The first well-documented crossover into the mirror universe, in 2267.
The Mirror Universe is a parallel universe where the patterns of events move in similar manners to that of the regular universe, but the intentions and characterizations are different, often showing "evil" characteristic in place of "good" and visa versa. The mirror universe shares a similar history to that of the "regular universe" and many of the same people exist in this reality, but they and the world they live in are skewed versions of their "normal" counterparts.
- Because of the development of the mirror universe in canon and non-canon works over the years several alternate mirror universes have been established. The page approaches the mirror universe from its most recent and complete canon version with compliant non-canon works, accepting variations of the mirror universe presented in other non-canon works as alternate mirror universes.
History
Early History
It is not clear if the mirror universe diverged from the regular universe at some point or always existed in tandem, mirroring events and peoples. If the two universes did diverge it was at a point many hundreds of years ago, when the inhabitants of the mirror universe encountered a ship from the "regular universe" Phlox's mirror counterpart noted that the "great works" of literature in both universes were roughly the same except that the regular universe characters were "soft and weak", with the exception of Shakespeare. (ENT episode: "In a Mirror, Darkly")
- In the mirror universe of Dark Mirror Earth's history took a darker turn starting with the end of Homer's Iliad, where Achilles kills King Priam instead of showing one moment of humanity. Khan Noonien Singh and the other supermen won the Eugenics Wars, but then wiped each other out. The Vulcans were also militaristic as there was no Surak.
The mirror Klingons culture has a basis of celebrating the victory of Molor over Kahless. (ST novels: Dark Passions, Book One, Dark Passions, Book Two)
In the mirror universe, first contact was slightly different.
In 2063 first contact between Vulcans and Humans took place much as it did in the regular universe. However once the Vulcans landed, instead of welcoming them with open arms, Zefram Cochrane shot the first Vulcan to step onto "Terran" soil and the "Terrans" proceeded to raid the Vulcan ship. The gun used by Zefram Cochrane later would come into the possession of Jonathan Archer, who wondered what would have happened had Cochrane not "turned the tables on the Vulcans' invasion force." With advanced Vulcan technology now at their disposal, the Terrans were able to expand the "Terran Empire" and conquer other worlds, including Vulcan. (ENT episode: "In a Mirror, Darkly")
- It is not clear when the Empire began. Commander Jonathan Archer's mirror counterpart once stated that the Empire had existed for "centuries" as of 2155. Archer did not mention how many centuries, but by his statement, the Empire can be traced back to at least 1955, suggesting that it was a Terran political unit before it became an interstellar empire. The credits sequence for In a Mirror, Darkly used footage of battles going back at least to the "Age of Sail". It also appears that the empire that conflicts with the Xindi.
- The Mirror Universe Trilogy First Contact was the point of divergence with the regular universe, at this point Zefram Cochrane warned the Vulcans about the Borg, and humans and Vulcans formed a militaristic alliance to wipe out the Borg, after which they became the Empire.
- The Mirror Universe Saga had the Empire come about because the Romulans conquered Earth and enslaved humans for almost a decade. When Earth overthrew the Romulans it embarked on a program of conquest itself and became the Terran Empire.
The Bajorans and Trill had empires until they were conquered by Earth. (ST novels: Dark Passions, Book One, Dark Passions, Book Two)
22nd century
By the 22nd century with advanced Vulcan technology at their disposal, the Terran Empire had expanded and conquered other races, including the Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Orions and Denobulans.
In 2155, the ISS Enterprise, under the command of Captain Maximilian Forrest was the flagship of the Terran Empire's Starfleet's mirror counterpart. In January of that year, Commander Jonathan Archer mutinied against Forrest in order to take the ship into Tholian space to capture the regular universe starship USS Defiant which the Tholians had obtained. While the mutiny was ultimately unsuccessful, Captain Forrest had no choice but to continue the mission, since the ship's helm had been locked on auto-pilot. The Enterprise was later destroyed by Tholian ships, but not before Archer was able to take control of the Defiant. Archer tried to use the Defiant in a grab for power, intending to replace the Emperor, but was betrayed and killed by Hoshi Sato's mirror counterpart, who declared herself Empress. (ENT episode: "In a Mirror, Darkly"; ENT novel: Age of the Empress)
- Sato's rise to power is detailed in Age of the Empress.
