Character from TV series
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Fictional character
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko
is a fictional character in the
Star Trek
franchise portrayed by
Avery Brooks
. He was the main character of the television series
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(
DS9
), which was originally broadcast between 1993 and 1999. The character has also appeared in various books, comics, and video games within the
Star Trek
franchise.
Character history
[
edit
]
Early life and career
[
edit
]
Born in 2332 in
New Orleans, Louisiana
, Benjamin is the son of
Joseph Sisko
,
chef
and owner of the
restaurant
Sisko's
Creole
Kitchen. His birth mother was a human woman named Sarah, who was possessed by a
Bajoran Prophet
(the entities that exist inside the
Bajoran wormhole
), and manipulated into marrying Joseph in order to conceive Benjamin. Sarah and Joseph were happily married until Sarah disappeared two days after Ben's first birthday, when the life-form left her body. She died in an accident several years later. Joseph eventually met and married another woman, who raised Benjamin as her son. Benjamin remained unaware of these events until well into his adulthood. Ben has a sister named Judith, and at least two brothers.
Sisko entered
Starfleet Academy
in 2350. During his
sophomore year
, he was in a field-study assignment on Starbase 137. He met a woman named
Jennifer
in
Babylon, New York
, on
Gilgo Beach
, shortly after graduating from the Academy. The two eventually wed and had a son named
Jake
.
[1]
As a
Starfleet
officer coming up through the ranks, Sisko was mentored by
Curzon Dax
, a joined
Trill
serving as
United Federation of Planets
ambassador
to the
Klingon Empire
, when the two were stationed aboard the USS
Livingston
early in Sisko's career. The symbiotic nature of the joined Trill becomes a significant aspect to Sisko's later relationships with his science officer
Jadzia Dax
and counselor
Ezri Dax
.
Sisko served aboard the USS
Okinawa
under Captain Leyton, who saw command potential in the young officer; Leyton promoted Sisko to
lieutenant commander
and made him his
executive officer
. It was during this assignment that Sisko and Leyton fought in the war between the Federation and the
Tzenkethi
.
[2]
Sisko eventually transferred to the USS
Saratoga
as its first officer. In early 2367, the
Saratoga
was one of the 40 Starfleet vessels involved in the
Battle of Wolf 359
against the
Borg
.
In an attempt to gain knowledge about Starfleet defenses, the Borg assimilated Captain
Jean-Luc Picard
of the U.S.S.
Enterprise
, creating a Borg drone known as Locutus. In the ensuing battle, of the forty Federation starships amassed at Wolf 359 only the USS Endeavour (NCC-71805) survived. An estimated 11,000 people were lost, including Sisko's wife, Jennifer.
[1]
Afterward, Sisko took a position at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards on
Mars
. There he oversaw the development of new ships intended to contend with the Borg threat. One such ship, the
USS
Defiant
, was later used against the
Dominion
.
[3]
Sisko was promoted to
captain
on stardate 48959 during the episode "
The Adversary
".
Deep Space Nine
[
edit
]
Sisko is a lead character and the commanding officer of the fictional space station,
Deep Space Nine
. In 2369, Sisko is assigned to the
Bajoran
sector to command Deep Space Nine and help Bajor's recovery from the recently concluded
Cardassian occupation
, shepherding them toward possible membership in the Federation. Sisko and his son Jake reluctantly take up residence on the station. Recognizing that the assignment on
DS9
is not an "ideal environment" in which to raise a son, Sisko contemplates resigning his commission. Adding to Sisko's discomfort is the presence of Captain Picard, who briefs him on his mission. Sisko continues to harbor deep resentment toward Picard for his role, however unwilling, in the death of his wife.
Upon Sisko's first visit to Bajor, the Kai (Bajor's spiritual leader),
Opaka Sulan
, labels him "the Emissary of the Prophets" and gives him one of the
Bajoran Orbs
, that supposedly comes from Bajor's Prophets. By studying the orb and nearby stellar phenomenon,
Jadzia Dax
finds a location of unusual activity in the nearby Denorios Belt. Traveling there, Dax and Sisko discover the first known stable
wormhole
; the other end of which connects to the
Gamma Quadrant
. During their return trip through the wormhole, Sisko and Dax encounter the mysterious entities living within it. The devoutly spiritual Bajorans believe the wormhole to be the "Celestial Temple" and the entities to be the Prophets, respectively. These entities exist outside linear time. Sisko's first contact with the entities is awkward and difficult for both parties; but the encounter helps Sisko recognize that he has never allowed himself to move beyond the bitterness and grief of losing his wife, as well as his anger towards Picard. After leaving the wormhole, Sisko embraces the opportunity to move forward and command Deep Space Nine and adopts a less hostile attitude towards Picard before his departure.
