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What was the Great Trek?

The Great Trek was a perilous exodus of pioneers into the heart of South Africa, looking for a place to call home.

When the British took control of Cape Town and the Cape Colony in the early 1800s, tensions grew between the new colonizers of British stock, and the old colonizers, the Boers, descendants of the original Dutch settlers. From 1835, the Boers would lead numerous expeditions out of the Cape Colony, traversing towards the interior of South Africa. Escaping British rule would come with a host of deadly challenges, and the Boers, seeking their own lands, would find themselves in direct conflict with the people who resided in the interior, most notably the Ndebele and the Zulu.

The “Great Trek” is a story of resentment, displacement, murder, war, and hope, and it forms one of the bloodiest chapters of South Africa’s notoriously violent history.

Origins of the Great Trek

The Cape was first colonized by the Dutch , when they landed there in 1652, and Cape Town quickly grew into a vital refueling station between Europe and the East Indies. The colony prospered and grew, with Dutch settlers taking up both urban and rural posts. In 1795, Britain invaded and took control of the Cape Colony, as it was Dutch possession, and Holland was under the control of the French Revolutionary government . After the war, the colony was handed back to Holland (the Batavian Republic) which in 1806, fell under French rule again. The British responded by annexing the Cape completely.

Under British rule, the colony underwent major administrative changes. The language of administration became English, and liberal changes were made which designated non-white servants as citizens. Britain, at the time, was adamantly anti-slavery, and was enacting laws to end it.

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Tensions grew between the British and the Boers (farmers). In 1815, a Boer was arrested for assaulting one of his servants. Many other Boers rose up in rebellion in solidarity, culminating in five being hanged for insurrection. In 1834, legislation passed that all slaves were to be freed. The vast majority of Boer farmers owned slaves, and although they were offered compensation, travel to Britain was required to receive it which was impossible for many. Eventually, the Boers had had enough of British rule and decided to leave the Cape Colony in search of self-governance and new lands to farm. The Great Trek was about to begin.

The Trek Begins

Not all Afrikaners endorsed the Great Trek. In fact, only a fifth of the Cape’s Dutch-speaking people decided to take part. Most of the urbanized Dutch were actually content with British rule. Nevertheless, many Boers decided to leave. Thousands of Boers loaded up their wagons and proceeded to venture into the interior and towards peril.

The first wave of voortrekkers (pioneers) met with disaster. After setting out in September 1835, they crossed the Vaal River in January, 1836, and decided to split up, following differences between their leaders. Hans van Rensburg led a party of 49 settlers who trekked north into what is now Mozambique. His party was slain by an impi (force of warriors) of Soshangane. For van Rensburg and his party, the Great Trek was over. Only two children survived who were saved by a Zulu warrior. The other party of settlers, led by Louis Tregardt, settled near Delagoa Bay in southern Mozambique, where most of them perished from fever.

A third group led by Hendrik Potgieter, consisting of about 200 people, also ran into serious trouble. In August 1836, a Matabele patrol attacked Potgieter’s group, killing six men, two women, and six children. King Mzilikazi of the Matabele in what is now Zimbabwe decided to attack the Voortrekkers again, this time sending out an impi of 5,000 men. Local bushmen warned the Voortrekkers of the impi , and Potgieter had two days to prepare. He decided to prepare for battle, although doing so would leave all the Voortrekker’s cattle vulnerable.

The Voortrekkers arranged the wagons into a laager (defensive circle) and placed thorn branches underneath the wagons and in the gaps. Another defensive square of four wagons was placed inside the laager and covered with animal skins. Here, the women and children would be safe from spears thrown into the camp. The defenders numbered just 33 men and seven boys, each armed with two muzzle-loader rifles. They were outnumbered 150 to one.

