Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we review Enabran Tain, a recurring character from Deep Space 9.
Enabran Tain is the head of the Obsidian Order for 20 years. During this time, he trusts nobody but his own housekeeper. As one might expect from the leader of such an organization, Tain is ruthless and has a reputation for not having a heart. In this time, Tain trains and then later expels Elim Garak from the Order and basically exiles him from Cardassian society.
As it turns out, Garak is Tain's son. This fact was covered up publicly, but Garak knows this throughout his life. Garak is trained by and essentially mentored by his father closely, and it explains why Garak is so good at the underhanded things he does when helping the crew of DS9. Of course, such a familial relationship is bound to be complicated, and we see that play out in the handful of episodes Tain appears in.
For example, when Dr. Bashir tracks down Tain in his retirement to find out how to deal with Garak's malfunctioning cranial implant in the episode The Wire, Tain agrees to help only so that Garak can live a long, miserable life. Tain also locks the claustrophic son in a dark closet to punish him at times during childhood. But there are good moments as well, including a day they shared when Garak was 4 years old and he mounted a riding hound in front of his father. Tain remembers that day and his pride in his son when on his deathbed in a later episode (In Purgatory's Shadow).
As it turns out, Garak is Tain's son. This fact was covered up publicly, but Garak knows this throughout his life. Garak is trained by and essentially mentored by his father closely, and it explains why Garak is so good at the underhanded things he does when helping the crew of DS9. Of course, such a familial relationship is bound to be complicated, and we see that play out in the handful of episodes Tain appears in.
For example, when Dr. Bashir tracks down Tain in his retirement to find out how to deal with Garak's malfunctioning cranial implant in the episode The Wire, Tain agrees to help only so that Garak can live a long, miserable life. Tain also locks the claustrophic son in a dark closet to punish him at times during childhood. But there are good moments as well, including a day they shared when Garak was 4 years old and he mounted a riding hound in front of his father. Tain remembers that day and his pride in his son when on his deathbed in a later episode (In Purgatory's Shadow).
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Tain was the only head of the Obsidian Order who lived long enough to retire. He didn't take it easy in retirement though, as five years later he led a fleet of Order and Tal Shiar ships in a covert mission to try and destroy the Founders homeworld. That was a complete failure, and he is captured by the Dominion and made a prisoner when the rest of his fleet is destroyed in the Battle of the Omarion Nebula. Tain manages to send a signal to his son Garak and they get to see each other one final time in an escape attempt before Tain passes away.
The character of Elim Garak is just a recurring role, but it is one of the most interesting such roles in Star Trek. As such, it only makes sense to further flesh out his character with additional roles like Enabran Tain. Despite only having 4 appearances, all are impactful in that they fill out the background of Garak, an otherwise mysterious and hard-to-understand fellow.
The character of Elim Garak is just a recurring role, but it is one of the most interesting such roles in Star Trek. As such, it only makes sense to further flesh out his character with additional roles like Enabran Tain. Despite only having 4 appearances, all are impactful in that they fill out the background of Garak, an otherwise mysterious and hard-to-understand fellow.
Tain was played by Paul Dooley, who was born 90 years ago in Parkersburg, West Virginia, which is notable because it is across the river from the hometown of yours truly. He had tons of stage, television, and film roles spanning an ongoing 60 year career, including Emmy nominations for his work in HBO's Dream On and his work in another show called The Practice. His most recent work was voice work in Cars 3, as the character of Sarge.
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