Tears of the Prophets (episode)

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This article is about the episode. For the objects called "Tears of the Prophets", see Orb.

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"Tears of the Prophets"
DS9, Episode 6x26 Production number: 40510-550 First aired: 17 June 1998
←	148th of 173 produced in DS9	→
←	148th of 173 released in DS9	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 173 released in DS9 Remastered
←	527th of 726 released in all	→

Written By Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler Directed By Allan Kroeker
Unknown (2374)
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	Arc: The death of Dax and the Sisko's purpose (1 of 3)	→
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Sisko leads an invasion of Cardassian territory, ignoring a warning from the Prophets, with fatal consequences for a member of the DS9 crew. (Season finale)

[edit] Summary

On Deep Space 9, the Bajorans are celebrating the Gratitude Festival. Kira Nerys approaches Benjamin Sisko and thanks the Emissary for holding the festival on Deep Space 9, despite the fact the Dominion War is raging.

On a more military note, Captain Sisko is awarded the Christopher Pike Medal of Valor in recognition of his remarkable leadership and meritorious conduct against the enemy, and in particular for acts of personal bravery displayed during the battle to retake Deep Space 9. The ceremony is followed by a briefing by Admiral Ross. Starfleet has decided to go on an offensive war and they have chosen Captain Sisko to plan the invasion of Cardassia.

Sisko then invites Miles O'Brien, Elim Garak and Worf to join him, Ross and General Martok in planning a first move against the Dominion. They finally settle for the Chin'toka system as it seems to be the weakest spot on the Dominion defense line. It seems that the only difficult part will be to convince the Romulans to agree to the attack plan.

At about the same time, Quark, Julian Bashir and Odo are all despairing at Quark's. Odo had his first argument with Kira and the poor Constable is sure it is the end of their relationship. Quark and Bashir, on the other hand, had just seen all their remaining hopes to Dax's heart vanish when they learn that Worf and Dax were thinking about having children, confirming the marriage for good. The two decide to go in a holosuite to seek counsel from the wise Vic Fontaine.

On Cardassia, Weyoun and Damar discuss the weak defense of the Chin'toka system. While Weyoun is worried, Damar is confident due to the construction of orbital weapon platform, which as well as being fully automated, also have highly effective weapons and defenses. However the discussion is interrupted when Gul Dukat arrives in Cardassian Central Command requesting a Bajoran artifact that was stolen during the Occupation, as well as swearing vengeance on Captain Sisko.

A little after, Benjamin Sisko is having dinner with his son and since the captain "did not overcook the rice", Jake understood that something big is preparing, and asks his father if he can come along. After the Captain realizes he won't be able to keep his son away from the action, he suggests Jake to start packing. As soon as Jake leaves, the Prophets contact Sisko to advise against the Emissary leaving the station.

Dukat releases the Pah-wraith

On Cardassia, Dukat gets the artifact, and tells Weyoun and Damar that the way to destroy the Bajorans is to take away their gods. He then recites an incantation and breaks the artifact, releasing a Pah-wraith that possesses the Cardassian.

On the station, Captain Sisko has received information regarding the orbital weapon platforms and decides the attack will happen the next day. After a briefing, Sisko tells Admiral Ross about the vision warning him not to go on the mission, to which Ross gives the Captain short shrift and reminds him that Starfleet are unhappy with a Starfleet Captain being a religious icon and tells him to choose between the two. Captain Sisko decides his loyalties lie with Starfleet and agrees to lead the invasion. The next morning, the Senior Officers (as well as Elim Garak and Jake) leave and Captain Sisko leaves Dax in charge of the station. Dax and Worf, after discussing the difficulties they could face in having children, share a loving embrace.

The combined fleet arrive at Chin'toka, and the Jem'Hadar inflict heavy losses on the Klingons with suicide runs on their ships. Despite this, Martok orders the fleet to fire on the weapon platforms. However only a few are taken out before they become active. Garak discovers that none of the platforms has a power generator, meaning they must all have a central source. Captain Sisko orders it found.

Aboard Deep Space 9, Doctor Bashir informs Dax that his efforts to enable Dax and Worf to have children has worked better than expected, and Dax should have no problems getting pregnant. Dax decides to go to the Bajoran Shrine, as Kira earlier asked the Prophets to help Dax and Worf have children. She goes and kneels before the Orb of Contemplation and as she realizes that her belief that the Prophets are nothing more than wormhole aliens is being questioned, Dukat suddenly beams aboard the station. As Dax reaches for her phaser, Dukat suddenly picks her up with fiery energy and then drops her lifeless body on the ground. He then effortlessly reaches through the force field and opens the Orb casing, upon which the Pah'wraith leaves his body into the Orb, causing it to turn black.

Outside the station, the wormhole opens and then seals itself.

