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Trill (Star Trek)
Encyclopedia
The Trill are a fictional species of symbiotic life forms, depicted in the Star Trek
media franchise. First introduced in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation
, the species became a major part of the spin-off series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
, which featured a Trill named Dax
as one of its main characters.
Trill are depicted as comprising a humanoid host, and a worm-shaped symbiont that is implanted in the host's abdomen. Their personalities are a combination of the host and symbiont, with the symbiont's memories providing continuity between hosts. Their home world, also named Trill, is a planet in the Alpha Quadrant, the primary setting of most of the Star Trek series.
s, as they are called, are humanoid
s that appear much like humans, except with distinctive black or brown spots visible from the top of the head, down each side of the face and neck, and down across the shoulders and the sides of the chest, thighs, legs to their feet. Their hands are noted for being unusually cold to the touch ("A Man Alone", DS9 Season 1). Trill are strongly allergic to insect bites, because the toxins interfere with the biochemical connections between host and symbiont ("The Siege", DS9 Season 2).
The symbionts are helpless, worm-shaped lifeforms who contain the memories of their previous hosts, and who inhabit the abdomens of the humanoid hosts. When a host and a symbiont are joined, the resulting individual is considered a new being. When a host dies, the symbiont is transplanted into a new host. Ninety-three hours after the joining, the host and symbiont are completely interdependent, but up to then, the joining may be reversed without killing the host. A symbiont who is neither implanted into a new host nor returned to their habitat (pools of nutrient-rich liquid on the Trill homeworld) will quickly die, as will a joined Trill host within one to two days of the symbiont being removed.
In rare cases, Trill symbionts can be joined with non-Trill humanoids, but the differences in biology means the results are often unstable ("The Host", TNG
). Commander William Riker
was briefly joined to the Odan symbiont so that Odan could complete peace negotiations, and to keep Odan alive until a new Trill host could arrive. While this effort saved Odan's life, it nearly caused Riker's death.
In the first appearance of Trill in the TNG
episode "The Host", Trill were depicted physically quite differently than their later appearances. Also, they were unable to be safely transported via transporter
, a weakness not shown in later appearances when Trill became a regularly used race. No explanation of the differences is ever given onscreen, but according to an article on startrek.com, humanoid Trills are actually composed of at least two races that can be used as hosts for the symbiont. It is also revealed in this episode that humans can also serve as temporary hosts to the symbionts when Commander William Riker
hosted Odan's symbiont. The crew's general unfamiliarity with the race is a minor contradiction with later episodes, which stated that the Trill (such as Curzon Dax) had been working with the Federation regularly long before their first appearance in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; "Trials and Tribble-ations" implied that a host of Dax was romantically involved with Leonard McCoy
when the original Star Trek series
character was still a college student. Other differences included the change in makeup style from a prosthetic forehead to a series of spots, although some makeup tests and sketches were made in the preproduction of Deep Space Nine using the earlier makeup style, but the actress who would play Jadzia Dax
, Terry Farrell
, proved allergic to the extensive prostheses, and so the new style was created. The Trill naming style, of using their host name as a first name and their symbiont name as a surname, differs from their first appearance, in which the Trill Odan was only known by that one name.
symbiont with the host Joran (Curzon's predecessor), was a disaster — Joran was insane and a murderer. Joran's joining with Dax was covered up and all records of it were erased. The Trill government attempted to blame the failure on Joran's unsuitability as a host, but the truth was that Joran had passed the host screening tests and was technically a stable host — as was almost half of the Trill humanoid population. The government dares not let this information become public, lest the symbionts become a commodity to be bought, sold and fought over by the public — as long as it is widely believed that only a small fraction can become hosts, the government reasons, then such widespread hysteria can be avoided ("Equilibrium", DS9
).
A joined Trill is known by the given name of the host followed by the name of the symbiont: for example, when Ezri Tigan
was joined with the symbiont Dax, her name became Ezri Dax
.
Trill society has a taboo against resuming relationships with loved ones from one's past joining, on the principle that each life must be unique ("Rejoined", DS9
). This taboo apparently does not extend to non-romantic relationships (or perhaps non-Trills), since Jadzia Dax renewed Curzon Dax's friendship with Benjamin Sisko and others without comment, as Ezri Dax renewed Jadzia's friendship with the crew of Deep Space Nine. This taboo also was not yet developed at the time of the TNG episode "The Host", which featured a romantic relationship between Odan and Dr. Crusher, which Odan wished to continue through several hosts.
Deep Space Nine post-finale novels
(known as the "relaunch"), it is revealed that the Trill symbionts are related to the evil parasitic species seen in the Next Generation
episode "Conspiracy". The parasites resulted from genetic tampering upon the symbionts to make them resistant to disease. However, when their creations turned evil, the Trill tried to eradicate them, leading to the parasites' vendetta against the symbionts. The appearance of Odan — Trill hosts who have no spots, but ridges on their foreheads — is also explained (in the novel Forged in Fire, by Andy Mangels
and Michael A. Martin
), where a strain of the Klingon
Augment virus (the disease responsible for the Human-like appearance of Klingons in the Original Series) managed to infect a Trill colony when it was visited by Klingon traders.
