| “ | Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. | „ |
| ~ Garak to Julian Bashir during their first meeting. |
Elim Garak was a Cardassian male introduced in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Past Prologue.
Early Life
Growing up believing himself to be the son of Tolan Garak, he lived in the home of Enabran Tain, a man he thought to be his uncle. He was actually the son of Tain and Tain's housekeeper Mila. A gardener by trade, Tolan trained Garak to follow in his footsteps as a gardener before Tain intervened and arranged for him to be educated at the Bamarren Institute - where he would learn the skills needed to work as a security operative and agent of the Obsidian Order.
Exile
Going into the Obsidian Order, Garak became a close confidant of Tain, who by now was the leader of the Obsidian Order. The two men had a falling out, and Garak was exiled to Deep Space Nine as the Cardassians left and the Federation was invited in to take over.
Garak would serve as the eyes and ears of the Cardassian Union on the station. He also became friends with the new doctor Julian Bashir.
During the Dominion War Garak sided with the Federation against his people, realizing that if they remained under the Dominion's thumb they would all die, even if the Dominion won the war.
Post War
Following the Female Changeling's surrender to the Federation Alliance, Garak remained on Cardassia to help rebuild his world and society. However Cardassia was a devastated world following the attempted genocide of the Cardassians by the Dominion. Some time after the war Garak became Cardassia's ambassador to the Federation, and lived in Paris on Earth. In the early 2390s Garak retired as ambassador but continued to divide his time between Paris and Ses'erakh (the Cardassian capital city) on Cardassia Prime.
In 2399, Garak found he had fallen out of favor with both the Federation and Cardassia. The Cardassians didn't like him because he was the last surviving member of the Obsidian Order. Meanwhile, the Federation feared that protecting Garak would strain diplomatic relations between Bajor and the Federation as the Bajorans uncovered proof that Garak had been responsible for destroying a Bajoran settlement on the planet Ordeve.
In order to evade arrest Garak went into hiding and had himself surgically altered to appear as a Bajoran. Garak then assumed the identity of Saba Taan - a Bajoran vedek. Saba Tann was the name of a man Garak met 50 years ago on Ordeve. The original Saba tried to convince the younger Garak not to attack the settlement but failed in that attempt. After being taken prisoner by Raffi Musiker and the Bajoran intelligence agent Toze Falus, the three were forced to travel into the Caanta Valley after a force field prevented them from beaming away.
In the valley they found the children of the original Bajoran settlement. They explained to Garak that it was Garak's destiny to travel back in time and spend the rest of his life as Saba Tann. Using a Bajoran Orb, Garak traveled back to 2340, arriving a few months before his younger self did on Ordeve. When the older Garak was unable to convince his younger self not to attack the village, Garak took the settlement's children and fled into the Caanta Valley. Garak spent the rest of his life raising and protecting his young charges while running weapons for the Bajoran Resistance. Shortly before his death in 2357, Garak performed Shri-tal, letting the Bajoran children know his deepest secrets.
After his death Garak was buried on Ordeve. Garak was buried in a tomb that had both the emblem of the Obsidian Order and a Bajoran religious symbol, and was remembered with much love by the survivors of the original settlement. After Raffi and Toze learned of Garak's ultimate fate, they reported that Garak had died defending a Bajoran orb from an attack by the Tal-Shiar. Upon reporting what she knew to Picard, Picard speculated it must've taken a lot for Garak not to interfere with history given his intense patriotism by not warning others outside the settlement of what was to come.
First Splinter Timeline
As in the prime timeline, Garak was finally able to return home to Cardassia. Realizing that Cardassia's culture brought them to nearly being destroyed by the Dominion, Garak decided to back the Reunion Project, which was started by Alon Ghemor to bring about a democratic government that would not repeat the mistakes of the prior governments. He eventually rose to become the Castellan of the Cardassian Union.
A major issue during his time as Castellan was the compilation and publication of a report detailing Cardassian crimes during the Occupation of Bajor. Feeling that Cardassia needed to acknowledge its crimes, he supported the report, promising that any Cardassian still living - regardless of rank or position - who had committed war crimes would be brought to account, even himself if need be.
Garak decided in 2388 not to run for re-election, and supported Natima Lang to succeed him as Castellan.
Quotes
| “ | Truth is in the eye of the beholder, doctor. I never tell the truth because I don't believe there is such a thing. That is why I prefer the straight line simplicity of cutting cloth. | „ |
| ~ Garak to Bashir (DS9: "Cardassians") |
| “ | I believe in coincidences. Coincidences happen every day. But I don't trust coincidences. | „ |
| ~ Garak to Bashir (DS9: "Cardassians") |
| “ | I can't belive that after all our lunches together over the years, you still distrust me." "Well i..." "There may be hope for you yet, Doctor. |
„ |
| ~ Garak is proud Bashir maintains a healthy paranoia about him |
Trivia
- Garak feels proud of his allies if they don't have complete trust in him (which is why he gets along so well with Odo and Sisko, whom openly voice distrust of him); some apprehension is often a good trait in the intelligence agency.
- He agrees with Quark that Root beer is an excellent metaphor for the Federation; cloying, happy and is enjoyable the more it's in your life.
- In the post-Coda novel-verse, Garak's ultimate fate is somewhat similar to Jeffrey Sinclair / Valen's fate. Namely in that Garak was altered to resemble a person from a different race, and traveled back in time to become a vital part of that different race's history. Like Sinclair, he also wrote a letter during his time as a Bajoran Vedek in the past to the future.
Gallery