On the Defiant, Captain Sisko feels that something is very wrong, and Jake is forced to help his father to his quarters. The power source is found on a nearby asteroid, but it is well protected by powerful shields. Chief O'Brien causes the weapon platforms to fire on the source by imprinting a fake Federation warp signature on the asteroid. With the platforms powerless, the Alliance is able to take the system, but the joy quickly evaporates when the Defiant receives a message from Deep Space 9.

On Cardassia, Weyoun is furious that not only has the Chin'toka system been overrun, but also the wormhole has vanished along with any hope of bringing reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant. Dukat reminds them that both Sisko and the Bajorans have lost contact with the Prophets, and assures Damar that this will help the Dominion.

Aboard DS9, Sisko is asked by a little girl to get the Prophets back. With many Bajorans watching, Sisko promises to try. Heading into the infirmary, Bashir informs everyone that while the Dax symbiont could be saved and must be immediately returned to Trill, there was nothing he could do for Jadzia.

As Sisko watches on, Worf and Jadzia share their final words, and Dax regrets that the two will now never have children. Jadzia dies, and as Worf howls to let the spirits know that Jadzia is on her way to Sto-vo-kor, a devastated Captain Sisko can do nothing but watch.

Later, Captain Sisko speaks to Jadzia as she lies in her coffin. He tells her how good a friend she has been to him, and is then upset as he tells her the full extent of the decision he made earlier. He has realized he should have listened to the Prophets and not gone on the mission, but instead he went and now it seems the Prophets have abandoned the Bajorans. He knows he has to get his head together and work out how to contact the Prophets, but he also knows he needs to get away from the station.

Captain Sisko applies for and is granted a leave of absence. When asked by Doctor Bashir when he plans to return, he replies that he doesn't know. He thanks all of his friends for everything, and he and Jake leave the station.

Entering Sisko's office, Kira notices that the captain has taken his cherished baseball with him. In other words, he doesn't know if he'll ever return to the station.

On Earth, Sisko scrubs clams at his father's restaurant, deep in thought about the future.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"By this time next year, the three of us will drink bloodwine in the halls of Cardassia's Central Command."

- Martok, to Sisko and Admiral Ross

"Romulans don't believe in luck."
"All the better! Leaves more for the rest of us."

- Senator Letant and Martok

"Klingons can be quite entertaining, can't they? Every Romulan zoo should have a pair!"

- Senator Letant

"This is a disaster! Federation soldiers have landed on Cardassian soil, and now you're telling me the wormhole is gone? And with it any chance of getting reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant!"
"I'm well aware things didn't turn out quite the way I planned, but I assure you we still achieved a great victory."

- Weyoun and Dukat

"The Prophets don't see me as a Starfleet captain. They see me as their Emissary."
"That's the problem, isn't it? For the past six years you've tried to be both. And up to now I've been patient. I've indulged you; I've gone out on a limb for you many times, but this is it. You need to make a decision. You are either the Emissary or a Starfleet captain. You can't be both."
"I'll... I'll be on the Defiant bridge at 0500."

- Sisko and Ross

"I know this is small comfort, but I never intended you any harm."

- Dukat, to the lifeless body of Jadzia Dax

"Pah-Wraiths and Prophets? All this talk of gods strikes me as nothing more than superstitious nonsense."
"You believe that the Founders are gods, don't you?"
"That's different."
"In what way?"
"The Founders are gods."

- Weyoun and Damar

"I was afraid of that... he's not sure he's coming back."
"What makes you say that?"
"His baseball, he took it with him."

- Kira and Odo

"I've found it. Behold, the key to victory. Oh, I see you remain skeptical. Well, you won't be for long. Over the past few months I've immersed myself in the study of the Bajoran ancient texts, and I've come to realize that the wormhole is much more than the gateway to the Gamma Quadrant. It's the temple of the Prophets. It's from there that they smile benevolently down on Bajor. It's from there that they protect that world and its people. The sad truth is we wasted our time fighting the Bajorans when we should've been fighting their gods."
"How do you fight a god?"
"I'll show you. You see, we have an ally we never knew we had. You may want to step back."

- Dukat and Damar

"You're right, Dukat. You have changed. You've gone from being a self-important egotist to a self-deluded madman. I hardly call that an improvement."

- Weyoun

"The funeral service is due to begin in a few minutes, Jadzia, but I need to talk to you one last time. When I first met you, you told me that my relationship with Jadzia Dax wouldn't be any different from the one I had with Curzon Dax. Things didn't work out that way. I had a hell of a lot of fun with both of you. Curzon was my mentor. You... you were my friend, and I am going to miss you. I should've listened to the Prophets and not gone to Cardassia. Then maybe you'd still be alive. Dammit! Why aren't you still here, Jadzia? I need you to help me sort things out. Something's happened to the Prophets...something that's made them turn their backs on Bajor and I'm responsible, and I don't know what to do about it... how to make it right again. I've failed as the Emissary, and for the first time in my life I've failed in my duty as a Starfleet officer. I need time to think, clear my head, but I can't do it here, not on the station, not now. I need to get away...and find a way to figure out how to make things right again. I have to make things right again, Jadzia. I have to."

