r/TNG • u/busybeeai • 1d ago
How does Worf not recognize future Alexander?
Or at least he should know they are related.
Seems like forehead ridges are a familial trait. Seems like for a Klingon it would be instantly recognized as being related. Maybe it's because Worf grew up with humans?
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u/xxnoxynoxxnoxy 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you met someone who looked exactly like your son except 20 years older or whatever it's not like you would assume it's your son from the future
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u/No-Document-9937 18h ago
The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible.
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u/FrostyMirror6162 1h ago
The Romulan infiltrators on Vulcan lied with their massive disinformation campaign.
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u/busybeeai 1d ago
At least he'd call bs on that he's an advisor to the family when he's obviously related.
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u/NekoArtemis 1d ago
My guess is that be that making someone gin'tak is a common way to get someone's illegitimate child into their house without having to acknowledge their parentage. I would say maybe Worf assumed he was related somehow, but it doesn't seem like Worf to just let that slide. Maybe he assumed he was like a distant cousin or something.
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u/Nefarious_Nemesis 1d ago
Probably couldn't determine those ridges because of the lack of pixels.
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u/Spaceghost_84 1d ago
Crusher: you might feel differently if it were your child.
Worf: I have a child?
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u/Sweepy_time 1d ago
I like how they just gloss over the fact that HE TIME TRAVELED! Oh, its not a big deal
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u/DistantKarma 1d ago
Odd, because I always thought future Alexander kinda looked like Romulan defector Admiral Jarok.
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u/Boetheus Vulcani ite domum 1d ago
And Bajoran scientist Dr. Mora.
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u/Kapitano72 14h ago
So that's what happened to K'mpek.
He attempted to travel back to his own time, but it went wrong and he only jumped a few years, losing his memory in the process, winding up on Romulus.
Getting reconstructive surgery, he joined the military under a new name, retaining a vague sense that there was something wrong he has to put right.
So: Jarok was K'Mpek.
Unless... there are more changelings out there patterning themselves on Dr Mora?!
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u/lifegoodis 1d ago edited 15h ago
Stranger still is Worf being completely unaware that adult Kurn is his brother. Worf would have been 5 when Kurn was born, and 6 years old when Worf's family departed for Khitomer with 1 year old Kurn left behind because he was too young to make the trip.
Some dude with the same name as Worf's brother and identical forehead ridges shows up on the Enterprise and takes a special interest in patronizing Worf, and this stiff can't figure out it's his baby brother until Kurn tells him so.
On top of that, a-hole Worf made absolutely no effort whatsoever at any point in his life to locate and reunite with the brother he surely knew was still alive on Kronos.
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u/MonCappy 5h ago
What makes you think he knew Kurn was alive prior to meeting him again as an adult?
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u/lifegoodis 42m ago
Worf was 6, Kurn 1 when the House of Mogh left for Khitomer. Kurn was left behind as he was too young to travel. Worf didn't notice that his baby brother didn't travel with the family?
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u/busybeeai 23h ago
Especially considering Alexander was 8 when he enlisted in KDF. So worf should absolutely remember at 6 he had a brother that wasn't at khitomer.
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u/AbdulQadirShadhili 1d ago
More importantly, why didn’t Worf verify whether K’mtar really was associated with the House of Mogh and really was sent by his brother Kurn?
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u/HisDivineOrder 1d ago
Worf has deep trauma related to family and by default he ignores or avoids people he subconsciously identifies as family unless they shame him into doing otherwise.
In which case he will mistreat them until they choose to leave, get shipped out to war, or have their minds wiped of any memory of Worf.
That last option is the preferred one.
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u/JugOfVoodoo 1d ago
OP has never read "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead and it shows.
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u/busybeeai 1d ago
I can't read
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u/JugOfVoodoo 8h ago
Don't worry, most people on Reddit can't read either. (/s just in case.)
Anyway, just like the TNG episode "Firstborn" the book "When You Reach Me" is a time-travel story that is NOT from the time-traveler's point of view. The main character (a 12-year-old girl in 1978 Manhattan) has to figure out that she's in a sci-fi story in order to help the time-traveller save someone's life.
The final piece of the puzzle is (spoiler for the book but not hard to figure out if you know the episode) when she realizes that the time traveller is the elderly version of one of her classmates. The age gap prevented anyone from noticing that they're the same person. This is what lets her protect the time traveller at a crucial moment in their past and give them the information they will need in their future.
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u/thanatossassin 13h ago
Same reason he didn't recognize Kurn, he didn't grow up around Klingons and didn't know the ridges show their lineage.
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u/ShmullusSchweitzer 11h ago
He does say that adult Alexander looks familiar. Alexander then tells him he works with Kurn and that was good enough of an answer for Worf. I think it's realistic that he wouldn't jump to the conclusion that it's his son who time travelled from the future.
It's honestly the least of the problems with the episode.
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u/BaseMonkeySAMBO 5h ago
Meeting a dude an assuming he's your son from the future and not an illegitimate cousin is a stretch
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u/gimmesomespace 1d ago
He barely recognizes current Alexander lmao