Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Gives One Character The Perfect Journey Beginning To End

Why, exactly, does Nog have the perfect character arc in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine? One simple reason is that he has the most room to grow. Other great characters are relatively static throughout the show; as an example, we get some wild revelations about him being genetically engineered, but other than that, Dr. Bashir’s big arc in the show is that he goes from a relatively optimistic physician to a relatively cynical one. 

Bashir and many others like Kira essentially enter the show as fully realized characters. Nog, by contrast, enters Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a relatively one-dimensional. Sisko’s first official act as commander of the station is to jail Nog for petty crime, and at first, it seems like the Ferengi’s only real narrative function was to be the best buddy of (and occasionally bad influence to) Sisko’s son, Jake.

Eventually, though, Nog realizes he is wasting his life, a revelation partially inspired by seeing how much his father (beloved Star Trek character Rom) was squandering his own mechanical talents. Accordingly, he decided to apply to Starfleet Academy, and since his planet of Ferenginar was not part of the Federation, he needed a command-level endorsement. He ended up getting it from Sisko, which was a nice touch…the same man whose tenure on DS9 began by jailing Nog as a petty criminal was the man who endorsed the Ferengi because he recognized his potential.

The application was accepted, and Nog made Star Trek history by becoming the first Ferengi to join Starfleet (though not the last, as Discovery would later make clear). Later, he was assigned to Deep Space Nine for field training and worked extensively with Chief O’Brien (time well spent, considering Lower Decks would later confirm that O’Brien was the most important person in Starfleet history). After only two years of being a cadet, Nog received a promotion to ensign, an impressive achievement considering that this usually takes cadets four years to accomplish.

Sadly, Nog’s story took a darker turn that mirrored the growing darkness of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He briefly joined some Red Squad cadets who were all that was left of the USS Valiant crew, and he and Jake Sisko ended up being the only survivors of a suicide attack against a Jem’Hadar battleship. Later, Nog lost a leg on AR-558, and he struggled with extreme PTSD before helping Sisko and the Defiant crew win the war against the Dominion.

In a very touching moment for Nog, we find out in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finale that Sisko promoted him to lieutenant junior grade as one of his last official acts before death (or, more accurately, before being saved by the Prophets and spending seemingly the rest of his life in the wormhole). That promotion was meant to underscore how far the character had come, but anyone who had closely watched his arc over the years already knew that Nog had the most perfect journey of personal development.

Of course, the character wouldn’t have been nearly as captivating without the performance of the late, great Aron Eisenberg, whom the Star Trek community misses every single day. His legacy lives on in NuTrek, with Discovery revealing a ship in the future named the USS Nog. It’s an Eisenberg-class starship, and if that tribute doesn’t make your eyes a bit misty, I’ll assume that you’re like a Klingon and simply have no tear ducts.