As the battle commenced, the Voortrekkers rode out on horseback to harry the impi . This proved largely ineffective, and they withdrew to the laager. The attack on the laager only lasted for about half an hour, in which time, two Voortrekkers lost their lives, and about 400 Matabele warriors were killed or wounded. The Matabele were far more interested in taking the cattle and eventually made off with 50,000 sheep and goats and 5,000 cattle. Despite surviving through the day, the Battle of Vegkop was not a happy victory for the Voortrekkers. Three months later, with the help of the Tswana people, a Voortrekker-led raid managed to take back 6,500 cattle, which included some of the cattle plundered at Vegkop.

The following months saw revenge attacks led by the Voortrekkers. About 15 Matabele settlements were destroyed, and 1,000 warriors lost their lives. The Matabele abandoned the region. The Great Trek would continue with several other parties pioneering the way into the South African hinterland.

The Battle of Blood River

In February 1838, the Voortrekkers led by Piet Retief met with absolute disaster. Retief and his delegation were invited to the Zulu King Dingane ’s kraal (village) to negotiate a land treaty; however, Dingane betrayed the Voortrekkers. He had them all taken out to a hill outside the village and clubbed to death. Piet Retief was killed last so that he could watch his delegation being killed. In total, about 100 were murdered, and their bodies were left for the vultures and other scavengers.

Following this betrayal, King Dingane directed further attacks on unsuspecting Voortrekker settlements. This included the Weenen Massacre, in which 534 men, women, and children were slaughtered. This number includes KhoiKhoi and Basuto tribe members who accompanied them. Against a hostile Zulu nation, the Great Trek was doomed to fail.

The Voortrekkers decided to lead a punitive expedition, and under the guidance of Andries Pretorius, 464 men, along with 200 servants and two small cannons, prepared to engage the Zulu. After several weeks of trekking, Pretorius set up his laager along the Ncome River, purposefully avoiding geographic traps that would have led to a disaster in battle. His site offered protection on two sides by the Ncome River to the rear and a deep ditch on the left flank. The approach was treeless and offered no protection from any advancing attackers. On the morning of December 16, the Voortrekkers were greeted by the sight of six regiments of Zulu impis , numbering approximately 20,000 men.

For two hours, the Zulus attacked the laager in four waves, and each time they were repulsed with great casualties. The Voortrekkers used grapeshot in their muskets and their two cannons in order to maximize damage to the Zulus. After two hours, Pretorius ordered his men to ride out and attempt to break up the Zulu formations. The Zulus held for a while, but high casualties eventually forced them to scatter. With their army breaking, the Voortrekkers chased down and killed the fleeing Zulus for three hours. By the end of the battle, 3,000 Zulu lay dead (although historians dispute this number). By contrast, the Voortrekkers suffered only three injuries, including Andries Pretorius taking an assegai (Zulu spear) to the hand.

December 16 has been observed as a public holiday in the Boer Republics and South Africa ever since. It was known as The Day of the Covenant, The Day of the Vow, or Dingane’s Day. In 1995, after the fall of apartheid , the day was rebranded as “Day of Reconciliation.” Today the site on the west side of the Ncome River is home to the Blood River Monument and Museum Complex, while on the east side of the river stands the Ncome River Monument and Museum Complex dedicated to the Zulu people. The former has gone through many variations, with the latest version of the monument being 64 wagons cast in bronze. When it was unveiled in 1998, The then Minister of Home Affairs and Zulu tribal leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi , apologized on behalf of the Zulu people for the murder of Piet Retief and his party during the Great Trek, while he also stressed the suffering of Zulus during apartheid.

The Zulu defeat added to further divisions in the Zulu Kingdom, which was plunged into a civil war between Dingane and his brother Mpande. Mpande, supported by the Voortrekkers, won the civil war in January 1840. This led to a significant decrease in threats to the Voortrekkers. Andries Pretorius and his Voortrekkers were able to recover Piet Retief’s body, along with his retinue, and give them burials. On Retief’s body was found the original treaty offering the trekkers land, and Pretorius was able to successfully negotiate with the Zulu over the establishment of a territory for the Voortrekkers. The Republic of Natalia was established in 1839, south of the Zulu Kingdom. However, the new republic was short-lived and was annexed by the British in 1843.

