Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Miles O'Brien
5. Trials And Trauma
We have a video available where we list the times that O'Brien suffered in Star Trek. The writers for Deep Space Nine knowingly tried to put the man through hell at least once per season. While that makes them eligible for 'Sadist Of The Franchise Awards', both Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe explained their reasons.
For Behr, via the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion:
Every year in one or two shows we try to make his life miserable, because you empathize with him.
Though every main character in Star Trek is generally likable in their own way, O'Brien was quickly established as the more relatable person on screen. Hewitt Wolfe said:
...O'Brien was just a guy, trying to live his life and so if you tortured him that was a story.
There are plenty of examples of this - Tribunal, Whispers, Armageddon Game, and The Assignment all spring to mind - where this affable working man is put through seven levels of hell. It may be evil, but hey, it made for good television.