The Romulan emblem, or Romulan insignia, was the official symbol of the Romulan Star Empire and subsequent Romulan Free State, consisting of a stylized depiction of a bird of prey with outstretched wings, clutching two spheres in its talons. It was frequently featured on Romulan flags, banners, ships, display graphics, uniforms, equipment and buildings.
History[]
Romulan Star Empire[]
Detailed green-blue version in 2154
Two common versions of the emblem were in concurrent use by the Romulan Star Empire from as early as the mid 22nd century and into the late 24th century. One was a somewhat more detailed version depicting the bird as double-headed, typically colored green on the left half and blue on the right. This version was backed by a downward-pointed triangle that usually featured Romulan script in the top portion. Another version was more stylized, to the point of possibly depicting the bird with a single head. It lacked both the triangle backing and script, featured a triangular shape for the the bird's head(s), a secondary layer of remiges on the wings and an elongated central rectrix in the tail, emulating the lower point of the counterpart emblem's triangle backing. This version was only ever presented in a single color, most commonly gray. (ENT: "Babel One"; TNG: "The Neutral Zone"; Star Trek Nemesis)
Stylized emblem on a viewscreen in 2379
Buildings in the Romulan capital were adorned with sculptures of the stylized emblem for at least two centuries. The structure of the Imperial Senate hosted one atop its exterior, as well as an interior sculpture suspended from the ceiling in the senate chambers. (ENT: "United"; Star Trek Nemesis)
An elongated version of the emblem, with the ends of the feathers forming rounded edges, was used for wall relief sculptures in the 2150s. (ENT: "United")
Members of both the Romulan Senate and military wore badges of the stylized emblem in the 22nd century, senators on their robes about the midriff, and military officers on the collar. In the 23rd century, the military had discontinued using the stylized emblem, and by the mid 24th century instead favored the detailed version. (ENT: "United"; TOS: "Balance of Terror"; TNG: "The Enemy")
By the mid 23rd century, the two-headed version of the emblem was known to Starfleet and was used in displays to mark Romulan-controlled space, though sometimes with the black-colored portions made green and the colored portions changed to black. This inverted variant omitted the triangle backing. The inverted variant was also used by Starfleet in an alternate 2266 created when Christopher Pike changed his fate. (SNW: "A Quality of Mercy")
Monochrome variants of the detailed emblem were displayed on Romulan establishments throughout the 23rd century, such as those found on Qo'noS and in Paradise City. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?"; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
A mostly olive-colored version of the double-head emblem, with only the twin spheres colored blue, was used on the Romulan flag in the 2290s. The green-blue version was still in use on banners at the time. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
The green-blue detailed version of the emblem was used on Romulan science vessels such as the Talvath in the 2350s. Uniquely though, this version switched the colored and uncolored portions of the emblem, giving it an inverted appearance. It was backed by a pale, orange triangle. (VOY: "Eye of the Needle")
Blue-green variant in an official transmission in 2368
While the detailed emblem saw use throughout the 2360s and into the 2380s, in the late 2360s, the green and blue sides were sometimes switched, with blue on the left and green on the right. The Romulan script in the top of the triangle backing was also infrequently mirrored horizontally at this time. (TNG: "Redemption II", "Unification II", "Face Of The Enemy")
The detailed emblem was sometimes simplified to a single color when appearing on a wall or monitor, most often to blue. (TNG: "Unification II", "Timescape")
Monochrome black variants of the two-headed emblem were applied to the hulls of D'deridex-class warbirds in operation from the 2360s to 2370s. (TNG: "Contagion"; DS9: "Shadows and Symbols")
By the mid 2360s and into the 2370s, Romulan military and Tal Shiar uniforms sported badges of the double-head design in either copper or silver, now worn by both at the center of the torso. By the late 2370s, the military had resumed its use of the stylized emblem concurrently worn by senators, and once again worn by both in the exact fashion they had two centuries prior. (TNG: "The Enemy"; DS9: "The Search, Part II"; Star Trek Nemesis)
The emblem of the Tal Shiar in the 2370s took influence from the detailed version of the Romulan emblem, depicting a right-facing bird in the center with a green shape on the left and blue on the right possibly representing the bird's wings. (DS9: "The Die is Cast")
Both the Cardassian military and the United Federation of Planets made use of the double-head version in tactical displays to represent Romulan ship positions, though unlike the usage by their Romulan originators, these were most often in full color. (TNG: "Birthright, Part II", "The Defector"; DS9: "The Dogs of War")
The stylized emblem, colored completely green, was displayed inside Romulan ships of the early 2380s. This variant was also used as hull livery on Vrek's starship. (LD: "Empathological Fallacies", "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee")