Nevertheless, the Great Trek could continue, and thus the waves of Voortrekkers continued. In the 1850s, two substantial Boer republics were established: The Republic of the Transvaal and the Republic of the Orange Free State . These republics would later come into conflict with the expanding British Empire.

The Great Trek as a Cultural Symbol

In the 1940s, Afrikaner nationalists used the Great Trek as a symbol to unite the Afrikaans people and promote cultural unity among them. This move was primarily responsible for the National Party winning the 1948 election and, later on, imposing apartheid on the country.

South Africa is a highly diverse country, and while the Great Trek remains a symbol of Afrikaner culture and history, it is also seen as an important part of South African history with lessons to learn from for all South Africans.

6 Crazy Facts about Cape Town

By Greg Beyer BA History & Linguistics, Journalism Diploma Greg specializes in African History. He holds a BA in History & Linguistics and a Journalism Diploma from the University of Cape Town. A former English teacher, he now excels in academic writing and pursues his passion for art through drawing and painting in his free time.

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The movement northwards in the 1830s by Boers to escape from British administration in the Cape Colony. From 1835 onwards parties of Voortrekkers reached Natal, where in 1837 Zulu resistance provoked them to kill some 3,000 Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in revenge for the death of their leader, Piet Retief. Natal became a British colony in 1843 and migration continued northwards into the Orange River country and the Transvaal.

From:   Great Trek, the   in  A Dictionary of World History »

Subjects: History

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The Great Trek Facts & Worksheets

The great trek was the mass emigration of dutch, german and french huguenot (boers) colonizers of cape colony in south africa from cape colony towards the interior areas of the continent that took place from 1835 until 1840., search for worksheets, download the the great trek facts & worksheets.

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The Great Trek was the mass emigration of Dutch, German and French Huguenot (Boers) colonizers of Cape colony in  South Africa from Cape Colony towards the interior areas of the continent that took place from 1835 until 1840. The trek was done as a form of resistance against the British government and as an attempt to live independently from British rule.

See the fact file below for more information on the Great Trek or alternatively, you can download our 25-page The Great Trek worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Leading to the great trek period.

• Boers were the Dutch, German and French Huguenots who were the first colonizers of Cape Colony. They arrived in the area during the early 1650s.
• The Boers disagreed with policies the British government implemented. Policies minimizing slavery of native Africans and land colonization for white settlement were some policies implemented that the Boers protested against.
• Boers believed that British authorities favored protecting the rights of native Africans instead of theirs. As a result, rebellions were staged against British authority and in 1815,  British authorities hanged 5 rebel Boers because they attempted to start an uprising against the British government for its bias towards African rights.
• The Boers believed that they would find land on the interior parts of the continent and be able to establish their own colonies that would be free from British rule.
• January 1832 Dr. Andrew Smith, a British zoologist sent to Cape Colony, and a Boer farmer went on an expedition to scout Natal as a potential colony. Natal, along with the other land areas in its radius, was portrayed as a promising area to colonize due to its topography and nearly complete absence of inhabitants.
• Around 12,0000 Boers of Cape Colony , predominantly the Dutch, decided to leave the area as a result of the rising tension with British authority
• The first group of Boers who left Cape Colony were recognized as Voortrekkers meaning early migrants. These Voortrekkers left Cape Colony in 1835 and migrated to the interior Highveld north of the Orange River. Their movement led them to be recognized as the pioneers of the mass emigration of the Boers from Cape Colony or The Great Trek.

