Zhian'tara

Warning! This page contains information regarding Star Trek: Discovery, and thus may contain spoilers.

The zhian'tara, also known as the Trill rite of closure, is a ritual in which a joined Trill meets with the previous hosts of their symbiont.

During the rite, the personalities and memories of the previous hosts are telepathically transferred from the host to the bodies of voluntary friends by a Guardian. The former hosts' personalities assert themselves and the new host can converse and interact with them; this allows the new host to "meet" the other hosts who had been, until then, only memories and emotions. The objective is to allow the new host to understand more completely how the past hosts influence the new hosts. It is up to the volunteer friends to decide when to release the consciousnesses back to the original Trill.

Zhian'tara is considered so important a ceremony that the Symbiosis Commission requires it be performed and will go to some lengths to see it done.

Zhian'tara cannot be done using an already joined host to hold the transferred consciousness. (DIS: "Jinaal")

In 2371, Jadzia Dax went through the zhian'tara, using seven fellow Deep Space 9 personnel as host bodies for the Dax symbiont's former hosts' consciousnesses. (DS9: "Facets")

In 3190, Guardian Xi arrived on the USS Discovery via hologram to perform an unjoining of Gray Tal from the Tal symbiont, to incorporate Gray's consciousness to a golem. Guardian Xi noted to Dr. Hugh Culber and Adira Tal that it was an atypical arrangement, for a "zhian'tara unlike any other." After Xi conducted the ritual, he noted that he was not yet able to sense Gray's presence in Gray's new body. Also, Guardian Xi is only present as a hologram when he performed the ritual, hinting at the fact it was primarily the symbiont who was responsible for the transfer while the Guardians performed only a ritual function during the zhian'tara and Xi might not have meant it literally when he spoke of not "sensing" a presence. The combination of the zhian'tara and the Soong Method successfully separated and resurrected Gray in a new golem body. (DIS: "Choose to Live")

In 3191, Guardian Xi used zhian'tara to temporarily transfer Jinaal Bix's consciousness into Culber's body so that Jinaal could give the Discovery crew the next clue to where the Progenitors' technology was hidden. (DIS: "Jinaal")

Culber, seeking answers for the spiritual crisis that he had been going through even since undergoing zhian'tara, underwent testing for biological, chemical and genetic abnormalities. The tests showed that Culber had no lasting aftereffects from zhian'tara. (DIS: "Whistlespeak")

While Culber initially had no access to Jinaal's memories after zhian'tara, he later felt a drive to go on the mission to stabilize the portal to the Progenitors' technology and was guided by one of Jinaal's memories that unexpectedly surfaced. Culber was unable to explain either his drive or the sudden access to one of Jinaal's memories. (DIS: "Life, Itself")

External link[]

• Zhian'tara at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works