Characters / Star Trek: Picard - Romulan Free State

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Romulan Free State

Romulan Reclamation Site

Hugh

Hugh

"People either see [the xBs] as property to be exploited, or as a hazard to be warehoused."

Played by: Jonathan Del Arco

"Still, we remain the most hated people in the galaxy. Just as helpless and enslaved as before. Only now, our Queen is a Romulan."

A former Borg drone and the Executive Director of the Borg Reclamation Project.

For tropes relating to his prior appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation, please see its character page.

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• Ambiguously Human: We never learned what Hugh's species is, given that he was introduced as a Borg in TNG prior to the Retcon that established all drones were assimilated from other races. As seen in his character picture, he lacks any rubber forehead or other alien prosthetics, and he claims to be a Federation citizen, so human is a possibility.
• Bringing in the Expert: Who better to oversee the rehabilitation of former Borg on a derelict Borg cube than an ex-drone?
• Broken Tears: He undergoes a nervous breakdown after his fellow xBs are executed, and he sobs wildly over their corpses like he has lost everything in the universe that mattered to him. He doesn't seem to care or notice that he's bleeding because Narissa's dagger has pierced the skin of his neck; he merely continues to cry in agony, wholly oblivious to what's going on around him.
• Character Death: In "Nepenthe", he takes a knife to the throat from Narissa as she fights Elnor.
• Commonality Connection: He and Elnor are strangers, but they develop an instant affinity for each other because they're both Good Is Not Soft Nice Guys who dedicate themselves to helping the helpless. This is confirmed by Jonathan Del Arco in this interview, and he even portrayed Hugh as being in love with Elnor because of the selfless qualities they share in common.
  Del Arco: I think there were a lot of things about Elnor that for me resonated as a gay man. You know, I think [Hugh] loved [Elnor]. I think in essence he might've been in love with him in the time that he was there. I think that the hope was really someone loves him. Someone who was idealistic. I think he saw a lot of himself in Elnor. Hugh used to have that sense of innocence, of righteousness. And all those things were hopeful to him, because he hadn't been in a space of hope for all this time. And I think for a minute he thought, 'You know, I think me and the kid can go all the way with this. We could take the cube. We could save it.'
• Cuddle Bug: He has a tendency to be touchy-feely around someone he's fond of, regardless of how well (or not) he knows the individual. He greets Picard (who normally doesn't like physical contact) with a hug, then touches the latter's right arm (and shortly afterwards both arms) to alleviate Picard's crippling anxiety of being inside a Borg Cube again. He also puts his hand on Picard's back as he leads the elderly man away from the post-reclamation recovery area and when he instructs him to step through the Sikarian spatial trajector. Hugh reassuringly caresses the back of the head and shoulder of an xB who cries Tears of Joy. When he grips Elnor (a stranger) by the elbow and cradles the young man's face, they're signs of Hugh's romantic feelings for Elnor, according to Jonathan Del Arco.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His executive director uniform is black, and he's among the nicest and most empathetic people working at the Artifact.
• Deadpan Snarker: He seems to have grown a sense of humor since being separated from the Collective.
  Hugh: (to Soji) You're kind of a know-it-all, aren't you?
• Despair Event Horizon: Jonathan Del Arco mentions in this interview that when the xBs are slain by Narissa and her underlings in front of Hugh, any optimism that his character carried is thoroughly shattered.
  Del Arco: Certainly in my last episode of Season 1, when I watch [Narissa] kill my guys, that is a heartbreaking thing for [Hugh], it breaks, it really does crush every little bit of hope he had.
• Electronic Eyes: In "The Impossible Box", we get a brief glimpse of what the world looks like through Hugh's eyes, and his field of vision is peppered with green Borg graphics.
• Fantastic Racism: As he explains to Soji in "The End Is the Beginning", the group that suffers from the most discrimination in the Milky Way galaxy are ex-Borg drones.
  Hugh: There's no more despised people in the galaxy than the xBs. People either see us as property to be exploited, or as a hazard to be warehoused. Our hosts, the Romulans, have a more expansive vision. They see us as both.
• Foil: He and Picard are ex-Borg who have helped people who are hated by many (the xBs and the Romulans, respectively) and who are extremely displeased with the organization that they work for (the Romulan Free State and the Federation, respectively). Hugh does as much good as he possibly can under conditions which are far from perfect to look after the former drones at the Romulan Reclamation Site, so he continues to assist each new patient despite the constraints placed on him. Picard, on the other hand, "allowed the perfect to become the enemy of the good" when the Federation cancelled its plan to relocate the Romulans from their doomed homeworld, so when he couldn't save everyone, he chose to save no one. Elnor is present when both men die; they both warmly smile at him and cup Elnor's face in a loving manner. ^note Jonathan Del Arco depicted Hugh as being in love with Elnor.
• Glass Eye: He lost his left eye after he was assimilated by the Borg, so he had it replaced with an artificial one. It's easy to distinguish the fake eye because its iris is painted blue, which doesn't match his natural brown iris.
• Good Is Not Soft: He is a kind and decent man who dedicates himself to caring for other former drones, but he shows passion when speaking of their mistreatment and takes the time to ask Picard to speak on his charges' behalf. He also helps Picard and Soji escape, staying behind and standing up to the Romulans.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He retains some facial scars from his time as a Borg, but they are soft and frame his handsome face nicely.
