Jake Sisko

Jake Sisko, played by Cirroc Lofton, is Benjamin Sisko‘s son. Aged about thirteen at the start of Season One, Jake appears irregularly throughout the first three seasons. In the fourth and later seasons, however, Jake acquires his own personality and becomes an interesting character.

As the series commences, Jake, as a character, gets off to a shaky start. He’s whiny and ungrateful, and there are whiffs of Wesley Crusher and Dawn Summers floating off him. No-one likes me, I’ve got no friends, wah, wah. He teams up with Nog pretty fast, however, and the two of them rapidly stabilise each other. Nog stops Jake from becoming too angsty, and Jake prevents Nog from being seen as an actual criminal.

Nog, of course, eventually joins Starfleet,  but Jake discovers that his heart lies elsewhere – as a writer. Initally, this expresses itself through poetry, but Jake also explores journalism, a plan that causes him to remain behind on DS9 when it is occupied by the Dominion. Jake also writes at least one novel, Anslem.

The character development of Jake Sisko is interesting, because he’s one of the very, very few teenagers who don’t want to join Starfleet. Almost every other child or teenager ever mentioned wants to get into the Academy so badly they can taste it, but Jake just doesn’t desire it.

Overall, however, Jake never really manages to move out from his father’s shadow. Certain episodes, most noticeably ‘The Visitor’, allow us a clearer insight into Jake’s character, but those developments always seem to be airbrushed over by the next time he turns up.