10 Greatest Redemption Stories In Star Trek

10. Rotten To Revolutionary: Damar

The tide of history turned on a wave of ships. Had the Prophets not intervened on that day to send the Dominion armada to only-the-Gods-know-where, it's unlikely we'd be talking about redemption for Damar at all. He would have undoubtedly gone on to preside over the wreckage of the Alpha Quadrant, albeit still as Dukat's underling.

Damar hardly deserves a round of applause, then, for finally realising he had always been on the losing side, especially since that realisation came only after he had personally lost out. 'Seeing the light' is a poor substitute for having done the right thing in the first place, and let's not forget he also killed Ziyal in the interim! Nevertheless, for a Cardassian – typically more hard-line than an ODN cable – his tardy epiphany was nothing short of a 180 on full thrusters. Plus, he was never as boot-lickingly bad as Legate Broca!

Back on Cardassia after the descent of Dukat, things went from crap to catastrophic for Damar. He became full-time patsy for the Dominion – the voiceless frontman for his people whose subjugation had already been signed on the dotted line. Damar's moment of redemption, and the redemption of all Cardassia came (although at a terrible cost) when he chose to rebel against his Dominion puppeteers.

Even in the face of brutal retaliation, Damar resisted on. He eventually gave his life for the cause, but his cries of "For Cardassia" had already been heard far and wide, and the Cardassians began to turn against their Dominion masters. In life, Damar might have begun as the wannabe despot, but in death, he had helped liberate his people and ensure the freedom of the entire Alpha Quadrant.