Also in the relaunch novels, it is revealed that after a few hundred years, the symbionts become incapable of any further joinings with humanoids and return to the breeding pools and the massive underground lakes that they lead to. There they can live to be many thousands of years old and of enormous size, whereupon they are referred to as the Annuated. The Trill humanoid population at large do not know this, however.
A later novel sees word getting out that almost half of the Trill population was suitable for joining and the joined Trill who had led the planets culture and society for hundred of years was no more special than the others. A subsequent terrorist attack by non-joined Trills using a EMP-like bomb kills many symbionts and joined Trills. The planets leader then announces a moratorium on new joinings and as a sign of good faith, has her own symbiont taken out using new technology capable of removing it without killing the host.
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
media franchise. First introduced in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
, the species became a major part of the spin-off series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
, which featured a Trill named Dax
Dax (Star Trek)
Dax is the name of a fictional being in the Star Trek universe, a Trill symbiont. It's a very long-lived slug-shaped sentient worm-like life form that lives inside the bodies of a succession of Trills, a race of humanoid aliens. The symbiont merges with its host by a process called "joining" after...
as one of its main characters.
Trill are depicted as comprising a humanoid host, and a worm-shaped symbiont that is implanted in the host's abdomen. Their personalities are a combination of the host and symbiont, with the symbiont's memories providing continuity between hosts. Their home world, also named Trill, is a planet in the Alpha Quadrant, the primary setting of most of the Star Trek series.
Depicted biology
The hostHost (biology)
In biology, a host is an organism that harbors a parasite, or a mutual or commensal symbiont, typically providing nourishment and shelter. In botany, a host plant is one that supplies food resources and substrate for certain insects or other fauna...
s, as they are called, are humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
s that appear much like humans, except with distinctive black or brown spots visible from the top of the head, down each side of the face and neck, and down across the shoulders and the sides of the chest, thighs, legs to their feet. Their hands are noted for being unusually cold to the touch ("A Man Alone", DS9 Season 1). Trill are strongly allergic to insect bites, because the toxins interfere with the biochemical connections between host and symbiont ("The Siege", DS9 Season 2).
The symbionts are helpless, worm-shaped lifeforms who contain the memories of their previous hosts, and who inhabit the abdomens of the humanoid hosts. When a host and a symbiont are joined, the resulting individual is considered a new being. When a host dies, the symbiont is transplanted into a new host. Ninety-three hours after the joining, the host and symbiont are completely interdependent, but up to then, the joining may be reversed without killing the host. A symbiont who is neither implanted into a new host nor returned to their habitat (pools of nutrient-rich liquid on the Trill homeworld) will quickly die, as will a joined Trill host within one to two days of the symbiont being removed.
In rare cases, Trill symbionts can be joined with non-Trill humanoids, but the differences in biology means the results are often unstable ("The Host", TNG
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
). Commander William Riker
William Riker
William Thomas Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes, is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe primarily appearing as a main character in Star Trek: The Next Generation...
was briefly joined to the Odan symbiont so that Odan could complete peace negotiations, and to keep Odan alive until a new Trill host could arrive. While this effort saved Odan's life, it nearly caused Riker's death.
Development of appearance and characterization
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
episode "The Host", Trill were depicted physically quite differently than their later appearances. Also, they were unable to be safely transported via transporter
Transporter (Star Trek)
A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy pattern , then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter...
, a weakness not shown in later appearances when Trill became a regularly used race. No explanation of the differences is ever given onscreen, but according to an article on startrek.com, humanoid Trills are actually composed of at least two races that can be used as hosts for the symbiont. It is also revealed in this episode that humans can also serve as temporary hosts to the symbionts when Commander William Riker
William Riker
William Thomas Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes, is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe primarily appearing as a main character in Star Trek: The Next Generation...
hosted Odan's symbiont. The crew's general unfamiliarity with the race is a minor contradiction with later episodes, which stated that the Trill (such as Curzon Dax) had been working with the Federation regularly long before their first appearance in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; "Trials and Tribble-ations" implied that a host of Dax was romantically involved with Leonard McCoy
Leonard McCoy
Leonard "Bones" McCoy is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by DeForest Kelley in the original Star Trek series, McCoy also appears in the animated Star Trek series, seven Star Trek movies, the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in numerous books,...
when the original Star Trek series
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
character was still a college student. Other differences included the change in makeup style from a prosthetic forehead to a series of spots, although some makeup tests and sketches were made in the preproduction of Deep Space Nine using the earlier makeup style, but the actress who would play Jadzia Dax
Jadzia Dax
Jadzia Dax , played by Terry Farrell, was a main character during the first six seasons of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine....
, Terry Farrell
Terry Farrell (actress)
Theresa Lee "Terry" Farrell is an American actress and former fashion model. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Becker.-Early life:...
, proved allergic to the extensive prostheses, and so the new style was created. The Trill naming style, of using their host name as a first name and their symbiont name as a surname, differs from their first appearance, in which the Trill Odan was only known by that one name.
