Star Trek TNG Character Gets Origin Story Change
Sela is everyone’s favorite evil half-human, half-Romulan from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but her villainous motives were always a bit one-note. However, the new Star Trek: Defiant Annual #1 by Christopher Cantwell, Roman Rosanas, Lee Loughridge, and Clayton Cowles provided some shades of nuance to this character’s origin story. Without rewriting the character completely, the story interestingly recontextualizes the events of her birth.
The Origin Of Sela Has Been Improved
Fans of The Next Generation will remember that Sela (Denise Crosby) was the offspring of Tasha Yar (also Crosby) and a Romulan general. While that seems simple enough, Star Trek fans know that it’s pretty complicated. See, Tasha Yar originally dies in the episode “Skin of Evil” at the hands of the alien Armus. However, an alternate timeline was created in the episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise” when the USS Enterprise-C slipped into a temporal rift while battling some Romulan ships.
The Complciated History Of Tasha Yar
This temporal slip led to a timeline where the Federation was at war with the Klingons, and Tasha Yar was still alive since she was on the Enterprise-C. Tasha Yar then gets back on the Enterprise-C to travel back in time and finish the battle, where Romulans capture her. Tasha agreed to become a consort to one of the Romulan generals in exchange for the lives of her fellow prisoners, leading to the eventual birth of Sela.
Sela Became A Villain Throughout The Next Generation
When Tasha tries to escape with a young Sela, the young girl alerts the guards in fear that she’s being taken from her father, leading to Tasha’s death (again). The grown-up Sela does some pretty evil stuff throughout the rest of The Next Generation, but that’s beside the point. This brings us back to Star Trek: Defiant Annual #1.
Star Trek: Defiant Redefines The Mother/Daughter Relationship
Sela is sent back in time in Star Trek: Defiant Annual #1 to gain favor with the Romulans, leading her to meet the version of her mother from the original timeline. This unexpected meeting causes her to see her mother in a different light than she saw as a young girl. As a young girl, she only saw Tasha as a prisoner and a coward rather than a hero.
A New Realization Changes Everything
Sela’s encounter with Tasha in Star Trek: Defiant Annual #1 leads to some intense soul-searching, and even sees Sela realizing she’s more like her self-sacrificing mother than she thought, as she dives in the way to stop Tasha from getting hit by phasers. She also realizes that she didn’t have a relationship with her father and that she didn’t call the guards out of fear of being taken from her father. She was just afraid of the prospect of doing something dangerous like escaping.
Sela’s Future Has Changed
Sela also realizes that she chose to change her own truth and serve the Romulan empire after she convinced herself it was the only path. Her feelings of shame for causing the death of her mother and her fear led to her making the wrong choices. By the end of Star Trek: Defiant #1, she does a full 180, defects from the Romulan empire, and begins looking for Worf to join his Defiant crew.
The Right Kind Of Retcon
Retcons can definitely be risky, but Sela’s retcon seems like the right kind of retcon. It adds shades of depth to her character and makes her even more interesting. If you want to check out Star Trek: Defiant #1 for yourself, it’s available for purchase now.