23rd century
In possession of the USS Defiant the mirror universe was aware of the regular universe, and in the regular universe Section 31 had some knowledge of the mirror universe. (ENT episode: "In a Mirror, Darkly"; ENT novel: The Good That Men Do)
However it was not until 2267 that any official contact between the universes is recorded. By this time the Terran Empire was the dominant power in the Alpha Quadrant. In a transporter accident caused by interference from an ion storm a landing party from the USS Enterprise switched places with an identical party from the ISS Enterprise in the mirror universe. The four Starfleet officers; Captain James T. Kirk, Lieutenant Uhura, Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott and Doctor Leonard McCoy found the terran vessel to be brutal regime, almost dictatorial in its command structure. Advancement achieved through assassination was commonplace.
During the encounter, Captain James T. Kirk convinced the counterpart of his first officer, Spock's mirror counterpart, that the Empire could not sustain itself. Indeed, Spock predicted that in its current form, the Empire had two centuries before total collapse. (TOS episode: "Mirror, Mirror"; TOS novel: The Sorrows of Empire)
Shortly thereafter, Spock rose to become leader of the Terran Empire, proposing a series of reforms designed to make the Empire more secure and less dictatorial in nature. These included a significant disarmament program. Unfortunately, once these reforms were complete, the Empire was unable to defend itself against the equally aggressive and powerful forces surrounding it. The Klingon-Cardassian Alliance overran the Empire, conquering Earth and leaving Terrans and Vulcans enslaved. (DS9 episode: "Crossover")
- Spock's rise to power is detailed in The Sorrows of Empire.
During this time, the forces of the mirror universe began implementing safeguards to prevent another crossover event with the regular universe. Transporter design was altered to prevent interdimensional travel - requiring the creation of devices specifically for that purpose, including the multidimensional transporter. In the event of another crossover, those involved would be killed to prevent further interference. (DS9 episodes: "Crossover", "Through the Looking Glass")
In 2293, after being snared in the Janus Prime Vortex, Captain Hikaru Sulu and the crew of the USS Excelsior found themselves in the mirror universe, transposed into the bodies of their duplicates, aboard the ISS Excelsior. In order to return to their own universe, Sulu's crew were forced to use the Imperial starship and its fighters to escape from the Terran Empire, and enlist the aid of the Klingon Alliance and the Romulan Republic in fighting the Tholian Empire to gain access to the Janus Ultima Vortex. (TOS video game: Shattered Universe)
24th century
By the early 24th century the Terrans had been reduced to a slave race and a handful of rebels on the run from the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, which was intent on destroying the entire Terran race. One such ships used by the Terran Rebellion was Stargazer, captained by Gilaad Ben Zoma's mirror counterpart. (STA novel: Three)
Bajor's mirror counterpart, formally occupied by the Terrans was freed by the Alliance and soon joined it, in orbit the command post/ore processing facility Terok Nor was constructed.
By 2370, the second major contact with the regular universe took place. A runabout from station Deep Space 9 entered the mirror universe following an incident in the Bajoran wormhole. Kira Nerys and Julian Bashir were captured by forces from Terok Nor, and interrogated by the commander, Intendant Kira Nerys's mirror counterpart. Bashir was sent to work in the ore processing plant, where he befriended Miles O'Brien's mirror counterpart. After instigating a series of incidents aboard the station, including the death of Odo's mirror counterpart during a slave uprising, Kira and Bashir convinced privateer Benjamin Sisko's mirror counterpart to rebel against the Alliance and help them to escape back to the regular universe. (DS9 episode: "Crossover")
A year later, Smiley crossed over to the regular universe and impersonated his counterpart long enough to capture Benjamin Sisko. He took Sisko back to the mirror universe, where he convinced him to impersonate his mirror self who had been killed in a skirmish with Alliance ships. The rebels needed the other Sisko to win over Jennifer Sisko's mirror counterpart, Sisko's wife, who was working as a scientist for the Alliance. Jennifer had been developing a transpectral sensor array which would have allowed the Alliance to locate rebel hideouts in the Badlands. Fortunately for the rebels Ben was able to convince Jennifer to defect to the rebels. (DS9 episode: "Through the Looking Glass")
