Characters / Star Trek: The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard

Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Character Index
Main Characters (Jean-Luc Picard) | Recurring Crew | Other Recurring Characters

As this page also includes tropes from Star Trek: Picard, you may be interested in that series' character page as well.

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Captain Jean-Luc Picard

"Make it so."

Played By: Patrick Stewart

Dubbed By: Alain Choquet (TNG), Jean-Claude de Goros (Generations), Claude Giraud (First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis)

Dubbed By (Brazilian Portuguese): Leonardo José (TNG, Season One), Márcio Simões (TNG-Season 2 on, films), Carlos Campanile (Picard)

Appearances: Star Trek: The Next Generation | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | Star Trek: Generations | Star Trek: First Contact | Star Trek: Insurrection | Star Trek: Nemesis

"Tea. Earl grey. Hot."

The bald captain, and arguably the most iconic example of that trope (next to Kirk, of course).

Polymath, diplomat, and all-around gentleman, Picard was cast very much in the Horatio Hornblower mold. Introduced as a cerebral hardass (a trait mirrored, aptly, by his artificial heart), he's actually quite a softie underneath the grim exterior. So much so, that modern Trekkies tend to regard Picard as the "soft" captain — at least until somebody fires at his ship or disregards an order.

Among his in-series achievements: Jean-Luc invented a starship maneuver, assisted in First Contact with the Q (among many other species), got the ball rolling on amendments to Federation law regarding android life (Sisko and Janeway followed his example in their respective Courtroom Episodes), thwarted a Borg invasion or two, assisted in Zefram Cochran's famous warp experiment (via Time Travel), chilled with Professor Moriarty and Mark Twain, brought Federation politics to the fore in his dealings with the Cardassians (setting the stage for DS9), and saved the universe from an eruption of Anti-Time or something. Anyway, only the Q Continuum understands what happened in that episode. But according to Q, it was pretty awesome.

In his personal life, Picard was born and raised in La Barre, France (though it's easy to forget with his prominant English accent). He was an amateur xenoarchaeologist and musician and was fond of classical literature, particularly Shakespeare. He maintained close personal relationships with the other senior officers of the Enterprise-D, particularly Data, whose quest for humanity Picard took a special interest in.

Of all the alien phenomena experienced by Picard, the principal ones that affect him are Q and the Borg: the former making a bet that his "enlightened" principles won't hold up in the darkness of space, and the latter threatening to change him into a violent, vengeful man — the very thing he despises.

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The Next Generation and Related Media

