10 Biggest WTF Moments From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night revealed the incredibly dark story of what happened to Major Kira Nerys's mother, Meru.

Nerys originally believed that her mother died at a refugee camp on Bajor, but Dukat called the major in the middle of the night on what would've been Meru's 60th birthday to tell Nerys that she had actually left her father to live with him instead. Desperate to learn the truth, Nerys travelled to the past using the Orb of Time, and discovered that Dukat's story was actually true. Her mother was captured by the Cardassians during the occupation to be used as a 'comfort woman', a sex slave for the high ranking Cardassians aboard Terok Nor. Meru eventually developed Stockholm syndrome and defended her captor, Dukat, because he gave her food and other luxuries that no other Bajorans could hope for.

As shocking as this premise was, it could've been much worse. According to Nana Visitor in the documentary What We Left Behind, Ira Steven Behr originally told her the story would include an affair between Dukat and the major. Visitor, of course, opposed the idea of having Kira show any sympathy towards Dukat, much less having sex with him, after all he did to her and her people. It was eventually decided that Dukat would have relations with Kira's mother instead, likely because the writer's realised that cozying up with the former fascist ruler of her planet would go against everything Kira's character stood for.

The episode ended up being much better by setting up another character with Dukat instead. All together, it was a nuanced and tragic look at a horrific and often unmentioned element of fascist occupations, and that introduction is probably Dukat's pettiest moment in the whole series.