Seeking info re: Trill species (Star Trek)

Cafe Society
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The Trill were a species first introduced in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation; this species later re-appeared, and was given fuller treatment, in the Deep Space Nine characters of Jadzia Dax and Ezri Dax. I’m trying to put together the “facts” about the Trill and their culture as revealed in the Star Trek series. The following sums up what I know/remember on my own. Assistance from any Doper Trekkies, either with corrections or additional info, is greatly appreciated!

(1) The Trill are a “joint” species, consisting of sentient humanoids (“hosts”) and a sentient “symbiont” beings which are carried inside the hosts.

(2) A symbiont must be “joined” to (implanted in) a host in order to survive; however, a Trill humanoid does not require a symbiont to survive.

(3) Therefore, “joined” Trill would seem to constitute a minority (though perhaps a sizeable one) relative to the un-joined humanoids.

(4) While the host has the lifespan typical of other humanoid species (roughly that of humans, presumably), the symbiont can and usually does live much longer than any single host. Thus a given symbiont will have lived through several/many humanoid lifetimes in several different humanoid hosts.

(5) The symbiont has an inherent personality of its own, but also carries with it the cumulative experiences, memories and personality elements of its humanoid hosts.

(6) Upon joining, the humanoid host has access to the experiences and memories of the previous “incarnations” of the symbiont, and over time will imprint his/her own distinct personality on the symbiont. The resultant personality of the joined trill is thus a merging of the individual host personality with the cumulative personality of the symbiont.

(7) For this reason, a potential host undergoes rigorous training and psychological evaluation, to ensure that the host’s inherent personality is strong, well-established and capable of successfully integrating the symbiont without being overwhelmed in the process. It seems important for the current humanoid host to be the dominant, though not domineering, personality after joining. (Note: this host-symbiont balance was presented differently in the original TNG episode, where it was stated several times that the host was “just a shell”, and demonstrated that the symbiont’s personality was dominant.)

(8) Because of (3) and (7), it is considered a high honor among the Trill to become “joined”. Joined Trill have names reflecting their humanoid and symbiont identities. For instance, Kurzon Dax, Jadzia Dax and Ezri Dax were three successive joinings of the symbiont known as “Dax”.

(9) Symbionts are joined to new hosts only when the current host has died. (Or are they sometimes forcibly removed when something “goes horribly wrong”? That is, does a joined Trill have an inviolate identity which can no longer be forcibly separated into symbiont and host without irreparable harm?)

(10) Humanoid hosts are male/female gendered, and can mate and have offspring as any typical humanoid, whether joined or not.

(11) Symbionts do not appear to have gender, nor is it clear how – or if – the symbiont itself can reproduce in any fashion. (Or is it?)

(12) Newly-joined trill are discouraged from continuing, or seeking out, ties to family, friends and associates of the previous host, but rather are expected to move forward with the new life in the way established by the host (hence, in part, point (7)). This is not exactly a taboo – Jadzia Dax re-establishes the friendship Kurzon Dax had with Captain Cisco, and Ezri Dax is posted back to DS9 after Jadzia’s death – but it certainly a strong injunction, for reasons which Ezri’s situations with both Worf and Julian demonstrate. (Note: this too was presented differently in the original episode; all three incarnations of Odan had strong romantic feelings for Beverly Crusher, and we see no signs that it is considered “bad form” for Odan to express these feelings to Beverly in all three joinings. Again, this episode suggests that it is the host who is just “along for the ride”.)

That covers the basics of what I know and/or remember. Contributions great and small are welcome.

Thanks!

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Dax was forcibly removed from its living host on several occasions, both before DS9 began and during the actual run of the show. Neither occasion was “official” or at least condoned by the governmental bodies of either the Trill homeworld or the Federation. (Episodes Equilibrium and Invasive Procedures)

The symbionts do breed, apparently when between host bodies. Equilibrium has Jadzia Dax enter a breeding pool to reintegrate the memories of a “failed” host.

The Trill from TNG’s The Host and the Trill from DS9 are so different in species attributes that it would have served Berman and Pillar better to have just called Dax something else. Phil Farrand of the Nitpicker’s Guides has a rather lengthy checklist of the differences in the second Next Gen volume.

