Oh, the irony!

[Christopher]

Sybok was in the wrong, yes, but he was more misguided than consciously evil. He didn't see his quest as a "scheme," but as an honest search for God, and he thought he was doing people a favor by endowing them with God's blessing. True, he didn't exactly respect the consent of those he converted, but neither have a lot of religious proselytizers and zealots over the course of history -- people who believed that they had to bring people salvation by whatever means necessary and that it was for the converts' own good in the long run.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Ultimately, we have (or ought to have) the free will to accept or reject a belief/gift.

 

[Christopher]

Ultimately, we have (or ought to have) the free will to accept or reject a belief/gift.

I did say that Sybok was in the wrong. I just disagree that he was intentionally malevolent. He was fooling himself as much as anyone else, and was being used and manipulated by the "God" entity.

Lots of people who do harmful or evil things do so in the sincere belief that they're doing something good or necessary. That's what "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" means. If you believe your actions are right, then you can justify doing any number of wrongs in service to that supposedly benevolent goal. (See "In the Pale Moonlight.")

 

[Cyke101]

My memory of the film is hazy, but I remember his big turning point came after God blasted Kirk and Spock, to which Sybok went up to God and asked why he was hurting his friends.

The very fact that Sybok referred to his "enemies" as friends and was shocked at the violence, to me, showed he wasn't intentionally malevolent. And then, obviously, him diving in head first to wrestle God as atonement brought him full circle. But even before that, Sybok's enthusiasm in visiting Sha Ka Ree with Spock and McCoy and returning command to Kirk with no conditions was also part of that path.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I did say that Sybok was in the wrong. I just disagree that he was intentionally malevolent. He was fooling himself as much as anyone else, and was being used and manipulated by the "God" entity.

Lots of people who do harmful or evil things do so in the sincere belief that they're doing something good or necessary. That's what "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" means. If you believe your actions are right, then you can justify doing any number of wrongs in service to that supposedly benevolent goal. (See "In the Pale Moonlight.")

Yeah, it's easy to develop a big blind spot. I don't think he meant to do wrong either. He was just so excited about it that he didn't stop to give his actions a lot of thought. But he is able to be taught.

 

[Cyke101]

Yeah, it's easy to develop a big blind spot. I don't think he meant to do wrong either. He was just so excited about it that he didn't stop to give his actions a lot of thought. But he is able to be taught.

He learned it the hard way. When God reveals his true nature, Sybok said that this whole thing was his fault, caused by his arrogance and vanity, which is why he tells the others to flee while he fights God. He acknowledged that he did Kirk and Co. wrong, asked for Spock's forgiveness, and tried to atone for his acts.

Come to think of it, he's maybe one of the only (if not THE only?) Trek movie antagonists to try to redeem himself to the side of good again.

 

[Christopher]

Come to think of it, he's maybe one of the only (if not THE only?) Trek movie antagonists to try to redeem himself to the side of good again.

Pretty much the only one, I'd say, unless you count V'Ger giving up the whole "destroy the Earth" thing in favor of ascending to a higher plane of existence. You could sort of argue that Kelvin-Khan was on the good-ish side to begin with, because he was trying to save his crew from Marcus's evil schemes, but his methods pretty much got an F-minus from a moral standpoint and he ended up giving in to revenge at the end.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

In Who Mourns For Morn, after spending years trying to get rich deceiving people, Quark gets his biggest payoff in a gesture of loyalty.

 

[locutus101]

In Who Mourns For Morn, after spending years trying to get rich deceiving people, Quark gets his biggest payoff in a gesture of loyalty.

Loyalty? The only thing he was loyal to in this episode was his own bank account.

 

[locutus101]

I really don't see Sybok as "well intentioned," more he possesses arrogance. His personal cause is more important than people, certainly more important than their freedom of choice, freedom of mind.

He could have explained his scheme to anyone who would listen, but there would be no guarantee of them becoming his willing thralls. Better to cut to the chase and just mind rape everyone. Do they want to be mind raped? Irrelevant to Sybok's selfish goals.

And yes, I do think Sybok created out of broadcloth the "mercy murdering" of McCoy's father, why fish around in McCoy's mind for a appropriate memory (assuming one even exists), when Sybok can just invent a horrifying fantasy event for McCoy, that only Sybok in all his narcissistic magnificence can then cure.

I am sorry but the end really shows that Sybok wasn't really a bad guy. He was motivated and misguided but when he saw his mistake he sacrificed himself to help the others. Bad guys don't do that.