Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Gul Dukat
4. The Pah-wraiths Were An Afterthought
A ruthless and vengeful military officer up until this point, it would be the sixth season finale 'Tears of the Prophets' that catapulted Dukat into the role of genocidal zealot, as he makes his pact with the Pah-wraiths in a bid to destroy Bajor once and for all.
Absorbing a Pah-wraith spirit in order to destabilise the wormhole, and killing Jadzia Dax in the process, Dukat's ascension to position as the Pah-wraiths' Emissary would define his character arc for the remainder of the show, but the inclusion of this mystical element was a relatively late addition to the episode's story.
In its original form, Dukat would rely on entirely more corporeal and mechanical means in his attempt to kill The Prophets, attempting to pilot a chroniton generator into the wormhole before being stopped by Dax. Feeling that the stakes weren't grand enough, and wanted something with 'mythic proportions'.
Sure enough, the introduction of the Pah-wraiths would suitably up the ante, and set the wheels in motion for the climactic final encounter with Sisko. Had the episode stayed on its original course, who knows how massively Dukat or Bajor's fates may have been altered.