Julian Bashir finds Garak so alluring because his entire life he was told that as an augment it was his genetic destiny to become a violent tyrant, but has never been able to stomach violence and instead decided to become a Starfleet doctor. Throughout the course of the Dominion War he becomes more cynical and disillusioned by the deaths he cannot prevent and injuries he cannot heal, and becomes disgusted with himself for not being "strong" enough to complete his purported destiny of violent ambition in order to defeat the Dominion, until he seizes the opportunity to lure Sloan to DS9 to rifle through his brain like a sock drawer to find the cure to the disease afflicting the Founders and bring the war to an armistice. But due to the nature of espionage, his sacrifice for the good of the Alpha Quadrant will never be public knowledge and he never gets the chance to tell the one person who would understand: Garak.

Whereas on the other hand, plain, simple Garak is unafraid of getting his hands covered in blood in order to get the rough work done in the name of an ever-changing slippery "truth" in service of his homeworld despite there being no love in the warm embrace of the state; Cardassia cannot and will not ever love him back. In this essay I will