Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek #21!

Captain Kirk’s “death” has revealed a potentially dark truth about the Star Trek universe. Kirk’s passing in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations was a landmark event in the franchise, and symbolized the passing of the torch. Now, in Star Trek #21, T’Lir, the last of the Organians, reveals they knew Kirk’s fate years ahead of time. This insight opens up some dark implications for the Star Trek universe as a whole.

Star Trek #21 is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Megan Levens. The god-like T’Lir is the last of the Organians, who took the form of a Vulcan as a way of surviving. The issue features a text piece, made to resemble T’Lir’s journals of their time on Organia. T’Lir reveals, that on Organia, they met Captain Kirk. Kirk, Spock and company come to Organia to prevent it falling to the Klingons, unaware of the Organians’ true nature.

T’Lir recounts that Kirk had the “temporal signature” of the Nexus, even then.

Star Trek Generations Killed Off Captain Kirk in a Controversial Move

Kirk’s “Death” Seemed to be Pre-Ordained

Paramount Pictures released Star Trek: Generations in 1994, bringing together Captains Kirk and Picard for the first time. In the film’s opening sequence, Kirk is seemingly killed rescuing El-Aurian refugees. In fact, Kirk was not dead, but had fallen into a traveling cosmic anomaly called the Nexus. Inside, the laws of time and space were meaningless, and they allowed Kirk to live until the 24th century, when he was freed by Captain Picard. Kirk was then killed in the battle with Doctor Tolian Soran on Viridian III. Kirk’s body eventually found its way to a Section 31 facility.

However, T’Lir seemingly knew Kirk’s fate, decades before it was to come to pass, and this raises some intriguing and disturbing questions about the idea of predestination in the Star Trek universe. T’Lir’s observation about Kirk and the Nexus would imply that the Captain was always going to meet this fate–there was no way around it. Kirk survived many harrowing encounters, but was unable to dodge the Nexus and his eventual death on Viridian III. In essence, the destiny of mortals in the Star Trek universe is predestined, whether they want it or not.

Does Freewill Truly Exist in the Star Trek Universe?

Mortals May Be Able to Circumvent the Will of Star Trek’s Gods

The assembled gods in the Pleroma seem to reinforce this fact, but the actions of both Sisko and Kahless seem to say otherwise. Kahless’ crusade against the gods of the Star Trek universe showed they can be hurt and even killed, implying they are subjected to the same laws mortals are. Furthermore, Sisko and company, using a highly advanced technology designed by T’Lir and Scotty, were able to enter the Pleroma. If Klingons and humans can short circuit the will of the gods, then freewill may truly exist in the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek #21 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!