After the station is moved to the mouth of the wormhole to firmly claim it for Bajor, it becomes a new hub of scientific, commercial and political activity. Sisko at first clashes with Major
Kira Nerys
and on more than one occasion has to rein her in by asserting his authority. However, as time passed, the two came to have great respect for and trust in each other. Their relationship reached a new level of personal comfort when Sisko was injured during a battle with the Dominion and Kira did her best to care for him; telling him a story and praying to the Prophets in process. During this, she realized that Sisko had kept her at a certain professional distance because of his role as the Emissary but this softened after this event.
Sisko's assignment to the station also saw him reunited with an old friend in a new form. Jadzia, a female Trill and the current host to Dax had been assigned as the science officer to Deep Space Nine. The Dax symbiont had previously been joined to Curzon Dax; a Federation
Diplomat
who had been an old friend and mentor to Sisko early in his career. Indeed, Sisko would call Jadzia "old man", the same nickname he had used with Curzon. Sisko, would, at times, seek Dax's advice and she would also ask his at times. Most especially when the symbiont belonging to one of Dax's previous hosts wives arrived in a new host and Dax felt conflicted. When the Dax
Symbiont
was passed on to a new host due to the death of Jadzia, Sisko acted as something of a mentor to the new host, Ezri Dax.
Ezri was a young and inexperienced officer that had been joined to Dax when the symbiont's health seriously declined en route to the Trill home planet and a new host was required to save it. Ezri had not been prepared to be joined and had never wanted to be, so joining with Dax was rough for her. Sisko met Ezri for the first time while he was still on extended personal leave on Earth and Ezri subsequently assisted the Sisko family in their search for a new Bajoran orb. Upon meeting Ezri, Sisko promised to help her through the transition of being joined as well as helping her come to terms with the reality of her situation and Sisko found comfort in having his friend back, if even indirectly. After these events, Sisko returned to duty and arranged for Ezri's transfer to the station and posting as the station's counselor.
The wormhole's discovery cements in Opaka's and other Bajorans' minds the notion that Sisko is the Emissary of the Prophets, a title and set of responsibilities which initially makes Sisko uneasy, forcing him to walk a fine line in avoiding any violation of the Prime Directive. However, Sisko warms up to and eventually embraces his fated role in the Bajoran faith.
When Sisko leads the
Defiant
into the wormhole to intercept a
Dominion
fleet, the Prophets intervene. Sisko, at this point, has not fulfilled his destiny; to ensure that he survives, the Prophets erase the Dominion forces from existence.
Sisko plays a critical role in the intrigue of the
Alpha Quadrant
. His actions prove key in the security of
Earth
and the whole Alpha Quadrant. Examples include when he meets his former Captain, Admiral Leyton and learns that he planned on overthrowing the Federation government. Leyton framed Sisko as a shapeshifter who infiltrated Starfleet by faking a blood test. Sisko subsequently escaped custody with the help of
Odo
and stopped Leyton's plans. During the
Klingon
invasion of
Cardassia
, he is crucial to exposing the
shapeshifter
impersonating Klingon general
Martok
. Sisko's exploits continue during the Dominion's invasion of the Alpha Quadrant, eventually working alongside
Vice Admiral William Ross
to help plan massive actions against the Dominion and their Cardassian and
Breen
allies. Sisko's contributions to the war effort are sometimes more surreptitious, such as his clandestine work with former
Obsidian Order
operative
Elim Garak
. Specifically, Garak and Sisko work to bring the
Romulans
into the war by creating an elaborate ruse. He and Garak, with the help of a petty criminal, create a sophisticated holoprogram, specifically the recording of a high-level Dominion meeting planning the invasion of Romulus. They were to then give the fabricated evidence to Senator Vreenak, a Romulan Senator visiting the station who had staunch pro-Dominion leanings. As the ruse progressed however, due to several unforeseen complications that arose along the way, Sisko was grudgingly forced to set aside his an increasing amount of his moral certainty to make the plan a success and save the Federation, such as bribing Quark, and becoming an accessory to murder twice over. Vreenak discovered the forgery quickly enough, and angrily departed the station, determined to expose Sisko's plan to the entire Quadrant. En route back to Romulus, however, he was assassinated by a bomb Garak had clandestinely planted in his shuttle. Ironically, it wasn't the holoprogram itself, but Vreenak's assassination that brought the Romulans into the war, since the Tal Shiar (the Romulan equivalent of the Obsidian Order) believed the senator was assassinated by the Dominion after he found evidence of their planned invasion, and not by Garak, after discovering the data rod containing the holoprogram of the invasion plans that the Tal Shiar assumed he was bring back to Romulus to warn his government, and any errors or flaws in the data stored within the rod was due to from damage from the explosion and not because it was a sophisticated forgery. Sisko was enraged when he figured out that Garak was behind the assassination, but later admitted with a note of bitterness that Garak was right, in that two deaths and an uneasy conscience was a very small price to pay in order to save the entire Alpha Quadrant.