• Ace Pilot:
  • Depicted in a much more subtle manner than Kirk, and usually takes a backseat to his other talents.
  • Picard has taken the helm himself in situations where extremely precise maneuvering is needed to get the ship out of danger, such as "Booby Trap" and "In Theory". He talked an inexperienced pilot through a difficult maneuver in order to avoid a crash in "Coming of Age", and most notably developed the Picard Maneuver (re-created in "The Battle") which exploits the fact that a ship traveling at FTL velocities can appear to be in two places at once due to delays in light reaching the viewer.
  • According to Picard's backstory he graduated the academy as a Helmsman which was his position as a junior officer for his early career until at the rank of Lt. Commander he started taking command positions. So it's to be expected.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: Archaeology has long been a hobby of Jean-Luc's since his Academy days. He winds up going on adventures of this type in "Captain's Holiday," "The Chase," and "Gambit." In fact Picard mentions that he considered becoming an Archaeologist full time and abandoning his plans to join Starfleet, but decided to persue his original path and only take it on as a hobby.
• Ambadassador: Took Klingons to school on their own homeworld, brokered first contact with over 27 species, and helped define the legal rights of androids. The greatest diplomat of the last century, Sarek, finds Picard’s career to be 'satisfactory,' which is high praise from a Vulcan.
• Amateur Sleuth:
  • The choice to have a Phillip Marlowe fan (as implied by the fictitious "Dixon Hill" program) means he's going to seize the opportunity, however fleeting, to be a real-life sleuth — most notably in the episode "Clues".
  • Interestingly, Data dons a deerstalker cap and tweed coat while pursing Moriarty through the holodeck. The costume was made popular by Basil Rathbone in the anachronistic film versions (set during WWII, with Sherlock foiling Nazi spies), but is not at all how Holmes dressed in the original Strand stories. Once Moriarty gains self-awareness, he loses all interest in Data and instead demands to see Picard, who shows up wearing a silk top hat and tails — the preferred clothing of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
  • In "The Survivors", Picard summons the Uxbridge couple to the ship and deconstructs their fantasy life, revealing what really happened during the attack. (Kevin saw his wife get killed and went momentarily insane, which annihilated the entire species of the invaders). He does this with all the skill of Hercule Poirot himself.
• Authority Sounds Deep: He's a highly influential Starfleet captain and has a fairly deep voice courtesy of Patrick Stewart.
• Badass Boast: "The Ensigns of Command"
  Troi: Captain, when the treaty was first negotiated, the Federation sent 372 legal experts. What do we have?
  Picard: Thee and me.
  • Trades them with Commander Tomalak in The Defector:
    Tomalak: You will still not survive our assault.
    Picard: And you will not survive ours. Shall we die together, Tomalak?
• Badass Bookworm: Picard is probably the most learned of all Trek captains. He believes there is no greater challenge than the study of philosophy.
• Badass Bureaucrat:
  • Often got labeled as a bureaucrat by more militant foes. He'd still steamroll over them if necessary, naturally.
    Duras: This is not your world, human. You do not command here.
    Picard: I'm not here to command.
    Duras: Then you must be ready to fight, something Starfleet does not teach you.
    Picard: You may test that assumption at your convenience.
  • Q called Picard a dullard in their first encounter, and in some corners of Starfleet ("Measure of a Man", "The Wounded") he's considered an officious, pompous ass! Little do they suspect he will save the universe many times over.
  • He doesn't appreciate having the rug pulled from underneath him in "Measure of a Man": his first officer is appointed to the prosecution and the hearing is being overseen by his ex. Whilst he will adhere to Starfleet’s directives, he speaks with great passion to argue for Data's self-awareness, shaming the Federation into breaking new ground.
    "Starfleet was formed to seek out new life. Well, THERE. IT. SITS! [beat] Waiting."
• Bad Liar: If there is one area in which Picard has a problem, it is that he is an atrocious liar. Such as that time he tried to brush off Lwaxana Troi by saying he was going to show a visiting ambassador how the ship's doors worked. Lwaxana, we remind you, is a telepath and an empath. And then there was the time in "Phantasms", where the admiral on the other end of the phone can clearly tell Picard's not that bothered about the ship's engine trouble delaying getting to the mind-numbingly dull luncheon.
• Bald of Authority: Jean Luc Picard is one of the most iconic examples of the trope as the bald, diplomatic, compassionate, captain of the Enterprise-D. It is indicated that he went Prematurely Bald somewhere in his late-twenties to early-thirties as he is depicted with hair in his younger years as an Ensign, when he was much more brash and arrogant. His present baldness helps to underscore how he has grown considerably Older and Wiser over the years.
• Bar Brawl: A pivotal moment in his youth was when he and his friends got into a fight with three Nausicaans. The incident left him with an artificial heart.
• Berserk Button: Picard is almost always composed and reasonable but there are some things that can seriously piss him off:
  • The Borg are a huge one. He absolutely hates them with a passion and for very understandable reasons due to how they kidnapped and mind raped him to nearly destroy the Federation. Even years after, he still struggles with the trauma and will fly into murderous rage when he encounters them.
  • Q. Picard makes no secret of how much he dislikes him due to his immaturity and ow he uses his powers to screw with everyone around him for fun. This gets downplayed as the show goes on and the two develop a grudging affection for one another.
  • As a leader who sees the crew as his greatest responsibility, he takes anything that harms them very personally. Even if you're an omnipotent being, he will still tear you a new one if you hurt anyone under his command.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He is a consummate gentleman and diplomat, but he has also cursed out Klingons (in Klingon), killed Klingons bare-handed, survived Borg assimilation, survived torture, survived taking a large knife to the heart, told Romulans where to stick it (and backed it up), has single-handedly thwarted having his ship hijacked (several times), has told Starfleet officers several ranks above him to shove it (with not so much as a reprimand to show for it), has caused omnipotent aliens to bow to his gangsta, and has outfoxed at least one member of every known species in the Alpha Quadrant at least once.
• Benevolent Boss: He welcomes suggestions and different ideas from his staff (apart from Worf, of course) without ever losing his authority.
• Bold Explorer: A more subdued version than the original model of Kirk, but still with boldness to spare.
• Break the Badass:
  • The Borg nigh-effortlessly kidnap him from the bridge, Mind Rape him and turn him into one of their own, using the knowledge gained to plough through the Federation's defenses, with Picard utterly unable to fight it off. In the immediate aftermath, Picard actually breaks down in tears over what's done to him. Even years later, he still has nightmares over being assimilated, and when the Borg do return, all those wounds get opened up all over again.
  • His experience in "Chain of Command", held hostage by the Cardassians and brutally tortured for days, first for information he doesn't have, then simply because the Gul in charge wants to break him. Picard supposedly manages to walk out defiantly, but later admits to Troi that by the end, he was so desperate for the torture to end he was starting to see five lights instead of four.
• British Stuffiness: In spite of being nominally French, Picard is every inch a stuffy Englishman. He is extremely reserved, avoids small talk, has difficulty relating to children, and doesn't show his feelings to his crew. It's generally considered a special occasion when he smiles or cracks a joke. It's therefore always a surprise when he references his life as a teen rebel.
