Garak and Exhile

[Benj]

Not sure if this is obvious or not, but why on earth was Garak in DS9 exhiled from Cardassia? I think Inhibrim Tain (his father) is involved. can anyone enlighten me?

[the Fifth Race]

Not sure if this is obvious or not, but why on earth was Garak in DS9 exhiled from Cardassia? I think Inhibrim Tain (his father) is involved. can anyone enlighten me?

It never really came out exactly why he was exiled. Garak did mention more than few times while talking with Dr. Bashir that he was somewhat puzzled why Tain exiled him. Garak was very non-commital about everything he talked about, alot of what he said was innuendo and half truths. He did speculate a couple times with Bashir why he might have been exiled, one of the reasons he gave was he got tired of torturing people and went against his father wishes about a paticular incident with some Bajouran refugees towards the end of the occupation he set free.

[Missster.Freeman]

I tried to add my 2 pence earlier, but GateWorld's been slow for me again.

My thoughts are that Garak's exile could have been self imposed. Like you said in your second answer Fifth Race, he grew tired of torturing people. It's possible that he wanted to get away from his past life. I'm just speculating though, I can't remember the conversations between Garak, Bashir and Tain.

[Starbase]

Fifth is right in the fact they really never told us exactly why Garak was exiled if in fact he truly was. I can remember numerous conversations where Garak vaguely talked about how he missed Cardassia and it seemed like he genuinly missed it enough that he would'nt have self-imposed his exile. That being said, watching Garak over the years, it does seem entirely possible that Garak just might have self imposed his exile like you suggested Mr Freeman and Fifth.

[the Fifth Race]

Maybe Garak exiled himself because the Obsidian Order had found out that Garak was Tain's son and it did'nt wash well with the Order's powers that be?.

Great observations Missster Freeman and Starbase. This is also a very good question you posted benj ^5.

[Wolf Eire]

I sincerely doubt he imposed the exile on himself. Living on Deep Space 9 was a torture for Garak. For one it was too cold and bright for him and secondly living amongst Bajorans on the station directly after the occupation was not comfortable for him to say the least. He tells us this in The Wire. So miserable was it for him in fact, that he turned on an implant in his head permenently to feed him endorphins to combat the misery and depression. Also in the episode Cardassians I think when he goes to the Bajoran orphanage on Bajor he tells us he hasn't been off the station since his exile and it was not safe for him to do so. His exile in my opinion is clearly imposed on him by an outside force. I can't figure out what he did but it's Tain who imposed it on him. I got that distinct feeling from the bitterness he showed to Bashir about Garak in The Wire, the conversation Tain and Garak have in The Die is Cast/Improbable Cause and also he says to Tain "I never betrayed you, at least not in my heart I didn't." He clearly committed some act which saw him banished by the Obsidian Order and particularly Tain. Garak really is an mystery wrapped in an enigma. He is so cryptic and confusing it's impossible to figure out what happened. Part of me wants to know what did but another part of me thinks it is fitting for him that we never find out.

[Anubis69]

^You're right. Garak was all about mystery, it's kinda good we can still come up with new points abou DS9 and discuss....

I agree with most of the stuff above, so i won't repeat it all. Just say that it must involve Tain, perhaps something personal involving him and Garak and Tain could've used his professional power to push him into exile.

[Wolf Eire]

Well DS9 is my favourite show, I could talk about it until the cows come home. It's hard to know what you'd even call "personal" between Garak and Tain. After all the man treated Garak not at all as a son but only as a fellow professional. They appear to have had a creepily distant family relationship yet a close professional one. Perhaps Garak could have done something which he felt as beneficial to the Cardassian Empire which Tain did not agree with explaining the "I never betrayed you, at least not in my heart" remark. However perhaps Tain had him exiled as he may have felt he was a future threat to his position. Would you trust Garak if you were in such a position?

[Wolf Eire]

Was I seeing things or was your signature a pile of Irn Bru cans a second ago?

[Benj]

I'm glad this thread has generated interest as Garak is my favourite character, possibly in the whole of Sci-Fi. The Cardassians as a whole are a very well thought out interesting race and DS9 in my view was/is the best of the trek series. I only wish we saw the border war between the Cardassian Union and the Federation in detail on TNG. Perhaps some novels should be released as a prelude to DS9's main story.

