Spoilers The Klingon Empire in Star Trek: Discovery

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

The Klingon Empire is led by the humanoid Klingon species, from the planet Qo'noS in the Beta Quadrant, and along with the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire, is one of the Great Powers of the known galaxy in the era of Star Trek: Discovery. It has gone through several periods of political change in the time the Federation has known it, evolving from an intractable antagonist in Burnham's and Kirk's era, to principle ally in the era of Picard, Sisko and Janeway. Led by a High Council and a Chancellor, it is unknown how extensive the empire is, but may be as vast as the Federation, and probably incorporates many subject species.

In the past we have been able to see distinct phases of Klingon culture separated roughly by three eras:

• Archer's era - the 22nd century
  
• Kirk's era - the 23rd century
• Picard's era - the 24th century

In Archer's era (22nd century), the Klingon Empire seemed to be a vast colonial power in decline, suffering from corruption, dissatisfaction, and Suliban terrorism. In Kirk's era (23rd century), the Klingon Empire seemed to have undergone a cultural revolution of some kind, becoming an organized fascistic military power, and totalitarian to the point it's own officer's were monitored. In Picard's era (24th century), the Klingon Empire has renounced totalitarianism, and made peace with the Federation, but seems to be suffering a reactionary period of stagnation and obsession with atavistic self-identity.

How does Burnham's era (23rd century) fit in? What can we piece together about Klingon history now, in light of the premiere episodes? Let's take a look at what we know.

Speculation (based on conflicting dates in episodes)

• 9th century - Kahless defeats Molor and unites the Klingon people into the Klingon Empire
• 14th century - The Hur'q, humanoids from Gamma Quadrant, sack/loot Qo'noS
• 16th century - The traditional monarchy descended from the family of Kahless is put to death
• 16th century - A new third dynasty assumes power and claims descent from the previous one
  
• 21st century - Klingons gain warp drive by at least this point

Reliable recorded history

• 20?? - First contact with planet Vulcan results in decades of hostility
• 20?? - The monarchy is abolished, with the position of Emperor defunct
• 20?? - The Klingon Empire is now led by the position of Chancellor
  
• 20?? - An invasion of Breen is launched and never heard from again

Archer's era - (Klingon Empire is feudal aristocracy/oligarchy)

• 2151 - The Suliban seek to destabilize the Klingon Empire through terrorism
  
• 2151 - First contact with planet Earth results in decades of hostility
• 2152 - A human starship captain is put on trial, and escapes the Rura Penthe gulag
  
• 2154 - A failed eugenics program leaves Klingons with deformities via a retrovirus
• [Approx 100 year period of isolation begins]

Burnham's era - (Klingon Empire is politically unstable/unknown government)

• [Federation-Klingon Cold War begins]
• 22?? - Attack on Vulcan colony at Doctari Alpha
  
• 2245 - Battle of Donatu V
• 2256 - Battle of the Binary Stars
• [Approx 100 year period of isolation ends]
• 2256 - 1st Klingon-Federation War: Klingon offensive against Federation

Kirk's era - Klingon Empire is military dictatorship (as per TOS "Errand of Mercy")

• 2267 - Invasion and occupation of Organia
• 2267 - 2nd Klingon-Federation War: Organian Peace Treaty signed
• 2268 - Klingons sign treaty with The Romulan Star Empire and exchange tech
  
• 2271 - Klingon-Romulan relations break down by the Battle of Klach D'kel Bracht
  
• 2285 - Attempts to gain Project Genesis superweapon through unsanctioned attack
  
• 2293 - Praxis, a moon of the Klingon homeworld, is destroyed in a mining accident
  
• 2293 - Peace signed at Khitomer as the Klingon homeworld faces environmental crisis
  
• [Federation-Klingon Cold War ends]

Picard's era - Klingon Empire is aristocracy or oligarchy or limited democracy

• 2344 - Romulan attack on Narendra III, Federation sends support
  
• 2346 - Romulan attack on Khitomer
• 2366 - Klingons send support to Federation against the Romulans
  
• 2367 - Klingons send support to Federation against the Borg
  
• 2368 - Klingon Civil War: Romulans seek to place pro-Romulan faction in power
• 2372 - 3rd Klingon-Federation War: Khitomer accords break down, war is declared
• 2373 - Dominion War: Peace signed, and joint war against The Dominion declared

So what can we determine from what we have seen? It seems that multiple races of Klingons have existed in the Klingon Empire, possibly owing to cross-marriage with other humanoid species within the empire - different planets or colonies within the empire may have developed different ethnic groups of Klingons over the centuries, with both cosmopolitan and relict populations. It seems that Klingons have entered a period of isolation for a while, just like the Romulans, except less scrupulously maintained - there seems to have been enough hostile contact for a Cold War to develop between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. For comparison, lets contrast Romulan and Klingon history:

