Worf (Michael Dorn). The first Klingon warrior to serve in the Federation Starfleet and an influential figure in Klingon politics. (“Encounter at Farpoint, Part I” [TNG]). Childhood and family. Worf, son of Mogh, was born on the Klingon Homeworld in 2340. (“Sins of the Father” [TNG]). As a young child, Worf was fond of his pet targ. (“Where No One Has Gone Before” [TNG]). He accompanied his parents to the Khitomer outpost in 2346. Worf was orphaned later that year in the brutal Khitomer massacre, a Romulan attack in which 4,000 Klingons were killed. Worf was rescued by Sergey Rozhenko, a human crew member from the U.S.S. Intrepid. Sergey and his wife, Helena Rozhenko, adopted Worf and raised him as their own son, because it was believed that Worf had no remaining family on the Homeworld. (“Sins of the Father” [TNG]). With his new family on the farm world of Gault (“Heart of Glory” [TNG]), and later on Earth, Worf found it difficult to fit into the alien world of humans and was a bit of a hell-raiser. (“Family” [TNG]). In 2353, while living on Gault, Worf accidentally caused the death of a human boy named Mikel during a soccer match. During a championship game Mikel’s and Worf’s heads collided, breaking the human boy’s neck. Worf felt responsible, and ever since that day, Worf practiced extreme restraint whenever dealing with humans, who were physically fragile compared to Klingons. (“Let He Who Is Without Sin…” [DS9]). Worf was raised along with an adoptive brother, Nikolai Rozhenko, the Rozhenkos’ biological son. (“Homeward” [TNG]). For some reason, Worf’s experiences on Earth never included drinking prune juice. When given a taste of it by Guinan in 2366, Worf pronounced it “a warrior’s drink.” (“Yesterday’s Enterprise” [TNG]). Worf visited the homeworld as a boy, but he was shunned by his cousins for being too human. His parents once allowed him to visit No’Mat, where a vision of Kahless the Unforgettable appeared to Worf, telling him that he would do something no other Klingon had ever done. (“The Sword of Kahless” [DS9]). Nikolai entered Starfleet Academy at the same time as Worf, but later dropped out because he found Starfleet not to his liking. (“Heart of Glory” [TNG]). Worf’s hobbies include building models of ancient Klingon ocean sailing vessels in a bottle, considered difficult handiwork. (“Peak Performance” [TNG]). Worf’s adoptive parents remained close to him over the years, and made it a point to visit him in early 2367when the Enterprise -D was docked at Earth Station McKinley for repairs. (“Family” [TNG]). Worf had a son, Alexander Rozhenko, in 2366, with Ambassador K’Ehleyr, with whom he had been romantically involved. When K’Ehleyr was murdered by Klingon high council member Duras, Alexander returned to Earth to be cared for by Sergey and Helena. (“Reunion” [TNG]). The first Klingon in Starfleet. Following his graduation from Starfleet Academy in 2361, Worf held the rank of lieutenant, junior grade, and served as flight control officer (conn) aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise -D. (“Encounter at Farpoint” [TNG]). (There is a three-year period between his graduation and the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation that is still unaccounted for.) Worf was promoted to acting chief of security and made a full lieutenant following the death of Lieutenant Natasha Yar at planet Vagra II in late 2364. (“Skin of Evil” [TNG]). Worf felt intense guilt when Lieutenant Marla Aster was accidentally killed on an away mission in 2366, orphaning her son Jeremy Aster. Worf later took Jeremy into his family through the Klingon R’uustai, or bonding, ceremony. (“The Bonding” [TNG]). In 2368, Worf’s spinal column was shattered in an accident when several cargo containers collapsed onto him. Worf was left paralyzed, and his prognosis indicated little hope for a full recovery. In accordance with Klingon tradition, Worf refused medical treatment and opted for the Hegh’bat form of ritual suicide. He was dissuaded from taking his life when Dr. Toby Russell performed a dangerous experimental surgical procedure called genetronic replication, in which a new spinal column was generated to replace the damaged organ. The surgery was successful, in part because Klingon physiology includes redundancy for nearly all vital bodily functions. (“Ethics” [TNG]). SEE: brak’lul. Worf once investigated a claim that his father had not died at Khitomer, but was instead being held prisoner at a secret Romulan prison camp in the Carraya System. Although the report was false, Worf did indeed find a prison camp where survivors of the Khitomer massacre and their families were being held. At the camp, Worf fell in love with a half-Romulan, half-Klingon woman named Ba’el. Worf led some of the prisoners to freedom, but the majority (including Ba’el) chose to remain, regarding