History StarTrekDeepSpaceNine / TropesEToL

* FictionalGenevaConventions: The events of the series had effects on two previous agreements:

** Leads to a CrowningMomentOfFunny at the end of "Who Mourns for Morn?" Quark believes that he has finally avoided all the other people trying to claim a tremendous stash of stolen latinum. Only to break one open and realize "There's no latinum in these bricks! There's nothing here but [[WorthlessYellowRocks worthless gold]]!" Cue BigNo as he frantically flails around in a pile of gold dust.

* GRatedSex / BetterThanSex: Changeling linking. During the occupation of Deep Space Nine in "Behind the Lines" and "Favor the Bold," Odo and the Female Changeling spend ''days'' behind closed doors linking. The Female Changeling insists that sex pales in comparison to it -- and since she's done both with Odo, she means this literally.

* FatalFamilyPhoto: Lt. Hector Ilario shows a photo of him with his friends from the academy to Ezri Dax, before bidding her goodnight, near the start of the episode Field of Fire, when she wakes up the next day it's been discovered that the Ilario has been shot dead. It turns out by the end of the episode that the link between the victims is their smiling photos with family and friends.

** In their first couple of appearances, the Prophets are depicted as SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who barely even comprehend the concept of corporeal life, and don't particularly like what they do understand. Likely due to concerns that this made them too much like the Q, they were later rewritten into BenevolentPrecursors who had been carefully guiding the development of Bajoran society, [[spoiler:and even Sisko's conception]].

** The way Armin Shimerman delivers this line ultimately foreshadows a role he would play [[BioShock 13 years later...]]

** Proto-Rom has more in common with [[TheGodfather Fredo]] than the put-upon loser of later years. He's constantly plotting his brother's death -- either by assassination or accident or pulling him off of life support -- so he could inherit the bar. One can argue that life among the Federation left a positive impression on the Ferengi Bros., but it doesn't quite jive with Rom's later characterization as the brother who's too much of a milksop to make it in business.

* HeartDrive

* FakeMemories: The trope is toyed with in "Hard Time" but ultimately averted when Bashir determines that O'Brien actually did ''experience'' a sped up simulation of some 20 years in prison (rather than simply having had those memories implanted). So the memories are ''real'' and can't just be removed without wiping the rest of the Chief's mind too.

** Well, that and genetic tempering, cultural manipulation, and drugs.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: A slow working version. [[spoiler:During the Dominion War, Garak was key to Starfleet Intelligence in breaking Cardassian communications. He knew his actions were for the very best in the long run but with every transmission he translates he is killing more and more Cardassians. This builds over several years until the first bout of madness is his claustrophobia going to extreme levels where he cannot even be on the station. He is treated by Ezri Dax and they discover the truth before he goes mad any further.]]

* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: The Founders used Ketracil White, an addictive performance enhancer and vital nutrient supplement, to control their Jem'Hadar supersoldiers. Without it, they will die--but not before going into an uncontrollable berserker rage.

* HamToHamCombat: It's Franchise/StarTrek; a certain amount of hamminess is to be expected. But the truly ''epic'' argument between Quark and Ishka in "Profit And Lace" really takes the ham-flavored cake with bacon frosting.

* HandOrObjectUnderwear: In "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", at one point Leeta gets so excited by [[spoiler: Zimmerman's offer of her own cafe to run]] that she walks over to him, all excited, [[InnocentFanserviceGirl completely forgetting]] that she was just wearing a towel, isn't anymore, and didn't get around to putting anything else on to replace it yet. When she realizes, she grabs a bouquet of flowers to cover her chest with as she retreats to the bedroom to get dressed.

* HeroicBSOD: Sisko has one at the end of the season 6 finale, first few episodes of season 7 were devoted to showing him getting through it.
** In "For The Uniform", [[spoiler: he faked one in order to bring Eddington down. And did it ''extremely'' convincingly.]]

** First, he kidnaps Jadzia instead of asking for extradition despite having an extradition treaty with the Federation, this is because [=DS9=] is technically a Bajoran station, and by sabotaging [=DS9=] in order to kidnap Jadzia, they've given Bajor a perfectly good reason to get involved.

** Third, is that the evidence suggesting Curzon betrayed Ardelon, was Ardelon betraying Curzon. Ardelon was regarded as a war hero who was betrayed by one of his inner circle, but Ardelon was the traitor, it just never came to light.
* HoldingBackThePhlebotinum: Tended to be the show that subverted this the most in ''Franchise/StarTrek''. You have replicators? Self-replicating minefield. Your transporter accidentally sent you to a parallel universe? The other universe standardized the technology. And if you can transmit hologram packages to the Delta Quadrant, you can probably manage real time holodeck communications in the Alpha Quadrant. They're also the only one of the five shows to actually let their main characters use cloaking technology which was present in all of them[[note]]Although to be fair, they are legally prevented from using it, which was established in TOS[[/note]]. They even let their augment practice medicine openly.

