Jem ' Hadar The Jem ' Hadar were a genetically - engineered humanoid race from the Gamma Quadrant . They served as the military arm of the Dominion and were one of the most powerful military forces in the galaxy during their time . Physiology . Jem ' Hadar were generated in " birthing chambers . " Their growth cycle was accelerated such that they reached full maturity only three days after emergence . They did not procreate naturally , and their species consisted solely of males . ( ) As infants , Jem ' Hadar strongly resembled mammalian species , with a complexion resembling that of Human s ; within a day of maturation , Jem ' Hadar children already had advanced language skills and cognitive reasoning . As they aged , their skin paled to a bluish - white , and became scaly and reptilian in appearance . ( ) Adolescent Jem ' Hadar required food for nourishment . ( ) Adult Jem ' Hadar did not require sleep , and their sole source of nourishment was the drug ketracel - white , which provided the Jem ' Hadar with all necessary nutrients , as well as an isogenic enzyme that had been deliberately omitted from their metabolism . As a result , all Jem ' Hadar were addicted to " the white , " which was regularly distributed to them by Vorta overseers . This was the Founders ' means of ensuring the Jem ' Hadar ' s loyalty to them . ( ) Without a steady supply of white , Jem ' Hadar suffered withdrawal symptoms : their circulatory systems began to shut down , beginning with muscle spasms . Psychologically , they became uncontrollably violent , attacking their enemies , then their Vorta overseers , and finally each other . ( ) Jem ' Hadar were designed to have excellent vision and strength several times greater than Humans . ( ) They also had the ability to " shroud " themselves , a form of camouflage that acted as a personal cloaking field , effectively hiding them and their weapons from both sensor s and the naked eye . ( ) However , they had to drop this effect when attacking . ( ) Also , Jem ' Hadar lost the ability to shroud when they were suffering withdrawal from the white . ( ) Jem ' Hadar had extremely resilient bodies , such that phaser beams on " stun " intensity had no effect on them . During the Dominion War , Federation fighters quickly learned that only lethal settings could be used to stop them . ( ) After an enormous Jem ' Hadar fleet was eliminated inside the Bajoran wormhole during Operation Return , the Gamma Quadrant was effectively sealed off from the Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrant . The Dominion began to breed Jem ' Hadar soldiers in the Alpha Quadrant , known as " s " , in 2374 . The Alphas ' genetic and psychological profiles were designed specifically for combat in that Quadrant , and so the Alphas were regarded – largely by themselves – as being superior to original " " Jem ' Hadar , so their introduction led to considerable friction with their Gamma Quadrant counterparts . The Founders believed this made them better leaders than the Gammas , though this opinion may have been revised after one of the Alphas ' first missions , led by Kudak ' Etan , became a disastrous failure . ( ) Psychology and lifestyle . Jem ' Hadar were engineered to be soldiers and ship crews , and nothing more . Their culture shunned all forms of relaxation and recreation , on the belief that such things made them weak . ( ) For the same reason , Jem ' Hadar fighter s , and probably other classes of Jem ' Hadar starships , were not equipped with chair s . ( ) Like the Vorta , the Jem ' Hadar were genetically engineered to revere the Founders as god s and to be unquestioningly loyal to them . However , this engineering was not flawless , which is why it was necessary to make them dependent on the white . When a Jem ' Hadar company assigned to a Dominion science team on Vandros IV rebelled , Dominion experts nervously predicted that they could gather support from other Jem ' Hadar units in the Gamma Quadrant , and effect a complete takeover of the Dominion in less than a year . ( ) Most Jem ' Hadar died young in battle ; as such , it was rare for them to live past fifteen years of age . Few ever lived to the age of twenty , and those who did were awarded the title " Honored Elder . " To date , no Jem ' Hadar has ever lived to the age of thirty . ( ) Culture and tradition . Although the Jem ' Hadar worshiped the Founders as gods , the vast majority of the Jem ' Hadar had never actually seen a Founder , and some doubted that they even existed . ( ) Yet they built their service to the shapeshifter s into a religion , literally regarding the Founders as living gods , to the extent that the Jem ' Hadar ritualistically committed suicide if they failed to protect a shapeshifter from harm . ( ) The Vorta , as the representatives of the Founders , were also given immense loyalty by most Jem ' Hadar – even when such loyalty seemed unwarranted . Absolute obedience from the Jem ' Hadar was further guaranteed by the Vortas ' control of the ketracel - white . ( ) Although the glory of the Founders meant everything to the Jem ' Hadar , they also showed a strong sense of honor for themselves . Ikat ' ika , of Dominion Internment Camp 371 , showed this when he refused to kill Worf , even after he was ordered to do so by his Vorta superior . He chose rather to yield the fight than to kill Worf , saying , " " I cannot defeat this Klingon . All I can do is kill him , and that no longer holds my interest . " " He was ordered to be shot for this