Some lessons take a lifetime to learn, so it’s nice to have several lives under your belt before you start learning something new. Jadzia Dax is a joined Trill, a fusion of the Dax symbiont and Jadzia, the eighth host of the symbiont and an exceptionally gifted woman whose skills in astrophysics, exoarchaeology, exobiology and zoology earned her distinctions at Starfleet Academy. As a child, Jadzia was shy and quiet but determined to one day become host to a symbiont, dedicating herself to her studies and applying to the Trill Symbiosis Commission to be a candidate for joining on completion of her studies at the Academy. Jadzia is the only Trill in history to have successfully reapplied to become a host after her initial request was rejected by Curzon Dax, the seventh Trill to host the Dax symbiont and the good friend and mentor of one Captain Benjamin Sisko. Friendships that last across different lifetimes are rare for a joined Trill. Personalities change, people become different, so it speaks to the depth of the bond between Dax and Sisko that their friendship remains as strong as ever when Jadzia joins the crew of Deep Space 9, with Sisko still often referring to her affectionately as ‘Old Man’. As a host, Jadzia contains the memories and experiences of all her predecessors, including an interest in Klingon culture, which impels her to learn Klingon martial arts. It is this aspect of her personality that attracted the attention of Lt. Commander Worf, the Klingon she would eventually fall in love with and marry. The most fiercely loyal of friends, strong willed, intelligent, and with a wicked sense of humor, Jadzia Dax is the heart and soul of Deep Space 9.