Summary
- The Gorn Hegemony is a powerful and mysterious governing body of cold-blooded reptilians with advanced technology and superior physical capabilities. They communicate through light and are difficult to track.
- In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, tensions between the Federation and the Gorn escalate when the Gorn attack a Federation colony. Captain Pike and his crew face off against Gorn forces, leaving them at a disadvantage.
- While the Gorn were initially portrayed as aggressive and territorial in their first appearance in Star Trek: TOS, later appearances and Strange New Worlds indicate the possibility for peace between the Federation and the Gorn, suggesting a potential shift in their behavior.
The Gorn made their first appearance in the iconic Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Arena," but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has introduced a whole new version of the vicious reptilians. After Starfleet learns of the existence of the Gorn in Strange New Worlds, they begin developing weapons and technology to defend against them. As the tensions between the Federation and the Gorn increase, Starfleet begins to fear that war looms on the horizon. The Gorn have proven to be a formidable opponent for the Federation, but not much is known about their lifestyle and culture.
The Strange New Worlds season 2 finale, "Hegemony," adds fuel to the fire when the Gorn attack a Federation colony on the planet Parnassus Beta. The Gorn claim that Parnassus Beta is in their territory, and they send Starfleet a communication establishing a demarcation line. Despite Starfleet's orders to remain on their side of the line, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and a landing party slip past the Gorn to rescue the survivors trapped on the planet. "Hegemony" ends with the USS Enterprise facing off against a Gorn destroyer and three Gorn hunters, leaving Captain Pike outgunned and unsure about his next moves.
Everything Known About The Gorn Hegemony's History In Star Trek
Not much is known about the Gorn, but their governing body is referred to as the Gorn Hegemony, which was known to the Orion Syndicate as early as 2154. The technology of the Gorn seems to be similar to that of Starfleet and the Gorn themselves are stronger, faster, and more resilient than humans. Neither Gorn eggs nor hatchlings appear on sensors, making them nearly impossible to track. While the Gorn's method of communication is not yet fully understood, they seem to communicate with one another using light. Because the Gorn rarely leave survivors, their earliest encounters with the Federation have gone largely unrecorded.
The Gorn are cold-blooded lizard-like reptiles who originated in the Beta Quadrant. They reproduce by laying eggs within a humanoid host. To maintain a steady supply of hosts, the Gorn establish breeding planets where they deposit captured humanoids to hunt for sport and to be used as incubators. Even from a young age, Gorn can spray venom that infects a host with eggs. After a host becomes infected, Gorn hatchlings will soon burst from their body, killing them instantly. Vicious and territorial, Gorn hatchlings begin competing for dominance soon after they are born.
The Gorn's First Appearance In Star Trek: TOS
In the Prime timeline, the Federation does not officially encounter the Gorn until 2267 as depicted in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Arena." When Captain Kirk and his landing party arrive on the planet Cestus III, they discover that the Federation colony there has been completely destroyed and the Gorn lie in wait. As the Enterprise pursues the Gorn ship, they enter an uncharted area of space and encounter an advanced species called the Metrons. The Metrons deposit Captain Kirk and the Gorn Captain on a planet, saying that they will destroy the ship of whichever Captain loses the fight. Kirk eventually defeats the Gorn by creating gunpowder with materials found on the planet. Because Kirk stops short of killing the Gorn Captain, the Metrons return the Gorn to his ship and praise Kirk's mercy.
Interestingly, when Kirk confronts the Gorn Captain, the Gorn maintain that they only attacked Cestus III because it was in their territory. From the Gorn's perspective, it looked as though the Federation was invading. Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) both acknowledge that the Federation may have been the one in the wrong. Not only does this suggest these particular Gorn to be less vicious than the ones in Strange New Worlds, it also suggests that peace between the Federation and the Gorn may be possible.
The Gorn's Other Star Trek Appearances
After their first appearance in Star Trek: The Original Series, the Gorn show up on several different Star Trek series. A Gorn named Slar appears in one episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II," but this entire episode occurs within the Mirror Universe. Slar kills several members of the ISS Enterprise crew, before eventually being killed by the Mirror Universe version of Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula). A Gorn skeleton appears in the menagerie of Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) on Star Trek: Discovery, establishing, again, that some Starfleet officers knew of the Gorn before Captain Kirk's famous encounter.
The Gorn appear briefly in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1, episode 8, when Ensign Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) inadvertently ends up on a desert planet in the middle of a Gorn wedding ceremony. This scene is shown in a flashback as Rutherford recounts a particular day's events, so it's unclear how much of it is accurate. A couple of different Gorn can be seen on a Starbase in the background of the Lower Decks episode "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers," suggesting that relations between the Gorn and the Federation will not always be hostile.
The Gorn's Retcons In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Aside from a few brief appearances across other shows, the Gorn do not make a major return to the Star Trek franchise until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Strange New Worlds has given more information about the Gorn's history and biology than any other Star Trek show. Despite the fact that the official first contact with the Gorn did not occur until the events of TOS' "Arena," Strange New Worlds establishes that the Federation knew of the Gorn long before that.
In Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 4, "Memento Mori," Enterprise Security Chief La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) reveals that she was the only survivor of a Gorn attack. When she was a child living on the colony ship the SS Puget Sound, Gorn invaded the ship, eventually killing everyone on board aside from La'an. After the Gorn had killed the other passengers, La'an was sent into space on a raft as part of a Gorn ritual. She was then rescued by the Federation starship USS Martin Luther King Jr.
In "Arena," it seemed as though none of the Enterprise crew members were familiar with the Gorn, but Spock (Ethan Peck) goes up against Gorn in both "All Those Who Wander" and "Hegemony." Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) also aid in the fight against Gorn. "Hegemony" introduces the young Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn), who not only builds a trap to catch Gorn, but also figures out how to sneak past their ships. All of these characters would be on the USS Enterprise in "Arena," but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds can still offer an explanation for this apparent canon discrepancy.