Origin
Star Trek Canon Special Note
Not everything listed in the origin is Canon. That is because only television shows and movies are considered canon for Star Trek. This being a comic website there are many things here that are not canon. So unless it is contradicted in film it should be listed as part of the object origin.
Born in 2340 on Qo’noS, at the age of five, Worf lived with his parents on the planet Khitomer, until there was an attack by Romulan forces, leaving nearly all of the Klingon colonists dead. A distress call from the colony was detected by the U.S.S. Intrepid, whose Chief Petty Officer, Sergey Rozhenko along with his wife, Helena decided to take Worf in and raise him as his own son. Worf also had a human brother Nikolai Rozhenko and a a Klingon brother Kurn. Kurn was an unknown younger brother that Worf would not discover until he was an adult.
Growing up on the planet Gault, Worf faced many challenges as a lone Klingon, living in a mostly human populated farming colony, things were made even worse when he became involved in physical or aggressive activities like sport, one incident when Worf was thirteen ended up with a boy’s neck accidentally being broken while they were both playing soccer. This led Worf to have more self-control and be more conscientious when dealing with humans, something which was seen as a weakness by other Klingons.
At the age of fifteen, Worf returned to Qo’noS to perform the rite of ascension, a Klingon ritual in which a Klingon child declares themselves ready to become a warrior, he or she then has to walk across a platform whilst being jabbed with painsticks, but even after he completed the rite, he was still considered weak. Whilst on a quest to find himself, Worf spent six days meditating in the volcano of No’Mat, it was there that he had a vision of a legendary warrior named Kahless, who would tell him that he would so something that no other Klingon had done before, a prophecy which he seemingly completed when he joined Starfleet at the age of seventeen.
Creation
The character of Worf was created by the legendary Gene Roddenberry himself. He was a last minute addition to the Star Trek: The Next Generation television cast. It is because of this that he really didn’t have a major role on the ship in the first year and only got one as head of security when Denise Crosby who played Tasha Yar quit the show in it’s first season. Gene wanted to show that peace was possible and thus put the Klingons and Federation together despite many fans who complained about the idea. Eventually Micheal Dorn was cast to play the role.
Worf in many ways is the most valuable string in the tapestry of Star Trek. That is because he was in seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, four seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and four feature length films. This by far makes him the most seen character in the Star Trek universe and has him involved in more of the critical moments in Star trek history.
Character Evolution
More than any other main character the character of Worf has grown with all the seasons he was on television. He went up in rank from Lieutenant Junior Grade to Lieutenant Commander, He was married and widowed (and not in the same episode), and He went from a command to security for six years and back to command.
In 2364, Worf was assigned to the U.S.S. Enterprise D and held the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, there he would usually take the conn or work as a relief officer for other bridge crew until the following year when he became the acting security chief following the death of Lieutenant Tasha Yar. In 2366, Worf was promoted once again to the rank of Lieutenant and eventually became a Lieutenant Commander in 2371.
In 2366, the honor of the House of Mogh was called into question and Worf’s father was blamed for the attack on the Khitomer colony, but knowing that the real betrayers (the House of Duras) would incite a civil war against the High Council, Worf chose to accept dishonor and left Qo’noS in disgrace. Later, when the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council was dying, he asks the Captain of the Enterprise D, Captain Jean-Luc Picard to act as the Arbiter of Succession. The reason Picard was asked was the Canceller was dying of poison that was being put in his wine. Picard was to find out who the murderer was and name the other as Chancellor.
During the Succession Worf would reunite with his old lover, K’Ehleyr who would introduce him to his son, Alexander Rozhenko. This made Worf even more determined to regain the honor of his house. The problem was all the secrecy surrounding it Duras and Gowronwere the two Klingon’s who were in line of succession. Duras’ father was guilty of betraying the Klingons at Khitomer and Duras was guilty of letting Worf’s family take the blame.
Wanting answers about Worf’s discommendation, K’Ehleyr began looking into the events which led to Worf’s honor being taken away, there she finds the truth of what happened and the treachery of the House of Duras, something she will later die for at the hands of Duras himself. After Worf discovered this, he prominently beamed aboard Duras’ ship and evoked the right of vengeance, before killing him, an act which allowed Council-Member Gowron to elevate to Chancellor of the Klingon Empire and gained Worf his only reprimand to that point.
With Gowron in charge of the High Council, Worf was allowed to present evidence showing his father’s innocence. After this, the House of Duras was discommended and dishonored, prompting them and their followers to incite a civil war against the High Council. Worf assisted in this War with his lost brother.
