The loss of the wormhole, combined with Jadzia's death, caused Sisko to experience a crisis of faith, leading him to take a leave of absence from Deep Space Nine and visit his father Joseph in New Orleans.
While visiting his father in the preceding episode, "Image in the Sand", Sisko experienced visions convincing him that he must seek the mysterious "Orb of the Emissary" on the planet Tyree.
Meanwhile, Colonel Kira Nerys, left in command on Deep Space Nine, came into conflict with the Romulans, powerful but untrustworthy allies of the United Federation of Planets, as they attempted to install weapons on the Bajoran moon of Derna; Jadzia's husband Worf planned a dangerous mission in order to secure a place for Jadzia in the Klingon afterlife, Sto-Vo-Kor; and the surviving Dax symbiont was transplanted into a new humanoid host, Ezri Dax, who arrived in New Orleans to visit Sisko.
Benjamin Sisko invites Ezri to join him, his father Joseph, and his son Jake as they travel to Tyree to seek the Orb of the Emissary.
He eventually unearths the Orb ark, but hesitates from opening it; he experiences visions of Benny Russell confined in a psychiatric hospital, as a doctor tries to persuade him to end the story of Benjamin Sisko.
On the Klingon ship, Worf is annoyed by the presence of O'Brien, Bashir, and Quark; eventually Martok reminds him to be grateful that Jadzia had such loyal friends, and he apologizes to them.
Club, also gave it a mixed review; he appreciated the relationship between the episode's three main plot lines and said the characters' victories felt earned, but found the introduction of Ezri Dax awkward and disliked the focus on the Prophets and Pah-wraiths.
[5] In 2020, Den of Geek listed the three-episode sequence from "Tears of the Prophets" to "Shadows and Symbols" as one of the best stories of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.