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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Character
Gul Dukat
Status	Alive
Gender	Male
Species	Cardassian
Origin	Cardassia
Portrayed by	Mark Alaimo
First Appearance	"Emissary"
Profession	Professional soldier
Relatives	Tora Ziyal
Special Features	The most hated man on Bajor.

Gul Dukat is a fictional recurring character on the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. "Gul" was not his first name, but a Cardassian military rank, roughly equivalent to "Captain". He was played by actor Marc Alaimo.

Gul Dukat was a Cardassian, a race that occupied, enslaved, and exploited the planet Bajor and its people for decades. Dukat was the final Prefect of Bajor, in charge of the occupation in its final years. He was responsible for many of the atrocities committed against the Bajoran people, and, as such, became the most hated man on Bajor.

The interesting thing about Dukat was that his personal view of himself and his actions seemed so different than the perceptions of others. Dukat saw himself as a humanitarian, who cared about the Bajorans like a stern but caring father. His first act as prefect was to cut labor camp output quotas by 50%, abolish child labor, and improve medical care and food rations. These measures led to a 20% drop in the camp death rates. However, the Bajoran Resistance repaid him by destroying an orbital drydock on his one-month anniversary, killing 200 Cardassians. Dukat took this act quite personally, and grew to hate the Bajoran people for (what he felt was) their lack of gratitude.

Dukat did believe he loved the Bajoran people (in his own twisted way), and even had affairs with at least two Bajoran women whom he thought he really cared about, though one could argue he treated them more like pets. One was Kira Meru, mother of Kira Nerys, who submitted to Dukat's affections to earn more favorable treatment of her family. Another was Tora Neprem, with whom he had a daughter, Tora Ziyal.

Dukat opposed the end of the occupation, and experienced quite a demotion in status by overseeing its end. At the close of the occupation, the Bajoran people asked the Federation to occupy the Cardassian built space station, Terok Nor, and help provide security and to help oversee the Bajoran transition to a free people. At this time, the station's name was changed to Deep Space Nine. Dukat would continue to represent Cardassia to the Starfleet administration and the Bajoran government, though usually from a safe distance. In the meantime, he would struggle to regain his lost status with the Cardassian military, as well as seek love and approval from select Bajorans (like Kira Nerys) to validate his own view of himself. Both were fruitless quests.

This quest would eventually lead to his commitment of Cardassia to the Dominion, which resulted in disaster for his own people, and Dukat's own personal descent into madness.

Other Mediums

In the world of Star Trek novels, Dukat was given the first name "Skrain". He is currently one of the key players in the trilogy Star Trek: Terok Nor written by James Swallow, which tells the tale of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, a kind of prequel to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine TV series. The trilogy is currently being published by Pocket Books, and Dukat's visage is featured on the cover of the first book, Day of the Vipers.