The son of Skon, Sarek was born in 2165 and was willingly tutored by his own father. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; TNG: "Sarek"; TOS: "Journey to Babel") He had a pet sehlat named I-Chaya. (TAS: "Yesteryear")
Sarek's first child, Sybok, was conceived out of wedlock with a Vulcan princess. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier; SNW: "The Serene Squall")
Later, Sarek, while serving as ambassador to Earth, wed a Human named Amanda Grayson in the late 2220s. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier; TOS: "Journey to Babel"; TAS: "Yesteryear") A later recollection of Sarek's was that he had married her because, "at the time, it seemed the logical thing to do," but in actuality he loved her. (TOS: "Journey to Babel"; Star Trek)
A line in an early draft of the script for TOS: "Journey to Babel" suggested that Sarek and Grayson were married in 2229. (Star Trek Chronology (2nd ed., p. 28)
Three years after their marriage, in 2230, the two were in the city of ShiKahr where Amanda gave birth to Sarek's second son, Spock. (TOS: "Journey to Babel"; TAS: "Yesteryear") Upon first holding him, Sarek remarked that the newborn Spock was "so Human." (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) Sarek passed his pet sehlat I-Chaya on to Spock, and raised him and Sybok as brothers. (TAS: "Yesteryear"; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
In 2237, when Spock was aged seven, Sarek was involved in arranging for him to wed T'Pring, later in life. (TOS: "Amok Time") Sarek also gave Spock his first lesson in computers. (TOS: "Journey to Babel") However, as a seven-year-old, Spock was occasionally bullied by Vulcan children who claimed that Sarek had brought shame to Vulcan by marrying a Human. (TAS: "Yesteryear")
In an alternate timeline created by the death of Spock at an early age, Sarek separated from Amanda Grayson, and did not remarry after Grayson died. Also he had been Federation ambassador to seventeen different planets between 2237 and 2269. (TAS: "Yesteryear")
When the Human parents of Michael Burnham were killed by Klingons, Sarek took her as a ward and raised her on Vulcan, where she became the first Human to ever attend the Vulcan Learning Center and the Vulcan Science Academy, the latter of which she entered in 2245. (DIS: "The Vulcan Hello", "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry") When Burnham was a child, the Learning Center was bombed by logic extremists and Burnham was rendered medically dead. Sarek came to her rescue and initiated a mind meld with Burnham, in order to revive her. As a result of this, a portion of Sarek's katra remained inside her mind, which later allowed him to communicate with her across interstellar distances. (DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars", "Lethe")
After Burnham's graduation from the Vulcan Science Academy, Sarek was forced to choose between Burnham and Spock on who should join the Vulcan Expeditionary Group. Sarek chose Spock over Burnham for this; he then arranged with Captain Philippa Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou that Burnham would serve on her ship after graduation. In 2249, Sarek transported from Vulcan to the transporter room of the Shenzhou with Michael Burnham, and scolded her for being too rigid, refusing to follow human niceties by giving her hand to Georgiou; quietly he told Burnham to "behave" just before he departed from the ship. (DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars", "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry", "Lethe")
However, he later regretted his favor to Spock; the latter decided to apply to Starfleet Academy instead of the Vulcan Science Academy, whereas Sarek wanted Spock to follow his father's teachings, just as he himself had followed the teachings of his own father. In 2250, Sarek broke off his relationship with Spock and, for years to come, the two were estranged. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")
Role in the Federation-Klingon War
Right before the Battle of the Binary Stars in 2256, Michael Burnham called Sarek over a subspace channel seeking information about how to handle the Klingons. Sarek narrated to her how the Vulcans had handled them after their first contact in 2016: by firing first, cautioning her this solution was unique to them. Further, he cautioned her from letting the fact that Klingons killed her parents affect her judgement. (DIS: "The Vulcan Hello")
During the Federation-Klingon War, Sarek travelled from Vulcan to a secret meeting on Cancri IV with a supposedly dissenting Klingon faction which could end the war. However, his Vulcan cruiser was disabled by the pilot V'Latak, who was actually one of the logic extremists and attempted to assassinate him by turning his own body into a bomb; though Sarek survived, the ship was disabled inside the Yridia Nebula. Gabriel Lorca of the USS Discovery launched an unauthorized rescue mission; Sarek was too injured to continue and Admiral Katrina Cornwell went in his place. However, the meeting was actually a trap orchestrated by Klingon General Kol to capture Sarek, and Cornwell was captured instead. (DIS: "Lethe")
