomen: A large number of his romances end up this way, including one with a Dabo girl four years his senior.
* TheMatchmaker: He sets up his dad with Kasidy.
* MilitaryBrat: By the time of the first episode, young Jake is pretty tired of not having a permanent place to call home and impermanent friends.
* MostWritersAreWriters: The crew was not particularly happy with "The Muse," especially when they realized they had strayed well into this trope.
* OedipusComplex: The show drops hints every so often that he LikesOlderWomen because of his mother's premature death. Thankfully, this never gets explored in any real detail.
* OnlySaneMan: In "Valiant," he is the only one who thinks that Cadet Watters and the rest of Red Squad should not be commanding a warship on a clandestine mission. He is one hundred percent correct.
* ThePollyanna: He's worse than Bashir in that regard. During the Dominion Occupation of [=DS9=], Jake is honestly ''surprised'' when Weyoun refuses to send his articles to the Federation News Service after they paint the Dominion in an unflattering light (i.e. as an expansionist, totalitarian empire). After he ''still'' doesn't get it, Jake asks, what about the freedom of the press? This naturally causes Weyoun to ''[[HaHaHaNo laugh!]]''.
* SatelliteCharacter: Unlike Wesley from TNG, he's no super-genius (far from it), and he's not a god-like being; he's just the son of one.
** In the episode, "The Muse", the [=DS9=] writers really put their foot in it. An ageless alien being arrives on the station to bring news of an intellectual giant living among them, and it's JustAKid? Been there, done that. Ira Behr and co. quickly backpedaled away from the notion that Jake is somehow destined for greatness (which was first predicted in "The Visitor", although Jake had been working his entire adult life to achieve notoriety as a novelist).
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Season Seven Jake is even taller than his pop, and he's getting the same hairline as well.
* SupremeChef: When he's not GoingForTheBigScoop, he's cooking Chicken ''a la'' Sisko just as well as his old man. And ''his'' old man. He definitely inherited the "cooking gene".
* TagalongKid: This became unintentionally hilarious in the later seasons, as Lofton ended up being one of the tallest actors. For example, the episode "Valiant" has a crew full of cadets who barely reach his neck trying to order him around. They have to look up to point a phaser to his chin!
* ThoseTwoGuys: Himself and Nog, who considered him to be a pest initially. The pair were roughly the same age, and grew up together.
-->'''Jake''': You always used to chase me away.\\
'''Odo''': I never chased you away, I chased Nog. You just happened to be with him.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Subverted, as he ''doesn't'' want to follow his father into Starfleet and worries that his father will be disappointed with his desire to be a writer.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Keiko O'Brien (née Ishikawa)]]
->'''Played By''': Rosalind Chao

Federation civilian and wife of Miles O'Brien.

* TheChick: Since her botanical research was never relevant to the plot, her role in episodes is usually just to be Miles' wife.
* ADayInTheLimelight: In the Season 5 episode "The Assignment".
** GrandTheftMe: She experiences this in "The Assignment".
* DemotedToExtra: While she was a fairly prominent secondary character in the first two seasons, as the series progressed, her role was largely diminished. She was even [[PutOnABus Put On A Shuttlecraft]] early in season 3. [[TheBusCameBack The Shuttlecraft Came Back]] the following season.
* HappilyMarried: To Miles.
* HotScientist: A botanist by training. She's unhappy that the station offers little opportunity to pursue her work, until she's able to find a place in a research team on Bajor.
* {{Housewife}}: When she's on the station.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: While she isn't a bad character, unfortunately but inevitably she gets shoved to the side because of her unadventurousness.
* {{Schoolmarm}}: She establishes a small school on the station that's basically a one-room schoolhouse [[InSPACE in SPACE]].
* SilkHidingSteel: Has demonstrated this in many instances throughout the course of the series. A prime example is the Season 1 finale "In The Hands Of The Prophets" when she absolutely refuses to bow to pressures from Winn that she teach Bajoran spiritual beliefs in her classroom instead of the scientific method.
* YamatoNadeshiko: Certainly a Japanese proper lady anyway. Slightly westernized though.
* WideEyedIdealist: Which makes Miles rather uncomfortable in ''Looking for Par'mach in all the Wrong Places.'' She has absolutely no idea that he and Kira are starting to fall for each other (against their wills).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Molly O'Brien]]
->'''Played By:''' Hana Hatae

Miles and Keiko O'Brien's first child. Had the dubious honor of being delivered by Worf. Her baby brother, Kirayoshi O'Brien, is born under similarly weird circumstances.