[Missster.Freeman]

I sincerely doubt he imposed the exile on himself. Living on Deep Space 9 was a torture for Garak. For one it was too cold and bright for him and secondly living amongst Bajorans on the station directly after the occupation was not comfortable for him to say the least. He tells us this in The Wire. So miserable was it for him in fact, that he turned on an implant in his head permenently to feed him endorphins to combat the misery and depression. Also in the episode Cardassians I think when he goes to the Bajoran orphanage on Bajor he tells us he hasn't been off the station since his exile and it was not safe for him to do so. His exile in my opinion is clearly imposed on him by an outside force. I can't figure out what he did but it's Tain who imposed it on him. I got that distinct feeling from the bitterness he showed to Bashir about Garak in The Wire, the conversation Tain and Garak have in The Die is Cast/Improbable Cause and also he says to Tain "I never betrayed you, at least not in my heart I didn't." He clearly committed some act which saw him banished by the Obsidian Order and particularly Tain. Garak really is an mystery wrapped in an enigma. He is so cryptic and confusing it's impossible to figure out what happened. Part of me wants to know what did but another part of me thinks it is fitting for him that we never find out.

What can I say but, good post! You've earned some rep from me and you too Benj - great thread topic!

As I've said in posts elsewhere, my knowledge of DS9 is now sadly lacking. But thanks to the contributions of yourself, Anubis69, Fifth Race and Starbase, I'm gradually piecing together my missing memories. In fact, every post I've read on DS9 has been a worthy read

You guessed right on Anubis69's sig. You weren't seeing things

[Wolf Eire]

I'm glad this thread has generated interest as Garak is my favourite character, possibly in the whole of Sci-Fi. The Cardassians as a whole are a very well thought out interesting race and DS9 in my view was/is the best of the trek series. I only wish we saw the border war between the Cardassian Union and the Federation in detail on TNG. Perhaps some novels should be released as a prelude to DS9's main story.

The Cardassians were developed very well in Deep Space 9. I'm not entirely sure but they were possibly only introduced at all in TNG as a background to DS9. They only appear in Season 4 for the first time. Marc Alaimo the actor for Gul Dukat plays another Gul named Macet who is strikingly similar to Dukat. Technically during the early seasons of TNG there was a war with the Cardassians as I think Picard says peace was only recently struck in that episode. Chain of Command parts 1 and 2 is a very fine episode as well where the Gul tortures Picard for information. Very 1984-esque. Chief O'Brien's trial in the DS9 episode Tribunal is very like Kafka's The Trial. I think the whole design put into Cardassian architecture and the picture we always get of Cardassia helps paint this very grim controlled society that they live in.

[Anubis69]

I think i read somewhere it was initially (TNG) meant as a Palestine/Israel metaphor. kinda shifted away from that in DS9 though.

Was I seeing things or was your signature a pile of Irn Bru cans a second ago?

...Indeed. I had nothing to do during the summer, leave me alone!!

Btw, if anyone of you are wanting to catch up on DS9 or indeed any Trek, the best place to do it is wikipedia, or the immense memory alpha. Everything you ever wanted. EVER!

[Wolf Eire]

T'was initially meant as a Palestine/Israel metaphor. kinda shifted away from that in DS9 though.

Are you sure about that? They always struck me as more like the Nazis with their obsession to grab the resources of what they deemed to be an inferior race. When you add in the whole police state thing from DS9 you really get that feeling.

...Indeed. I had nothing to do during the summer, leave me alone!!

Is there anything more Scottish than a can of Irn Bru? Perhaps a fried Mars Bar.

You really have to say though, what a fine actor Andrew J. Robinson is. I have a feeling Garak was only going to be a fleeting character but his talents encouraged them to continue him. It's a pity he never worked his way onto the credits.

[gooner_diva]

You really have to say though, what a fine actor Andrew J. Robinson is. I have a feeling Garak was only going to be a fleeting character but his talents encouraged them to continue him. It's a pity he never worked his way onto the credits.

I can't believe he was never in anything else. Such a great actor!