The Smiling Partner was a mythological figure in the Ferengi civilization, akin to the Bogeyman of Earth, the Nameless Traitor of Cardassia, and the Klingons' Keeper of the Dishonored Dead. The Smiling Partner was a character who behaved as a friend and offered what seemed to be a fair and profitable deal. Once contracts were signed, the Smiling Partner would bite off its victim's ears, and laugh as they died. In one version of "The Story of Ving and Ding", the Smiling Partner is responsible for the deaths of Ving and Ding's parents.