Sisko fulfills the Prophets' destiny for him in the series finale, "
What You Leave Behind
", by confronting the
Kosst Amojan
-possessed Gul
Dukat
. They fight, and Dukat seems to be the winner, but in a last effort, Sisko throws himself and Dukat into the fiery abyss of the Bajoran Fire Caves, and Sisko is pulled into the Prophets' plane of existence to live with and learn from them. Sisko imparts a farewell to his new—and pregnant— wife,
Kasidy Yates
, informing her that although he does not know when, he will eventually return to her.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Sisko was first married to
Jennifer Sisko
, with whom he had a son,
Jake
.
As seen in the pilot episode "
Emissary
", Sisko harbored a deep resentment towards Captain
Jean-Luc Picard
for years because it was Picard, as Locutus of Borg, who led the
Borg
attack against the
Federation
at the
Battle of Wolf 359
. Sisko lost his wife,
Jennifer
, during the Borg attack, forcing Sisko to raise their young son, Jake, as a single parent. To take care of Jake, Sisko placed his
Starfleet
career on hold by taking up a backwater position at the Federation
Utopia Planitia
shipyard orbiting
Mars
.
Sisko remained a widower and single parent for many years. Eventually Sisko reluctantly accepted a posting as commander of
Deep Space Nine
orbiting the planet
Bajor
, where he eventually married a space freighter captain,
Kasidy Yates
.
Sisko loves
baseball
, a sport that has largely disappeared by the 24th century but is kept alive by a small group of aficionados. He keeps a
baseball
on the desk in his office (given to him by an alien impersonating Buck Bokai, Sisko's favorite historical baseball player, halfway through the first season), and often picks it up and tosses it around when deep in thought. When the
Dominion
captures DS9, Sisko leaves the ball in his office as a message that he intends to return (this can also be seen in the second season three-parter, consisting of "Homecoming", "
The Circle
" and "
The Siege
" and also the Season 5 finale, "
Call To Arms
"). After
Jadzia Dax
's death in the Season 6 finale, "
Tears of the Prophets
", he takes the baseball with him to
Earth
, causing
Kira Nerys
to worry that he will not return.
Like his father, a
chef
, Sisko also enjoys cooking. His father owns a restaurant in
New Orleans
, and specialized in
Creole cuisine
.
It is also widely known that Sisko wants to become an
admiral
; he states this intent to Admiral Ross during his temporary assignment at a starbase under Ross' command.
Alter egos
[
edit
]
Sisko can also be identified as two other characters in the
Star Trek
universe
:
Benny Russell
[
edit
]
In the episode "
Far Beyond the Stars
", Sisko considers resigning his commission after losing an old friend during the
Dominion War
and the
Prophets
intervene, making Sisko briefly live the life of Benny Russell, a science fiction short story writer in
1950s America
. (The other people in Russell's life are played by Brooks'
DS9
co-stars, allowing them to appear without the heavy prosthetic makeup of their alien characters and show viewers their true appearance.)
Every day, Russell faces the prejudices of his world; his publisher does not even allow his photograph to be printed. He writes a story called "Deep Space Nine" that takes place in a universe without
prejudice
and
bigotry
. However, his publisher refuses to release the story because he makes the commander of the
space station
a
black
man. This injustice eventually drives Benny
insane
; soon after, Sisko finds himself back in the 24th century, understanding his place is aboard the station but questioning the nature of reality.
Later, in "
Shadows and Symbols
", Sisko experiences more flashbacks to his "life" as Benny Russell, now in a
mental institution
, obsessively writing the episode, synchronously, on the wall. Although it seems to be left ambiguous as to whether Benny is real or the Prophets' creation, at the end of this episode, the wormhole alien he was hunting says, "The Kosst Amojan tried to stop you with a false vision", implying that the
Pah-wraiths
were implanting the Russell fantasy into Sisko's mind to throw him off his mission.
