As the seasons went by, we saw more and more of Garak, yet actually learned very little about him. He was always happy to answer anyone's questions regarding him, however, the same question asked five times garnered five different, and creative, answers. The Cardassian was as infamous for his evasiveness as he was for his spiffy wardrobe. We didn't even learn his first name until season two's "The Wire," and then it was revealed by Garak's former Obsidian Order mentor, Tain. Beyond his full name, little was ever learned about Garak over the course of seven years. The most significant findings about the character were that Garak was once in the Obsidian Order, he's claustrophobic, and Tain was his father. But we never learned the answer to the big question--"Why was he exiled?"--beyond the vague reason given by Garak himself that he "betrayed Enabran Tain."
Though Garak was not fond of divulging information about himself, there's much to be gleaned from his actions over the years, as well as the constants in his life. The first and foremost of those constants being his love of Cardassia. It was never a secret that more than anything else, Garak wanted to go home. He jumped at the opportunity to do so offered to him by Tain in season three's "Improbable Cause," only to have it snatched away when Tain's plan to wipe out the Founders failed and his fleet destroyed. Subsequent acts ranging from blowing up a Romulan senator ("In the Pale Moonlight", season six) to decoding Cardassian transmissions for the Federation during the Dominion War have all been the means to the ultimate end of freeing his homeland and returning to Cardassia.
Two other notable contrasts were as interesting by themselves as they were dramatic in their contrast--his long friendship with Dr. Bashir and his loathing for Gul Dukat. We never knew why Garak sought out Bashir's friendship any more than we knew why he despised Dukat. Both men each held a place in Garak's life that demonstrated Garak's capacity for tolerance, for Bashir (as much as I love him, even I have to admit Bashir could try the patience of a saint at times), as well as his sense of fun, and his capacity for
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