* DaddysGirl: She has a strong bond with her father.
* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome: She was born in TNG's fifth season, but in TNG's sixth season episode "Rascals," only a couple months before [=DS9=]'s premiere, she was already a toddler who could speak. Less egregious than most examples since Hana Hatae played Molly from "Rascals" through [=DS9=]'s entire run.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vedek/Kai Winn Adami]]
[[quoteright:180:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deepspacewinn_7593.jpg]]

->'''Played By''': Louise Fletcher

->''"The Kai has always been the spiritual leader of Bajor, but Winn has to share that role with you. And to make matters worse, you're an outsider, a non-Bajoran. That's something she can ''never'' forgive you for."''
-->--'''Kira''', "The Reckoning"

A pearl-clutching religious leader. She is introduced as a generic [[TheFundamentalist fundie]], but develops into a far more complex antagonist for the heroes. Ends up in SinisterMinister territory, but has a much less cartoonish motivation than the usual: she's genuinely religious but becomes steadily more and more bitter that her gods keep, as she sees it, favouring foreigners and dilettantes over her, despite her lifelong service to them.
----
* BadassPacifist: During the Occupation. She never picked up a rifle and fought as Kira did, but she played her own part in keeping the Bajoran people's faith in the Prophets alive. By the time the series starts, Winn is more than a little annoyed that the resistance fighters are the only ones honored and remembered for their actions.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Was willing to start a civil war on Bajor... over some farmers not returning soil detox equipment.
* TheDreaded: Her presence becomes something of a minor RunningGag for Sisko. Whenever his day is going badly and things don't look like it can get any worse, Kai Winn will show up.
* EvilMatriarch: She is the high queen of passive-aggression. And bombing schools.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first time you meet her, she accuses Keiko O'Brien of blasphemy and sets about turning the Bajorans on the station against her. And then she ''blows up the school.'' And ''then'' she tries to have Vedek Bareil ''assassinated''.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: She schemes, plots assassinations, undermines Sisko at every turn, [[spoiler:but when she finds out that the Bajoran 'spiritual guide' she slept with is Gul Dukat, she looks like she's going to throw up]].
** For all her other faults, Winn never collaborated with the Cardassians during the occupation of Bajor.
** When Kira presents evidence that the Circle, a "Bajor for Bajorans" extremist group, is actually being supplied by the Cardassians, Winn is the first person to switch sides.
* TheFundamentalist: In her first appearance, she deliberately plays this up, starting a dispute over Keiko's school referring to the Prophets as "wormhole entities" and not directly addressing Bajoran religious beliefs about them (Keiko wasn't denying any of them, the whole complaint was her terminology bing neutral). By the end of the episode, even her supporters were starting to realize how absurd this was, but it was never meant to be more than a pretext for a manufactured controversy to provide cover for her personal assassin.
* HeelFaceTurn: About five seconds before the end.
* HolierThanThou: If she's onscreen with Sisko, expect her to make a dig at him for being foreign. If she's onscreen with Kira, expect "gentle" reminders about just who is the Kai.
* IgnoredEpiphany: In the lead up toward the finale, Winn gets a visit from the Pah-Wraiths, which utterly terrifies her, so much so she actually goes to Kira for advice(!) And then Kira suggests that maybe, if she is serious about wanting to do good, she should try stepping down as Kai. Cue Winn making up excuses about how Bajor ''needs'' her, how she has to be Kai. After all, if the Prophets wanted her gone, they'd have said something, right?
* ItsAllAboutMe: Although she's a believer, she spends most of her time as Kai trying to wrestle influence away from Sisko. [[spoiler:This is probably why the Prophets give her the cold shoulder.]]
* LargeHam: It is very, ''very'' easy to see Louise Fletcher positively ''luxuriating'' in the sheer hamminess of this character.
* NeverMyFault: In her arrogance, she twists those who oppose or even disagree with her as being misguided, unreasonable or even evil, in a way that always frames herself as just and correct in her actions, even when things go horribly wrong as a result of them, and others as the reason for those problems.
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: {{Downplayed}}. She certainly likes to ''think'' that she has good intentions... but some of her most sinister actions, such as orchestrating a school bombing or trying to have her rival assassinated, speak far more to ruthless ambition than anything else. In the final season she privately admits to Dukat that she never had the genuine spirituality that other Bajorans had (for instance, she didn't feel the religious awe the rest of her people did when the wormhole originally opened) and she's been playing at being pious because she didn't know what else to do. In short, Winn ''aspires'' to be a WellIntentionedExtremist, but in reality she can't even manage that and ends up as just a fundamentally insecure {{Narcissist}} trying desperately to convince others- and likely herself- that she is anything else by pretending to be more religiously devout/fanatical than she actually is.
* OmnicidalManiac: Subverted; while she seems to become this towards the very end of the show's run, she actually [[spoiler:just pretends to do so in order to get Dukat help her to release the Pah-Wraiths, so that she can become their emissary. Unfortunately for her, they prefer the idea of teaming up with Dukat, who ''actually does'' want to destroy the universe]].
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** When she shows up on [=DS9=] to ask for Sisko's advice about the non-aggression pact offered by the Dominion. Winn's not her usual sneaky, oily self but is instead genuinely interested in his advice.
** Likewise, when visited by the Pah Wraiths, she's so utterly terrified that when she asks Kira for advice (itself a pretty staggering move from her), she does it ''without'' any of her usual passive-aggressiveness. Right up until Kira suggests retiring, that is. Then it's back to business as usual.
* PetTheDog: Her offscreen actions during the occupation of Bajor. Despite receiving beatings at the hands of Cardassian soldiers, Winn continued to preach about her faith and used her position to save a transport of condemned Bajorans by bribing the officer in charge with gemstones taken from temples.
* PointyHairedBoss: In "Life Support," Winn revealed she had feet of clay all along. She craves high office but lacks spine to make the tough decisions, ''always'' delegating and passing the buck.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Gives Sisko key information immediately before Dukat kills her.]]
* TheResenter: She can't stand the fact that Sisko is TheChosenOne instead of her. [[spoiler: Leads to crossing the MoralEventHorizon.]]
* SinisterMinister: She kicks off her first major role plotting the assassination of a rival who was favored to become Kai. Shortly after that, she involves herself in a coup that intends to expel the Federation.
* SmugSnake: For all her sugary words, Winn loves to rub her status in everyone's faces while they are barely holding their tempers.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Her appearance frequently throws Starfleet for a loop. [[spoiler:And she deliberately disrupts the Reckoning, a battle between the Prophets and Pah-Wraiths that has been prophesied for thousands of years]].
* SugaryMalice: Winn can be ''very'' passive-aggressive and loves to censure people with benign words.
--> '''Winn:''' How long will you be with us, Major?
--> '''Kira:''' I'm not sure.
--> '''Winn:''' Feel free to stay as many days as you like. Even a week if necessary.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Played with. Winn has been up to shady things from day one, but nevertheless genuinely considers herself devout and maintains a [[BitchInSheepsClothing veneer of piety]]. Eventually, though, after being ignored by the Prophets her entire life and forced to watch Sisko become their favorite, she chooses to embrace the Pah-wraiths, and with them, her inner villain.
* TheUnfavourite: In a religious sense. Despite her Kai title and obstination, the prophets will never give her an audience, even if she's using orbs, that were created so Bajorans could have access at any time to their Gods. It's particularly noticeable because everyone else who tries will get one. Hell, even ''Quark'' had it on his first try. To be fair, this doesn't mean that Quark is any more favored. They found him so annoying that they nearly de-evolved him. The only thing that kept them from doing it was the prospect of more Ferengi using the Orbs. Though when she finally meets one, even kneeling before it to show her devotion, it proceeds to ignore her spectacularly. It plays a good part in her [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn against them]]. Of course, her powermongering and HolierThanThou attitude probably has a good deal to do with their rejection of her.
* UnholyMatrimony: More than once, she has become romantically involved with an evil man for the sake of ambition.
** It's implied that she was romantically involved with Jaro Essa, the secret leader of the Circle. When she learns that he was unwittingly buying arms from the Cardassians, she drops him like a hot potato.
** When she turns her back on the Prophets and pledges loyalty to the Pah Wraiths, she becomes romantically involved with Anjohl Tennan. When she discovers that Anjohl is really Dukat in disguise, she is revolted.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kai Opaka]]
->'''Played By''': Camille Saviola