- Benjamin Sisko

[edit] Background Information

John Eaves sketch of orbital weapon platform

[edit] Story and Script

This episode was originally entitled "Tears of the Gods".
According to Ira Steven Behr, the basic premise for this episode was very simple; "We're gonna send Sisko to Earth and all the gods will be dead." René Echevarria elaborates; "We basically knew we wanted to give Sisko a big setback, and have the Dominion attack the Prophets in some way, shape, or form." Important in the preliminary stages of formulating the idea was the episode "The Reckoning". As Echevarria explains, "By the end of that episode, time is sort of out of joint, and things are not as they were destined to be." Similarly, David Weddle, who co-wrote "The Reckoning" with Bradley Thompson, points out, "We loved the idea of the prophecy being unfulfilled. The Pah-wraiths weren't defeated and that enabled Dukat to call upon one." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) As such, this episode is something of a sequel to "The Reckoning" insofar as it examines the consequences of Kai Winn's actions, and her interruption of the battle between the Prophet and Kosst Amojan. Indeed, it is confirmed in "Shadows and Symbols" that the Pah-wraith seen in "Tears of the Prophets" is in fact Kosst Amojan.
Originally, the story involved the USS Defiant being away from the station on a mission to attack a biogenic plant protected by a large defensive grid. However, while the Defiant was on the mission, Dukat steals a shuttle from the station and takes a chroniton bomb into the Wormhole. Dax, who had been left in charge of the station, pursues him and is somehow killed in her efforts to stop him destroying the Wormhole. However, the writers couldn't decide exactly how to kill her off. As Behr explains, "We had many discussions about what constitutes a heroic death. There were a lot of clichés to avoid. And some clichés that were necessary." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
The first draft of the script by Behr and Hans Beimler changed the idea slightly, insofar as Dukat takes a chroniton generator into the Wormhole rather than a bomb. Jadzia pursues him and he simply kills her with a phaser. Michael Piller however, now acting as creative consultant on the show, disliked this scene; "I felt that they had missed an opportunity for drama and for the emotional impact of her death. It felt rushed, and you really lost the chance for a goodbye scene that would leave the audience choked up." As such, the decision was made to allow Dax to live long enough to say goodbye to Worf. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
Dukat's role in the final script also changed. As Echevarria says, "Dukat had to get a shuttle, a chroniton generator, an Orb. It was all too mechanical, all comings and going in a spacecraft. It didn't have the kind of mythic proportions that we were looking for." The writers discussed how best to tackle the problem, and Ronald D. Moore suggested that Dukat somehow use a Pah-wraith to destroy the wormhole, while Echevarria suggested that Dukat actually allows himself to be possessed. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
The scripting of this episode as well as discussions by senior writing staff pertaining to the death of Jadzia Dax are chronicled and partially reproduced in Star Trek: Action!, released by Pocket Books.
Worf's farewell song to Jadzia is: "Only Qo'noS endures. All we can hope for is a glorious death. Only Qo'noS endures. In death there is victory and honor." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
Just as it had in the fifth season finale, "Call to Arms", and just as it would in the seventh season finale, "What You Leave Behind", Sisko's baseball, carries great thematic significance at the end of this episode; whereas in "Call to Arms", he had left it behind to indicate to Dukat that he would be returning to the station, in "Tears of the Prophets" he brings it back to Earth with him, suggesting to Kira that he does not know when, or indeed if, he will be returning.

[edit] Jadzia Dax

Shooting Jadzia Dax's death scene

This episode marks the death of Jadzia Dax, and thus the departure of Terry Farrell from the series. Ira Behr never wanted to kill Dax at all, and he has stated, "I didn't want to kill Jadzia. To me, that had very little to do with good storytelling." However, it was generally agreed that the writers had little choice but to kill her.
In terms of leaving the show, Terry Farrell commented, "My heart said it was time to move on. After playing the character for six years, there's things I wish we would have done. I wish I would have had at least one fight scene this year. But there's nine major characters, so the writers can only do so much. I've had six years and one hundred fifty episodes of experience on this show, so my sadness is more in saying goodbye to the people. I don't feel cheated out of the character in the same way as I would have if the show had been cancelled, because I've gotten the opportunity to play her." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
Of her death scene, Farrell has said, "It was really hard because my eyes wouldn't stop tearing, and it was very hard to, you know, every time Worf does that guttural scream, water would spurt out of my eyes. I don't think that on my close-up he made the sound, because it was too hard. That was very difficult." (DS9 Season 6 DVD, Special Features: Hidden File 01).

