Worf's new pacifist outlook in Star Trek: Picard season 3 can be explained by the many tragedies he's faced in his life. Among the many revelations in the New York Comic-Con trailer for Picard season 3 was Worf's rejection of a life of violence. A pacifist Klingon may seem like a contradiction in terms, but there is a precedent set by Konom, who served aboard the Enterprise and Enterprise-A in five issues of DC comics' Star Trek series. Given his tragic history in both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Worf may have more reason than most to embrace a pacifist lifestyle.
In the teaser trailer for Picard season 3, Worf warned: "Do not presume to know what I have and have not sacrificed for this." It's a statement that calls to mind the losses that Worf suffered in both TNG and DS9, which Picard should not ignore. The first two seasons of Picard have been about Jean-Luc Picard getting older and making peace with the losses and regrets of his past. Picard season 3 will presumably do a similar thing for the rest of the TNG crew, and it appears that Worf's tragedies and regrets have led him down a path of non-aggression.
Every Tragedy Worf Suffered In TNG & DS9
Of all the TNG characters returning for Picard season 3, Worf has arguably had the toughest life. As a son of the disgraced House of Mogh, raised by adoptive human parents, he often struggled to fit in with both Starfleet and the Klingon Empire. When Worf's lover K'Ehleyr discovered the architects of the House of Mogh's downfall, she was murdered, leaving Worf to raise his son alone. Worf and Alexander had a fraught relationship, as the latter struggled to fit into his father's idealized version of a Klingon warrior.
Alexander was last seen at the wedding of his father and Jadzia Dax, another of Worf's lovers who was brutally murdered by a Star Trek villain. The most interesting element of Worf and Alexander's relationship with regard to Picard season 3 is revealed in TNG season 7, episode 21, "Firstborn". That episode reveals a potential future where Alexander rejects the life of a Klingon warrior to become a pacifist and a diplomat, which results in the death of his father, Worf. At the end of "Firstborn", Worf noted that knowing his own future had potentially changed it. This appears to be the case in Picard season 3, because it is Worf, rather than Alexander, who leads the House of Mogh into a pacifist future.
Will Worf Stay A Pacifist In Picard Season 3?
Worf tells Riker that he prefers "pacifism to conflict" and carries a weapon, which does suggest his new outlook is a fluid one. In the trailer, Worf talks of Raffi as angry, and irrational, likening her to his younger self. This suggests that the tragedies he's faced in both TNG and DS9 have led him to realize that anger and violence are no longer the answer to his inner turmoil.
The new pacifist outlook of the strong and formidable Worf in Star Trek: Picard season 3 suggests that he's finally achieved the inner peace that eluded him for so long. There's an inkling of this at the end of DS9 when Worf rejects the role of Klingon Chancellor, he's more than proved himself and the House of Mogh by this point, and is clearly on another path. That awareness will hopefully mean that, though he will have to take arms to defeat Captain Vadic, he will continue to find peace and balance in his later life.