** This turns out to be the key to resolving the mystery in the season 1 episode 'Dax', where Jadzia Dax is accused of having betrayed and murdered a war hero in her past life as Curzon Dax by the dead man's son. As it turns out, Curzon had a flawless alibi- [[spoiler:he was nailing the man's wife at the time he was killed]]. Contrary to normal usage of the trope, though, this is revealed by [[spoiler:the woman herself to clear Dax at the last second, when Dax refuses to reveal the secret herself]].

* IDontWantToRuinOurFriendship: Shakaar worrying to Odo about starting a relationship with Kira. Later, Odo and Kira. Even later, Bashir and Ezri Dax, [[spoiler: for about a day, until they start making out in a turbolift.]]

* IdiotBall: The Klingons use of the Bat'leth in battle. A particularly egregious example occurs "The Way of the Warrior" where they fail to remember that just because HumansAreDiplomats, doesn't mean that in a fight they aren't the CombatPragmatist. After gunning down the first wave of invading Klingons on the station, they simply take their fallen Bat'leths and use them [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard to slaughter more invading Klingons.]] Some episodes did try to make them seem more pragmatic with Worf and Jadzia debating Bat'leth tactics, but even in those scenes it's hard not to notice how cumbersome the weapons are.
** This might be the result of the actors, particularly the extras, not having much martial arts training. The Bat'leth was actually designed by a Martial Arts master as a kind of [[HooksandCrooks extremely curved]] [[DoubleWeapon Chinese]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Swords}} Hooksword]] and is perfectly functional, although is [[MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever surprisingly defensive]] for a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Klingon]] Weapon.
* IfIWantedYouDead: When Garak suggests Kira might have been the one who [[spoiler: blew up his shop]], Bashir tells him to be serious about the situation.

* InterspeciesRomance: Since the cast is comprised of several different species, there are a ''lot'' of these. Jadzia is fancied by both Quark and Bashir, and ends up marrying Worf; [[spoiler: Ezri, in turn, eventually enters into a relationship with Bashir.]] Dukat has a thing for Bajoran women - he had several Bajorn mistresses and has a half-Bajoran half-Cardassian daughter, Tora Ziyal - and he lusts after Kira. Odo's been in love with Kira for quite a while as well. Quark has a brief marriage and recurring relationship with Grilka, a Klingon woman, as well as an old flame in the form of Natima Lang, a Cardassian scholar. Rom pines after and eventually marries Leeta, a Bajoran, who previously dated Bashir. Ziyal has a crush on Garak, who possibly reciprocates, and Garak has ''something'' that's never quite defined with Bashir. ''Phew.''

*** By the end of the episode, Kira is questioning herself on what happened, and how she ruthlessly manipulated his sense of morality to survive.

** Quark doesn't think much of the Federation, berating them as self absorbed and condescending. Believing themselves to be the pinnacle of civilized society and a shining example to the rest of the galaxy. He isn't wrong either. The Federation is constantly reminding others of how advanced and morally impeccable are. Trying to lecture others on what they believe is wrong with their culture and societies, encouraging everyone else to join their much better way of life. He criticizes Humans in particular, saying that despite all their advances and progress deep down they're just as violent and dangerous as anyone else. The later seasons prove this to be correct.

** Klingons, from what we can tell, mature rapidly, as the Alexander Rhozhenko we meet in Season Six is only 9 years old, but in both appearance and maturity level, seems to be in his late teens or early twenties. This is consistent with one-year-old Alexander already being able to walk and talk, and put in school at age 2, not to mention the young Klingons in TNG's "Birthright" being younger than 20 years, but all appearing to be somewhere in their mid-20's, and a Klingon from TNG's "Rightful Heir" described as being "Nineteen" looking more like a 30-year-old. For that matter, Worf himself is apparently only 24 the first time we meet him, but he looks and acts much older.

* ExposedExtraterrestrials: Odo is technically naked most of the time, but since he's a shape shifter it looks like he's wearing clothing and it's never really commented on. It's also most likely he doesn't have any parts to expose anyway [[{{Shapeshifting Squick}} until he wants them.]]

