(Loved Trope) Character finally reveals their true power level

[u/Tannerknox]

John Wick - the viewer spends the first 25ish minutes just being told John Wick has an infamous past of being an assassin. Once the first home invasion happens, we see him fully unleash the Baba Yaga, completely annihilating a dozen unsuspecting assailants.

Rebel Ridge - the viewer learns early on that Terry Richmond is a Marine veteran who was never sent overseas for an initially unclear reason. Over half-an-hour into the movie he has a standoff with the town’s corrupt police chief. It’s revealed in this scene that he’s THE martial arts instructor for the Marines. He proceeds to disarm two police officers with extreme efficiency.

Naruto - Rock Lee is a character we’ve seen prove to be a capable fighter in a couple of episodes prior to his fight with Gaara, despite Rock not having any inherent Ninjutsu abilities. When his strikes can’t make it through Gaara’s automatic sand shields, Rock’s instructor, Guy, gives Rock permission to take off his leg weights. The bystanders watching the fight don’t understand how taking off some leg weights will give Rock an edge in the fight, but then when Rock drops them, they’re revealed to be hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds. This then reveals that Rock can move at super speed, and he can shockingly out maneuver Gaara’s first layer of shielding.

[u/xv_boney]

Elim Garak is a tailor on the Federation-controlled space station Deep Space Nine - previously controlled by the Cardassians.

Rumors that Garak was a former member of the Obsidian Order - essentially Cardassian KGB - are slanderous and obviously untrue. Garak is nothing more than a tailor who just happens to have a lot of knowledge of security codes, weapons and explosives, high end secrets, exactly how to kill any species and make it look like natural causes or to send a message, and so on, for perfectly reasonable and absolutely not remotely suspicious reasons.

And then the Dominion War happens, and Garak, who has been exiled from Cardassia Prime for a little indiscretion with a high ranking officials wife (and definitely not for murdering a different official, how dare you, these rumors are unbecoming, constable), finds himself with a lot of suddenly extremely valuable skills.

Such as the time Sisko became desperate to keep the Romulan empire from joining the dominion.

Which led to Garak assassinating a romulan official and fabricating evidence to blame it on the dominion, at Sisko's order.

Garak also has fought Worf to a near standstill and when violence came to DSN, his tailor shop filled with bodies.

"Do you know what the sad part is, Odo? Im a very good tailor."

Garak is one of the single best and most compelling characters Trek has ever produced.

(Interestingly, quite a few of the best and most compelling characters in Trek history are also on that show - any episode featurinf Quark, Rom or Nog is almost guaranteed to be a banger.)

[u/Joyfulcheese → u/xv_boney]

My favourite glimpse into the real Garak was when he helped the Defiant get into Cardassian space after dropping the holofilter, "you're not Koberians!"

[u/xv_boney → u/Joyfulcheese]

https://youtu.be/z0mba5Nf520?si=NOR_NtLO5bnVzoDD

"It was just something i overheard while hemming someone's trousers."

[u/pizza-tomaten → u/xv_boney]

He has one of the best scenes in all of Star Trek. Ready to sacrifice all of his friends and himself to get rid of the dominion once and for all. This leads to this quote:

"Come on Worf, you're Klingon! Don't tell me you'd object to a little genocide in the name of self defense?!"

"I'm a warrior not a murderer!"

"What you are is a great disappointment!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZjND_neOEM

[u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits → u/pizza-tomaten]

Garak makes me sad to be straight. Unyielding, ruthless, and calculating, but still in favor of a greater principle and good. If Kira was giving that speech, it would've ruined my life. I never would've gotten over my crush on some stupid TV character. So maybe it's for the best.

That's weirdo speak for "I, too, enjoy this character and find him compelling."

[u/__xaq → u/pizza-tomaten]

Wonderful scene.

[u/cheesynougats → u/xv_boney]

Indiscretions? I will have you know Garak is in exile due to not paying his taxes, thank you very much.

[u/ExplorationGeo → u/xv_boney]

Which led to Garak assassinating a romulan official and fabricating evidence to blame it on the dominion, at Sisko's order.

But the most damning thing of all... I think I can live with it.

[u/Anthyrion → u/ExplorationGeo]

That episode was so great.

Also: That small (and I think improvised) dialogue between Quark and Garak about the Federation. We always saw the Federation from the point of view of their officers and citizens. Here we see two total outsiders looking at and talking about it.

[u/ItsABiscuit → u/xv_boney]

I did like when he got jumped by a group of Klingons and while in the Sickbay getting his broken bones etc fixed, tells Bashir that really he won because he got off several cutting remarks that will do long term psychological damage to his assailants.

[u/Optimal_Olive3423 → u/xv_boney]

If you love Garak, you should read the book "A Stitch in Time" which was written by Andrew J. Robinson (the actor who played Garak).

Even when they rebooted the DS9 series of novels and re-wrote the whole thing, that novel was left on the list. There are also several new novels that deal with his life after the Dominion war that are great. The Never Ending Sacrifice and Enigma Tales are two of them. I just read Hollow Men which deal with the fallout from Sisko and Garak's team project with the Romulans. Not as good as the others, in my opinion, but worth a read.

His story gets even better as time goes on but you kind of have to read a lot to get there.

You can read A Stich in Time without investing too much in Book Trek.

[u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits → u/xv_boney]

Garak is one of the single best and most compelling characters Trek has ever produced.

I'd argue Garak is one of the single best and most compelling characters TV has ever produced.

[u/Future_Artichoke_656 → u/xv_boney]

DS9 was peak