Worf became discouraged in his faith and went on a religious retreat where he saw the great Kahless in a vision. Only to find him to be a real person. He fought Kahless in battle and won, though Worf would later discover he was a clone and assist heavily in having the him become Emperor, a title that had not been held for a very long time.
In 2368, Worf assisted with the birth of Molly O’Brien, daughter of Chief Miles O’Brien and his wife Keiko O’Brien. In 2371, Worf was promoted to the rank of Lieutenent Commander and faced the two remaining members of the House of Duras, although their ship was destroyed, so to was the Enterpride-D. In 2372, Worf was requested by Captain Benjamin Sisko to help when the Klingon Empire decided to invade Cardassia, when asked by Chancellor Gowron to join the Empire, Worf declined and Gowron stripped his family of its honor once again.
After the invasion of Cardassia failed, Gowron decided to withdraw from the Khitomer Accords and declared war on the Federation, it was then that Worf was offered the position of Strategic Operations Officer aboard Deep Space Nine (DS9). It was later discovered that a member of the Klingon High Council who had been influencing Gowron was, in fact a Changeling posing as Martok, the overseer of the Cardassian invasion. Once he had been discovered, Worf helped in the negotiations to restore piece between the Klingons and the Federation.
Soon after the discovery of the Changelings, the Cardassians and the Dominion join forces and begin an attack on DS9 beginning the Dominion War. It is not long until DS9 is overrun and the crew are forced to evacuate. With the Federation taking heavy hits and even Worf beginning to lose his morale. He is eventually secretly contacted by Captain Benjamin Sisko with a plans to retake DS9.
Once the station is retaken, Worf marries Lietenent Commander Jadzia Dax, who is later captured on a mission, hearing this, Worf abandons his mission for Starfleet Intelligence to rescue her, something which earns him his second reprimand. It was short lived however as Jadzia was killed by chance when Dukot when he was possessed. Worf became unconsolable as he was unable to win a battle in Jadzia’s honer so her soul would go to Sto-Vo-Kor. His belief of her being murdered and not dying in battle was the reason for his depression. Worf finally got his chance when Martok got a dangerous mission. He was joined by many of his and more importantly Jadzia’s friends Miles O’Brien, Julien Bashir and evenQuark.
Seeing Martok as a threat to his power, Chancellor Gowron began sending him on impossible missions in the hopes that he would be defeated. Worf tells Martok to challenge Gowron because of his effect on the war effort against the Dominion, but when Martok declines, Worf decides to challenge Gowron himself. Worf wins and is proclaimed the next Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, but gives his new position to Martok soon after, electing to remain with Starfleet.
“Great men do not seek power. They have power thrust upon them.” –Worf
During the Battle of Sector 001, Worf is ordered to take the U.S.S. Defiant to aid in the battle against a Borg Cube which has entered Earth’s solar system, the Defiant receives heavy damage and Worf decides that he has no choice, but to ram the cube. His attack is haltered, however when the U.S.S. Enterprise-E enters the battle and beams the survivors to the sick bays, Worf, however decides to take his rightful place aboard the Enterprise’s bridge as her tactical officer.
A Borg Cube is eventually destroyed, but a Sphere survives and travels back in time to the year 2063 to stop first contact, naturally the Enterprise follows and destroys the Sphere, but unknown to the crew, a group of Borg Drones and the Borg Queen have transported aboard. The crew eventually kill all the Borg, first contact takes place and the Enterprise returns to the present (or the future – whatever)
In 2375, Worf gets the opportunity to join the crew of the Enterprise, as it is called to the planet Ba’ku to assist in the capture of Data who has been damaged by Federation forces during a cover-up to relocate the Ba-ku people because of their planet’s rejuvenating properties. Later in 2379, Worf returns to Earth for the wedding of the newly promoted Captain William Riker and Commander, Councillor Deanna Troi (A long time friend and past lover of Worf’s)
He remained on-board the Enterprise as the crew head for a second ceremony on the planet Betazed. It is there that the Enterprise is called to Romulus, the central planet in the Romulan Star Empire, to enter negotiations with the new Praetor, who turns out to be a human clone of Captain Picard. In the end battle against the Praetor’s ship, the Enterprise is joined in battle by two Romulan ships, once the battle is over, Worf comments that the Romulans fought with honour, something which indicates that his grudge with the Romulans for the attack on Khitomer is over.