Can A Romulan Mind Meld

[Basill]

I've assumed that the Vulcans get their mental abilities from the discipline of logic. The Rommies may have these abilities but can't focus them as effectively.

Sybok could mindmeld yet he chose not to control his emotions at all. We don't really know enough about the Romulans to say either way. Maybe JJ will answer the question for us.

Yes, but Sybok was also raised on Vulcan. He at least had the experience of their training before he chose to abandon it. It all seemed to come rather easy to him. And though it is just speculation, Sybok may possibly have been a standout even by Vulcan standards, pointing again to a combination of both mental training and even the most minor of evolutionary branching. We just don't know enough about him.

Some would argue that the mere millennia the two species have been separated might not be enough for such drastic evolutionary divergence, but they did split after achieving some not-so modest advances in a number of sciences, almost certainly including genetics. That manipulation coupled with their very distinct environments could have propelled the Vulcan/Romulan split a little faster than the standard Darwinian crawl. However, I suspect that the foundations for the mindmeld are in fact in both species. I personally believe even a human could learn the neck pinch if he knew enough about the victim's anatomy. (Vulcan telepathic abilities might just give them a narrow advantage now that I think about it. Seeing as they might be able to better "sense," even sub-consciously, where to apply the perfect pressure for the end result.)

 

[Mysterion]

Can romulan mind meld or do the "Neck pinch"

What do you think?

Despite the Romulans and their common ancestry with the Vulcans there is many subtle internal physiological differences between Vulcans and Romulans. Due to many centuries, the Romulans have never embracing logical principles and kept there extreme emotions. Due to this the Romulans physically and mentally developed differently then there cousins the Vulcans.

So no the Romulans cannot do the mind meld because they lost the ability to do so. But yes they could perform he neck pinch if they were trained to do so.

Honestly, how much genetic divergence/evolution could/would there be uin the ~2000 years the vulcans and romulans have been seperated? I'm guessing that the two groups are still very similar and have the same innate talents, and that given the proper training a romulan would be capable of the same mental disciplines we've seen in vulcans.

 

[robjkay]

Can romulan mind meld or do the "Neck pinch"

What do you think?

Despite the Romulans and their common ancestry with the Vulcans there is many subtle internal physiological differences between Vulcans and Romulans. Due to many centuries, the Romulans have never embracing logical principles and kept there extreme emotions. Due to this the Romulans physically and mentally developed differently then there cousins the Vulcans.

So no the Romulans cannot do the mind meld because they lost the ability to do so. But yes they could perform he neck pinch if they were trained to do so.

Honestly, how much genetic divergence/evolution could/would there be uin the ~2000 years the vulcans and romulans have been seperated? I'm guessing that the two groups are still very similar and have the same innate talents, and that given the proper training a romulan would be capable of the same mental disciplines we've seen in vulcans.

Apparently alot! I mean take a look at each races external features, there different. So evolution between the two races have changed and is capable! The same can be said internally from an episode in TNG.

So even if the two species are cousins and do have similarities, there also completely different in many ways.

 

[The Wormhole]

It should be possible for a Romulan to learn to do the neck pinch, since we have seen non-Vulcans do it like Data and Odo.

When did Odo do it?

Paradise Lost. When Odo breaks Sisko out of the brig at Starfleet Command, he uses the neck pinch on one of the guards.

Also, we've seen Archer do the neck pinch to a few Vulcans in Kir'shara. Though he did have Surak's katra at the time. Interestingly enough, when McCoy had Spock's katra, he wasn't able to pull the neck pinch off.

 

[alicelouise]

In "The Enterprise Incident" Spock and the Romulan Commander did a mind meld. The Commander seemed familiar with it as well. I would guess that Romulans at least do melds with trusted intimates.

 

[Rabid Trekkie]

Honestly, how much genetic divergence/evolution could/would there be uin the ~2000 years the vulcans and romulans have been seperated? I'm guessing that the two groups are still very similar and have the same innate talents, and that given the proper training a romulan would be capable of the same mental disciplines we've seen in vulcans.

Well if we assume that the Remans were related to the Romulans (the ears make me think so) then it could be possible that there was some kind of genetic or radiological disaster to create the split. If that's the case then it could be that most of the more powerful telepaths mutated into the Remans and there was just not enough of the telepathic genes left in the Romulans for them to have any real ability in it, and by the time we see them in TOS and TNG the ability no longer exists among the Romulans but is incredibly strong amongst the Remans.

