Thaddeus "Thad" Troi-Riker was a male Human–Betazoid hybrid, born in 2381 to William T. Riker and Deanna Troi on the USS Titan. He was the older brother of Kestra Troi-Riker.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Thaddeus with his mother Deanna Troi
Thad was born on the USS Titan and raised on starships, as his parents served in Starfleet. (PIC: "Seventeen Seconds")
Shortly after his birth, his mother took him on a tour of engineering where he vomited. Deanna described it as projectile vomiting-"four feet in the air"-and noted that he should be studied for science. (PIC: "Seventeen Seconds")
As an infant, he had his picture taken with Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, a family friend and the former captain under whom both of his parents had served.
When he began to learn about people that had homeworlds, he became intrigued by the concept. He was extremely creative and artistic, creating a fantasy world that he pretended was his homeworld, called Ardani.
From the time that he was around five years old, he would eventually invent a total of twelve languages for his fantasy world, which he shared with his sister; he wrote and developed a 300-page dictionary for at least one of his languages and taught it to the rest of his family, who sometimes used it to converse among themselves.
Living on Nepenthe[]
After being diagnosed with mendaxic neurosclerosis, his family moved to Nepenthe, which became a real homeworld for him.
Thad was adept at archery; he owned a longbow, a compound bow, several quivers, and had an archery trophy.
He was brought there because the soil had incredible regenerative properties, and it was hoped that he would get better. In theory, his condition could have been easily cured through the use of an active positronic matrix. However, due to the ban on synthetic lifeforms, there were no active synthetic matrices and no new ones could be created. In the absence of this treatment option, Thad died from his condition. (PIC: "Nepenthe")
Legacy[]
Thad's death had a devastating effect on both Riker and Troi. Riker felt numb, but Troi, being an empath, felt everything, because she took on Riker’s emotions. So when Picard called asking for help to rescue Doctor Beverly Crusher and her son Jack, Riker jumped at the chance to leave and feel his emotions. Troi and Riker eventually apologized to each other. (PIC: "The Next Generation", "Disengage", "Seventeen Seconds", "No Win Scenario")
When Riker was on the Borg Queen's cube and it was being destroyed, Riker mentioned that he and Thad would be waiting for Deanna when she passed away. However, Deanna sensed her husband's message telepathically and was able to use it to fly the USS Enterprise-D to Riker's rescue. (PIC: "The Last Generation")
Creations[]
Appendices[]
Appearances[]
- PIC:
- "Nepenthe" (photo) (Season 1)
- "Seventeen Seconds" (flashback) (Season 3)
Background information[]
Thaddeus was seen in a photograph in "Nepenthe" and in a flashback scene in "Seventeen Seconds". He was portrayed by unknown infants on both occasions.
In the "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1[!]" Ready Room episode, prop master Jeffrey Lombardi stated the photograph of Picard and Thaddeus was taken aboard the USS Titan.
According to the Star Trek: Picard Logs, he was born on his father's starship, the Titan. [1]
In an Instagram story dated 5 March 2020, Michael Chabon stated that Thad was around 15 when he died, having lived with his family on Nepenthe for about 5 years at that point, meaning that his family moved there in 2391, and that Thad died in 2396. He also confirmed that Thaddeus was named after the character's paternal ancestor Thaddius Riker, depicted in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Death Wish", and further posited that Thad may have inherited more of his mother's Betazoid ability than his sister, Kestra.
When questioned as to the creative thought process behind having Will and Deanna lose a son, Chabon explained that "it was something that arose organically on the page as the seal was broken on an imagined Troi-Riker family, allowing the passage of time, and our show's recurrent motif of loss, to flow in." [2]
In background notes Chabon published on 29 December 2020, he suggested Thaddeus' middle name was Worf, and that Thaddeus had died in 2396. Chabon further suggested that Thad was precocious aboard the ship, and had befriended one of the Vulcan officers. [3]
Thaddeus' middle name was given as Worf in the novel The Dark Veil.
Apocrypha[]
Before Star Trek: Picard, the Strange New Worlds VII short story "Guardians" named Riker and Troi's son as Ian Kyle Riker, born in 2382 and ascending to the rank of Fleet Admiral by 2462.
External link[]
- Thaddeus Troi-Riker at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works