Over the years, Star Trek has brought a staggering amount of stories to the eyes and ears of audiences, from tense action sequences to light comic relief, intergalactic espionage to strange mind games played by Q. There has been such an array of different situations over the various different additions to the franchise, that it makes sense that sometimes they produce a moment so dramatically sad and sudden that it leaves audiences in a dazed, teary state. For many, this moment can be summarized wholeheartedly by the love story between the beloved Klingon Worf, and his symbiotic wife Jadzia Dax.
Jadzia Dax is considered by many fans to be one of the best characters within the franchise, and a main character within one of the best shows: Deep Space 9. While easy to be swept under the rug by other series such as The Next Generation and even the Original Series, Deep Space 9 was by far the grittiest and emotionally mature Star Trek program, often showing the grim underbelly of the Federation, and exploring the moral gray areas of democracy and war. Among its characters, Jadzia was a Trill, a race of humanoid aliens who are paired biologically and emotionally with a symbiont lifeform. They would merge and become one entity, sharing the multitude of lifetime memories lived by the symbiont, with the new fresh perspective and characteristics of the young Trill host. This made for a wonderful dichotomy between inherited memories and youthful exuberance. Jadzia Dax was both a young Starfleet science officer aboard the space station, and her symbiont carried the memories of the old mentor for the station's commander, accidental war criminal Captain Benjamin Sisko.
Jadzia was a great addition to the Star Trek family, carrying eight lifetimes worth of memories and experiences, all while constantly trying to explore new and different things. She truly enjoyed life, searching out adventure and mischief wherever she went, carrying with her an air of defiance yet respect. She would call her commanding officer by his first name, but got away with it. In one memorable episode she risked it all, bending every regulation there is about time travel tampering and butterfly effects just to get a good look at Spock, during the episode “The Trouble With Tribbles.” Despite all this, her antics gave the crew constant motivation and a zest for life, even when the situation looked bleak — for example, during the Dominion war, where millions were being killed around them.
During her time aboard the station, Jadzia broke hearts left right and center. Three of the main characters fell in love with her over the course of the series, including the wonderfully spineless yet strangely enigmatic bartender Quark. Of all those around her however, she had her heart set on just one: the stoic, forehead ridged man of little words, Worf. Audiences showed their relationship develop from the very beginning, watching them grow closer and closer, with Jadzia even making Wolf laugh! They slowly started to develop feelings for one another, but when things were moving too slow, Jadzia took things into her own hands and made sure he was aware of how she felt, by smashing him across the face with a Bat’leth. Romance at its purest.
Things just got better from then on. Audiences were being delighted to watch them fall in love, and fight hand in hand against everything that came their way. They were strong, and although they were great characters by themselves, they never shined as brightly before they were together. Audiences watch them get married, and are shown the very moment that the space station's Doctor Bashir tells them they are physiologically compatible, and are able to have children together. Their faces light up with the excitement that they are able to start a family together.
And then, while turning away from the alter to the Prophets where she was praying for a child, and while filled with more excitement and joy than she had ever experienced in her last eight lives, Jadzia gets murdered in a matter of seconds. If this wasn't bad enough, audiences are then shown her final goodbyes with Worf, a teary moment where they share in a farewell, and Jadzia tells him, "Our baby would’ve been so beautiful." It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch, considering that these two make one of the best romantic pairs to ever appear within the franchise. What made things harder and more emotionally charged was that while Jadzia had died, the Dax symbiont lived on, and was placed within a new host called Ezri.
Ezri got a lot of resentment from fans, but it was unfortunately unavoidable. She was a replacement for a much loved character, and the resentment that fans felt for her, for not being the Jadzia they all knew and loved, was exactly the point. Ezri could never live up to the expectations set for her, especially considering she never went through any of the same training the Jadzia Trill host did. She was a last minute host, as the only Trill aboard the space station, needed to ensure the Dax symbiont would survive. She was thrown into the mix, and then over 300 years worth of memories and experiences flooded her brain. Everything about her character development was about never feeling like she was good enough, and that she could never live up to the lives of previous hosts that lived before her, constantly succumbing to the heavy expectations and weight of responsibility.
Deep Space 9 was truly a surprising masterpiece in Star Trek history, constantly pushing the envelope when it came to new ways to explore the human condition, and really questioning what it means to be good. It was excellent at making audiences feel things, be it love, laughter, anger, and of course, sadness. It made people care about its characters, not only making audiences grieve them when they were lost, but showing the implications and fallout that results from their loss. Worf and Ezri Dax have a strained relationship throughout the remainder of the show. She maintains her memories of their love, but no longer feels it herself as a new person; meanwhile, Worf is constantly confused and in pain, having lost his wife yet constantly being reminded of her through Ezri. It is truly one of the saddest and long lastingly bitter moments within Star Trek.