"The Joining" and Trill culture
It was originally assumed that only a small fraction (0.01%) of the Trill population was capable of being joined, a myth that the Trill government continues to perpetuate. This is because the joining of the DaxDax (Star Trek)
Dax is the name of a fictional being in the Star Trek universe, a Trill symbiont. It's a very long-lived slug-shaped sentient worm-like life form that lives inside the bodies of a succession of Trills, a race of humanoid aliens. The symbiont merges with its host by a process called "joining" after...
symbiont with the host Joran (Curzon's predecessor), was a disaster — Joran was insane and a murderer. Joran's joining with Dax was covered up and all records of it were erased. The Trill government attempted to blame the failure on Joran's unsuitability as a host, but the truth was that Joran had passed the host screening tests and was technically a stable host — as was almost half of the Trill humanoid population. The government dares not let this information become public, lest the symbionts become a commodity to be bought, sold and fought over by the public — as long as it is widely believed that only a small fraction can become hosts, the government reasons, then such widespread hysteria can be avoided ("Equilibrium", DS9
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
).
A joined Trill is known by the given name of the host followed by the name of the symbiont: for example, when Ezri Tigan
Ezri Dax
Ezri Dax , played by Nicole de Boer, is a counselor aboard Deep Space Nine in the seventh season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Casting:The role of Ezri Dax was created when Terry Farrell decided to leave the show and her character was subsequently killed by Dukat.When Nicole de Boer read for the...
was joined with the symbiont Dax, her name became Ezri Dax
Ezri Dax
Ezri Dax , played by Nicole de Boer, is a counselor aboard Deep Space Nine in the seventh season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Casting:The role of Ezri Dax was created when Terry Farrell decided to leave the show and her character was subsequently killed by Dukat.When Nicole de Boer read for the...
.
Trill society has a taboo against resuming relationships with loved ones from one's past joining, on the principle that each life must be unique ("Rejoined", DS9
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
). This taboo apparently does not extend to non-romantic relationships (or perhaps non-Trills), since Jadzia Dax renewed Curzon Dax's friendship with Benjamin Sisko and others without comment, as Ezri Dax renewed Jadzia's friendship with the crew of Deep Space Nine. This taboo also was not yet developed at the time of the TNG episode "The Host", which featured a romantic relationship between Odan and Dr. Crusher, which Odan wished to continue through several hosts.
Depiction in non-canonical novels
In the non-canonCanon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
Deep Space Nine post-finale novels
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch is an unofficial name for a series of non-canon novels released since 2000 detailing events involving the characters, species and settings portrayed in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine....
(known as the "relaunch"), it is revealed that the Trill symbionts are related to the evil parasitic species seen in the Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
episode "Conspiracy". The parasites resulted from genetic tampering upon the symbionts to make them resistant to disease. However, when their creations turned evil, the Trill tried to eradicate them, leading to the parasites' vendetta against the symbionts. The appearance of Odan — Trill hosts who have no spots, but ridges on their foreheads — is also explained (in the novel Forged in Fire, by Andy Mangels
Andy Mangels
Andy Mangels is an American science fiction author who has written novels, comics, and magazine articles, and produced DVD collections, mostly focusing on media in popular culture...
and Michael A. Martin
Michael A. Martin
Michael A. Martin is an American author.Most of Martin's works have been written in collaboration with partner Andy Mangels, who brought him aboard as a co-writer in 1997 for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comics at Marvel...
), where a strain of the Klingon
Klingon
Klingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...
Augment virus (the disease responsible for the Human-like appearance of Klingons in the Original Series) managed to infect a Trill colony when it was visited by Klingon traders.
Also in the relaunch novels, it is revealed that after a few hundred years, the symbionts become incapable of any further joinings with humanoids and return to the breeding pools and the massive underground lakes that they lead to. There they can live to be many thousands of years old and of enormous size, whereupon they are referred to as the Annuated. The Trill humanoid population at large do not know this, however.
A later novel sees word getting out that almost half of the Trill population was suitable for joining and the joined Trill who had led the planets culture and society for hundred of years was no more special than the others. A subsequent terrorist attack by non-joined Trills using a EMP-like bomb kills many symbionts and joined Trills. The planets leader then announces a moratorium on new joinings and as a sign of good faith, has her own symbiont taken out using new technology capable of removing it without killing the host.
Trill characters
- DaxDax (Star Trek)Dax is the name of a fictional being in the Star Trek universe, a Trill symbiont. It's a very long-lived slug-shaped sentient worm-like life form that lives inside the bodies of a succession of Trills, a race of humanoid aliens. The symbiont merges with its host by a process called "joining" after...
- Joran Dax
- Curzon Dax
- Jadzia DaxJadzia DaxJadzia Dax , played by Terry Farrell, was a main character during the first six seasons of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine....
- Ezri DaxEzri DaxEzri Dax , played by Nicole de Boer, is a counselor aboard Deep Space Nine in the seventh season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Casting:The role of Ezri Dax was created when Terry Farrell decided to leave the show and her character was subsequently killed by Dukat.When Nicole de Boer read for the...
- Lenara Kahn
- Odan