Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Rom
5. Family Rules
Rule of Acquisition #6: "Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity."AdvertisementRule of Acquisition #111: "Treat people in your debt like family. Exploit them."
As Max Grodénchik put it to Warp Factor Trek in 2023, Rom was, at first, "a weak, wimpy, frightened, timid nebbish under his brother Quark's thumb". Let's not forget that, in Deep Space Nine's first season episode The Nagus, Rom also co-conspired to kill his brother. But then, for the Ferengi, "such wonderful treachery [like trying to toss family out of an airlock] deserves a reward".
Skip ahead to the very end of their time together on Deep Space 9, Quark summed up the evolution of the relationship with the line, "You're an idiot, but I love you". That brotherly connection extended beyond the characters to the actors. "I consider Armin my mentor, and I learned from him how to conduct myself on the set, as well as conduct myself in life," Grodénchik told StarTrek.com in 2014.
Back in beta canon, the two brothers also appeared side by side on the front cover of the 1999 novel The 34th Rule ("War is good for business."), co-written, or at least co-pitched, by Armin Shimerman and David R. George III. Set during Deep Space Nine's fourth season, the book depicts rising tensions between Bajor and the Ferengi Alliance, with Rom and Quark caught in the middle.