• Go Out with a Smile: As his life is slipping away, he smiles at Elnor because he's grateful to the young man for giving him hope again. invokedJonathan Del Arco also elaborates that Hugh is content to die in Elnor's arms because he's in love with him.
  Del Arco: [...] we shot the death scene last (same day) at that point it was about [Hugh's] love for Elnor and letting go.
• Heroic BSoD: In "Nepenthe", a traumatized and heartbroken Hugh has a Thousand-Yard Stare while sitting next to the corpses of the xBs who were massacred by Narissa and her goons, an atrocity that he witnessed firsthand.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: He exhibits his feminine side by his Lack of Athleticism (he's a Non-Action Guy who's useless in a combat situation), Lack of Aggression (he's a Pacifist who isn't naturally inclined towards violence), An Open, Emotional Personality (he wears his heart on his sleeve, and he takes on a nurturing role when he's providing emotional support to the xBs on the Artifact), and Effeminate or Non-Masculine Appearance (he's short in stature, being only 5'7", which is the height of his actor). Jonathan Del Arco had played Hugh as being in love with Elnor, so that would make Hugh either gay or bisexual.
• Manly Tears: In "Nepenthe", he openly weeps over the bodies of the xBs that he personally cared for. They were executed by Narissa and her soldiers in front of his eyes.
• My Greatest Failure: He's responsible for the well-being of the former Borg drones on the Artifact, so when about a dozen of them are gunned down by Narissa and her guards, he feels guilty that he was unable to shield them from the cruelty of the Romulan Free State.
  Hugh: I've failed them all.
• Nice Guy: He has a kind, compassionate heart, and he overcomes his fear of being on a Borg Cube to help the recently liberated ex-drones at the Romulan Reclamation Site with their recovery. Being an xB himself, he's one of the very few individuals in the whole galaxy who recognizes that they're people, not property or monsters. He's also a Cuddle Bug who utilizes physical touch to soothe frayed nerves (such as Picard's) or to express his nurturing side towards a patient. Picard describes Hugh as a gentle soul.
• Non-Action Guy: He's wholly dependent on Elnor to protect him from Narissa and her mooks, and we never see him fight anyone.
• No Sense of Personal Space: In "Nepenthe", he grabs Elnor's elbow (whom he has just met) and stands very close to him when he says, "We're going to take this Cube away from [the Romulans] forever." Elnor doesn't mind, though, as he was the one who initiated the physical touch between them in their previous scene. As Hugh lays dying in Elnor's arms, he reaches out for the young man's face and holds it tenderly. It's an intimate gesture one would expect from a lover instead of a total stranger, but it was Jonathan Del Arco's intention to depict Hugh as being in love with Elnor.
• Only One Name: He's simply known as Hugh without a surname. He calls Soji "Dr. Asha," yet she refers to her boss as "Hugh."
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Invoked by Picard in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1" when he discovers that Hugh, a Nice Guy who isn't aggressive, was willing to kill Romulans in order to prevent more of his fellow xBs on the Artifact from being exterminated.
  Picard: Poor Hugh. It must have taken appalling brutality to turn such a gentle soul to violence.
• Pacifist: Jonathan Del Arco identifies Hugh as a pacifist in this interview, whose non-violent attitude towards helping the helpless is the antithesis of Seven of Nine's vigilantism.
  Del Arco: Seven's path is completely different because she's a vigilante, I'm not, I'm a pacifist.
• Revenge: After he witnesses the xBs being slaughtered by Narissa and her goons, he tells Elnor that he'll now give in to his desire to use the energy stored in the queencell to get back at the Romulans by causing them to lose control of the Artifact for all time. Although he dies before he can carry out his plan, he convinces Elnor to continue on his behalf.
  Hugh: (angrily) I'd forgotten the immense power hidden [in the queencell]. Maybe I was afraid I'd be tempted to use it. But now, I promise to defend and protect the xBs. I've failed them all. I've been a fool. We're going to take this Cube away from [the Romulans] forever.
  (Elnor nods in agreement)
• Robo Cam: In "The Impossible Box", there is a shot of Hugh's point of view, and the Borg technology that is still embedded within him can analyze life forms, objects and the surrounding environment more accurately than human or Romulan eyes can. For instance, he can see Borg Holographic Terminals on the Artifact that are invisible to everyone else who doesn't have a Borg ocular implant.
• Sacrificial Lion: He appeared in three episodes of The Next Generation and three episodes of Picard, but he meets his end in "Nepenthe" to further emphasize the latter series' Darker and Edgier tone.
• Scars Are Forever: His face still bears several large scars around the places where his Borg implants were removed. Evidently his surgeon wasn't quite as skilled as Beverly Crusher or the Doctor.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Hugh is brave, decent and gentle, and it feels like Narissa takes special pleasure in killing him because of that.
• Undying Loyalty: He's so grateful to Picard for the latter's part in freeing him from the Collective and helping him regain his individuality that he's willing to assist in any way he can when Picard requests his help, even if that means incurring the wrath of Hugh's Romulan employers and putting his own life in danger.
• We Help the Helpless: As the Executive Director of the Borg Reclamation Project, he supervises the recuperation of ex-Borg drones who have recently undergone the reclamation procedure. The xBs are the most loathed people in the galaxy, so virtually no one is willing to make the effort to understand that they're victims who need help. Hugh was once part of the Collective, so he knows all too well what it's like to be in their place, and he tries his best to care for those who have no else to care for them.

