History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E21RightfulHeir

Now in on the secret, Worf ponders what he should do: stand with the priests of Boreth in service to a well-intentioned lie, or expose them as frauds. He visits the makeshift shrine that Clone Kahless established in the ship's holodeck and realizes that not even seeing their Messiah defeated was enough to shake the faith of his followers. The Klingons' need to believe in something greater is just that strong... and perhaps just that dangerous. Gowron may be right, but so is Koroth.

* CloningBlues: Kahless is horrified to find out that he's only a clone of the man he thought he was. All of his memories are fake.

-->"What was his name? If you were really there, you should be able to tell us the name of the man outside the walls. Describe him to us. What was he wearing? How tall was he? What color WERE HIS EYES?!"

* CallBack: The episode is a continuation of "Birthright," in which Worf delved into Klingon culture.

* WeCanRuleTogether: Clone Kahless wants Worf by his side as he forges a new Klingon Empire.

* RealityEnsues: The core lesson of the parable of the Man Outside The Walls that Kahless tells. Natural disasters are forces beyond our control, and don't care about a person's courage. If you don't show some common sense and get to shelter, the storm will kill you just as dead as anyone else.

Kahless makes himself known to everyone at the temple, and tells a story about the origin of the ''batl'eth'' that the priesthood deliberately kept secret from the populace [[TrustPassword to use as a means of verifying Kahless' identity]]. He claims that he has returned to the Klingon Empire in its hour of greatest need, to heal the fractures in the Empire caused by politics and infighting and lead it back to honor and glory. Worf tries to maintain a healthy skepticism despite his need to believe, going so far as to bust out his tricorder and scan Kahless's life signs (he's Klingon; that much he can confirm). Kahless, to his credit, takes this in stride, but when Worf persists in his skepticism Kahless finally engages him in combat. The fight ends in a draw, mainly because Kahless breaks it off before it's over to praise Worf for finally embracing his Klingon roots; Worf persisted in his convictions and showed courage in battle, rather than mere bloodlust, and ''that's'' what a Klingon should be. This is enough to convince everyone else at Boreth, but Worf is still unsure.

For his part, Worf is caught in the middle. He desperately wants to believe that this is really Kahless, but he knows logically that it doesn't make sense. Furthermore, the more time he spends around Kahless, the more oddities Worf begins to notice about him: Kahless seems to have a lot of gaps in his memories. He knows the stories that have been written down in scripture, but he can't remember the fine details that someone who was actually there would remember. He can't tell the difference between a synthesized Klingon drink and a real one, even though it should be obvious to anyone who's drank it. And when Gowron finally confronts him, and they engage in combat...''he loses.'' Gowron hands the Klingon Messiah his ass in front of all his followers, and then just smugly strolls away.

Kahless himself is shocked by the outcome, while the priests try to run damage control. And Worf has finally had enough: he ''demands'' to know what's going on here, or else he's gonna just kill them all. Finally, Koroth relents and tells the truth:

The Kahless sitting in the room with them right now is a clone, grown from some blood the order has carefully preserved. His memories are artificial, implanted from scripture, including a few passages kept secret from the general public by the priesthood (like the ''batl'eth'' origin story), just to make him more authentic. Clone Kahless himself is confused and disturbed: he believed he really ''was'' Kahless, and he genuinely wanted to help his people regain their former glory. Indeed, the priests of Boreth had the best of intentions: they saw the corruption in the Empire, and they thought if they gave the people a figure to unite behind, things would get better.

Now in on the secret, Worf ponders what he should do: stand with the priests of Boreth in service to a well-intentioned lie, or expose them as frauds. He visits the makeshift shrine that Clone Kahless established in the ship's holodeck, and realizes that not even seeing their Messiah defeated was enough to shake the faith of his followers. The Klingons' need to believe in something greater is just that strong...and perhaps just that dangerous. Gowron may be right, but so is Koroth.

Worf gets all the interested parties together and offers a solution: install Clone Kahless as Emperor. The Klingon Empire being something of a representative oligarchy, the Emperor would have no political power whatsoever (in fact, the seat's been vacant for three centuries) but he could serve as a spiritual guide. After all, Koroth has a point: the Empire is in trouble. Worf knows better than anyone how corrupt things have become, and he knows that they could all use a reminder of what they were supposed to be. And even though he's not the real Kahless, this clone, who is basically the walking incarnation of Klingon scripture, could be his [[TitleDrop Rightful Heir]].

* CallBack: When our heroes are trying to figure out what exactly Clone Kahless is, one possibility is [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E12Aquiel a coalescent life-form]].
* CloneDegeneration: It's not spelled out, but this seems to be the reason that Clone Kahless absolutely ''sucks'' at single combat, despite the reputation of the original as the greatest warrior of them all. Either that, or the scriptures were exaggerating a few things... which is also not impossible.
** RealityEnsues: It's also likely that while he knows the technical side of fighting, as a newly awakened clone he lacks the built up fitness or trained reflexes that someone who has fought most of his life would have, with martial arts training involving repetition of the same moves over and over until one can do them without thinking. Not to mention an extra millennium of martial knowledge Gowron has access to.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Gowron ''beats'' Kahless, the purported greatest warrior of all time, in a Klingon Knife Fight. ''Gowron''. Which is clearly a sign that something's not right.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Koroth's concerns about the corruption eating away at the heart of the Klingon Empire prove to be prophetic, as later seasons of Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine will attest.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** [[ConsummateProfessional Worf]] not showing up for a duty shift is enough to alarm Riker.
** NonActionGuy Gowron actually being able to defeat Kahless in single combat is the clearest sign of them all that something isn't right about this alleged Klingon Messiah.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The episode ends implying that Clone Kahless will have a fair amount of indirect influence on the direction of the Klingon Empire, but he's barely ever mentioned after this episode.
** Clone Kahless ''does'' get his own eponymous novel later on, where we find that he's actually a clone of Kahless' best friend. Notable, also, that said best friend did most of what the historical Kahless is accredited doing.
** ''Star Trek: Online'' has Kahless the Emperor being instrumental in defeating the LegionsOfHell who show up as GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere but gets himself killed trying to slay an Iconian. Worf's opinion of the man is a DamningWithFaintPraise and basically sends the Player Character to save him repeatedly.