insubordination . This indicated that at least some Jem ' Hadar might have preferred insubordination and therefore death to doing something considered dishonorable . ( ) Jem ' Hadar combat units followed a very specific hierarchy . Normally , a Vorta commanded one or several units . Every unit contained a Jem ' Hadar First , who was in command . Each Jem ' Hadar after the First was also given a number rank ( Second , Third , Fourth , etc . ) . In the event the First was killed , the Second took over for the First , the Third took over for the Second , and so forth . Although the succeeding Jem ' Hadar assumed the duties of his superior , he only received the higher number rank if his Vorta commander granted it . ( ) Ritual practices . Before each battle , the following ritual was observed by the Jem ' Hadar : A similar exchange stated , " " Obedience brings victory , and victory is life . " " ( ) When ketracel - white was dispensed , the following ritual exchange usually took place between the Vorta overseer and the ranking Jem ' Hadar : Jem ' Hadar Firsts were also capable of distributing the white among those under their command . By 2374 , Alpha Jem ' Hadar no longer recited the ritual dispersal statement , as they believed they demonstrated their loyalty by their actions , not their words . ( ) See also : Appendices . Background information . Conceptual origins and name . Robert Hewitt Wolfe originated the notion of the Jem ' Hadar as a fierce and vicious race of warriors with skins like rhinos . The species , used to carry out the threats of the Dominion in cases of disobedience among those who opened trade with the Vorta , was always imagined as being part of the Dominion . ( " " , pp . 153 & 154 ) However , the concept of the Jem ' Hadar was that the producers wanted to create something more than merely a fearsome alien , already having plenty of those . ( " " , p . 140 ) Robert Wolfe wrote about the Jem ' Hadar in a memo which defined the Dominion . Even as early a time as when he was writing the memo , Wolfe was fairly certain about the origins of the Jem ' Hadar , including the idea that they ( and the Vorta ) had been genetically engineered by the Founders . Wolfe was even aware of some backstory explaining what had happened to the Jem ' Hadar prior to this . " " I think we all agreed that the Jem ' Hadar were originally like the Mongols , " " he remembered . " " They were some incredibly nasty , conquering subculture on a world of their own , but without all the genetic engineering ; they didn ' t grow up in three days and all that stuff . The Founders got a hold of them and said , ' We ' ll make you the ultimate killing machines , what do you think ? ' And they said ' YEAH ! ' They just volunteered . " " In the memo , Wolfe declared that the Jem ' Hadar had rebelled several times during the history of the Dominion but that all the Jem ' Hadar rebellions had been defeated . Regarding the depiction of the Jem ' Hadar in the memo , Wolfe related , " " It was pretty close to what actually made it to the screen . " " ( ) The writing staff of realized the Jem ' Hadar might be too similar to the Klingon s . As a result , the team of writers was determined to ensure the Jem ' Hadar had their own unique identity . To make them as different as possible from the Klingons , the Jem ' Hadar deliberately had no honor nor any concern for glory , instead caring only about winning and killing . ( ) In Ronald D . Moore ' s opinion , this focus on victory without the pursuit of honor made the Jem ' Hadar akin to " soldiers who ' ve been in the field a " long " time . " ( ) The Jem ' Hadar ' s strong sense of loyalty was based on historical examples . " " We used the model of the Roman legionnaire . We also thought about the British soldiers in India , who were really just doing it for the Empire or the U . S . Green Berets . That was sort of our model , " " recalled Robert Wolfe . " " We wanted to go for something we hadn ' t seen before in " Star Trek " , which was the consummate professional soldier . " " ( ) Another way the writers tried to differentiate the Jem ' Hadar from most of the other major races in " Star Trek " was by deciding to make them drug addicts . The writers did so primarily to demonstrate that the Jem ' Hadar were fundamentally violent and were only just obedient to the Founders . ( ) Ira Steven Behr remembered , " " From the very beginning , when we first sat around and talked about the Jem ' Hadar – even before we had a name for them – we talked about them being mercenary drug addicts . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 27 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 95 ) Behr continued , " " We came to view them as junkies . We came to view them as slaves , as people who were almost not worthy of a name because there wasn ' t much personality difference between them . " " Consequently , Behr believed the Jem ' Hadar were more like the Borg than the Klingons . He commented , " " They were stripped of their humanity . Not because they were machines , but because the drug was their raison d ' etre . " " ( " " , issue 29 , pp . 10 & 11 ) Though all Jem ' Hadar were envisioned as basically the same , the writers felt it was important for the aliens not to lose their ability of evoking fear . ( " " , issue 29 , p . 