The Romulan Star Empire:

• Earth Romulan War (ends with the signing of the peace after Battle of Cheron) (2156-2160)
  
• [Long Isolation] (2160-2266 - 106 years)
  
• Balance of Terror attack tests the Federation and deploys functional cloaking device (2266-2268)
  
• Attempt to disrupt the Federation-Klingon peace by supporting Chang and Cartwright (2293)
  
• [Short Isolation] (2311-2364 - 53 years)
  
• Reemergence in TNG in response to Borg attacks on Romulan and Federation bases (2364)
  
• Attempt to disrupt the Federation-Klingon peace through regime change on Qo'noS (2367)
  
• Attempt at re-unification of Vulcan and Romulus via a coup led by Romulan troops (2368)
  
• Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order launch a first strike on the Founders of the Dominion (2371)
  
• The Dominion War (ends with the signing of the peace after Battle of Cardassia) (2374-2375)

The Klingon Empire:

• First contact with Vulcan (results in animosity between Vulcan and Klingon starships) (2016?)
• First contact with Earth (results in fear of Earth's history of eugenics and militancy) (2151)
• Failed eugenics program unleashes retroviral DNA vector into the Klingon poulation (2154)
  
• [Isolation] (21??-2256 - "a hundred years")
  
• Klingon Empire emerges from isolation in an encounter with the USS Shenzhou (2256)
  
• Start of an open Klingon-Federation war, and signing of Organian Peace Treaty (2267)
  
• End of Cold War, explosion of Praxis, and signing of the Khitomer Accords (2293)
  
• Attempt by the Romulans to disrupt the Federation-Klingon Alliance via Duras (2367)
  
• Breakdown in relations due to Dominion disruption leads to brief open war (2372)
  
• The Dominion War (ends with the signing of the peace after Battle of Cardassia) (2373)

Spoiler: The Present Situation in 2256

The first episodes of Star Trek: Discovery center around the emergence of a Klingon extremist who styles himself as a successor of Kahless, and who, suffering from an inferiority complex, wishes to cynically unite his culture by projecting the United Federation of Planets as an enemy. The Klingons have maintained a Cold War with the newly powerful democratic Federation for a century, but owing to internal struggles, their attentions have largely fallen elsewhere. By calling upon xenophobia toward the Federation, and then provoking a battle against them, T'Kuvma wishes to present himself as a martyr for Klingons to rally around.

 

[INACTIVERedDwarf]

I enjoyed reading this, thanks.

I don't know what to think about the way the Klingons are shown in the new show, as although it fits a lot with TNG Klingons, it is hard to see how they become TOS Klingons ten years later. And I don't mean makeup or costume: I mean being like a modern army. I did a re-watch of Errand of Mercy the other day and it's suprising how close Kor is to a TNG Klingon, but he is a soldier.

 

[Tuskin38]

here is the map of the border from Lorca's ready room

https://i.imgur.com/NdGsYpF.png

It matches very closely with Star Charts.

 

[siskokid888]

With the mention of The Black Fleet and the apparent religious fanaticism, I'm wondering if Ford's "The Final Reflection" had any influence on this period's Klingons ( the religious fanatic angle was also present in Haldeman's "World Without End)

 

[Kor]

With the mention of The Black Fleet and the apparent religious fanaticism, I'm wondering if Ford's "The Final Reflection" had any influence on this period's Klingons ( the religious fanatic angle was also present in Haldeman's "World Without End)

I think there was some vague reference to Ford's book being part of the background material that the writers and/or actors familiarized themselves with. I can't remember the details now.

Kor

 

[Annorax849]

I would also throw in circa 2130 being somewhat significant since the lawyer Klingon (forgot his name) said that it had been about 20 years since corruption had really taken hold throughout the empire.

 

[Tuskin38]

I think there was some vague reference to Ford's book being part of the background material that the writers and/or actors familiarized themselves with. I can't remember the details now.

Kor

Both the writers and actors (or at least some of them) read TFR.

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think Kenneth Mitchell, who plays Kol, read The Final Reflection - I'm hoping this means we get to see a wider variety of Klingon culture than just Kahless and the beacon - hopefully the cynical militarists of TOS.

 

[Mirror Mirror]

Good read, But I thought klingons got into space right after they drove off the invaders. I do agree this fits before TOS as we are seeing an unification of the empire and a rise of the military to power.

 

[INACTIVERedDwarf]

Good read, But I thought klingons got into space right after they drove off the invaders. I do agree this fits before TOS as we are seeing an unification of the empire and a rise of the military to power.

