| “ | I'm sure you share my delight in knowing that life here is returning to normal. The shops are reopening, the Promenade is abuzz with activity once again. The Habitat ring echoes with the laughter of happy children. | „ |
| “ | I've doubled security patrols throughout the station. | „ |
| ~ Weyoun and Damar show differing attitudes to the Bajorans. |
Damar is a Cardassian and supporting antagonist in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Introduced in the fourth season episode "Return to Grace", he reappeared in the first and last episodes of season five before becoming a major antagonist (and later ally) in seasons six and seven.
He was portrayed by Casey Biggs.
Biography[]
Damar was the first officer of Gul Dukat when the latter was demoted to freighter captain over a scandal following the discovery of his illegitimate, half-Bajoran daughter Tora Ziyal. When they discovered a Cardassian outpost had been destroyed by the Klingons, Damar assisted Dukat in disabling and capturing the Klingon ship, then joined him on his quest to use the ship to conduct a private war against the Klingons, who had invaded Cardassian space. Damar remained at Dukat's side when Dukat did a deal with the Dominion, allying the Cardassian Union with them with Dukat installed as subject ruler of Cardassia. When war broke out with the Federation, Dukat and Damar, along with the Vorta Weyoun, led a combined Cardassian-Dominion fleet to capture Deep Space 9, although not before the Federation had mined the entrance to the wormhole. Both Dukat and Damar showed an interest in reoccupying Bajor, but Weyoun reminded them the Dominion had a non-aggression treaty with the planet. Nevertheless, Damar's contempt for Bajorans was obvious.
Damar made an error in allowing a report recommending the Jem'Hadar be killed if the Dominion ran out of ketracel-white to be stolen and leaked, sparking a brawl between the Jem'Hadar and Cardassians. However, he redeemed himself in Dukat's eyes by coming up with a way to use the station's deflectors to disable the minefield. Ordered to fetch Ziyal to stand at Dukat's side in their moment of triumph, he tried to bring her by force and received a beating from Major Kira for his troubles. Damar's plan succeeded but Captain Sisko convinced the Prophets to stop Dominion reinforcements using the wormhole. With Kira having sabotaged the station's weapons and Federation and Klingon ships on the way, Weyoun gave the order to evacuate. Damar overheard Ziyal admitting she had helped Kira and murdered her in cold blood, seeing it as executing a traitor. This caused Dukat to have a breakdown and he was left behind as Damar evacuated with the others.
Damar found himself installed as the new leader of Cardassia but, lacking Dukat's charisma, he was very much treated as an underling by Weyoun and the Female Changeling. He joined Weyoun in negotiating access to the resources needed to manufacture ketracel-white, organised the failed defence of the Chin'toka system and gave Dukat some assistance in trying to enlist the help of the Pah-Wraiths. He may have arranged a transporter accident that killed Weyoun, but he was quickly replaced by a clone, Weyoun 6. When this clone tried to defect to the Federation, Damar convinced his replacement, Weyoun 7, to destroy the runabout he was travelling in, even though it risked the life of Odo who was the priority of the Founders, although Weyoun 6's suicide left the attack unnecessary.
Damar had developed an over-fondness of drink as he found himself more and more sidelined on his own planet. A visit from Dukat, now committed to the Pah-Wraiths rather than the Cardassians, convinced him that he needed to be the strong Cardassian leader that his mentor had once been. When Weyoun allowed a Cardassian garrison to be wiped out in order to use up Federation resources, Damar realised the Dominion cared nothing about Cardassian lives. The final straw came when the Dominion formed an alliance with the Breen and handed over Cardassian territory to them. Damar freed the captured Worf and Ezri Dax, telling them to let the Federation know they had a friend on Cardassia.
Working with his old friend Gul Rusot, Damar began gathering together officers willing to join him in rebellion against the Dominion. Just as the Dominion celebrated the recapture of Chin'toka, Damar broadcast a quadrant-wide message: He and his allies had attacked and destroyed the Dominion cloning facilities. He urged all Cardassians to rise up against the Dominion, saying they had been conquered without a shot being fired.
Although the attack had been successful, it cost Damar most of his fleet so he accepted aid from Kira, Odo and Garak in organising guerilla tactics against the Dominion, reluctantly agreeing to fight Cardassians who still served them. He agreed to help steal a new Breen weapon for the Federation, recognising they were now his allies. En route, he heard that his wife and son had been executed, prompting a caustic remark from Kira about the Cardassians using the same tactics when they ruled Bajor. During the operation, Rusot panicked and threatened to shoot Kira, urging Damar to join him and steal the weapon for themselves. Instead, Damar killed Rusot, noting he was his friend but that Rusot's Cardassia was dead and wasn't coming back.
Damar returned to Cardassia with Kira and Garak, only to learn his resistance had been betrayed and all their bases wiped out. However, the Cardassian population was still willing to follow him and he urged them to rise up and commit acts of sabotage. When the Dominion began destroying cities in retaliation, Damar and his allies, with a small number of loyal Cardassians, decided to capture Dominion HQ. They arrived to see Legate Broca, who had replaced Damar as leader of the Dominion-allied Cardassians, and his aides dragged out and executed, as the beginning of the Dominion's planned genocide. Damar used the opportunity to lead an assault on the understaffed base. The assault succeeded but Damar was killed early on in the battle.
Trivia[]
- Damar was referred to simply as Damar on screen. His first name, Corat, was first used in the novel A Stitch in Time and reappears several times in the novel continuity.
- There is some confusion over when Damar was promoted to legate. Some sources place it as early as "Statistical Probabilities", his first episode as Cardassian leader, but the episode refers to him as being a gul. Others place it in the sixth season finale, "Tears of the Prophets". However, he is still referred to as Gul Damar as late as the seventh season episode "Inter Arna Einem Silent Leges". He is first referred to as Legate Damar in the following episode, "Penumbra", which marks the beginning of the show's final arc, suggesting the promotion was immediately before those events.