THE GREAT TREK PERIOD

• Boers were emigrating from Cape Colony from 1835-1840.
• The Voortrekkers traveled by oxen-drawn wagons.
• Piet Retief, a prominent Voortrekker leader and commander, published a manifesto that stated reasons as to why the Boers were emigrating from Cape Colony. It  was published on February 1837 in  Grahamstown’s Journal
• Boers who left Cape Colony always traveled in groups consisting of families, servants, and livestock. They brought with them cases of water, dried food, clothing, some brought weapons such as spears and guns. These groups traveled under the guidance of a leader
• Some well-known leaders were Andries Potgieter, Gert Maritz, Piet Retief, and Piet Uys.
• The expedition was harsh not only because of the geographical obstacles such as the Orange and Vaal rivers that intercepted their path and the Limpopo river delta that was infested with Malarial Mosquitoes,  but also because of native African kingdoms they came in contact with such as the Zulus, Matebeles, and Xhosas. The Boers and leaders of African states disagreed about land ownership and settlement resulting in several battles.

BATTLES OF THE GREAT TREK PERIOD

• On October 20, 1836 as a group of Voortrekkers led by Hendrik Potgieter made their way out of the Tarka area, they were attacked by roughly 5,000  Ndebele warriors. Under the command of Potgieter, the Voortrekkers retreated and left their livestock, specifically their cattle, behind. This is known as the Battle of Vegkop.
• Piet Retief, one of the most important leaders of the Great Trek, struck a deal with with Dingane, the Zulu king, that stated that an area of land in Natal will be given to the Voortrekkers in exchange of Retief and his troops recovering the herd of cattle stolen by  Sekonyela (the chief of the Tlokwa). Despite agreement on the settlement, Dingane killed Retief and all of his comrades on February 1838
• April 1838, because of the massacre of Piet Retief and his group of trekkers, assistance from Piet Uys and Hendrik Potgieter were called for. Uys and Potgieter led their parties for battle against the Zulu to the capital of the Zulu king, Umgungundlovu. Potgieter’s troops retreated from the battlefield immediately, leaving Uys uncoordinated and alone. This led to their defeat. This is known as the Battle of Italeni.
• December 16, 1838, after several defeats from the Zulu kingdom and to end the disparity, Voortrekker forces led by Andries Pretorius entered Zululand. Positioned near the Ncome River, Pretorius’s troops were able to successfully attack the Zulu warriors. The Ncome river was red with the blood from Zulu warriors, coining the name Battle of Blood River.

The Great Trek Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Great Trek across 25 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use The Great Trek worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Great Trek which was the mass emigration of Dutch, German and French Huguenot (Boers) colonizers of Cape colony in South Africa from Cape Colony towards the interior areas of the continent that took place from 1835 until 1840. The trek was done as a form of resistance against the British government and as an attempt to live independently from British rule.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

• The Great Trek Facts
• You’re Out of Here
• Backpacking Through Time
• The Ultimate Match
• You Give Me Meaning
• Lead the Way
• Get in Line
• The Outcome
• Compare and Contrast

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The Great Trek Was Not Over Abolition by Ron (Republican Trekker Volk), 30 October 2008

Certain historians have erroneously asserted the the Great Trek was motivated over the issue of the abolition of slavery but the fact of the matter is that historians have noted that most of the Boers of the frontiers did not own slaves as most of the slave owners were among the Cape Dutch of the Western Cape of whom very few went on the Great Trek. 

The fact of the matter is that most of the Boers of the frontier did not own slaves. Canadian professor Wallace Mills noted this in his course on the Great Trek & the Encyclopedia Britannica BOTH note that most of the Boers did not own slaves. The Great Trek was motivated over the constant frontier wars with the Xhosas who were killing so many Boers that they decided that the best thing for them to do was to trek away from the area as their ancestors had done from the VOC power back almost one century & a half earlier. 

The British Imperialism in the region was simply the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. There were other pressing matters such as the constant border wars & growing land shortages. The notable consequence relating to the abolition of slavery which might have in fact played a role in causing the Great Trek was that the former slaves were now wandering all over often attacking local residents. Piet Retief only mentioned the abolition of slavery in his Manifesto in a vain attempt at getting the tacit support or understanding of the slave owning Cape Dutch. Who in fact often looked down at the Boers & ridiculed them for wanting to trek.  

The following is an excerpt from the course by the Canadian Professor Wallace Mills.