The Kahless sitting in the room with them right now is a clone, grown from some blood the order has carefully preserved. His memories are artificial, implanted from scripture, including a few passages kept secret from the general public by the priesthood (like the ''batl'eth'' origin story), just to make him more authentic. Clone!Kahless himself is confused and disturbed: he believed he really ''was'' Kahless, and he genuinely wanted to help his people regain their former glory. Indeed, the priests of Boreth had the best of intentions: they saw the corruption in the Empire, and they thought if they gave the people a figure to unite behind, things would get better.

Now in on the secret, Worf ponders what he should do: stand with the priests of Boreth in service to a well-intentioned lie, or expose them as frauds. He visits the makeshift shrine that Clone!Kahless established in the ship's holodeck, and realizes that not even seeing their Messiah defeated was enough to shake the faith of his followers. The Klingons' need to believe in something greater is just that strong...and perhaps just that dangerous. Gowron may be right, but so is Koroth.

Worf gets all the interested parties together and offers a solution: install Clone!Kahless as Emperor. The Klingon Empire being something of a representative oligarchy, the Emperor would have no political power whatsoever (in fact, the seat's been vacant for three centuries) but he could serve as a spiritual guide. After all, Koroth has a point: the Empire is in trouble. Worf knows better than anyone how corrupt things have become, and he knows that they could all use a reminder of what they were supposed to be. And even though he's not the real Kahless, this clone, who is basically the walking incarnation of Klingon scripture, could be his [[TitleDrop Rightful Heir]].

* CallBack: When our heroes are trying to figure out what exactly Clone!Kahless is, one possibility is [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E12Aquiel a coalescent life-form]].
* CloneDegeneration: It's not spelled out, but this seems to be the reason that Clone!Kahless absolutely ''sucks'' at single combat, despite the reputation of the original as the greatest warrior of them all. Either that, or the scriptures were exaggerating a few things...which is also not impossible.

* TomatoInTheMirror: Clone!Kahless has this reaction to learning the truth: he genuinely believed he was Kahless and genuinely wanted to continue Kahless's work. Learning he's just a clone is traumatizing, especially since he's something of a FishOutOfTemporalWater (the original Kahless lived during the Klingon equivalent of the Middle Ages) and he doesn't even know what a clone ''is''. Worf's bitter explanation, "They grew you in a glass tube, like a fungus," doesn't help much.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Clone!Kahless wants Worf by his side as he forges a new Klingon Empire.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The episode ends implying that Clone!Kahless will have a fair amount of indirect influence on the direction of the Klingon Empire, but he's barely ever mentioned after this episode.
** Clone!Kahless ''does'' get his own eponymous novel later on, where we find that he's actually a clone of Kahless' best friend. Notable, also, that said best friend did most of what the historical Kahless is accredited doing.

* YouCannotKillAnIdea: The main reason Gowron agrees to the compromise to install Clone!Kahless as Emperor. He originally thought that being able to defeat Kahless in single combat for all his loyal followers to see would be enough to destroy their faith. When that turned out to not be the case, he figures that at least this way he and Kahless can appear to be on the same side and they can mitigate any unrest between their factions.
--> '''Gowron:''' Kahless has been dead for a thousand years...but the idea of Kahless is still alive. Have you ever fought an idea, Picard? It has no weapon to destroy, no body to kill. The idea of Kahless' return must be stopped here. Now. Or it will travel through the Empire like a wave...and leave nothing but destruction behind.

** Clone!Kahless ''does'' get his own eponymous novel later on, where we find that he's actually a clone of Kahless' best friend. Notable, also, that said best friend did most of what the historical Kahless is acredited doing.

** NonActionGuy Gowron actually being able to defeat the Klingon Messiah in single combat is the clearest sign of them all that something isn't right about Kahless.

* TheFundamentalist: Koroth's sect has shades of this: they took Kahless's last words quite literally and are waiting for him in orbit around the star he pointed to. On the other hand, when his plan is exposed Koroth tries to invoke some fairly impressive LoopholeAbuse: the scriptures all said Kahless would return; they didn't specify ''how''. Koroth makes the argument to Worf that creating a Kahless clone does qualify as a kinda-sorta Second Coming, and it's a valid interpretation of the scriptures to say that this was how it was supposed to happen. Worf really doesn't buy it.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[ConsummateProfessional Worf]] not showing up for a duty shift is enough to alarm Riker.

* TheFundamentalist: Koroth's sect has shades of this: they took Kahless's last words quite literally and are waiting for him in orbit around the star he pointed to. On the other hand, when his plan is exposed Koroth tries to invoke some fairly impressive LoopholeAbuse: the scriptures all said Kahless would return; they didn't specify ''how''. Nobody specifically called, "no cloning."

* ScullyBox: Clone!Kahless is played by 5'6" actor Creator/KevinConway, who's wearing very noticeable and quite large platform boots (in the Ace Frehley fashion) to boost his height to 5'11".