One of the most complicated and controversial races in Star Trek are the Romulans. Despite being proverbial cousins of the fame Vulcans, they are quite different. The Romulans are a people whose entire culture is based around being paranoid, secretive, and territorial. It's how they set up their totalitarian government and their countless secret organizations. They also forbid casual, un-sanctioned Romulan involvement with people outside the empire.
However, despite the government's strict rules, there are quite a few Romulans that break all their social norms. Not everyone wants to be afraid of other species their entire lives.
Here are 10 Romulans who betrayed their culture.
Praetor Neral
During TNG, Neral was a Romulan politician with hidden Vulcan sympathies. He worked with Spock himself to try to broaden the Romulan perspective and possibly even re-unify the races. This brave man showed up in a single episode and nothing more.
That is, until a decade or so later. A weather, older man, Neral became a high-raking member of the Romulan council. Section 31 used Julian Bashir to get Neral, a secret Federation sympathizer, elected Praetor of the Empire.
He betrayed their old culture to his very core, wanting to change Romulan policy entirely, being more open to the galaxy. However, his version of Romulus is probably much kinder to strangers.
Laris And Zhaban
Laris and Zhaban are Picard's Romulan caretakers. Picard helped these two escape Romulus before its implosion. Because of this, they stay with him, protect him, and keep him company. They also help him run the vineyard. They became like family to him, even though they came from very different backgrounds.
As someone involved with the seedier underbelly of Romulus once upon a time, Laris has especially betrayed her own heritage and culture. Instead of keeping all these secrets and spying on Picard, not trusting him, she and Zhaban are very open and honest with him. That kind of trust comes with serious trauma survived together, and Romulan fear doesn't supersede that.
Ba'El And Her People
One of the most infamous moments in Klingon history was the Kitomer massacre, which took hundreds of Klingon lives and helped fuel the flames of war between their peoples.
While most all inhabitants lost their lives that day, some were taken as prisoners by Romulans and transported to a planet where they were meant to be captives. Over time, when it became clear no one was coming for either party, they gave up the pretenses of jailer and prisoner and became a community. Some even married across species and had children, like the thoughtful and beautiful Ba'El, who Worf had a very brief romance with.
Their view on being Romulan completely changed when they realized the Klingons they stole were not so different from them, after all.
Narek
Even though Narek is still a Romulan agent and seems to have plans to hurt the synthetics (including Soji), he did seem to genuinely fall in love with the beautiful android. His values are still Romulan, but he betrayed his culture, especially as Zhat Vash, but finding beauty and love in "the destroyer".
Going into the finale next week, Narek is a true wild card. He hasn't changed his mind about synths (as far as fans know), but he still does have feelings for the dear Dr. Asha. Will he go all the way in betraying her or betraying the Romulan ways?
Either way, a full betrayal isn't everything. He's already betrayed the rules with his heart, and that's enough.
Saavik
While it didn't get time to be explored in the films, Saavik is a half-Romulan, half-Vulcan Starfleet officer. She served under Kirk and Spock during their older adventures, with Khan and Klingons.
Despite her half-Romulan blood, Saavik has chosen to completely reject that side of herself, acting like any other Vulcans in The Federation. She had such a close bond with Spock that she even shed a single tear during his funeral, making her a rebel of Vulcan and Romulan tradition.
Her heritage was written into the films at one point, but this line about her backstory got deleted in later drafts.
Raffi's Daughter-In-Law
When the Picard crew was on Freecloud, Raffi found out that her son was not only married, but about to be a father to a baby girl. And his wife wasn't just anyone, but a Romulan herself.
While many Romulans remained bitter after the failed rescue project, it's clear that this young woman put that dark history behind her. After all, she didn't just marry someone non-Romulan. She married a Federation citizen and the son of a prominent Starfleet officer.
This young lady turned her back on all Romulan paranoia and mistrust to put all her faith in her beloved husband, Gabriel, and their future together. That's honestly really sweet.
Admiral Jarok
Masquerading as a lower ranking officer, Jarok turned himself over to The Federation to try to stop war from breaking out. Jarok was so concerned for the safety of his people, though, that he forgot the nature of their government: secrets and paranoia.
The Romulan government set up the entire ploy to trick Jarok and find out if he was actually a Federation sympathizer. He wasn't but they banished him from Romulus.
And, devastated, Jarok took his own life. He made the mistake of forgetting the culture he came from and what it was capable of.
Zani And The Qowat Milat
Despite Romulans having a close, seductive relationship with secrets, the Qowat Milat reject that aspect of their culture. Instead, they practice Absolute Candidness, AKA always being honest about everything. The head nun, Zani, and her fellow blademasters are a selfless and powerful people. They may still know how to fight like many other Romulans, but they don't use it for the government and to keep their own power intact. Instead, they use it to protect lost causes.
That's not something Romulans normally would be into, especially since the Qowat Milat applies their system to non-Romulans, as well.
While fans think they're great, their own culture probably thinks they are optimistic fools.
Simon Tarses
When it came to the shame that some Romulans could feel for their own xenophobic culture, few emulate this like Simon Tarses, a Vulcan/Romulan hybrid that did not disclose his heritage when he joined the Enterprise. He and his family didn't believe in their militiristic, paranoid, secretive ways. They tried to be more open and altruistic.
However, that did make Simon feel like he had to hide his history; that it made people assume he could be a spy like so many others of his people.
Simon rejected everything about Romulan culture, which caused him a lot of pain, but led him to being an upstanding Starfleet officer with nothing else to hide.
Elnor
In several ways, Elnor is nothing like he's supposed to be. For one, he grew up a member of the Qowat Milat, an order traditionally only for Romulan women. Second, he is a Romulan deeply devoted to a human: Picard. As a child, Elnor was obsessed with Picard. He saw him as the closest thing he'd ever had to a father. It left a deep impression on him that made him into the heroic young man he became.
Selfless, open-hearted, and honest to a fault, Elnor defies everything that Romulan culture normally exudes. He is not afraid or paranoid or so filled with passion that he boils over the brim. Instead, he is just a hopeful, joyful young blademaster forging his own path as a Romulan in the galaxy.