[ Landless poor whites. - recent interpretations tend to stress more mundane factors and motivations for the movement. The migratory habits to acquire more land, which were firmly established by trekboers throughout the 18th C, had been bottled up for 40-50 years and there were growing numbers of landless white males. In trekboer society, this was a terrible situation and fate. Their only course was to become a ‘bywoner’ to some relative or other farmer with land. As such, they would provide services (usually as an overseer) and be allowed to use some land for a few cattle or agricultural purposes. This meant that their status was only a bit better than non-white servants. - this interpretation sees the ‘Great Trek’ as merely the bursting of the dam that had bottled such migrations up for over 2 generations. Piet Retief’s Manifesto. - Retief was one of the most influential of the Great Trek leaders. Among those who joined the Great Trek, he was a bit unusual in a couple of respects. He was much better off than most trekkers; at one time he owned over 20 lots in Grahamstown as well as farm properties. As can be seen from his letter (it was translated for publication in the Grahamstown Journal), he was better educated than most who were illiterate or just barely literate. - Retief’s so-called manifesto has too often been accepted uncritically and without analysis of context. Not all the assertions can be accepted at face value. It must be analysed carefully and critically. - for example, the complaint about the abolition of slavery and the process of compensation for a long time went unexamined and was repeated innumerable times as a factor in the trek (by both friends and critics). -however, investigation revealed that slavery was not common in the eastern frontier areas from which almost all the Voortrekkers came. Besides, no new slaves could be imported after 1807 and the prices of the existing slaves had risen markedly. Very few (if any) Voortrekkers had ever owned slaves. Retief’s only known connection was that at one time he had borrowed money from an ex-slave woman! Shutting down of migration after 1780s. - the earlier expansion had left some land not taken up behind the leading edges and the pushing back of the Xhosa in the early wars in the 19th C had made some land available (however, the 1820 settlers had also been assigned much of that); nevertheless, the voracious appetite for land among trekboers meant that by the 1830s, landlessness had grown. In effect, the on-going migration that had characterised the 18th C had been dammed up for almost 50 years. Thus, the Great Trek can be viewed as the bursting of the dam. Thus, the Great Trek can be seen as merely the resumption of the earlier process. - this interpretation is supported by the fact that late in the 19th C when the problem of landlessness again reemerged in the South African Republic (Transvaal), a couple of attempts were made to organize new treks farther into the interior (into Zimbabwe or Angola). These efforts were blocked by Rhodes who wanted to ensure that it was the British Empire that got these areas. ]

End of quote. 

From: The Great Trek. Wallace Mills. 

The following is from American author Stephen Crane.

