Starfleet explores into the depths of space and asks questions. But even in the age of
science fiction exploration, some questions remain unanswered and this is a good thing.
As long as there are gaps in our knowledge, we have something to strive for. Many of these
questions are centred around the spiritual beliefs of other cultures, many by their very
nature, vague and reliant on faith. Mysteries. Star Trek does delve into these topics from
time to time, and occasionally there are even results and knowledge gleaned, such as with
the discovery of the Bajoran Wormhole, which doubled as the Celestial Temple for some very
real extra-dimensional aliens that had strong ties to ancient Bajor. I’ve already covered
this in several videos before, but it goes to show that sometimes, a religion may be
based on a very real event, or higher power, even if that power is not divine.
Q has posed as a god-like being several times and exhibits powers to manipulate life and
death with ease, some cultures even have tied this specific individual into their own mythology
as a trickster god and Kirk met a being imprisoned near the centre of the Milky Way that likewise
posed as divine. While the Federation labels entities such as this as definitively aliens,
who’s to say that powerful or technologically advanced powers have not been adopted into
a primitive culture’s history and interpreted as deities. Even Starfleet’s own Prime Directive
exists in part to prevent such occurrences, with the levels of Federation technology seemingly
inexplicable to younger species. Nevertheless, the quest to uncover and understand
a lot of this continues and sometimes, answers are grounded in science and quantifiable.
But sometimes they’re not, such as the exact existence of the Klingon afterlife. Sto Vo
Kor and Gre’thor are the names for the Klingon heaven and hell respectively and we have visited
one of these planes in the shows. Or did we? While Sto Vo Kor will get its own video, it
is essentially a Valhalla style afterlife of endless merrymaking, battle and adventure
alongside every honourable Klingon ancestor and legendary figure.
Gre’thor in the meantime is a place for the forlorn and dishonoured. If a Klingon
dies a dishonourable death, then their soul is bound for the gates of Gre’thor, beyond
which is turmoil everlasting. Lovely, especially as sometimes a dishonourable death is not
the individual’s fault, although I guess it could be, from a Klingon point of view.
For example, if a Klingon was assassinated without being able to put up a fight, then
that was not a good death. If a Klingon died while in a state of dishonour, whether the
individual or its house chances are, they would be Gre’thor bound. There are a lot
of reasons a Klingon could be dishonoured, but most of them focus around shying away
from battle or confrontation in favour of underhanded tactics. But cloaking devices
are fiiiine. Dying from old age was honourable, so long
as the Klingon in question had led a honourable life and earned the respect of their peers.
Even in death, if a Klingon perished dishonourably, then it could fall to their remaining friends
and allies to undertake a quest in their name for a form of post-mortem redemption for the
departed soul. I guess the point is, that if a soul was honourable for the majority
of their life, then they would have comrades in arms ready to undertake such a quest for
them, just in case they died dishonourably. So, saying our lonely Klingon had no friends
and simply tripped over a rock or something, what happens to their soul? They awaken on
the Barge of the Dead as it crosses the River of Blood on its way to Gre’thor. Providing
they don’t get lost on the way and end up a Jat’yln, or ghost. Or wonder in a limbo
like void forever, looking for the way to either fate. Or spend so long in the “dream
before dying” which I’ll touch on in the Sto Vo Kor video. But for now let’s say
they make it past all that. The River of Blood is an endless crimson sea
that acts as the crossing for the souls into the afterlife. One route of this river takes
souls to Sto Vo Kor, the other takes them to Gre’thor. The red waves might indeed
be blood, but of what is not clear. It’s probably the combined blood of all the fallen
enemies, or maybe the blood of the slain Klingon gods. Either way, the path to the gates of
the underworld, it is inhabited by Kos’Karii. The Kos’Karii are serpents based on the
idea of a Siren, a being that will lure souls into the waters to their demise with alluring
sounds. In the case of the Kos’Karii, they imitate the voices of a soul’s loved ones,
asking that they join them in the river. They feast on those who give in to the temptation,
which considering where the dishonoured dead are heading, probably means that the Kos’Karii
eat well. Souls that first arrive here are branded with the mark of Gre’thor and if
you truly do not belong here, the brand will not take.