Starfleet would again use monochrome green variants of the inverted detailed emblem on tactical displays in the 2380s, this time including the triangle backing. (PRO: "Crossroads")
A rounded version of the emblem, evocative of the elongated variant seen in the 2150s, though widened and colored green, was displayed on buildings on Romulus in the early 2380s. Geneticist Dr. Jago also used this version to represent Romulan lineage. (LD: "Veritas"; PRO: "Masquerade")
2260s counterparts[]
Bird motif on a Romulan Bird-of-Prey
Symbol inside a Romulan-operated D7-class cruiser
The traditional Romulan emblems were not known to be in use on either the Romulan Bird-of-Prey or the Klingon-designed D7-class during their use by the Romulan Empire in the 2260s. The importance of the bird of prey iconography within Romulan culture is reflected on the former ship in the form of the large bird painted on its ventral hull however, as the Empire had done on ships a century prior. A different symbol was in use on the D7 design acquired from the Klingon Empire. It consisted of three irregular hexagons, red, blue, and green, extending from a central, black hexagon atop a yellow hexagon backing. Whether this symbol served as an official emblem at the time, or in what capacity, remains unknown. (TOS: "Balance of Terror", "The Enterprise Incident")
Romulan Free State[]
Romulan Free State emblem on the Artifact
A version of the emblem was in use by the Romulan Free State in the 2390s and early 25th century. It was derived from the emblem used by the Empire, though further stylized to the point of removing the head(s) and talons altogether, leaving only the wings, tail and a stylized outline on the breast. The removal of the spheres the bird held in previous emblems may have borne particular significance following the Romulan supernova, potentially representing the loss of Romulus and Remus or their binary stars. This emblem was backed by a simplified triangular outline and colored completely red. It was displayed on walls and equipment on workstations in the Artifact, as well as on the Flag of the Romulan Free State. (PIC: "Maps and Legends", "The Star Gazer")
Legacy[]
Though not in use by the 32nd century, the Romulan emblem had a clear influence on the emblem of Ni'Var following Romulan-Vulcan reunification. (DIS: "...But to Connect")
Gallery[]
Appendices[]
Background information[]
The presumed Romulan emblem seen in "The Enterprise Incident" was never used again, nor has its intended use ever been clarified in canon or production sources. The only indication that it is meant to be an emblem representative of either the Romulan Empire, or possibly the Romulan-Klingon alliance of the time, is its use of similar coloration to the contemporary Klingon emblem.
The double-headed bird of prey emblem first introduced in "The Neutral Zone" was designed by Monte Thrasher with input from Michael Okuda. (The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 12, p. 54) Thrasher initially designed a detailed "Romulan Warbird Insignia" to give an impression of great size, under the presumption it would be applied on the underside of Romulan ships as had been done in Star Trek: The Original Series. As this was not to be the case, Okuda simplified Thrasher's design and added the triangle backing. Thrasher's original sketches specify the spheres in the bird's talons represent stars, the left being the pale orange star of Remus and the right the blue-white Romulan star. Though in 2008, Thrasher would recall somewhat differently, instead recounting that the spheres of his "Romulan Imperial Insignia" represented the planets Romulus and Remus. [1] According to the art department, the Romulan script at the top means "Take No Prisoners," though in actuality, the lettering was only chosen for aesthetic reasons. [2]
Star Trek Nemesis promotional logo
For Star Trek Nemesis, Rick Sternbach designed the stylized emblem seen in the film as well as the rounded emblem used only in promotional material. Romulan uniforms featuring the Sternbach emblem, as well as a CGI Romulan cityscape depicting statues of it, were reused in the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes "Babel One" and "United" alongside Thrasher's emblem, canonizing the Romulans' adoption of both to at least as early as the 22nd century.
Sternbach's promotional Nemesis logo, despite not appearing in the film proper, has gradually become somewhat canonized. Wall props used in the aforementioned Enterprise episodes depict an emblem similar to the promotional logo, though vertically stretched. A variant of the logo appears briefly on a building in "Veritas", though made green, more squash in shape and stylized for animation. The logo would finally appear in its original shape, though still green, on a display in "Masquerade". Much like on Enterprise before, Thrasher's emblem continued to be used in the same episode, leaving the likely conclusion that the Romulan adoption of any new emblem variant does not preclude the use of others.
Apocrypha[]
Romulan emblem from the FASA role playing game
For Star Trek: The Role Playing Game, a different Romulan emblem was created by game makers FASA for use in manuals and on ship miniatures packaging. It was also based on a stylized bird, usually colored red, and predated the Star Trek: The Next Generation emblem by four years.
Romulan emblem from Star Trek Online
In Star Trek Online a new emblem is used for the Romulan Republic (β), similar to the Sternbach promotional logo, but with the bird's head pointed upwards.