Personification of boundless authority try personification of cultural appropriation
Most villains were just like everybody else, once upon a time. Occasionally villains are born, not made, but much more often, they are made. I’m sure Dukat was a self-righteous little prick when he was a kid, with all the privilege he could shake a silver spoon at, but he wasn’t the DUKAT we know until instances of systematic trauma a.k.a. Just Another Day At The Park For Cardassians screwed up his ability to empathize.
As a villain, I actually really love Dukat, and it’s not just because I think he’s a sexy beast (Mark Alaimo OMG). I love him because he is the living embodiment of PRIVILEGE. Everything he does, he sees through the lens of his privilege. He is the avatar of all the privileged people in our world complaining that they’re ALLIES for fuck’s sake, they’re being so NICE to marginalized people, why don’t the marginalized people SEE that and bake them COOKIES? Why are the marginalized people so ANGRY all the time? Don’t they see that hurts their cause? When Dukat was a Gul and made prefect of Bajor, ruling from Terok Nor (or as we know it, Deep Space Nine), one of his first acts was to cut labor camp output by 50%, abolish child labor, and improve medical care and food rations. As he put it, the Bajoran resistance ‘repaid’ him by destroying an orbital dry-dock on his one month anniversary, then attempting to assassinate him FIVE SEPARATE TIMES. [citation] Dukat saw himself as being compassionate toward the Bajorans and as they consistently failed to recognize how awesome and compassionate he was, he grew to hate them. Holy metaphor for modern social justice, Batman.
Despite hating the Bajorans, Dukat carried on affairs with several Bajoran women. He professed to love at least one of these women, despite, of course, the fact that he was A) fetishizing them, B) In a position of power over them that made their ability to consent to his attention dubious at best, and C) using his ‘compassion’ toward their race to try to score points with them. This is textbook “I just love black/asian/latina women SO MUCH” behavior and of course its gross, but when I watch DS9, sometimes I feel like “OMG, not everybody really gets WHY this is so gross, OMG.”
So, in closing, Dukat is basically Cardassian Privilege-Denying Guy writ large for sci-fi, and that’s one of many reasons I love DS9.
So much love for these two
Dukat: I hope first minister Shakar realizes how what a lucky man he is
Kira: Shakar isn't the father
Dukat: well who is then
Kira: chief O'Brien
Dukat: -shock confusion shock horror more confusion
The crew of ds9 o_o
Left to Right,
O’Brien, Garak, Bashir, Worf, Dax, Sisco, Jake, Kira, Quark, Odo, Ducat, and Weyoun.
Who could I possibly be posting about today?
Well my Star Trek DS9 Character of the day, on the first day I ever do this, HAS to be Gul Dukat. He has been both the source of many frustrating sexual thoughts and the source of a recurring nightmare I’ve had since I was 9 years old. So here he is, Gul Dukat.
My very first memory of Dukat is seeing him in a season 3 or season 4 episode I believe, and I remember he creeped me out. I was likely 6 or 7, and still had a tendency to be irrationally afraid of something as simple as a guy who’s being developed as increasingly bad and evil as the show goes on that also somewhat looks like a snake
with a spoon on its forehead.
From then on I was very careful to avoid actually looking at the television when it was a Dukat episode. My mom would laugh at this. Sometimes my curiosity about something my mom was laughing about would overcome my fear, but most of the time I sat on the bed and played barbies or drew or wrote.But then one day, when I was 9 years old, the episode that gives me nightmares AND makes me sob like I’ve just lost a limb, aired. “Tears of the Prophets” scared the everloving SHIT OUT OF ME.
Okay, even then I could deal with the nazi references in the Cardassians. I could deal with them looking like snake lizard things, and I could deal with the fact that Gul Dukat’s smile sent a shiver down my spine and made me want to go poke spiders because it would be less scary.
But
I SWEAR TO THE WORMHOLE ALIENS
him killing Jadzia and those creepy goddamned red possessed eyes
QUITE LITERALLY SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME.
I ran screaming out of the room.
I proceeded to have nightmares about Dukat with crazy red eyes torturing me. For about 7 months.
I still get that dream once in a while, too. And it’s still just as scary.
But now I’ve seen most of the Dukat episodes a few times, and I’ve really started to fall in love with the character. Sure, he’s evil. Yeah, okay, he’s the ‘bad guy.’ He’s also a really well developed character who I want to see more of. I don’t really care how.
ENJOY THE DUKAT PICSPAM, MY FRIENDS!
Edit:
I forgot to enthuse about how seriously much I love his interactions with Kira Nerys. So much sexual tension there.
Dukat: Just remember when you fire that thing, you’re aiming it at a Klingon.
Garak: I’ll try to keep that in mind.
DS9 4.1 Way of the Warrior
When Garak arrives to help defend the Cardassian government from a Klingon attack, Dukat accuses him of using the moment to curry favor. Garak doesn’t confirm or deny this, and deflects the accusation back instead. Dukat responds by bragging about his heroism, which makes me wonder to what degree Dukat is projecting his own motives.
The reasons for Dukat’s hatred of Garak are pretty straightforward: he blames Garak for his father’s arrest and death. On the surface, Garak’s hatred of Dukat appears to be straightfoward as well: Dukat tried to have him executed in retaliation. But Garak’s disdain is also more complex than it seems.
Dukat is someone who desperately wants recognition. He wants others to acknowledge and extol his “greatness” and his “achievements.” To that end, he is self-aggrandizing and frequently delusional. Garak, on the other hand, has no patience for Dukat, a “swaggering, self-important Gul with too much vanity and not enough ability” who places his agenda of ambition and personal glory before Cardassia. Garak neither expects nor desires any public acknowledgement, and he finds Dukat’s posturing contemptible.
Sisko provides the goal and the resources during In the Pale Moonlight, but it’s Garak who does everything to bring the Romulans into the war. Yes, his methods are shady, and Sisko doesn’t appreciate it when Garak tells him “you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant”; but it’s interesting that Garak says YOU and not WE. You’d better believe that if Dukat had been the one involved it would have been at least WE, if not I.
Garak lives his life in the background, while Dukat demands the spotlight.
frankly a little offended on Dukat’s behalf
for one thing Dukat’s got charisma.
Wasn’t there that one arc where he changes his species to infiltrate a religious political grou- OH SHI
