"The Joining" and Trill Culture
It was originally assumed that only a small fraction (0.01%) of the Trill population was capable of being joined, a myth that the Trill government continues to perpetuate. This is because the joining of the Dax symbiont with the host Joran (Curzon's predecessor) was a disaster — Joran was insane and a murderer. Joran's joining with Dax was covered up and all records of it were erased. The Trill government attempted to blame the failure on Joran's unsuitability as a host, but the truth was that Joran had passed the host screening tests and was technically a stable host — as was almost half of the Trill humanoid population. The government dares not let this information become public, lest the symbionts become a commodity to be bought, sold and fought over by the public; as long as it is widely believed that only a small fraction can become hosts, the government reasons, then such widespread hysteria can be avoided ("Equilibrium", DS9).
A joined Trill is known by the given name of the host followed by the name of the symbiont: for example, when Ezri Tigan was joined with the symbiont Dax, her name became Ezri Dax.
Trill society has a taboo against resuming relationships with loved ones from one's past joining, on the principle that each life must be unique ("Rejoined", DS9). This taboo apparently does not extend to non-romantic relationships (or perhaps non-Trills), since Jadzia Dax renewed Curzon Dax's friendship with Benjamin Sisko and others without comment, as Ezri Dax renewed Jadzia's friendship with the crew of Deep Space Nine. This taboo also was not yet developed at the time of the TNG episode "The Host", which featured a romantic relationship between Odan and Dr. Crusher, which Odan wished to continue through several hosts.
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Famous quotes containing the words joining and/or culture:
“Women will not advance except by joining together in cooperative action.... Unlike other groups, women do not need to set affiliation and strength in opposition one against the other. We can readily integrate the two, search for more and better ways to use affiliation to enhance strength—and strength to enhance affiliation.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)
“The hard truth is that what may be acceptable in elite culture may not be acceptable in mass culture, that tastes which pose only innocent ethical issues as the property of a minority become corrupting when they become more established. Taste is context, and the context has changed.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)