Madred Gul Madred was a Cardassian officer placed in charge of the interrogation of Captain Jean - Luc Picard on Celtris III in 2369 . History . As a starving , homeless child living on the street s of Lakat , Madred scavenged for and ate raw taspar egg s , straight from the shell . He later recalled being beaten and having his arm broken by an older boy who stole the eggs , an experience from which he clearly never recovered . As an adult , he came to endorse the Cardassian military establishment , believing that it had the power to eradicate the poverty and violence that plagued Cardassia during his childhood . Madred later had a daughter named Jil Orra . Although she was very young , Madred allowed her to visit him during Picard ' s interrogation . During intensifying hostility between the Cardassian Union and the United Federation of Planets over territorial concessions , Madred captured Captain Jean - Luc Picard of the starship by fabricating evidence of a metagenic weapon on the Cardassian planet Celtris III . There , Madred sought to uncover Starfleet ' s defense operations for Minos Korva by first drug ging , then torturing Picard . Proving himself to be both cunning and brutal , Madred employed unique tactics which he felt stripped his victim of his individuality , stripping Picard of his clothing and referring to him simply as " Human " . At the height of his sadism , Madred repeatedly showed Picard four bright light s , telling him that there were in fact " five " lights . When the captain refused to submit , he was tortured : a small device implanted in the captain ' s chest allowed Madred to inflict pain in any part of the body . Ultimately , the Cardassians ' intentions were exposed and Picard ' s release was ordered . Despite his best efforts , Madred was not able to successfully break Picard ' s will - although the captain later admitted that he came perilously close to breaking . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Madred was played by David Warner in his third of three " Star Trek " appearances . His name comes from the episode ' s credits and was never spoken onscreen . Warner took over the role of Madred on three days ' notice and , though he had previously appeared in and , he knew nothing about the Cardassians from " The Next Generation " , as he recalled in a interview ; " " I took over on three days ' notice . It was another makeup job . It was with Pat Stewart , who ' s an old colleague . It was great to be a part of that . I thought , ' Oh , I ' ve done two of the others , the old classic ones , and here I am in " The Next Generation " . I ' ll go for it . ' So I wasn ' t aware of it , of the Cardassians . I didn ' t know their history at all , except of course , that they weren ' t very nice . " " Due to the limited duration in which he had to prepare for the role , Warner did not have enough of time to memorize his lines . As such , they were written down on cue cards . He commented , " " There was too much technobabble and dialogue that doesn ' t come naturally to me . So they wrote everything up for me . I don ' t mind people knowing this . Every line I said , I actually was reading it over Patrick ' s shoulder or they put it down there for me to do it . " " According to the for " Chain of Command , Part I " , the pronunciation for Madred was " muh - DRED " . Apocrypha . Madred has appeared in several DS9 , including Andrew Robinson ' s " A Stitch in Time " ( post Dominion War ) and " Ship of the Line " by Diane Carey . In Robert Simpson ' s " Lesser Evil " , Madred appeared in scenes set in 2347 on Kora II , where he was a Glinn . Madred also appeared in the TNG short story " Four Lights " by Keith R . A . DeCandido in the anthology " The Sky ' s the Limit " , in which Picard and Madred are reunited during the Dominion War , with Madred in the " Enterprise " brig . Madred and Picard met again in the novel " Ship of the Line " , when Picard was sent into Cardassian space to free captured Starfleet officers , with Picard revealing that they were aided in their efforts by Madred ' s own daughter , who had become disgusted with her father ' s work after seeing him torture Picard . During the comic miniseries " " , when Picard was forced to enter his own mind to defeat a telepathic virus called the Chova with the aid of his other personalities ( Sarek , Locutus , and Kamin ) , he used the mental image of the four lights Madred confronted him with to remind him of past victories while in his mind . Using the strength from this image , he was able to overcome Locutus when the latter attempted to gain control of his body , coldly informing Locutus that he would not give in before he was awakened . In " Star Trek Online " , Madred had become the leader of the True Way organization and formed an alliance with a faction of Alpha Jem ' Hadar to protect the True Way ' s mining operations . He used to be captured at Empok Nor by the player character at a removed mission at the end of the " Cardassian Struggle " episode . His mirror universe counterpart appeared in the novella " " .