20 Star Trek Women You Should Know

Terry Ferrell as Jadzia Dax in Deep Space Nine (Image via Paramount/CBS)

15. Jadzia Dax (Deep Space Nine)

Jadzia Dax is basically the cool science nerd we all wish we could be. Played by Terry Farrell, Dax is the chief science officer on Deep Space Nine, as well as close friends with commander Benjamin Sisko and first officer Kira Nerys.

She’s also… well, she’s a lot of people, to tell the truth. Jadzia Dax is a joined Trill. The Trill are a symbiotic species of sorts. “Unjoined” Trill, who look an awful lot like humans with spots painted on the sides of their faces, can lead perfectly normal lives on their own. “Joined” Trill, however, host a worm-like symbiont in their abdomen. It’s considered a great honor, partially because the symbiont confers all the past experiences and knowledge on the host.

Together, symbiont and host create a new individual. Jadzia Dax is actually the eighth host for the long-lived symbiont. In fact, Sisko knew her in her previous incarnation as the male-presenting Curzon Dax, and often jokingly refers to her as “old man”.

The character of Jadzia Dax is, so far, the closest Star Trek has come to discussing issues of gender and sexuality. In “Rejoined”, Dax meets up with the wife of her previous host, Lenara Kahn. Despite a significant Trill taboo prohibiting the continuation of romances from host to host, Dax is still drawn to her former wife. Not much comes out of it and it sadly remains the most Star Trek has portrayed an out LGBT character.