Zhat Vash

In general

A secretive cabal within the Tal Shiar, dedicated to the destruction of synthetic life in order to prevent the Ganmadan apocalyptic event that will devastate the galaxy.

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• Evil Wears Black: The traditional hooded robe of the female leaders is black and the cabal's death squads have an all-black uniform, including opaque black helmets.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: The secret of the Admonition is so terrible that the initiation for the Zhat Vash is simply being able to view it without killing yourself or being driven insane. When a Borg Cube assimilated Zhat Vash members who were exposed to the Admonition, it suffered a catastrophic failure and was severed from the Collective. Subverted later when it's revealed that the Admonition, while legitimately scary and Lovecraftian, drives them mad because it was intended for synthetic minds; organic, or even partially organic minds like the Borg, aren't capable of handling it because that'd be like trying to plug a USB into your brain stem and expecting to read the files on it.
• Matriarchy: Women run the Zhat Vash and are the only ones allowed access to the Admonition. Men are accepted into the (lower) ranks and told the secret, but they never get to see it for themselves.
• N.G.O. Superpower: They are said to have operatives in every major government in the known universe. While they are nominally a secret part of the Tal Shiar, in practice they have no allegiance to the Romulan government or the Romulan people, their only concern is to stop the development of synthetic life. Indeed, to motivate the Federation to ban synths, they were willing to sabotage the Romulan resettlement effort, causing the end of the Romulan Empire, the deaths of countless Romulans, and most of the survivors to live difficult lives as refugees.
• No Such Agency: And you thought the Tal Shiar was secretive. At least everybody knows that the Tal Shiar exists. Zhat Vash, on the other hand, is so hidden that even the Tal Shiar thinks it's just a "boogeyman" as Zhaban puts it.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Their persecution of synthetics is intended to prevent the Higher Synthetics from being summoned, but in practice just makes it more likely that someday a synthetic will be fed up enough to want to summon them.
• Suicide Pill: Their agents have false teeth containing a molecular solvent that completely dissolves their body in less than a minute. It also serves as a handy method of killing whoever caused them to use it, as they have a few moments to spit the solvent at someone else before it starts eating them.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: They view synthetic life as an existential threat to the galaxy and will go to any lengths to make sure synths never become commonplace, even if it means screwing over their own people.

General Nedar / Commodore Oh

General Nedar a.k.a. Commodore Oh

Played by: Tamlyn Tomita

A half-Vulcan, half-Romulan Zhat Vash agent and the Director of Starfleet Security.

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• Big Bad: The apparently highest-ranking member of the Zhat Vash cabal who is seen onscreen. She's senior enough to Narissa to have her orders obeyed seemingly without question. "Broken Pieces" cements her Big Bad status for at least for Season 1, revealing her to have been the mastermind of the Mars synth attack and the engineer of the Federation's ideal-betraying slide into xenophobia.
• Big Brother Is Watching: It's implied that she uses her Starfleet Security position to keep Picard under surveillance, which would explain how she knows details about his private conversations with others.
  • Rios later outright confirms that Oh has both monitoring devices and possibly even remote scuttling capabilities on Starfleet ships and coerced his former captain on the U.S.S. ibn Majid to commit premeditated murder under pain of the ship and crew's destruction if he disobeyed.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: She's half-Romulan, passing herself off as a purely Vulcan Starfleet officer (which she can do because Romulans and Vulcans are essentially the same species with a few points of genetic divergence).
• Hypocrite: During the flashback in "Nepenthe", she tells Jurati that we all have to make sacrifices. We have yet to see her practice what she preaches while countless others have suffered and died "for the greater good" whether willing or not.
• Institutional Allegiance Concealment: Reversed. She's an agent of an ancient Romulan cabal who infiltrates the Federation under falsified credentials to become Starfleet's Director of Security.
• Karma Houdini: After Soji shuts down the beacon, Oh retreats and escapes all punishment for her crimes. That said, she has at least been outed as a Romulan agent, has lost her position in Starfleet, had the existence of her ancient secret cabal revealed to all, and her crowning achievement — the Federation Synthetic ban — has been wiped away, likely to be replaced with countermeasures that the Coppelius androids would happily submit to if only to avoid being Brainwashed and Crazy like the A500s were.
• Manipulative Bastard: "Broken Pieces" pins the majority of the Federation's and Picard's problems on her manipulations in the name of wiping out synthetic life.
• Mind Rape: Imparted visions of the Admonition to Dr. Jurati via a mind-meld, which horrified the doctor enough that she murdered Dr. Maddox on the Zhat Vash's behalf. She underwent the Admonishment at some point herself and was one of the lucky few who survived the ordeal.
• Mole in Charge: She's a Zhat Vash agent in a command position within Starfleet. By the end of Season 1, though, she has been outed.
• Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: She's half-Romulan, half-Vulcan.
• Pragmatic Villainy: She shoots down Rizzo's suggestion to eliminate Picard outright in favor of more subtle methods. She sends a hit squad after him later, but this was only staged for the purpose of planting Jurati — whom Oh has told the Zhat Vash secret to and turns up at the end of the ambush to kill one of the ambushers — into Picard's group as they are about to leave Earth.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Her own actions meant to prevent Ganmadan end up nearly causing it.
• Sinister Shades: She wears a pair of sunglasses in "The End Is the Beginning" when she asks Jurati about her conversation with Picard; it's a little jarring since no one else in the 24th century has ever been shown wearing them. According to invokedWord of God, she was dressing to make an appropriate impression among the emotional humans.
• The Spymaster: She pulls double duty as the head of both Starfleet Security and the Zhat Vash, a.k.a. the Tal Shiar's own Tal Shiar.
• Villain No Longer Idle: She spends the majority of the season in her office at Starfleet Headquarters. However, in her zeal to wipe out the androids of Coppelius, she decides to lead the Zhat Vash attack fleet herself, and in doing so sacrifices her position as the head of Starfleet Security. When Riker's fleet arrives, she speaks with him directly, blowing what little was left of her cover completely.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Her and her organization's methods are astoundingly horrific in practice, but as it turns out, "the Destroyer" warned of by the Admonition is real, so she may actually be doing the galaxy a favor by preventing its return by whatever means necessary... if it wasn't for the fact that her own actions end up nearly unleashing it.