[ As far back as 1809, Hottentots were prohibited from wandering about the country without passes, and from 1812, Hottentot children who had been maintained for eight years by the employers of their parents, were bound as apprenticed for ten years longer. The missionaries were dissatisfied with these restrictions; both of them were removed by an ordinance passed July, 1828, when vagrant Hottentots began to wander over the country at will. Farming became almost impossible; the farm-laborers became vagabonds and petty thefts took place constantly. Early in 1834, Sir Benjamin D'Urban, called "the Good," was appointed Governor. A legislative council was then granted the colony, but its powers were not great. The Boers had never been greatly in favor (many opposed it strongly) of slavery, but they had yielded to the general custom and over three million pounds was invested in slaves throughout the colony in 1834. Sir Benjamin D'Urban proclaimed the emancipation of the slaves, who had been set free throughout the British Empire, in August, 1833. This freeing was to take effect in Cape Colony on the 1st of December, 1834. The news of the emancipation was felt to be a relief, but the terms on which it was conducted were productive of unending trouble. The slave-owners of Cape Colony were awarded less than a million and a quarter for their slaves -- and the imperial government refused to send the money to South Africa; each claim was to be proved before commissioners in London, when the amount would be paid in stock. To make a journey of one hundred days to London was, of course, impossible to the farmers; they were at the mercy of agents who made their way down to the colony and purchased the claims, so that the colonist received sometimes a fifth, sometimes a sixth, or less, of the value of his slaves. The colonists had hoped that a vagrant act would have been passed by the Council when the slaves were freed, to keep them from being still further overrun by this large released black population, but this was not done. ] End of quote.  From: The Great Boer Trek.  The slave owners were the Cape Dutch in the Western Cape most of whom did not go on the series of mass migrations later called the Great Trek. Therefore if slavery was a motivating factor then why did MOST of the slave owners not go on the trek? The only grievance anyone had about the abolition of slavery was the fact that the compensation was impossible to collect.  [ The discontent, so often, and to his detriment, ascribed to the Boer was exaggerated and misrepresented, as, for instance, in the matter of the freeing of the slaves, when he was described as being inhumanly against their liberation. No! Your Majesty, it was not the Christian Boers' repugnance to the emancipation, but his opposition to the means employed in effecting same under the blessed British rule. Is Your Majesty perhaps aware how the Boers became possessed of those slaves? They, the Boers, had no ships to convey the slaves from Mozambique and elsewhere, as none other than English vessels were allowed to bring slaves to the Cape market; therefore, it was from English slave-ships that the Boers first bought their slaves, and in this manner enjoyed a short season of prosperity; for, assisted by their dearly bought slaves, they could have their lands ploughed and sown with grain, which, under the blessings of Britannia's laws, could be sold for not more than 18d. per bag. It was thereafter shipped abroad by English merchants and sold at immense profits. And then,Your Majesty, the Boer was suddenly told: "Your slaves are free, and you will receive compensation to such and such an amount for them, which you will have to go and get in England." Your Majesty, how could the Boer be expected with his ox-wagon or horses to go and fetch same? To have undertaken, at that time, a voyage so dangerous and lengthy (a hundred days or so being the time required to accomplish same) would have cost more than the small amount of the indemnity he was to receive for his dearly bought slaves. What could the Boer do? The only means left him was to engage the English dealer, from whom he had purchased the slaves at exorbitant prices, to go and fetch the money for him, or to sell his chance for what he could get. ]

The above excerpt was from: General Petrus Joubert. Vice President of the Transvaal Republic during the tenure of President Paul Kruger whom he ran against 3 times. This excerpt is noted in the Story of the Boers: a book compiled by a Dutch diplomat named C W van der Hoogt who met President Paul Kruger & was published in 1900. The role of the abolition of slavery was certainly minimal in nature when taking the above facts into consideration.

Source: republicantrekkervolk.blogspot.co.za

Great Trek , noun phrase

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"Great Trek, n. phr." Dictionary of South African English. Dictionary Unit for South African English, 2023. Web. 30 April 2024.

Dictionary of South African English , s.v. "Great Trek, n. phr." accessed April 30, 2024, https://dsae.co.za/entry/Great Trek/e02790 .

Great Trek, n. phr. (2023). In Dictionary of South African English. Retrieved from https://dsae.co.za/entry/Great Trek/e02790

This entry documents historical language usage which may be offensive or disturbing.

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• the Great Trek history the migration of Boer farmers with their slaves and African servants from the Cape Colony to the north and east from about 1836 to 1845 to escape British authority

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Example sentences.

However incredible it seemed, it was evident that the "Great Trek" had begun at last.

There the latter was hastening his preparations for the great trek through the mountains.

Here is the record of a few late camp fires of the Great Trek.

Indeed, he was now engaged as one of the organisers of the Great Trek which was in contemplation.

The Great Trek thus lost its most courageous and noble-minded leader.

One of Star Trek's Best New Characters Reclaimed a Problematic Trope

• Introduced as a cadet, Sylvia Tilly was a unique character in Star Trek with deep ties to the fandom and nothing but promise.
• The concept of a "Mary Sue" came from Star Trek fandom, but rather than how it's used today, the term somewhat applies to Tilly.
• Instead of a wish-fulfillment fan insert character, Sylvia Tilly proves to be a brilliant-but-awkward woman who always had a place in Star Trek.

