Dathon Dathon was a Tamarian who held the position of captain on a deep space cruiser during the late - 24th century . In 2368 , Dathon became the first of his race to successfully establish communications with the United Federation of Planets when his ship rendezvoused with the at El - Adrel IV . Because the Tamarian language was based upon a series of metaphors , prior attempts to communicate verbally had failed . Knowing this , Dathon beam ed himself and Starfleet Captain Jean - Luc Picard down to the planet , where he hoped that some time together would better help them understand each other ' s languages . At first , Captain Picard believed Dathon had kidnapped him and when the Tamarian offered him his dagger , Picard assumed he wished to engage in combat and thus refused . In reality , Dathon was offering Picard a weapon to defend himself against an electromagnetic lifeform that resided on the planet . After a short time on the surface , the lifeform attacked the two men , wounding Dathon . Picard was able to fend off the creature and tend to Dathon ' s injuries . It was during this time that Dathon was able to " teach " Picard how his language worked - using metaphors ; proper names and places Dathon cited were references to situations in his history . Armed with this new found understanding , the two were successfully able to communicate on a basic level , which assisted in defeating the creature a second time . However , this victory came with a price as Dathon was mortally wounded . But his sacrifice was not in vain , as when Picard returned to the " Enterprise " , he was able to successfully communicate with Dathon ' s ship and explain how their captain was killed , thereby opening a new era in relations with the Tamarian people . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Dathon was played by actor Paul Winfield in his second of two " Star Trek " appearances . Photo double Bill E . Rogers and stunt double Gerard Williams filled in for Winfield . Because Paul Winfield was a large man with a great presence , the makeup department realized that building alien features up through separate appliances would enlarge his head too much . So , instead , the department built a single piece that covered the actor ' s entire head and featured a bony ridge , almost like a central skull spine , over the top of the Tamarian ' s head down to his nose , which was more like a snout , and bony ridges on both sides of his skull . The three ridges looked like three parallel tracks of bone connected by a set of ridges that ran across the top of his head and down the bridge of his nose . His ears were large , but recessed , and there was a separate appliance for Paul Winfield ' s upper lip that was modified for the other actors portraying Tamarians on their ship . The Tamarian coloring was added with hand - painted patterns of orange spots in patterns that were unique for each individual Tamarian , although they were all modeled on Paul Winfield ' s pattern . ( " " , p . 121 ) The script for " Darmok " states the pronunciation of Dathon ' s name is " DAY - thahn . " Additionally , it says of the scene in which Dathon first appears ; " " displays a TAMARIAN - - CAPTAIN DATHON - - flanked by his FIRST OFFICER , and TWO OTHER OFFICERS . Their uniforms are rich with insignia - - and each wears a small ceremonial dagger across his or her chest . But all look the very embodiment of " well - meaning . " " Apocryha . The novel " Articles of the Federation " references the events of " Darmok " and how the progress made since that time was considered one of the noteworthy accomplishments of Federation President Jaresh - Inyo and his administration . Dathon is depicted as a cat in a scene from Jenny Parks ' 2018 book " " .