* ADeathInTheLimelight: Her main focus episode is the one where she is put in exile. Till then, pretty much all she does is be saintly in the pilot.
* PutOnABus: She was trapped on a prison planet in Season 1.
* PosthumousCharacter: Gets more development and background AFTER she is written out.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: She unknowingly sets the entire Federation-Dominion conflict in motion when she asks Sisko to find the Celestial Temple, not realizing the Temple is actually a wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant and the Dominion's backyard.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: She isn't dead, but she was quite permanently removed after dying on the planet that allowed resurrection which was ''only'' maintained on the planet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vedek Bareil Antos]]
->'''Played By''': Philip Anglim

A serene but quite savvy cleric who aids the Federation, and a leading candidate for Kai. He and Kira fall in love and have a happy relationship until his death.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: He has to abandon his candidacy for Kai for leaking the location of a resistance cell to the Cardasssians during the occupation. [[spoiler:Or so it's claimed.]]
* EmptyShell: Bashir saves his life after a shuttle accident, but it leaves him as a shadow of his former self.
* KilledOffForReal: Dies while in the final stages of a treaty between Bajor and Cardassia. He survives long enough as an EmptyShell to help Kai Winn finish.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He's supportive of the Federation's efforts and advocates against religious extremism, as well as assisting the Federation politically during the Circle's coup. (WordOfGod said this was why they couldn't allow him to become Kai--he wouldn't generate any good conflict to write about in that position.)
* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler:The source of the above leak was Kai Opaka, who made the SadisticChoice to betray her son's small resistance cell rather than allow a much larger number of Bajorans to be massacred.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His withdrawing from the electoral race for Kai out of a desire to keep [[spoiler:Opaka's]] name from being sullied ends up allowing Winn to cause a lot of misery for the remainder of the show's run, eventually resulting in her [[spoiler:teaming up with Dukat to unleash the Pah-Wraiths, which nearly ends up ''destroying the universe'']].
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: After keeping him alive to complete the peace treaty between Bajor and Cardassia, Kai Winn says it's time to pull the plug.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lt. Commander Michael Eddington]]
->'''Played By''': Kenneth Marshall

->''"People don't enter Starfleet to become commanders, or admirals for that matter, it's the captain's chair that everyone has their eye on. That's what I wanted when I joined up. You don't get to be a captain wearing a gold uniform."''

Initially assigned to Deep Space 9 as Chief of Starfleet Security after first contact with the Dominion. This was done in part due to a lack of trust Starfleet Command had for Odo. Ironically, Eddington would eventually betray his uniform and join the Maquis.

