May 17th, 1993, "Rightful Heir"
Fiver by Marc
The Episode
RIKER: Interesting night?
DATA: I found it extremely interesting. The lateral sensor arrays ran three separate spectral analyses of the Alawanir Nebula on three distinct frequencies.
RIKER: Sorry I missed it.
DATA: I will have the report sent to you, sir.
I'm having trouble with the idea that Data doesn't understand sarcasm yet. On the other hand, wouldn't the first officer have to read the report anyway?
RIKER: He's never late. Riker to Lieutenant Worf. Computer, locate Lieutenant Worf.
COMPUTER: Lieutenant Worf is in his quarters.
RIKER: Something's wrong. Mister Data, you have the Bridge. Security team, meet me on deck seven, section twenty five baker.
You'd think "Mr. Worf's quarters" would be adequate. Incidentally, Section 25 is the slice of the saucer that would be at 8:30 o'clock if you imagine Ten Forward at 12 o'clock and Shuttlebay One at 6 o'clock. Presumably "Baker" refers to a ring at a certain distance from the center.
WORF: It is difficult to explain.
PICARD: Try.
Stewart's performance of that "Try" is classic.
WORF: Ever since I returned from the Carraya system I have felt empty.
PICARD: Does this have something to do with the Klingons you rescued from Carraya Four?
I thought Worf lied about the events of "Birthright" to protect the hidden prison camp there. Y'know, because if the prisoner's existence was known to the other Klingons a lot of people would become dishonored and it could start a Klingon-Romulan war?
Granted, it stands to reason that he would tell the senior officers and Starfleet Intelligence about this, but we were never explicitly told this.
PICARD: Is that what you're doing here? Trying to recapture those feelings?
WORF: Yes. I was trying to summon a vision of Kahless.
PICARD: It's a pity you didn't try using the holodeck instead of setting fire to your quarters.
WORF: Using the holodeck would not have been appropriate. Everything had to be real if Kahless were to appear.
I'm reminded of the times that Chakotay was allowed to leave the ship to do his religious stuff. Furthermore, why wouldn't Worf ask for shore leave to do this?
PICARD: Have you lost your faith in Sto-Vo-Kor?
WORF: To lose something, one must first possess it. I am not sure I ever had a true belief.
This doesn't make sense. Worf has always followed the Klingon culture even more rigidly than other Klingons in order to feel a connection with his people. Furthermore, it was made clear that the Roshenkos encouraged his exploration of his culture. For that matter, if he wasn't sure of what he was telling the young people on Carraya Four, why would he do it in the first place?
PICARD: Boreth is only twelve days from here by shuttle.
I get that people in the future have better memories than we do, but I will never grant that it extends to this degree. Odds are Picard hasn't thought about Boreth in decades, there's no way that he would know where it is relative to the Enterprise OR can do warp travel calculations in his head.
KOROTH: You're leaving us?
WORF: It has been ten days, Koroth. I have had no visions. I have received no insight. There is nothing here for me.
You can't rush spiritual experiences. If you could guarantee contact with the divine by doing A, B, and C everyone would do that.
KOROTH: What is the Story of the Promise, Worf?
WORF: When Kahless had united our people and gave them the laws of honour, he saw that his work was done. So one night he gathered his belongings and departed for the edge of the city to say goodbye.
Actually Kahless just told the people what they wanted to know so he could get away from the fame that he'd earned by "killing" Molor. I really would rather read the novel Kahless rather than watch this episode.
WORF: Then Kahless said, 'You are Klingons. You need no one but yourselves. I will go now to Sto-Vo-Kor. But I promise one day I will return.' Then Kahless pointed to a star in the sky and said, 'Look for me there, on that point of light.'
KOROTH: So here we are, on a world circling that distant point of light.
This is patently absurd. Kahless lived in a medieval period, astronomy was in its infancy at that point. There's no chance that they would have accurate starmaps, so there's no chance that his followers could write down the precise star.
(And the novel makes it clear that this was total nonsense. Kahless was trying to get rid of these rubes so he could escape his fame.)
(a figure appears)
WORF: I see Kahless.
How does he know what Kahless looks like? Furthermore, even if there were accurate paintings available, this guy wouldn't look like it because the blood they cloned from isn't actually Kahless' (it's his brother Morag, read the novel).
KAHLESS: I have returned. You doubt me. Who here knows the story of how this sword was forged?
THIS sword? That's a random bat'leth, the Sword of Kahless is currently in some Hur'q ruins in the Gamma Quadrant.
KAHLESS: I went into the mountains, all the way to the volcano at Kri'stak. There I cut off a lock of my hair and thrust it into the river of molten rock which poured from the summit. The hair began to burn. Then I plunged it into the lake of Lusor and twisted it into this sword.
Hair combined with lava is basically lava. You can't forge a sword from it. Any iron or aluminum in lava is in very small amounts. You'd have to refine the lava quite a bit to get swordworthy material.
The real Kahless made up the design himself and had it forged for him. The lava story was a fiction designed to attach meaning to it. Kahless wasn't out to become a spiritual figure, he just wanted to raise an army to defeat Molor.
WORF: How do you know my name?
KAHLESS: We have met before. I appeared to you in a vision in the caves of No'Mat. You were just a child then. I told you that you would do something that no Klingon had ever done before.
How did the Borath clerics know this story to program it into the clone? Did they hire a telepath to steal this memory to get Worf on their side?
CRUSHER: It's going to be very difficult to eliminate any possibilities at this point. He may be a coalescent being taking Klingon form, or a bioreplicant or even a Klingon who has been surgically altered to look like Kahless.
A coalescent? I'd hope after "Aquiel" they can detect such a facade.
Only mention of bioreplicants, one presumes there's a difference between a clone and a bioreplicant. Maybe a bioreplicant is the result of modifying the DNA of Person A to make a clone that looks like Person B.
DATA: Lieutenant? May I ask a question? In the absence of empirical data, how will you determine whether or not this is the real Kahless?
WORF: It is not an empirical matter. It is a matter of faith.
DATA: Faith? Then you do believe Kahless may have supernatural attributes? As an android, I am unable to accept that which cannot be proven through rational means. I would appreciate hearing your insights on this matter.
As I've mentioned in another post, in the novel "Guises of the Mind" Data asks many members of the crew about their feelings on religion. Worf is one of them. As he considers this a private matter, Worf refuses at first, then decides to talk with Data as he is a comrade in arms, almost a brother.
GOWRON: Where is he, Picard?
PICARD: I assume that you're referring to Kahless.
GOWRON: I am referring to the filthy pahtk who is using his name.
Pahtk? I get that Chakoteya has to transcribe Klingon from time to time, but the spelling "P'takh" (or "petaQ" in simplified English) certainly existed at this point.
GOWRON: What kind of medical analysis have you made? Do you have any theories about his true origin?
PICARD: We haven't done any analysis.
GOWRON: What kind of fools do you have working for you, Picard? The imposter's been aboard for nearly a day.
PICARD: If you wanted to run tests on Kahless, you should have sent a Klingon ship for him.
No, you should've asked him to do a medical analysis earlier. That's what subspace is for!
GOWRON: Kahless has been dead for a thousand years, but the idea of Kahless is still alive. Have you ever fought an idea, Picard? It has no weapon to destroy, no body to kill. The idea of Kahless' return must be stopped here, now, or it will travel through the Empire like a wave and leave nothing but destruction behind.
I wish Gowron was written like this in DS9. That's one place where the DS0 writers really dropped the ball.