Forgotten Villains: Sybok the Laughing Vulcan

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright Paramount Pictures

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

In the recent Star Trek Strange New Worlds episode the Squall, pirates take over the Enterprise using Spock as a hostage. They want Spock’s betrothed, T’Pring, to hand over a patient from the rehab facility, the Ankeshtan K’Til Vulcan Criminal Rehabilitation Center. T’Pring is a healer bringing Vulcans who have strayed back to the ways of logic. The pirates want a particular patient, Xaverius. Their plan is foiled and all is well until Christine Chapel asks Spock who Xaverius is. The Vulcan in question is part of the V’tosh ka’tur: a group of Vulcans who reject logic. And he is also a son of Sarek who was born out of wedlock prior to Sarek marrying Spock’s mother Amanda Grayson. As we end the episode we learn that Xaverius is in fact Sybok, Spock’s half brother. His alias was given to protect the reputation of Sarek.

It was a shocker because the only time we learned about Sybok, he was in the least successful of the Trek movies, Star Trek 5 – The Final Frontier and directed by William Shatner. At some point he was released from the centre to travel the galaxy seeking to fully explore all the emotions Vulcans denied themselves.

Spock had been instructed by his father to stay away from Sybok and his potentially poisonous views. Maybe this is why Sarek was so hard on Spock given he did not want his second son to go the way of Sybok especially as he was half-human. As we saw in the Next Generation episode Sarek, emotions can be potent to Vulcans. We also saw how Vulcans were more emotional in Star Trek Enterprise through the character T’Pol.

When Star Trek 5 opens we meet a hooded figure on horseback galloping across the desert terrain of Nimbus 3, cloak flowing behind him. It is a powerful cinematic image indicating a powerful figure and similar to the likes of the Ring Wraiths in Lord of the Rings. A poverty stricken farmer digging holes in the desert to presumably find water is suspicious at first. Sybok uses his deep telepathic ability to persuade the man to release the pain that burns in him so he can be free. Such is the man’s gratitude he asks how he can repay Sybok. He replies simply he can join his quest to find the greater knowledge that all men seek. But to do that he needs a starship and knows just how to bring one to this backward world. He removes his hood and reveals his pointed ears then bursts into a hearty laugh.

This is a perfect introduction to the character revealing enough to whet our appetites yet leaving enough questions to keep watching. Because he is Vulcan, we know Spock is going to clash with him but if you avoid spoilers, the family reveal will be a shocker to you.

The producers wanted Sean Connery to play the role at first but it went to Laurence Lockinbill instead. He does a great job too. He is quite affable with people and means no harm. However, at some point he began to receive telepathic visions to come to a garden of paradise where God awaits him. All species have a version of it and over the years Sybok has assembled a Galactic Army of Light comprising several races. However there has to be an element of brainwashing involved to command such undying loyalty. However we will see later there is still a choice even after the pain is faced.

We can assume that Sybok has been keeping track of his family while he gathers his followers. It isn’t just coincidence that he targets the Enterprise with Spock aboard to come to Nimbus 3.

He persuades the three Federation ambassadors to his cause, human, Klingon and Romulan and when Kirk arrives with his rescue team, the Enterprise quickly falls to Sybok’s forces.

When I first began to write this I assumed Sybok was a cult leader using his power to brainwash people to his cause but I was wrong. He makes people simply face their own darkest fears and the release of this pain somehow imbues a loyalty to Sybok as he never forces anyone to follow him. No species seems immune and it only adds to his ranks. He is happy to see Spock again and is disappointed when he refuses to be turned to his cause. Kirk thinks Sybok is a madman but when they actually arrive at Sha Ka Ree (a play on Sean Connery’s name), Sybok is proved right after all.

Sybok is a many layered character; desperate to be accepted by his brother as easily as his followers have. What seems like madness to others is a truth that drives him so he is eager to show Kirk he is right. The thing about characters we think we know and to keep any franchise fresh is to introduce things we don’t know about them. As a long time audience we think we know our characters but the nice thing about this is it takes the rug right from under us. Although we would discover Spock had a sister, Michael, in Discovery, Sybok’s arrival also gives a Greek mythology feel to the movie. Two brothers on opposite sides of life. Sybok is not a bad person at all, he is simply been hooked by whatever has latched on to his telepathic abilities. All he wants is family and acceptance, something he will never find on Vulcan. He has it with his faithful followers but it is not enough.

Despite what they say about this movie it does explore human themes of dealing with pain and sorrow and not talking about it. This is very typical of today where we encourage people especially men to talk about their emotions. Sybok is quite open with his brother but it is the scene where he uses his telepathy on McCoy and Spock to show their deepest pain. We learn Doctor McCoy assisted suicide for his father for a terminal disease days before a cure was found. It has tormented him for years and it is one of DeForest Kelly’s best performances. Spock’s birth is his pain but as he tells Sybok he resolved that long ago. Spock further advises he is no longer the outcast boy he knew before he left.

Sybok is vindicated as the Enterprise breaks through an Great Barrier where they find God waiting for them. The joy in Luckinbill’s performance is tangible but when the truth about God is revealed you can literally hear his soul crack with grief. In a final farewell to his brother, Sybok uses his power against the alien giving the others time to escape. It is through this sacrifice that Kirk realises he too has a brother in Spock. When he goes to hug him on the Klingon bird of prey, Spock says, “Please Captain, not in front of the Klingons.” Although we also see that Sybok’s power has positive effects. Those he forces to face their pain come out better people as seen in the three ambassadors who find a renewed sense of purpose and well-being in strong diplomatic matters.

In many ways Sybok is a victim of Vulcan prejudice and codes that show they are not as inclusive a race as they appear to others. Ambassador Sarek long held the same contempt for Spock given his wish to join Starfleet often citing his human half as a disability. Sybok he literally disowned because he wanted to embrace the power of emotion and explore what space has to offer. He was not the first as in Star Trek Enterprise episode Fusion we met a ship of Vulcans who also embraced emotion and tried everything the galaxy has to offer including chicken. They were the V’tosh ka’tur, explorers of self, Vulcans without logic which they claim is incorrect as they balance logic with emotion just as Sybok has. Sybok would have fitted in well but sadly he was denied the love of a father and we have no idea what happened to his mother. Sarek and Vulcan society abandoned Sybok labelling him as some sort of abomination that pollutes what Vulcan stands for. What sort of effect would that have on a child knowing it is not wanted and ignored by all? We know how it affected Spock with his hybrid heritage and that was not pleasant.

Sybok would have been deeply hurt, rejected and alone. Is it any wonder that Sybok was open to manipulation of a powerful alien mind? God as it claimed to be was able to fulfill Sybok’s greatest pain by guiding him to paradise where he would be accepted and hailed by all as a great and wise leader who found paradise.

Captain Archer would have stepped up and pounded the Vulcans for their treatment of this child and in the end, Sybok managed to reconnect with his brother and by sacrificing himself committed the greatest act of love anyone can do to save his brother’s life. Perhaps Sybok’s actions put Spock on the path of stepping in to save the Klingon Empire in the Undiscovered Country. If a laughing Vulcan can find his way home then to Spock, this is the path to end hostilities with their enemies, the Klingons and the Romulans.