The Mirror Universe is the setting of several narratives in the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vario ...

'' science fiction franchise, a

parallel universe Parallel universe often refers to parallel universes in fiction, a self-contained separate world, universe or reality coexisting with the real world, which is used as a recurring plot point or setting used in fantasy and science fiction. Parallel ...

existing alongside, but separate from, the fictional universe that is the main setting of ''Star Trek''. It resembles the main ''Star Trek'' universe, but is populated by more violent and opportunistic doppelgängers of its people. The Mirror Universe has been visited in one episode of '' Star Trek: The Original Series'', five episodes of ''

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (abbreviated as ''DS9'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The fourth series in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from ...

'', a two-part episode of '' Star Trek: Enterprise,'' a storyline woven through the first season of '' Star Trek: Discovery'' (continuing with a Mirror Universe character in the main cast of seasons 2 and 3), and several non-canon ''Star Trek'' tie-in works. It is named after " Mirror, Mirror", the ''Original Series'' episode in which it first appeared.

Characteristics

The characters in the Mirror Universe are aggressive, mistrustful and opportunistic in personality. Whereas the ''

'' universe depicts an optimistic future in which the Earth-based

United Federation of Planets In the fictional universe of ''Star Trek'' the United Federation of Planets (UFP) is the interstellar government with which, as part of its space force Starfleet, most of the characters and starships of the franchise are affiliated. Commonly re ...

values peace, co-operation and exploration, episodes set in the Mirror Universe feature the human-dominated

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...

Terran Empire which values war, despotism and conquest instead. Humans in the Mirror Universe are typically referred to as "Terrans". In '' Star Trek: Discovery'', it is stated that humans from the Mirror Universe suffer from

photophobia Photophobia is a medical symptom of abnormal intolerance to visual perception of light. As a medical symptom photophobia is not a morbid fear or phobia, but an experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure or by presence of ...

(a sensitivity to light).

Television appearances

''The Original Series''

The Mirror Universe was first introduced in the original ''Star Trek'' episode " Mirror, Mirror", which featured a brutal Empire, managed by humans and their Vulcan allies, in place of the United Federation of Planets. The Mirror Captain Kirk of the ISS ''Enterprise'' was a mass murderer who was promoted to Captain after assassinating Captain Christopher Pike. Discipline aboard starships was enforced through agony booths and agonizers carried by crewmembers. Officers were barbaric in behavior and advanced in rank by killing superiors who they thought were incompetent.

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

-style military salutes were used by crewmembers to show loyalty to their captain. The episode popularized the trope of using a

goatee A goatee is a style of facial hair incorporating hair on one's chin but not the cheeks. The exact nature of the style has varied according to time and culture. Description Until the late 20th century, the term ''goatee'' was used to refer sol ...

as a visual marker for an evil version of a character.

Episodes

''Deep Space Nine''

The Mirror Universe was later revisited in the '' Deep Space Nine'' second-season episode " Crossover", and turned into a story arc that spanned into the final season, with five Mirror Universe episodes over the course of five seasons. The series reveals that when exposed to individuals from the normal universe, the Terran Empire began to reform itself for the better, but was overthrown in the 23rd century by an alliance of alien species who took advantage of the Empire's self-weakening and conquered it, enslaving humans and Vulcans in the process.

Episodes

''Enterprise''

A two-part episode of '' Star Trek: Enterprise'', entitled " In a Mirror, Darkly", introduces the early developments of the Mirror Universe.

Episodes

''Discovery''

The first season of '' Star Trek: Discovery'' has a storyline involving the Mirror Universe. Captain Gabriel Lorca, commander of the USS ''Discovery'', is discovered to be an inhabitant of the Mirror Universe on account of his intolerance to bright light, a genetic trait common to all humans from the Mirror Universe. In 2018, Comic Book Resources rated ''Discovery's'' Mirror Universe saga as the 18th best multi-part episode story of ''Star Trek''.

Episodes

Appearances in other media

In addition to the television episodes, a number of ancillary tie-in works make use of the Mirror Universe setting. These works may contradict continuity as established in the television episodes, and are not considered canon.