* AntiVillain
* BatmanGambit: The message he gets about the Maquis' message about their [[TakingYouWithMe final missile attack]] on the Dominion, all according to Eddington's orders. [[spoiler:The Maquis cooked it up so that Starfleet will let Eddington out on the pretext of disarming said attack--which doesn't exist. It's so Eddington can rescue what's left of them.]]
* ConsummateProfessional: Prior to his betrayal, Eddington is pleasant but professional in his behavior without the moodiness that other professionals on the show have. He practically screams "model Starfleet Officer." He's even open about his ambitions for his career. [[spoiler: Which really helps him do his work for the Maquis without the Federation suspecting.]]
* DefectorFromDecadence: How he justifies joining the Maquis.
* DidntSeeThatComing: He really didn't see Ben Sisko using his own tactics against him.
* FatherToHisMen: Whatever else he was, Eddington truly, deeply cares about the Maquis and the people under his command. No matter what the situation, he will do whatever he has to do to protect them, and is devastated when the Dominion wipes them out.
* GlorySeeker: He sees himself as a dashing hero of old, valiantly rallying an oppressed people and leading them to defeat villains and regain their freedom - and the method he sells them is always glorious victory in battle. This makes him rather difficult to reason with, as he's fixated on glory and convinced he's the hero for pursuing it - and isn't always wrong, at that. After he dies, Jadzia points out that his death was exactly the kind he wanted - going out in a heroic sacrifice that his people will sing songs about for years to come.
* HeroicSacrifice: He dies in a last stand against the Dominion to let the remnants of the [[spoiler: Maquis]] escape. Dax suggests this was a bit of a SenselessSacrifice: he ''could'' have gotten away in time, but [[InvokedTrope he wanted to look like a hero.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: His use of bioweapons on a Cardassian colony? That's war. Sisko's use of bioweapons on a Maquis colony? An unthinkable war crime.
* ItsPersonal: Eddington accuses Sisko of behaving this way in "For the Uniform." He's not far wrong.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Eddington frames every action Sisko and Starfleet takes against him and the Maquis as if they were petty children picking on the Maquis for making them look bad. While he has a point, at least in part where Sisko's concerned, he mostly uses it to ignore any legitimate reasons Starfleet has for hunting them or any negative impact his actions have, and Sisko eventually pegs him for blaming others so he can keep his self-image as a hero. This gets especially noticeable in "Blaze of Glory," where Sisko is trying to move past their enmity for the greater good while Eddington literally can't move forward without framing Sisko's every action as a personal slant against himself.
* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: His actions in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E13ForTheUniform}} For the Uniform]]" smacks of this. Originally content to steal from the Federation and attack Cardassian supply ships, he moves on to leaving a man on an asteroid to die of asphyxiation and bombing defenseless Cardassian civilians with bio-weapons. Next he ends up attacking Federation ships and even cripples a fleeing civilian escape ship to use as a decoy.
* MauveShirt: He's a minor RecurringCharacter who acted as a ByTheBookCop sometimes. It probably made it more shocking that he joined the Maquis.
* TheMole: He works with the Maquis and eventually abandons the "mole" part by running off with a bunch of replicators.
* NiceGuy: Easily one of the most polite and considerate officers in Starfleet. Even after his FaceHeelTurn, apart from TheReasonYouSuckSpeech (see below), he prefers to remain in FriendlyEnemy territory with Sisko and the [=DS9=] crew. The feeling is ''not'' mutual.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Lampshaded by Sisko. Eddington's renewed offensive against the Cardassians is what helped drive them into the arms of the Dominion.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He delivers one of the most brutal and poignant in the entire franchise when he outright declares that the Federation is worse than the Borg because at least the Borg are honest about their intentions to assimilate someone. In his eyes, the Federation is more insidious because it does the same thing with its "victim" none the wiser.
* SmugSnake: After defecting, his smarminess and conceit really come into play, and he clearly enjoys taunting Sisko.
* UndyingLoyalty: To the Maquis. Sisko explicitly says that Eddington was the most loyal man he ever knew, just not to the Federation.
* YouWatchTooMuchX: Eddington's a big fan of ''Literature/LesMiserables'' and sees himself as Valjean, with Sisko as Javert. Sisko and Dax use this against him when they figure it out by doing what Javert did not: embrace the "villainy".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kasidy Yates]]
[[quoteright:180:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kasds9_5991.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Penny Johnson

->'''Sisko:''' I am a Starfleet officer -- the paragon of virtue.\\
'''Kasidy:''' You're more like a ''parody'' of virtue.
-->--"For the Cause"

A freighter captain who is introduced to Ben by Jake, who thinks his dad needs to start dating again. She and Sisko hit it off quite nicely. Kasidy doesn't always see eye-to-eye with Ben and isn't afraid to tell him so, but they form a very strong relationship and eventually marry.

* AdultFear: She does worry about Sisko's many dangerous missions. [[spoiler:When she gets pregnant, she's afraid that the Prophets' warning is about the baby.]]
* TheCaptain: Of a Bajoran freighter vessel. She takes that job as seriously as Sisko takes his job.
* GameOfNerds: She is one of the small number of baseball enthusiasts in the 24th century.
* HappilyMarried: To Sisko in the last season, although the Prophets give them a little trouble in getting there.
* LethalChef: A ''terrible'' cook. Her one attempt ends with a room full of smoke, and some very burnt peppers.
* RedHerring: Her first few appearances made it seem like she was a Dominion spy. The Klingons certainly thought she was one.
* RecurringCharacter: Due to the nature of her job, she's often away from the station. She becomes a steady member of the cast when she moves in with Sisko in Season 7.
* SecondLove: For Sisko.
* StayInTheKitchen: Sisko pulls strings to get her taken off the active list when she says she intends to continue doing her job despite the war. She is ''very'' unhappy about it and has him undo it.
* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: She believes the Maquis to be the latter and smuggles supplies to them, resulting in some jail time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shakaar Edon]]
->'''Played By''': Duncan Regehr

Leader of the eponymous Shakaar resistance cell during the Cardassian Occupation, and former comrade-in-arms of Major Kira. He became a farmer after the Occupation ended, and was eventually elected as First Minister of Bajor.

