5 Best Klingon Characters In Star Trek, Ranked

The Star Trek franchise is full of fascinating alien races, but it's probably fair to say that two of them stand head and shoulders above the others. Along with the stoic, pointy-eared Vulcans, the proud and fight-happy Klingons have grown into the most famous aliens "Star Trek: The Original Series" ever introduced us to. The many follow-up series and associated works have built them into a well-defined cultural and military presence that has been an important piece of the Star Trek galaxy over the decades.

Because of their prominence in the franchise, there have been a great many major and minor Klingon characters making their mark in various Star Trek movies and shows. Some of them have been powerful antagonists. Others have worked with protagonists to bring forth peace. Others still are outcasts who are shunned by their very race. Yet, despite these differences, many of them are amazing and memorable characters in their own ways. Here's a look at five of the finest Klingon figures in Star Trek history, ranked by authorial preference.

Christopher Lloyd's Commander Kruge has to fight tooth and nail for every inch of cultural real estate that he can master. As the main antagonist of "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," he had to follow the beloved Khan (Ricardo Montalban) as a Star Trek movie villain. What's more, whenever Star Trek movies are ranked from best to worst, his film is virtually guaranteed to rank well below "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." Despite these drawbacks, Lloyd's portrayal of the driven Kruge shaped a fascinating character who might just be the best Klingon Star Trek villain to date.

Kruge is on this list for two reasons. On one hand, he's a smart, capable, and reasonably pragmatic commander of a Klingon Bird of Prey. He does his level best in a situation where he thinks the cards are heavily stacked against him, and is fully capable of showing his enemy a measure of respect.

On the other gauntlet-clad hand, his menacing presence is arguably the most prominent early example of the classic, scenery-chewing, "noble warrior" Klingon. He is petty and vicious, has little in the way of mercy, and eagerly welcomes his glorious death in battle. Both of these things make him a great Klingon character, whose final battle against James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is exactly the kind of fiery, deliciously overacted climax that the action-packed "The Search for Spock" deserves.

Where Kruge represents the "classic" forehead ridge design, Klingons are also among the Star Trek alien races that have changed without explanation over the years. The albino outcast Voq (Shazad Latif) from "Star Trek: Discovery" may have the most distinctive design of them all, especially since he spends much of his screentime passing as a human. 

Voq is a devoted disciple of the charismatic T'Kuvma (Chris Obi). Obsessed with serving his master and later avenging his death by the hand of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), the "Son of None" is an important presence during the gritty early stages of "Discovery." A rare example of a major Klingon character who's so far down in his race's good graces that he's considered utterly unworthy, Voq nevertheless retains the drive and devotion that are classic characteristics of his people. His willpower is such that he earns the honor of becoming T'Kuvma's Torchbearer, despite his utter lack of the requisite noble heritage. 

Voq eventually sacrifices his very self when he agrees to be reshaped into the human-looking Starfleet sleeper agent Ash Tyler (also played by Latif), complete with having his personality overwritten by Tyler's. Few other Klingon characters have shown the amount of dedication Voq routinely displays, and while his destiny is to disappear into his human form and lose himself, it only goes to show just how much he's willing to sacrifice in the name of a cause he truly believes in.

A Klingon-Human hybrid, B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) is technically not a warrior — even though she can fight very well when needs must. Instead, she serves as the skillful Chief Engineer on "Star Trek: Voyager," keeping the ship operational during its Delta Quadrant jaunt with little in the way of resources to help her.

While Torres can easily come across as an emotionally withdrawn, hot-headed rebel girl archetype, there's far more to her than meets the eye. She doesn't particularly enjoy her fiery Klingon characteristics, and her tragic past and buried sensitive side give her complexity to spare. Her romantic arc with fellow Maquis-turned-Voyager crew member Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) is also consistently entertaining.

Unfortunately, Torres takes a back seat after Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) joins the show and starts getting the lion's share of its "conflicted female character" arcs. Still, that doesn't take away from the fact that the Klingon-human hybrid engineer is a great character and an invaluable member of the Voyager crew.

The Star Trek franchise had seen Klingon characters who were struggling with key aspects of their race's traditions and culture long before Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané) came along. However, the "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" character took things one step further by being a truly committed pacifist. He's still a full-blooded Klingon, and has plenty of respect for the race's customs and traditions — he just happens to approach them via science, not the art of war.

Jay-Den is a stellar example of a Klingon who thinks outside the box. As we see in the "Starfleet Academy" Season 1 episode "Ko'Zeine," he's just as strong as you'd expect from a Klingon, and there's a heavy indication that he's willing to reconsider his approach to violence if the people he cares about are in danger. Yet, despite the occasional moment of intensity, he generally remains a cordial and gentle figure whose understated demeanor is a grounding constant in the hectic world of "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy." It's also nice that the fact that Jay-den is a LGBTQ+ character and that's only one aspect of his full individual nature, instead of becoming the sole detail that defines him. 

Without Worf (Michael Dorn), there's a chance that the very concept of a protagonist Klingon would still be treading water. Despite being raised by humans, the hulking USS Enterprise-D lieutenant immediately emanated the exact sort of gruff presence you'd expect. Sure, he wore a Starfleet uniform and knew his way around humans, but he was still very clearly a Klingon — fearsome and prone to whip out a cool alien custom whenever the plot required.

Over the course of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Worf got to show more sides of himself. By the time "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" made its arguably best character roster call by bringing Worf into the mix from Season 4 onwards, he arrived on the titular space station as a fully realized character who only became more and more three-dimensional — not least because of his charming and heartbreaking romance storyline with Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell).

A security officer, a warrior, a lover, a thinker, a spoilsport, a tactician, and so much more, Worf has worn many hats over his lengthy tenure in the franchise (including that jaunty cowboy hat in the Enterprise holodeck). It doesn't hurt that Dorn makes the most of every script he's handed, regardless of whether they're great or some of the worst episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." By tenure alone, Worf is the Klingon character who towers above the rest. It doesn't hurt that he also happens to be the most compelling Star Trek Klingon to date by a considerable margin.