Klingons - Part 2

To Klingons the family is very important, when they say their names they are someone, son of their father e.g. Worf, son of Mogh. They also take heritage and family history very seriously. Any deeds which your ancestors had done would have brought honour to your house, thus they would be remembered and would be brought up in conversation as a way of bragging about your house (or in some cases, where the ancestor had brought shame, it has the opposite effect!).

To all Klingons (with very few exceptions), battle and war is a vital part of their culture, to a Klingon there is no better “job” than that of a warrior, and no better way of dying, than in battle against a foe and for your comrades to go on to win a great victory. For this a warrior’s family would celebrate his glorious death and his forthcoming rise into Stovocore, to meet their great ancestors and other honourable Klingons. Klingons who had lead glorious military careers, or had done a remarkable feat, have songs written about them. This normally happens after their death, but not in all cases. These songs are sung during great celebrations of past battles and are, “traditionally”, accompanied by the drinking of vast quantities of blood wine (a very strong alcoholic drink); fortunately for Klingons they are all natural heavyweights! Even in war the Klingons have become politically correct, on the ships in DS9 there are female warriors, whereas in the beginning (The Original Series) there were none (that I know of). This goes hand in hand with the rise of women within the Federation and other cultures. It also follows with the social trends of the world, where in The Original Series Gene Rodenbery was considered shocking for the make-up of the crew, there was a black woman on the bridge (killing two birds with 1 stone), there was a Russian alongside an American etc. Yet among these there was chauvinism, for in the pilot episode Captain Christopher Pike signs a sheet of paper held by a female ensign and seems uneasy, his female first officer asks “what’s wrong?”, he replies “I just can’t get used to women on the bridge”, she then frowns at him and he says “don’t worry, that didn’t include you. You’re … different”. In The Original Series the Klingons were designed to represent the Russians, and in those days the Federarion and Klingons were ‘hostile’, whereas in TNG and DS9 they are much more amicable, and in DS9 they are even allies at the end.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic