Characters / Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Quark's Bar

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Quark

"Come to Quark's, Quark's is fun, come right now, don't walk... run!"

Played By: Armin Shimerman

Odo: Don't worry, I plan to investigate the Klingons, the Bajorans, Quark, the visiting Terrelians...
Sisko: You think Quark had something to do with this?
Odo: (perplexed) I always investigate Quark.

—"Visionary"

A mix of The Bartender and Neighbourhood Friendly Gangster, with a dash of Peter Lorre thrown in. Quark has been a fixture on the station since before even Odo's time. Being a Ferengi means he is a member of a Planet of Hats of ultra-ruthless, ludicrously sexist capitalists - though he has a soft spot for Dax, and other scoundrels like himself. His brother Rom and his nephew Nog started out as the Too Dumb to Live-type, but it turned out they were just hiding behind these images too.

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• Abhorrent Admirer:
  • To Kira; Quark simply cannot take a hint. When caught with their hand in a till, a good Ferengi will shout, 'Thief! Thief!' Likewise, whenever Quark makes a pass and gets shot down, he says to everyone within earshot, 'The woman simply can not get over her latent attraction to me!'
  • In "Fascination", when he falls under the influence of Lwaxana Troi's Xanthi fever, he briefly starts making the moves on Keiko O'Brien. Needless to say she is not remotely interested, and Miles drags him away by his ears.
• Abstract Apotheosis : Word of God and Dante says that he is the station. As Shimerman puts it, "He is as much a part of the station as the carpets, the pylons, and the transporters." In the series finale, he symbolizes the continuity of DS9 and pretty much speaks for it when he says (in the final line of the show):
  "The more things change, the more they stay the same..."
• Accidental Proposal: Quark always wished for a statuesque alien babe of his own, but he probably didn’t count on getting married at knife-point to a Klingon woman whose husband he accidentally killed! Oddly enough, it works out pretty well.
• Anti-Hero: A Pragmatic Hero who's pretty much in for himself and his family, but there's no cruelty in his heart and he'll reluctantly help when things get too hot.
• Art Evolution: Early in the series the area around Quark's eyes darken to a violet/purple hue.
• The Bartender: He's more self-serving than the average example, but genuinely enjoys talking to his customers and getting to know them. It's why he chose running a bar over something more impersonal (like arms dealing).
• Because I'm Good At It: The sad truth of the matter is he is really good at selling weapons, with his holosuite arrangements (useful for product demonstrations) and his way with people. It's precisely the sort of career he might have pursued if he'd remained in the Ferengi Alliance.
• Benevolent Boss: Both this and Mean Boss, thanks to the Rules of Acquisition. He considers himself benevolent because only he is allowed to sexually harass the dabo girls! To his credit, he did leap into the path of a knife to protect them in "In the Pale Moonlight."
  • And in "Bar Association", he refuses to let Rom take time off to treat a life-threatening ear infection, but it's later revealed that he cut everyone's salary so he wouldn't have to fire anyone.
  • Quark's status as either is largely dependent on viewpoints. By hew-mon standards, he's an appalling boss. By Ferengi standards, however, he's astoundingly benevolent (to the point where Brunt outright accuses him of being a Philanthropist which judging by Quark's reaction is possibly the worst insult one Ferengi can level at another). He only takes 30% of their tips, and even gives them vacations.
• Beware the Silly Ones: A mostly non-violent example. He does occasionally kill Jem'Hadar, but he mostly shows this with wit and ingenuity. The best example is in "The Magnificent Ferengi" where he and his Ferengi recruits lure a Vorta to Empok Nor, trick him into sending most of his backup several light years away, kill his two remaining guards, then take him prisoner and hand him to the Federation. All of which was improvised when the original good-faith trade plan fell through.
  • Also, remember: he can and has crushed gold bars into pieces.
• Big Brother Instinct: Definitely doesn't come through most of the time, but Quark was willing to risk his life when Rom was going to be executed by the Dominion.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Part of the reason that Quark comes across as a Small Name, Big Ego is that much of what non-Ferengi see as his flaws, he considers his best qualities.
• Book Ends: Being threatened with physical violence by Kira. It happens at the end of the pilot and series finale. Quark practically winks at the camera.
• Can't Get in Trouble for Nuthin': ...On the other hand, Quark seemed to enjoy complete immunity to arrest or prosecution, as Constable Odo continually failed to (or deliberately chose not to) nail him over the course of seven years. In the one instance where Odo finally slapped cuffs on him ("The Ascent"), the Orion crime syndicate bombed their runabout to prevent Quark from testifying against them, foiling his transportation to a Federation court. After they're stranded on an inhospitable mountain, Odo takes great amusement in knowing that Quark is still a little fish despite years of wheeling and dealing; however, Quark points out that this means Odo has spent a solid decade trying to catch a nobody — and failing. If I'm a failure, then what are you?
  • Sisko is insistent he be kept around and active for his role as community leader; Quark had to be blackmailed into not leaving the station on his own in the pilot. Most of his revealed schemes are actually fairly petty, like low-level smuggling and trying to start a rat-fighting ring. He's also been shown acting as an informant for Odo when Worf accidentally broke up a sting operation they were pulling.
• Casual Kink: Despite ostensibly believing in traditional Ferengi values, it's hinted that Quark does get off on aggressive alien females. He appears to have enjoyed his Destructo-Nookie with Grilka, and when a leather-clad Ezri Tigan from the Mirror Universe walks into his quarters and puts a knife to his throat, Quark thinks it's kinky roleplay and is quite eager to play along.
  "Spare me from beings who think pain is pleasure. [beat] In small doses, perhaps..."
• The Chew Toy: Quark's long list of injuries and near-death experiences rivals that of Harry Kim! (Who he incidentally tried to swindle in "Caretaker".) Most of these accidents occurred during a botched business deal or illegal exchange.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He has his moments, such as the time he protected one of his Dabo girls from being assaulted by a drunken customer.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: He's burned through quite a few girlfriends because they mattered less to him than furthering his businesses. And yet he hectors Odo over lacking a heart and nonexistent personal life.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Quark shows a surprising sense of willpower by dragging Odo up an icy mountain and refusing to give up — he refuses to let his brother get the bar, his nephew be completely corrupted by Federation values and to die with his body unsold! ("The Ascent")
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Quark's usually portrayed as a coward, but just count the number of times he kills veteran Jem'Hadar soldiers over the course of the series.
• A Day in the Limelight: He's pretty much the star of the show for all the Ferengi-centric episodes. Particularly the ones that take place almost entirely on Ferenginar.
• Determinator: Not often, but as shown in "The Ascent", Quark, crashed on a uninhabited planet, refuses to die and attempts to signal for help simply to spite Odo. In one episode, he even survives a hit from a phaser that was shown killing someone just a few minutes earlier (showing it wasn't set to stun). The only reason they can think of for why Quark doesn't die from it is that he absolutely does not want Rom getting the bar.
• Easily Forgiven: Quark is caught breaking the law on numerous occasions, including illegal smuggling, arranging weapon sales for a terrorist group (the Maquis) and disabling the station's early warning system for an invading armed force, yet never seems to suffer any major repercussions for doing so. The Prime Directive explains several of these. Also, when Quark realized he'd crossed a line, he found a way to atone for his actions. For instance, when Jadzia was put in mortal danger by one of his schemes, he put his own life at risk to help her.
  • Subverted by Major Kira, who was extremely upset about him putting Jadzia's life at risk, even though he ultimately helped her. (Quark making a sexual hologram of her without her permission can't have helped either.) It was only after he risked his life to help out the Deep Space 9 resistance cell at the beginning of season 6 that she decided to forgive him.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He goes into business with his cousin Gaila, an arms merchant, but changes his mind and ultimately wrecks Gaila's business because he can't stand to sell the death of millions.
  • When the Dominion takes over the station, Quark is initially okay with it. Sure, he misses the Federation, but business is good and (as he says) the current occupation is nowhere near as bad as the Cardassian one. However, his viewpoint changes over the course of the arc. Towards the end, he bemoans the current situation, saying he doesn't like the Cardassians and finds the Jem'Hadar creepy (not to mention they don't ever buy anything so all they do is take up space and scare away business). He culminates by saying, "I wanna sell root beer again!"
  • Brunt's scheme to crash the Ferengi stock market to become the Grand Nagus is too power hungry even for him.
  Quark: (The Grand Nagus) must reflect the public's greed!
  • Despite his frequent antagonism of Odo, he's one of the first to stand up for Odo when he's framed for murder.
• Extreme Omnisexual: Bajorans, Vulcans, Klingons, Cardassians, Trill.. you know, it might be easier to list the species Quark hasn't hit on.
• The Family for the Whole Family: For all his scheming, he's not one to let innocent people get murdered to satiate his own greed. During the occupation, Quark sold food to Bajoran refugees cheaply and would even furnish them alibis if the price was right.
  • Lampooned when Quark got temporarily promoted to Nagus. His office suite, pet-stroking, and dialogue ("and yet now you call me Nagus...") evokes Vito Corleone. ("The Nagus")
• Fang Thpeak: Especially in early episodes, as with many Ferengi and Klingons, thanks to the prosthetic fangs.
• Faster Than They Look: Quark despite his short stature is an amazing sprinter as shown in "The Magnificent Ferengi" where it took other Ferengi including the Starfleet-trained young Nog minutes to catch up with him. He's also a good quickdraw with a disruptor.
• The Fettered: Ironically, Quark is insanely principled and does his best to always adhere to his ideals. It's just that he follows the Ferengi's greed-based Blue-and-Orange Morality, meaning he comes off as totally amoral to everyone else.
• Foil: Quark, like all Ferengi, is anti-Trek personified. Anything the Federation is for, Quark is against — and he even offers up some counter-arguments.
• Friendly Enemy: He and Odo eventually arrive at this. Just a stone's throw away from the series finale ("The Sound of Her Voice"), Odo pretends to not notice Quark smuggling gemstones through the station, netting the Ferengi some much-needed money. Lucky for the oblivious Quark ("I beat him! I beat Odo!"), the Constable owed him one.
  • Meanwhile, in the first season episode "A Man Alone", he remarks that, as his oldest adversary, he's the closest thing Odo has to a friend.
  • In "Fascination," Odo makes an offhanded remark basically admitting to stalking Quark.
  "I usually make it a point to drop by Quark's three or four times a day at random intervals, just to let him know that I'm thinking about him."
  • In the finale, Odo pointedly defies this trope, though Quark takes it completely in stride. Quark is ultimately proven right, thus playing the trope straight, Odo simply wouldn't admit it to Quark's face.
  Quark: "Can't you see it? The man loves me. It's written all over his back."
• The Gambler: Self-proclaimed in "Starship Down," and the reason why Quark prefers a risky investment to a safe one.
• Good-Guy Bar: Quark's bar is the biggest attraction on the Promenade, but it's all dependent on traffic coming through the wormhole. If the station is at peace, the bar's in good shape. If there's a war on, it becomes a Bad Guy Bar — which is particularly bad in the Dominion's case.
  Quark: The Jem'Hadar don't eat, don't drink, and they don't have sex. And if that wasn't bad enough, the Founders don't eat, don't drink, and they don't have sex either. Which, between you and me, makes my financial future less than promising.
  Ziyal: It might not be so bad. For all we know, the Vorta could be gluttonous, alcoholic sex-maniacs.
  • Vic's nightclub is a nested example of a bar-within-a-bar. His program was originally intended to run for only an hour or two, since the holosuite is a rental. However, Nog later arranged it for it to run continuously.
• Good Old Ways: Why he doesn't get on with his 'ahead of the times' mother and why he's skeptical of Rom's new Ferenginar. Over the course of the show, he went from being an unusually progressive boss to behind the times just by standing still.
• Hidden Depths: It's usually a B-Plot or sprinkled into background material, but Quark is not the typical Ferengi (there were lots of Big Ego, Hidden Depths moments featuring Quark).
  • His comment in "Bar Association" is telling; he can either cut everyone's hours (and salaries) by a third to keep the bar running, or fire half his staff. He chooses to keep everyone's job. He almost never resorts to violence to get anything done (other Ferengi have no such compunctions), and the reason why he gets so many invokedStrawman / Jerkass Has a Point moments is that he is entirely too human and can relate (his "Root Beer" speech is classic Quark). He gets into constant trouble with the Ferengi Commerce Authority because of his strangely compassionate side. Comes to a head in "Body Parts," where Brunt explains that his hatred of Quark is not due to any particular misdeed, but rather that he is a philanthropist by Ferengi standards^note During the Occupation, he sold supplies to the Bajoran Resistance at slightly above cost rather than gouging them for all he could.
  • On the other hand, this also explains why he's such a traditionalist. While other Ferengi are often shallow and greedy enough to do just about anything for profit, he considers the public welfare just as important.
  • He's also deeply religious, almost as spiritual as Kira in his own way. He's been seen praying and in one episode even had a dream about visiting the Ferengi equivalent of Heaven.
  • He's often capable of providing good advice, even if it's to people he (cordially) can't stand. One time he out-logic'd a Vulcan.
  • For all his Ferengi sexism and lechery, Quark feels attraction toward strong, independent women such as Grilka and Pel. Over the series, Quark also respectfully assists Kira, Jadzia Dax, and other strong women.
  • He defies the Dominion and joins Ziyal in freeing Kira and Rom from certain death by holding Jem'Hadar at gunpoint. Even Quark seems surprised by his actions.
  • Among a people who traditionally regard self-preservation as a higher virtue than courageous sacrifice, Quark has often risked his own life and limb even when strategic withdrawal and writing off the losses would be more immediately profitable, and often seems to resent his people's reputation for cowardice.
• Honest John's Dealership: The Ferengi's Hat. Lampshaded in "Little Green Men", when one of the 20th Century humans mentions that Quark reminds him of his brother-in-law, who is a used car salesman.
• Honor Before Reason: In a Ferengi way. He was once willing to die (or have Garak kill him) rather than break a Rule of Acquisition. And he once impressed a room full of the most powerful people in the Klingon Empire with his raw courage when putting his life on the line in a duel everyone knew would be a glorified execution, even though he could've run away to save his own skin.
• Hypocrite: Disgusted by the decline in traditional Ferengi values (unrelenting greed), he decides he's going to turn down the job of Grand Negus unless Zek rolls back his reforms. It doesn't seem to occur to him that by turning down a job that would make him obscenely wealthy on principle, he was himself rejecting those very same traditional Ferengi values.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: One tryst in particular got him canned from a lucrative job. He forgot the 112th Rule - never sleep with the boss's sister.
  • He's still fuming over turning down his cousin's offer to go into business with him. Oh, you remember Cousin Gaila; the guy with his own moon? Unsurprisingly, Garak — who knows 80 ways to kill someone and now ekes out a living mending pants — is a little less than sympathetic. (Quark may not be filthy rich but he is pretty well off.)
  Garak: How thoughtless of me not to consider the effect the destruction of my homeworld would have (gestures around) ...on your business. These must be trying times for you. Be brave.
  • That said, background imagery and throwaway lines in both Picard and Lower Decks, if taken at face value, show that years after the events of the series, Quark did well enough for himself that his bar is now a Quadrant spanning franchise!
    Mariner: (regarding a storefront on Starbase 25) Oh, they have a Quark's here now! That used to just be an abandoned lot where teens made mistakes!
  • That being said, a season 3 episode of Lower Decks does show that Quark's copying Karemma technology and nearly causing Tendi and Rutherford to get taken to the Gamma Quadrant resulted in a deal where the Karemma dropped the charges against Quark in exchange for a hefty chunk of his profits, so he's definitely not as successful thanks to that screwup.
• Iron Butt Monkey: Quark takes an amazing amount of pounding on occasions, include one severe Naussican-inflicted breakdown that among other things shattered one of his eye sockets. But he always bounces back (though it probably helps that there's a doctor right across the Promenade from his bar).
• Interspecies Romance: With Grilka, a female Klingon; over the course of two episodes she kidnaps and marries him to save her House from being taken by an enemy, he saves her House, they divorce, and then they start falling in love. She only appears in two episodes without further mention, so it's unknown where things went after the first time they had sex. In the continuity of Star Trek Online, it's mentioned she ended up marrying Worf in 2386 and they have a son together. Also with Natima Lang, a Cardassian woman who Quark was genuinely deeply in love with.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • He doesn't get along with either his mother or his brother, and rarely interacts with his nephew at all, but it's made clear in several scenes with Rom; as much as Quark may belittle or argue with them, he clearly loves them. When the station came under attack and he thought Rom might have been killed, he abandoned the bar and went to help search the wreckage, sounding incredibly worried as he asked Kira if she had seen his brother.
  • While everybody else, especially Worf, wasn't sure how to react to Ezri Dax's arrival at Deep Space Nine, Quark was the first person outside the Siskos to welcome her.
  • He allegedly sold supplies to the Bajorans at cost during the occupation. He denied the allegation, claiming it was just above cost (which still counts, as he surely could've gouged them if he really wanted to). He makes comments throughout the series about how awful the Cardassian Occupation was, and it's implied he's owed a lot of favors on Bajor because of all the times he provided subtle assistance to Bajoran laborers... and to the resistance.
  • Though it was in an Alternate Timeline, when Sisko had apparently died and a depressed Jake wanted to spend time with Nog, Quark gave his nephew the day off with zero hesitation despite the bar being very busy.
• Kavorka Man: Quark beds an absurd number of women throughout his career despite being a short gonk with a mostly obnoxious personality. He was well on his way to "melting a Vulcan heart" before she got jammed up for her Maquis activities.
• Knowledge Broker: Sisko considers Quark an anchor to the merchant community and social potpourri of the station, and repeatedly takes steps to keep him in operation. Grand Nagus Zek posits that this role gives Quark the potential to be one of the most powerful people in the Alpha Quadrant: while the bar is a seemingly small-time business, being on the edge of the wormhole and having first access to all the information going to and from the Gamma Quadrant means that whoever owns the bar could have a hand in all the business going through without lifting a finger.
  • By the end of the series, Quark is on a first-name basis with the Federation Ambassador to Qo'nos, has a more than passing acquaintance with the most powerful Klingon Chancellor in generations, is the on-again off-again of the leader of a Klingon Great House who he helped install (remember, Klingon Great Houses field fleets), is well-acquainted with one of the most powerful members of the Bajoran military, his nephew is destined to become one of the Federation's greatest captains, he's the beloved bartender of one of the Federation's most brilliant physicians and its one of its most highly-regarded engineers, he's Enemy Mine with the de facto contact point between the Dominion and the Alpha Quadrant, and his brother is the Grand Nagus. You can find richer Ferengi, but you'll never find one with better connections, or one who's better-liked by more powerful people outside of his own species. His influence continues after the series, too. In Picard season one, an important piece of plot-driving information passes to Jean-Luc Picard through the hands of none other than Mister Quark of Ferenginar.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Trust Quark to try and make a profit out of the accidental death of a Klingon customer.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Rom's first marriage failed when he left to work on DS9. Quark's a confirmed bachelor^note his marriage to Grilka notwithstanding, and was the only character to not earn a Last-Minute Hookup in the final season. They're basically a couple, like it or not. Armin Shimerman confirmed that his arc in Season 7 was mending fences with his family, particularly Rom.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: For all Quark's protestations about how Ferengi women should be - docile, submissive, naked - he's not attracted to women like that, except maybe the naked part. He's attracted to aggressive, strong-willed, highly intelligent women. And then you meet his Moogie...
• Loser Son of Loser Dad: According to Ishka, her husband wasn't a very successful businessman. Rom seems to have inherited his lack of financial acumen, and Quark's luck isn't so hot either, though he's certainly more savvy than his brother.
• Loveable Rogue: Quark may be a money-grubbing, penny-pinching, manipulative little swindler who lies and cheats as easily as sucking air, but he ultimately means no harm, and when push comes to shove, he will do the right thing to help his friends, his family, and his home. Besides, compared to the numerous real villains in the series, he's practically a saint.
• Loveable Sex Maniac: Tries to sleep with the Dabo girls he hires, although this gets toned down later. They wound up unionizing to improve the bar's working conditions, but that doesn't entirely stop his wandering hands.
• Mayor of a Ghost Town: Began the series as this. Cunningly, Sisko snatches Quark before he can leave the station and appoints him "community leader"; a nice way of saying that if Quark doesn't stay, his nephew goes to jail.
• The Millstone: Particularly in the show's early years. Quark often endangers the entire station in pursuit of an illegal transaction. One such incident (smuggling Verad onboard) almost got Jadzia killed — this caused him to tone it down a little.
• Necessarily Evil: Odo regularly allows Quark to break the law, while using him to get a bead on the more significant criminals Quark interacts with.
• Never My Fault: When he's caught out, you can always count on Quark to throw Rom under the bus. (In fact, there's a provision in the employee contracts that anything that goes wrong in the bar is automatically Rom's fault.) He did it in the pilot episode, he does it every other week, and it's a wonder Rom hasn't buried a spanner in his head by now. It's no surprise that Rom eventually left the bar to pursue his true talent — engineering.
• No True Scotsman: Quark catches heat from the Ferengi Commerce Authority for failing to adhere to proper business practices. For a time, the bar is liquidated by the FCA, and Quark himself barred from doing business anywhere within the Ferengi Alliance.
  Quark: I can reform! I'll start gouging the customers again! I'll revoke all my employees' vacation time!
  Brunt: ...You gave them vacations?
• Papa Wolf: Contrary to appearances, he's fiercely protective of his nephew Nog. Although sometimes what he does to "help" is wrong (like sabotaging his entry exam to Starfleet Academy), sometimes it isn't (like gunning down Jem'Hadar soldiers to protect a comatose Nog during the Siege of AR-558). The whole reason he ended up staying on Deep Space Nine to begin with is because if he'd refused, Nog would have been stuck in jail for years.
• Persona Non Grata: In "Body Parts", he breaks a contract with his nemesis Brunt. For being in violation of the 17th Rule of Acquisition^note A contract is a contract is a contract (but only between Ferengi), his business license was revoked, he was legally barred from doing business with other Ferengi, and he was banished from the Ferengi homeworld. He would regain his license and good standing in Season 6.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He's not afraid to pour some drinks on the house when O'Brien and Bashir are believed to have been killed, or to offer Odo romantic evidence.
  • He's genuinely happy to hear that Keiko is pregnant and then proceeds to wax nostalgic about Nog being a cute baby; Quark even read what's implied to be the Ferengi equivalent of the Dick and Jane books to the infant Nog ("Acquire, Brok, acquire!").
  • While he often exploits his bar staff and especially the Dabo girls, he will sometimes come to their defence when patrons get a bit too familiar; at one point during "In The Pale Moonlight" one of the girls is being harassed by a drunken customer, so Quark intervenes (and gets stabbed for his trouble).
• Pragmatic Villainy: Quark is an incorrigible smuggler and black marketeer. However, "Things Past" revealed that he refuses to sell maraji crystals (an illegal drug) because the Cardassians don't like them and the Bajorans can't afford them.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: To Zek, the Grand Nagus. Zek treats him like pocket lint, but Quark still holds out hope for a reward one day. He never gets it.
• Read the Fine Print: Feeling up the Dabo girls is "part of the job." ...Literally, look at the employee contract. It's in there, buried in a sub-section written in Ferengi-only script.
  • There's also a provision that anything that goes wrong in the bar is automatically Rom's fault.
  • Company policy dictates that the staff is not responsible for lost (read: stolen) property. Said policy is spelled out on a small sign hanging over the exit that is easily missable. Ambassador Troi was not pleased.
• Real Men Hate Affection: Rom and Quark can never quite be nice to each other and have to express their affection through trading insults. It gets especially tangled during wartime, as Quark becomes the stand-in for every family who waits to hear news from the front. Even he can't keep up pretenses forever.
  Rom: You're my brother. Whatever happens, we belong together.
  Quark: Well, like I said, you're an idiot. (goes to leave, then kisses Rom on the head)
• Rule-Abiding Rebel: By Ferengi standards, Quark is a radical due to such controversial opinions as "women should be allowed to spend and make money", "employees should have bonuses and vacation time", and "deals should be made in good faith." From a modern capitalist point of view - and as he points out himself several times - he's simply making pragmatic economic decisions to maximize his profits, and thus more closely keeping to (stated) Ferengi cultural norms than anyone else.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Always has a snazzy and colourful blazer and shirt combo.
• Shipper on Deck: As the station's eyes and ears (Ha!), Quark comments on the pairings occurring all around him. Even some that never actually took off, such as Sisko/Jadzia.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: To Odo. The Constable has a perpetual suspicious eye on Quark, and Quark's given him ample reason for it.
  • Subverted with Liquidator Brunt, who would be happy to see Quark dead, or, short of that, shunned by Ferengi society, for watering down traditional Ferengi values.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He's not as high up in the views of other Ferengi as he'd like to be.
  • It's also thrown in his face during "The Ascent". Part of the reason Odo pursued him all those years was because he thought Quark was (or had connections with) part of the Orion Syndicate, and he couldn't even afford the entrance fee. Quark shoots back that this means Odo wasted years hounding him for bearing a failure.
• The So-Called Coward: Avidly preaches that he is not a fighter and proclaims himself to be a coward without shame. As seen by these other tropes, Quark's a lot braver than he gives himself credit for.
  "I am Quark, slayer of Klingons."
  • Also this parting shot from "Body Parts":
    Quark: Look, I've broken the contract, so do your job. Take my assets, revoke my Ferengi business licence. Do whatever you have to do, then get out. And if I ever see you walk into my bar again...
    Brunt: Yes?
    Quark: You won't walk out.
  • Kills at least half a dozen Jem'Hadar Super Soldiers in shootouts over the course of the series, despite how often he insists fighting is no way for a Ferengi to behave. He's a blindingly fast draw with a disruptor pistol and a very good shot.
  • When circumstances forced him into a duel with a Klingon, he escaped with his life by showing up anyway, throwing the fight and saying how it's effectively an execution ("Killing an unarmed Ferengi... half his size"), calling out the Klingon High Council for letting the farce of an inheritance dispuse continue, goading his opponent into fighting anyway and causing Chancellor Gowron to intervene and admonish his opponent for such a dishonor. Quite a little Batman Gambit on his part.
  • Was fully intent on defending his bar during the Klingon attack on his own, if not for Rom without his knowledge taking parts of his old service disruptor to fix the replicators.
  • In "Business As Usual" he was willing to give up his life to sabotage a weapons deal that would have led to the deaths of twenty-two million innocent civilians.
    "One life for twenty-two million. Best deal I ever made."
• Status Quo Is God: Many things change throughout Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but one thing never does: Quark will always, ALWAYS end up back tending his bar by the end of any given storyline. Quark's business opportunities never go anywhere significant or backfire and whenever he's handed the opportunity to be rich it's either taken away from him or he's forced to give it up. Conversely, Quark is constantly getting away with things that should have gotten him arrested by Odo likely before the series even started and if his bar is taken away from him he always gets it back.
• Super-Senses: Like all Ferengi, Quark's got good ears. Odo uses it to torment him by pacing out his room when Quark's trying to sleep. Even when he's something like a mouse, Quark can still hear him, and it bugs the hell out of him.
• Token Heroic Orc: Like any good Ferengi, Quark has a keen eye for profit and a self-serving nature. When push comes to shove, however, he will set aside profit to help Sisko and the crew of DS9.
• The Unfavorite: His mother always preferred Rom, partly because Rom takes a lot after his late father. Quark and his mother have a lot in common, but are on opposite ends opinion-wise. As she herself puts it, Rom is always her little boy but Quark grew up young and is more of an equal.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After a whole series-worth of failing to ever get ahead, it's shown by the time of Star Trek: Lower Decks that Quark has become a successful brand unto himself, with a line of (if Mariner's reaction is any indication) a fairly decent line of chain restaurants (themed after himself) and even toys based off the station. Apparently other Ferengi underestimated how much latinum there is in branding.
  • That said, by the end of his The Bus Came Back trip in "Hear All, Trust Nothing" of Lower Decks, he's immediately back to being on the off-foot again after being caught for being successful for too long off of stolen Karemma technology, with Quark being forced to give up 76% of all of his franchises profits to them as to help facilitate trade relations with the Federation as compensation for his crimes against the Karemma. Something he takes rather poorly when Freeman asks if he's happier being poor than in jail.
• Unrequited Love: Implied to be the case with Jadzia Dax, especially by the time she is married to Worf. After she is killed, his feelings are still there for her successor Ezri.
• Unusual Ears: Like all Ferengi.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Odo snark and bicker at each other all the time, but Quark will defend Odo if others are against him.
• Worthy Opponent: Feels this way about Odo. Even in the second episode, he defends Odo against accusations of murder.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Quark absolutely hates the fact that his most successful business venture — the bar and casino — is a legitimate one. According to him, Quark is mockingly known as "the Synthehol King" back on Feringinar, a reference to his squeaky-clean reputation amongst the Federation citizens whom he ought to be fleecing left and right. (Synthehol, as the name implies, is a beverage which mimics the taste of alcohol without any of the deleterious effects. It's an absolute joke compared to Ferengi alcohol, which perfectly sums up his homeworld's opinion of him as toothless and non-threatening.)

Rom

"I've always been smart, brother. I've just lacked self-confidence."

Played By: Max Grodenchik

Odo: I've had my eye on you for a long time, Rom. You're not as stupid as you look!
Rom: I am, too!

— "Necessary Evil"

Quark's younger brother and Nog's father. Initially nothing more than a goofy comic relief character, completely dominated by his brother, he was revealed to have Hidden Depths as the series went on. He later found his true calling as an station engineer under Chief O'Brien's tutelage. Interestingly, he does not join Starfleet like his son, but rather enlists in the Bajoran Militia; hence the rarely seen grey-on-green uniform.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: Rom's poor business sense and aptitude for engineering make him an outcast in Ferengi society. Lampshaded by Nog, who is bitterly aware that his father could've been Chief Engineer on a starship if he'd had the opportunity. Instead, he tried to fit the "good Ferengi" mold and go into sales — for which he has absolutely no talent. Nog's disappointment in him (and subsequent successes in Starfleet) is what motivates Rom to quit working for his brother.
• Almighty Janitor: Ostensibly a pit boss, Rom is basically forced to perform all of the dirty work Quark shovels on him: Repairs, waiting tables, and cleaning, too. His talents were eventually recognized by Starfleet, averting this trope and leading to a few promotions. Though he did come up with the self-replicating minefield trick, which suggests he's still underemployed. (He eventually became Grand Nagus.)
• Annoying Younger Sibling: But pretty much only as far as Quark is concerned.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Yeah, he may be a goofball and joke even among the Ferengi, but by the end of Season 5 he is the main reason why the Dominion fleet is unable to cross the wormhole and steamroll the Alpha Quadrant. He also proves to be a pretty brave (if mostly ineffectual) spy and fighter.
  • As shown under Papa Wolf, and Quark learned the hard way, you do not interfere with his son Nog.
• Cain and Abel: Once he realizes he could inherit the bar, he tries to convince Odo that Quark wouldn’t want to be kept alive by artificial means... Then there's the time he cooperated in Quark's (failed, repeatedly) assassination.
• Characterization Marches On: Rom was not only unnamed in his first appearance, he also was depicted with a vastly different characterization and even voice by Grodénchik. Later, he was thought of as being an idiot (Odo even said that he couldn't have fixed Quark's replicator, because he couldn't fix a straw if it was bent), but as it turns out, he's a highly competent engineer.
  Rom: I've always been smart, brother. I've just lacked self-confidence.
  • His early appearances as depicted as a cold blooded opportunist who would gladly kill his own brother. Later episodes characterized him as a Kindhearted Simpleton.
• The Chew Toy: He's got clear self-esteem issues thanks to, among other things, being a poor businessman and having a domineering older brother in Quark. He's usually the one that gets blamed when something goes wrong.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Before he was characterized, he had this towards Quark.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Even in earlier characterizations where Rom isn't the hypercompetent mechanic he is later, he still manages this. Even Odo recognized him as being more devious than Quark, naming Rom along with Gaila (who owns his own moon) and the Grand Nagus.
• Ear Ache: At one point, he gets a nasty ear infection, on account of getting too much oomox... self-administered oomox.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first season Rom is more ruthless (even trying to kill Quark in "The Nagus") and meaner to Nog. Later seasons depict him as a lovable idiot who wouldn't hurt a fly.
• Easily Forgiven: In "The Nagus," Rom actively takes part in a plot to murder Quark, yet Quark seems to hold no grudge and lets him keep working at the bar without ever mentioning this incident again. The rest of the officers and crew on Deep Space Nine don't seem to take issue with this either. Seems to be a case of Status Quo Is God. (Then again, Ferengi culture is only slightly less built on backstabbing duplicity than the Romulans or the Cardassians, so maybe Quark took this as a sign of positive growth on his brother's behalf.)
• "Eureka!" Moment: His epiphany regarding the minefield came on the eve of his wedding, when Rom was freaking out over trivial matters like closet space.
• Gadgeteer Genius:
  • He off-handedly comes up with the idea of self-replicating anti-starship mines to blockade the Bajoran Wormhole against Dominion reinforcements while barely paying attention. While O'Brien is generally the only man keeping DS9 in general in a modicum of working order, Rom is responsible for all the high technology in Quark's Bar working at all (usually through MacGyvering stuff).
  • Rom's skill with devices is shown at one point while he and Quark are away and the bar is locked. O'Brien, one of those famed Starfleet engineers who can turn rocks into replicators, is having trouble getting through the lock. Odo passes by and comments that he's never seen a more "convoluted" design.
  • Nog states that his father is an engineering genius and could easily be the chief engineer of a starship, but is stuck being a waiter in Quark's bar.
• Genius Ditz: A damn fine engineer, completely lacking in common sense and, worse for a Ferengi, business sense, until near the end of the show.
  Quark: Looks like your stupidity has saved you again.
  Rom: It comes in handy sometimes.
• Grew a Spine: Over time, he gains more self-confidence (in part thanks to Nog), eventually becoming an engineer for the station rather than the minor partner (and Mr. Fixit) at Quark's Bar.
• Happily Married: Him and Leeta.
• Hero-Worshipper: Although O'Brien is not an officer, we start to see how respected he is among the rank and file aboard DS9. Nog follows the Chief around like a puppy, and Rom insists on copying his breakfast orders down to the letter. The mere mention of orange juice and bacon makes Quark look like he's about to hurl, suggesting it's far from the usual Ferengi diet.
• Hidden Depths: Very well-hidden- even Odo initially thought he was just an idiot who "couldn't fix a straw if it was bent" before reconsidering and realizing he was smarter than he looked. He turned out to be an engineering genius.
• Ignored Expert: He did tell Quark that the holosuites need downtime once a week for essential maintenance. Quark refuses to listen, then blames Rom when, surprise surprise, the holosuites go bust.
• Interspecies Romance: He dates and ultimately marries Leeta, a Bajoran Dabo girl.
• Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: The Ferengi value business acumen above all else, and tend to shun anyone who doesn't thrive in the cut-throat world of business. Unfortunately, for Rom, he's a terrible businessman, but a great engineer. Once he joins Chief O'Brien's maintenance crew, he blossoms.
• Loser Son of Loser Dad: His and Quark's father wasn't a very successful businessman, and Rom isn't so great at business either. Eventually subverted when Rom becomes the Grand Nagus.
• Love Makes You Stupid: How he wound up as a single father working for his brother. Ferengi marriages aren't exactly like human marriages - there's contracts involved. Rom was so head-over-heels with Nog's mother he never bothered checking the revised contract, and got swindled for all his money, and promptly dumped.
  Quark: Hooray for romance!
• Momma's Boy: Much to Quark's annoyance. Rom calls Ishka "Moogie". Ironically, Ishka is quick to point out that, while Rom has greater affection for his mother, Quark is the most like her in personality and financial skills.
• Mr. Fixit: Because Quark is so cheap when it comes to repairs, Rom has to be ridiculously inventive to keep everything running smoothly. For example, he uses a spatula as a key conductor in the holosuite's mechanisms (a mesh of Federation, Ferengi, and Cardassian technology only he understands).
• Nice Guy: While as self-centered and vicious as the worst Ferengi in early episodes (albeit bad at it), he evolved into this in later seasons. He once gave the entirety of his net worth to a fund for war orphans.
• Papa Wolf: Mess with Nog at your peril. When Quark sabotages Nog's Starfleet admittance test, Rom was furious. Even though all the rest of the time he's completely dominated by Quark, he went as far as to threaten to burn the bar down because he cares more about Nog's happiness than anything.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Provides Quark with sage advice for passing himself off as a woman. In fact, Rom almost knows too much about the subject.
• Simpleton Voice: After his first appearance.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Season One Rom was as unscrupulous as his brother—if a little slow on the uptake—with a penchant for fobbing work off on his son.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After years of poor luck, Rom gets made Grand Naugus in the second-to-last episode.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Eventually marries Dabo girl Leeta.
  • Pretty much everyone considers this a Crack Pairing in-universe, for varying reasons.
    • By Ferengi standards Rom is considered something of a Brainless Beauty though.
    • When they start to get serious he starts to have serious doubts about his good luck and starts to suspect she's after his money. When she's still interested after he donates it all to charity he knows it's real.
• Undying Loyalty: He may not impress on first impressions, but you can trust Rom with your life. Or, as O'Brien learned in "The Assignment", the life of your wife.
• Walking Disaster Area: An absolute menace on the baseball field, resulting in bat-related injuries for the entire team. (His jersey number is 13.)

Nog

"I may not have an instinct for business, but I have my father's hands and my uncle's tenacity."

Played By: Aron Eisenberg

Rom: You remember my son Nog, don't you? He's the first Ferengi to join Starfleet.
Zek: I'll try not to hold that against him.

— "Profit and Lace"

Quark's nephew. Starts out as Jake's slacker best friend, but then joins Starfleet and becomes a shining example of a straight-up, by-the-book soldier. This occasionally lapses into New Meat, except that, because Starfleet is only Mildly Military, no one finds him the least bit annoying.

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• Almighty Janitor: Despite only being a cadet, he is able to work a Chain of Deals to get Chief O'Brien the supplies he needed while getting Martok a better batch of bloodwine, without Captain Sisko ever realizing his desk was gone. His Ferengi hearing came in handy during several missions. Other than Chief O'Brien and Rom, he is the only engineer on the station who understands the amalgam of Cardassian, Bajoran, and Starfleet technology that keeps the station running. And, he was the first Starfleet officer on the station to learn about the Romulans signing a non-aggression pact with the Dominion.
• Artificial Limbs: After the Siege of AR-558. It's actually a synthetically-grown replacement functionally identical to the one he lost, but he still struggles with getting used to it at first.
• Authority in Name Only: In "Blaze of Glory," Nog began goose-stepping around the promenade like a mall ninja. He baffled General Martok by marching right to some Klingons and telling them to clear off. "No loitering!"
• Book Dumb: At the beginning of the series, he can't read or write in English. Jake teaching him to do so is a big part of their friendship.
• Broken Pedestal: Initially, he hero-worships Red Squadron, the Academy's best of the best. His adventure with them in "Valiant" burns it out of him.
• Dawson Casting: At the time of the pilot episode, Nog was 13~14 years old. Eisenberg himself just turned 24.
• Due to the Dead: By the time of the 32nd century, Starfleet would name an Eisenberg-class starship in his honor.
• The Fixer: Nog is so well-connected it's almost scary. Unlike Quark, who won't so much as offer you a tissue for free, Nog is happy to put his connections to use making Chief O'Brien's life run smoother. Word of God says he's based on Milo Minderbinder from Catch-22, the guy who can seemingly acquire anything.
• Going Native: With humans to some degree. Not least in a quintessential human activity.
• Grammar Nazi: After his return from Starfleet Academy, Nog goes over one of Jake's attempts at writing. Despite Jake's hope for feedback, all he gets is spelling corrections.
• Gung Holier Than Thou: He is rather enthusiastic about militaristic behavior, especially for a Ferengi.
• Heroic BSoD: The episode "It's Only a Paper Moon" focuses on the psychological toll that AR-558 took on him—withdrawn, defensive, and unwilling to go back into reality after the trauma of losing his leg. He more or less has PTSD.
• Informed Flaw: He claims not to have the "lobes" for business, but he proves an extremely canny operator who can get just about any part or favor required. It's possible that he might not have the savvy or ruthlessness to go up against other Ferengi as adversaries, but as fixer for his comrades, he is eminently capable.
• Legendary in the Sequel: Star Trek: Discovery establishes that Nog made such a name for himself they named a ship after him in the 32nd century..
• Loser Son of Loser Dad: As he bluntly points out to Sisko, he is, by Ferengi standards, a failure from a family of failures. As such, he's desperate to prove himself.
• Neat Freak: Became one after attending Starfleet Academy, much to the annoyance of Jake, who's much more of a slob, when two became roommates.
• Never Learned to Read: An early subplot has Jake teaching Nog to read.
• No Indoor Voice: All but outright stated to be part of the whole Compensating for Something package.
• Odd Friendship: With Vic Fontaine in "It's Only a Paper Moon."
  • His friendship with Jake Sisko is something that both their parents initially try to discourage.
  • He and General Martok aren't quite friends, given the huge discrepancies in culture and rank, but they're extremely respectful to each other. Martok always greets him before anyone else when he enters Ops as a result of Nog having the cajones to enforce station regulations to a Klingon general.
• Plucky Middie: Once the Dominion War starts, he's still a cadet for much of the initial invasion until he's field promoted to ensign.
• Rank Up: He's promoted to Ensign before graduating, mainly because they really need officers. Counting alternate timelines and things that didn't stick, he is actually one of the most promoted characters on the show.
  • In the Finale, he is promoted to Lieutenant.
  • In the expanded universe he would go on to become Chief Engineer of the Enterprise-E and eventually was promoted to captain of the USS Chimera (as implied in "The Visitor").
• Safe Cracking: Using his superior Ferengi hearing. Came into play during the heist in "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang".
• Sanity Slippage Song: Bashir brought some Vic Fontaine MP3s to AR-558 and Quark played "I'll Be Seeing You" for Nog while Nog was wounded and recovering in the infirmary, even during the pitched battle. When he came back from surgery, a traumatized Nog continued to replay the songs over and over again in his quarters. The Incessant Music Madness drove Jake to kick him out, and Nog limped his way upstairs to the Las Vegas hologram. ("It's Only a Paper Moon")
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: After losing his leg in the Siege of AR-558.
• The Scrounger: By the time he joins Starfleet, he's an expert at navigating the "Great Material Continuum", much to Chief O'Brien's bemusement (and relief).
• Token Heroic Orc: At first, appears to be playing against the Ferengi hat of capitalistic greed full-tilt. However, once in Starfleet, he starts subverting it by using his innate Ferengi business sense to requisition needed supplies seemingly out of thin air (see The Scrounger above). He's still very much a Starfleet Officer after his Character Development, but he doesn't completely discard where he came from either.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Nog introduced Jake to the concept of whopper lies. Later (hilariously) reversed when Nog becomes the straight arrow, while Jake drags him into zany schemes.
• Space Cadet
• Unusual Ears

Leeta

Played By: Chase Masterson

Leeta: I have brains!
Quark: Sure you do, honey. That's why I hired you. Now, eat up, and then take those brains back to the dabo wheel where the customers can get a good looong look at them.

— "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?"

A very busty Bajoran Dabo girl who works at Quark's. Bubbly, outgoing, and likable, Leeta was known as a friend to many on the station. In the beginning, she was attracted to Dr. Bashir. But eventually Quark's bumbling, awkward, Genius Ditz of a brother Rom catches her eye. By Season 6, they would eventually marry. In the series finale, she becomes First Lady of Ferenginar after Rom is made Grand Nagus.

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• Ascended Extra: She was initially brought in as a vapid, superficial one-off Love Interest for Dr. Bashir. Fan response was strong, and she would appear in over a dozen subsequent episodes, becoming a fairly prominent secondary character by mid-series.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: She has a very busty figure, which often causes men to stare.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: When she gets upset by Rom's calm acceptance of his impending Dominion-mandated execution, she starts wailing.
• A Day in the Limelight: To a certain extent in the Season 4 episode "Bar Association". Once the midpoint of the show passes she no longer qualifies for this as she's more or less a recurring character by that point.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: She's not a Disposable Sex Worker, but Quark treats her like one. She and Rom later let him have it.
• Fanservice with a Smile: Her duties as a Dabo Girl require her to be overly flirtatious, and overtly friendly with her clientele.
• Girly Girl: One of the most girlish and feminine characters in the crew. This actually comes in handy one time, when she needs to help Quark act like a female in "Profit and Lace".
• Good Stepmother: Not a consistent part of their dynamic, but she explicitly refers to herself as Nog's stepmother at least once; in a spin-off novel, Nog explicitly observes that Leeta has been a better mother to him than his own mother. Nog later takes to calling her "Moogie", the Ferengi term of endearment for mothers and grandmothers.
• Good with Numbers: A must-have skill for any good Dabo Girl.
• Ms. Fanservice: She was introduced as blatant eye-candy, being fairly attractive and often getting gratuitous fanservice scenes.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: She doesn't seem to care much for modesty. In "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" she greets Dr. Zimmerman at her door in only a Modesty Towel before going to get dressed. Then promptly walks out of her dressing room without it, and without finishing dressing, when she learns of a new job opportunity. She only notes her state of undress due to Zimmerman staring, and just casually apologizes before retreating to finish getting dressed for his sake.
• Opposites Attract: She's a gorgeous, charismatic, outgoing young woman. And he's easygoing, loyal, passive, and underestimated. They're both ditzy, though.
• Remember the New Guy?: In "Facets," Jadzia invites her seven closest friends to join her in a Trill ritual, including Leeta, who had had one scene in the last three seasons prior to that point. This was a function of the Dax symbiont having had three female hosts prior to Jadzia, but Nana Visitor was the only other female member of the main cast. Even after including Leeta, that still left one (handled by Quark, figuratively playing in drag long before "Profit and Lace").
• Smarter Than You Look: Despite Leeta's bubbly, somewhat ditzy demeanor, she is a keen observer and seasoned student of sociology.
• The Social Expert: She's an amateur sociologist and is very good at socializing and befriending people.
• The Tease: She often has a flirtatious demeanor, even when not working.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: She's the hot wife to Rom's ugly guy.
• What Does She See in Him?: Everyone is dumbfounded when she dumps Julian Bashir for Rom. Well, Quark and Bashir are, anyway.

Morn

Played By: Mark Allen Shepherd

"People love him. He's like a mascot. Everyone who comes in here expects to see him, and if they don't, it doesn't feel like home to them."

— Quark (Leaning on the Fourth Wall a bit)

A friend of Quark's and a permanent fixture at his bar. He never speaks a single line over the course of the series.

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• The Ace: Played for laughs, and entirely an Informed Attribute by the rest of the cast through the show, with none of his actual supposed abilities and personality ever seen on screen.
• Amusing Alien: They get a lot of mileage out of someone who never actually speaks.
• Ascended Extra: Gets his own episode... and not only does he still not get any dialogue, he's presumed dead for most of it. He even got his own action figure◊!
• The Bartender: In the alternate future shown in "The Visitor", Nog reveals that Morn took over the bar after Quark and Rom retired.
• Bald Of Awesome: According to a one-off mention by Quark, Morn's species have head hair, Morn has simply gone bald (Quark recalls of the first time Morn came into the bar that "he still had all of his hair then").
• Bizarre Alien Biology: He's got two (apparently metal-resistant) stomachs, more than one heart, and at least four lungs.
• Casting Gag: In "Who Mourns For Morn?", Quark tries to get a customer to sit on Morn's stool after he dies - that customer is Mark Shepherd out of his normal make-up.
• Character Shilling: Played for Laughs. The rest of the cast constantly talks up how funny, talented, talkative, charming, handsome, etc., Morn is, none of which the audience ever gets to see.
• Empty Chair Memorial: Allen Shepherd (sans makeup) is finally seen on-camera in the episode "Who Mourns for Morn", keeping Morn's seat warm. Quark shoos him away, saying it's just not the same.
  • Other ideas were batted around for preserving Morn's stool, including a holographic recreation of everyone's favorite barfly. Hilariously, after Morn returns from the dead and cheats Quark out of a fat inheritance, Quark, in a fit of rage, tries wrestling the stool out of the floor.
• Expy: For Norm of Cheers. His name is even an anagram.
• Faking the Dead: Has to pull this in the above episode due to his checkered past.
• Fear Is the Appropriate Response: Li Nalas makes his impassioned speech about not running away and facing the enemy and Morn is in the background looking like he is deeply moved by all this... and then leaps onto the evacuation craft, anyway.
  • To be fair, Li Nalas was specifically talking to the Bajorans and asking them to stay and help so that the runabouts could transfer non-Bajorans (like Morn) to safety.
  • Off-screen; described afterwards by Kira, Odo, and Quark. After Quark speculated that a Dominion attack on Deep Space Nine would leave them all dead, Morn hit Quark with a barstool and ran through the Promenade screaming "We're all doomed!", then ran naked into the station's Bajoran shrine (interrupting Kira's meditation) and begged the Prophets for protection.
• Hidden Depths: Apparently, he has a beautiful singing voice and used to practice bat'leth with Worf.
• Idle Rich: He keeps a bank's worth of latinum in his second stomach. No wonder he can afford to spend his days at the bar.
  • It might be a case of him avoiding Suspicious Spending, as he had to wait ten years for the statute of limitations to expire on the robbery. After that you'd think he'd quit his day job as a freighter captain, but apparently he likes his job (though he did give Quark a large tip for his troubles).
• Kavorka Man: If you pay attention, every appearance where he isn't drinking usually has him with a lady (sometimes two) in his arms. Dax admitted to being attracted to him but she figured he was way out of her league.
  • He's also there the morning after Dax's bachelorette party.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: He has seventeen brothers and sisters.
• Momma's Boy: A vital message that changed the course of the Dominion War only got through because he smuggled it in one of the many presents he was rushing home to give his mother for her birthday. Of course, it's presented that this is sort of a cultural thing for all Lurians: "Mother's Day" is such a huge holiday on their homeworld that everyone was too busy celebrating it to guard the planetary bank, allowing Morn and a team of four other thieves to rob it.
• Odd Friendship: With everyone! Amazingly, Morn seems to get along with practically everyone on the station. When he faked his death, pretty much everyone on DS9 showed up to pay their respects. His friendship even goes as high up as Sisko, who's trust in him convinced him the secret messsage smugged out during the height of the Dominion War was genuine.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Morn's smuggling of the warning message to Sisko that the minefield around the wormhole was soon to be destroyed, his success in passing on the message led to Sisko reaching the wormhole in time and asking for help from the Prophets to destroy the massive Dominion fleet coming through it, saving the entire Alpha Quadrant, Federation and more in the process.
• Noodle Incident: Pretty much Morn's whole backstory is a series of these.
• Parody Sue: Morn basically does nothing onscreen throughout the entire series but is constantly and consistently praised as the greatest thing since James T. Kirk. Apparently, he's talkative, charming, funny, a ladies man, an excellent fighter in Klingon martial arts, has a beautiful singing voice, and single-handedly altered the course of the Dominion War by smuggling out vital secrets to the Federation. Jadzia even talks about how attractive she found him, but thought that he was "way out of her league." Jadzia.
• Pretty Boy: According to Odo, he's considered quite androgynous for a Lurian, though to the viewers Lurians all look pretty much the same.
• Running Gag: Everyone always talks about qualities he has or actions he took we never get to see. Such as him being very talkative and sociable. He is usually just seen quietly drinking in the bar.
  Quark: You know Morn; he never shuts up.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Largely just a comedic background character, but if it weren't for him, the Federation wouldn't have found out the wormhole minefield was going to be disabled until it was too late, and a Dominion armada would have conquered the entire Alpha Quadrant.
• Spear Carrier: His role is to be a regular face at Quark's... and not much else.
• Stomach of Holding: He kept over 1000 bricks worth of liquid-latinum in his second stomach for over ten years with no ill effects, apart from massive hair-loss.
• Take Our Word for It: Comedic version. He's quite the blabbermouth. You'd never know from watching. He's also referred to as the resident Boisterous Bruiser on a couple of occasions and apparently has a tremendous singing voice. Apparently also a ladies' man. See Kavorka Man.
• The Voiceless: You never actually see him speak.
  • He does, however, laugh. Once. He also yelped in pain another time when Quark was trying his hand at darts and accidentally threw them at Morn instead of the dartboard.

Grand Nagus Zek

Played By: Wallace Shawn

Zek: The Gamma Quadrant, gentlemen — millions of new worlds at our very doorstep. The potential for Ferengi business expansion is staggering.
Zek's crony: And best of all, no one there has ever heard the name "Ferengi"!

— "The Nagus"

Leader of the Ferengi Alliance, he appears in almost every Ferengi episode. He is often toted as being the wealthiest Ferengi alive, but later on it is revealed that his mind is not what it used to be. He starts a relationship with Quark's mother, Ishka, who ends up becoming the woman behind the man by helping him with his memory problems. At the end of the show, he retires from the position and (at Ishka's suggestion) passes social reform granting female rights, environmental regulations, and many other things.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: He spends one episode hitting on Kira. She's almost too bewildered to be disgusted.
• Annoying Laugh: A high-pitched, grating giggle, serving as an effective shorthand for a Grand Nagus's right and privilege to be the most irritating little git in this or any other room. Then again, he is played by Wallace Shawn, an expert at annoying laughs.
• Assassin Outclassin': According to Zek himself, being Nagus comes with regular attempts of assassination. He's been out-stepping them for eight decades.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: He encourages successors to want to usurp his position, but only approves it due the Ferengi way through profits. He doesn't approve of trying to gain the position through assassination.
• Characterization Marches On: In his first appearance, he messes with Quark's head and sets him up for a fall, but that's about it. In later episodes Quark is his chosen agent when dealing with the Gamma Quadrant and for several other matters and is barely aware of Rom (who takes advantage of the situation to skim the profits). In his last few appearances he seems to actively hate Quark and love Rom apropos of nothing (although the shift can be attributed to a mix of his growing senility and his new relationship with Ishka).
• Celebrity Paradox: Indirectly so. Wallace Shawn was Grand Nagus Zek on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which is a Spin-Off of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Dr. John Sturgis on Young Sheldon. Wil Wheaton was Wesley Crusher on Next Generation and also was on The Big Bang Theory As Himself.
• Dead Alternate Counterpart: In the Confederation timeline his skull is one of many displayed in Picard's trophy case.
• Dirty Old Man: Has a healthy libido, similar to most Ferengi. He can out-compete them, too, as shown when Quark hands him a holosuite menu. "The Nagus will try all five." His idea of a retirement plan is to find a planet of babes and spend his twilight years getting it on.
• Everyone Has Standards: Quark observes that the Grand Nagus has to think of the collective good of the Ferengi Alliance rather than their personal benefit, observing that this quality is what made Zek a better Grand Nagus than Brunt would be.
• Hospitality for Heroes: More or less the reason why he continues to hang out with a bartender and his brother.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Socialist Wallace Shawn plays Grand Nagus Zek, leader of a race whose greatest value is acquiring profit. Though considering that Ferengi were created to be parody caricatures of all the worst aspects of capitalism, this is actually perfect casting.
• Jerkass: One of the reasons the position of Grand Nagus is so prized amongst Ferengi is that it lets you be a petty-minded asshole to everyone with zero repercussions. Zek is only too happy to oblige.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: 'Gold' might be pushing it, but his advancing age does mellow him out, as does his marriage to Ishka.
• Married to the Job: Greed is hard work. The Nagus has been running the Ferengi Alliance non-stop for eighty-five years, with no vacations. The Ferengi work ethic seems to frown on vacation time or luxuries.
• Money Fetish: Like all Ferengi.
• Parent with New Paramour: He's the paramour to Quark's parent Ishka. He regularly browbeats and insults Quark into respecting Ishka and threatens him whenever Quark gives him any lip.
• Pet the Dog: In "Favor The Bold" he, with some convincing from Quark, offered to buy Rom's freedom. Sadly it didn't work since the Dominion didn't care about money.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: By Ferengi standards. Zek is greedy but he puts the common financial good of the Ferengi over his own personal greed.
• Scatterbrained Senior: His advanced age has caused him to become increasingly absent-minded and forgetting a lot of the basic things one needs to know to run the Ferengi government. This eventually leads to Ishka becoming The Female Behind the Male, helping him keep the empire together.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: And also Grand Nagus. Time to throw out the etiquette books, people.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Basically his response when the FCA tries to shoot down his social reform. Overlaps with Screw the Rules, I Make Them!, because in Ferengi society, those who have the money make the rules.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With Ishka.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Zek uses his diplomatic immunity (and a healthy amount of extortion) to enjoy free reign of the station, as well as Quark's home on Ferignar. This irritating behavior is similar to Lwaxana Troi. He's even got a mute bodyguard.
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: In every appearance, Zek monopolizes Quark's bar, reserves his holosuites free of charge, demands to use his quarters, and delights in imposing himself everywhere.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: After the Prophets turn him into a friendly, generous philanthropist via a Heel-Face Mind Screw, Quark is horrified. It's not just because a Heel-Face Mind Screw is inherently creepy, either - Ferengi culture is literally built on venal, money-grubbing dickery, and having the Grand Nagus turned like that could have apocalyptic consequences - it's basically the Ferengi equivalent of the Pope being caught by paparazzi blowing money at a strip club/brothel. (Ironically, given Zek once almost literally did show up to blow money on Deep Space Nine at a strip club/brothel, but that's just in line with what the Ferengi consider healthy moral values for their religious leaders.)

Maihar'du

Played By: Tiny Ron

Zek's Hupyrian manservant/bodyguard. As such, he's taken a vow to not speak to anyone except Zek.

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• Battle Butler: Like any Grand Nagus, Zek employs a hulking, mute manservant from the Hupyrian race to taste-test his food and flatten any enemies. He's the reason why Quark resists the urge to push Zek out an airlock. Maihar'du's vow of silence and grim countenance are probably a reference to Lurch from The Addams Family.
• Elective Mute: Hupyrian servants are sworn to a vow of silence, speaking to no one except their masters. Maihar'du is no exception.
• Inelegant Blubbering: When Zek is zapped by the Prophets, Maihar'du knows what's been done to him but due to his vow can't say anything, so all he can do is sob to himself.

Ishka

Played By: Andrea Martin/ Cecily Adams

"Your father might have bought you your first copy of the Rules of Acquisition, but who helped you memorize them?"

— To Quark, "Family Business"

Quark and Rom's mother, and Nog's grandmother. At the start of the series, Ferengi females are forbidden from making profit, leaving the house, or even to wear clothes. In her first appearance, it is revealed that she has secretly been making profit for years, bringing Brunt into the picture as according to Ferengi law, she is Quark's responsibility. As the series progresses, she eventually enters into a relationship with Grand Nagus Zek, secretly becoming his advisor and ensuring liberalization of the laws banning females from wearing clothes.

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• Abusive Parents: Though not thoroughly abusive and getting along really well with her son Rom, she was rather neglectful and patronizing of Quark in his youth and in his adulthood. She almost gets Quark in deep financial trouble with the FCA by breaking cultural taboos through earning profit and nearly gets Quark bankrupted with no apologies. In "The Magnificent Ferengi", Quark risks his life to save Ishka from the Dominion and she still treats him as The Unfavorite later on.
• The Ace: At least by profit worshiping Ferengi standards. Ishka is a genius when it comes to finances and business, eventually going so far as helping the Grand Nagus run his empire. It's worth noting she was able to do this despite living in a society that would not allow women to do anything except raise their children.
• Affectionate Nickname: Rom calls her 'Moogie' (implied to be the Ferengi version of 'Mommy').
• Cultural Rebel: A Ferengi woman who earns profit and wears clothes.
• Friendly Enemy: She happily gives investment advice to her Dominion captors (although the Ferengi are technically neutral).
• Happily Married: To Zek, with a shade of Sickeningly Sweethearts. She's manipulating him to advance her own socioeconomic agenda, of course, but since they're both Ferengi, neither of them see a terribly huge problem with this.
  • She says this about her relationship with her first husband: despite his inability to understand and manipulate finances, he provided a good home and was a loving husband and father.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With Grand Nagus Zek, or "Zekkie" as she calls him.
• The Smart Guy: She has great business sense, far more than her late husband or her sons. She was effectively the shadow Grand Nagus for a time when her paramour, Grand Nagus Zek, started slipping into dementia, before her son Rom took the position.
• Ungrateful Bastard: In "The Magnificent Ferengi", Quark risks his life to save Ishka from the Dominion. Half a season later in "Profit and Lace", she is still chastising Quark as her unfavorite.
• The Woman Behind the Man: A rare positive example.
  • As Grand Nagus Zek's senility starts to catch up with him, she effectively becomes the shadow ruler of the Ferengi Alliance, with his cheerful assent.
  • She filled this role in her first marriage as well; despite being a good man with good intentions, her first husband would have gone bankrupt if not for her helping him with the finances.

Liquidator Brunt

Played By: Jeffrey Combs

"You are a disease, Quark, a festering tumor on the lobes of Ferengi society; and it's my job to cut you off."

— "Body Parts"

A liquidator of the Ferengi Commerce Authority, which combines Intimidating Revenue Service with State Sec. He hounds Quark for several years because his mother is trying to extend rights for Ferengi females, though later it's revealed he's very ambitious and wants to become Grand Nagus himself.

