Star Trek: 10 Facts About The Romulans Only Diehard Fans Know

The Romulans are one of the most recognizable and iconic antagonists in the entire Star Trek franchise. But how much do you know about them?

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Besides the Klingons, the Romulans are one of the most recognizable and iconic antagonists in the entire Star Trek franchise. These distant cousins of the Vulcans have been around since the very first TV show came out in the 1960s, and their popularity remains strong decades later. The Romulans represent a chilling and highly methodical foe that represents a major threat to intergalactic peace and stability.

Audiences have been exposed to a wealth of content revolving around this sinister race, but there’s a lot they still don’t know about their origins, culture, and makeup. Here are ten facts that casual Star Trek fans may be interested to learn about regarding Romulans, and why they’re such a pivotal part of the franchise.

10 Their Insignia

The popular Romulan insignia remains one of the most recognizable of the Star Trek universe, but few truly understand the meaning behind it. While some had theorized that it symbolizes the concepts of Romulan might and predatory strength, the reality is far more complex and traces back thousands of years into Vulcan history.

At the time, the Vulcan Surak attempted to reform his violent race into pacifists who relied on logic to suppress emotions and yield greater prosperity. A small faction rejected this teaching and fled to become the Romulan Star Empire. Surak referred to these outcasts as “those who march beneath the Raptor’s wings,” a description the Romulans stole wholesale and applied to their now-famous insignia.

9 They Were Not Always Hostile

The Romulans have a long and storied history of hostilities with the Federation, which first began shortly before the United Federation of Planets was established. Seeing the peace initiatives being drafted by humans, Andorians and Tellarites made them wary of what would happen if their combined strength continued to grow.

After failing to destabilize the Alpha Quadrant, the Romulans engaged in war with Starfleet, only to go into isolation for a long while. They broke this isolation shortly after revealing themselves to Captain Kirk and his Enterprise crew, at which point they held an embassy on Earth for diplomatic purposes. This, however, lasted only for the blink of an eye.

8 They Are Biologically Different From Vulcans

Many Star Trek fans know that Vulcans and Romulans are essentially “cousins” to one another, but for all their physical similarities and shared origins, the two are unique to one another. In fact, the differences are so abundant that their genetic physiology prevents cross-medical treatment in many circumstances.

Star Trek: The Next Generation doubled down on this in the season 3 episode “The Enemy,” when Doctor Beverly Crusher was unable to treat Romulan injuries, despite her vast knowledge of Vulcan biology. Ironically, Klingon officer Worf possessed a genetic similarity that would have allowed for treatment.

7 Xenophobic To A Point

The xenophobia of the Romulans is well documented, but it seems to have more to do with preserving culture, as opposed to a genuine hatred of other races. Still, they believed they were the dominant species in the galaxy, and would not pass up any opportunity to subjugate weaker worlds whom they looked down on.

The Romulan Star Empire had little trouble allowing genetically mixed individuals into the upper echelon of their government. For instance, Tasha Yar gave birth to a half-human/Romulan named Sela, who went on to become a high-ranking military officer. Similarly, Commodore Oh was viewed in high regard as a member of the Zhat Vash, despite her Vulcan/Romulan bloodline.

6 No Gender Inequality

Much like the Cardassian Union, the Romulan Star Empire didn’t seem to care much about gender roles. Men and women were free to pursue their career choices, with no barriers or stereotypes to stand in the way. It was not uncommon to see women in command of starships, or as members of the feared Tal Shiar secret police.

Cultural pride and a National Socialist view of politics is what drove much of the Romulan Empire’s ambitions, and it didn’t care much about drawing lines in the sand. To a Romulan, the ascendency of the Star Empire was a shared goal that all could participate in.

5 They Abandoned Violence In Favor Of Duplicity

The Romulans who rejected Surak’s logic-based enlightenment movement did not go on to retain the same bloodthirsty instincts as their Vulcan cousins. They too realized the self-destructiveness of giving into primal, base emotions and thoughts. As such, they devised their own method of progressing forward intellectually.

Romulans replaced raging aggression and violent behavior with a disciplined, structured mindset built largely on duplicity, and even betrayal. This allowed them to control not only their own populace with an iron fist, but also turn that duplicitous nature outwards, against other species such as the Federation, and the Vulcans. The notorious Commander Tomalak exemplified this quality.

4 They Were Eugenicists

Horrible as it may seem, the Romulans practiced eugenics as a means to keep their race pure, and free of defects. They believed that the disabled and handicapped were a drain on resources, and this attitude was not restricted only to adults.

Children born less than perfect were summarily disposed of; another facet of their culture linking them to Hitler’s Third Reich in the 1930s and 40s. Such a horrible practice was deemed efficient and “logical” to the Romulan Star Empire, but the cultural and moral costs would undoubtedly be too high to factor.

3 Their Names

Star Trek: Picard gave audiences more snippets of intriguing information about the Romulan culture that they may have missed. The episode “The Impossible Box” revealed that Romulans actually use three names, each one dependent on whom they’re addressing at any given time.

Outsiders would be given a unique name compared to the one Romulans used among family members. They also used a third name for those they shared a romantic attachment with, suggesting that Romulan passions run far deeper than many humans may have first expected.

2 A Tale Of Two Origins

The Romulan race was created for the original Star Trek TV series under rather weird circumstances. Freelance writer Paul Schneider was mostly responsible for their original inception, and the basing of their world on ancient Earth Roman culture. According to the season 1 Blu-Ray bonus material, his idea revolved around a “what-if” scenario where the Romans managed to live on, and eventually achieve space travel.

While this would eventually morph into a mixture of Roman elitism and National Socialism, Roddenberry had originally intended for the Romulans to represent Mao Zedong’s totalitarian Chinese Communism. The former works much better for the Star Trek format, even if it will forever remain weird for an alien race to reference Roman mythology.

1 No Telepathic Abilities

To date, there has been little-to-no mention of Romulans possessing the same kind of telepathic abilities as native-born Vulcans do. Subsequent material has given rise to several different explanations from this, all of which reach the same conclusion. The most prominent theory is that Romulans abandoned Surak’s enlightenment long before they had a chance to perfect their mental powers.

As such, Romulans don’t bother with mind-melds or other forms of telepathy in the same way that Vulcans do. It’s a good thing, given how treacherous and cruel the Romulans can be when extracting information, or infiltrating foreign governments.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/star-trek-romulans-trivia-facts/