In the Badlands, Chakotay's mirror counterpart, a former slave, commanded a ship in the rebellion attempting to evade pursuit. There he encountered a strange ship which had been catapulted seventy thousand light-years across the galaxy. (VOY novel: The Mirror-Scaled Serpent)
While in the Federation's universe, Smiley downloaded information from Deep Space 9's computers, including the plans for the USS Defiant. In 2372, the rebels constructed their own version of the Defiant's mirror counterpart, but had trouble getting it to function properly. Jennifer lured Ben Sisko back into the mirror universe to help. By this time the rebellion had grown in strength, culminating in the capture of Terok Nor, which became a rebel base of operations. (DS9 episode: "Shattered Mirror")
In 2374, Intendant Kira sent a thief, Bareil Antos's mirror counterpart to the regular universe to steal one of the Bajoran Orbs, believing it would permit Kira to unite Bajor under her rule. The attempt failed, and Bareil returned to the mirror universe without the orb. (DS9 episode: "Resurrection")
In 2375, Grand Nagus Zek, the leader of the Ferengi Alliance in the regular universe, used the multidimensional transporter to travel to the mirror universe, hoping to open up business opportunities, however he was captured and held hostage by the Alliance. Intendant Kira made arrangements with Worf's mirror counterpart, the Regent of the Alliance, to obtain a Klingon cloaking device from the regular universe in exchange for Zek's return.
She sent Ezri Tigan's mirror counterpart, a Trill mercenary and Kira's lover, to give Quark the ransom demand. Quark and his brother Rom stole the cloaking device from Klingon General Martok's ship and delivered it to Ezri, but decided at the last minute that they couldn't trust her to keep her side of the deal, and accompanied her to the mirror universe. There all three were captured by the Terran rebels, who planned to keep the cloaking device. Ezri's companion Brunt's mirror counterpart freed them, delivering them to Regent Worf. Aboard Worf's flagship, Quark and Rom were imprisoned along with Zek upon discovering Kira's plan, only to be later rescued by Ezri as revenge against Kira for killing Brunt. Ezri ended up joining the rebel cause. The regular universe Ferengis were allowed to return to the primary universe for having aided the rebels' defeat of Worf, a major victory for the rebellion. (DS9 episode: "The Emperor's New Cloak"; DS9 novel: Saturn's Children)
- Continuing events on the mirror universe are told in Saturn's Children.
In late 2376, Intendant Kira managed to use a form of mind control to manipulate the regular universe Jem'Hadar Taran'atar into doing her bidding. She had him attack Kira Nerys before fleeing Deep Space Nine and eventually beamed him into the mirror universe, shortly after she was killed by Iliana Ghemor. (DS9 novel: Warpath)
- The continuing tale of events in the mirror universe will be told in the forthcoming novel Fearful Symmetry.
Technology
- agonizer
- agony booth
- multidimensional transporter device
- tantalus field
- tricobalt warhead
Background
The mirror universe was first established in the episode "Mirror, Mirror", following this there were no further canon visits until the Deep Space Nine episode "Crossover", DS9 continued to explore the mirror universe in several episodes and some year later the series Enterprise also explored the mirror universe in "In a Mirror, Darkly". Between these various canon productions the mirror universe was the basis of many novels and comics, however as each TV series made its own mark on the continuity of the mirror universe the histories and futures established for the universe in non-canon works began to contradict canon. Most recently several mirror universe novels have been published in the DS9 Relaunch series and the Star Trek: Mirror Universe series which integrate new non-canon stories into the complete canon mirror universe.
Episodes
- ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly"
- TOS: "Mirror, Mirror"
- DS9:
Novels
Primary continutity:
Shatnerverse:
Other:
Comics
Other licensed works
- Through a Glass, Darkly is an RPG that focuses on the mirror universe.
- Two video games incorporate mirror universe elements: Shattered Universe and Elite Force.
- Several expansions of Star Trek CCG make use of the mirror universe, chief among them Mirror, Mirror and In a Mirror, Darkly.
- Star Trek Encyclopedia provides information on mirror universe characters and storyline.
- Star Trek Chronology and Voyages of Imagination place mirror universe events into a timeline.
Connections
- Mirror universe article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Mirror universe article at Star Trek Expanded Universe wiki, the wiki for fan-authored Star Trek.
- Mirror universe article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.