Novels

''Star Trek: Stargazer''

The '' Star Trek: Stargazer'' novel ''Three'' by

Michael Jan Friedman Michael Jan Friedman (born March 7, 1955) is a New York City born American author of nearly sixty books of fiction and nonfiction, more than half of which are in licensed tie-in products of the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Ten of his titles have app ...

features the Mirror Universe.

''Dark Mirror''

The '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' book '' Dark Mirror'', written by

Diane Duane Diane Duane (born May 18, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author, long based in Ireland. Her works include the '' Young Wizards'' young adult fantasy series and the '' Rihannsu'' Star Trek novels. Biography Born in New Yor ...

, offers another explanation of what happened after Captain Kirk and three of his crew encountered the Mirror Universe. In the novel, the Empire is still in existence in the 24th century. The point of divergence initially appears to be the Eugenics Wars where the genetic supermen were not defeated and eventually turned on each other resulting in atomic war, but works dating back to the days of ancient Greece supporting the Empire's current mindset are noted.

''Shatnerverse''

Various novels have been set in the ''Deep Space Nine'' version of the Mirror Universe, including a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wo ...

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpri ...

, which reveals the Mirror Kirk (or "Emperor Tiberius" as he calls himself) is still alive and plotting to reconquer the Empire.

''Star Trek: Mirror Universe''

Two collections of Mirror stories were published in 2007: the first involves Mirror ''

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

'', '' TOS'' and '' TNG'' and the second features Mirror '' DS9'', ''

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'' and ''

New Frontier The term ''New Frontier'' was used by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the De ...

''. A third collection, entitled ''Shards and Shadows'', was released in January 2009. The Mirror Universe storyline was concluded in the novel ''Rise Like Lions'', released in November 2011. A further story taking place in the Mirror Universe, ''Section 31 - Disavowed'', was released in October 2014.

Games

A number of ''Star Trek'' games take place in the Mirror Universe or reference it. Among them, the first-person shooter '' Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force'', the

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are ...

Star Trek Online ''Star Trek Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios based on the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of '' Star Trek: Nemesis''. ''St ...

'', the battle simulator '' Star Trek: Shattered Universe'' which is entirely set in the Mirror Universe, Decipher's

Star Trek Roleplaying Game ''Star Trek Roleplaying Game'' is a role-playing game (RPG) set in the ''Star Trek'' universe using the ''CODA System'' rules and first published by Decipher, Inc. in 2002. When Decipher acquired the rights to create the RPG, they also acquired ...

and '' Star Trek: Attack Wing''.

Comics

The concept of a morally inverted universe had been pioneered by DC Comics in 1964, three years before ''Star Trek'' adopted the idea, in the ''

Justice League of America The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in '' The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceive ...

'' story "Crisis on Earth-Three" written by

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for ...

. ''The Mirror Universe Saga'' is a

trade paperback Trade paperback may refer to: * Trade paperback, a higher-quality softcover version of a book * Trade paperback (comics) In comics in the United States, a trade paperback (shortened: TPB or trade) is a collection of stories originally published ...

that reprints eight issues of

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

' ''Star Trek'' comic book (issues #9-16) chronicling an encounter between the Mirror Universe and the Prime Universe. It is set immediately after the events of '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock''. The series was written by Mike W. Barr and drawn by

Tom Sutton Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002) He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyoming. Later, stationed at Itam ...

& Ricardo Villagrán. This version postulates the divergence of history to start at the time of the Earth-Romulan War, with the conquest of Earth by the Romulans; after Earth's liberation, the resistance became an empire-building government. From 2017 to 2018,

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...

published three

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered * Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number ...

set in the Mirror Universe: ''Mirror Broken'' (2017), ''Through the Mirror'' (2018), and ''Terra Incognita'' (2018). These series focused on Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the ISS Enterprise. A new limited series, entitled ''Mirror War'', was first published in 2021. It follows Picard's ongoing galactic conquest which draws the attention of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.

Web series

The fan-produced web series '' Star Trek Continues'' included an episode set in the Mirror Universe called " Fairest of Them All".

References

External links

Mirror Universe The Mirror Universe is the setting of several narratives in the ''Star Trek'' science fiction franchise, a parallel universe existing alongside, but separate from, the fictional universe that is the main setting of ''Star Trek''. It resembles t ...

article at Memory Alpha, a ''

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{{Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Fictional dimensions Mirror Universe (Star Trek) Star Trek locations