Synopsis: After Morn is pronounced dead, Quark inherits his assets and liabilities.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of how society and the Logos-driven rational conscious ego suppress what Carl (C. G.) Jung called the unconscious shadow.
In “Who Mourns for Morn” we learn that Morn is so beloved to the clientele at Quark’s, that when Morn is away on business, Quark runs a holographic program of him sitting at his regular place at the bar. Then Captain Benjamin Sisko announces that Morn is dead, and later that Morn left Quark everything he had. Quark learns that Morn had 1,000 bars of gold-pressed latinum, and more than one individual staking a claim to it. Morn’s ex-wife, Larell, tells Quark Morn won the latinum in a lottery – but he owes her that much. Two business associates arrive and say Morn owes them the same amount. Finally, a member of Lurian security arrives and tells Quark that Morn was the Lurian crown prince, and he has come to collect the latinum that Morn took when he left the planet. Eventually, a cargo container arrives on the station, and in it appears to be the latinum. While the other four participate in a shootout, Quark hides in the container. After it’s clear, Quark discovers that what appears to be latinum isn’t. Quark returns to his normal routine and Morn reappears. He staged his own death to get the others off his back. Morn has had the latinum in his second stomach all along and he regurgitates a bit of it for Quark, for his troubles.
In this episode we can see that there are many different aspects to Morn beneath his habitual persona, that side of oneself that one shows the outside world. In addition to preferring Yridian ale, he married a beautiful woman and divorced her, went to business with a couple unscrupulous individuals, and was the crown prince of a planet only to leave his homeworld with a fortune. This is similar to how there is much in an individual’s psyche that is unconscious, in addition to the persona that the rational conscious ego shows to the outside world. That part of one’s psyche that contains unconscious material suppressed by the conscious ego because it is perceived as “other” than it, or uncomfortable to admit, or live with, is the shadow. However, from a depth psychological perspective, the shadow is not always negative, many positive, or artistic traits are there as well. Just as Morn was not just a barfly, or a divorced individual who dealt in sketchy business activities, he was also a prince.
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