** In the episode "Accession" a time-displaced Bajoran poet who claims to be the Emissary instead of Sisko tries to reinstate the caste system. The results are PlayedForDrama with Kira being visibly uncomfortable with lower-caste Bajorans deferring to her and her own struggles with her caste--as an artisan with zero artistic talent--which ultimately leads to [[spoiler: a vedek killing a man because his family was considered unclean]].

* FantasticSlurs: Cardassians are occasionally referred to as "Cardies" and "Spoon heads." "Shifter" "and "Changeling" are used to refer to Odo's species, though the latter name was later adopted by the species as their name.

** O'Brien would occasional mutter "Cardie bastards", although its been long established that his dislike of Cardassians is more due to unpleasant memories from the Federation-Cardassian war and holding them responsible for him having to take a life for the first time.

* GenderBender: Dax has inhabited both male and female Trill hosts in its many symbiotic incarnations

** "Bol***cks!" obviously isn't a curse word in Paramount studios!
* GettingTheBabyToSleep: Miles finds to only way to get new baby Kirayoshi to sleep is to place him in the computer-pit of the Station's bridge. Or leave him with Worf. It is debatable which is the most silly.

* JerkassHasAPoint When a Cardassian starts killing off Kira's friends from the resistance, their deaths are horrific and tragic. And then we meet the Cardassian who did it, who is mumbling about evil and good, dark and light etc. and he seems insane... And then we find out that he was actually just a butler in the Cardassian occupation who had never hurt a Bajoran, and who was horribly disfigured when Kira bombed the house of a significant Cardassian official in an assassination attempt. In doing so, she killed his family, his children, and 12 others and crippling 23 other Cardassians who were completely uninvolved. In return, the Butler who was killing off her friends had only killed the five who were involved in the attempt and was very careful not to hurt any innocent people. His final speech to Kira is rather damning and casts a lot of doubt on her actions and motives in the Resistance:

* JerkWithAHearthOfGold: Most of the Federation/Bajoran characters look down on Quark for his various, morally ambiguous schemes, but it's repeatedly shown that from a Fenengi perspective he's shockingly generous and sentimental. For example, Kira and other Bajorans regard Quark as little more than a war profiteer, but as it turns out selling food and medicine to the Bajoran resistance at just above cost was seen as a horrendous act of philanthropy that warranted banishing Quark from Ferengi society.

* TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar: Invoked in "Duet", where the supposed "[[DeadPersonImpersonation Gul Dar'heel]]" points out that while the Cardassians may committed [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide many atrocities]] during the Occupation, he takes [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne umbrage]] with the Bajoran's insistence that they were "War Crimes", when as he points out, the Bajoran Government had ''surrendered'' to the Cardassians and continued to do so for over 50 years!

** For someone who would become one of the show's most prominently featured characters in latter seasons, Dax has surprisingly little screentime or character development in the first season, with her role being mostly limited to filling in bits of Sisko's backstory and being an object of lust for Bashir. Conversely, Jake and Nog seem like a SpotlightStealingSquad at times, with nearly every subplot from the season revolving around one or both of them. In latter seasons Dax would have a much bigger role, while Jake was slowly DemotedToExtra, and Nog fell more in line with the other recurring characters in terms of screentime.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: "The Alternate" definitely suggested that Sisko’s father was dead. Whoops.

* FakeGuestStar: '''TONS.''' If you look at the title credits, you'll only see about 8 or 9 names in the cast list, but by the end of the series, the actual core cast had grown so much that it was ''at least'' twice that. And yet half of those names would be stuck on the Guest Star list right until the end of the series. Just goes to show [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters how freaking HUGE DS9's cast was for the time, with maybe only]] Babylon5 [[DuelingShows rivaling it]]; a heck of an accomplishment.

* EvilCounterpart: The Pah Wraiths to the Prophets. They are actually the same species. The Pah Wraiths were just exiled from the wormhole by the Prophets, for being evil. It should also be noted that "Prophets" and "Pah Wraiths" are names given to them by the Bajorans. The Federation just calles both groups "Wormhole Aliens". We don't know what they call themselves.
** Actually, yes we do, as the Pah Wraiths explicitly referred to themselves as such in the second vision they sent to Kai Winn.

** In "Civil Defense" Dukat, in return for helping the crew deal with the station's malfunctioning security system, wants a garrison of Cardassian soldiers to be installed on Deep Space Nine. Kira, furious, says she'd blow up the station before ''ever'' handing it back to the Cardassians. Dukat can well believe that: "But...are you willing to let two thousand people aboard this station die simply because you don't like m-- ''us?"'' He was clearly about to say ''"me",'' but changed his mind at the last instant.