Jadzia Dax

Jadzia Dax is a major character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, played by Terry Farrell. A joined Trill, she is simultaneously a beautiful young humanoid woman "Jadzia", with a strange leopard-effect spot pattern, and a 300-hundred-and-change-year-old slug "Dax", with the memories of seven dead people. The Science Officer on Deep Space Nine, she's qualifed in astrophysics, exoarchaeology, exobiology & zoology, is a mean tongo player and has wicked fighting skills with a batleth. Shades of canonical Mary-Sue, methinks.
Her closest friend in canon is station commander Benjamin Sisko, who calls her "old man", a reference to his friendship with the slug's previous host, a lecherous heavy drinking old man by the name of Curzon Dax—the source of Jadzia's love for all things Ferengi & Klingon. She is also particularly close to Kira Nerys, Quark and Julian Bashir. Both the two men harbour an unrequited pash for her, which she tramples on when she falls for and marries the Klingon security officer, Worf, much to the dismay of the many fans of Julian/Jadzia. Oh, and she also has a brief fling with another joined Trill woman, leading to the first f/f kiss in Trek history. Aside from technobabble, her interests include sex, gossip, rowdy parties and tongo.
Just as she starts getting broody, she is murdered by Gul Dukat, saving fans from the horror of a Klingon with Trill spots. Dax returns to the series as Ezri Dax, who later hooks up with Julian, which a lot of fans thought was just plain icky.
==Fan perspectives==
Jadzia is a highly popular character. In a 1995 poll including all Trek characters, she was the third highest ranked DS9 character (the highest ranked woman), coming in at a tied number ten.Brenda S. Antrim 'Netchatter', in Multi-Species Medicine #18
===Gender & Sexuality===
Many commentators point to Jadzia's overt sexuality, her gender fluidity and the ambiguity that lends to her sexuality.
Terry Farrell has said that the character is pansexual, stating:
==Notable Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
* More examples required, especially Julian/Jadzia
Jadzia is a fairly popular character with fanwriters. Many fans felt her death was untimely and objected to her replacement with Ezri. Not surprisingly, resurrecting the character is a trope in some fanfiction, particularly in het stories. She's most commonly paired with Bashir, known as Julian/Jadzia. This used to be amongst the most common het pairings in the DS9 fandom, though its popularity seems to be on the wane. The canonical Jadzia/Worf -- one of the most interesting, complex relationships in Star Trek history, according to Wendy Stengel—is also very common. Jadzia also features prominently in Julian/Ezri stories, even though she's dead. Often Julian hooks up with Ezri only because of his love for Jadzia, causing the relationship to fail, or he at least has to work through his feelings for Jadzia for the relationship with Ezri to succeed.
Her canonical flirt with bisexuality & general air of being up for anything means that Jadzia also turns up a fair amount in femslash. This often riffs on the idea that her gender identity is fluid because of all those memories of being a man in previous lives. The predominant pairing is probably Jadzia/Kira, though she's also paired with Lenara Kahn (the other half of that same-sex kiss), as well as pretty much anyone with girl parts. Gen fanfiction frequently explores the otherness of the joined Trill experience.
Fanfiction centering on the character can be found at Archive of Our Own, Bajorarama, fanfiction.net and Trekiverse archives. The J&J Fanfic Archive hosted Julian/Jadzia fanfiction and The Worf Dax Fanfic Archive accepted fiction for Jadzia and the Jadzia/Worf pairing; both shipper archives went down with GeoCities in 2009.
====Het====
* A Dead End, by dilly—Julian/Ezri short that's all about Jadzia
* But Is It Love?, by Alara J Rogers—Jadzia/Worf, friendship with Sisko
* Let It Be, by Selena—Jadzia/Worf
* Missed Opportunities, by Apocalypse—relationship with Quark
* Two of Us, by Selena—relationship with Quark
====Femslash====
* is for Ferengi (The Tongo Remix) by cosmic_llin—Jadzia/Ishka (Quark's mother), set on Ferenginar
* Knowledge, by Paranoid Kitten—Jadzia/Ezri
* New Friends and Old Lovers, by CaitN—Jadzia/Arandis
====Gen====
* An Element of Blank, by Calapine—Jadzia bonds with the Ninth Doctor; crossover with Doctor Who
* Immortal, by tornyourdress—pre-joining
* Old Man, by Snow—primer on Trill gender identity
===Fanart===
* Jadzia Dax with Bi Flag colors by lacefedora
===Music===
* "Jadzia", by North Carolina-based "nerd rock" band Sidewalk Furniture
==Fan Art==
Jadzia is a popular subject for fan art. Artists include BGM.
==Additional Art Gallery==
File:Caplog235.jpg|Newsletter art by Louise Graham
File:Prophecyds9.jpg|Zine art
File:Nineart1.jpg|Zine art by Teegar Taylor
File:Warp80.jpg|Zine art
==Meta==
* Intimacy & Sex on Deep Space Nine—essay by Wendy A.F.G. Stengel that deals with Jadzia's relationships, including discussion of the Trill taboo on re-association
* When I Transitioned, I looked to Dax—essay by Elissa Harris.
==Archives and Links==
* The J&J Fanfic Archive -- Julian/Jadzia archive; part of The Ultimate J&J Page shipper site (defunct)
* The Worf Dax Fanfic Archive—Jadzia and Jadzia/Worf fanfiction
* Jadzia Dax tag at Archive of Our Own
* Jadzia Dax at FanFiction.net
* Jadzia Dax at Trekiverse
==Fansites==
* Dax & Worf Page—Jadzia/Worf shipper site
* Jadzia Dax / Terry Farrell Home Page—pictures site by Asif Masood
==Resources==
* Jadzia Dax at Memory Alpha
* Wikipedia
==References==
Category:Star Trek DS9 Characters