Tarsus IV

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"illustration of a bruised and battered young Kirk on his knees crying, text reads 'Tarsus IV'"
Tarsus IV by nickalas-rey (2019)

Tarsus IV is a planet mentioned in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Conscience of the King". It is known in Trek fandom as the location of where teenaged James T. Kirk witnessed the massacre of thousands of colonists. The exploration of what happened there, and its aftermath, is a common trope in fanworks that focus on Kirk.

Canonical and Semi Canonical Events Related to Tarsus

Description of the series of canon events from Memory Alpha:

"In 2246, Kirk was living on the planet Tarsus IV during a food crisis that was starving the colony of eight thousand people. Governor Kodos, sympathetic to old eugenics philosophies, tried to save a portion of his colony by killing the four thousand colonists he deemed least desirable or able to survive. Kodos was unaware of the imminent arrival of relief ships. The thirteen-year-old Jim Kirk was one of only nine eyewitnesses to the massacre." [1]

Other Events Linked to Tarsus

  • According to the Star Trek Into Darkness App, John Harrison is one of nine survivors from a 2246 attack on Tarsus IV.[2] According to the movie, however, John Harrison is only an identity fabricated by Khan.
  • In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II", a computer readout mentions that Hoshi Sato was killed on Tarsus IV. [3]

Characters Related to Tarsus IV

Fanon

Since the details of what happened on Tarsus IV are somewhat vague it has encouraged many fans to fill in the gaps. There are numerous different fanon, fan theories and tropes surrounding the events of Tarsus IV. Some common examples seen in fanworks include:

  • Kirk Should Have Died: Kirk was among the group that was supposed to be killed, but somehow Kirk and a small group of other survivors lived, and that is how they could testify to the events. "There would also not be a point in calling them “survivors” of the massacre if they had been among the thousands selected to live."[4]
  • Kirk as a Leader of Survivors on Tarsus: It should be noted in this case Kirk is commonly depicted as taking care of various children, and the remaining survivors, when they are rescued, become the Tarsus Nine. "Many theorize that after surviving the massacre, Jim and the other survivors might have had to live in hiding, nearly starving and constantly in danger of being caught and executed."[4]
  • Changing the Timeline: In some instances the canonical timeline for the Tarsus IV incident is lengthened, so that the massacre may take place over a series of days or even months.
  • AOS Kirk: Various plot points are used by authors of reboot stories to get Kirk on Tarsus IV during the massacre. They may closely follow The Original Series canon, or use other issues such as a chaotic home life or punishment to achieve their goal.
  • Characterization of Kodos: Kodos' view of Kirk also varies from fic to fic. In some fics, Kodos is depicted as almost loving towards Kirk in a kind of sick parody of a father-son relationship; other fics have Kodos treating Kirk harshly in an effort to break him.
  • Darkfic: Torture, Rape, Non-Con, Starvation, Mass-Murder, etc, are all common themes seen in Tarsus IV fics.
  • Hurt/Comfort: Tarsus IV is commonly used as the hurt element in hurt/comfort fic by both AOS and TOS authors. Exploration of the physical and psychological effects of Tarsus IV both during and after the incident are explored.
  • Sam Kirk: some older fanworks also have Sam Kirk, Jim's older brother, also on Tarsus IV at the same time. Most of these fanworks seem to paint Sam in bad light, often with him offering his brother up to Kodos.
  • Aftermath: exploring how this event effected Kirk afterwards, this can be immediately afterwards or decades in the future, Kirk having some sort PTSD is a common theme
  • Other Characters: it is fairly rare for fanworks not to focus on Kirk, but there are a few examples of fanworks focused on other Trek characters, sometimes as an outsider POV, sometimes placing those characters on Tarsus IV. Even rarer are fics that take characters from other fandoms and put them in the Trek universe on Tarsus IV.

Fan Reactions

People New to TOS: Wow, that Conscience of the King episode introduces so much meaningful backstory! I can’t wait to see how TOS expands on this so that Tarsus IV becomes the nuanced and developed saga I know from fandom! It must come up really often!
Me: Uh...well.[5]

The thing about reading star trek fics about tarsus iv is that the info given about what happened there is vague enough that authors can go fuckin ham on the details and yall… some of yall get DARK oh geez.. but at the same time I cant stop reading tarsus iv fics I’m like DAYUM DUDE THATS FUCKED UP!! *clicks next chapter* lololol[6]

Fanworks

Tarsus IV Zine Fiction

In The K/S Press #15: a fan compiled a list of known fan fiction in zines that dealt with Tarsus IV:

Fanfiction

Fanart

Fancomic

Fanmixes

Meta

Vids

Example Fanart Gallery

Links

References

  1. ^ Memory Alpha, accessed 3.22.2011
  2. ^ [1]. accessed 6.9.2015
  3. ^ [2]. accessed 6.9.2015
  4. ^ a b "Hi there! I hate sounding so clueless, but what exactly is Tarsus IV and what happened in it that garnered so many Kirk feels?". Archived from the original on 2024-11-07.
  5. ^ "Nov 14, 2021 Tumblr post by trek-tracks". Archived from the original on 2024-11-07.
  6. ^ "March 19, 2020 Tumblr post by hueningkoi". Archived from the original on 2024-11-07.
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