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Colonel Narissa

Colonel Narissa, a.k.a. Lieutenant Rizzo

"We have our work to do."

Played by: Peyton List

"If I don't have the location, we go back to good old pain and violence."

A Romulan Zhat Vash agent, surgically modified to look human at the beginning of the series. She soon returns to the Reclamation Site to more closely oversee her brother's efforts.

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• The Baroness: She's a ruthless and sexy Zhat Vash spy who's Trigger-Happy, sadistic, and her wardrobe is exclusively black and form-fitting.
• Beauty Is Bad: She's a gorgeous Romulan woman who likes to inflict pain and violence on others, and even her own brother (whom she nearly suffocated with her bare hands) is not safe from her.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: In "Nepenthe", Elnor kicks her so hard in the face that she falls down, yet she doesn't have a broken or bleeding nose, a black eye, a loose tooth, or any kind of bruising or blemish whatsoever. The same thing happens in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" where Seven of Nine punches Narissa a couple of times and the latter then roughly tumbles on to the floor, but Narissa's pretty features remain unscathed.
• Big Sister Bully: Every time she meets her little brother, they insult each other and she pressures him over his role as a Honey Trap (a plan that she approved). She makes it clear that she'll prioritize her own survival over his. She briefly chokes him in "Absolute Candor", and based on her dialogue with Narek in "The Impossible Box", she regularly broke his toys when they were younger.
• Brains and Brawn: She's the Brawn to Narek's Brain. She believes that any problem can be solved with the immediate application of brute force, but he always analyzes something (or someone), then he slowly and carefully tinkers with it until he gets the desired result. Their contrasting natures are evident when they discuss their attitudes towards the tan zhekran, a Romulan puzzle box.
  Narissa: I've never understood your fascination with this toy.
  Narek: It's not a toy. It's a tool. It helps me think.
  Narissa: The only thing it ever made me think of is smashing it open with a hammer to get the prize inside.
  Narek: The key to opening the tan zhekran is taking the time to understand what's keeping it closed. Listen, feel, move each piece ever so slightly, and then once you're sure... (he shows her the tan zhekran with the pieces in the right place)
  Narissa: Am I supposed to be impressed?
  Narek: Patience, sister. A quality you never had. (The tan zhekran then opens)
• Character Catchphrase: "We have our work to do." There's also the singular variation, "I have my work to do."
• Combat Pragmatist: If she senses that she may be losing a fight, she'll do whatever she can to gain the upper hand. She'll cheat in a customary unarmed duel with a Qowat Milat by using her concealed knife to distract her rival (as she does to Elnor in "Nepenthe", and she takes advantage of his hesitation to kill Hugh with a second knife). Narissa is also willing to shoot someone In the Back (although it doesn't work with Elnor because of his Super-Reflexes). If she's devoid of a weapon, then she'll utilize a Breaking Speech to rile her adversary in the hope that the latter will make a mistake (which she attempts to do to Seven of Nine in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2"). Despite Narissa's underhanded methods, she still fails to defeat Elnor and Seven in one-on-one combat.
• Combat Stilettos: In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", when she tosses away her disruptor, we can see clearly that the heels of her boots are high enough to be impractical for hand-to-hand combat, and they juxtapose Seven of Nine's flat-heeled boots. This may be a contributing factor to Narissa losing their Designated Girl Fight.
• Dark Action Girl: A Zhat Vash operative and The Dragon in Season 1, she's a competent combatant, but she's outclassed by Elnor's Super-Reflexes and Seven of Nine's superior strength.
• Disney Villain Death: Seven pushes her down one of the Artifact's seemingly bottomless pits.
• The Dragon: To Commodore Oh within the Zhat Vash, or at least the operatives we see onscreen.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • While she's willing to kill xBs with little justification and is abusive to her brother Narek, she loves her xB aunt Ramdha.
  • Despite her mistreatment of Narek, she's relieved to see him again in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" and hugs him.
• Evil Brit: She has a British accent when she speaks in English, and it's an indicator to the audience that she's a villain.
• Evil Wears Black: When she's no longer pretending to be a Starfleet officer, she switches her uniform for an all-black outfit.
• Family Theme Naming: She and her brother Narek share "Nar" in their names.
• Faux Action Girl: Despite her propensity for violence, the only people she actually kills are defenseless xBs. Against opponents who actually fight back (i.e. Elnor and Seven of Nine), she's 0-2.
• The Handler: She's the one who approved (and has the authority to unapprove) Narek's plan to seduce Soji for information. He must report his observations about their target directly to her.
• Hate Sink: She is incredibly rude and dismissive towards just about everyone save for Nedar, constantly bullies and belittles her brother (who has consistently delivered more results than she ever did), has a zealous hatred towards synthetics and xBs, and performs every little and petty cruel thing with glee. Seven is almost ashamed of herself for literally kicking this bitch to her death out of revenge for killing Hugh and personal satisfaction. Almost.
• Hero Killer: In "Nepenthe", after agreeing to fight Elnor unarmed and one-on-one, she kills Hugh with a knife to the throat, and in the process nearly shoots Elnor before he can retaliate.
• Karmic Death: Seven kills her to avenge Hugh and the Artifact's xBs.
• Knight Templar: After witnessing the Admonition, she's willing to commit any atrocity to put an end to what she sees as the threat posed by synthetic life.
• Lack of Empathy: She has no qualms gunning down xBs in cold blood, and she even smiles to herself as she walks away from Hugh, who's sobbing uncontrollably after they're slaughtered before his eyes. She also abuses and molests her brother with absolutely no regard of how her behaviour affects him.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: She and her brother Narek are the reverse of Men Use Violence, Women Use Communication. Narissa is far more aggressive and bloodthirsty than her baby brother (which is what she calls him, and the use of "baby" indicates that he's not very manly), and she insists that Soji be killed ASAP. Narek, however, states his preference for a more subtle approach, which is his seduction and manipulation of Soji, to carry out their mission. They also have contrasting reactions to facing Elnor — Narissa is eager to fight, whereas Narek immediately surrenders.
• The Mole: Doubly so; she's a Romulan posing as a human Starfleet officer, and a Zhat Vash agent serving the conspiracy's agenda.
• Nightmare Fetishist:
  • She speaks with utter reverence of how her aunt's deranged insanity brought upon by surviving the Admonition was powerful enough to cripple a Borg cube.
  • Meanwhile, she wishes that the Borg had assimilated her instead of Ramdha, musing that she would have made a better Borg.
  • Based on Narissa's exchange with a Centurion, the more efficient the killing method, the more it delights her.
    Narissa: We need to get rid of every Borg still held in stasis immediately. Can they be gassed? Electrocuted?
    Centurion: We can blow the seals and jettison them directly into space.
    Narissa: (smiles) Ooh, I like that. See to it.
• The Nose Knows: As a Romulan female ^note Romulans are related to Vulcans, and Vulcan females possess superior olfactory sense, so Romulan women have the same ability, she's able to detect Soji's scent on Narek, and after she bends down to sniff his neck, she observes that the combination of Narek's and Soji's scents is carnal.
• No-Sell: Everyone else in her group who witnessed the Admonition went utterly insane, some to the point of suicide. Narissa endured it with barely a frightented gasp and a Single Tear.
• No Sense of Personal Space: She frequently gets well inside Narek's personal space, apparently as a means of throwing him off balance; in "Absolute Candor", she sits next to him in bed, runs her hands over his chest and arms, and even starts to straddle him while they're talking about Soji.
• Parental Abandonment: Her parents died in the line of duty as Zhat Vash operatives; she was later adopted by her aunt Ramdha.
• Perverted Sniffing: Because of the Incest Subtext between her and her brother Narek, when she sniffs his neck to determine if he had sex with Soji (a Romulan's olfactory sense is superior to a human's), it's a little creepy.
• Psychotic Smirk: She frequently grins when she either contemplates harming someone, is in the process of doing so, or after she has already tormented her victim.
• Sadist: She derives great pleasure from the suffering of others. In "Absolute Candor", she chuckles after molesting Narek and then has an amused smile after strangling him. She relishes the idea of torturing Soji for information and utters the words "pain and violence" with reverence. In "Nepenthe", a Psychotic Smirk forms on her lips and she hums in satisfaction after reducing Hugh to a blubbering pile of Broken Tears when she and her lackeys gun down several of his xB patients.
• Trigger-Happy: When Commodore Oh expresses her concern that Picard may be an obstacle in the Zhat Vash's plans, Rizzo's first thought is to kill him, and she needs to be persuaded to try a less brutal approach. She also warns Narek that if his methods fail to get any information out of Soji, Rizzo will try her own, far less civilized methods.

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Narek

Narek

The Obviously Evil hot Romulan in the main cast.

Played by: Harry Treadaway

"Everyone is hiding something. Whether they know it or not."