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I have a copy of The Star Trek Encyclopedia which was published just after the first season of Deep Space Nine, so a you can imagine, the entries on the DS9 crew were really lacking, and you could tell they put whatever they could think of. I remember from the entry on Jadzia Dax that trills have cold hands. Hope that helps! :smiley:

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The Trill were like the Borg, Data, Q, Voyager’s “Doctor”, La Forge’s VISOR, etc. They were “flexible” concepts, morphing to meet the needs of a particular story.

I suppose a particular Trek writer could have come up with a firm “bible” describing the attributes of these characters and devices in detail, but that would impose limitations.

There WERE ways to make the Trill concept work halfway plausibly without inviting questions like who the hell would ever think of jamming a lobster into his chest in the first place, but I don’t get the impression any of the Trek writers ever bothered to approach the issue with any kind of scientific mindset. They preferred to cling to touchy-feely pseudo-spiritual angles, with a heavy streak of Deus Ex.

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Jeravan, you don’t mention it, but there is a Trek book (relatively recent) about the lives of the Dax symbiont. I don’t remember the name off the top of my head, but I read it and most of the stories were very well written, and contained quite a bit of info about the Trill species. Now whether or not this is considered “canon” in the Trek universe or not is probably another question, but I’d really recommend reading the book anyway.

All of what you’ve put togther looks very accurate (lol or as accurate as Trek goes – Berman & Braga seem to play with canon fairly loosely, unfortunately). Good luck to you!

btw, I’m a native Wilmingtonian. :slight_smile:

tarragon

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The Gao’uld have the Trill beat any day.

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IANAT but . . .

I recall that it was generally accepted among the Trill that only a small percent of them (around 10 percent I think) could join with the symbionts although in “reality” 50 percent them had that capability. This was a secret kept by some of the elite “joined” Trill and it was feared by those in the know that if this secret got out it could be disruptive to the Trill society. I’m pretty sure this all comes from one of the later DS9 episodes.

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Oh wow, thanks for all of the responses (so far).

jayjay, Bryan Ekers and tarragon918: yes, I think we’re all aware of how easily the ST writers sacrifice consistency for the sake of a story. Up to a point this is understandable, but… pick an idea and stick with it, I say! At the very least, I’m interested in what information the writers have put out, and can attempt to reconcile apparent discrepancies later. I haven’t seen (or don’t remember) all of the relevant episodes, so your info is helpful.

Achernar: well, you know what they. “Cold hands, warm symbiont.”

tarragon, I’ll see whether I can find the book you describe. Again, as you say it may not be canon, but it would useful anyway. BTW, I’m a native Wilmingtonian myself! :slight_smile:

Mephisto, your points match my general recollections as well.

Captain Amazing, maybe, but if the Trill had ever met the Gau, I imagine the writers of ST would’ve made the Trill into a kick-ass species. Or re-written Nostradamus as they went.

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Jerevan (and my apologies for the earlier mis-spelling of your name!):

I just looked on amazon.com; the name of the book is: “The Lives of Dax,” editor is Marco Palmieri; each story is written by someone different, and each story is about the life of the Dax symbiont and all the hosts of Dax. It may be out-of-print though. If it is, check with any good used book stores, or check in Newark around the University of Delaware, or at any book store that might carry a good selection of science fiction and/or Star Trek books. You’ll probably be able to find it.

As to Wilmington … well, I was born there in what used to be called the Delaware Division. LOL

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Jerevan,

“The Lives of Dax” is a recent paperback novel published by Pocket Books and is set after the end of the Deep Space Nine series. I’m pretty sure that the stories contained within are not canon because, to my knowledge, the only stories considered official are the novelizations of various episodes and movies and “Mosaic”, a Voyager novel chronicling the life of Kathryn Janeway as written by one of the original producers of the television series. (Her name eludes me at the moment, sorry.)

Either way, as an avid reader and owner of most Trek books (I own and have read about 90% of them at last count), I can assure you that the book should be worth a look despite not being recognized as official. But, also, I could be wrong… the past few DS9 novels have all had a continuity unlike most other series.

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Sorry, but they fail the goldfish rule that states “any alien species or being that has an apostraphe in it’s name that is not at the end and immediately followed by an s sucks.”

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Silentgoldfish, I wasn’t aware of that rule. :wink:

But in his post I think CaptainAmazing contracted “The Gao would” to “The Gao’uld” instead of the usual “The Gao’d”.

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Mmmm… Ezri…

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Anyone remember a reference on DS9 to the “Trill Wars” were hosts were forced into the relationship?