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Yeah, I know that Mike Sussman said that season 5 would reveal that T'Pol's dad was a Romulan, but since that's not actually canon, I'm curious about what the rest of you think about her father. What kind of relationship do you think she had with him? How did this relationship affect how she and her mother interacted? What kind of guy do you think he was? How did he die?

My view of T'Pols father: I wrote an entire fic surrounding T'Pols father (Whisper and part of The Captives), showing how his death influences her and how she searched for answers (a rewrite of the Seventh). I think T'Pol is a daddy-girl, she had a very good relationship with her father, who accepted her more then her mother. He helped her to deal with her emotions and after his death she felt really lost. He isn't a Rommie, but he was trying to make allies with Humans and other species and his political goals and views have influenced T'Pol.

My stories speak for me. If you want, look at Shore Leave and Past and Future.

I tend to agree that she was a "daddy's girl" and had a much closer relationship with him than she did with T'Les. My own personal belief is that he was the bridge between T'Pol and T'Les - apart from sharing some genes, I saw the two as not really having much in common besides their affection for him, so when he died, it sort of left them at a loss. Since it's canon that T'Pol has always had difficulty with emotional control, I also kind of presumed that her dad was the same way, whereas T'Les never really struggled with that balance. For some reason, I just dig the idea of T'Les being very fond and loving (in a Vulcany way) her mate, but not being aware of just how intensely he cherished her until after he was gone.

I also have to admit to really liking the idea of him being a warp engineer just because I find it amusing.

And, in most of my fiction, I hint at a close, brotherly relationship between T'Pol's dad (who I've never named) and Soval, but that's not really relevant, I think.

Like your idea about the relationship between T'Les and her mate. In my fic T'Pols parents first choose the eldest son of Soval for T'Pol as mate (I had thought of making him an engineer, but I didn't gave him a very detailed existence), but when he dies (and TPols father goes missing), T'Les finds quickly another mate in Koss. Soval is a old friend of T'Pols father. His sons death effects T'Pol as well and I toyed with the idea this would explain some of T'Pols interaction with Trip.

I've always imagined T'Pol as a daddy's girl, too. If nothing else, she certainly seems to think of her father as perfect, or in some way a sacred memory she can use to manipulate her mother. She also projects a bit of frustration or animosity onto her mother. This suggests to me that he died or disappeared when she was still fairly young, maybe an adolescent. To me, her interactions with her mother also suggest that something prevented her from ever maturing into a normal adult relationship with a Vulcan parent; it has instead stalled in adolesence. Since T'Les doesn't strike me as having a manipulative borderline personality disorder intent on infantalizing her daughter or something like that, I theorize that profound loss may have done that.

I'm not going to say that her father was a wonderful perfect father who totally understood his daughter, by the way. Children sometimes blame the parent who doesn't die or abandon them, irrationally concluding that they drove the other parent away. So that he was a Romulan who just took off makes perfect sense to me, really, except that it would be a damned big coincidence in Star Trek canon.

Rigil Kent wrote:I tend to agree that she was a "daddy's girl" and had a much closer relationship with him than she did with T'Les. My own personal belief is that he was the bridge between T'Pol and T'Les - apart from sharing some genes, I saw the two as not really having much in common besides their affection for him, so when he died, it sort of left them at a loss. Since it's canon that T'Pol has always had difficulty with emotional control, I also kind of presumed that her dad was the same way, whereas T'Les never really struggled with that balance. For some reason, I just dig the idea of T'Les being very fond and loving (in a Vulcany way) her mate, but not being aware of just how intensely he cherished her until after he was gone.

My thoughts exactly.

I really don't like the idea of T'Pol's father being a Romulan. That's just a cop-out way to explain what doesn't need explaining (why T'Pol is more emotional; like the Trell and the Pa'nar).

So in my mind he's a Vulcan. And I subscribe to Rigil's view of him, with T'Pol a daddy's girl and a conduit to T'Les. I also like the idea that he and Soval were good friends and that's why Soval took her under his wings after daddy died.

Kevin Thomas Riley wrote:I really don't like the idea of T'Pol's father being a Romulan. That's just a cop-out way to explain what doesn't need explaining (why T'Pol is more emotional; like the Trell and the Pa'nar).

For me, I think the only way I could really handle it is if he went native and tried to be a good Vulcan, but was later taken out by one of their operatives or something. But overall, I tend to agree that it's a cop-out meant to explain away some sub-standard writing for T'Pol over the years.

I always thought T'Pol's interest in space exploration (especially interaction with humans) was because of T'Mir but that her father nurtured this fascination. I even had this vision of a scene with young T'Pol and her parents where her father is telling her stories of his strange human colleagues until her mother comes in and squashes storytime for good. It didn't make the cut for the story but I still have the scene in my mind when thinking about T'Pol's past.

Aikiweezie wrote:

Rigil Kent wrote:I tend to agree that she was a "daddy's girl" and had a much closer relationship with him than she did with T'Les. My own personal belief is that he was the bridge between T'Pol and T'Les - apart from sharing some genes, I saw the two as not really having much in common besides their affection for him, so when he died, it sort of left them at a loss. Since it's canon that T'Pol has always had difficulty with emotional control, I also kind of presumed that her dad was the same way, whereas T'Les never really struggled with that balance. For some reason, I just dig the idea of T'Les being very fond and loving (in a Vulcany way) her mate, but not being aware of just how intensely he cherished her until after he was gone.

My thoughts exactly.

I agree with this. I think that while her father acknowledged the need for T'Pol to attain control, she probably found more acceptance in him than in her mother, for reasons unbeknownst to her. He'd empathize more than T'Les.

Kevin Thomas Riley wrote:I really don't like the idea of T'Pol's father being a Romulan. That's just a cop-out way to explain what doesn't need explaining (why T'Pol is more emotional; like the Trell and the Pa'nar).

I agree. I read about this just a little time ago (I only watched one episode of Enterprise when aired - I was passing through US and saw 'Carbon Creek') when searching references to match fanfic. I feel very difficult to a foreigner (being Romulan or other alien) to have a long term marriage with a Vulcan (T'Les) without being recognized because of the so called mating bond (like T'Pol and Trip) characteristics.

As for the 'daddy girl', I also agree.

Enerdhil

Enerdhil wrote: I feel very difficult to a foreigner (being Romulan or other alien) to have a long term marriage with a Vulcan (T'Les) without being recognized because of the so called mating bond (like T'Pol and Trip) characteristics.

Well, there are quite some facts, you would have to consider:
1) Genectically they are very close to each other (not identical but close)
2) We are not sure, if at least the higher ranks in the Vulcan society know about their connection to the Romulans or not. So do we know, if the authorities are aware of the possibility?
3) Who says, that T'Les didn't know about his Romulan origin?

But I totally agree with you, that the idea of T'Pol's father being an operative/spy, who simply robbed the identity of T'Les designated husband and later disappeared into thin air, is quite lame.

Personally, I have a different approach of the figure of T'Pol's father, but I won't reveal it, as I'll use it in one of my own stories and I don't want to spoil it.

I also vote for the 'daddy girl' version.

Lame is in the eye of the beholder. All depends on what you do with the idea.

Thot wrote:

Enerdhil wrote: But I totally agree with you, that the idea of T'Pol's father being an operative/spy, who simply robbed the identity of T'Les designated husband and later disappeared into thin air, is quite lame.

In the hands of a lame writer, *any* premise is, well...lame.

Then, we have "Family Secrets" by honeybee. Both of which are the polar opposite of lame. Romulan father and all.