A young Romulan who works at the Borg Artifact Research Institute with Dr. Soji Asha and later begins an intimate relationship with her. He is also an operative for the Zhat Vash, assigned to gather information from Soji on the whereabouts of other androids like her and Dahj.

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• Ace Pilot: He gives Rios a run for his money in the piloting department when their ships engage in a Space Battle around Coppelius. Narek could very well have obliterated La Sirena if Seven of Nine hadn't arrived with the Artifact, but their vessels are incapacitated by the Orchids before a winner can be determined.
• Beard of Evil: Because there are two major Romulan male characters in this series, Narek has a beard to convey visually to viewers that he's the sinister one.
• Beauty Is Bad: He takes full advantage of his physical beauty when acting as a Honey Trap.
• Becoming the Mask: As a Honey Trap, he pretends to have feelings for Soji, but he ends up falling in love with her.
• Black Sheep: Lampshaded in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2"; he's the failure in his Zhat Vash family, which also includes his deceased parents, so he's desperate to prove his worth.
  Narek: I found her, Narissa. Me. The family disgrace, the Zhat Vash washout. I found Seb-Cheneb.
• Brains and Brawn: He's the Brain to Narissa's Brawn. He always analyzes something (or someone), then he slowly and carefully tinkers with it until he gets the desired result, but she believes that any problem can be solved with the immediate application of brute force. Their contrasting natures are evident when they discuss their attitudes towards the tan zhekran, a Romulan puzzle box.
  Narissa: I've never understood your fascination with this toy.
  Narek: It's not a toy. It's a tool. It helps me think.
  Narissa: The only thing it ever made me think of is smashing it open with a hammer to get the prize inside.
  Narek: The key to opening the tan zhekran is taking the time to understand what's keeping it closed. Listen, feel, move each piece ever so slightly, and then once you're sure... (he shows her the tan zhekran with the pieces in the right place)
  Narissa: Am I supposed to be impressed?
  Narek: Patience, sister. A quality you never had. (The tan zhekran then opens)
• Brutal Honesty: In "The Impossible Box," he discloses Soji's true nature to her rather cruelly.
  Narek: Because you're not real. You never were.
• Chick Magnet: Two of his female coworkers ogle over him while they express their pleasant surprise that a Romulan can be so hot.
• Dance Battler: If his action sequence from "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" hadn't been left on the cutting room floor, then he would be a practitioner of a dance-like and acrobatic Romulan martial arts that is reminiscent of Capoeira, with more flashy kicks than Narissa's or Elnor's Fantastic Fighting Style.
• Distressed Dude: In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", he's captured and imprisoned by the androids on Coppelius. In the next episode, he's subdued by the synths again and taken into their custody, but we don't see what happens to him afterwards.
• Enemy Mine: He teams up with Rios, Raffi and Elnor in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" to prevent the potential destruction of all organic life in the galaxy.
• Evil Brit: Harry Treadaway keeps his own English accent for Narek, who is one of the villains.
• Evil Wears Black: He's an undercover spy working for the Zhat Vash, the first season's major antagonists, and he's always dressed in black.
• Family Theme Naming: He and his sister Narissa share "Nar" in their names.
• Fanservice: He's seen in his underwear after having sex with Soji. He's sleeveless in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2."
• The Gadfly: He seems to enjoy deflecting Soji's attempts to learn more about him after they sleep together.
  Soji: Can I ask you a question?
  Narek: Sure, just don't expect an answer.
  Soji: Are we allowed to be sleeping together, or is that a secret?
  Narek: Very much the latter.
  Soji: Is everything Romulans do a secret?
  Narek: Ooh, I'm not at liberty to divulge that.
  Soji: Is your name actually Narek?
  Narek: It's one of them.
  Soji: So is there anything you can tell me about yourself?
  Narek: Yes. I'm a very private person.
• Honey Trap: He's sleeping with Soji in an effort to glean information about her and the other synths, and track down where she came from.
• In Love with the Mark: He falls for Soji and even tells her his real name (which a Romulan would only disclose to someone they're in in love with), but duty always comes first for a Romulan (especially for a spy), so he still carries out his orders to murder her, and he cries as she pleads for her life. In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", Narek makes a Love Confession to Soji, who recognizes that he's being truthful now that she's a Living Lie Detector.