 

[robjkay]

In "The Enterprise Incident" Spock and the Romulan Commander did a mind meld. The Commander seemed familiar with it as well. I would guess that Romulans at least do melds with trusted intimates.

Humans have also have been seen doing melds with vulcans, which also seem that at least some of them were familiar with it as well. But that does not mean that humans are able to perform melds when they wanted to

 

[Michael]

In "The Enterprise Incident" Spock and the Romulan Commander did a mind meld. The Commander seemed familiar with it as well. I would guess that Romulans at least do melds with trusted intimates.

Where did they perform a mind meld in that episode?

(Hint: Nowhere.)

 

[Kryton]

After re-seeing "The Way to Eden" last weekend, the character Tongo Rad seems to have his own "nerve finger" knock-you-out pinch (more like the one in the Frankie & Annette beach movies in the '60s with "Eric von Zipper" (Harvey Lembeck)) going on, man. It was groovin'!

 

[JM1776]

Where did they perform a mind meld in that episode?

(Hint: Nowhere.)

I think you're supposed to assume a certain level of psychic intimacy is achieved when they are stroking each other's fingertips—not nearly so revealing as that of a mind meld (or the jig woulda been up right there), of course, but ... very likely more than a simple caress.

It's even possible that Spock learned certain facts he required to further his mission whilst keeping the Romulan Commander a little drunk on and lost in sensation.

 

[diankra]

I think Romulans could learn it as well as most Vulcans, but there is a cultural difference that would make it a repulsive practice to most Romulans. The mind of the melder is revealed in great intimacy. Romulans in general would not be able to open themselves to such a degree, for cultural conditioning reasons, not due to lack of discipline, the Romulans are highly mentally disciplined.
We do know that a Romulan can be melded for interrogative purposes, as in STVI, but if I were running an RPG on it I would make the Romulans, in general, highly resistant to such things, and when Spock was able to pull it off he was of very high level, and even then only barely succeeded.

A throwaway point is that in Enterprise, we have an area when the mind-meld is frowned upon by the Vulcan government, and also one where the Romulans are meddling in Vulcan politics. Could be coincidence, or could be linked...

 

[Terra Pryme]

If the Romulans could mind meld, they wouldn't need mind probes, would they? Those alone likely eliminated any need for melding on their part.

 

[Timo]

Then again, in canon, there are no Romulan "mind probes". Use of technology for mindreading/interrogation is a purely Klingon thing in TOS.

Romulans are not shown conducting any interrogations in any of the shows or movies - at best, we see the brainwashing of LaForge in "Mind's Eye", a procedure that involves no interrogation. The imprisonment and confusing of Riker for his secrets in "Future Imperfect" is sheer fakery, performed on a disoriented Riker who probably couldn't tell even in ideal circumstances whether this is an atypical thing for Romulans.

So perhaps Romulans are indeed skilled mindmelders and therefore never bother with lengthy interrogations...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hermiod]

Then again, in canon, there are no Romulan "mind probes". Use of technology for mindreading/interrogation is a purely Klingon thing in TOS.

The Romulans tried to use such devices on Bashir in "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges". Or, of course, it might have been part of the overall fake out plot line.

Of course, the technology did not work on Bashir's enhanced brain structure.

See here.

 

[Michael]

Then again, in canon, there are no Romulan "mind probes". Use of technology for mindreading/interrogation is a purely Klingon thing in TOS.

Romulans are not shown conducting any interrogations in any of the shows or movies - at best, we see the brainwashing of LaForge in "Mind's Eye", a procedure that involves no interrogation. The imprisonment and confusing of Riker for his secrets in "Future Imperfect" is sheer fakery, performed on a disoriented Riker who probably couldn't tell even in ideal circumstances whether this is an atypical thing for Romulans.

So perhaps Romulans are indeed skilled mindmelders and therefore never bother with lengthy interrogations...

Timo Saloniemi

We see the Romulan mind probe used in the DS9 episodes Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges and Extreme Measures. I guess that makes them canon.

 

[Kryton]

I always kinda got the impression that the more emotional Romulans lacked the psychological discipline to meld as effectively as the Vulcans were able to.