• Broken Pedestal: Picard met Sarek as an awestruck youth and is still honored just to share oxygen with the guy who helped create the Federation. He was hoping to get the chance to meet him again, but it is all scuppered by Sarek's degenerative illness. Picard’s decision to perform a meld with Sarek in order to allow an important treaty to be concluded is probably the most selfless (and dangerous) thing he ever did on the show.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • It's no wonder the Picard of the future has a degenerative neurological disease. They really put him through hell on this show.
  • Picard struggling with Lwaxana's luggage to the amusement of the crew. The things he does for Starfleet...
• Call to Agriculture: In one possible timeline, retired Picard returns to La Barre to tend the family winery. He had a falling out with his father and brother in part because he initially rejected the Call to Agriculture and joined Starfleet.
• Cannot Spit It Out: There is some history between Picard and Crusher which adds a little depth to both characters, but the series never felt the need to explore the relationship in any great depth (unless under the influence of a sex bug). You’ve got to love Picard’s tact; he heads off to Sickbay to welcome her on board in the pilot and then follows that up with "I'll request a transfer for you!"
• The Captain: The quintessential Starfleet captain. He's diplomatic, forceful when needed, well-educated, and thoughtful. Furthermore, unlike most naval captains shown in drama, he is often found in his personal office (Captain's Ready Room) working on the mundane administrative duties of his rank.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Make it so."
  • "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."
  • "Come."
  • "Engage."
• Character Tics: "The Picard Maneuver" — his habit of tugging his tunic down whenever he stands up. He's not alone in doing this, but he is the most blatant about it (and, for various reasons, the one most commonly seen doing it).
• Characterization Click Moment: Picard goes the whole first season without any mention of tea, of any variety, at any temperature. It's not until season 2's "Contagion" that it shows up.
• Characterization Marches On: He was a bit of an asshole in the first season. He wasn't just aloof or professional; he was a short-tempered hardass who hated kids and had little patience for practically anything. Later, he developed into the diplomatic father to his crew that he's remembered as. Picard also briefly carried on Chekov's habit of attributing everything to his home country. This running gag ended quickly, and seems very strange in light of the extensive knowledge of history and culture that he displays later on.
• Chick Magnet: Dr. Crusher, Mrs. Troi, Arda, the Borg Queen... all express an interest in him, to varying degrees of befuddlement or total disinterest (or in Lwaxana's case, as close as the man will come to total screaming terror). Meanwhile, "Tapestry" shows a younger Picard was something of a hound, but in middle age his skills in the charm arena have gotten pretty rusty.
• Child Hater:
  • A notable subversion. Picard mentions in the pilot that he does not deal well with children. We later find that this is not dislike, but a discomfort that he sees as a personal flaw—he is far too used to dealing with supremely professional adults, and children also remind him of his own estranged family and his sacrifices for his career. Wesley thinks its too bad that the captain doesn’t like kids because he would have made a good father.
  • In "The Bonding", Picard lets out a massive sigh as he realizes that he is going to have to tell Jeremy that his mother was killed on an away mission. Deep-space vessel or not, he has always questioned the policy of having children on a starship and it is a terrible burden to have to break bad news himself. Picard takes Jeremy’s hand and says that nobody is alone on the starship Enterprise.
  • In Generations he enters a Lotus-Eater Machine and is actually given children of his own who adore him - he is so overwhelmed with joy he actually starts to cry. The machine in question - a space anomaly called the Nexus - gave him children because that was his deepest and most hidden desire.
  • That being said, he's deeply fond of his nephew Rene, who reminds him of himself at that age. He's utterly devastated when both his brother Robert and Rene are revealed to have died in a fire in Generations.
  • Amusingly, despite his unease with children, it seems that most children take a liking to him right away. We once even see a class onboard the Enterprise having a "Captain Picard Day", much to his embarrassment (although he seems somewhat amused when telling an admiral, "Hehehe, I'm a role model.").
• Closet Geek:
  • Picard lights up at the subject of unsolved mysteries; his childhood hero was the pulp novel detective Dixon Hill. The holodeck allows Picard to fantasize himself as the two-fisted gumshoe.
  • He also has a geeky love for old starships, boats, and planes, having built and played with model versions as a young boy (he wound up embarrassed and frustrated when he showed that side of himself a bit too much after finding an ancient, legendary starship from a dead civilization). Geordi’s gift to the captain on the Victory, a giant model sailing ship, is gorgeous.
  • He was this close, more than once, to taking up archaeology as his full-time profession.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Picard is clearly embarrassed when alien women find him a smoldering hunk instead of a walking rulebook.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: He's far more restrained than Kirk, both regarding women and away missions (his younger XO Riker is Kirk's successor in this regard).
• Cool Old Guy: He's in his 60s during The Next Generation.^note He was born in 2305, per his biography in "Conundrum." People just respect him naturally.
• Cool Uncle: His nephew Renee thinks the world of him.
• Cosmic Play Thing: Whenever Q wants to test humanity, he decides Picard should be the one to take it.
• Costumer:
  • It would have been sad if the one Shakespearean in the cast hadn’t been able to drop in on his android homeslice and partake in some renaissance theater. Patrick Stewart steps into the Elizabethan worlds with ease.
  • Of course, the Dixon Hill program allows some of the ladies in his life to join in. Dr. Crusher looks very fetching in her stockings and veil (even as she stumbles uncertainly in high heels), and Whoopi certainly turns heads in her Prohibition dress. Dixon Hill made a brief comeback in First Contact when Lily wore a cleavage-baring dress and High-Class Gloves to a meeting with Nicky the Nose.
• Court-martialed: As stated in "The Measure of a Man" Jean-Luc Picard faced a general court-martial for the loss of his previous command, the USS Stargazer, but was cleared.^note Most navies have a standard court-martial which convenes whenever a ship is lost; this does not presume that the captain is suspected of wrongdoing, but merely that the circumstances surrounding the loss of the ship be made part of the official record. In fact, historically, some officers have been left in disgrace because they were denied the opportunity to try and clear their names in a court-martial.
• Cultured Badass:
  • He speaks French and Klingon, and is well-versed in archaeology, literature, fencing, and horseback riding.
  • Picard really runs rings around his crew in "Darmok", figuring out the Tamarian language in an impossibly tight situation. His crew have the luxury of the ship's database and can pool their resources and get absolutely nowhere.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Often and usually at Q's expense. Very deadpan, no smirking. For a moment he decides to go along with Q’s proposal to join the crew and discusses what tasks would be too menial for such an entity.
  • "Welcome to the Bridge, Mister La Forge." With an entrance like that he deserved some acknowledgement.
  • ‘Number One, the Bridge, such as it is, is yours.’