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: His androgynous personality is expressed through his relative Lack of Athleticism (although we briefly see him fight in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", he's nevertheless depicted as being a far less capable combatant than Narissa and Elnor because Narek is helpless when his sister throttles him, and he can't free himself from the grip of two Soong-type androids twice, whereas Elnor has no trouble handling the synths and he never gets caught), his Lack of Aggression (he doesn't have a taste for violence, and he's a proponent of using his charisma to influence Soji to do his bidding; even when the time comes for Narek to terminate her, he opts for a device which releases a poisonous gas — his choice is "feminine" because poison is a woman's weapon), and Effeminate or Non-Masculine Appearance (he's a Pretty Boy with the distinction of being the first Romulan male character in the franchise who's acknowledged to be good-looking in-universe). He's also so far the only male member of the Zhat Vash's inner circle of agents.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Throughout Season 1, his relationship with Soji deepens to the point where he genuinely appears to love her. The show then toys with the prospect that he might follow that path to its traditional conclusion and decide to save her. Nope. Once he has what he needs from her, he seals her in a toxic tomb of his own making and then leaves her there to die.
• Manly Tears: In "The Impossible Box", his eyes become very red and he sheds tears after leaving Soji to die.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: He and his sister Narissa are the reverse of Men Use Violence, Women Use Communication. Narek states his preference for a more subtle approach, which is his seduction and manipulation of Soji, to carry out their mission. Narissa, however, is far more aggressive and bloodthirsty than her baby brother (which is what she calls him, and the use of "baby" indicates that he's not very manly), and she insists that Soji be killed ASAP. They also have contrasting reactions to facing Elnor — Narissa is eager to fight, whereas Narek immediately surrenders.
  Elnor: Feldor stam torret. (Please, my friend, choose to live.)
  Narek: ("Oh, Crap!" face) I do. I very much choose to live.
• The Mole: He pretends to be a new worker at the Romulan Reclamation Site, but he's actually a Zhat Vash agent.
• Obviously Evil:
  • He looks very sinister with a Kubrick Stare on his official character poster.◊
  • The very first shot of him is a mysterious, dark figure emerging from a large mist of steam with ominous music playing in the background, and he walks in slow-motion towards the camera with a menacing facial expression. Even before he speaks to Soji, we know he's bad news.
• Office Romance: He initiates a casual sexual relationship with Soji, although he tells her that they have to keep their dalliance a secret from their coworkers and their employers.
• Overt Operative: Both Hugh and Soji have him pegged as a spy as soon as he shows up.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents died in the line of duty as Zhat Vash operatives; he was later adopted by his aunt Ramdha.
• Poison Is Evil: In "The Impossible Box", he subjects Soji to a slow and painful death by exposing her to a toxic gas. What makes his action even more disturbing and reprehensible is that he's In Love with the Mark, yet he would still kill his beloved in this fashion.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Rather than immediately destroy Soji, as advocated by his bloodthirsty sister, he instead romances her and drops small hints meant to get her to investigate her origins of her own accord, so she can lead him to where she came from.
• Pretty Boy: He's attractive enough to catch the eye of Soji's Trill friend from a distance, who had no idea up until that moment that a Romulan could be so hot, to which Soji agrees. His most beautiful physical feature are his expressive, gentle blue eyes, and when combined with his curly hair, he has a softer, warmer demeanour than most Romulans, who are usually severe and cold. He exploits this along with his charm to seduce Soji as a Honey Trap. Hugh describes Narek as a dashing young Romulan spy.
• Sarcastic Confession: Despite the joking nature of his comments below, he actually does have a lot of secrets, being a mole for the Zhat Vash.
  Soji: Is everything Romulans do a secret?
  Narek: Ooh, I'm not at liberty to divulge that.
  Soji: Is your name actually Narek?
  Narek: It's one of them.
  Soji: So is there anything you can tell me about yourself?
  Narek: Yes. I'm a very private person.
• Super-Strength: In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", he kicks a Soong-type android hard enough to knock it over. Although he's soon overwhelmed by two of them, Narek is stronger than a human by virtue of being a Romulan, and being able to hit the android with that much force is still more than what an average human can do. He can also pin Saga to the ground, plus he falls from a great height and lands squarely on his two feet without getting hurt.
  • This featurette of a invokedDeleted Scene demonstrates that Narek was originally meant to be far more badass than what we got onscreen, as he uses a Capoeira-like Fantastic Fighting Style against five synths.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: His family regards him as a black sheep, so many of his actions regarding the synths are actually about measuring up to his family's Zhat Vash legacy.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He disappears unceremoniously halfway through "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" after the failed attempt to destroy the beacon and is never seen again after that point. According to invokedMichael Chabon, he was taken into custody by the Federation,◊ a scene which was apparently cut for time.

