Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Duras Sisters

Traitors or saviours of the Klingons, the sisters of Duras have a unique position in Star Trek

Duras Sisters Star Trek TNG DS9 Generations
Paramount Pictures

There's nothing like honour, a good song, and lashings more honour if you're a Klingon.

Unless you happen to be in the House of Duras which seems to see three of those points as optional.

Appearing across two series and one feature film, Lursa and B'Etor carved quite the path through the late 24th Century. Continuing the family's standing connection to the Romulan Empire, the pair took the Klingon people to civil war only to be thwarted by an android on a starship.

As renegades they would return to cause the Federation further, but not so major issues, on two further occasions before tying their plans in with one Tolian Soran.

Even now, some 33 years since their first appearance, Lursa and B'Etor still have a strong presence in Star Trek whether it's through their bloodline, mobile games, or tabletop battles.

Here we will explore not just the sisters themselves but their influence on the wider Star Trek lore and see how far their influence spreads outside of the Klingon Empire with maybe the odd detour into other territories and media. If you think humans are just so repulsive, these might just be the duo you're looking for.

10. The Romulan Connection

Duras Sisters Star Trek TNG DS9 Generations
CBS Media Ventures

The family's dark association with the Romulans stretches back to the Khitomer Massacre where Ja'rod, father of Lursa and B'Etor, would meet his end alongside Mogh, father of Worf.

Ja'rod provided the defence codes to the Romulans. The evidence of a traitor would take many years to finally appear. Due to the family's prominence in the Empire, his misdemeanors were covered up, leading to the dishonouring of Worf and the House of Mogh. This was in an attempt to stop a civil war from erupting however once Gowron was installed as Chancellor the stability of the Empire fell apart.

That war would lead to the House of Duras taking on Gowron, secretly backed by the Romulans and more specifically Commander Sela, daughter of one Tasha Yar. 

Ironically both on this occasion and in Generations the sisters of Duras would find their plans foiled by the interference of a certain android from a certain Federation flagship. In Redemption this would be through Data's choice to not follow orders and reveal the presence of the Romulan fleet while in Generations he was responsible for jury-rigging the Enterprise so that they could order the sisters' Bird of Prey to cloak and lower its shields. Mr Data...nicely done.

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A Star Trek fan from birth, I love to dive into every aspect of the franchise in front and behind the screen. There's something here that's kept me interested for the best part of four decades! Now I'm getting back into writing and using Star Trek as my first line of literary attack. If I'm not here on WhatCulture then you're more than welcome to come and take a look at my blog, Some Kind of Star Trek at http://SKoST.co.uk or maybe follow me on Twitter as @TheWarpCore. Sometimes I force myself not to talk about Star Trek.