11 ) At least in Robert Wolfe ' s opinion , the indomitableness of the Jem ' Hadar helped make them different from such races as the Klingons , Romulan s , and Borg . Said Wolfe , " " We wanted people to understand that the more you got to know the Jem ' Hadar the scarier they were , and the less you ' d want to be around them . " " ( ) Ira Behr echoed this intent , citing the Klingons and the Cardassian s as alien species which the writers wanted to make the Jem ' Hadar clearly different from . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 120 ) Whereas the typical science fiction attitude would have been to make the Jem ' Hadar much less aggressive and no longer villainous or loyal to the Dominion if their addiction was broken , the DS9 creative team opted for a more unusual idea . " " What we wanted to say was : ' If you break them of the addiction to the white , then you take away what little control anyone has over them , and they ' ll do what they always wanted to do , which is run around and kill everybody they can get to . ' I ' m not entirely sure that ' s just because of the genetic engineering , " " Wolfe mused . " " I think the loyalty to the Founders was probably programmed in there , but I suspect they ' d be difficult to reason with in any case . " " Wolfe additionally theorized that the Jem ' Hadar were " very carefully " selected by the Founders , as the ideal candidates for what the Founders planned to use them for . ( ) He contemplated , " " The Jem ' Hadar are basically killing machines and it ' s not their fault . It ' s the reality of who they are . They are another alien race I ' m fond of because we worked really hard in creating them [ . . . ] With the Jem ' Hadar , we sat down and tried to design from the ground up this race so they were fully formed from the first time we saw them . Usually that doesn ' t work , but this time it did . " " Behr found achieving the challenge of creating the Jem ' Hadar resulted in them having a " complicated " backstory . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , pp . 86 & 106 ) He noted , " " You can understand your enemy to death and this time we did not want to do that . " " ( " " , issue 29 , p . 11 ) Behr also said , " " These are not the kind of guys you want to party with . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 120 ) He also described the Jem ' Hadar as " the toughest guys in the galaxy . " ( " " , p . 703 ) According to " " ( p . 153 ) , it was Robert Hewitt Wolfe who invented the name for the species . Wolfe himself , however , stated , " " We [ the DS9 writing staff ] named the Jem ' Hadar together . We sat there with a ' Roget ' s Thesaurus ' and looked under soldier . Jem ' Hadar is a rank in the Indian army ; it ' s first lieutenant or something like that . " " ( ) In fact , the name of this species comes from , an Urdu term for armed officials of the zamindars ( lords ) later adopted by the British as a military rank . Fellow writing staffer Peter Allan Fields disapproved of the name , commenting it " sounds like ' mah - jongg , ' or some kind of card game ! " ( " " , p . 153 ) However , comics writer Mike Johnson considered the Jem ' Hadar as " " The species with the coolest name in " Trek . " ( " Top 50 Alien Species ! " , " " issue # 50 , " Live Evil , Part 1 " ) The Jem ' Hadar were scripted , in the teleplay for , to be bred by " the same people who breed the s as gifts to the Hunter s . " The script also said , " " The Jem ' Hadar are genetically engineered soldiers . Unlike the Klingons they have no interest in honor or glory . And unlike the Cardassians and Romulans , they have no love of intrigue or politics . The closest twentieth century analogy would be the professional mercenary , but unlike mercenaries , Jem ' Hadar don ' t fight for material gain and can ' t be bribed or negotiated with . They are the ultimate professionals . And they look scary , too . " " Physical design . At first , the Jem ' Hadar were described by Robert Wolfe as having quite a different appearance than the lizard - skinned creatures they became . " " In the original memo , " " he said , " " what I actually envisaged – I overstepped my bounds a little bit – were creatures that would wear no clothing , because they would have armor plating over their entire bodies . " " Wolfe imagined the protective plating was organic and would , due to having a kind of internal crystalline structure , absorb or reflect phaser fire . As thought up by Wolfe , members of the species would meld items of equipment , such as holsters , onto their bodies . ( ) Rick Berman was initially concerned that the Jem ' Hadar , with their rhino - like appearance described as such from the get - go , might look too " comic - booky . " That was never a considerable danger , however . ( " " , p . 154 ) Before designing the look of the Jem ' Hadar , Makeup Supervisor Michael Westmore was told to " " design something that was tough , that they could shoot at but they couldn ' t hurt , they were indestructible , as an army they were unstoppable , and they would have thick skin . " " ( " Michael Westmore ' s Aliens : Season 5 " , DS9 Season 5 DVD special features ) Therefore , DS9 ' s makeup department sought to give the Jem ' Hadar a look which portrayed toughness and resiliency . ( " " , p . 140 ) Westmore himself likewise wanted the species to have an appearance which would enhance their strength and aggressiveness . ( " " , issue 103 , p . 16 ) The writing staff and Westmore didn ' t go through many experimental design stages , since the writers knew they wanted " a very tough character that had hide like a rhinoceros , " as worded by Westmore . ( " " , No . 