the Carraya prison as their home. (“Birthright, Parts I and II” [TNG]). Worf and the freed prisoners all promised never to reveal the story of the prison camp at Carraya, so we assume neither Starfleet nor the Klingon government have knowledge of it. Worf was promoted to lieutenant commander in 2371 in a ceremony held on a holodeck representation of the 19th-century sailing frigate Enterprise. (Star Trek Generations). Following the  destruction of the Enterprise -D, Worf returned to study for a year at the monastery on Boreth before he accepted an assignment to serve as strategic operations officer at station Deep Space 9. The promotion marked a change in career path for Worf, from operations to command. (“The Way of the Warrior” [DS9]). For some reason, Worf found living on the station uncomfortable, so he moved his residence from quarters from in the station to a stateroom aboard the U.S.S. Defiant. (“Bar Association” [DS9]). Worf took advantage of time alone on the Defiant by playing Klingon opera very loudly on the ship’s sound sound system. He particularly liked the singing of Barak-Kadan. (“Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places” [DS9]). In 2373, Worf found himself attracted to the Lady Grilka when she visited station Deep Space 9, although she prefered the company of Quark. Worf’s interest in Grilka nearly blinded him to the attentions of Jadzia Dax, who had always had a fascination for things Klingon. It was not until the two shared a holosuite opera of Kahless and Lukara that Worf and Jadzia consummated their romantic relationship. (“Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places” [DS9]). Worf commanded the Starship Defiant on stardate 50893 as part of the Starfleet armada that intercepted a Borg cube at Earth. After the Defiant was incapacitated in that battle, Worf and his crew were beamed aboard the Starship Enterprise -E, where Worf served as tactical officer for the remainder of the encounter. (Star Trek: First Contact). He returned to the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine the following week. In Klingon politics. Worf was thrust into high-level Klingon politics in 2366 when he discovered that he had a biological brother, Kurn. The Klingon High Council had ruled that their father, Mogh, had committed treason years ago at Khitomer. Worf and Kurn challenged this judgment, but found the High Council unwilling to hear evidence that the politically powerful Duras family had falsified the charges against Mogh. Although Worf was willing to die in the challenge to protect his family honor, he eventually chose to accept a humiliating discommendation rather than allow his brother to be killed. (“Sins of the Father” [TNG]). Worf later killed Duras for having murdered K’Ehleyr. (“Reunion” [TNG]). Worf was once again dragged into high-level Klingon politics in late 2367 and early 2368 when a challenge to Gowron’s reign by the Duras family triggered a Klingon civil war. Worf and Kurn agreed to support the Gowron regime in exchange for the rightful restoration of honor to the Mogh family. During the conflict, Worf was forced to resign his Starfleet commission because he would not otherwise be permitted to take sides in that internal political matter. (“Redemption, Parts I and II” [TNG]). In 2369, Worf experienced a crisis of faith, and requested a leave of absence to visit the Klingon monastery on Boreth. While meditating to invoke visions of Kahless the Unforgettable, Worf met a very real vision of Kahless. It was discovered that this Kahless was in fact a clone of the original, created by the clerics of Boreth. At Worf’s suggestion, and with the support of Chancellor Gowron, the new Kahless was installed as the ceremonial emperor of the Klingon people in 2369. (“Rightful Heir” [TNG]). Despite Worf’s support of Gowron’s regime, he refused to join in the Klingon invasion of Cardassia in 2372, an act of defiance for which Gowron ordered Worf’s family removed from the High Council, his titles stripped, his land seized, making Worf persona non grata anywhere in the empire. (“The Way of the Warrior” [DS9]). Shortly thereafter, Worf became an pawn in a deception orchestrated by the Klingon government. Worf was accused of destroying a civilian transport ship and murdering 441 Klingon citizens. A hearing at Deep Space 9 revealed that government agents had faked the deaths by using the names of Klingon citizens who had died earlier in a crash on Galorda Prime. The Gowron regime had hoped to disgrace Worf, and to gain sympathy for the empire’s plan to annex Cardassian territory. (“Rules of Engagement” [DS9]). Worf’s first appearance was in “Encounter at Farpoint” [TNG]). He was a regular during all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and subsequently became a series regular on Star  Trek: Deep Space Nine beginning