Used on more than a few occasions over the years, Star TrekThe best weapon to defeat the Klingons is probably not what you think. The Klingons have been Starfleet’s iconic enemies since Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 26, “Errand of Mercy,” which saw Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) defend the Organians from Klingon commander Kor (John Colicos). Unlike Starfleet phasers, Klingon disruptors have no stun setting, proving their bloodlust. Time and again, Kirk’s Klingon enemies match the USS Enterprise captain’s battle strategy, ship’s weaponry, and taste for revenge – best served cold, of course.
Klingons are redefined by Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Ninewith an emphasis on rituals and honor that change the Klingons’ favorite weapons. Instead of carrying disruptors like Terms of Service Klingons, 24th-century Klingon combat is defined by melee weapons like the two-handed bat’leth the lesser mek’leth and the d’k tagh dagger. Star Trek: DiscoveryThe Klingons in the series retroactively incorporate them, along with weapons lost to time. In Star Trek: PicardCaptain Worf’s (Michael Dorn) unique kur’leth hides a phaser in the hilt, but even this dual-purpose Klingon/Starfleet hybrid isn’t the best weapon to use against Klingons.
The best weapon against Star Trek’s Klingons is their own laws
Lower Decks’ Boimler and DS9’s Quark help Klingon friends win with legal loopholes
The best weapon to use against Star TrekThe Klingons are their own laws. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 4, “A Farewell to Farms”, Lieutenant Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) uses his encyclopedic knowledge of obscure Klingon rituals to help Lieutenant Beckett Mariner’s (Tawny Newsome) friend Ma’ah (Jon Curry) regain his captaincy. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 3, Episode 3, “The House of Quark,” sees Quark (Armin Shimerman) prove to the High Council that D’Ghor (Carlos Carrasco) is attacking Quark’s Klingon wife Grilka (Mary Kay Adams) with shady accounts instead of honorable victories.
Neither Boimler nor Quark fit the description of a warrior, but their minds are sharper than the bat’leths wielded against them.
Klingons who solve combat problems are prepared to cross blades when there is conflict, so Using the law as a weapon catches the Klingons off guard, especially when they expect an easy victory. Neither Boimler nor Quark fit the description of a warrior, but their minds are sharper than the bat’leths wielded against them. Klingon law is full of minutiae that even other Klingons don’t know well, so Ma’ah and Grilka rely on their friends to find the details in their complicated systems to beat a stacked Council. Even D’Ghor was originally successful because he fought on paper rather than with swords.
Star Trek’s Klingon Lawyers Fight on a Different Battlefield
Captain Sisko defended Worf in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Instead of being seen as cowards, Star TrekKlingon Klingon lawyers are warriors in their own right who simply fight on a different kind of battlefield. Lieutenant Commander Worf and Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) meet Klingon prosecutor Ch’Pok (Ron Canada) firsthand on that battlefield in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4, Episode 18, “Rules of Engagement”, after Worf supposedly destroys a civilian ship. Even at a Federation hearing, Ch’Pok sees the process as a battlecomparing himself and Sisko to warriors locked in a fight over whether Worf’s motives were more Klingon or Starfleet.
Like the other Klingon councils, Ch’Pok’s reliance on passion to ensure victory for the Klingon Empire did not take into account the fact that other cultures have different values. In the same way that Quark uses Ferengi accounting skills and Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ Boimler and Mariner use their knowledge of obscure Klingon rituals, Sisko defeats his own Klingon opponent by discovering the truth. The Klingons may discover that bat’leths and mek’leths may still be the best weapons to use against each other but for non-Klingon outsiders. Star Trek proves that the law is a great weapon to defeat the Klingons.