3 ) The rhino was an appropriate source of inspiration , as it is one of the toughest - looking animals in the jungle ( if not the toughest ) . ( " " , p . 140 ) From the writers ' simple description of how they wanted the Jem ' Hadar to look , Michael Westmore started his work on the species . ( " " , No . 3 ) The original concepts for the Jem ' Hadar were based on the premise that they were all clones and were , therefore , identical in appearance . ( " " , p . 140 ) Beginning with the notion of giving the aliens " a rhinoceros hide that had folds in it , " Westmore also gave the Jem ' Hadar a nose like a rhino ' s , though without a horn . ( " " , p . 154 ; " " , No . 3 ) He remembered , " " By taking the rhinoceros skin and using that , especially with the type of nose , then the wrinkles , the heaviness , the folding of the skin , all this became part of the Jem ' Hadar and I was still fascinated ; I had to get the horn in , somewhere . " " ( " Michael Westmore ' s Aliens : Season 5 " , DS9 Season 5 DVD special features ) Westmore feared that , if he put a horn on the end of the Jem ' Hadar ' s nose , he would make each of the aliens look too recognizably similar to a rhino with its large horn , which is really an enormous outgrowth of hair from the nose . ( " " , p . 154 ; " Michael Westmore ' s Aliens : Season 5 " , DS9 Season 5 DVD special features ; " " , No . 3 ) Westmore therefore included the horn in a different way . " " I took what " would " be the horn and turned it into a hairstyle ! " " he exclaimed . In essence , the hair at the back of the head was made to be horn - shaped and extended down to a horn at the back of the head . " " I pulled all those little elements together using the rhinoceros as reference , " " Westmore noted . ( " " , No . 3 ) Michael Westmore additionally incorporated elements from dinosaur skin , due to it – like the rhinoceros hide – looking heavy . ( " Michael Westmore ' s Aliens : Season 5 " , DS9 Season 5 DVD special features ) The combination of rhino skin together with dinosaur - like aspects was motivated by Westmore ' s interest in giving the aliens a sense of visual " toughness and ruggedness . " ( " " , No . 3 ) The aspects of the Jem ' Hadar that stemmed from a combination of the two influences included not only the scaly structure of the body but also the rolls of scaly skin that run down the neck . ( " " , p . 140 ) The ring of small horns encircling the Jem ' Hadar face and on the crown of the head likewise had multiple sources of inspiration . Michael Westmore arrived at that design by studying the faces of various reptiles , including both long - extinct dinosaurs and present - day lizards . " " I used a horny toad as reference for that , " " he explained . ( " " , No . 3 ) Again , the rhinoceros served as an influence , too . " " What makes " Star Trek " so interesting is that you give the [ Jem ' Hadar ] creature the same feel and meanness [ as the rhino ] by putting little horns all around his face , " " Westmore related . " " It makes them dangerous – if you bump into one , you ' re going to bleed . So you know automatically that you never get close to the Jem ' Hadar . " " ( " " , p . 154 ) The horns atop the head were also inspired by a . ( " " , issue 29 , p . 18 ) Thus , the top of the Jem ' Hadar head , in general , was based on a triceratops or a similar type of dinosaur , having a bony head reinforced with hard plates . ( " " , p . 140 ) Hence , whereas numerous versions of a rhinoceros horn ended up being placed around the Jem ' Hadar heads , the top of their heads was more akin to a dinosaur . ( " " , issue 103 , p . 16 ) Michael Westmore observed that , though the horned toad and rhino are animals familiar to many humans , they were merged to become a new - looking design . Westmore felt the result seemed realistic , as if it could be created via mutation on Earth or another planet . ( " " , No . 3 ) The full - facial prosthetic masks used for the Jem ' Hadar involved a lot of latex . Wearing the masks was considerably difficult for the required actors . " " Some actors just get lost in the makeup , while others pop right through it [ with their performances ] , " " said Ronald D . Moore . ( " " , p . 268 ) Episodic introduction . During the development of " The Jem ' Hadar " , the DS9 writing staff tried to depict the Jem ' Hadar as " these guys [ who ] are not to be taken lightly , " as expressed by Ira Steven Behr . Robert Hewitt Wolfe related , " " We wanted to show the long - term fans how dangerous these guys were . " " ( " " , p . 154 ) Wolfe and Behr realized the Jem ' Hadar were indeed being portrayed as " tough " , upon the pair of staff writers viewing dailies from the episode . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 79 ) In " The Jem ' Hadar " , although the simplest and most effective way to create the effect of the Jem ' Hadar shroud would have involved blue screen for the Jem ' Hadar foot soldiers , this wasn ' t doable within the episode ' s filming schedule , which lasted seven days . " " I also considered dressing doubles for the actors in blue or green suits , " " stated Glenn Neufeld , " " but there was no time for that either because we would have had to stop everything to place the doubles in exactly the same position as the actors . " " The live - action footage of the actors playing the soldiers was filmed normally , then rotoscoped out by Patrick Clancey at Digital Magic . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 25 / 26 , No . 