12 Star Trek Characters Who Changed The Most

From the beginning, Star Trek features characters who evolve and grow. Here are some of the best.

Seven of Nine Jeri Ryan
CBS

Star Trek has more than fifty years of history behind it and, thanks to this, there are dozens of characters who have been given ample room to grow and evolve.

From the earliest days of the franchise, different writers and directors have worked together to build each of these characters into what we know them as.

Whether it was the early days of the Vulcan people or the the captains who went through hell and came back, each iteration of the franchise has featured the pain and growth of several of its brightest stars. Some have literally died on their way to finding themselves, while others may, at times, have simply wished that they had.

While most changed for the better, some experienced growth that was not altogether positive for the people around them. Behind the scenes, the expansion of some characters led to the relegation and forgetting of others. Voyager may have been the series to suffer the most in this regard, but it is a trait that appears across the board.

This list breaks down some of the characters who went from one being to a tonally, totally different one along the way.

12. Quark

Seven of Nine Jeri Ryan
Paramount

Everyone's favourite Ferengi started life as something of....well something of an idiot, really. Not in the same way that Rom started as a literal idiot, but the schemes and plans that Quark attempted to enact in the early episodes of Deep Space Nine have, with the evolution of the character, served as a poor representation of a well rounded, popular character.

Quark became the archetype for all things Ferengi as the seasons went on. He began as a wheeler dealer, con-man. This is a trait that may have stuck with him, but the deepening of Quark pushed this somewhat into the background.

He was shown to be a man with a heart, one with an inconsistent approach to the way he deals with others. There are times when he works as hard as he can to screw over those around him and then there are times when he goes out of his way in a semi-heroic act. One of his first examples of being a good person comes in his refusal to out Pel as a female, once she is discovered to be posing as a man to make profit.

Quark is a Ferengi with a good heart, though he tries to hide that. Coming to the close of Deep Space Nine though, he is more openly a good person, willing to help and support others - even if his drive to make profit hasn't altogether disappeared.

His business is going strong in Star Trek Picard and it remains to be seen if he will return as a dealer for the La Sirena to trade with.

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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick