10 Star Trek Villains Who Were Actually Right
8. Tain
The fault, dear Tain, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.
Enabran Tain was the head of the Obsidian Order, the secret police of the Cardassian Union. Under his watch, the Cardassian Military was kept in power, with a continuing lack of regard for any personal liberties. For decades he led, though it was his overstepping that secured his downfall.
The combined operation between the Order and the Tal Shiar, in an attempt to wipe out the Founders, proved to be the end of the Order at least, while the Tal Shiar would slink back into the shadows. The fallout though, ironically, proved there was certainly a nugget of sense in this plan.
Once the fleet was destroyed, the Cardassian military quickly lost control of the government, with the civilian Detappa Council taking over. This led to the Klingon Invasion, as well as, eventually, Cardassia's alliance with the Dominion. One need hardly go into detail about what followed on from there.
Tain's idea was certainly devastating, with a Machiavellian twist, but the long-term ramifications for the Alpha and Beta Quadrants would only prove that, at least in theory, his idea might have been one of the better ones in the end.