10 Reasons Why What You Leave Behind Is The Best Star Trek Finale

Legate Damar has one of the greatest arcs in all of Star Trek. Introduced initially as simply an unnamed aid of Dukat's aboard his commandeered Bird of Prey, he rises to become a supporting character and then the leader of the entire Cardassian Union. Not a bad career trajectory.

His character is stained for some time by his murder of Dukat's daughter, Torah Ziyal. She had admitted to betraying the Dominion, thus betraying everything that Damar, at that point, held dear. This act of brutality displayed that he was capable of great violence in the name of patriotism, though mere episodes later a group of genetically engineered people see through the mask: he is deeply troubled by his actions.

He would never find the same belief in the Dominion that his former mentor did and, as the war began to reach its final days, he built a rebellion from within the Cardassian forces. After some initial victories, they are almost laid waste by superior forces.

He changes his tactics and begins to recruit civilians, turning a military endeavor to a patriotic revolution. He is successful and the Cardassian people rise up against the Dominion, causing them to retaliate by destroying cities. Damar, along with Kira and Garak, decide their only option is storm Dominion HQ itself.

Damar is killed in a blaze of glory, attempting to free his people from their oppressors, lighting the fire for a new Cardassia to rise. All of this from a man who was once on track to become the new Gul Dukat.