Surak
This article is about the Star Trek character; for the ancient city Surak, see Seleucia (Susiana)Surak died in the
4th century CE (based upon Earth's calendar, approximately 1,800 years before the events of the
Star Trek: Enterprise episode "
Awakening"), apparently of radiation poisoning caused by a
nuclear-like battle that devastated Vulcan. His spirit, or
katra, was placed in the form of an urn where it lay undisturbed until discovered by a Vulcan called Syrran in the
22nd century. Surak's katra somehow ended up in Syrran's mind, and led Syrran to create a group called
Syrranites dedicated to returning Vulcan civilization to the teachings of Surak. A decade or so later, in
2154 prior to the outbreak of a near-civil war on Vulcan, Syrran was killed while escorting Captain
Jonathan Archer and
T'Pol to his group's headquarters in the Vulcan forge. Before dying of wounds suffered from a lightning strike, Syrran placed Surak's katra into Archer's mind without consent.
Experiencing a hallucination (or vision), Archer found himself conversing with Surak within his own mind. Together, they witness a
nuclear explosion that occurred on Vulcan 1,800 years earlier (possibly the same explosion which caused Surak's radiation poisoning). Surak actually displays emotion when talking to Archer, as well as the use of Earth-based
idioms, but this is clearly because of the influence of Archer's mind.
|
A recreation of Surak, portrayed by Barry Atwater |
A subsequent attempt to transfer Surak's katra to Syrran's second-in-command,
T'Pau, failed. Conversing with Archer inside his own mind once again, Surak instructed Archer to recover an artifact called the
kir'shara which Surak claimed could unite the warring factions on Vulcan. The mystical kir'shara contained a
holographic representation of the philosopher's original writings. Archer and T'Pau were successful in taking the artifact to the
Vulcan High Command which resulted in its overthrow (see the Enterprise episode entitled "
Kir'Shara" for details). Surak's katra was subsequently transferred into the mind of an elderly Vulcan priest; it is not yet known what became of the katra after this point.
An interesting tidbit is that for a long time many Vulcan males had names beginning with S and ending in k, possibly to honor Surak, though it has been established that Vulcan names don't always fit this formula (e.g.
Tuvok).
A recreation of Surak, created by advanced alien technology and shaped by impressions held by
Mr. Spock appeared in the
original Star Trek series episode "
The Savage Curtain", portrayed by
Barry Atwater. The vision of Surak appearing in the mind of Jonathan Archer was played by
Bruce Gray.
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