The Untold Truth Of Star Trek's Worf

Considering how popular Worf is with fans, it's surprising to learn that the producers of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" did not initially want him as a regular cast member. As Larry Nemecek's "Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion" notes, Worf was originally imagined as a recurring character in seven of the first 13 episodes. Supervising producer Robert Justman also originally saw Worf as a "Klingon Marine" serving on the Enterprise as a symbol of better Federation-Klingon relations.

However, Dorn's performance as Worf was so magnetic that the showrunners felt the character had the potential to be part of the main cast. Over the years, Worf grew in importance and popularity, eventually becoming a central character who's done much to make Klingons actual protagonists in the "Star Trek" universe.

Today, Worf holds the record for appearing in more "Star Trek" franchise episodes than any other character, having appeared as a regular character in 11 seasons of both "Next Generation" and "DS9." In the "DS9" Season 5 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," Worf is even digitally inserted into scenes from the classic "Star Trek" Season 2 episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles."

Worf's backstory is eventually revealed in multiple "Next Generation" and "DS9" storylines. In time, we learn that Worf's birth parents were killed by Romulans while he lived on the Khitomer colony. A distress call led the USS Intrepid to Khitomer, where chief petty officer Sergey Rozhenko found a young Worf in the rubble. He took him home to be raised by his wife Helena alongside their son Nikolai on the farming colony of Gault.

Being the only Klingon in a largely human society proved difficult for Worf, but the Rozhenkos made a point of making sure Worf still practiced Klingon culture. He only ate Klingon food (motivating Helena to learn how to make Rokeg blood pie) and immersed himself in Klingon history, art, and philosophy. He also returned to the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS at 15 and vowed to become a Klingon warrior. Sadly, his remaining kin rejected him due to his human upbringing.

Despite this, Worf maintains great respect for the humans who raised him and makes sure to adapt aspects of their ideals into his personal code. This is what leads him to enlist in Starfleet, making him the first Klingon to serve as an officer aboard a Federation vessel.

Other Klingons may come across as overly aggressive warriors with plenty of swagger, but Worf always presents himself with a very controlled and reserved demeanor. In the "DS9" Season 5 episode "Let He Who is Without Sin ... " he discloses the tragic reason for this to his lover, Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax.

According to Worf, he was a very forceful child who didn't hesitate to get into fights with kids he deemed disrespectful. He also loved participating in sports, and led his school's soccer team to the championships when he was only 13. Unfortunately, as he attempted to score, he smashed into another player, Mikel, and accidentally broke the boy's neck with his hard Klingon skull.

The experience scarred Worf, who realized he needed to practice greater self-restraint among human beings. As a result, he developed a more serious personality and honed his fighting abilities — not just so he could become a more efficient warrior, but also so he would know how to not accidentally hurt his friends.

Even among Klingon warriors, Worf stands out as a formidable fighter. He's taken on Borg drones in hand-to-hand combat — and won. He's earned the title "Champion Standing" at a Klingon bat'leth tournament. He even teaches regular martial arts classes to Starfleet officers, including some advanced courses.

So it might come as a surprise for fans to learn that this unbelievably tough Klingon tends to get beaten up ... a lot. In multiple "Next Generation" episodes, Worf is thrown around the bridge of the Enterprise or shot at by some new alien threat. At one point, in the Season 4 episode "Clues," he even gets his wrist broken by a possessed Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), who takes him out in under two seconds.

Worf is so frequently beaten up, in fact, that fans coined a phrase to describe the trope: "The Worf Effect." This term refers to the storytelling practice of indicating how dangerous an unknown character is by having them beat up an established tough guy. Sadly, since the Enterprise regularly encounters unknown forms of life, writers used this trope to excess. Fortunately, by the time Worf transfers to Deep Space Nine, he starts winning most of his battles.

Klingons might be scary, but there's something about Worf that makes him irresistible to women. Both Counselor Deanna Troi and Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) fall for Worf and have relationships with him. 

This is risky, as Worf's girlfriends tend to receive gruesome deaths. In the "Next Generation" Season 2 episode "The Emissary," Worf renews a relationship with the half-Klingon ambassador K'Ehleyr (Suzie Plakson). After she discovers a conspiracy against Worf, however, she gets murdered and dies in Worf's arms in Season 4's "Reunion."

K'Ehleyr's death weighs heavily on Worf, but he gets a chance to move on when he marries Jadzia Dax in Season 6 of "DS9." However, when Terry Farrell was denied the chance to be a recurring character and decided not to renew her contract for Season 7, the producers opted to have Jadzia murdered by Gul Dukat in the Season 6 finale "Tears of the Prophets," leaving Worf a widower.

At least Troi is alive, right? Well ... not quite. In the "Next Generation" series finale "All Good Things," we visit an alternate future where Troi is dead — possibly due to a love triangle between Troi, Worf, and Riker. Worf and Troi eventually break up in the mainstream timeline, which may allow Troi to survive. He may be a devoted partner, but relationships with Worf tends to be hazardous to one's health.

As if losing K'Ehleyr wasn't bad enough, Worf also discovers that his lover had a secret child with him — and that he's now responsible for young Alexander Rozhenko (Jon Steuer). To make matters more difficult, K'Ehleyr never taught Alexander about Klingon culture and the boy has no interest in being a warrior. Worf struggles to accept Alexander for who he is, and initially tries to force his son to change.

At one point, Worf sends Alexander to live with his adoptive parents, the Rozhenkos. They send him back, stating they are too old to handle raising another Klingon. Such actions have even prompted Michael Dorn himself to call Worf a "terrible father" in "Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages," and declare that "he hasn't got a clue."

Like a lot of children on TV shows, Alexander ages at a strange rate, forcing Worf to deal with him as a child, a teenager, and a young adult within a few short years. When he shows up as a young man on "DS9" played by Marc Worden, he finally chooses to become a warrior, but his early lack of training makes him clumsy among other Klingons, much to his father's embarrassment.

Klingons make a big deal about drinking plenty of "bloodwine" during ceremonies and celebrations. Worf himself has been known to partake in bloodwine, liking his to be very young and very sweet. However, bloodwine occupies a distant second place when compared to Worf's drink of choice: prune juice.

Introduced to the beverage by the Enterprise's bartender Guinan in the "Next Generation" Season 3 episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," Worf immediately proclaims prune juice to be "a warrior's drink," and begins consuming it in large quantities. He continues ordering prune juice during his tenure on Deep Space Nine, causing the Ferengi bartender Quark (Armin Shimerman) to break out in hysterical laughter until he realizes Worf is serious. As he learns, prune juice is very popular among Klingons in general.

Indeed, according to Keith R. A. DeCandido's "Next Generation" novel "Q&A," prune juice becomes the largest export from Earth to the Klingon Empire by 2380. As Klingons and humans have different biological systems, it's possible that Klingons experience an intoxicating effect from prune juice that humans can't enjoy — although it's also possible they simply appreciate not needing to worry about irregularity on the battlefield.