Ramdha

Ramdha

Played by: Rebecca Wisocky

A former expert on Romulan mythology and an agent for the Zhat Vash who was at some point assimilated by the Borg, then became an xB after the Artifact lost its connection to the Collective. She's also Narissa and Narek's aunt.

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• Broken Tears: In "The End is the Beginning", she begins crying after Soji inquires about her assimilation by the Borg, and it's the first sign that her mental state (which is already very fragile because she's a psychiatric patient) will soon unravel to suicidal extremes.
• Driven to Suicide: She tries to kill herself when she realizes that Soji is the so-called "Destroyer" that the Zhat Vash has been hunting, although Soji reacts quickly enough to stop her.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: The Admonition broke her mind so badly that when she was assimilated, her madness infected the cube and caused the Borg to sever it from the hive mind.
• Parental Substitute: She took care of her niece and nephew Narissa and Narek after their parents died.
• Tarot Troubles: She's playing with a set of pixmit cards (which can be used as a Romulan version of a tarot deck), when Soji meets her. When Ramdha turns over a card and sees the image of two sisters on it, she immediately concludes that the card represents Soji (and Dahj), and demands to know which sister Soji is before attempting suicide.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: The freakin' Borg Collective was so terrified of her memories of the Admonition that it cut itself off from the cube that eventually became the Artifact rather than let it poison the rest of the Collective's Hive Mind.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her final appearance in Season 1 was in "Broken Pieces" where she was comatose and left behind on the Artifact by the Romulans. Michael Chabon clarifies on what her fate would've been◊ if a invokedDeleted Scene was featured in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2."
  Chabon: We shot a scene intended to show Ramdha and other xBs beginning to form a kind of possible community with the synths under the auspices of Soong. In the end, we couldn't find a place for it that worked and we felt that losing it didn't hurt too much.