6 / 1 , p . 108 ) Even when " The Jem ' Hadar " had been the only episode to have featured the species , it was probable that the Jem ' Hadar would reappear many more times . " " The Jem ' Hadar are very antisocial lizards , " " Glenn Neufeld laughed , " " Which probably means we ' ll see quite a lot of them ! " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 25 / 26 , No . 6 / 1 , p . 108 ) With hindsight , Ira Behr noted , " " We were very nervous at the time , because we were really gambling with the Jem ' Hadar . We were saying this is going to become a big part of the show . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 27 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 90 ) Reappearances . In , the DS9 writing staff wanted to continue developing the Jem ' Hadar , such as establishing their drug addiction , without once again featuring them merely as combatants against Starfleet . Ira Behr recollected , " " What we wanted to do is keep the Jem ' Hadar alive [ . . . ] We wanted to do a Jem ' Hadar show that didn ' t live or die on whether we could beat the Jem ' Hadar in a fight . That ' s one of the problems of keeping the Jem ' Hadar alive ; once you beat them in combat – once you really nail them – are they the same villains they were ? " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 27 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 95 ) Behr answered , " " They lose their ability to strike fear in your heart if you ' re able to kick their ass too quickly . " " Regarding the idea of portraying the Jem ' Hadar as " drug - addicted villains " , Behr stated , " " We really wanted to play that out , so we gave the Jem ' Hadar some backstory . " " Robert Wolfe offered , " " They started off as nice makeup , and we wanted to use them again . " " Agreed Ronald D . Moore , " " [ ' The Abandoned ' was ] an important [ episode ] to tell things about the Jem ' Hadar that were different than we had dealt with before . " " René Echevarria felt the Jem ' Hadar are shown as tragic in " The Abandoned " , because " we see that there is no turning this type of creature . " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , pp . 85 & 86 ) Avery Brooks found analogies between the Jem ' Hadar and contemporary teenagers , which Brooks found useful while directing " The Abandoned " . He commented , " " For me , it was [ . . . ] to some extent , a story about a society that is responsible for the creation of a generation of young men who are feared , who are addicted , who are potential killers . " " However , the similarity between the alien species and young men of the 20th century was merely metaphorical , Brooks admitted ; the Jem ' Hadar were conceived as the intentional creation of a species with calculated plans , whereas the then - modern male youths were the product of an uncaring society . ( " " , p . 180 ) Ira Behr and Rene Auberjonois nevertheless agreed with viewing the Jem ' Hadar in the same analogous way as Brooks . ( " " , issue 29 , p . 12 ; ' , issue # 222 , p . 30 ) Auberjonois offered , " " It really feeds into a very contemporary problem that we ' re facing in our society and our culture , with kids on crack , and what that does to them . That ' s the way Avery approached it , and I thought that was very moving . " " ( ' , issue # 222 , p . 30 ) The use of actors wasn ' t the only method involved in depicting Jem ' Hadar on - screen . In " The Abandoned " , a shot portraying a Jem ' Hadar teenager leaping through Odo ' s morphed body was rehearsed with a stunt person playing the part of the teen , who was then portrayed by a stand - in for the actual live - action footage . ( " " , p . 182 ) At the conclusion of DS9 ' s third season , Ira Steven Behr felt " deepening the Jem ' Hadar " was an important goal for the staff writers to keep in mind for the next season . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 27 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 115 ) In the development of fourth season episode , the idea of reusing the Jem ' Hadar originated in a story pitch by freelance writer Nicholas Corea . " " He had been working on a story about the Jem ' Hadar and their drug addiction , " " explained Lisa Klink . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 102 ) Corea ' s pitch specifically dealt with a group of Jem ' Hadar who wanted to free themselves from the addictive ketracel - white . ( " " , p . 266 ) When Corea ' s plot idea was merged with a story Klink had suggested about an alien race imprisoning Dr . Bashir , the Jem ' Hadar were instead reused . " " So that became the alien race Bashir was dealing with and we took it from there , " " said Klink . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 102 ) Remembered René Echevarria , " " Somehow we realized that it could be about the Jem ' Hadar and freeing [ . . . ] them of their drug addiction . " " Even after the idea of including the Jem ' Hadar was decided on , the species became even more central to the installment . Ronald D . Moore remembered , " " We [ . . . ] decided to make it more of a Jem ' Hadar - specific episode with the drugs and this and that . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , pp . 106 & 107 ) From the perspective of appearing as Goran ' Agar in " Hippocratic Oath " , Scott MacDonald found the Jem ' Hadar to be notable villains . " " These guys are the ultimate warriors , " " he observed . " " They ' re sharks . They just swim through the galaxy and destroy . " " ( " " , No . 