Garth of Izar is the bad guy?

[GMDreia]

Who else thinks this?

There are a lot of things that tipped me off... he's possibly one of the only characters who could possibly be in a "heart of darkness" style scenario, and... he's wearing an instructor uniform.

And I can see Abrams wanting to keep this all under his hat just precisely BECAUSE he's using a more obscure villain.

[Flux Capacitor]

After watching Whom Gods Destroy I can really see it. Sure, he was a whacko crybaby egomaniac in that episode...but his character has a lot of potential to be really epic, and also able to give us that lack of definitive black and white evil that Cumberbatch had mentioned. It all fits...

He would be returning...from being locked away at the "Federation funny farm" with plenty of motivation to be pissed off at Starfleet and the Federation. Who wouldn't be pissed, after being a honored hero of the fleet to be regaled to a psych ward? This makes him "someone from within the organization" and as a Fleet Captain he'd be a formidable enemy in combat. You'd also have to feel for the guy...it wasn't his fault he went nuts, and his fellow officers just locked him away...

He could easily have superhuman abilities. We already know he can change his form, and who knows what else he's capable of. We know he still needs to wield a weapon as offense. We never saw Spock try his nerve pinch on him so who knows if it would be effective?

It also definitely works well if this is some form of Heart of Darkness adaptation. To me, all they would have to do is make him less whiny and eccentric and more threatening and you'd have yourself a pretty badass bad guy.

[Enterprise is Great]

Garth is definitely a possibility. I'd say that Garth is way more likely than Gary Mitchell.

[ralph]

Garth of Izar is a character that can have a reboot without causing damage to the canon. They can take some elements of "Whom Gods Destroy" and match something of Khan and Mitchell. In my opinion, it would make him a super villain.
My bet remains Garth. A character with potential and who can give to writers freedom to change his characteristics, keeping the basic elements.

Yes, Garth of Izar.

[Pauln6]

My money is on Garth - as a psychiatrist, this would also give us a reason to feature Dehner (she was referred to as a psychologist in the comic but I don't know if that was just a mistake on the part of the writers) but there are probably a lot of other options too. Roger Korby could be super strong and it would give them a reason to bring Chapel to the fore.

[JoeZhang]

ralph wrote:

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Garth of Izar is a character that can have a reboot without causing damage to the canon. They can take some elements of "Whom Gods Destroy" and match something of Khan and Mitchell. In my opinion, it would make him a super villain.
My bet remains Garth. A character with potential and who can give to writers freedom to change his characteristics, keeping the basic elements.

Yes, Garth of Izar.

What canon?

[ralph]

"Whom Gods Destroy".
For hardcore fans, Garth has no super powers, he's just a smart captain who went crazy without being a villain seeking revenge.

He can be a Khan with reboot. But I do not trust these very obvious clues of Abrams.

[Therin of Andor]

ralph wrote:

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"Whom Gods Destroy".
For hardcore fans, Garth has no super powers, he's just a smart captain who went crazy without being a villain seeking revenge.

Huh?

"Hardcore" fans know that Garth Prime had super powers bestowed upon him by shapeshifting aliens.

He can be a Khan with reboot.

Huh?

Anybody can be anybody in a reboot.

But I do not trust these very obvious clues of Abrams.

And yet you continue to use them in your speculations.

[Neumann]

When is he wearing an instructor uniform?

[Dukhat]

He's not Garth of Izar.

[ChristopherPike]

Neumann wrote:

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When is he wearing an instructor uniform?

That could be an ironic touch, given he seems to teaching Starfleet a thing or too.

His language, manner of speaking, is certainly like somebody giving lessons.

The thing that might work for me, is Kirk's description of Garth as one of his heroes in the Original Series. Learning about his strategies at the Academy and so on. Being presented with that person as a threat, and not the person revered for being an explorer and warrior, when it came to defending Starfleet. Not trapped on Elba II but at liberty, would present a challenge we've not seen before. Starfleet versus one of their own. Garth's ideas about what the Federation is, are likely different to the peacekeeping union seen in all the various Star Trek series. Whether that's down to his insanity or not, he's interested in conquest and subjugation... with him as [strike]President[/strike] Emperor no doubt.

[Flux Capacitor]

Dukhat wrote:

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He's not Garth of Izar.

Its really annoying when people present their speculation and opinions as cold hard facts. We're all just guessing here. Care to explain *why* you don't think it's Garth?

[DarKush]

I was going between Gary Mitchell and Garth for a while. I prefer either over Khan. But after the teaser came out and there's this mention of family, I'm going out on a limb and calling it for Kirk's brother, George Samuel Kirk.

But I would be very happy with Garth as the villain. I thought he was an interesting villain on TOS and wouldn't have minded seeing him again.

[Pauln6]

I've always assumed that Garth went batsh*t crazy because of the cellular metamorphosis technique that he was given by the Antosians. It totally threw his brain out of whack. A version of Garth who has not yet been critically injured would never have learned the shapeshifting technique. And does anybody actually know where and what Izar is? Maybe everybody from there is stronger than normal. That could be explained in multiple ways through a single line of dialogue:

How do you like my prototype exo-skeleton?
The Federation should never have turned its back on genetic manipulation.
Have you ever heard of the Venus drug?

And so on...

[Dukhat]

Flux Capacitor wrote:

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Care to explain *why* you don't think it's Garth?

Sure. My authority that says it's not Garth of Izar is the same authority of the OP who thinks it is. Simple enough for you? Or do I have to spoon-feed you the fact that it's my opinion too? I didn't think that was necessary; clearly I was wrong.