The Art of Lying: Elim Garak

This is the first of a twice weekly series of posts about our favorite secondary characters from TV series. Any character who spent time on a show as a recurring character, even if they later became part of the main cast, qualifies. We start with Elim Garak

SPOILERS FOR A 20 YEAR OLD SHOW ARE BELOW, SO BEWARE I SUPPOSE

Exile is a theme of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, especially in the middle seasons of the show. At one time in season five, three main characters and one recurring character were official exiles from their people and their homeworld. Worf lost his hard-won status in the Klingon Empire because he refused to support its war against Cardassia. Quark was exiled from Ferenginar because he broke a contract to save his life. Odo was banished from the Great Link of the Changelings and forced to be solid because he broke their one great commandment by killing one of his own. And Garak the Cardassian tailor, hmm....well he was banished from Cardassia for letting some Bajoran children go free. Or wait, as he banished because he accidentally killed the daughter of a prominent Cardassian leader? Actually, I think he might have been framed for letting prisoners go. Honestly, I doubt we'll ever find out why he was in exile. And that is one of many reasons why Garak is not only one of my favorite characters from the show, but one of my favorites from any show.

Garak, portrayed excellently by Andrew Robinson, was only in thirty-three episodes of the series. Like all great recurring characters, however, his impact far outweighed the relative lack of screentime. Name a great episode of the show ("The Wire", "Improbable Cause", "The Die is Cast", "In the Pale Moonlight", amongst others) and it's likely Garak was a central character in it. His friendship with Dr. Bashir was a highlight of the show, as it always was a treat to listen to Julian try to get the truth out of Garak about something, and never quite succeed. One of my favorite conversations of theirs revolved around the old story about the boy who cried wolf. Naturally, Garak took away a different moral from it than was intended.



To Garak, dissembling and "truthiness" was a way of life. It was a prefessional skill, something that had to be constantly honed and refined. Another favorite scene involved him doing just that, this time with Worf, a character who is pretty much unable to lie.



Although Garak clearly enjoys lying, as well as many of the other aspects of his previous career as a member of the Obsidian Order, he is without a doubt a professional and a Cardassian patriot. Behind all of the lies, the half-truths, and his nearly implacable sunny disposition and smile is a man with a definite moral code. Sometimes that morality is far different than the morality of the Terran, or a Klingon, or a Bajoran, but it still is there. He clearly is hurt by Cardassia joining the Dominion, and not just because his rival Gul Dukat benefited from the agreement. When he confronts the Female Changeling* about potential survivors of the joint attack by the Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar against the Dominion, his facade temporarily breaks as she tells him they are all dead. Sure, some of that was his feelings for his mentor (and later to be revealed father) Enabran Tain, but also pain at hearing his beloved Cardassia being trampled upon by the Dominion.



His love of Cardassia explains his pragmatic decision to embrace working with the Federation. That does't mean he ever particularly liked it. My favorite scene of his, and arguably my favorite scene of the show overall, comes from the season four premiere "Way of the Warrior". In it, Quark and Garak commiserate over having to rely upon the protection of the Federation as the quadrant moves ever closer to war with Dominion. Never before or again would root beer be such an apt metaphor for something.



In the end, Garak is able to go home, albeit a Cardassia that has been wrecked by years of war, strife, and occupation. There is little doubt Garak will help pick up the pieces, lying through his ever-smiling mouth the entire time. I doubt he would have it any other way.

*That is the closest to a name the character has. She tended to be closest thing to a leader of the Dominion the show had, even though the entirety of the Changelings were the effective leaders.