Sarek

For additional meanings of "Sarek", please see Sarek.

File:Sarek2267.jpg
Caption:	Sarek in 2268
Gender:	Male
Species:	Vulcan
Born:	2165
Died:	2368
Father:	Skon
Grandfather:	Solkar
Marital status:	Formerly married to Amanda Grayson and Perrin.
Children:	Two sons, Sybok and Spock
Actor:	Mark Lenard
File:Sarek2230.JPG
Caption:	Sarek in 2232.
Actor:	Jonathan Simpson, 2232 flashback
Caption:	Sarek in 2239.
File:Sarek2293.jpg
Caption:	Sarek in 2293.
File:Sarek2366.jpg
Caption:	Sarek in 2366.
Actor:	Mark Lenard

Sarek of Vulcan spent most of his life in service of the Vulcan people as an ambassador and representative on the Federation Council. He is also well known as the father of noted Starfleet officer (and fellow diplomat) Spock. He was born in 2165 as the son of Skon.

A scene cut from the final script of TOS: "Journey to Babel" would have established that Sarek's father was himself a well-renowned Vulcan ambassador named Shariel.

Diplomatic life

Sarek's accomplishments as an ambassador to the Federation included the Coridan admission debate of 2268 before the Federation Council, early treaties with the Klingon Empire (Treaty of Alliance), Alpha Cygnus IX, and his incredible effort to bring about a Federation-Legaran treaty, which was initiated in 2273. (TOS: "Journey to Babel"; TNG: "Sarek")

A scene cut from the final script of TOS: "Journey to Babel" established that Sarek was previously an astrophysicist before becoming a diplomat.

In an alternate timeline created by the death of Spock at an early age Sarek had been Federation Ambassador to 17 different planets over the course of 30 years by 2269. (TAS: "Yesteryear")

Personal life

Sarek's first child was born to a Vulcan princess to whom he was apparently bonded, but not married. Their son, Sybok, was born in 2224. Sybok lived with his mother until she died; then, Sybok moved in with his father. Some time later, he wed his first wife, a Human female named Amanda Grayson, who gave birth to his second son, Spock, three years later.

According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, a line in an early draft of the script for TOS: "Journey to Babel" suggested that Sarek and Grayson were married in 2230.

In 2249, Sarek broke off his relationship with his son Spock, when the latter decided to apply to Starfleet Academy, instead of the Vulcan Science Academy. The two didn't speak again until the Coridan debate (en route to the Babel Conference of 2268), when Sarek survived a series of heart attacks and surgery, only after a transfusion of blood from his son. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")

They remained on good terms as the Klingon détente bloomed in the 2280s. Spock, however, was left for dead on the Genesis Planet in 2286. Sarek convinced Admiral Kirk to retrieve his son's body, and pushed for a fal-tor-pan fusion of Spock's katra and body. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) It was after this that Sarek finally apologized to Spock for his original opposition to Spock's decision to join Starfleet, recognizing Spock's friends as people of good character. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

In 2293, Sarek suggested that Spock initiate negotiations for a proposed Federation-Klingon Alliance with Chancellor Gorkon, hoping to bring together the two life-long enemies after the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis. That almost didn't happen, for Gorkon was assassinated. Captain Kirk and Doctor Leonard McCoy were arrested by the Klingons, having been framed for the Chancellor's murder. Sarek was present at the Federation's attempts to stop their trial in Klingon territory. Kirk and McCoy, with Spock's assistance, eventually escaped from imprisonment on Rura Penthe. They arrived at the Khitomer Conference in time to prevent the assassination of the Federation President. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) Afterwards, Sarek was involved with the Khitomer Accords, and further helped the Federation and the Klingon Empire establish their almost 100-year peaceful co-existence. (TNG: "Sarek")

Sometime after the Khitomer Conference, Spock left Starfleet and became an ambassador and representative of the Vulcans to the Federation. It is suspected he and Sarek were involved in few diplomatic missions.

The two, however, split again over the Cardassian issue of the 24th century. By that time, Amanda had died, and Sarek had married another Human woman, Perrin. Sarek was present at his son's wedding before they stopped speaking to each other. (TNG: "Sarek")

In 2366, Bendii Syndrome was diagnosed in Sarek, who struggled to complete the Legaran affair. He was finally able to do so with the help of Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D, who, acting on Perrin's suggestion, proposed a mind meld between the two. (TNG: "Sarek")

The meld later allowed Picard, in turn, to link with Spock, in 2368, shortly after Sarek had died at home with his wife. The meld passed along Sarek's true feeling of love and admiration for his son that he had never been allowed to convey in life. (TNG: "Unification I")

After Julian Bashir told Elim Garak "before you can be loyal to another, you must be loyal to yourself" in 2370, the Cardassian attributed the quote to Sarek, but it was actually Bashir's own. (DS9: "Profit and Loss")

The 24th century starship USS Sarek was presumably named in honor of Ambassador Sarek. (DS9: "Favor the Bold")

Appearances

• TOS: "Journey to Babel"
• TAS: "Yesteryear"
• Star Trek films:
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• TNG:
  • "Sarek"
  • "Unification I"

References

• TNG: "Unification II"

Acrophya

• In the comic story "Perchance to Dream", the crew of the Enterprise-D was attacked by a telepathic weapon called the Chova, which forced its victims to experience dreams and hallucinations focused on their personal failures. However, it was discovered that people with multiple personalities could render the Chova inert (since the Chova could only attack one personality at a time). Picard was deliberately infected with the Chova, since his mind-meld with Sarek, the probe that gave him the memories of Kamin, and the remnants of his memories of life as Locutus of Borg still in his mind all gave him the makings of an multiple personality disorder. The four defeated the Chova, but Locutus then attempted to regain control of Picard's body, nearly 'killing' Kamin and Sarek before Picard gathered the mental strength to stop Locutus.

• In the novel Engines of Destiny, Sarek became the leader of a resistance fighting the Borg in an alternate timeline where the Borg conquered the Alpha Quadrant during the events of Star Trek: First Contact. However, Sarek retained some memories of the original timeline, which allowed him to recognize Kirk and Scotty when they arrived in 'his' timeline; even having never met them, he knew that he could trust the two of them. In the end, Sarek sacrificed himself to buy time for the temporally-relocated USS Enterprise-D to return Kirk to the Nexus, as Kirk's presence is required for Picard to survive to defeat the Borg's time-traveling experiment.

Background

• Sarek was primarily played by Mark Lenard, except for in Star Trek V, where young Sarek was played by Jonathan Simpson.

• In a deleted scene filmed for "Elaan of Troyius", it was revealed that Sarek was an accomplished musician. He placed first in an all-Vulcan music competition; second place was awarded to Spock.

• The back story concerning Sybok and Sarek's marriage to a Vulcan princess in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier has long been considered apocryphal by some sources, including Gene Roddenberry. TNG: "Sarek" states that Sarek's first wife was from Earth. Clearly, this was intended to be a reference to Amanda and that Sarek was not married to a Vulcan princess. Admittedly Star Trek V never explicitly says that Sarek ever married the princess, only that she was Sybok's mother.

• A painting of Ambassador Sarek was hung in the USS Enterprise-A's dining room in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

• Sarek died in TNG: "Unification I" before his final appeared in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, even though his appearance in TUC was chronologically almost 70 years before his appearance in TNG.