• Defiant to the End:
  • When captured by Cardassians and subjected to Cold-Blooded Torture that entailed making him think there are five lights being shined in his face instead of only four, he continues to insist that THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS! Often forgotten is that this is a subversion. Picard only shouts this after another Cardassian soldier walks in and orders the Gul to stop the torture. Later, Picard admits to Troi that not only would he have surrendered had the torture not been stopped just then, he could actually see five lights there.
  • THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN HERE. THIS FAR, NO FURTHER! crew and friends beg him to sacrifice his ship to the Borg to save the future. He gets over it, after an extremely rare, and brief, but intense emotional meltdown.
  • Very straightforward, though, in the alternate timeline of Yesterday's Enterprise:
    Klingon Officer: Federation ship, surrender and prepare to be boarded.
    Picard: That'll be the day. [fires phasers]
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Q and the Borg are frequently on the receiving end of this.
• Distressed Dude: In Chain of Command at the hands of the Cardassians and in Best of Both Worlds, where he's captured by the Borg.
• Drink-Based Characterization: "Tea, Earl Gray, hot." A sophisticated drink for a sophisticated man.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Events always seem to conspire to cast doubt on Picard's service record, to his ongoing resentment. Despite saving his entire crew and inventing a new starship maneuver, he was dragged before a court martial and scapegoated for the destruction of the Stargazer. While automatic court martial for loss of ship has been standard naval practice for centuries (and he came away with a medal), the prosecutor apparently went above and beyond in attacking him. His image also took a severe battering following Wolf 359 (although it improves as time went on, as the means through which the Borg assimilate individuals into their collective became common knowledge among Starfleet officers) with at least one officer holding him personally responsible for the slaughter and Admiral Satie using it against him in a Kangaroo Court.
• Dysfunctional Family: As shown in "Family," his relationship with his brother Robert is very tense, while "Tapestry" implies that his father likewise never forgave him for running away to join Starfleet. His relationship with his nephew and his sister-in-law is much warmer.
• Face Palm: To memetic levels, to the point that Picard is practically the Trope Codifier (and the page image for the trope).
• Fantastic Racism: Towards the genetically engineered, as seen in "The Masterpiece Society". In this case, he objects to the practice more on philosophical grounds rather than irrational hatred toward those who are genetically engineered, to whom he's perfectly helpful.
  • Frequently towards Worf as well, though in a less overt manner.
• A Father to His Men: He may not take a personal interest in his crew like Sisko or Janeway (at least not until "All Good Things..."), but he takes the deaths of his crewmen just as hard. He has, on several occasions (The Drumhead, The Offspring, et al.), put his career on the line to protect a member of his crew from obstructive bureaucrats at Starfleet Command.
• Foil: Q calls Picard an impossibly stubborn human but that is the only way the Captain knows of infuriating the impish alien. Q often drives Picard nuts as well, though in that case it is all part of some grand design by the Continuum. (We think.)
• Foreign Culture Fetish: This Frenchman certainly seems very fond of Shakespeare, Tennyson, Arthur Conan Doyle, Earl Grey tea, English mythology (e.g. Robin Hood), Royal Navy hymns... (Star Trek: Picard justifies this and his Misplaced Accent by saying that his ancestors fled to England during WWII and took a couple centuries to return to the chateau.)
• Former Teen Rebel: Picard confesses he hasn’t always been so disciplined and that his heart problems are a result of a drunken brawl involving insulting a pirate's mother and a knife in the back. It took a heart transplant to convince Picard to straighten up and fly right. It's also revealed that he got into serious hot water while in the Academy, and his career was only saved by the timely intervention of his mentor.
• Future Me Scares Me: They say if you travel far enough you are bound to meet yourself at some point and having experienced that in "Time Squared," he hopes it never happens again. Questions of the second captain’s presence becomes complicated when we discover that he is from six hours in the future. What could possibly have happened to force Picard to abandon his own ship? The solution is the captain fled the ship to save the crew from the effect of an anomaly, but this only ended up sparing his life whilst destroying the Enterprise.
  "I am more than apprehensive to play back a log that won't be recorded for several hours."
• Generation Xerox: An unpleasant chapter in Picard's family history comes to light in "Journey's End". His ancestor, Javier Maribona-Picard, helped "colonize" New Mexico by slaughtering hundreds of Native Americans. Seven centuries later, Jean-Luc Picard would find himself forcibly relocating that same tribe (in space, no less).
• Gentleman Adventurer: Is a Starfleet officer because he loves exploring space and going on fantastic adventures on the Enterprise, but always maintains an air of dignity and class.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: He obviously wasn’t paying close attention in the Scouts when he was a nipper as he seems to have little luck making a fire in "Darmok" whilst his alien companion/foe enjoys warmth a few yards away. Picard is more at home behind a negotiating table than roughing it in the woods.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: He always prefers to resolve conflicts by diplomacy and finesse if possible, rather than resorting to combat. He's not above judiciously applied brinksmanship when necessary, either. When he suspected that he was being lured into a Romulan ambush as a prelude to war, he arranged for the Enterprise to be escorted by cloaked Klingon warships. Once the Romulan ambushers revealed themselves, so did the Klingons. (Sisko tried this, with some success, with the Klingons and Romulans, but the alliances didn't always last. Janeway tried it once in the Delta Quadrant and got badly burned, rarely resorting to diplomacy after that.)
• Good Is Not Nice: A minor version. Picard's reserved nature means that he's not particularly outgoing or friendly. However, he is extremely principled, caring and generous.
• Got Volunteered: He notes in "The Emissary" that whenever Starfleet admirals get enigmatic, he knows he is about to get slapped in the face with a wet trout. It's his lot in life as the flagship captain.
• Hates Small Talk: He'll do what he needs to avoid it. A good example is in Starship Mine, when Data attempts to make small talk with him and he directs the android to keep an eye on someone who was notorious for being big on small talk. Has made excuses for nearly a decade to avoid attending an annual conference stocked with flag officers and fellow captains that always turns into an excuse for aimless chit-chat. In the episode it comes up, the Enterprise's engines go offline due to a faulty upgrade, and Picard's relief is almost palpable.
  • In the same episode, Worf, a fellow small-talk hater, picks up on Picard's small-talk avoidance strategies and quickly requests to excuse himself from the event they are supposed to attend. Picard, clearly impressed, grants him this request. Geordi tries the same thing and Picard denies him on the grounds that he can't excuse his entire senior staff, telling him, "Mr. Worf beat you to it."
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He was run through by a long Nausicaan dagger as a cocky ensign, necessitating an artificial heart.
• I Was Quite the Looker: Not that Picard isn't handsome now, but he was quite dashing as a young Starfleet ensign thirty years prior, as seen in "Tapestry".
• I Will Fight Some More Forever:
  • Admitting surrender, especially to the Borg, as "First Contact" shows. It takes a lot for Picard to declare a situation beyond recovery.
  • The Borg in general tend to make Picard unnerved; understandable given his assimilation, but it's otherwise completely out of character for Picard to have such hatred for an entire species.
• Ideal Hero: Picard was written as perfect as someone could get while still being relatively human. He favors diplomacy over force whenever possible, respects all forms of life, his greatest desire is to learn and explore, and he knows just when to defy the Insane Admiral or Prime Directive.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • Q frequently refers to Picard as "Mon capitaine" (my captain).
  • In "Tapestry", his Starfleet Academy friends called him "Johnny".
• Kneel Before Zod: Q respects the captain but isn't above putting him in a life-or-death situation to remind him who's the boss.
• Large Ham: Picard and Patrick Stewart have equal levels of ham content, considering that both are Shakespearian actors, but only one is in command of a powerful starship.
• Last of His Kind: The death of his brother Robert and his nephew Rene, means that he's now the last Picard. Until the expanded universe, where Picard married Crusher after Nemesis and had a child with her.
• Limited Advancement Opportunities: Kirk, Sisko, Janeway and Archer were all promoted over the course of their respective series or films. Picard, on the other hand, chose to stay a captain for the entirety of his career. It is mentioned in All Good Things that Picard eventually became an ambassador. In Generations, Kirk flat-out tells Picard that he regrets being promoted to admiral and advises him to never let it happen to him. He becomes an Almighty Janitor as a consequence — he is more than qualified to be a top-ranked admiral and everyone knows it, to the point the actual admirals usually speak to him less as a subordinate and more as an equal, not blinking at him addressing them by their first names, and he even puts one or two in their place. In First Contact, when the Admiral leading the assault on the Borg invasion of Earth is killed, Captain Picard immediately takes command of the entire fleet (or what's left of it) and nobody questions it. Especially when he leads them to victory in a few minutes.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Young Picard's reaction to getting knifed through the heart was to begin laughing! Even Q was somewhat disturbed by this.