* AbsenteeActor: Shakaar is seen in only three episodes, though mentioned many other times. Planned appearances were removed from several scripts due to budgetary reasons or because the script was already too crowded.
** Ironically, this is exactly why his counterpart from the Siege was killed off.
* TheCasanova: Described by Gul Dukat as such to Major Kira. Whether or not this is true is suspect, given Dukat's likely ulterior motives.
* DeterminedHomesteader: His first appearance is a conflict over Kai Winn over some land reclamation devices, which he and his neighbors don't want to give up until they're actually done making the land arable again.
* {{Expy}}: Has some similarities to the star of the Siege trilogy.
* RomanticFalseLead: For Odo and Major Kira. Probably his most defining characteristic.
* UnexpectedSuccessor: From farmer to First Minister in about a month or so.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Joseph Sisko]]
->'''Played By''': Brock Peters

Sisko's father. Joseph Sisko is the owner of a very successful restaurant in New Orleans, which he is loathe to leave for any reason. He loves his son and grandson dearly and worries about them a lot.

* CassandraTruth: He pointed out how easily a Changeling could fool a blood test immediately. This is never taken seriously by anyone, even after everyone finds out the idea of mass blood testing was introduced by a Changeling infiltrator as a cover and is useless.
* CoolOldGuy: He's a lively, entertaining restaurateur who's still running the kitchen himself into his sixties.
* GoodParents: Sisko often quotes Joseph's advice, and Joseph provides both comfort and honest criticism to his son.
* GrumpyOldMan: He has his moments.
* MoralityChain: To Sisko. His actions and criticism during the Changeling Scare on Earth and the martial law it creates, causes Sisko to drop his paranoia, cool off his head and start investigating the whole ordeal instead of enforcing martial law and blood checks.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When he leaves Earth, it is treated as a big deal. His coming to his son when he felt like he lost his way in "Far Beyond the Stars" helped Sisko find himself again. Later he joins his son in [[spoiler:looking for the Orb of the Emissary]].
* SupremeChef: You have to be one if you want customers to go to your restaurant in a century where everyone can effortlessly order everything they want with a replicator.
* WhatTheHellHero: He gives a good one to his son when he's starting to think his own father is a Changeling.
* YouLookFamiliar: Peters had played Admiral Cartwright in two of the ''Trek'' films, set a century earlier.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vice Admiral William Ross]]
->'''Played By''': Barry Jenner

A senior Starfleet military commander and Captain Sisko's direct superior during the Dominion War.
* AscendedExtra: Like Garak, Ross was supposed to simply be a background character with few lines, but Barry Jenner did a damn good job portraying a reasonable Starfleet admiral so the producers brought him back.
* BigGood: For the Federation side during the war. Even Sisko, the previous title holder for the series, looks up to him, both in terms of rank and guidance.
* BrokenPedestal: To Bashir.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: A big part of what made Ross so reasonable and likeable, even after his deal with Section 31. While other Starfleet admirals would give unpleasant orders and then leave to let the heroes deal with the ramifications, Ross actually stuck around and the audience could see the toll of having to be in command weigh on him.
* CulturedWarrior: Fittingly, he quotes [[UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur Douglas MacArthur's]] speech from the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Japanese surrender ceremony]] after the Female Changeling signs the peace treaty ending the Dominion War.
* FourStarBadass: Very good at his job, even if he's less-than-thrilled about getting his hand cut open for Klingon ceremonies.
* FrontlineGeneral: He personally leads the final attack on Cardassia Prime in the series finale, having previously spent most of the war behind the lines.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Nice, reasonable, looks after his men and is willing to frame a Romulan senator for treason if it means helping the Federation win the war.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: His explanation for working with Section 31. He's not proud of it, but if framing Senator Creetak for treason means the Romulans will stay allied with the Federation, so be it.
* PerpetualFrowner: Looks like a man who's just walked down 50 miles of bad road. The one time he broadly smiles is when he officiates Ben and Kasidy's wedding.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: If he is not the most reasonable Starfleet admiral in the entirety of Trek, then he is certainly the second most. He's not without his foibles, though.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: While on the scent of a Section 31 plot to install its man in the Romulan Council, Bashir is horrified to learn that Ross is the one pulling the strings. When confronted about this, Ross merely quotes, "[[AltumVidetur Inter arma enim silent leges]]." (In time of war, the law falls silent.)
** Ross also says that while he dislikes the idea of genocide, [[TheChainsOfCommanding he dislikes the idea of sending thousands of his officers and crews to their deaths even more]]. It's clear that Ross sympathizes merely with Section 31's ends, not their means.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Luther Sloan]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/WilliamSadler

->''"The Federation needs men like you, doctor. Men of conscience. Men of principle. Men who can sleep at night... You're also the reason Section Thirty-One exists -- someone has to protect men like you from a universe that doesn't share your sense of right and wrong."''

