Thread by @demiurgent

Ferengi were a joke. Even when they were supposed to be the new Big Bad at the start of TNG, they were someone for Starfleet to smugly deride because they were capitalists.

On Deep Space 9, those expectations were subverted. @ShimermanArmin as Quark was a revelation -- and called Starfleet's attitude what it was: *racism.*

But more than that,with Rom you got to see the Ferengi as the continuum of people and personalities they were, not as one-note.

And then... @AronEisenberg played Nog. Nog, who started as an abused child denied basic literacy and taught to hate Hoo-mons, then became Jake's best friend, became a different viewpoint but not a joke. Never a joke.

And then Nog declared he wanted to be the first Ferengi in Starfleet. Sisko didn't believe in him. No one did. His uncle conspired to keep him out. But he kept at it and he made it. And @AronEisenberg played that evolution to the hilt.

When the war came, Nog ended up a casualty -- permanently maimed. He had to evolve and grow. @AronEisenberg made us care about every moment. He made us understand, and believe, and remind us that war isn't clean or nice, Star Trek or no.

At the end of the series, with the O'Briens heading to Earth, Nog became the chief of operations. Respected, placed in authority, trusted, a hero and friend... and all that happened because @AronEisenberg made it real for all of us.

He became a foundation of @trekonlinegame -- to the point that they redid the tutorial to put @AronEisenberg in it. The promise of DS9 played out -- Captain Nog, at the forefront of Starfleet, embodying everything it had ever meant.

In the last couple of years, with the anniversary of DS9 and the production of the documentary, @AronEisenberg got to be in the thick of it -- and enjoy being one of the centers of the rabid nostalgia by so many people who had loved DS9. I'm glad for that.

I'm glad for every moment he brought on screen. I'm glad for the moment of recognition and delight when I see him in STO. I'm glad for a character who played a member of what was supposed to be the TNG big bad race and became a Starfleet Officer. Just. Like. Worf.

I'm glad for his brief part in "Far Beyond the Stars." From that moment forward, when I read the seminal 'fuggetaboutit!' in print, I hear it in @AronEisenberg's voice. His Brooklyn, Brooklyn voice.

I'm glad for his central and core role in "It's Only a Paper Moon," when Nog is coping with the loss of a leg and profound PTSD by retreating into fantasy, and has to learn to deal with a painful reality instead. @AronEisenberg played it to the hilt.

I'm glad that in recent years, as his profile rose in the Star Trek (and other) communities, he used it to advocate for Climate Change, human rights, and basic decency for one another. @AronEisenberg never shirked from what he believed.

I'm glad @AronEisenberg and his beloved @Malissa_Longo eloped last year. They kept it quiet so they could have a big wedding celebration but actually being married was more important than any wedding, so they did it. Which @wednesday and I did too, so I appreciate that.

I'm glad @AronEisenberg got to know a little bit of how much he meant to us. Because he didn't get to play the straight shooting Trek hero. He played a kid who came from nothing and grew to greatness, who suffered but endured. Who was teased and mocked but succeeded.

We all love to identify with the heroes of Star Trek. That's why it's there. The ideals it stands for means so much to all of us.

But Nog? *Nog _was_ us!* He was us as we are, and he showed us that yes, no matter if we started with all the odds against us, WE COULD BE STARFLEET.

Not one actor in a thousand could play that, convincingly, over the course of seven years on a series. But @AronEisenberg could. He did.

We had a wunderkind child on TNG in Wesley Crusher -- but he never rang true to us. Some people loved him, some despised him, but few of us identified with him even though they wanted that.

Nog was never set up to be the one we identified with. Most of us never realized we were.

But now? Now I know just how much Nog made DS9 -- and Trek -- so much more real to me.

Because he was me.

@AronEisenberg did that.

Today, without warning, @AronEisenberg had to leave us. My heart goes out to his wife @Malissa_Longo, to his friends and family... and to all of the rest of us.

That's all I've got. Thank you, @AronEisenberg.

And for all the rest of you? May the Great Material Continuum provide all you need, and carry away that which you don't, all at a profit.