#4. Star Trek: TNG – “Darmok and Gilgamesh”
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the episode “Darmok” shows two people from different cultures attempting to communicate using shared myth. Write Picard’s personal log entry after the episode ends. How has the story of Gilgamesh deepened his understanding of communication, grief, or cultural memory?
Star Trek – “Darmok and Gilgamesh”
Personal Log, Stardate 45048.9
Today was one of those days that presented moments that were unnerving, but golden. Times when duty fades into something deeply personal.
Dathon lost his life in the hope that a story would connect us. A narrative he hoped I’d understand. The translation offered some awareness, but it wasn’t what brought true understanding—it was loss that made the connection real. I was led to feel by way of the myth he chose; it wasn’t just symbolic, it was from the heart.
I was not recounting history when we sat by the fire and I spoke of Gilgamesh holding Enkidu; I was reliving it. I pictured Gilgamesh, more man than king in that instant, struggling with saying goodbye; that awful finality of goodbye. Dathon and Enkidu, two beings who gave their lives not for triumph, but for connection. They believed their sacrifice might spark understanding in someone else. It did.
Leaving the planet, I was no longer the same man. I had come to understand that myths don’t just teach, they reach. Across time, language, even galaxies, they hold us together in shared grief and mutual hope.
I will carry the stories of Dathon, at Tanagra; Gilgamesh, with Enkidu, with me, not because they ended in triumph, but because their connection started in friendship.
Connection to the Epic:
In this log, Picard is still trying to process what happened with Dathon. The loss hit him harder than he ever expected. Like Gilgamesh grieving for Enkidu, Picard felt the deep impact of forming a bond, only to lose it just as quickly. By bringing the story of Gilgamesh into this moment, we see how ancient myths still help us understand our experiences, no matter how far we are from Earth or how far into the future we’ve gone.