Watching any fantasy show is a great way to relax your mind and also to forget about the real world for some time. When we are back to reality after watching them, we are filled with a new kind of energy to deal with our problems and can think freshly. Characters of the show come to grow on us, and we want to know more about them. One such character who is loved dearly is Thad Riker. Yes, you have guessed it right Star Trek’s Thaddeus Troi-Riker.
A widely known show, Star Trek is an American franchise which is created by Gene Roddenberry. Many books, as well as video games, are developed on this. This franchise has also been adapted into films and television series.
Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969), Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was aired between 1987 and 1994, and Star Trek: Picard, which premiered for the first time in 2020, and many are under the wings of this franchise. However, every series is unique in its way but is loved equally by the people.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 3, Seventeen Seconds, released on March 2, 2023, on Paramount+. With the release of the episode, the show’s lovers want to know how did Thad Riker die. In this article, we’ll be discussing that and also the show. So let’s get started.
Who Was Thad Riker, And How Did He Die?
Thaddeus Troi-Riker was the son of William T. Riker, who was the commanding officer, and Deanna Troi, who was the commander and was born in 2381 on the USS Titan. Like his mother, who was half human and half Betazoid, Thad Riker was also human and Betazoid.
But the difference is that three-fourths part of Thad was human, whereas his remaining one-fourth part is Betazoid. He also has one younger sister Kestra Troi-Riker and one half-brother from his mother’s side, Ian Troi.
Thad was a creative and intelligent kid, and he even created his own fantasy world and named it Ardani. He was also the creator of 12 languages which are to be used at Ardani, and also wrote a 300-page dictionary. Riker’s family also used one of Thad’s languages as the secret language.
Thad was not healthy and had Mendaxic Neurosclerosis. Riker’s family shifted to Nepenthe so that Thad could be healed with the planet’s soil. Even though both Will Riker and Deanna Troi tried their best to save their son, Thad gave in to his condition and left the world, leaving grieving parents behind.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3
In season 3 of Star Trek: Picard, Thad is only shown as a newborn baby in the arms of Jean-Luc Picard that too in only one photo that’s in Will Riker’s home. While both Will Riker and Deanna Troi were trying to save their son from dying in the earlier seasons, Jean-Luc Picard, on the other hand, was fighting for the lives of synthetic beings on the same planet, Nepenthe. After the loss of their son, both parents decided to help Jean-Luc Picard and Soji, who are the synthetic child of Data.
Both Will and Deanna are not able to move on from their son’s death which has changed their views as well as priorities. In season 3 of the show, Picard indicted Riker and confronted him for playing safe. Riker obviously doesn’t agree and orders him to get off the bridge, but somewhere in his subconscious mind, he also knows that what Picard has said is nothing but the truth.
Riker’s family is not in a good state after Thad’s death, and Will has given up his career to look after his now flimsy family. He’s afraid to lose any member of his family and has been playing safe that’s why the most heated argument took place between him and Picard.
In the first episode of season 3, William Riker suggests separating from his wife, Deanna Troi, and daughter, Kestra. Both mother and daughter haven’t made any prominent appearances in the third season. Troi was seen in episode 3, Seventeen Seconds, for a brief moment. She didn’t appear in her physical form but was seen as a hologram.
Everyone who loves the show is waiting for her to be back, and they also know that when that moment comes, it will be an emotional moment, especially between William Riker and Deanna Troi, who are still not able to come out from their loss and are trying to put their lives together.