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• Blatant Lies: "It's Nothing Personal, Quark." Brunt targets Quark endlessly because he sees Quark as betraying everything that Ferengi culture stands for.
• Dirty Coward: For all his posturing and bluster, he's just a petty bully at heart, visibly afraid when Quark physically threatens him.
• The Dreaded: All Ferengi fear the FCA, but Brunt strikes fear deep into the hearts of Quark and his family.
• The Fundamentalist: Brunt is basically the embodiment of the Ferengi at their worst; opportunistic, hostile, always scheming to get ahead, totally devoted to the Ferengi ideal (except when he benefits from ignoring it), and completely devoid of any of Quark's redeeming qualities.
• Intimidating Revenue Service: Because wealth is everything to Ferengi, the FCA is basically their equivalent of the Tal'Shiar or Obsidian Order. Brunt's first appearance has him walk into Quark's with a pair of leg-breakers and a writ shutting down the bar.
• Internal Affairs: The FCA's role in Ferengi society, right down to everyone hating them for it.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Not that Quark isn't terrified of him all the same, but even he's shocked when Brunt reveals that he's willing to use the terms of a contract to have Quark killed (or rather, have Quark kill himself) simply to prove a point, rather than simply having him beaten, or letting Quark pay back the difference.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: His Rule-Fu is strong — strong enough to get Quark to try and commit suicide-by-Garak.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Played with in that Brunt's values are more in line with what most of Ferenginar believes, even Quark himself, ostensibly. Ferengi hardly have what you could call progressive views on females, but Brunt is outright disgusted by the idea of Ishka earning profit for herself. Or wearing clothes, which Ferengi women are not allowed to do, for that matter. And Quark personally catches his ire for what Brunt considers "philanthropy", practically a four-letter word among Ferengi. "But Quark takes 30% of his employees' tips!" Why isn't he taking all of it? "But he hardly gives them any time off for vacations!" He lets them take vacations?!
• Professional Butt-Kisser: In his own words, when he receives news that Quark will be named the Grand Nagus.:
  "It's never too early to begin sucking up to the boss!"
• Smug Snake: The FCA are some of the most powerful men on Ferenginar, and Brunt enjoys that fact immensely.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After being given his job back at the FCA for his part in rescuing Iska from the Dominion, (which he was fired from in the first place for his previous scheme involving trying to usurp Zek) he happily takes up the position of 'Acting Grand Nagus' after Zek is briefly forced into exile for 'daring' to grant business rights to females.
• Verbal Business Card: "Brunt, FCA." Though given both Brunt's personality and his occupation, this is less to introduce himself and more to cultivate the appropriate amount of terrified expressions at his arrival.

Vic Fontaine

Played By: James Darren

"When you sing in as many joints as I have, you become a student of the human heart."

— "His Way"

A Rat Pack-era hologram who was installed at the behest of Bashir. Vic's creator, who was of the Playful Hacker type, designed him to be self-aware and even (somewhat) autonomous. Outside of counseling the crew on their love troubles and PTSD, all he could offer was a port of calm during the Dominion War.

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• The Ace: The epitome of cool.
• Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: In the Mirror Universe, he's a gun-toting Android who is in the Alliance's employ (see the Klingon disruptor with Bajoran grips), who gets shot by Bashir. It seems all Bashir does in this universe is squeeze gats.
• Author Appeal: Basically a giant vanity piece by Ira Behr, who loves swing music and Bobby Darin.
• The Bartender: Ironically for a character who was introduced shortly before Ezri, he fit the "Ship's Counselor" role quite nicely, himself...leading to a sort of battle-over-turf between them in "It's Only A Paper Moon".
• Brooklyn Rage: Vic's nemesis in the mob scenario, Frankie Eyes, has a bone to pick with him from their childhood.
  Vic: It goes back to the old neighborhood. I used to beat him at stickball.
  Bashir: ....AND??
  Vic: And nothing. We've been rivals ever since.
• Catchphrase: "Crazy!"
• Gilded Cage: Like the EMH on Voyager, Vic dutifully performs his role, but secretly pines for a more autonomous life. When Nog becomes a recluse and starts living in the holosuite 24/7, it has the added effect of allowing Vic to roam free: to sleep in a real bed (instead of simply being shut off), to play cards with his band-mates, and to have the semblance of a real life. The opposite is just as true for Nog: he can pretend all he likes, but living the high-life in a tiny holosuite is neither enviable nor healthy. Despite this paradox, Vic selflessly shuts himself off rather than let Nog continue to wrap himself in a cocoon of delusions.
• Glamorous Wartime Singer: Has pretty sweet lungs for a light bulb! His audience is composed of weary Starfleet officers, just looking for a breather.
• Good Counterpart: To Professor Moriarty from TNG.
• Homage: He plays Sam to the grieving Worf's Rick. Worf insists that he "play the song" until Vic acquiesces and sings All the Way. Turns out that was Worf and Jadzia's song. After several visits, Vic and his band have begun to dread Worf's arrival, as the song usually ends with Worf smashing up the joint.
• Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: His programmer, a man called Felix, fixed it so that Vic would realize he was just a hologram. According to Bashir, it didn't seem right for a singer in mob-controlled Vegas to not know everything that goes on.
  • "It's Only a Paper Moon" revealed the extent of Vic's powers. Not only can he unilaterally turn himself off (as he does while booting Nog out of his casino), and later re-materializing in the empty holosuite without being called. He's also able to appear through nearby holographic projectors, as when he visits Kira during His Way.
• Intangible Man
• Hostile Show Takeover: A scripted event in "Badda Bing, Badda Bang" causes Vic's nightclub to be taken over by the mob. His friends on the space station take time off from the war to help him out—because if they don't, his character will soon be wearing cement shoes.
• Jive Turkey:
  Vic: If you're gonna work Vegas in the sixties, you better know the score. Otherwise you're gonna look like a Clyde.
  Kira: A Clyde?
  Vic: A Harvey, you know.
  Worf: Har-vee?
  Vic: A square. (getting impatient) You know what a square is, right?
  O'Brien: (happily) It's one side of a cube!
  Vic: Well, I guess that answers my question.
• Lounge Lizard: Vic is an amalgamation of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and other lounge singers from the sixties.
• Most Common Card Game: In the series finale "What You Leave Behind," Quark and Vic Fontaine play Go Fish while waiting to hear news on the outcome of the battle for Cardassia (since he is programmed to only play games indigenous to Earth of the Rat Pack era, it's the only game they both knew well enough to play together).
• Playing Cyrano: He was capable of scanning the crew and detecting any sexual tension within seconds. He helps Odo and Kira get together, with only a bit of deception.
• Politically Correct History: This was brought up in "Badda Bing, Badda Bang." Sisko, a black Captain as well as a son of New Orleans, says he doesn't like the casino program because it's set in a Disneyland version of 1962, and is an insult to those who were oppressed in that era. He points out that at that time African-Americans could be janitors or entertainers for the casino, but never customers^note His experiences as Benny Russell were also fresh on his mind. But his love interest (also black, though only ambiguously American) responds that whatever the faults of an actual 1962 casino might have been, the holocharacter Vic and his program/joint are innocent of any wrongdoing, and it's even inspirational as a What Could Have Been. The episode ended with Sisko joining Vic onstage for a duet.
  • It's not as bad as Sisko paints it; the Rat Pack entertainers Vic is based on were instrumental in ending segregation in Vegas and supporters of the Civil Rights movement in general. The program is also set in 1962, two years after segregation ended.

Leck

Played By: Hamilton Camp

A Ferengi eliminator known for being more interested in fighting than in profit, something extremely unusual among Ferengi. Nevertheless, his unconventional skillset made him a useful addition to Quark's rescue operation.

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• Blue-and-Orange Morality: By Ferengi standards, as he cares more for killing than latinum. That said, he does not shun wealth entirely: he was once mentioned seeking business advice from the Grand Nagus. He was also not pleased when it was revealed that Quark had tricked him into believing that the reward for Ishka's rescue was less than half of what it really was—he might not be motivated by latinum, but that doesn't mean he's going to tolerate being swindled.
• Challenge Seeker: His main motivation for joining Quark's rescue mission is to test his skills against the Jem'Hadar.
• Psycho for Hire: What his job as an eliminator amounts to.
• Sociopathic Hero: Downplayed. While his profession involves killing others for money, he is a good deal more likeable than either Brunt or Gaila. That said, when Nog's simulation of Ishka's rescue goes horribly awry, his first reaction is to simply shoot her, reasoning that since they weren't going to rescue Ishka, he might as well "put her out of her misery."

Gaila

Played by: Josh Pais

Quark's cousin. A very successful arms dealer who owns his own moon. He and Quark despise each other.

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• Arms Dealer: How he makes his living.
• The Corrupter: When he finally makes his onscreen debut, it's to offer Quark a job as an arms dealer, which costs Quark all of his real friends as well as Quark's own self-respect. When Quark starts having doubts, Gaila gives him a rather dark little speech about how no one will really miss the loss of one star in the sky.
• Lack of Empathy: Not only does he brush off the deadly consequences of his business, he also laughs over Hagath's "bad temper" when Hagath has one of their associates murdered for vacation-time fraud.
• Phrase Catcher: Just about every mention of Gaila includes the fact that he owns (or used to own) his own moon.
• Riches to Rags: After "Business As Usual", the once wealthy Ferengi is reduced to being a vagrant after the arrest of his business partner Hagath.
• Vague Age: He looks somewhat older than Quark but not elderly. However, when he says he wants to retire from the weapons business, his justification is that he's been doing it for fifty years.

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