Tora Ziyal Tora Ziyal was a female Cardassian / Bajoran and illegitimate daughter of the Cardassian Gul Dukat and the Bajoran Tora Naprem , conceived during the Occupation when Dukat was in command of Terok Nor . Early life . Although Dukat loved both Naprem and their daughter , he knew the Occupation was drawing to a close and that Ziyal would not be accepted on either Bajor or Cardassia Prime . Therefore , he sent the two of them away to live on the neutral planet of Lissepia , aboard the transport ship " Ravinok " in 2366 . " En route " , the " Ravinok " was attacked and downed on Dozaria by Breen warships . Naprem was killed in the crash , while Ziyal and the other survivors were captured and forced to labor in a nearby Breen dilithium mine . Six years later in early 2372 , the fate of the " Ravinok " reached the outside world . Dukat learned that Major Kira Nerys was mounting a search for the transport and arranged to have himself join her . Dukat had intended to kill Ziyal if he should find her alive , as the fact he had an illegitimate half - Bajoran daughter posed a threat to his political position and legitimate family . Ziyal was aware of this fact from the other Cardassian prisoners , but she still hoped that her father would rescue her as her mother promised . When Dukat found her as he and Kira liberated the camp , Ziyal told him that she would rather die than to be apart from him . As he looked upon his daughter , Dukat found he could not kill her . ( ) Following Ziyal ' s return to Cardassia with her father , the expected political backlash was swift . Dukat was demoted from his position as chief military adviser to the Detapa Council and assigned to command the freighter " Groumall " , while his wife took their children and left him . Meanwhile , Ziyal was shunned by most Cardassians for her Bajoran half . She later confided with Kira that the only good thing about her life on Cardassia was her father , who spent time with her and never acted as though he were ashamed of her . Since he was the only family she had , Ziyal followed Dukat to the " Groumall " . However , after the " Groumall " was destroyed and Dukat took command of a captured Klingon Bird - of - Prey , Ziyal returned with Kira to live on Deep Space 9 . Dukat had conceded that it would be a better life for her on the station than accompanying him on his war against the Klingon s . ( ) Aboard Deep Space 9 . Aboard the station , Ziyal developed a close friendship with Major Kira , coming to think of her as a sort of big sister . Ziyal also became drawn to Elim Garak , who was the only Cardassian on the station . Garak was initially concerned that Ziyal might try to kill him , due to the enmity between him and Dukat , though the two eventually developed a relationship . Dukat was outraged when he learned of this development in 2373 , upon making a return visit to Deep Space 9 . At that time , Dukat had been secretly negotiating an alliance between the Cardassian Union and the Dominion . Knowing he would soon rule over Cardassia itself , Dukat attempted to take Ziyal back with him , promising that " things will change " this time around . Ziyal refused , since Garak was lost in the Gamma Quadrant and she had promised she would await his return . In response , Dukat disowned her . She was thereafter unknowingly condemned to death by a secret Dominion plan to destroy the Bajoran sun . ( ) The Dominion War . Ziyal continued living aboard Deep Space 9 until the outbreak of the Dominion War , and the station was under threat of attack . Kira arranged to have Ziyal admitted to a Bajoran university in the care of her friends . There , she discovered a passion and talent for art , through which she hoped to bring Cardassians and Bajorans closer together by showing that they have a common viewpoint . However , she was never truly accepted on Bajor either , since her father was the hated Gul Dukat . Soon after Dukat retook Deep Space 9 , Ziyal spoke with him , and he told her he may have " overreacted " previously . Ziyal agreed to return with Dukat to the station ; despite his actions , she was willing to forgive him , because living with her father had been the only time when she felt like she really belonged . Upon returning to the station , Ziyal was reunited with Kira and was very glad to see her . The two planned to have dinner that evening , to catch up and share news , but Dukat insisted the three have dinner in his quarters , to Kira ' s dismay . At dinner that evening , Ziyal shared some of the paintings she had done with her father and Kira . Both were very impressed with her talent in rare agreement , for they rarely agreed on anything but the fact that they both loved and cared for Ziyal . ( ) Although Dukat doted on Ziyal , it was difficult to reconcile her sympathy towards the Federation with his direction of the Dominion War effort . Ziyal wanted to believe that her father was not the tyrant the Bajorans described , and so she was angered and disillusioned when Dukat refused to pardon Rom because he was an " enemy of the state . " Afterward , she helped Quark break Kira , Rom , Leeta , and Jake Sisko out of station security , so that they could prevent the Dominion from destroying a minefield around the Bajoran wormhole . As the Federation - Klingon fleet neared the station , Ziyal and Dukat found each other in a corridor . Ziyal again told her father that she could not leave with him , and admitted to him her involvement with Kira and the others ' escape . She told him goodbye , and that she loved him . Just then , Ziyal was shot and fatally wounded by Damar , who had heard her confession and executed her as a traitor . The stricken Dukat refused to leave Ziyal ' s side , as the Dominion forces evacuated the station . Just before she died , he told her that he forgave her , and that he loved her too . Garak arrived at the station too late except to see Ziyal ' s body , while Dukat became mentally unstable in the wake of her death . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The concept of a half - Bajoran daughter of Dukat was thought up by freelance writers Toni Marberry and Jack Treviño , when they pitched the story that became . They also imagined her being sought by her father and her life being endangered by him , as he intended to kill her . The writing staff of used the introduction of the daughter character to essentially blunt some of Dukat ' s edges . ( " " , p . 