[edit] Reaction

For most of the staff, the most important scene in the episode is Sisko's goodbye to Jadzia, because it explains what is going on in his mind; as Hans Beimler states, "Ira and I wanted to find the anguish of the man and focus on what it really was about. The scene had to be about some deep lasting inner truth about Sisko. We had a lot of questions to answer. Why is Sisko leaving the station? Why does he feel he has to go home? We felt that if he could answer those questions, he wouldn't need to go home, so we had to answer them for the viewer by letting them see through Sisko's eyes without being too specific as to where he is in his mind." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
In the end, despite all the problems putting the script together, Ira Behr was extremely happy with this episode; "Everything from the invasion of Cardassia to lovely scenes with Weyoun, Damar and Dukat, to Pah-wraiths and Prophet visitations. All this and Vic Fontaine too. It an amazingly busy show that seems to be bursting at the seams. Usually, when we do something like this, it's a setup, and we pay it off later on. This time, because of Dax, in a way, we had to set it up and pay it off all in one episode. But that means you'll get a lot of bang for your buck. I think it's a wonderful entrance into the seventh and final season." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

[edit] Production

This is the 150th episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
This episode features the last chronological appearance of the second-generation TNG uniforms (first seen in "Evolution") in command red, as worn by two officers present during the briefing room scene. Two officers later appear wearing TNG operations-gold uniforms in an establishing shot of Starfleet Headquarters in VOY: "Pathfinder", because this shot was recycled from DS9: "Homefront". William Riker and Deanna Troi later appear in TNG uniforms in ENT: "These Are the Voyages...".
The blue Federation flag that graces Dax's coffin was later reused in ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II", in the USS Defiant's briefing room.

[edit] Continuity

The title of this episode is similar to a line spoken in "Emissary", the series pilot. When Kai Opaka shows Sisko an Orb for the first time, she explains it is a "tear of The Prophets".
It is not clear why, when Sisko was removed from the bridge of the Defiant, that Kira took command of the ship and not Worf. We have seen in various episodes, and it was explicitly stated in "Apocalypse Rising", that the second in command of the Defiant, is Worf, while Kira is second in command of Deep Space 9.
This episode confirms what is alluded to in "The Reckoning"; that the Dominion have not attempted to bring any reinforcements into the Alpha Quadrant since their fleet was destroyed by the Prophets in "Sacrifice of Angels".
This episode features the First Battle of Chin'toka.
Martok's forecast about the victorious end of the War in one year ties into the fact that the writers expected Deep Space Nine to last one more year (making a total of seven seasons), and their intention to end the series with the end of the war and victory by the Federation, Klingon Defense Forces and Romulan Star Empire.
The Gratitude Festival was first seen in the third season episode "Fascination".
Bashir and Quark's reaction to the news that Dax and Worf are going to try for a baby recalls their conversation in "Change of Heart", where they both realize that they are still in love with her.
This episode represents the first time we have seen the 'real' Damar and Weyoun since "Statistical Probabilities". Both were seen as hallucinations in "Waltz", and both were seen as holograms in "In the Pale Moonlight". Weyoun was also seen as a hologram in "Inquisition".
During the wardroom briefing, two Starfleet officers are wearing the old style command-red uniform as opposed to the new grey one, suggesting that the uniform is still in service.
Michelle Horn (Saghi) later appears in "Penumbra".

[edit] Deleted scene

A scene deleted from the episode saw Sisko, Worf, Garak and O'Brien selecting a Cardassian target to attack:
- The Torg'Q system was the first to be suggested by Worf, as it was the closest system along the border to Cardassia Prime, however it was also the most heavily fortified. One advantage of this fact was that the Dominion would never expect an attack there, but the disadvantage was that the element of surprise might not last long, resulting in heavy casualties.
- The Ventani system was the second target, chosen by Garak, because Ventani II was the birthplace of Tret Akleen, the father of the Cardassian Empire. Garak suggested that such a loss of sacred ground would be devastating to the Cardassians, and a great propaganda victory. Disadvantages of this target were that the system had little strategic value, and its loss would have no effect on the Jem'Hadar.
- O'Brien finally chose the Chin'toka system, because he had noticed that sensor scans of the warp signatures from the Dominion fleet stationed there was slightly different (and almost "too synchronized") than previous scans, suggesting that they were fake signatures.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 6.13, catalogue number VHR 4614, 28 December 1998.
As part of the DS9 Season 6 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Regular Cast

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] External links

Tears of the Prophets at Wikipedia
Tears of the Prophets (episode) at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works

Previous episode:
"The Sound of Her Voice"

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Season 6

Next episode:
"Image in the Sand"

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