The way Elim ‘sentiment is a weakness’, ‘l survived this long by knowing when to walk away’ Garak repeatedly puts himself in incredibly dangerous situations for Cardassia and for Enabran Tain when both have used, abused and abandoned him says a lot about how his sense of self-worth is almost nonexistent outside of how he can be of use to Cardassia.
Oh gosh, thank you! That means a lot to me. I also have crooked teeth, and I think that’s part of why I notice and think about them when it comes to character design. I think it’s a cute detail in fiction and real life. Also, I tend to draw Ziyal’s Bajoran and Cardassian features blending pretty harmoniously together, so it’s fun to give her somewhere they clash, instead.
Oh, and I’d love to see your cosplay, if that okay and if it’s online anywhere! That sounds awesome!
The thing that made me decide to cosplay Ziyal in the first place was her big toothy smile, so it makes perfect sense to draw her that way.
Having thought a bit more about the topic of canon, I’ve realised that one issue is that the word ‘canon’ is used in two different way. The first is predicative (following after the verb ‘to be’) - ‘this is canon’. The other is in reference to a corpus of whatever texts (e.g. TV shows, movies, books, comics, games and so on) are considered canonical - for instance ‘this happens in canon’.
These two have different issues. The one with the corpus usage goes back to the idea of literary canons and the biblical canon. These are not natural categories, but are ones made by academics, educated elites and ecclesiastical councils. Really, if we have Star Trek canon, like there is Biblical canon, we should also have Star Trek apocrypha - not just in the way Memory Alpha does use it (to put random stuff in), but really in a less judgy way. Beta canon is essentially just deuterocanonical - considered canonical by some but not by others. All this being said, despite the parallels, I feel that ‘corpus’ might go as good a job as ‘canon’ here. If you use ‘canon’ to mean ‘everything on telly’, you’re discussing a distinct corpus - a body of work. There has, after all, never been a Trekkie Council who judged that this and that is canonical but that isn’t.
The predicative use of ‘canon’ is the one I think is the more emotional one, particularly when we talk about what isn’t canon. ‘That isn’t canon’ may be just a statement of fact (e.g. ‘Spock hating coffee isn’t canon’), but it might come across as meaning ‘that isn’t valid’. Now I don’t think anyone would flip a table over how you write Spock’s opinions on coffee, but people have sure as hell flipped tables (at least metaphorical ones) over more ‘controversial’ topics - including but not limited to how canonical certain characters’ queerness is. Maybe because of that kind of thing, ‘that isn’t canon’ might sound like ‘that is a bad take with no basis in the true Star Trek’.
My general position on all of this is that no piece of the Star Trek corpus is always automatically canon, but any piece of the corpus has the potential to be canon, for any given person. I guess someone might invoke the Ship of Theseus and say ‘well how do you know it’s Star Trek then if you can just change things?’ but that is kind of a bad faith argument. Star Trek is many things - it can be a starship on a mission, or romance at the academy, or philosophical discussions in the Vulcan desert, or family drama on Cardassia, or some good old-fashioned alien smut. The fans have seen to that, from the start.
KIRA’S DAD!! I love Tekeny. I never expected to see him again after that buckwild episode where Kira was surgically altered to look Cardassian and then gaslit into believing she was a deep cover spy, so when he showed up again I was like YEAHH!! But then he died of incurable Help Someone Else’s Character Arc Disease and it was very sad. But what a wonderful Kira episode he got to be in for his last appearance. I did cry.
Also I love the big wooly sweater thing they put him in. What a good and sweet old lizard dad.
Thoughts on tie-in novels: I haven’t read any yet! But I do want to read some eventually. I’ve heard good things about A Stitch In Time, so I’ll probably start there, but I’m open to more recommendations!
It is so sad that he dies! I think it makes sense in the story, though, as it shows how fragile the plans to set up a government-in-exile are. Kira pins all her hopes on him, and then it crashes and burns. Her grief over him dying gets turned into a fact-finding mission, and one that gets really emotional for her. It’s such a painful episode, but it is so beautiful.
The tie-in novels are cool! A Stitch in Time is awesome. I think you’d enjoy the other Cardassia-centric ones, as they deal a lot with the occupation of Bajor and its aftermath. (Also, Ziyal is in Neverending Sacrifice!) There are still so many I still haven’t read though.
They gave Ziyal daddy issues but like… They needed to give her MORE daddy issues if you know what I’m saying. I think realistically she wouldn’t have been so starry eyed at her father for so long considering their reunion started with him pointing a gun at her
I think it’s a real issue that Tora Naprem doesn’t get mentioned more than a couple of times (if that) once Ziyal gets established. She’d have been old enough to remember her well, and you’d think that Naprem’s relationship with Dukat would be important in how Ziyal sees him.
Listen I’m only like 50 pages into enigma tales but. Aging gay reptile aliens healing themselves and their planet from trauma are actually something that can be so personal
somehow for me it’s one of the difficulties themes from this list. Lunch? Ok. At the Promenade? Hmm, ok, but what they are supposed to do? Stare at each other?) It was difficult 😆
Cecil. She/her. During the day I sit in libraries staring at books. During the night I write queer fanfiction with a historical slant.
Some not-so-random facts: Gay space lizards are the best lizards. Star Trek is my life. I have too many DS9 ships. Classic Who and the Eighth Doctor Adventures make me grin stupidly. Kelas Parmak is the best. I will defend historically accurate portrayals of Alan Turing to the last drop of blood. Likes and asks end up in the name of @apolesens-otheraccount, because Tumblr doesn't have a way of changing which blog is your primary one. Nothing happens over there - this is the one to follow.
