KTF/Honor And Dishonor
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Culture Basics HONOR AND DISHONOR AMONG THE KLINGONS by Michael J. Caruso “A Klingon’s honor means more to him than his life.” This statement was made by Kurn, son of Mogh, to his elder brother, Worf. Perhaps a more accurate statement would have been, “A true Klingon’s honor means more to him than his life.” Why say this? Are there not many Klingons in the Star Trek universe portrayed as greatly lacking in honor?
Klingons have not always been a race associated with honor. Kronos was once a planet ruled by a cruel people, a people who ran roughshod over the weaker among them. This remained the status quo, until a time came in the 9th century (all dates given are Terran), when a Klingon with an honorable soul rebelled against a leader who had given the order to slaughter those who could not afford to pay the outrageous tribute he had demanded. Taxes that would have left villages to die slow deaths from starvation, while the warlord and his men lived an opulent lifestyle.
After the day of that warlord’s defeat, the dictates of honor grew to be a part of all aspects of Klingon life as well as in the battlefield. A Klingon’s word, in the business place and all other aspects of life, was as good as a written contract.
In the centuries that followed the defeat of the warlord, a Klingon’s actions not only came to reflect upon his own honor, but also upon the honor of his family. All shared in the glorious deeds of their clansmen and clanswomen. The honors brought to their Houses also carried with them an increase in political strength as well as prestige.
Klingons not only respect honor within their own society, they admire any person or race that exhibits that very same trait. When the Narr attacked the Klingon agricultural colony on Signi Beta and the U.S.S. Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, came to their aid, the Klingons on that agricultural colony were shocked that the Terrans fought at their sides, in defense of the settlement. It must have seemed very odd to them, especially since the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets had been in a contest to see which of them would colonize the planet.
Commander Kor had once told Kirk that he was disappointed that the Organians had put a halt to an impending war. He would have reveled in the glory. How difficult it must have been for him to fight alongside his one-time adversary, but the truly honorable Kor rose above his prejudices and, through no little effort of Kirk’s, the Klingons and the Narr (who the Klingons found to be honorable warriors, also) discovered common ground and were able to cease hostilities. So impressed were the Klingons that an enemy of the Empire would go to such lengths when answering a distress call from a Klingon colony, that they set aside the anniversary of those days on Signi Beta as the Day of Honor celebration throughout the Klingon Empire. It is a time of great revelry and festivals, but most of all it is a reminder that even ones enemies may possess and act with the same sense of honor as that of a Klingon.
According to Klingon mytho-historical legends, Kahless, the rebel who overthrew the tyrant Molor, was a simple warrior. He wanted no more than to serve his leader and live the life of a warrior. He was a skilled fighter and a clever strategist. But beneath the savagery, his heart held a burning knowledge of right and wrong, along with an innate sense of honor. Kahless may have needed his warrior-brother, Morath, to goad him into doing the right thing, but, once he started on the glory road, there was nothing that would stop him.
Not so was the tyrant, Molor. Fierce and vicious, he may have been, but not within. Within, he was much like any bully, a coward. After years of fighting, Kahless and Molor once again came face to face. Molor had aged fast and hard from the stress and worry that the rebellion had brought him. Where he once might have been more than Kahless’ equal in a fight, he was no longer a match for his one-time officer. In the end, he showed further lack of honor by trying to defeat Kahless through deceit.
Molor may not have been the first Klingon without honor and Kahless may not have been the first honorable Klingon, still, they are excellent examples of both ends of the spectrum.
A fine example of an honorable House, contrasted with a dishonorable house, is the House of Mogh compared to the House of Duras. The only thing that could be said to be greater than the House of Mogh’s sense of honor was its loyalty to the Klingon Empire and his friends. When honor called and Mogh came to the aid of the House of Huraga during their blood feud with the House of Duras, he unknowingly set into motion a chain of events that would end in the House of Mogh becoming falsely dishonored through the guile and deceit of the House of Duras.
Many years after being defeated by the combined strength of those two Houses, Ja’rod, the leader of the House of Duras, orchestrated his revenge against the House of Mogh through his betrayal of the Klingon Empire to the Romulan Star Empire. Ja’rod supplied the Romulans with the information needed for a successful surprise attack on Khitomer in 2346. Mogh and his wife were both killed in the raid. Worf, son of Mogh, was the only known survivor of the attack, Mogh’s infant son, Kurn, who was under the care of friends in the House of Noggra, also survived in secrecy for many years. Ja’rod escaped the massacre by cowardly fleeing shortly before the attack began.
The dishonor of the House of Duras did not stop with Ja’rod. Duras, the son of Ja’rod, compounded the transgressions of his family, about twenty years later, by falsely accusing the House of Mogh for his own House’s traitorous actions. When the Son’s of Mogh were reunited aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, Kurn informed Worf of the Duras’ plot to dishonor their House. With the aid of Captain Picard, Worf was able to untangle the web of deceit and discover that the truth was already known to key persons in the Klingon High Council.
Realizing that making this deception known to the entirety of the Empire would have dire consequences throughout all Klingon worlds, perhaps end result being civil war, Worf opted for Discommendation. This meant that Worf, alone, since none of the High Council knew Kurn’s true identity, would take the brunt of this false dishonor. Stripped of his honor, labeled a coward and essentially a pariah and non-entity in the Klingon Empire, Worf bided his time looking forward to day that he would be able to right the wrongs perpetrated by the House of Duras and reinstate the House of Mogh to its rightful place in the Empire.
That sacrifice, more than all the other acts attributed to Worf, is evidence of the depths to which the roots of Worf’s honor reach. Being willing to bear that shame and ouster from Klingon society, while all the time knowing that those who orchestrated the entire situation were those who were truly at fault, demands a great deal of character.
In the year 2367, Duras, son of Ja’rod, sunk even deeper into the mire of dishonor by slowly poisoning K’mpec, Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, in attempt to set himself at the reins of the Empire. With all the players on board the U.S.S. Enterprise it seems that it was inevitable that the truth would come out. As it was, K’Ehleyr and Alexander, Worf’s mate and their young son, were part of the scenario. K’Ehleyr discovered the facts behind Worf’s Discommendation and was slain by Duras in a feeble and ill-advised attempt to maintain the cover-up. Worf claimed the Klingon “Right of Vengeance” and easily dispatched the traitorous Duras. This eased the way for Gowron, the only other challenger for the position of Chancellor, to rise to the office.
The Houses of Mogh and Duras exemplify the polar extremes of the dichotomy of honor that exists within the Klingon culture.
Gowron became the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council in the year 2367. Much intrigue surrounded the passing of the Chancellor’s mantle. Duras had poisoned K’mpec and nearly succeeded in implicating Gowron as the architect of the cowardly deed. Duras later sought to kill Gowron, but failed in the attempt.
Further controversy over the installation of Gowron brought the Klingon Empire into a civil war, the opposition being lead by Lursa and B’Etor, the sisters of Duras. With the help of Worf, his brother, Kurn and the United Federation of Planets’ unveiling a Romulan connection to the House of Duras, Gowron finally sat in the Great Hall as the uncontested leader of the Empire.
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