There's a popular term used in media criticism that can trace its origins to the early days of Star Trek fandom. It's almost ironic that the lead protagonist of Star Trek: Discovery is often unfairly described with this label. However, if any character on Discovery is a canon Star Trek "Mary Sue," it's Sylvia Tilly, and that's what makes her great. While this might seem counterintuitive, it's likely because the original meaning of the term has been lost amid lazy, often sexist, critique.

An impossibly capable hero is never what the term "Mary Sue" described. Coined by prolific fanfiction writer and editor Paula Smith, it's meant to describe a certain kind of fan-insert character. Thus, if any character can be tagged with the Mary Sue label, it's not Discovery protagonist Michael Burnham but her best pal, Sylvia Tilly. This also doesn't mean that Tilly is a poorly-written character, either. Still, she does bear some intrinsic qualities of the kind of character fanfiction writers of the past tried to develop when they found themselves writing the kind of story Smith ended up satirizing.

Who Is Mary Sue, and What Does She Have to Do With Star Trek?

Star trek: discovery's callum keith rennie shows a new side of starfleet.

The community of fans who loved Star Trek created modern fandom , from building conventions around a single property to fan-created art and stories. While Star Trek didn't invent fanfiction, the years the universe was off-the-air was the first time fans were writing these stories for a community hungry for something new. However, a staple of fanfiction is the self-insert character, in which the author gets to live out their Star Trek dreams on the page. The flood of fanfiction in the days of Star Trek 's dark times led Smith to write a satirical story about her biggest gripe with what she read. The story that introduced "Lieutenant Mary Sue" was "A Trekkie's Tale."

Smith described the trope she satirized as a character who is young, beautiful, impossibly talented, "chastely" lusted after by Star Trek heroes, sometimes half-Vulcan and, often, died at the end of the story. This character's frequent appearances had two main causes. The first was that many teenagers' Star Trek fanfiction were their first stories, thus they were unpracticed writers. The second, and most important, is that in the 1970s, there weren't many characters in science fiction that women could see themselves in. Yet, Smith's intention was never to suggest that women's (or men's) self-insert characters couldn't be as impossibly awesome as the rest of the Star Trek crew. It was actually about the legacy characters themselves.

Smith explained in a 2011 interview , the "problem is, the presence of the Mary Sue warped all the other characters in the story away from their known characterization." It wasn't the self-insert character that made "Lieutenant Mary Sue" stories "bad writing," it was how the legacy characters reacted to her . They didn't feel like the characters fans knew, and in the 1970s, fanfiction was the only place Star Trek fans could find them outside of reruns. Yet, in the decades since, the term has been used to lambast any woman character who is a capable, powerful hero in a universe usually dominated by men.

How Sylvia Tilly Is a Reclamation of the Best Parts of Lieutenant Mary Sue

Star trek: discovery's alex kurtzman & michelle paradise talk final season.

One fair critique of Star Trek: Discovery 's first season is that the characters are all pretty surly and downtrodden. However, this was mostly in service of Season 1's Captain Lorca and the Mirror Universe twist. A ship run by a Terran during a war between Starfleet and the Klingons isn't the kind of environment into which anyone would be joyful about boldly going. Instead of seeking out new life, the crew usually found violence and death wherever they went, but this was the point of the season. Cadet Sylvia Tilly was an outlier and, arguably, a character through which fans could see themselves . After so long away from television, Tilly behaved how any fan would on the deck of a starship.

She was young, bubbly and far more capable and brilliant than her demeanor suggested. While her early awkward nature was a hallmark of the character, she did not lack confidence. On her first away mission to the USS Glenn, she tells Michael, "I'm the best theoretical engineer on the ship, it's why I was fast-tracked at the Academy." Her affable charm wears away at Burnham's hard exterior. In the episode, "Choose Your Pain," Tilly doesn't just drop Star Trek 's first "f-bomb," but in doing so cracks the surly exterior of Lieutenant Paul Stamets. Like Lieutenant Mary Sue, there is no character on Discovery who doesn't tend to love Tilly.

