The Ideal Cardassian

[coolandsurefriends]

So, @impossiblejellyfishfart made a post about Dukat & Garak the other day, and I love the post, and I just have to add to the discussion.

So at the heart of a good Cardassian is a piece of Cardassia itself: a good Cardassian should be devoted above all else to their planet. Note that I say the planet – at one point it was said that “the Obsidian Order is Cardassia”, and that the state is Cardassia too, but I think that’s more an attempt at mangling loyalties to fit an agenda than anything more.

Now, the ideal Cardassian’s loyalties should be as follows: firstly they should be loyal to Cardassia, second they should be loyal to themselves/their family.

Now I say this because Cardassian honour is very family-focused, and it seems like the honour of an individual is very rarely considered on its own – one’s honour is one’s father’s, mother’s and family’s honour as much as it is one’s own.

And this is where I want to talk about Dukat and Garak like Morgan has in the post linked above - “Garak and Dukat serve as foils and highlight the difference between the appearance of what a Cardassian is and what Cardassian core ideals really are.” Beautiful phrasing, fucking spot on. This is really important.

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