An operative of [[NoSuchAgency Section 31]], a clandestine black ops organization within the Federation and independent of Starfleet. Sloan and the others of his agency have dedicated their lives to eliminating threats to the Federation's survival by any means necessary, even if it means violating the very freedoms and principles that Federation citizens are supposed to hold dear.

* AffablyEvil: He's very polite to Bashir in all their dealings, [[spoiler:even when trying to kill him.]] He's genuinely sorry that Odo is going to die from the disease that Section 31 infected him with and apologizes for being unable to provide the cure.
* BatmanGambit: This is how he manipulates Julian in "Inter Arma Silent Legis." When Julian tries to protect the "[[ExactWords patriotic]]" Senator, Sloan engineers a situation [[spoiler:that will get Julian to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero bring about her arrest]]. Sloan notes that a patriot would put Romulan interests above Federation interests, but Julian equates "patriotic" with "good." ]]
* ClaspYourHandsIfYouDeceive: Quite fond of the trope.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He claims to have had a wife and son that he didn't get to see very much due to his work with Section 31. Of course, because Sloan's such a devious liar, the veracity of this information is dubious.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Quite fond of using {{Batman Gambit}}s to accomplish his goals. It becomes his undoing when Bashir uses one to lure him to the station to be captured and interrogated about the cure for the Founders' disease.
* ManipulativeBastard: He will get Julian to be a Section 31 agent not only whether he likes it or not, but whether he ''knows'' it or not.
* MasterActor: Puts on a convincing show as a paranoid Federation agent recklessly out for revenge.
* MultipleChoicePast: The validity of just about every biographical detail we are given about him is questionable.
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: To Bashir, frequently.
* [[spoiler:TakingYouWithMe: He tries to do this to Miles and Julian by keeping their consciousnesses inside his brain as he dies. Miles drags them out before they can find out if this actually would have worked]].
* TrespassingToTalk: His favorite way of making his presence known to Bashir is to appear in a chair near Bashir's bed while he's asleep. [[BatmanGambit Bashir later uses this predictability against him.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: Inside his own head. When Bashir and O'Brien take a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, they realize that they can't trust anything they encounter because Sloan is trying to distract and hinder their efforts.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: His character quote just about sums it up.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:It's unclear if he ordered the genocidal Changeling disease, but he's certainly unwilling to let anyone find a cure]].
[[/folder]]

----

* {{Foil}}: To Wesley Crusher from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Both are children of Starfleet officers (Dr. Beverly Crusher and Commander[=/=]Captain Benjamin Sisko) whose grow up in space and whose growth are shown throughout the series, and who lost a parent as a result of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Wesley's father died on an away mission while serving under Picard, while Jake's mother died during the Battle of Wolf 359 while Picard was assimilated into the Borg). Both differ from one another in many key areas. Wesley dreams of becoming a Starfleet officer, while Jake is content to pursue a career in writing. Wesley traveled throughout space aboard the ''Enterprise'', while Jake mostly stayed on ''Deep Space 9''. In addition, Wesley was oft stated to have hidden potential that made him ''very'' special, while Jake is just an ordinary kid. The last point also played a role in how their characters were received: Wesley was a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] CreatorsPet, while Jake was much more well-liked by the fandom.

* TheQuisling: Unwittingly, after Dukat takes the station back. The first part of the revelation came one morning when a Cardassian solider brought her a mug of tea. The second was when a Vedek, who Kira asked to not protest the Dominion control, committed a HeroicSuicide by hanging herself in public. Kira then realized just what she had become.

* TechnicallyNakedShapeshifter: He typically forms clothing out of himself while in humanoid form. On a typical episode, the only part of Odo that's not made of himself is his comm badge, which he hides inside himself when he shifts into a form that doesn't include it.[[note]]The odd exception-- cases in which hiding his comm badge inside himself is logically impossible-- are subject to the MST3KMantra alongside his many {{egregious}} violations of ShapeshifterBaggage.[[/note]]

* AppropriatedAppellation: "Constable", Kira's derogatory nickname which he adopted. They were later to become close friends.

* BatmanGambit: This is how he manipulates Julian in "Inter Arma Silent Legis." When Julain tries to protect the "[[ExactWords patriotic]]" Senator, Sloan engineers a situation [[spoiler:that will get Julian to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero bring about her arrest]]. Sloan notes that a patriot would put Romulan interests above Federation interests, but Julian equates "patriotic" with "good." ]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: His actions in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E13ForTheUniform}} For the Uniform]]" smacks of this. Originally content to steal from the Federation and attack Cardassian supply ships. He moves on to leaving a man on an asteroid to die of asphyxiation and bombing defenseless Cardassian civilians with bio-weapons. Next he ends up attacking Federation ships and even cripples a fleeing civilian escape ship to use as a decoy.

* FatherToHisMen: Whatever else he was, Eddington truly, deeply cares about the Maquis and the people under his command. No matter what the situation, he will do whatever he has to do protect them, and is devastated when the Dominion wipes them out.

