Kira Nerys
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| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Kira Nerys |
| Occupation: | member of the Bajoran Militia |
| Relationships: | romantic relationships with Vedek Bareil, Shakaar and Odo; carried child for O'Briens |
| Fandom: | Star Trek, ST: DS9 |
| Other: | Memory Alpha article, Kira Nerys at Wikipedia Pen and ink drawing of Kira by Joey Rodrigues |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Kira Nerys is a major character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, played by Nana Visitor. Major and later Colonel Kira (Bajoran naming style puts the surname first) was the second in command under Benjamin Sisko on the Federation space station, Deep Space Nine. Of Bajoran race, she was a member of the Bajoran Militia, rather than a Starfleet officer.
Kira is an unusual Trek character; she spent her childhood as a terrorist fighting the Cardassians, starts out hostile to Starfleet, and has a strong religious faith in a largely atheist universe. Her closest associations are her friendships with Odo, Jadzia Dax, Tora Ziyal (Gul Dukat's illegitimate daughter) and the O'Brien family, whose child she carries. Her friendship with Odo eventually turns into romance, and she also gets to snuggle up with Bajor's first minister, Shakaar, and a leading candidate for Kai (the planet's religious leader), Vedek Bareil. As Dukat puts it, You do like powerful men, don't you?
Fan Perspectives
Kira is a reasonably popular character with fans. In a 1995 poll including all Trek characters, she came sixth of the DS9 characters, and was the second most popular woman after Jadzia.[1]
Fans often discuss her relationship with Dukat, both in canon and in fanworks.
[F]anfic as therapy is hardly something unique to slash. Kira/Dukat stories love to walk on the dark side and are frequently beset with all matters regarding the mother/daughter relationship, the role of the tormentor and the resistor, sexual and psychological power struggles, guilt, and shame, as well as redemption, forgiveness and salvation. (Julia Houston)[2]
The most honorable and upright of characters have dark sides and flaws, while the most vile and amoral have bright spots of virtue, and nowhere is this duality more apparent than in the characters of Kira and Dukat. Kira, one of the heroes of the show, has a violent past for which she still hasn't forgiven herself. When we meet her, she's a racist (perhaps understandably, but it's certainly not admirable) and is unwilling to trust or cooperate with anyone -- she believes only in herself. ...
Even when taking innocent lives as a Resistance fighter, she always saw her world in clear, black-and-white terms. She was fighting for a righteous cause -- Bajoran independence -- against evil fascists who relentlessly butchered her planet and her people. When we meet her, she is still thinking in those terms: Bajoran good. Cardassian evil. It doesn't cross her mind that there are nuances -- that, just as she can justify her own acts of violence, her enemies had their own reasons for what they did -- until Dukat confronts her with his own views on the occupation. (Bluemarie)[3]
Fanfiction
In fanfiction, Kira is frequently paired with Odo, as in canon. There's also a fair amount of Kira/Dukat, much of it featuring dubious consent. Shakaar tends to appear mainly in Odo/Kira stories as an unsuccessful rival or angst generator. There is a little femslash, with the most common pairing probably being Kira/Jadzia Dax. The Intendant is another frequent f/f partner. Gen fanfiction often focuses on her background as a terrorist and her difficulties adapting to life in peacetime.
Kira-centric fanfiction can be found at Archive of Our Own, Bajorarama, fanfiction.net and Trekiverse archives. Odo's PADD hosts Odo/Kira fiction.
Notable Works
Kira/Odo
- Hiding, by Your Cruise Director -- early example of this pairing (1994)
- Beneath The Prophets, by J.M. Rolls -- novella focusing on Bajoran politics and anti-Changeling racism (2000)
- Incarnations, by Mosca -- unusual futurefic (2003)
- In the Light of Morning, by Lamardeuse -- focuses on Kira's fear of Changelings
Kira/Dukat
- Kalevian Montar, by Marlissa Campbell -- novella in which Kira investigates Tora Naprem's life with Dukat. Winner of 1997 ASC Award for Best DS9 Gen Story (1997)
- Halfway, by Ariana -- at the happy consensual end of the spectrum for this pairing (1997)
- Dislocation, Condemnation, Revelation, In Temptation, by Sabine (2004)
- Five Things Which Never Happened, by Selena -- an early example of this meme, exploring Kira & Dukat's relationship (2004)
F/F
- Like She Walks, by not jenny -- dark Kira/Intendant short (pre-2004)
- The World Spins Madly On, by sheepfairy -- short Kira/Lupaza backstory (2006)
Gen
- The Execution of Kira Nerys by Gail M. Eppers (1997)
- Blink, by Seema -- widely recommended gen pre-series story (2002)
- The Long Haul, by Yahtzee -- gen piece, set immediately pre-series (2004)
- Five Things That Never Happened to Kira Nerys, by Rocky -- recommended for its characterisation of Kira (2004)
Fan Art
Kira is a popular subject for fan art. Artists include BGM, Leigh Grimes and Wendy Bradtke.
Fanvids
Example works include:
- Shake It Out by metatheatre (on Tumblr) (2013)
Fanzines
- Kirazine -- Kira-centric zine (1996)
- Love and Justice -- Odo/Kira zine series (8 issues)
- Orb Visions (2000)
Additional Art Gallery
Kira on cover of Kirazine
Jamie Murray is the artist
A heated Kira on the cover of Deep Spaces, by Adrian Flores
Interior art from Orb Visions by Wendy Bradtke
Zine art by Gabi
Zine art by Madalena Mumford
Zine art by Teegar Taylor
Zine art by Adrian Flores
Newsletter art by Marion Meredith
Art from Generation Gap #8 by Anja Gruber (1995)
Archives and Fansites
- Dakhur Central -- multi-author Kira fanfiction archive
- Odo's PADD -- Odo/Kira fiction archive
- Kira and Odo Page -- Odo/Kira shipper site by Nerys
- NanaVision -- fansite for Nana Visitor
- The Observatory -- fansite for Nana Visitor, associated with fanclubs Nanites & Far Beyond the Stars (defunct)
Meta
- Meta post by scrollgirl, with picspam
- Kira/Dukat at Ship Manifesto
- The First Time I Realized I Was Allowed To Be Angry, Archived version by Swapna Krishna
- Character of the Week: Kira Nerys and the importance of an interesting backstory, Archived version by The Valkyrie Directive (2013)
- Lizardfuckers are Nazis by Ravenamore on Reddit in r/HobbyDrama (2020)
References
- ^ Brenda S. Antrim 'Netchatter', in Multi-Species Medicine #18
- ^ Julia Houston. Subtext and Slash: Having Your Cake and Eating it Too, Part 3 (accessed 23 November 2012)
- ^ Ship Manifesto: Kira/Dukat (accessed 7 October 2011)