Star Trek: 10 Ways The Klingons Have Developed Since The 1960s
4. Excuse Me, Sir, Do You Have Time To Talk About Our Lord And Savior, Kahless The Unforgettable?
Klingon warriors may have killed the gods, but that doesn't mean they didn't worship anything. The major figure of worship was the First Emperor of the Klingon Empire, Kahless the Unforgettable.
Kahless was introduced in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode The Savage Curtain written by Gene Roddenberry and Arthur Heinemann. The episode featured simulations of Kahless, Abraham Lincoln, and other historical figures in a drama staged by the non-humanoid Excalbians as part of their exploration of the human concept of good and evil. This version of Kahless was depicted as a savage tyrant.
The writers for Star Trek: The Next Generation developed a more benign version of Kahless. As related by Worf and other Klingons, Kahless was a ninth century warrior who slew the tyrant Molor and united the Klingons in the first Klingon Empire. He was idealized as the "greatest warrior of them all", the creator of the laws of honor, the forger of the first bat'leth, and a fount of wisdom. At the end of his life, Kahless told his followers that he would return someday and then departed for Sto-vo-kor.