Christopher Cantwell also wrote the creator-owned The Blue Flame.
Star Trek #24 was written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Angel Unzueta. Alexander lost his honor during Day of Blood, and his father had put him through the grueling quv ritual. This three-part ritual, designed to restore his honor, climaxed with Alexander sparing the life of Kahless II. By not killing Kahless, Alexander proved to his father that he was indeed honorable. After Worf restores Alexander’s honor, father and son embrace, for the first time in many years. Worf and Alexander, who had spent years hating each other, are now whole.
Worf's Life Has Been One of Loss and Tragedy
Worf Lost His Parents, a Lover and Nearly His Son
Worf blazed a trail in the Star Trek universe as the first Klingon to serve in Starfleet, and his record indicates an exemplary officer. However, Worf’s personal life was in shambles most of the time. Worf had known loss and tragedy from a young age, having lost his biological parents in a Romulan attack. Worf was then adopted by a human couple, who brought him to Earth, where he would struggle for the rest of his life to reconcile the various aspects of his personality. Wof was intensely alienated from his colleagues aboard the Enterprise.
During Star Trek: The Next Generation’s second season, Worf met the half-Klingon, half-human K'Ehleyr, who would become the mother to Alexander. After she boarded the Enterprise for the first time, Worf became smitten with her. Shortly after K'Ehleyr finished her mission, she gave birth to a child. This child, who she named Alexander, would, like his father, know a life of pain and loss, as K’Ehleyr was killed when he was small. Alexander was sent to live with Worf’s parents on Earth, but the child proved too much for the elderly couple to handle.
Alexander drifted through life, just as alone and alienated as his father.
The Klingon Quv Rite Takes On a Whole New Layer
The Rite Repaired the Bond Between Worf and Alexander
As seen in the “No Old Warriors” story arc currently running through Star Trek: Defiant, Worf has used the quv ritual, designed to restore a Klingon’s honor, to forge a new bond with his son.
As seen in the “No Old Warriors” story arc currently running through Star Trek: Defiant, Worf has used the quv ritual, designed to restore a Klingon’s honor, to forge a new bond with his son. When fans last saw Alexander on-screen, he was trying to make a name for himself in the Klingon Defense Force, but as seen in the build-up to Star Trek: Day of Blood, it did not work out for him. Now almost completely alienated from both sides of his heritage, Alexander was an easy mark for the fascist Kahless II, who recruited him to his cause.
Kahless’ crusade was one of death and chaos, and the Klingon Emperor used Alexander’s insecurities as a way of bending the boy to his will. Kahless had a particular grudge against Worf, and brought Alexander into the fold as a way of getting into his head, and it worked: Worf was horrified to see what Kahless had done to Alexander, and it helped drive home his many failures as a parent. The arc was peppered with text pieces outlining Worf’s relationship with Alexander, not all of them good.
The Klingon language has exploded since the publication of The Klingon Dictionary in the early 1990s. Numerous books, including the Bible and the works of Shakespeare, have been translated into Klingon.
The ‘quv ritual repairs a Klingon’s psyche, giving them back a piece of what they have lost, and in Worf’s case, it is his relationship with Alexander. Throughout both Star Trek and its sister title Defiant, Worf has repeatedly confronted his failures, both as a Starfleet officer and as a parent. Worf moderated the quv for Alexander, and he even admitted he was doing so partially for himself, as he wished to be close to his son again. The ritual was a resounding success, restoring a bond that many had written off as a lost cause.
Will Alexander Return During the Lore War?
Both Worf and Alexander Are Now in Lore's Service
Worf’s reconciliation with Alexander comes just as the Star Trek universe is heading towards the Lore War. Lore has created a blasphemous version of the multiverse, one where honorable warriors such as Shaxs, Worf and Alexander are pressed into the evil android’s service. Sisko and, ironically, Kahless, must “awaken” those whom Lore has corrupted. Worf and Alexander have just repaired their bond after 35 years, and the love between father and son may be key to saving the galaxy.