This was never stated or implied on screen. I personally don't like this fan fiction idea that has infiltrated the fandom, because reverse engineering a warp drive would probably take almost as much science as building one from scratch, implying the Klingons had the know-how anyway. I also personally don't like the idea that the Klingons had to steal their technology and are a scientifically inept race; running a space empire without quantum physicists seems silly to me. Lastly, I personally dislike the idea that the Romulans and Klingons achieved warp hundreds of years before Earth, as it implies a massive technological lead. Prior to TNG I think the idea was more that the major powers were roughly contemporaries, and that the Klingons and Romulans may even have achieved warp after Cochrane's discovery. I prefer sticking as closely to this as possible. I think the Hur'q invaded Qo'noS in their equivalent of medieval times (14th century), and Klingons achieved warp somewhere in the 21st century, just like Cochrane's discovery. The Romulans may have used sleeper ships before this too.

There seems to be a lot of misinformation going around from non-canon souces like books and novels.

From the 90s, canon policy for official things like StarTrek.com, Star Trek: Encyclopedia, Star Trek: Chronology, etc, was "anything that happens on screen is canon", so books, games, tabletop games, and tech manuals were not canon. Even the Animated Series was not canon, based on Gene Roddenbury's desires I think (he also had the attutude I think, that each show superseded the last in canonicity). But Gene Roddenbury wasn't the person who determined the accepted definition of canon, it fell to others, usually people deeply associated with TNG. Michael/Denise Okuda and co. basically collated 'official' canon from whatever happened on screen in any live-action series.

But some ideas from things like Star Fleet Battles (really out-moded stuff from before TNG even aired) or Star Trek Online (really poor canon usage) seem to be seeping into the visual canon, judging by comments on YouTube, Reddit, etc. Star Trek is not Star Wars, and many of it's tie-in products are really creatively incompatible with the intention of the writers and producers, because they were never directed by a central authority like Lucasfilm, and are sometimes (like in the case of STO), really little more than an arcadified video-gamey view of Star Trek with aliens being little more than endless video game monsters.

 

[Mirror Mirror]

You could be right, and yes, I know books are not canon. But I was thinking it was said on screen. Eh I could be wrong.

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

@Mirror Mirror - Thanks - I think that idea might have turned up in some novels - really we just don't know - maybe the Klingons had invented machine guns by then - maybe they were still using swords - maybe they had warp - but I like the idea of them being a Soviet Union that was about on par with America (the Federation).

@RedDwarf - Yeah, agreed - I never really liked the idea - I prefer a recent discovery, and on their own initiative!

 

[INACTIVERedDwarf]

You could be right, and yes, I know books are not canon. But I was thinking it was said on screen. Eh I could be wrong.

I think the only one that was mentioned for certain was that the Ferengi purchased warp drive. (According to the novels, from a Breen merchant). I would prefer they kept this sort of thing to a minimum, as it's believable with the Ferengi, but you would expect a major empire like the Romulans or Klingons to have their own infrastructure for research and development.

 

[Wulfsa]

@USS Einstein Thanks for this. Very nice.

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

And I don't mean makeup or costume: I mean being like a modern army. I did a re-watch of Errand of Mercy the other day and it's suprising how close Kor is to a TNG Klingon, but he is a soldier.

I've said it before but for a civilization like the Klingon Empire to run a spaceflight capable civilization capable of taking on the organised and disciplined Federation and Starfleet they would need to be an organised model army...

Warrior classes just don't cut it - there is a reason Japan forcibly disbanded the samurai in favor of a western style army during the meiji era. Discipline, combined firepower and organisation wins against individual martial prowess. They went on to become the first Asian country to be considered a 19th century style Great Power, while Qing China did not.

I hope they don't take the beacon thing too far and depict them almost like a fantasy race in a state of perpetual technological freeze - Babylon 5 got away with the Minbari being like that because of the different way the setting was set out.

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[INACTIVERedDwarf]

What is that video from? It's really cool.

 

[Wulfsa]

Klingon Academy i guess

 

[INACTIVERedDwarf]

Ah I didn't look at the title

But yeah, I agree with what was said. Maybe the Klingon TOS uniforms and makeup look silly to some modern audiences, but that is just dressing. What they were really suggesting was that the Klingons were a disciplined empire. A "unit" Kor said in Errand of Mercy.

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

Yep the video is from the game Star Trek: Klingon Academy - it had full motion video with Christopher Plumber returning as Chang David Warner returning as Gorkon - one of the few games worthy of screen canon status along with Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, Star Trek: Judgement Rites, and Star Trek: A Final Unity.

 

[Mudd]

It's the Discoveryverse; the Klingons could turn out to be anything.