3 ) Ira Behr and Ron Moore were slightly disappointed with how the Jem ' Hadar were written into " Hippocratic Oath " , though Behr liked the performances of the actors playing the Jem ' Hadar in that installment . " " The Jem ' Hadar themselves did not quite make it for me , " " he complained . " " I thought the " potential " was there ; it just wasn ' t really achieved . It left me wishing that the Jem ' Hadar had been a little more clear in terms of who they are , how they are and how they reacted . " " Moore expressed , " " The Jem ' Hadar blended out between themselves . Part of that was the makeup , part of it was maybe the final polish on the script . They didn ' t come off quite alien enough , yet it was hard to tell them apart . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , pp . 106 & 107 ) Moore also complained , " " We still didn ' t get a sense of the group as a people . " " ( ) In both " The Abandoned " and " Hippocratic Oath " , the Jem ' Hadar were used in a traditional " Star Trek " way , compelling the audience to move beyond hatred and fear to instead look upon even the viewer ' s most despised enemies with insight and compassion , realizing they ' re more sophisticated than merely a " faceless evil . " ( " Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before " , paperback ed . , pp . 202 - 203 ) The spotlight on the Jem ' Hadar in " Hippocratic Oath " was a contributing factor ( along with an intense focus on the Klingons in season four opener ) in the design of the Breen in , the fifth episode of DS9 Season 4 . ( " " , p . 277 ) Moreover , as they were dissatisfied with how the Jem ' Hadar are portrayed in " Hippocratic Oath " , the DS9 staff writers altered the species for future appearances . " " Since then we ' ve done some adjustments to their makeup ; we ' ve gone a little bit into their backstory . I think we might eventually do even more adjustments to their look , " " Ira Behr reckoned . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 106 ) Midway through DS9 Season 4 , Bashir actor Alexander Siddig felt the Jem ' Hadar could be scarier villains . " " I don ' t think the Jem ' Hadar [ . . . ] have gotten to first base with regard to being a serious threat , " " he commented . " " I don ' t think anybody bites their nails over them . " " ( ) Although Goran ' Agar says ( in " Hippocratic Oath " ) that his crew has " eaten the same food " that he has consumed , later season four episode established that Jem ' Hadar don ' t eat , sleep , or have sex . This apparent continuity error was simply due to the writers forgetting about Goran ' Agar ' s remark when they were working on the subsequent episode , though Ira Behr preferred to regard the earlier line as an example of Goran ' Agar being " metaphorically stupid , as the Jem ' Hadar so often are . " He stipulated , " " There ' s a price to being a Jem ' Hadar ( not eating , sleeping , nor making love ) . " " ( " " , pp . 268 & 494 ) The writers who worked full time on DS9 were very eager to further develop the Jem ' Hadar in " To the Death " . Relaying what Ira Behr once told him , Actor Jeffrey Combs stated , " " They were kind of exploring the Jem ' Hadar to see what those characters were like and where they could go with them . " " ( ) In fact , the opportunity to provide more information about the Jem ' Hadar in " To the Death " motivated its production . " " Part of the meta reason for doing the show , other than just having a good time , was to bring the Jem ' Hadar to life , " " noted Robert Hewitt Wolfe . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 67 ) Wolfe even went as far as saying that giving the Jem ' Hadar more dimension was " our main purpose in ' To the Death ' . " ( " " , p . 347 ) He explained further , " " We wanted to spend some time with some Jem ' Hadar who weren ' t screwed up , because the two times we spent any time with the Jem ' Hadar was the kid who ' s so young and doesn ' t know what he ' s feeling [ ' The Abandoned ' ] and also the ones in ' Hippocratic Oath ' . So we wanted to show what a functional Jem ' Hadar society is , because we know so much more about them than anyone else does and we wanted to get some of that information out there so the audience could understand them a little better . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 120 ) The writers meanwhile wanted to retain the scariness of the Jem ' Hadar , too . " " Our intention was to show that the more you learn about them , the less you " want " to be around them , " " Wolfe specified . ( " " , p . 347 ) During the development of " To the Death " , René Echevarria had some concerns that the Jem ' Hadar might not be sufficiently interesting . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 120 ) However , the episode ' s writers thoroughly thought through how they wanted to represent the species and its coalition with Starfleet . Wolfe recollected , " " When we were talking about ' To the Death ' , we talked about twenty different missions the Jem ' Hadar could go on with Starfleet [ including one that involved killing Gowron because he was actually a renegade Changeling ] . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 121 ) The writers knew that making the Jem ' Hadar seem realistic would require an actor who could , as phrased by Wolfe , " really give these guys some depth . " He also believed that Clarence Williams III – the performer chosen to play " To the Death " Jem ' Hadar First Omet ' iklan – managed to do that . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 67 ) While preparing to direct " To the Death " , LeVar Burton found himself having to undertake some research about the Jem ' Hadar , as he had never encountered the species before . " " I had to look at previous episodes to understand who they were and what their relationship to the Founders is , " " he admitted . The large quantity of Jem ' Hadar - playing actors on location , all of whom required heavy makeup , challenged Burton during production . " " We had twenty - five Jem ' Hadar stuntmen who had three - o ' clock makeup calls , " " reflected B . C . Cameron . ( " " , pp . 347 & 348 ) The portrayal of the Jem ' Hadar in " To the Death " was altered by the editing of the installment , as some fight scenes were cut . " " In the first edited version , fifty - two Jem ' Hadar had been killed , " " reported Stunt Coordinator Dennis Madalone . Ten of these had been killed by Dax , whereas seven had been killed by Sisko . " " But when the censors got hold of it , they took out thirty - two Jem ' Hadar deaths , " " Madalone concluded . ( " " , p . 348 ) Ira Behr enthused about the episode , " " It kind of restored my faith in the Jem ' Hadar , and I think it really makes them interesting . " " Echevarria ' s worries were likewise nullified , he holding Behr and Wolfe responsible for having fleshed out the Jem ' Hadar . " " I think we learned some really fascinating things about the Jem ' Hadar [ . . . ] [ Wolfe and Behr ] really did find some great , fascinating stuff about them , " " Echevarria remarked . " " Finally we fleshed them out in a believable way that ' s a real important building block . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , pp . 119 & 120 ) While working on " To the Death " , though , the writers came to the opinion the Jem ' Hadar were a less interesting species to examine than the Vorta . ( ) Ira Behr was regretful about how the Jem ' Hadar are depicted in DS9 ' s fourth season in general . " " I think that it wasn ' t until later in the [ fourth ] season [ than ' Hippocratic Oath ' ] that [ we had ] enough backstory to understand where the Jem ' Hadar are coming from , " " he reasoned . " " We probably should have done ' To the Death ' first and then ' Hippocratic Oath ' . It would have helped . " " ( " " , No . 3 ) Plans to further develop the Jem ' Hadar in DS9 Season 5 were made . Ira Behr announced , " " I think we ' re going to be doing stuff in the fifth season , both with make - up and costumes , that will help define the Jem ' Hadar , make them a little more individual . " " ( " " , No . 3 ) When the Jem ' Hadar reappeared in fifth season installment , members of the species were represented not only with Human performers but also , for Jem ' Hadar corpses , dummies . " " We used prop house dummies , like you would throw off a cliff . They ' re soft and kind of articulated , " " recalled Laura Richarz . " " It was a joint effort between costume , makeup , and set decoration . Michael Westmore made new heads for them , complete with realistic glass eyes . Unfortunately , the feet didn ' t really fit in the boots . We had to make new ones so that the dummies wouldn ' t fall out of the boots when they were secured to the top of the set . We also had to remake the arms , because they looked too short hanging straight down . We added four inches to them . " " ( " " , p . 370 ) While plotting fifth season two - parter and , allowing the Jem ' Hadar to battle it out with Worf was one goal the DS9 writing staff had , an idea suggested by " To the Death " . ( " " , p . 422 ) In , numerous stunt performers played Jem ' Hadar on Athos IV . The performers had trouble seeing , though , due to the smokiness of the set . ( " " , p . 457 ) During the writing of DS9 Season 6 offering , the Jem ' Hadar were originally to have conquered an alien civilization , indigenous to a specific planet . The rulership of the Jem ' Hadar was to have been opposed by their subjects , who began to be rallied against them by the series ' regular characters , who had crash landed on the planet . When the native population was excluded from the story , the Jem ' Hadar – marooned on the planet themselves – were instead in conflict with the crash - landed Starfleet officers alone . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , pp . 35 - 36 ) The performers who portrayed the Jem ' Hadar in " Rocks and Shoals " nearly collapsed , while the installment was in production , due to the heat of the episode ' s filming location . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , p . 36 ) Those performers in particular suffered through the heat , finding it virtually unbearable . As can be seen in the episode , their eyes were " red from the sweat dripping into them from beneath their masks , " noted Ira Behr . Phil Morris , who played Third Remata ' Klan in " Rocks and Shoals " , described how the performers cast as Jem ' Hadar experienced the location shoot ; " " The hottest sequence of days in ten years . And we ' re out there in prosthetics and neoprene , the same stuff that dive suits are made out of . " " By the end of the day , many of the Jem ' Hadar - playing extras were essentially insensible from the sweltering weather conditions . ( " " , pp . 