with “The Way of the Warrior” (DS9), the opening episode of that show’s fourth season. The character was conceived by Gene Roddenberry and Bob Justman, who wanted a Klingon on the Enterprise -D bridge as a reminder to the audience that today’s enemies can become tomorrow’s friends. Although Worf was originally intended to be little more than a costumed extra with elaborate makeup, he has since grown into one of the most complex and interesting of Star Trek characters. Addendum: The first Klingon warrior to serve in the Federation Starfleet. When Worf was a boy growing up in Russia (“Image in the Sand” [DS9]), his father used to take him and his brother Nikolai on camping trips in the Ural Mountains. Every night they would listen to the wolves howling in the distance. Nikolai was afraid of them, but Worf would lie in his tent for hours just listening. Worf would later recall that he secretly felt the urge to strip off his clothes and run into the night to live in the forest as something wild. SEE: Rozhenko, Nikolai. (“Change of Heart” [DS9]). During the Dominion war, Worf served aboard the Bird-of-Prey Rotarran under General Martok. So pleased was Martok with Worf that he made Worf a member of the House of Martok. (“Soldiers of the Empire” [DS9]). In late 2373, Worf and Jadzia became engaged to be married. (“Call to Arms” [DS9]). Worf never felt fully comfortable with his son, Alexander, and the two became further estranged when Alexander went to live with Worf’s parents on Earth. Worf reacted angrily when Alexander subsequently joined the Klingon Defense Force and the two served together aboard the bird-of-prey I.K.S. Rotarran, but the two began to heal their relationship when Alexander agreed to join his father as a member of the House of Martok. (“Sons and Daughters” [DS9]). Ever since he was a boy, Worf had always wanted a traditional Klingon wedding, possibly as a way of compensating for the fact that he was raised in human society. In 2374, on stardate 51247, Worf got his wish when he and Dax were married in a traditional Klingon ceremony on Deep Space 9. In the ceremony, his son Alexander was Worf’s Tawi’Yan, or sword bearer. (“You Are Cordially Invited” [DS9]). On stardate 51597.2, Worf commanded a mission into Dominion territory to extract a vital Starfleet operative from possible Dominion capture. The mission was a failure when the informant was killed by Jem’Hadar forces after Worf chose to care for his wife, who had been critically wounded, instead of making the rendezvous with the informant. SEE: Lasaran, Glinn. Captain Sisko subsequently entered another serious reprimand in Worf’s record after the incident, meaning that Worf had little chance of ever being granted a command of his own by Starfleet. (“Change of Heart” [DS9]). Worf was deeply in love with Jadzia, but his dream of raising a family with her was shattered in 2374 when Jadzia was tragically killed by a Pah-wraith inhabiting the body of Gul Dukat. (“Tears of the Prophets” [DS9]). After her death, Worf worried that Jadzia had not died in battle, and might therefore be denied entry to Sto-Vo-Kor in the afterlife. (“Image in the Sand” [DS9]). He therefore volunteered for a dangerous mission, dedicating the glorious victory to her name so that she might have a place among the honored dead. In this effort, Worf was assisted by his friends Julian Bashir, Miles O’Brien, and Quark, who also risked their lives to honor Jadzia. (“Shadows and Symbols” [DS9]). Upon his return, however, Worf was faced with an unexpected challenge: the emotionally difficult task of meeting the new host to the Dax symbiont. Worf’s discomfort was so  great that Ezri Dax nearly refused a posting to Deep Space 9 out of respect for Worf’s feelings. She agreed to stay only after Worf indicated that he believed Jadzia would have wanted him to accept her as the new host. (“Afterimage” [DS9]). In 2375, Worf briefly rejoined the crew of the Enterprise -E to prevent the Ba’ku people from being forcibly removed from their homeworld by the Son’a. (Star Trek: Insurrection). During the final weeks of the Dominion war, Worf became appalled that Chancellor Gowron was squandering the lives of Klingon warriors in pursuit of personal political gain. Worf urged the chancellor to reconsider his strategies, but was rebuffed. Soon, Worf realized that Gowron’s politically-motivated decisions threatened the survival of the empire itself. Worf challenged and slew Gowron in a bat’leth fight for honor, and in so doing, earned the right to lead the high council. Nevertheless, Worf believed that the interests of his people would be best served with Martok leading the empire, so Worf stood aside and Martok became chancellor. (“Tacking into the Wind” [DS9]). After the Dominion war, Worf became the Federation ambassador to Qo’noS. (“What You Leave Behind” [DS9]).