Trekipedia

Bareil Antos

Bajoran spiritual leader who was a leading candidate to become the next kai after the departure of Kai Opaka in 2369.^[1] Bareil was interned at the brutal Relegeth refugee camp during the Cardassian occupation. Bareil started his spiritual service as a gardener at a monastery, and although he became an influential religious leader, he still enjoyed tending the grounds.^[2]

Bareil was opposed in his bid to become kai by political rival Vedek Winn, who attempted to have Bareil assassinated. Winn engineered an incident on Deep Space Nine, sparking protests about the teaching of science in Keiko O’Brien‘s schoolroom, in an effort to draw Bareil to the station. Fortunately, the plan failed and Vedek Bareil survived to continue his bid for kai and continue the cooperative Bajoran/Federation relationship.^[1]

Bareil became romantically involved with Kira Nerys in 2370. He was favored to become the next kai at the time, but withdrew from the election when he became tied to the infamous Kendra Valley massacre. No one knew that Bareil’s sudden withdrawl from the election was because he had been covering up the role of then-Kai Opaka in the massacre. Bareil knew that Opaka had allowed the Cardassians to kill forty-two Bajorans, including her own son, to prevent them from killing more than a thousand other Bajorans in the Kendra Valley. Bareil kept the secret for years and willingly sacrificed his political ambitions to protect Opaka’s memory when then-Vedek Winn re-opened the investigation. Once Winn and Kira learned the truth, both appeared likely to preserve the secret.^[2]

Bareil refuesed to let his defeat stop him, and in 2371, he accepted the opportunity to become a key advisor to the newly-elected Kai Winn. As Winn’s representative, Bareil conducted five months of negotiations with Legate Turrel, laying the groundwork for the historic peace treaty between the Bajorans and the Cardassians. Just prior to the signing of the treaty, Bareil was critically injured in an explosion aboard a Bajoran transport ship. At station Deep Space Nine, Bareil refused extraordinary life-prolonging measures so that he could advise Kai Winn during the critical final stages of the talks. Bareil believed it was the will of the Prophets that he had been spared death in the explosion so that he could ensure the success of the peace talks. Bareil died shortly after the signing of the treaty.^[3]

Portrayed by Philip Anglim.