• Mama's Boy: If everybody is seeing what they most desire in "Where No One Has Gone Before", then it is telling that all Picard desires is to sit and have tea with his dead mother again.
• Minored in Ass-Kicking: Even though he prefers diplomacy and has said more than once that he does not command a warship, he has proven to be an able battle commander on many occasions. The Picard Maneuver was the source of his initial fame, after all.
  • There's a few hints that he's a decent wrestler as well. In "The First Duty", the Starfleet Academy groundskeeper recalls the time where Picard hit "caught a Ligonian with a reverse body lift and pinned him down in the first fourteen seconds of the match."
• Misplaced Accent: Patrick Stewart uses his natural English accent for the role of a Frenchman. It's never addressed in the show. On the fleeting instances where he's called to say something in French, however, he will attempt to put a native speaker's accent on it rather than anglicize it.
  • In Season 2 of Picard, it's revealed that his family fled France during World War II and settled in England. They did not return to Chateau Picard for over a century.
• Mouth of Sauron: After his abduction and assimilation by the Borg, he was supposed to be the Collective's mouthpiece to the Federation, demanding its surrender and leading the Cube to Earth. To further this, he was given the name Locutus, which is roughly Latin for "speaker".
• Must Make Amends: First Contact is usually treated as a joke in Trekdom, with the aliens completely misreading the crew's intentions ("A Piece of the Action", "Code of Honor") or revering the ship as a God ("Blink of an Eye", Into Darkness). In "Who Watches the Watchers", Picard is aghast to learn the bronze age Mintakans have rekindled their old superstitions after an away team bungles the job and exposes their spying nest to Liko. Finally we get to see why breaking the Prime Directive is a dangerous business.
  Picard: And now you are asking me to sabotage that achievement, to send them back into the Dark Ages of superstition and ignorance and fear? NO!
• My Greatest Failure: Prior to the series, either the loss of the Stargazer or the death of Jack Crusher. Both are superseded, though, by being used by the Borg to crush Starfleet at Wolf 359.
• My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: Never try to quote protocol to Picard: you will lose.
• Noodle Incident: He did something while he was a cadet that would've gotten him expelled were it not for the intervention of Groundskeeper Boothby. We don't know what it was as Boothby brushes off Picard's thanks.
• Not Afraid to Die: He's fully prepared to sacrifice his life in performance of his duty. He defeats Nagilum by threatening to destroy the Enterprise and everyone onboard rather than let Nagilum kill half the crew for his amusement, as well as convincing Tomalak that he's really not bluffing when he says he's prepared to fight to the death, even though it would mean the destruction of both their vessels. He's also perfectly willing to die rather than assist the Borg when they kidnap him. Unfortunately they have something much nastier planned...
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Picard is supposed to be French, but Patrick Stewart uses his natural accent instead, creating a Misplaced Accent. Proposed explanations for this are that Picard learned English from an English tutor, whose accent he would have thus adopted, or that he is actually speaking French and the accent is simply how it is rendered by the universal translator.
• Not Himself: Riker goes on high alert when Picard kicks up his feet in his Ready Room or starts leading a sea shanty in Ten Forward. Our Jean-Luc is never this relaxed.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Does everything in his power to get Lwaxana Troi out of his hair, including going to Warp 9 just so she'll be off the ship faster.
  • His Dixon Hill program contrasts with the cultured image he likes to present of himself — a place where he can brawl with hoods and be snogged by dames of dubious morals. Not unlike the things he liked in his younger years, if "Tapestry" is any guide.
  • He has a nose for alcohol and, when times are appropriate, appreciates a good drink. Makes sense, given he spent his childhood on the family vineyard and his brother still runs it.
• Not So Stoic: It's pretty clear in Generations that something is tremendously off with the Captain after he gets a comminique from home and suddenly becomes far more bad-tempered and brusque, even snapping at Riker on the bridge. It's only when Troi has a chat with him that the truth comes out; His brother and nephew have just died, and telling Troi this causes Picard to start crying.
• Officer and a Gentleman: He's an aficionado of archaeology, Shakespeare, fine wine, good tea, and pulp detective fiction.
• Papa Wolf: Although he isn't comfortable around children, Picard will always step up to protect them from harm.
• Parental Substitute: To Wesley.
• Patrick Stewart Speech: His actor is the Trope Namer. Picard is prone to giving big optimistic speeches. Lampshaded by Q at one point, who comments that he thinks the only reason he returns to the Enterprise sometimes is to hear one of Picard's speeches.
• Precision F-Strike: On a couple of occasions, Picard has uttered the word "merde" on screen; this is the French word for "shit".
• Pride Before a Fall: It's Picard’s hubris that they are ready to encounter anything that comes their way that encourages Q into providing him with a lesson to prove to him otherwise. Picard doesn’t heed Guinan’s warnings and heads off to explore this region of space (actually Borg Space) anyway. 18 crewmembers died to teach him a lesson.
• Psycho Electro: A lost entity takes possession of Picard's mind in "Lonely Among Us", shooting electricity through the helm controls and incapacitating the whole crew.
• The Reliable One: Even among his enemies, Picard is known for his dependability and honor. No less a figure than the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire assigned this random human to be mediator over the procedure that would determine his successor, solely because he trusted Picard more than anyone else despite only having met him once.
• Sheathe Your Sword:
  • To prove he is a more thoughtful man than Kirk, he immediately surrenders to the Q whereas Jimmy T would have blasted them to hell and damn the consequences (In later episodes, Picard will be a lot quicker to hit the self-destruct and leap into an escape pod, possibly because surrendering the Enterprise-D would be an unacceptable security risk for the Federation).
  • In "Who Watches the Watchers," Picard allows himself to be shot by an arrow to prove his mortality. The Mintakans will resume their pursuit of science and leave the old beliefs behind, regardless of whether or not he survives Liko's arrow.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Captain Phillipa Louvois in "The Measure of a Man". In one of the novels, it's further elaborated that Louvois and Picard were romantically involved before she was chosen to prosecute him during his court martial, where she betrayed him by using the fact he'd wake screaming the names of the dead Stargazer crew, as proof that he was guilty.
• The Stoic: While he is pushed to his limits several times and he develops a seething hatred for the Borg, Picard's reserve and emotional control are impressive enough that a Vulcan suffering from an age-related breakdown of self-control mind-links with him for stability. Spock himself finds Picard to be "remarkably analytical and dispassionate, for a human."
• Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: Picard is revered as a God figure by the Mintakans in "Who Watches the Watchers". Scenes of Picard being seen in a haze of light like some kind of benevolent God are a viewpoint into how pre-warp civilizations view the Federation (and the captain asking Dr. Crusher why she didn’t let Liko die rather than poison their race with alien ideas is very Old Testament of him). Like Sisko in the early seasons of DS9, Picard is extremely uncomfortable with the idea of being considered a religious icon. He has to try and think of a way to get through to Nuria and explain that his life and hers isn’t that different, talking of ships and phasers as better huts and better bows, but it doesn't really translate.
• Super-Hearing: In his backstory, he once suffered from a form of hyperacusis. Even though it was treated, he still has highly acute hearing by human standards.
• Technical Pacifist: Picard initially rejected the war games sim in "Peak Performance" because he firmly believes that Starfleet is not a military organization. (The back-to-back invasions by the Borg and the Dominion will soon clear up that misunderstanding.) However, with the looming Borg threat, he feels that his crew needs to brush up on their tactical skills.
• There Is No Cure: His alternate self in a Bad Future in "All Good Things" has the delusion-causing degenerative neurological disease Irumodic Syndrome, which has no known cure even in that time. See the Picard folder for more information.
• Took a Level in Badass: Picard could always handle himself in a fight, but it was played up to absurd lengths in the movies, where most of his scenes played out like "Die Hard In Space"
• Took a Level in Kindness: Due to some Early-Installment Weirdness and Characterization Marches On, Picard is established in the pilot to be a fairly surly, cold and distant man. He snaps at people and doesn't even bother looking at Riker when his new executive officer arrives on the bridge. A few episodes later, he admits that he was a bit harsh on his new number one. Over the course of the series, while Picard remains fairly stiff and formal, he becomes much warmer and soft-hearted.
• Trademark Favorite Food: "Tea. Earl Gray. Hot." While less iconic, it's also established that Picard would have a croissant for breakfast every day if left to his own devices.
• Tranquil Fury: How he often shows his anger.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Picard has this with Beverly Crusher, with whom he shares a close friendship that hovers juuuust outside of being romantic for the entire course of the show's run. It's never resolved, Picard remains a bachelor throughout all sequel movies and series.
• Upper-Class Equestrian: Picard is an equestrian, and this status is used to emphasize his image as a proper english gentleman. Troi picks up on the fact that Picard is more sensitive with his holographic horse than he is with most people.