499 & 497 ) Phil Morris viewed the Jem ' Hadar as distinctly different from the Klingons , who often talked about how bad they were . " " The Jem ' Hadar " are " the baddest boys in the bar , so they don ' t " need " to talk about it , " " Morris opined . He also thought of the aliens as akin to samurai warriors loyal only to their feudal lords . " " The Jem ' Hadar are predisposed to have that loyalty ; it ' s bred into them by the Vorta , " " he observed . ( " " , p . 497 ) Visual Effects Producer Dan Curry thoroughly approved of the Jem ' Hadar in " Rocks and Shoals " . He particularly liked " their fatalistic attitude towards their own existence , and the Jem ' Hadar soldiers knowing they were going to die and be betrayed by their leader . " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , p . 74 ) While choreographing shots in , episode writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson took turns at pretending they were Jem ' Hadar , as they toured the sets of the " Defiant " and tried to determine where they could position a miniaturized runabout without it being seen . Thompson later remembered thinking , " " The Jem ' Hadar will see this but not " this . " René Echevarria , who had originally devised the story idea of " One Little Ship " , was ultimately dissatisfied with the choice of antagonist , though . " " I think the Jem ' Hadar were the wrong villains for the show , " " he sighed . " " We needed more comedic villains . " " Alternatives to the Jem ' Hadar which the writing staff suggested during pre - production , by which time it was too late to replace the Jem ' Hadar in the episode , included the Pakled s and Harcourt Mudd . ( " " , pp . 530 & 531 ) The producers even had problems with some particular footage of the Jem ' Hadar in " One Little Ship " , regarding a scene in which Jadzia Dax , from inside the shrunken runabout " Rubicon " , first realizes the aliens are aboard the " Defiant " . " " They thought it made the Jem ' Hadar look too dumb , " " explained Gary Hutzel . This was because the producers felt the Jem ' Hadar were too near the runabout to not notice it , an opinion that resulted in Hutzel consulting Digital Muse , who changed the shot so that the runabout was further away from the Jem ' Hadar . Scenes in which , deliberately , the aliens reacted to the runabout were choreographed by Hutzel himself , issuing careful instructions to the performers playing the Jem ' Hadar . " " I ' d say , ' I ' m going to do a count . You hit here , here , here roughly on these marks , and at this point , pause , turn , turn the other way . ' It allowed the actor to interpret the scene , and of course that always works out for the best , " " he remarked . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , p . 42 ) By portraying multiple " Intrepid " - type escape pods ejecting from the during a battle with a Jem ' Hadar battleship in , Visual Effects Supervisor David Stipes believed the Jem ' Hadar were depicted as fiercer than if there had only been one escape pod ejected . " " It makes the Jem ' Hadar even more ghastly , " " he observed . " " They ' re just massacring innocent people , which is of course what they do . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 30 , No . 9 / 10 , p . 57 ) A story that DS9 ' s writing staff toyed with , during the sixth season of the show , concerned a Jem ' Hadar cloning hatchery , and a Starfleet mission to sabotage it . Using this plot concept as a starting point for a potential installment of DS9 Season 7 , Production Assistant Philip Kim imagined and pitched a story that involved a threat to the Jem ' Hadar ; according to Weyoun , they were to be replaced by a new , far more effective Dominion race of warriors named the Modain . However , the danger to the Jem ' Hadar turned out to be a lie , in the course of the story , which was thereafter rewritten as the seventh season entry . ( " " , p . 617 ) Many people wearing Jem ' Hadar makeup appeared in . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 32 , Nos 4 / 5 , p . 56 ) Throughout the series , the Jem ' Hadar remained extremely aggressive . They were also deliberately portrayed as consistently lacking individuality , so the audience was never really given an opportunity to become very familiar with any individual members of the species . ( " " , issue 29 , pp . 11 & 10 ) Stated Ronald D . Moore , " " The Jem ' Hadar in a lot of the episodes tended to kind of bland out . Sometimes it ' s hard to differentiate between them . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 120 ) In fact , Ikat ' ika is the only Jem ' Hadar to appear in more than one episode of " Deep Space Nine " . The ultimate fate of the Jem ' Hadar was left unclear on the DS9 television series . As Ira Behr liked leaving some things for the audience to figure out , what happened to the Jem ' Hadar following the Dominion War was left as one of these unresolved plot points . ( " " , issue 29 , p . 13 ) Reception and aftermath . Director Kim Friedman noted , " " I like the Jem ' Hadar , although they ' re only the foot soldiers of the Dominion . They weren ' t the Borg , but they were good . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 76 ) Two special effects face make - up lots for a Jem ' Hadar were sold off on the It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction on eBay . . Other Jem ' Hadar - related artifacts sold at the auction included a special effects gloves lot , a prop pistol , and a knife . Apocrypha . In the " Deep Space Nine " relaunch novels , Odo sends Taran ' atar , a Jem ' Hadar free of the addiction to ketracel - white , to live on Deep Space 9 to foster understanding of the Dominion .