Gabriel Bell
[
edit
]
Due to a
time travel
incident depicted in "
Past Tense
" (S3E11 & E12), Sisko is transported to early-21st-century Earth where his presence unintentionally causes the death of
Gabriel Bell
, an important figure in early-21st-century America. Sisko takes Bell's place to preserve the timeline. Sisko (as "Bell") instigates the
Bell Riots
, which helped change the course of human history.
Although Sisko is successful in fulfilling Bell's destiny and preserving the timeline, historical images of Bell after this point show Sisko's image.
Cultural references
[
edit
]
- In
Sunshine
by
Robin McKinley
, the title character mentions a tour company called "Earth Trek" operated by a man named Benjamin Sisko.
Reception
[
edit
]
In 2009,
IGN
ranked Sisko as the 8th best character of
Star Trek
overall.
[4]
In 2012,
Paste Magazine
rated Sisko as the #9 character of all
Star Trek
live-action
television shows up to that time.
[5]
In 2016,
ScreenRant
rated Benjamin Sisko as the fourth best character in
Star Trek
overall as presented in television and film up to that time.
[6]
In 2016, Sisko was ranked as the 2nd most important character of
Starfleet
within the
Star Trek
science fiction universe by
Wired
magazine
.
[7]
In 2017,
The Washington Post
ranked Sisko as the second best Captain of
Star Trek
, and compared him to the American WW2 General and US President
Eisenhower
.
[8]
[9]
They note how he tried to raise his son on the wayward space station despite being widowed, while contending with crew of dubious loyalties.
[8]
In 2017,
Space.com
ranked Sisko the fifth best captain of
Star Trek
.
[10]
In 2017,
Screen Rant
ranked Sisko the 3rd most attractive person in the
Star Trek
universe, in between
Seven of Nine
and
Nyota Uhura
.
[11]
In 2019, Cinema Blend ranked Sisko the fourth best Star Trek
Starfleet
character of all time.
[12]
Sisko was rated as one of the top seven time travelers of the Star Trek franchise by
Nerdist
in 2019, especially for his time traveling adventures in "
Trials and Tribble-ations
" and "
Past Tense
".
[13]
In 2018,
CBR
ranked Sisko the third best
Starfleet
character of
Star Trek,
in between Janeway and Picard.
[14]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Episode "
Emissary
"; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Episode 1 of Season 1
- ^
Episodes "
Homefront
" & "
Paradise Lost
"; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Episodes 10 & 11 of Season 4
- ^
Episodes
The Search
parts I & II; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Episodes 1 & 2 of Season 3
- ^
"Top 25 Star Trek Characters"
.
IGN
. May 8, 2009
. Retrieved
March 20,
2019
.
- ^
"The 10 Best Star Trek Characters"
. July 23, 2012. Archived from
the original
on March 6, 2020
. Retrieved
March 21,
2019
.
- ^
"The 20 Best Characters In Star Trek History"
.
ScreenRant
. November 19, 2016
. Retrieved
March 20,
2019
.
- ^
McMillan, Graeme (September 5, 2016).
"Star Trek's 100 Most Important Crew Members, Ranked"
.
Wired
.
ISSN
1059-1028
. Retrieved
March 20,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Ahrens, Frank (September 26, 2017).
"The ultimate ranking of the best "Star Trek" captains"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
March 17,
2019
– via
The Denver Post
.
- ^
Ahrens, Frank (September 22, 2017).
"The ultimate ranking of the best 'Star Trek' captains"
.
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Entertainment, Elizabeth Howell 2017-09-22T21:09:10Z (September 22, 2017).
"6 'Star Trek' Captains, Ranked from Worst to Best"
.
Space.com
. Retrieved
June 23,
2019
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"Star Trek: 20 Most Attractive Characters"
.
ScreenRant
. December 15, 2017. Archived from
the original
on April 16, 2021
. Retrieved
July 12,
2019
.
- ^
"The Best Star Trek Characters Of All Time"
.
CINEMABLEND
. June 10, 2019
. Retrieved
June 20,
2019
.
- ^
"The 7 Best Time Travelers In STAR TREK"
.
Nerdist
. Retrieved
June 23,
2019
.
- ^
"Star Trek: The 25 Best Members Of Starfleet, Ranked"
.
CBR
. October 27, 2018
. Retrieved
June 20,
2019
.
Sources
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Characters
| |
---|
Episodes
| |
---|
Settings
| |
---|
Video games
| |
---|
Other topics
| |
---|