Remember too, that reports are old Spock is in a
Vulcan starship/timeship. But, we're watching Nero try to destroy Vulcan in the movie. What's up with that? Where's the suspense if old Spock's ship is a Vulcan design? Paradox? Did the surviving Vulcans throw themselves into the study of time travel to try to find a way to go back and stop Nero? Was Spock the one they chose to go back and try to stop the day Vulcan was destroyed? Perhaps because he knew who might be helpful back then?
Just saying that's one way Spock could go back in time.
He's actually the one changing the timeline.
He's using Kirk and the crew to restore Vulcan. Pine said he got to save "the Earth." Maybe he meant Vulcan.
Doesn't explain the attack on the Kelvin, but we're forgetting, too, that Nero could've gone from one to the other pretty quickly. And, in the grand scheme of things, stopping the attack on Vulcan is the big one.
Or maybe all the above is the wine talking.
Edited to add this:
Consider Nero's attack on the Kelvin v. his attempt to destroy Vuclan. Which is more heinous? Which truly alters the future the most? After all, if killing Kirk was his first priority, he failed and knows it. Why not try again? It's the conceit of the fan to think Kirk was the primary target. Why is he going after Vulcan? Perhaps because it was his primary target all along. Stopping Kirk was a step in that direction.
That's why Spock doesn't need to know the timeline has been altered. He's the one doing it. Him and some refugee Vulcans who suppose that if Vulcan had survived, things couldn't be worse than the world old Spock and whatever there is of the Federation live in now. They are desperate. They are even illogical. But they are willing to try.
SPOCK is the one who changes the timeline. He changes what NERO did. These Vulcans actually roll the dice that whatever future they would have with Vulcan is better than one without.
On the ice planet, Spock tells Kirk that going with him back onto the Enterprise is "not his destiny." Maybe Spock doesn't know his future. Maybe all he knows is he's thrown things into a better direction. The one that (more or less) becomes the Trek era.
I don't know. If you can do better, let's hear it.
