As I come to the realization that I may never watch Star Trek again now that the process of doing so would directly involve me giving money to Paramount, I’ve come to another realization and that is that no one suffered more than Worf’s family and often directly as a result of Worf’s treatment of them.

The Alexander example is the obvious one but might actually be the least damning and the one that he reconciled the best, so let’s start there.

From denying that Alexander was his son to scolding his behaviours before acknowledging that he was anything more than K’Ehlyr’s booty call to abandoning him seconds after K’Ehylr’s death to kill Duras to then acknowledging that Worf was in fact Alexander’s father and then rather than forming a bond with him sends Alexander (a child) on a lengthy solo trek to Earth to live with Worf’s adopted parents that Alexander has never met. This is absolutely outstandingly terrible treatment.

Upon Alexander returning to the Enterprise, Worf continues to mock Alexander’s lack of ability as a warrior and accuse him of knowing nothing of being Klingon. Oh, and he tries to get Alexander to help him commit suicide.

A pretty rough go at parenting but Deep Space Nine ends up showing that Alexander did decide to follow in his father’s footsteps and joins the Klingon fleet. He is understandably bad at it and even more understandably resents Worf who somehow looks at this as a Worf problem.

Despite the amount of trauma heaped on Alexander things take a positive turn in their relationship which is somehow framed about Worf accepting Alexander for who he is rather than Alexander forgiving his father but Star Trek can be forgiven for framing things around a main character.

K’Ehlyr’s story is another needless complicated one driven by Klingon rules that only seem to apply to Worf. While throughout Star Trek the Klingons are portrayed as drinking and fighting, and fucking, and generally being good space Vikings living each day like it’s their last, Worf’s code of honour forbids him from casual sex and having a good time. K’Ehlyr even reminds Worf that as a part human the rules don’t apply fully to her.

Her story involves Worf rejecting her, rejecting her son, failing to protect her as the Enterprise’s Chief of Security, and Worf doing everything he can to dishonour her dying wish of Worf and Alexander being together.

The Rozenkos are essentially space saints for putting up with Worf. Taking Worf in and dealing with a Klingon going through puberty seems hellish enough. Worf dumping Alexander on them without any notice while they were seniors to go through it all again is hellish. Worf enjoys pointing out the shortcomings of his parents and his stepbrother but honestly, these might be the most normal relationships Worf has. Kids are hard work and Worf is their kid.

Dax is a fun one. Worf has well been established as a handful at this point but Jadzia is someone who has always been up to the task of dealing with difficult people. Worf pushing Klingon traditions is testing but very much what Dax signed up for.

The treatment of Ezri after Jadzia’s death is where the relationship falls into the typical Worf is not a family man troupe and while Ezri isn’t exactly family, at the very least she’s like a sister in-law and one that Worf slept with and ghosted, and one that is grieving and has Worf going out of their way to minimize their feelings.

Trills are tricky for the best of people so asking Worf to figure this out is too much.

With the exception of maybe Alexander, no one had their life made worse by having Worf in their family more than Kurn.

A rising star in the Klingon military, Kurn a commander turned captian turned squadron leader and at his peak member of the Klingon High Council had his life made more difficult and worse by knowing Worf.

Commander Kurn meets Worf to help restore their family honour. Worf then decides to accept dishonour on behalf of their family forcing Kurn to remain in the dark on who he is. Not great.

Worf then pulls Kurn into the Klingon Civil War on the side of Gowron. Again, not what Kurn wanted to do but no one ever fully explores Kurn’s idea that was based on supporting neither Gowron or Duras. This honestly works out a little for Kurn since it was his path to a seat on the High Council.

And now once again the rug has been pulled out from Kurn. Worf, without consulting his brother, opts to stand against Gowron over the war with the Cardassians and Dominion. The family is once again dishonoured, this time openly including Kurn and he’s given the boot from the High Council.

After a failed suicide attempt and Worf’s refusal to do the job for Kurn, the decision is made to Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind Kurn so he has no memory of Worf and his past place in the empire and he can go off the grid with one of Mogh’s old drinking buddies.

In summary, Worf might be a great tactical officer but he’s a pretty shitty son/husband/father/brother.