Admiral (retired) Jean-Luc Picard

"The past is written. But the future is left for us to write and we have powerful tools, Rios."

Played By: Patrick Stewart

Appearances: Star Trek: Picard

"I allowed the perfect to become the enemy of the good."

The lead character of the series and the former commander of the USS Stargazer, USS Enterprise (both NCC-1701-D and NCC-1701-E), and the USS Verity. He rose to the rank of admiral in the years after Star Trek: Nemesis, but has since left Starfleet in the wake of the synths' attack on Mars and Starfleet's refusal to aid the Romulans in the face of the supernova that would destroy their homeworld. At the start of the series, he has been tending his family's vineyard, Chateau Picard, for nearly fourteen years.

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Picard

• Actor Allusion: In addition to the occasional Shoutout To Shakespeare, Picard mentions that he never really "got" science fiction (as Patrick Stewart is not a fan of the genre), he starts out the series as an old man waiting to die after losing virtually everyone close to him (Ala Logan), and he suffered familial trauma as a child (similar to Stewart's father having suffered from PTSD).
• Artificial Human: In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", his human body succumbs to the effects of his latent brain defect, but his mind is scanned before his brain functions fully cease, and then it's transferred to an android golem that functions exactly like a regular human body. He lives on as a synth, but without the enhancements of a Soong-type android (so no Super-Strength, Super-Reflexes, Super-Hearing or the processing power of a computer, and no extensions to his natural lifespan), since Altan knows that he won't want to have to adjust to new superpowers at his age or be made immortal. The only advantage his synth body has over his human body is a lack of Irumodic Syndrome. Star Trek: Discovery reveals that he is a Super Prototype of this sort of thing.
• The Atoner: In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", he's accused of wanting to rescue the synthetics to atone for his failure to save the Romulans, rather than because his help will actually achieve anything.
• Back from the Dead: In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", he dies of complications from what is believed to be Irumodic Syndrome, but Agnes, Altan, and Soji transfer his mind to a biological android, bringing him back to life.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • He came to resent and despise Starfleet for their refusal to help the Romulan people.
  • On the flip side, several Starfleet officers lost their respect for him because of his criticisms of the organization.
  • Because he resigned in protest, Starfleet decided to boot out Raffi. Picard's choice cost Raffi her passion in life and he never bothered to keep in contact with her, even to see if she was alright.
  • The opening flashback in "Absolute Candor" shows that Picard used to be revered by the Romulans on Vashti. Fourteen years later, that reverence has faded to resentment.
  • He was like a father figure to Elnor, but similar to Raffi, Picard didn't talk to him for fourteen years.
• Call to Agriculture: In his retirement years, he has been managing his family's vineyard in France.
• Commonality Connection: In "Maps and Legends", he's delighted when he learns that Jurati shares his fondness for Earl Grey tea.
  Picard: Your preference? We have a selection.
  Jurati: Earl Grey?
  Picard: (smiling) I knew there was something about you.
• Cool Old Guy: Older and cooler than ever, if a bit more jaded.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Starfleet's refusal to help the Romulans, in the wake of the devastating synth attack on Mars, caused Picard to resign his commission in protest.
• Dark and Troubled Past: As a child, his mother committed suicide after hurting him during a bout of bipolar disorder, leaving him emotionally stunted and unwilling to let other people into his life. His own relationship with his father was left strained as a result, and he spent years thinking of him as a far worse man than he actually was. And not only is he still haunted by his assimilation by The Borg, but he's spent 14 years cut off from his old friends, embittered that Starfleet would so quickly turn its back on Romulus in its hour of need.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His clothing is often black and/or dark grey, and he's the Hero Protagonist of the series.
• Death Seeker: It's not explicit or conscious, but the aging, embittered, and mortally ill Picard jumps at the chance to organize a Ragtag Band of Misfits to tackle a huge conspiracy which freely employs special forces kill squads, is perfectly willing to walk into situations which could get him killed, and throws down his sword when forced into a duel with someone who is clearly serious about wanting him dead. (He also refuses to involve too many of his friends in his quest, suggesting that he knows at heart how dangerous it is.) He'd surely be quite happy to go out in a blaze of glory.
• Didn't Think This Through: When he learns about the threat against Soji's life, he goes to Starfleet for help...two days after he gave them a very scathing criticism about their refusal to help Romulus evacuate following the terrorist attack on Mars—an incident of which he resigned in protest over and left him on very bad terms with Starfleet—and without evidence of his claims. Fleet Admiral Clancy calls him out for his "sheer, fucking hubris" to think he could just waltz in asking for a ship in spite of what he did, and shows him the door after dressing him down.
• Distressed Dude: In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", he's under house arrest at Coppelius Station.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride with a dash of Honor Before Reason. In his past Picard was respected and famous across the galaxy for his decorated career in Starfleet, and while he didn't overtly become arrogant or proud he still possessed a strong sense of self-image, and also a strong sense of morals. ​This is why he left Starfleet, because he felt it was no longer keeping true to the ideals he believed it should stand for, and he would not be a part of the organization in such a state. Several characters tell him that under the circumstances at the time (Mars scourged by synths, Romulus about to be destroyed), leaving Starfleet did far more harm than good, because it was exactly the sort of time when men like Jean-Luc Picard were needed most. From their perspective, it was Starfleet's Darkest Hour, and rather than help the organization help itself, Picard walked away for the sake of upholding his personal honor, and it cost him a lot of respect and friendships. This repeatedly bites him over the course of the first season when people he assumes would readily help him are bitter towards him. Even Riker and Troi, his oldest friends, call him out for assuming that being Jean-Luc Picard gives him wide knowledge over everyone and everything.
• Feeling Their Age: Even if his health is excellent for his age, he's still in his nineties. Just a brisk jog has him gasping for breath.
• Foil:
  • The idealistic Picard and the cynical Seven of Nine are former Borg drones who reacted very differently when the Federation reneged on its promise to aid the Romulan people. Picard resigned from Starfleet and was inactive in interstellar affairs for the past fourteen years, whereas Seven became a vigilante who works for the Fenris Rangers in lawless regions that the Federation had abandoned. They are human Parental Substitutes to non-human men, Elnor and Icheb, respectively. Picard was a Disappeared Dad to Elnor since he quit Starfleet, which contrasts Seven, who maintained her close ties with Icheb because he helped her with the Fenris Rangers' reconnaissance while he was on leave from the USS Coleman. Elnor arrives in time to save Picard's life on Vashti, but Seven is too late to save Icheb's life on Vergessen. Picard tries to convince Seven not to seek revenge for Icheb's death by killing Bjayzl and her gang of criminals, but Seven carries out the executions anyway.
  • He and Raffi are former Starfleet officers who have ignored a son figure (Elnor and Gabriel Hwang, respectively) for many years, and when they finally reunite with them, the outcome is very different. Picard doesn't apologize for his abandonment of Elnor and requests that his surrogate son be part of his crew, whereas Raffi does apologize for her neglect of Gabriel and hopes that she can spend time with her son. Picard and Raffi then receive a Calling the Old Man Out speech from Elnor and Gabriel. Elnor at first rejects his father figure's offer, but changes his mind when the latter's life is in danger; his love for Picard overcomes his resentment. Gabriel, however, remains incredibly bitter at his mother, so he shuts down any possibility of a reconciliation. Picard gets his surrogate son back, but Raffi is still cut off from her son.