* FatherToHisMen: Whatever else he was, Eddington truly, deeply cares about the Maquis and the people under his command. No matter what the situation, he will do whatever he has to do protect them, and is devastated when the dominion wipes them out.
* GlorySeeker: sees himself as a dashing hero of old, valiantly rallying an oppressed people and leading them to defeat villains and regain their freedom - and the method he sells them is always glorious victory in battle. This makes him rather difficult to reason with, as he's fixated on glory and convinced he's the hero for pursuing it - and isn't always wrong, at that. After he dies, Jadzia points out that his death was exactly the kind he wanted - going out in a heroic sacrifice that his people will sing songs about for years to come.

* ThePollyanna: He's worse than Bashir in that regard. During the Dominion Occupation of [=DS9=], Jake is honestly ''surprised'' when Weyoun refuses to send his articles to the Federation News Service after they paint the Dominion in an unflattering light (ie. as an expansionist, totalitarian empire). After he ''still'' doesn't get it, Jake asks, what about the freedom of the press? This naturally causes Weyoun to ''[[HaHaHaNo laugh!]]''

* TheFundamentalist: In her first appearnace she deliberately plays this up, starting a dispute over Keiko's school referring to the Prophets as "wormhole entities" and not directly addressing Bajoran religious beliefs about them (Keiko wasn't denying any of them, the whole complaint was her terminology bing neutral). By the end of the episode even her supporters were starting to realize how absurd this was, but it was never meant to be more than a pretext for a manufactured controversy to provide cover for her personal assassin.

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: {{Downplayed}}. She certainly likes to ''think'' that she has good intentions... but some of her most sinister actions, such as orchestrating a school bombing or trying to have her rival assassinated, speak far more to ruthless ambition than anything else. In the final season she privately admits to Dukat that she never had the genuine spirituality that other Bajorans had (for instance, she didn't feel the religious awe the rest of her people did when the wormhole originally opened) and she's been playing at being pious because she didn't know what else to do. In short, Winn ''aspires'' to be a WellIntentionedExtremist, but in reality she can't even manage that and ends up as just a fundamentally insecure {{Narcissist}} trying desperately to convince others- and likely herself- that she is anything else by pretending to be more religiously devout / fanatical than she actually is.

* PointyHairedBoss: In "Life Support", Winn revealed she had feet of clay all along. She craves high office but lacks spine to make the tough decisions, ''always'' delegating and passing the buck.

* BreakTheCutie: "Nor The Battle For The Strong." Up until this episode, Jake's always had his father around when things have gotten tough, but he's suddenly thrust into the middle of a violent and bloody war and ends up on his own. Needless to say, he doesn't take it too well.

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: His unconscious transformation into a monstrous form in "The Alternate", triggered by exposure to a psychotropic gas on L-S VI.

* StiffUpperLip: The Founders are not above hurting or humiliating Odo to make him come home to stand trial, and once he realizes that he can no longer keep shape, he willingly relinquishes his post-- But he ''refuses'' to be aided in the long walk from his office to the ''Defiant''. He walks along the Promenade with pride despite the fact that he could turn into a puddle of goo at any minute. ("Broken Link")

** Odo is actually rather contemptuous of vulgar 'law' since, in his experience, it's merely a vehicle to maintain the status quo. In "The Wire", he casually admits to intercepting all of Quark's long-distance calls, as well as the sheer illegality of it. But, if it's in "the interest of station security"... He also chaffes under Sisko's new Starfleet regulations and bylaws -- which he receives almost daily -- and constantly protests to be left alone.

** In "Civil Defense", Kira's unorthodox way of jimmying open the doors Ops is to unholster her gun and shoot the controls. When it comes disabling the life support system, reliable Kira [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer once again pulls out her gun]] and fires happily at the console.

** After [[spoiler: losing and then regaining his shapeshifting powers]], he tried to keep to sleeping in a bed (as he rather enjoyed it) but kept sliding off when he reverted to his gelatinous form.

** When Odo falls ill, Kira doesn’t bring Odo flowers or try to keep him company; nope Kira knows him better than anybody and brings him this weeks criminal activity report! ("Broken Link")

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: He spends much of his time in humanoid form in order to interact smoothly with solids. And with good reason; in "Chimera", Quark observes that Odo's liquid form triggers primal fears in humanoids, thanks to evolution.

* HulkOut: An encounter with an alien gas disrupts Odo's body, turning him into a giant monster reminiscent of Yellow Devil from ''Megaman''. An emotional trigger is required for the change, and afterward Odo had no memories of his actions. ("The Alternate")

* ModeLock / BroughtDownToNormal: In "Broken Link", where the Founders lock him into the form of a regular human (with a FrozenFace) in retaliation for his being the first Changeling to kill another. In the Founders' eyes, this was {{a fate worse than death}}. Another failing of his newfound humanity is that he can now be [[TalkToTheFist punched in the face]] which he suffers in "The Assignment".

* MonsterRoommate: In "The Search, Part I", he briefly serves as this to Quark, literally and figuratively. Limited space on board the Defiant means that the two must share quarters, which becomes very uncomfortable for both men when Odo has to [[ShapeshifterDefaultForm liquefy]] in order to rest.

* MoralityChain: Kira. In "Chimera", Laas insists that Kira is the only reason Odo hasn't left Deep Space Nine and joined the Dominion.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Odo is normally composed and emotionally rigid. Whenever he loses his composure, it's a sign that something is very, very wrong. In "The Alternate", Odo's loss of composure during his heated conversation with Mora Pol foreshadows his [[InvoluntaryShapeShifting transformation into a monstrous creature]]. In "Things Past", his hunched posture and anxiety are related to his shame over allowing the Cardassians to execute three innocent Bajorans years before.

