Tarsus IV
The disaster on the colony of Tarsus IV remains one of the most defining, if not THE defining event of Jim Kirk’s life. And to this day there are numerous speculations and headcanons about what happened and in what order the events took place and every once in a while a few new arise. So after researching the event for quite some time I wanted to write a masterpost of sorts.
Canon aka What do we know for sure?
The episode we are speaking of here is S1E13 “The Conscience of the King”. During which we learn that Jim Kirk is one of only eight people to have witnessed the massacre on Tarsus IV in 2246. The deed itself had been the decision to execute 4000 people, half of the colony, to ensure enough rations for the rest. Governor Kodos being the one to determine by his own view of the laws of eugenics who was worth surviving. Starfleet ships arrived unexpectedly early just as the execution took place, but too late to save the 4000 colonists. In the ensuing chaos Kodos managed to escape and built a new life as an actor of the name Anton Karidian. 20 years later Kodos crosses Jim’s path again, at the same time the remaining witnesses of the massacre are assassinated one after the other.
That’s basically what the plot tells us, but to establish a short timeline for the events that happened on Tarsus IV itself:
- In 2246 Jim Kirk in his early teens spends an unspecified amount of time on Tarsus IV.
- During his stay a fungus infestation afflicts the crops and presumably other plants.
- The colony sends for help, but Starfleet is unable to guarantee the arrival of help in time.
- Govenor Kodos sizes power over the colony splits the population into two groups, using his own, very subjective laws of eugenics.
- Among the 4000 to be executed are Jim Kirk, Kevin Riley and Thomas Leighton. How they are able to survive the massacre remains unknown, just that they did.
- Starfleet aid arrives earlier than expected, shortly after the execution of half of the colony.
- Chaos ensues and Kodos manages to escape, with only nine witnesses to the mass-murder.
There are a whole bunch of headcanons and theories for this event, some are almost as old as the episode itself.
- The most prominent of them depicts Jim as the leader of the nine witnesses. Since all of them are presumed to be children and we know that Kevin Riley is among them, Jim might be the oldest of them, too.
- There also remains a certain mystery about the other six survivors, since there are only three revealed completely, two more,D. Eames and E. Moulton, named without further information. Some authors go as far as including other members of the TOS crew into the group of survivors.
- There is also a certain guesswork when it comes to how exactly Jim managed to survive the famine and the massacre itself and what state the colony was in. Did the colonists saw the massacre coming? Were they told why half of them had to be executed? Did the nine survivors hide out in the wilderness? Were they kept hidden by other colonists? etc…
- Another aspect would be the severity of the fungus. It’s unknown if only the crops were affected or of the entire eco-system of the planet collapsed, plant-life and animals included.
- In another common theme Jim is thought of as not initially among the 4000 to be executed, but rather someone Kodos favored (for whatever reason is up to the interpreter).
- Apart from the speculation about the actual events of the disaster, there is an uncertainty about the length of it. Including the beginnings of the famine and any riots that may arise before Kodos finally intervenes with his despicable “solution”, the timeline spans from a few days, up to several months. And since canon doesn’t really specify a duration we are left to venture a guess.
- One of my favourite headcanons remains the explanation for Jim’s rather short stature (in comparison to his closest friends). The same being a direct result of surviving a famine at a young age, probably correlated to an interrupted growth spurt.
And there are many more I just wanted to list some of the more common ones. There is an astounding amount of fanfiction some of them dating back even to the original airing dates of TOS. The events on Tarsus IV being a never-ending well of Hurt/Comfort themed stories are often accompanied with themes of torture, rape, non-con, starvation, murder etc.
Originally this entry was supposed to be one big masterpost, but since Tumblr decided to be irritating today I will split the one big post into three smaller ones. This being the first.
(via spirkian)