Refugees

Laris

Laris

Played by: Orla Brady

A Romulan refugee who works for Picard at his vineyard in France on Earth.

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• Action Girl: Thanks to her Tal Shiar combat training, she can fend off several Zhat Vash commandos in "The End Is the Beginning."
• Aliens of Ireland: The first Irish Romulan in the franchise.
• Anger Born of Worry: She was certainly not happy to learn that Picard planned to go on one last mission. Of course, knowing how an organization like the Tal Shiar works, and being a former agent herself, she fears for his safety.
• Crusty Caretaker: Although also a Kindly Housekeeper, she knows when to assert herself with Picard. She is Romulan after all.
• Nice Girl: Like Zhaban, she is a kind, loyal and honest example of a Romulan, in complete contrast to their species' conniving portrayal in The Next Generation era.
• Ninja Maid: A former agent of the Tal Shiar, the Romulan secret police, she works at Chateau Picard and helps the owner keep house. When assassins come to take Picard out, she and Zhaban hold their own despite being outnumbered two to one, with the help of several phasers they've stashed all over the villa.
• Out of Focus:
  • She's an important supporting character in the first three episodes of Season 1, but she's never seen or mentioned again afterwards.
  • Averted in Season 2. You expect that she goes out of focus once Picard leaves to meet the Borg and then once he goes back in time, but the Watcher Tallin, who looks exactly like Laris shows up in Episode 4, throwing Picard for a loop.
  • And again in Season Three, when she only has a single scene with Jean-Luc and doesn't make another appearance (or is even mentioned) for the rest of the season.
• Precision F-Strike: "Cheeky feckers!"
• Relationship Upgrade: Picard's friend in season 1. In love with him in season 2 and in a relationship with him by the end of it.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After advising Jean-Luc that he should help Beverly rather than accompany her to Chaltok IV, Laris disappears rather abruptly following her first and only scene in Season Three and doesn't make another appearance, not even during The Last Generation's epilogue^NoteIn an interview, Terry Matalas noted that the crew didn't have the time to film Picard returning to Laris and even if they did, Orla Brady had returned home to Ireland by that time anyway..

Zhaban

Zhaban

Played by: Jamie McShane

A Romulan refugee who works for Picard at his vineyard in France on Earth.

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• Battle Butler: Technically a cook and a groundskeeper, but like Laris, he is a former Tal Shiar agent and can easily fight off two younger Romulan agents at once.
• Hidden Depths: Who'd have thought that Picard's snarky cook and groundskeeper was a former agent of the Tal Shiar?
• Killed Offscreen: In the first episode of the second season, it's mentioned that he died between seasons. No cause is given.
• Nice Guy: Like Laris, he is a kind, loyal and honest example of a Romulan, in complete contrast to their species' conniving portrayal in The Next Generation era.
• Out of Focus: He's an important supporting character in the first three episodes of Season 1, but he's never seen or mentioned again afterwards, and dies between seasons 1 and 2.
• Real Men Cook: Among other duties, he's in charge of the food and meal preparation at Chateau Picard; in his very first scene, he carries a basket of freshly-picked herbs and then works in the kitchen.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens: He's one of those Romulans with a ridged forehead, marking him as a "Northerner."
• Servile Snarker: Like Laris, he's loyal and appreciative of Picard, but not sycophantic.

Zani

Zani

Played by: Amirah Vann

A Romulan refugee who is the leader of the Qowat Milat sisterhood at North Station on Vashti.

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• Brutal Honesty: She doesn't sugarcoat her words, not even to a little kid who's desperate for affection.
  Young Elnor: (to Picard) Why don't you like children?
  Zani: Because they're demanding, distracting, and interfere with duty and pleasure alike.
  (Picard gestures that he agrees with Zani)
  Young Elnor: My feelings are hurt.
• Cultural Rebel: Her order preaches the Way of Absolute Candor, which means always telling the truth and expressing one's true emotions. This is the complete opposite of what Romulan society values most, which is secrecy.
• Dark Is Not Evil: As a Qowat Milat nun, she wears a black robe and a black headdress, and she's a friend and ally of Picard.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: She's a Romulan warrior nun, much to Jurati's astonishment.
  Jurati: That's a real thing?! How bizarre.
• Parental Substitute: She along with the other nuns of her order are surrogate mothers to the orphan Elnor. Zani tells Picard that the boy is loved by them.
• Proportional Aging: Picard notes that, unlike him, Zani hasn't aged at all since they last met fourteen years ago. Romulans are a cousin race of Vulcans, so they have a longer life span than humans, and hence they age more slowly.
• Sweet Tooth: She is very fond of a treat called sweet hanifak, and she's quite pleased when Picard presents her a box of it as a gift.

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