  • He and Hugh are ex-Borg who have helped people who are hated by many (the Romulans and the xBs, respectively) and who are extremely displeased with the organization that they work for (the Federation and the Romulan Free State, respectively). Picard "allowed the perfect to become the enemy of the good" when the Federation cancelled its plan to relocate the Romulans from their doomed homeworld, so when he couldn't save everyone, he chose to save no one. Hugh, on the other hand, does as much good as he possibly can under conditions which are far from perfect to look after the former drones at the Romulan Reclamation Site, so he continues to assist each new patient despite the constraints placed on him. Elnor is present when both men die; they both warmly smile at him and cup Elnor's face in a loving manner. ^note Jonathan Del Arco depicted Hugh as being in love with Elnor.
• Go Out with a Smile: As he's dying, he grins at Soji because he's glad that she made the right choice, and he affectionately smiles at Elnor, who's the closest thing he has to a son.
• Gracefully Demoted:
  • When he goes to see Admiral Clancy, C-in-C of Starfleet, to request to be reinstated and given a ship so he can track down a lead on Data's possible daughter, he offers, if an admiral is too much for such a mission, to be downgraded to captain. Clancy, however, is not happy with him, both for an interview on the news in which he was highly critical of Starfleet as well as lingering resentment for how he left the fleet in the first place, and turns him down. Even with the demotion.
  • Later Played for Laughs in "Vox", where the Enterprise-D's computers refer to him as "Captain" Picard (since the systems haven't been online for 30 years), which leads him to jokingly accept this "field demotion".
• Gratuitous French: A meta version; he is shown speaking French to his dog to remind the audience that he is actually supposed to be French. He equates being interviewed with heading off to the guillotine ("Bien, à la guillotine, alors."). Played straight when he puts on a Maurice Chevalier Accent while portraying an organ trader and refers to Seven of Nine as a jeune fille. He throws in the occasional French word, such as Adieu in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2."
• Heroic Sacrifice: With his misdiagnosed Irumodic Syndrome worsening, Picard goes into battle to defend Coppelius from the Romulan fleet. It costs him his life, temporarily at least.
• He's Back!:
  • In Season 1, once he gets back into a chair and gives out orders, the old Jean-Luc begins to shine through the bitter, cynical old man who'd been sitting at his vineyard waiting to die.
  • More symbolically in Season 3, he retakes command of the Enterprise-D, with his old crew beside him, to save The Federation once more from extinction.
• It's All About Me:
  • He thought that Starfleet would value his reputation and threat of resignation over its decision not to help the Romulans. They just took it and showed him the door.
  • He expects Admiral Clancy to greenlight his mission to find Bruce Maddox and Dahj's twin sister, despite having publicly slammed Starfleet and the Federation two days earlier and despite having no actual evidence to support his claims about both Soji and the Zhat Vash. Clancy chews him out for his "sheer fucking hubris."
  • Sarcastically invoked by Laris when she's infuriated by Picard acting as if the galaxy revolves around him.
    Picard: I don't fully understand all of it, but I know that it's important, and not only to me.
    Laris: No, of course, if it's important to Jean-Luc Picard, it must be important to the whole galaxy.
  • A few times, Picard and his crew drop his name into a request in the belief that it will help grease the skids. The results are mixed at best.
• In Spite of a Nail: In the Confederation of Earth alternate timeline, Picard still has a synthetic body, although in that timeline he got it after being severely wounded in a fight with Gul Dukat.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Deconstructed. This is his biggest character flaw.
  • When he has an opportunity to destroy the Borg collective he doesn't because Hugh has become an individual with rights and it would be wrong to sacrifice him. The Borg wiped out entire civilizations in the Delta Quadrant, and came close to destroying the Federation, all because Picard couldn't bring himself to compromise his morals.
  • After the synth attack, Starfleet abandoned their attempts to evacuate the Romulans. Picard reacted by resigning in protest. By doing so, he squandered his ability to use his authority as an admiral to save many Romulans, leaving them all to die instead.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Despite Starfleet having pragmatic reasons for doing so, Picard's scathing criticism about the organization abandoning Romulus to its fate when they could have otherwise helped isn't entirely wrong. Once Starfleet learns the Zhat Vash caused the attack, they start to accept that the Admiral had a point.
  • Even though he's trying to be diplomatic about it as possible, Picard accusing Riker — his best friend — of being cowardly to attack the Shrike because he's letting his dead son's death affect his decision-making is a major dick move. The next episode, with the Titan plummeting to her doom, Riker admits that Jean-Luc was right.
• Knight in Sour Armor: He isn't at all happy with the cynical turn Starfleet has taken, but as shown by his "The Reason You Suck" Speech aimed at a sleazy journalist, it's only because his idealism is now even more pronounced.
• The Leader: He's the Charismatic type who relies on being a Magnetic Hero to band together a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits to assist him on his mission.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In Season 3, after discovering Vadic's target is his son, it only takes moments for the jaded, guilt-ridden retired admiral to step aside for the return of Captain Picard. Taken to another level when it turns out the Big Bad is the Borg Queen and he pulls out even more stops to ensure the Borg are finally defeated for good this time.
• Lethal Chef: Season 3 suggests this as it has his old crew mates show disdain for his iconic Chateau Picard wine. Riker has no taste to it, Worf calls it “sour mead” and Picard accuses Geordi of having “pedestrian” tastes when the latter uses an incident as a Trust Password.
• Living Legend: He's famous across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, although his reputation has been somewhat tarnished after he resigned from Starfleet because he chose to do absolutely nothing (other than caring for his family's vineyard and writing history books) during his retirement.
• Magnetic Hero: He spends the first four episodes collecting a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits for his Badass Crew, even though some of them have their own grudges against him or idealistic causes in general.
• Not So Above It All: He is shown stickfighting with the boy Elnor and, when required to work undercover, gleefully hamming up his villain role with an eyepatch and Maurice Chevalier Accent.
• Oh, Crap!: Season 2 starts with him self-destructing the new Stargazer to keep the Borg Queen from getting ahold of Starfleet's tech, only to wake up in his chateau, dressed in a black uniform and with a very different badge on his chest. Then an android servant comes in, with no record of Laris anywhere. As he's having a panic at his situation, then he hears a familiar voice...and Q pops up right behind up.
• Papa Wolf: When the Borg Queen basically makes Jack her slave, Picard goes back into the Collective to rescue him.
• Parental Substitute: Because the orphan Elnor was raised by the all-female Qowat Milat sect, Picard was the sole significant male figure in his life, so naturally the boy looked up to the older man as a surrogate father.
• Pass Fail: He's technically an xB, but because he doesn't possess any visible Borg implants, he doesn't endure the galaxy-wide persecution that the other former drones do, who are perceived to be "property to be exploited, or as a hazard to be warehoused." He never has to worry about being a victim of Borg tech harvesters (like Icheb) or being a victim of a government-sanctioned xB massacre (like Hugh and his patients). Rios conveniently forgot that Picard was once part of the Collective, and when Elnor ponders if the xBs are better off dead, he's obviously not thinking about his surrogate father.
• Patrick Stewart Speech:
  • C'mon, it's Picard, it's practically a reflex for him. He even gets one in the premiere when he assures Dahj that what she is doesn't affect who she is.
  • He also gives one to Rios to the effect that even after leaving Starfleet, Rios is still at heart a Starfleet officer. This prompts Rios to hang a lampshade he had ready for just this moment:
    "Raffi warned me you were a speechmaker."
• Putting the Band Back Together: Defied in Season 1. When he learns about Soji's plight and how Dr. Bruce Maddox may be connected to it, it's suggested to him that he get his old Enterprise crew back. He refuses, not wanting them to risk their lives out of loyalty to him after losing Data 20 years ago. It winds up being Played Straight in Season 3, where Will joins him on a mission to rescue Beverly, which eventually brings Worf, Geordi, the resurrected Data and Deanna back to his side once more. Then he gets one more surprise member of his old crew: The Enterprise-D herself!
• Rank Up: He eventually gained a promotion to admiral after the events of Nemesis, although he later resigned from the position after Starfleet decided to not help the Romulans in the lead-up to the destruction of Romulus.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Season 2 reveals that Starfleet has stopped treating him like a pariah for resigning and much more like the respected Captain he used to. It helps that he's now become the head of Starfleet Academy, and has smoothened things over with everyone else.
• Retcon: * In "Where No One Has Gone Before", a hallucination of his mother appeared, implying she survived to old age. It's shown in Season 2 that she hung herself when Picard was a child, and he only imagined her as having lived that long to cope with the pain.
• Retired Badass: As the former captain of the Enterprise, he's long since retired from the Starfleet admiralty by the time the series begins. It doesn't make him any less capable of command decisions when he gets out of his vineyard and back to the stars.
• Revision: "All Good Things" hinted that he would suffer from Irumodic Syndrome, which Season 1 brought to pass and eventually killed him temporarily. Season 3 reveals it was never Irumodic Syndrome, but misdiagnosed as such. It was really a leftover from his time as Locutus, made so the Borg could pass his DNA onto a descendant they could use as a transmitter for their new hive mind, and assume full control of Starfleet.
• Scatterbrained Senior: Not specifically, but certain characters do enjoy characterizing him as something of a weird, headstrong Space Grandpa. And to their credit, they're not entirely wrong, as Picard himself admits he's lost perspective on some matters due to his age and various lingering traumas. The potential return (or rather eventual manifestation) of his Irumodic Syndrome from "All Good Things" strongly implies he is on the road to becoming a Scatterbrained Senior for real, however. Except it isn't Irumodic Syndrome that's killing him; it's Borg tech.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
  • When he can't get Starfleet to aid him through proper channels, he goes off the grid to investigate the androids on his own.
  • As mentioned in Star Trek: Lower Decks, he privately funds at least one renegade archaeologist who steals cultural artifacts from museums to return them to their original owners.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: As he says in the pilot, the actual dreams he has are lovely, it’s the waking up that he resents.
• There Is No Cure: Discussed. He discovers in "Maps and Legends" that the structural defect in his brain could cause one of a number of fatal syndromes, only a number of which are even treatable; including the Irumodic Syndrome which his alternate future self in The Next Generation was diagnosed with (see the above folder). Unfortunately, it turns out that it wasn't Irumodic Syndrome at all; it was Borg Tech left in his brain so he could explicitly pass it down to a descendant they could use to control all of Starfleet.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Or, at the very least, a lot more jaded. He lost neither his compassion nor his idealism, but just couldn't take the politics of Starfleet any longer. When he scathingly tears into Starfleet for abandoning Romulus so quickly, and even in a later private confrontation with Admiral Clancy, he speaks disdainfully of how the group he once served would quickly abandoned their duty to help others because they'd rather let old prejudices cloud their judgement.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In spite of the level that he took in kindness generally, it's nevertheless quite disturbing how horribly he treats Raffi, at least in the earlier episodes of Season 1. He plies her with alcohol to try to persuade her to sign on with his quest, essentially feeding her addiction for his own purposes. Later, after she's locked herself in her room on La Sirena because she's distraught that she failed to reconcile with her son, Picard reacts to her anguished "Go away!" with an unconcerned little smile, as if to say, "Oh that silly Raffi, always giving into despair and drinking herself to death." His seeming lack of empathy for his supposed friend is perhaps best on display in "The Impossible Box," where Raffi (who is only on this mission because she loves and respects Picard that much) burns her last bridge with one of the few friends she has left at Starfleet to get Picard access to the Artifact. Emmy, pissed at being used, tells Raffi never to contact her again, and Raffi is visibly heartbroken. What is Picard's reaction, even as she stumbles pathetically back to her room to continue drowning her sorrows? He gives her a lighthearted round of applause, and even incites the others to join in. Seriously, if we didn't know Picard better, it would almost seem like he was actively mocking his friend's utter misery.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • Not in the sense that he's even more idealistic or compassionate than in his younger years, but he certainly seems much more ready to express his affection for people. It's not just the effect of not being the other characters' commanding officer anymore, as he used to be on the Enterprise. In the flashback to the Romulan evacuation, he's going out of his way to be kind to the young Elnor, even taking the time to read stories and play/fence with him — when he was previously known to have little patience with children. He shows absolutely no hesitation in hugging and kissing^note on the cheek Deanna and Will, which he didn't even do at their wedding, when they were already on their way to Will's new ship, so it wasn't an issue of appropriate behavior towards subordinates anymore. He's also happy to let Hugh and adult Elnor hug him in greeting. This new cuddliness particularly stands out against his own rueful admission to Soji that he used to share Data's "limited" "capacity for expressing and processing emotion" to some degree. (Perhaps owning a dog helped with learning to be more expressive.) He also admits to her that he did love Data (in his own fatherly-supportive way) and hopes that the affection was returned, inasmuch that was possible for Data. In the last few episodes of Season 1, he's being remarkably gentle and understanding with Dr. Jurati (during and after her confession) and he seems to intentionally encourage Elnor's and Soji's attachment to him as a father figure with lines like "I'm very proud of you." It's only with Raffi that he still seems to feel that hugging and saying "I love you" is weird — but he still returns the phrase after some hesitation. Overall, it comes across like in his younger years, Picard's kindness came mainly from ethical principles and high-minded, though somewhat distant idealism, but now it also comes from deep personal affection for the people in his life, and the wish to show them that and treat them as well as he can, while he still can.^note Which only makes sense, given his lingering grief over Data's death, and also considering his own medical diagnosis.
  • It's best exemplified in Season 3 with his old crew. At the end of TNG, he symbolically joins them for a poker game after years of keeping his distance. Back together with them once more, his final scene ends with him initiating one last game for the night, being far more jovial and relaxed.
• We Help the Helpless:
  • He's among the very few people in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants who wanted to save Romulan lives when the Romulan star was about to explode.
  • His personal mission is to rescue Soji from the Zhat Vash. In "Stardust City Rag", he describes her to Seven of Nine as:
    Picard: Someone who has no else to help her, someone who will likely die if I don't.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In Season 3, when he learns that Beverly had a son with him that she kept hidden for 20 years, he stunts her criticisms that she didn't want Jack to be in immortal danger, or that Picard himself once professed he feared he couldn't be a father, by pointing out that keeping Jack out of his life took that choice away from him.

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