10 Star Trek Moments That Broke Our Hearts

Tears Of The Prophets is often, rightly, added to lists of the saddest, or most devastating, episodes of Star Trek. Jadzia Dax was easily one of the most likable characters in the franchise, she was exciting, funny, adventurous, humble, and smart. None of this saved her when Dukat beamed into that temple and ruined everyone's day. The episode shows her death most brutally, and certainly one that was starker than Trek had ventured toward.

The immediate aftermath was just as stark, even if some of it remained off-screen. Julian's desperate attempts to save her are consigned to our imaginations, as all that we see is his crushed, defeated face as he announces there was nothing he could do for Jadzia. Sisko walks straight through to the operating room, finding Worf crouched beside his dying wife. While Worf's exchange with her, and his anguished warning to the warriors of Sto-Vo-Kor that she was coming, would be enough to earn a spot here, it is the following scene that pips it to the post.

As Jadzia's coffin lies in wait for her funeral service to begin, Sisko stands alongside it, trying to find the right words to convey his loss. Worf lost his wife, but Sisko's is a different tragedy. He has now lost two of the closest friends he ever had - Curzon and Jadzia. Watching this pillar of Starfleet, of the station, and of Bajoran spirituality admit that he doesn't know what to do, and that he has to finally turn his back on his duties was more than many could bear. He is begging his friend for her help and her advice, even though he knows better than any that she can't answer him. 

In a quick succession of scenes, Worf screams, Sisko doubts, and then the Emissary leaves his post by the Celestial Temple - with no guarantee that he'll ever be back. It was one of the most downbeat endings to a season of Star Trek that had ever been offered, with scenes that still haunt to this day.