274 ) In the script pronunciation guides for " Indiscretion " and , Tora Ziyal ' s name is said to be pronounced " TOR - uh zee - ALL " . However , the pronunciation guide in the script of gives her surname only , and phonetically spells it " ZEE - al " . The script pronunciation guides for and return to the " zee - ALL " spelling and none of the other episodes she appears in transcribe the pronunciation of her name . However , the script of " Indiscretion " additionally describes her as " a teenage girl with mixed Cardassian / Bajoran features . " Also , the script of " Return to Grace " describes her as being eighteen years old , as of 2372 . This detail corresponds with the fact StarTrek . com lists her birth year as 2354 . Since as far back as she could remember , Kira Nerys actress Nana Visitor was very hopeful that a young Cardassian female might be adopted by Kira . However , Visitor was even happier with the concept of Ziyal , believing the idea of her being a protégée of Kira ' s was an even better premise than being Kira ' s adoptive daughter . It was also obvious to her that Ziyal wouldn ' t be killed by Kira , at the end of " Indiscretion " , nor that her death by Dukat would be permitted by Kira . ( ) Ziyal ' s relatively subtle Cardassian features were produced by the DS9 makeup department . Owing to the character ' s Bajoran heritage , the makeup required for the role also included a skin complexion slightly lighter than a Cardassian ' s as well as a Bajoran nose appliance . ( " " , p . 153 ) In DS9 Season 4 , the makeup for Tora Ziyal was worked on by regular DS9 makeup sculptor Dean Jones . " " He has just [ sculpted ] up a pair of shoulders very quickly for Gul Dukat ' s daughter and a nose tip for her , " " reported Michael Westmore , during that season . ( ) Tora Ziyal was portrayed by Cyia Batten on her first two appearances . " " She was very good , " " noted Dukat actor Marc Alaimo . He also observed that , whoever played the character , Ziyal never had very much to do with Dukat , an aspect of their relationship Alaimo found " interesting . " He cited " Indiscretion " as the installment he thought features the most involvement between Ziyal and her father . ( " Cold Warrior ? " , " " , No . 12 ) Following Ziyal ' s appearance in " Return to Grace " , it wasn ' t entirely clear how the character would develop . " " I think we want to leave the audience guessing , " " Hans Beimler divulged . " " We ' re planning to do something with her – but what , I can ' t tell you yet ! " " ( ) The role of Tora Ziyal was recast with Tracy Middendorf in the episode " For the Cause " . The recasting was done when it became evident the character was going to become a recurring role , appearing as stories warranted it . " " We felt we wanted to try something different with Ziyal , " " Ronald D . Moore recollected . " " We wanted to add some more colours to the performance , more depth to the character , and felt Tracy would give us that . " " Fondly remembering Middendorf from when she had auditioned for the role of Mardah , Moore himself impacted on the casting of Ziyal . " " When we were recasting the role I thought to bring her in for this , " " he related . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 63 ) Despite the role being recast , Batten and Middendorf wore the same foam latex facial prosthetics as each other . ( " " , p . 341 ) In the last six appearances of Tora Ziyal , the character was portrayed by Melanie Smith . She wasn ' t familiar with the character before auditioning for the role . " " I just went in to the audition and made my choices on the character by the script , " " she said . " " That ' s who I felt she was . " " ( ) The recasting of Tora Ziyal was partly inspired by Ira Steven Behr having seen various actors play Felix Leiter in the official series of . " " It changed my life ! " " he exclaimed . " " From then on , I always wanted to have the opportunity to just play with the audience ' s minds . Because it really doesn ' t matter on a certain level . And so , for various reasons , we changed the part once , and then we had to change the part again . " " Smiling , Behr continued , " " [ In an ideal world , ] I would have changed the role of Ziyal " every single time " – just to keep reminding the audience that this is all a construct . " " ( " " , pp . 423 - 424 ) Nana Visitor said about the recasting of Tora Ziyal , " " [ The role was ] once [ recast ] because they felt that she should be more like me , viscerally more like Kira , and I understood that , in terms of strength . The third time it was because the actress they cast could not take the makeup and that ' s totally understandable . " " ( " An Unlikely Surrogate " , " " , No . 12 ) Despite an approximately thirty - year age gap between Tracy Middendorf and Garak actor Andrew Robinson , Ron Moore once remarked that the ages were obscured by the Cardassian makeup . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 63 ) On the other hand , Moore has stated that Melanie Smith was " cast deliberately a little older because we didn ' t feel that the other actresses were ' reading ' mature enough on screen to plausibly be involved in any way with Garak . " Melanie Smith settled into the role of Ziyal . " " The experience was delightful and [ . . . ] I really enjoyed the character , " " she reminisced . ( ) Wearing the makeup required for the role of Ziyal was a mixed experience for Melanie Smith . On the one hand , she found wearing the prosthetics difficult and physically draining . On the other , she commented , " " I loved the fact that I could just do the work and that it wasn ' t about how pretty I looked or how nice my hair was . And I thought that Tora was a really adorable lizard ! " " ( ) Three costumes worn by Tracy Middendorf and Melanie Smith in the episodes " For the Cause " and " In Purgatory ' s Shadow " were sold off on the It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction on eBay . According to the script for " By Inferno ' s Light " , Ziyal was pronounced " zee - ALL " . " " Apocrypha . Ziyal appears in the novel " The Never Ending Sacrifice " and the comics " The Shadow Group " and " Requiem in Obsidian " . Even years after her death , Ziyal remains a prominent influence on Garak ' s life ; during his time acting as the Cardassian ambassador to the Federation , he carried a painting she gave him everywhere he went , hanging it in whichever room he was staying in as part of his duties . In " " novel " The Crimson Shadow " , Garak is elected as the new leader of the Cardassian government , reflecting in a private log entry that he will take care to do the right thing in his new role by thinking about how Ziyal would react to his actions and then making a decision based on what she would approve of .