In 2257, after the Discovery returned from the mirror universe, Sarek met the mirror counterpart of Philippa Georgiou, who offered her help with the war. Sarek and Cornwell (who had been liberated from her captors) wished all information regarding the crossover to be buried. He then negotiated with the Federation Council, received approval of Georgiou's plan, and it was decided that they had no choice but to proceed. (DIS: "The War Without, The War Within")
After the end of the war, Sarek, with Amanda, visited Paris for the victory celebrations, where they met with Michael, now reinstated as a commander and appointed science officer of the Discovery. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")
Control crisis
After the appearance of the red bursts in 2257, Sarek left the Discovery to return to Vulcan and was assigned to the Federation task force investigating the mysterious signals. (DIS: "Brother")
After discovering Spock had disappeared in that same year, Sarek began to search diligently for him, to no avail. As it turned out, Spock had secretly returned to Vulcan, with Amanda hiding him in a sacred crypt and was shielded from telepathic searches due to the presence of Katra stones. When Burnham returned to Vulcan to join in the search for Spock, Amanda led her in secret to the crypt, but Sarek followed them in secret. Sarek confronted his wife about her deception and was able to convince them that the best course of action was to turn over Spock to Captain Leland. (DIS: "Light and Shadows")
Later that year, when the crew of the Discovery was planning to escape to the future as part of a plot to escape Control, Sarek was able to pinpoint the location of the Discovery using Burnham's katra. There, Sarek and Amanda said their goodbyes to Burnham, expressing their love for each other. Sarek agreed to look out for Spock, albeit from afar, at Burnham's request. Following this farewell, Sarek and Amanda returned to Vulcan. Following the Discovery's nine-century voyage, Sarek swore to never speak of Burnham or the Discovery again, using his status as an ambassador to avoid interrogation. (DIS: "Such Sweet Sorrow", "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2")
Reminisces by Spock
In 2266, his estranged son Spock was serving in Starfleet aboard the USS Enterprise. That year he noted Balok as being reminiscent of his father, even stating – at one point early in the first contact between the First Federation and the Enterprise – that he regretted not having learned more about Balok. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")
While affected by polywater intoxication later that year, Spock remembered that he had respected Sarek and their Vulcan traditions but had been ashamed of his Human blood. (TOS: "The Naked Time")
In 2267, while Captain James T. Kirk was attempting to aggravate Spock by making up false insults, he insisted that Sarek had been "a computer." (TOS: "This Side of Paradise") Later the same year, Spock evoked the authority of his father (as well as their male ancestors), while making an unsuccessful attempt to persuade T'Pau to prevent him battling Kirk in a kal-if-fee. (TOS: "Amok Time")
Coridan involvement and reconciliation
Sarek's accomplishments as an ambassador of the Federation included the Coridanite admission debate of 2268 before the Federation Council. Sarek's involvement in the Coridan admission debate included attending multiple council sessions, at least one of which was before the conference on a neutral planet. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")
Shortly before he left Vulcan with his wife and a group of aides, Sarek suffered two heart attacks. He did not inform his wife of these incidents, though his physician prescribed Benjisidrine for the condition. During the council session en route to the Babel Conference Sarek met and debated with Tellarite Ambassador Gav, winning their argument. He did not speak with Spock until Sarek survived a series of heart attacks and surgery, and they talked again only after a transfusion of rare T-negative blood from his son. This event resulted in a brief retirement and a rekindling of their relationship. (TOS: "Journey to Babel") The conference finalized the admittance of Coridan into the Federation. Despite several minor quarrels, Sarek cast the final vote in favor of Coridan's admittance. (TNG: "Sarek")