The Barge of the dead is the vessel of iron and lumber that crosses these waters and appears
to be sail-less ship with the figurehead of a serpent. The bow of the ship mirrors a cleave
ship, a tactic that Klingons still employ well into their spacefaring age. The method
of propulsion is not clear, but who cares, it’s a magical undead barge. It is helmed
by Kortar, also called Kotar, the first Klingon to ever be created.
This hearkens back to the creation mythology of the Klingons, predating even their tales
of Kahless who revolutionised much of Klingon culture. The exact myth is never revealed
in full, but there would likely be differing interpretations anyway. What we are told is
that originally the Klingon gods created the Klingon race, beginning with Kortar, followed
by an eternal companion in his wife. The Gods however, demanded much of the Klingons, and
soon more Klingons rose to join Kortar and his wife. Eventually, the Klingons decided
that they were fed up with the gods infighting, schemes and fallibility, so Kortar slew the
gods that created him. However, in punishment for this act, Kortar
was bound to the Barge of the Dead as its helmsman, and forever would ferry the souls
of the dishonoured to Gre’thor. In this function, undying and eternal, he would experience
unending ennui and forever be denied rest. However, this raises another question, if
the gods were dead, then who punished him? Either a Klingon god cursed him so in its
final moments, or gods are harder to kill than Kortar presumed and they persisted beyond
his “slaying” of them. Imagine if this was a literal tale recounting the creation
of the Klingons by something like the Common Humanoid ancestors or Progenitors?
This river sounds similar to Charon and the Styx, although those ancient Greek myths have
a very different ruleset when it comes to navigating the waters to the underworld. When
the barge arrives at the shores of Gre’thor the passengers disembark to face the gates
of Gre’thor. These large, spiked stone gates bar the signil of the Klingon Empire, but
inverted and flames wreath the path to its shut doors. In apocryphal lore, this Klingon
logo was developed on the sword of Kahless, the one he had before his legendary bat’leth
one which was more a typical style sword. So this addition of an inverted symbol probably
did not exists in the pre-Kahless underworld mythology.
Guarding the gates are Klingon demons, the Fek’Lhr, savage, razor toothed Klingon beasts
that no doubt prevent forcible entry, escape attempts and such. Not only this, but it too
feasts on the most malevolent of souls that pass by, to keep up its strength. In some
tales, there are multiple Fek’lhr but in others there is only one, the overlord of
Gre’thor and keeper of the damned. There are also the Fek’ihri, which came into existence
post-Kahless and are the demonised forms of Molor’s army that were banished to Gre’thor
along with the tyrannical ruler when he was defeated by Kahless around 800 AD.
We see a version of this mythology come full circle in Star Trek Online, with the extra-dimensional
Gre’thor and attacking Fek’ihri hoard, however like the return of Kahless in 2369
(who was really a clone with false memories), the origin and veracity of these demons is
questionable when compared to Klingon legend. No spoilers here, but that’s kind of cool,
are these Fek’ihri based on the Klingon legend, or did the Klingon stories merely
interpret these hoards adopting them into their own pre-existing mythology? We already
established, thanks to the presence of Kortar that the Klingon cosmology existed well before
Kahless, but the Unforgettable Klingon himself has had a great impact on the modern interpretation
of Gre’thor and Sto Vo Kor. Which adds an extra layer of depth to the Klingon religion,
in that , like many real faiths, it has seen revisions and adaptations with time as the
stories adapt ever in search of answers and understanding.
Within Gre’thor itself, the trapped soul is tormented by visions and emotional turmoil
from their past as realistic experiences are twisted to hurt, shame and break down the
spirit of the trapped Klingon. Which sucks, but it’s kind of what you’d expect. This
way, the experience is different for every soul and a personalised hell. Souls have been
recovered from Gre’thor twice, once by Kahless himself, retrieving his brother, Morath and
again by B’Elanna Torres to save her mother’s soul. This could be seen as a delayed, but
no less honourable version of undertaking a quest to retrieve a soul from the Barge
of the Dead in their name. Thanks for watching this video, the first
of several I hope, on the Klingon beliefs and afterlife. This has been requested by
several viewers over the past few months and it’s an interesting topic to cover. I will
be addressing Sto Vo Kor and the Black Fleet next up, but I thought I’d open with Gre’thor
cos it’s way more metal. So thanks for watching and until the next
video, I’ve been Ric and honour to you and your house!