'Star Trek: Discovery': Kahless, Klingon Religion, And The Future Of The Empire

Sunday's Star Trek: Discovery premiere debuted its newly redesigned Klingons, but while many fans were caught up arguing about the merits or failures of the new look for Klingons, they may have missed the importance of how Star Trek: Discovery is showing fans the moment that the Klingons found religion.

The Klingons as portrayed in past Star Trek series have been very proud, even defensive, of their culture, but they have not been particularly religious. The Klingons did have gods who created the Klingon race, but the Klingons are said to have then killed those gods because they were more trouble than they were worth.

However, while the Klingons of past Star Trek series may not have been religious, they did have many ritual ceremonies and a devotion to a messiah figure named Kahless, and Kahless, or at least his teachings, seems to be playing a major role in the story of Star Trek: Discovery.

Kahless is a mythic figure said to have been the first to unify the Klingon Empire and become its first Warrior King and Emperor. He is the platonic ideal that Klingons strive for and gave them many of the laws they still live by. Many Klingons await his return.

However, despite Kahless's title being "Kahless the Unforgettable," the Klingons of Star Trek: Discovery, save T'Kuvma's house, seem to have little memory of him. T'Kuvma claims to be bringing Kahless's teachings to the Klingons. What audiences seem to be witnessing is the installation of the reverence of Kahless as a means of uniting the Klingon Empire.

The way Klingon history appears to play out is that as Star Trek: Discovery claims, humanity has had little to no contact with the Klingon Empire for a century as the series begins, but that the Empire is believed to be in a state of disarray.