Captain Dathon
- You may also be looking for Dathan Alaris, an Enaran.
Dathon, a Tamarian captain, was the first of his race to successfully establish communications between his species and the Federation, in 2368. Previous attempts had been unsuccessful because the Tamarian language uses metaphors to communicate. At first Dathon and Captain Jean-Luc Picard tried to communicate but neither one could comprehend what the other one was saying.
Dathon beamed himself and Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise to a planet where they would fight an electromagnetic lifeform. Dathon hoped that sharing time on the planet with Picard would help him to better understand the Tamarian's metaphoric language. Dathon offered Picard a knife, and Picard assumed that Dathon wants to engage in combat and refused to take his knife. Dathon again tried to communicate with Picard, but Picard could not understand what Dathon is saying and both men become frustrated with their failure. Later, a creature appeared and attacked both men. Picard realized that the knife was for defense, and both men fended off the creature. Picard hypothesized that the Tamarians communicate by example, using metaphors, and the proper names and places Dathon cited were references to situations in their history. Picard was then able to begin to communicate with Dathon, and the alien responded enthusiastically to his efforts.
When the creature attacked again, Dathon was killed by the beast. However, his sacrifice was not in vain: Picard was transported to safety and was able to communicate with Dathon's ship and explain how their captain died, opening a new era in relations with the Tamarians in the process. (TNG: "Darmok")
- Dathon was played by actor Paul Winfield.