20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
15. Designing The Klingon High Chancellor
Gorkon leads the peace movement in Star Trek VI. He is the first Chancellor, chronologically, met by the Federation until Chancellor L'Rell would take that honour in Will You Take My Hand? Nicholas Meyer was the one who specifically wanted the man to resemble Abraham Lincoln.
While the beard may have been clue enough, there was a tease in the name as well. Gorkon, as a name, was chosen by writer Denny Martin Flinn. It was an amalgamation of the names Lincoln and Gorbachev. In fact, it was so close to the names that Meyer worried it would be a little too on the nose. As the film was so heavily based on the events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the USSR, then Mikhail Gorbachev may already have been front and centre in the minds of the audience.
The worries proved baseless, as test screenings didn't pick up on it originally. The outfit he wore, with vertical padding rather than the horizontal padding that Chang wore, signified his height in the political hierarchy. His staff was comprised of a tusk that he was said to have taken from an animal he had killed years previously. His height, girth and demeanour signified his stately presence, commanding the room on entry.