Star Trek: 5 Characters That Deserved Better Endings (And 5 That Deserved Way Worse)

With 8 TV series (counting Short Treks), 13 movies, and several upcoming projects, Star Trek has seen the beginning and end of a lot of characters' lives. These stories are a saga of voyages and they don't always end so positively. It's no surprise, then, that some of the characters deserve much better endings then they were given.

Even if heartbroken catharsis works, sometimes the way the character was written, they had so much more potential alive that it's a crime. And, on the flip side, some other characters should have gotten much, much worse for the things they've done. Here are 5 Characters That Deserve Better Endings (And 5 That Deserve Way Worse).

10 Shinzon - Deserved Better

From the moment he was born, Shinzon didn't get to choose his life. After all, he was a clone. He was doomed from the start. So many people had plans for him and no one knew how to stabilize him. The Romulans unfairly brought him into the world as a tool when he was just a human kid.

Sure, Shinzon got his priorities seriously warped and hurt a lot of people. There is no excuse for that. But, he deserved much better than to be wasting away from a terminal illness and raised to be a weapon. No one deserves that kind of childhood. If only the Romulans ever bothered to think about that before hurting him as they did.

9 Lutan - Deserved Way Worse

Lutan was a selfish, misogynistic leader who treated women like objects. He only married his wife for her lands and he kidnapped Tasha Yar because he was attracted to her. He even encouraged his wife and Yar to risk their lives while fighting. He found it entertaining and a win-win, ultimately. He didn't care about the worth of their lives.

When his wife overthrew him, she spitefully named his kind advisor her "first husband" and Lutan her "second". That was way more than this jerk deserved. Prison or suffering would have been better, not still a cushy life as secondhand royalty. Why would anyone still want to be married to him?

8 Janice Lester - Deserved Better

Janice Lester was the villain of the final episode of TOS Star Trek. A jilted ex-lover of Kirk's, she had a vendetta against him because he and Starfleet refused to let her be a captain. They said it wasn't a woman's place.

Of course, then the writers had her go berserk, take over Kirk's mind and try to force her way into the captain's chair. In the end, she was apprehended and Kirk lamented her life. After all, it could have been "as rich as any other woman's, if only...".

Yeah, lucky for female Trekkies, that "women can't be captains" history nonsense was soft-erased in Discovery. Janice Lester deserved better than to be degraded to "hysterical woman" when she had every right to hate Kirk.

7 The Founders - Deserved Way Worse

The Founders, intelligent shapeshifters that worked together in a "Great Link", were the leaders of The Dominion. They tried to invade Federation space and impose their will on all the "solids" in the vicinity. With the powerful Jem'Hadar, manipulative Vorta, and the militaristic Cardassians under their banner, they almost won.

However, their "great river" of connected consciousness was ill. Their empire collapsed around them, between their diminishing power and the Federation's determination to fight back.

Odo re-joined them to save his people, despite all they did. It would be tragic to condemn a whole species, but they deserved worse than complete salvation after all the lives they destroyed in The Dominion War.

6 K'Ehleyr - Deserved Better

For fans, Klingons were serious, violent, and passionate people. So, getting to meet the more measured and sarcastic K'Ehleyr, with a much more human disposition, was a refreshing change. She showed that there were so many more sides to Klingons, including the ability to love humans and raise a hybrid daughter.

While she didn't reject Klingon culture, she didn't hold it as highly as Worf and other Klingons did. She wanted to find her own path, be it with The Klingon Empire or not.

Fans only got a few episodes with this amazing woman, and it was awful that she got ripped away from Worf, her son, and the story so suddenly so that Worf could have an emotional breakthrough. K'Ehleyr deserved so much more adventure and respect.

5 Duras- Deserved Way Worse

Not only did Duras stab K'Ehleyr, a remarkable ambassador and Worf's mate, but his family also betrayed the empire. He and his house deserved to be disgraced, not accepted as a powerful house. It's positively shameful that even after his passing, and even after Worf's house was reinstated, that they were still allowed to fight for the throne and be even mildly respected in the Klingon Empire.

If Worf's name was mercilessly dragged through the dirt, theirs should have been, too.

Instead, fans got more interference from the Duras Sisters and their obnoxious nephew. The fact they had any standing or power is much more than they ever deserved after all that time. It shouldn't have taken the whole house leadership perishing for the house to fall apart.

4 Jadzia- Deserved Better

Not only did Jadzia deserve better, but so did her actress, Terry Ferrell.

At the end of season 6, Terry wanted to change her full-time cast deal to just to guest appearances on specific episodes. The writers already had spent 6 seasons making work difficult for her, so she figured this was a compromise to start moving on with her life and still be involved with a character she cared about.

Well, the DS9 creators didn't like it and unceremoniously had her character shot while praying to be able to have children. It was brutal, painful, and far less than Jadzia deserved.

3 Lore - Deserved Way Worse

While Data is the famed android of Starfleet, he wasn't the only one his father created. Dr. Soong actually created quite a few androids, including an identical older brother, Lore. Lore was unstable and violent, though, so Soong put him away.

When Data found Lore, he was desperate to connect with his emotional sibling. Lore tried to get The Enterprise swallowed whole by The Crystalline Entity.

Like his father before him, Data only sent Lore away or dismantled him. Family does matter, but Lore has always been dangerous. Dismantling may be too generous.

2 Ash Tyler - Deserved Better

During the first season of Discovery, Security Chief Ash Tyler was captured by the Klingon Empire, destroyed, and replaced by Voq. This Klingon underwent a surgery to completely change him anatomically into the human Ash, even grafting his personality on top of Voq's. His real personality only emerged when L'Rell was captured by Starfleet, too, and they met.

Before he was mentally downloaded, Ash Tyler was a good Starfleet officer with dreams of helping change the galaxy for good. Losing his life was already disappointing, but using his memories and personality like this is far worse. Ash deserved a much more honorable end. Instead, he's melded with Voq and at Section 31, trying to find redemption.

1 General Chang - Deserved Way Worse

A Klingon dissenter desperate to spark war instead of peace, Chang was a thorn in Kirk and The Federation's side. Not only did he continuously try to encourage war, but he also was terribly annoying. What Klingon quotes Shakespeare? Especially when said Klingon persists that he hates humanity.

He was an awful person, but also was sketchily written with a lot of contradictions. Of course, when his ship exploded, he had to get in one last "to be or not to be". Yeah, stop that. The guy didn't earn being annoying during his destruction, too.

Let's all be honest, General Chang deserved so much worse for his dissent and for that awful final line.

Source: screenrant.com