Sarek and Spock remained on good terms as the Klingon détente bloomed in the 2280s. In 2285, Sarek was briefed on Project Genesis and the report from James T. Kirk on the recent activation of the Genesis Device. That year Spock was left for dead on the Genesis Planet after sacrificing his life to save the USS Enterprise. Sarek, believing that Spock had put his katra in Kirk before he died, traveled to Earth to convince him to retrieve his son's body. It turned out it was Leonard McCoy who now possessed Spock's katra. On Vulcan, Sarek pushed for a fal-tor-pan, a fusion of Spock's katra and body; although aware of the dangers and complications of the ritual, Sarek stated that his logic was uncertain where his son was concerned. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
This line of dialogue was originally to have been "My logic fails me where my son is concerned," though "fails me" was ultimately changed to "is uncertain." (Starlog, issue #117, p. 49)
Three months later, Sarek finally apologized to Spock for his original opposition to Spock's decision to join Starfleet, recognizing Spock's friends as people of good character. Sarek attended a meeting of the Federation Council that had put the Enterprise crew under accusation; he witnessed the controversy over the Genesis Device, especially the arguments from them that Kirk be extradited. Sarek defended the Enterprise, accusing the Klingon Ambassador that his navy had attacked the Enterprise, citing Kruge's attack on the USS Grissom and the death of Kirk's son; he was shocked that the ambassador proudly admitted his men indeed did so. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
In 2287, Sybok manipulated the starship USS Enterprise-A and reunited with his brother Spock. He caused an apparition in Spock's mind of his own birth; Spock saw his father holding him, commenting that the baby resembled a Human rather than a Vulcan. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
Later career
Among Sarek's later accomplishments were his effort to bring about a Federation-Legaran treaty, which began in 2273, and concluded in 2367, early treaties with the Klingon Empire (Treaty of Alliance), and the Treaty of Alpha Cygnus IX. (TNG: "Sarek")
In 2293, Sarek suggested that Spock initiate negotiations for a proposed Federation-Klingon Alliance with Chancellor Gorkon, hoping to bring together the two lifelong enemies after the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis. That almost didn't happen, for Gorkon was assassinated. Captain Kirk and Doctor Leonard McCoy were arrested by the Klingons, having been framed for the chancellor's murder. Sarek was present in the Federation President's office when several attempts to stop Kirk and McCoy being tried in Klingon territory were outlined, but he had to concede that the Klingons were within their legal rights and that the Federation could not interfere in their due process. Kirk and McCoy, with Spock's assistance, eventually escaped from imprisonment on Rura Penthe, and they arrived at the Khitomer Conference in time to prevent the assassination of the Federation President. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) Afterwards, Sarek was involved with the Khitomer Accords, and further helped the Federation and Klingon Empire establish their almost one-hundred-year peaceful co-existence. (TNG: "Sarek")
Sometime after the Khitomer Conference, Spock left Starfleet and became an ambassador and representative of the Vulcans to the Federation. The two, however, split again over the Cardassian issue of the 24th century. Sarek was also dismissive of Spock's friendship with Romulan Senator Pardek, who he had met at Khitomer, and the prospects for a lasting Federation-Romulan peace. (TNG: "Unification I") By that time, Amanda had died, and Sarek had married another Human woman, named Perrin. Sarek was present at his son's wedding before they again stopped speaking to each other; it was at that event that Sarek first met Jean-Luc Picard. Soon after, Sarek studied Picard's career, describing his service record as "satisfactory", a choice of words Picard recognized as high praise from a Vulcan when he and Perrin later spoke of it. (TNG: "Sarek")
Later years
In 2366, Sarek was diagnosed with Bendii Syndrome en route to the Legaran Conference. As his emotional control became very weak, he mind melded with Captain Picard at the suggestion of his wife, Perrin. Sarek was then stable enough to conclude the negotiations for a treaty with the Legarans. He told Picard, "we shall always retain the best part of the other inside us." (TNG: "Sarek")
In 2368, Sarek was visited by Captain Picard. Picard, who had been assigned to investigate Ambassador Spock's disappearance, came to see Sarek and ask if he had any knowledge of a person Spock might contact on Romulus. During their brief conversation, Sarek regained a measure of control over himself and told the captain about Spock's Romulan friend Pardek. Before leaving, Captain Picard gave Sarek the traditional Vulcan salute and the first half of a phrase often accompanying it: "peace and long life." Sarek tried to respond but was overcome by his illness. Shortly thereafter, he died at the age of 203. (TNG: "Unification I")
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