Summary
- Star Trek: TNG showed the Romulans' complexity: not all were villains, and some were sympathetic.
- Captain Picard's judgment of Romulans is continually challenged, and he eventually fought for their rescue decades later.
- In TNG, Romulans are portrayed as multi-dimensional characters.
The Romulans may be considered one of the United Federation of Planets' greatest enemies, but Star Trek: The Next Generation showed that not every Romulan is a villain. The Romulans made their debut in the excellent Star Trek: The Original Series episode, "Balance of Terror," which set them up as conniving villains, although the Romulan Commander (Mark Lenard) had honor. Since their introduction, the Romulans have been incredibly secretive and earned a reputation for being duplicitous. And while many Romulans have fallen into this category over the years, TNG showed that Romulans could be just as complex and nuanced as humans.
As Captain of the USS Enterprise-D, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) did his best not to let preconceived notions about a species cloud his judgment, but even he was weary of the Romulans. Many in the Federation feared the Romulans because they did not know much about them, and nothing is more frightening than the unknown. As a whole, the Romulans did little to combat this fear, choosing to remain isolated and secretive. Despite all of these traits associated with the Romulan Empire, not every individual Romulan held the same beliefs as their leaders.
Star Trek: TNG's "The Enemy" & "The Defector" Showed Sympathetic Romulans
These TNG season 3 episodes introduced more three-dimensional Romulan characters.
In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 7, "The Enemy," Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) finds himself stranded on a storm-ravaged planet with a Romulan named Bochra (John Snyder). Geordi and Bochra must work together to make it off of the planet alive, and Bochra eventually acknowledges that he would not have survived without Geordi. Initially, Bochra tried to take Geordi hostage, despite the fact that he was the lone Romulan survivor on the planet with no way to contact his ship. In the end, Bochra is neither a hero nor a villain, but rather a three-dimensional character with the ability to overcome his own prejudice.
A few episodes later, in TNG season 3, episode 10, "The Defector," the USS Enterprise-D rescues a Romulan who claims to have defected from the Romulan Empire. Captain Picard and his crew initially react with suspicion, especially when they learn that the Romulan is the high-ranking Admiral Jarok (James Sloyan). Picard even states that "a Romulan defector is almost a contradiction in terms." Still, he investigates Jarok's claims, as the Romulan Admiral says he wants to prevent a Romulan/Federation war for the sake of his daughter. For his part, Jarok genuinely believed that the Romulans were planning an attack, but the information had been planted to test his loyalty.
Knowing that he was misled and can never return to his homeworld, Jarok later takes his own life, making him not only a sympathetic Romulan but also a tragic one.
Why Jean-Luc Saving The Romulans In Star Trek: Picard Makes Sense
Admiral Picard fought to save as many Romulans as possible after their sun went supernova.
Star Trek: Picard season 1 reveals that Jean-Luc Picard fought harder than anyone for the Romulans after their sun went supernova. Back in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, even Captain Picard fell into the trap of believing the worst of the Romulans. Of course, as the Captain of the Enterprise, Picard always had to prepare for the worst, but that does not mean he was unsympathetic to Bochra or Jarok's plight. When the Romulan sun went supernova in the 2380s, Admiral Picard led the Federation's efforts to evacuate and relocate as many Romulans as possible.
Although Picard pulls no punches in his interrogation of Jarok in Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "The Defector," he later remarks that if more Romulans "had the courage of Admiral Jarok," there could one day be peace between the Federation and the Romulan Empire.
As the Romulan Empire had long been enemies of the Federation, some in Starfleet saw no reason to help them, but Picard refused to back down. Not only did Picard always strive to do the right thing, but he had seen firsthand that not all Romulans were the conniving villains they had been made out to be. Even after Starfleet canceled the Romulan evacuation due to the devastating attack on Mars, Admiral Picard continued to fight for the Romulan people, eventually resigning from Starfleet in disgust when they abandoned their rescue mission. Star Trek: Picard depicted both villainous and kind-hearted Romulans, continuing what Star Trek: The Next Generation began.