* VitriolicBestBuds: With Quark, eventually. Even early on in season 2, Sisko notes that when Quark has been hospitalised, Odo looks like he's lost his best friend.

* WhatMeasureIsAHumanoid: Kira is not ''human'', but close enough.

* ActionSurvivor: When he first starts facing dangerous situations on his own his first impulse is to bolt ("Nor the Battle to the Strong") or freeze ("Shattered Mirror"), as it probably would be for most of us. In time he develops into someone who can take decisive action in small doses - he rescues his father from a Pah-Wraith worshipper at the top of season 7 - but he always remains a non-confrontational character.

* MostWritersAreWriters: The crew was not particularly happy with "The Muse", especially when they realized they had strayed well into this trope.

* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome: She was born in TNG's fifth season, but in TNG's sixth season episode "Rascals", only a couple months before [=DS9=]'s premiere, she was already a toddler who could speak. Less egregious than most examples since Hana Hatae played Molly from "Rascals" through [=DS9=]'s entire run.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: His actions in [[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E13ForTheUniform}} For the Uniform]] smacks of this. Originally content to steal from the Federation and attack Cardassian supply ships. He moves on to leaving a man on an asteroid to die of asphyxiation and bombing defenseless Cardassian civilians with bio-weapons. Next he ends up attacking Federation ships and even cripples a fleeing civilian escape ship to use as a decoy.

* MoralityChain: To Sisko. His actions and criticism during the Changeling Scare on earth and the martial law it creates, causes Sisko to drop his paranoia, cool off his head and start investigating the whole ordeal instead of enforcing martial law and blood checks.

* PerpetualFrowner: Looks like a man who's just walked down 50 miles of bad road. The one time he broadly smiles is when he officiates Ben and Kassidy's wedding.

** Doubtless Kira's fierce devotion to Ben Sisko was informed by his status as Emissary, as foretold in Bajoran scripture. If it comes to a coin-flip between Kai Winn and Cdr. Sisko, Kira will come down on Sisko's side ''every time''.

** She's devout enough that a Prophet choose ''her'' as its physical vessel in "Reckoning." The Pah-Wraiths decided to fight dirty by possessing Jake to fight her.

* ReligiousBruiser: A true believer in the Prophets who toasts each evening with a restful meditation and candlelit prayer. However, it is not all hymns and spreading peace for the Major who still threatens to snap Quark’s arm at the merest hint of inappropriate advances.

** At the start of the series, she just finished being an insurgent against the Cardassian Occupation. At the end [[spoiler:she is once again an insurgent ''helping'' the Cardassians fight the Dominion on their own soil]]. The situation is noted several times.

** Practically every one of Kira's scenes in "Emmissary" counts. From rummaging through Promenade rubble in a tank top (despite being a senior staffer), telling Bashir to stick his Federation smugness where the sun doesn't shine, her wild instructions to O'Brien to make the station move, to playing the equivalent of RussianRoulette with torpedoes.
* FanServicePack: After the season 4 opener, Kira received a tighter uniform with no shoulder pads, plus high heels. She is the only Bajoran militiaman (albeit a Major) to be seen wearing it. Part of it may have also been that Terry Farrell is 8 inches taller than Visitor, but one suspects fanservice was involved also - after all, Jonathan Frakes is 9 inches taller than [=Levar=] Burton and Burton never wore heels.
* FantasticCasteSystem: According to the old Bajoran caste system, she was supposed to be an artist. The castes were abandoned during the occupation, but her parents were still apparently disappointed and embarrassed that she never showed any artistic talent. When she attempts to be artistic during ''Accession'' when Akorem Laan is temporarily the Emissary, she ends up sculpting one of the ''worst'' pieces of pottery that's ever existed; it doesn't look like '''anything'''. [[MyNewGiftIsLame She ends up giving it to Sisko]], drolly noting that it's "a Kira Nerys original."

-->'''Kira:''' ''(wearing a stupid band-aid over her nose)'' I...? uh...I broke my nose.

* ParentalSubstitute: Kira Nerys' father Taban was shot by the Cardassians, and died alone in the caves. After the events of "Second Skin", Kira gains a surrogate father-figure in the form of a seditious Cardassian, Ghemor, who opposes the policies of his world. Ghemor later comes down with a terminal illness; after learning of something he did during the Occupation, Kira storms off, only to be convinced to return as "he doesn't deserve to die alone." She returns and stays with him until he dies, and then buries him next to her father.

* TheQuisling: Unwittingly, after Dukat takes the station back. The first part of the revelation came one morning when a Cardassian solider brought her a mug of tea. The second was when a Vedek, who Kira asked to not protest the Domion control, committed a HeroicSuicide by hanging herself in public. Kira then realized just what she had become.

** She's devout enough that a Prophet choose ''her'' as its physical vessel in "Reckoning." The Pai-Wraiths decided to fight dirty by possessing Jake to fight her.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Kira somewhat...overestimated the threat she posed to the Cardassian security apparatus, as revealed in her dossier. Dax and O'Brien attempt to keep it out of hands, but no luck. ("Battle Lines")