Throughout the series, Tilly is faced with situations where she is out of her depth. She successfully navigated Qo'noS with Star Trek staple Clint Howard. She was tapped as Captain Saru's first officer when the USS Discovery first arrived in the 32nd Century. Whatever situation Tilly faced, she rose to meet it whether the problem was one solved by knowledge or action. She has all the so-called Mary Sue qualities of a fan-insert character, but instead of skewing the rest of the ensemble, she helps define their characters. It's because Star Trek fan Tilly likes Burnham, Stamets or anyone else that makes them Star Trek -worthy heroes .

Sylvia Tilly's Ultimate Fate Is Perfect for a Fan-Insert Character

Star trek: discovery actors doug jones & david ajala prepare for their last adventure.

What makes Sylvia Tilly (now also a Lieutenant) like Mary Sue is how her behavior differs from the traditionally self-serious Starfleet hero . This is not a deficit in the storytelling but an asset. She is as excited to face their continuing mission as fans have been to be watching them for six decades. Tilly doesn't fall in love with the handsomest character, nor does she become the most important officer on the ship. She also doesn't die and resurrect herself. Rather, she is recognized by the 32nd Century leaders as the ideal character to shape Starfleet's future.

Tilly has the experience and intelligence to teach cadets, but she also has the enthusiasm and love of the mission the weary contemporary officers don't. In Season 4, Episode 4, "All Is Possible," Tilly leads a routine training mission staffed by cadets and, when things go horribly wrong, helps turn them into a real crew. They survive an impossible situation and realize the true mission were the friends they made along the way. The episode ends with Dr. Kovich offering Tilly a position as an instructor at Starfleet Academy, which she accepts. She doesn't want to leave her family on the USS Discovery, but she recognizes that she's the best person for the job.

This new direction might mean that Tilly will appear in the Starfleet Academy spinoff set to follow Discovery 's final season. Even if she doesn't, ending up training future Star Trek heroes is the perfect end for a character who embodies the qualities of the original Mary Sue character without its flaws. Tilly is a character that fans of any gender can see themselves in . She knows what she's good at, but she's not overly confident. Tilly has insecurities and fears, but she overcomes them and rises to the moment like the best of Starfleet. She is universally beloved by her peers, excellent at her job and is an inspiration to all who cross her path.

Star Trek's Lieutenant Mary Sue Is the Most Misunderstood Character

Star trek: discovery's sonequa martin-green embarks on one final voyage.

While Smith's story is a satire of bad fanfiction, people tend to think what makes it flawed is the Mary Sue character herself . Instead of seeing how the character twists the legacy characters, those who invoke her name today often think the flaw is simply that she's a capable, beloved woman in a sci-fi universe dominated by heroes who are typically men . Since then, this woeful misunderstanding of the trope has evolved like a deadly virus, infecting the discourse of any story where a woman hero takes the lead and saves the day.

The character that's suffered the most from this abuse of the term is from that other "Star" universe. Star Wars ' Rey Skywalker was called "a Mary Sue" from the moment she was able to fly the Millennium Falcon while Finn manned the gunner seat. Yet, if Rey is a Mary Sue, then so is Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker and countless other characters who were awesome from the get-go. But whether one likes the sequel trilogy or not, no definition of "Mary Sue" applies to Rey or Luke or Anakin, for that matter. This is why Discovery 's Sylvia Tilly is the perfect character to reclaim the worthwhile qualities of Lieutenant Mary Sue .

Tilly was born from the need for Star Trek 's women fans to create characters that reflected the heroic ideal of themselves. Tilly does this while still being a well-constructed character with flaws, fears, hopes and triumphs. Through it all, she remains a person who loves Starfleet and what they do. If fans can see something of themselves in her, it's unquestionably a good thing.

Star Trek: Discovery debuts episodes of its final season Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Release Date September 24, 2017

Cast Oyin Oladejo, Emily Coutts, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman

Main Genre Sci-Fi

Genres Drama, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

Rating TV-14