DS9 s7e20 “The Changing Face of Evil”
Inspirational credit to [email protected] for mentioning (some months ago) Damar’s turnabout to a sympathetic rebel
I mean, I’m glad he got there in the end, but he lived and benefited from the brutal oppression of the Bajorians for years. He then threw his lot in with the Dominion looking to gain more power with the conquest of the Alpha quadrant.
He only came around as a rebel when it was clear that the Dominion saw Cardassia as he had seen Bajor, a stepping stone of useful people to exploit. I’m not sure that’s much to celebrate.
And just after his government killed his family and he remarked on the brutality of it, Major Kira reminded him that he was getting a taste of what she lived through all those years ago.
Exactly stating that he was ok with it until it affected him.
Same is true for almost all revolutionary figures.
George Washington, for example, was one of the richest men in the Americas and didn’t react to the British taxations until they set their sights in his businesses.
He only acted because it started to impact him personally and we, apocryphally, added selflessness to his character because of it.
Same is true for almost all revolutionary figures.
“Revolutionary” as in “US Revolutionary war” or as in “a figure that promotes revolution?” For the former, sure. Our “founding fathers” were all rich white slave owners. They enter the equation with a low score. If the latter, I’d argue many like Harriet Tubman wouldn’t fall into this category of small-r revolutionary figures being extremely flawed individuals later raised to hero status.
He’s not a sympathetic character. That he eventually saw some error in his behavior/actions and tried to do right must count for something.
That he eventually saw some error in his behavior/actions and tried to do right must count for something.
It does count for something, just not much.
He’s an example of a trope I’m not found of. I don’t know if there’s already a name for it, but it’s the trope of the villain turned hero at the last minute but dies by the end so that the story can give them both redemption and punishment without having to have our heroes deal with the messy matter of bringing them to justice when the story ends. It’s romantic to see the villain have a change of heart and do the right thing in the end. Less so watching them get taken away in handcuffs for their crimes after the fact because one good deed doesn’t erase what they did.
So I submit to yesterday?
If you like. There’s no kink shaming here.
But if “Tomorrow is Yesterday” then I must resist regardless.
What if it is “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”? Do I resist three times as much?
Yes, but it come with it’s own alternate Kirk as a bonus.
As long as I get to play the part of La’An, I’m okay with that.
