Who did Spock mind meld with before "Dagger of the Mind"?

[JonnyQuest037]

A discussion over on the SNW Forum got me to thinking about the introduction of the Vulcan Mind Meld in "Dagger of the Mind":

SPOCK [OC]: Enterprise log. First officer Spock, acting captain. I must now use an ancient Vulcan technique to probe into Van Gelder's tortured mind.

MCCOY: Spock, if there's the slightest possibility it might help.
SPOCK: I've never used it on a human, Doctor.
MCCOY: If there's any way we can look into this man's mind to see if what he's seeing is real or delusion
SPOCK: It's a hidden, personal thing to the Vulcan people, part of our private lives.
MCCOY: Now look, Spock, Jim Kirk could be in real trouble. Will it work or not?
SPOCK: It could be dangerous. Do you understand? It requires I make pressure changes in your nerves, your blood vessels.
GELDER: You must open my mind. Let me warn you and explain to you.
SPOCK: This will not affect you, Doctor McCoy, only the person I touch. It is not hypnosis.
MCCOY: I understand.

As I said over there, the episode is pretty clear that Spock has never melded with a human before*, and he isn't entirely sure what will happen when he does. They don't explicitly say this, but I'd say it's very possible that NO Vulcan has ever mind melded with a human before.

We know from the TNG episode "Unification" that Spock and Sarek never chose to meld with each other. That seems very plausible considering the distant and troubled relationship they had throughout their lives. So, it begs the question: Who was the Vulcan (or Vulcans) that Spock DID meld with before "Dagger of the Mind"?

I figure the two most logical candidates would be Sybok and/or T'Pring. I can't remember if STV ever says whether or not Spock & Sybok ever shared a mind meld before, but it would make sense considering their closeness in childhood.

And what Spock describes with T'Pring in "Amok Time" certainly sounds like a mind meld to me:

SPOCK: A ceremony while we were but seven years of age. Less than a marriage but more than a betrothal. One touches the other in order to feel each other's thoughts. In this way our minds were locked together, so that at the proper time, we would both be drawn to Koon-ut-kal-if-fee.

IIRC, Spock and his Vulcan love interest T'Pris also mind meld in DC Fontana's 1989 novel Vulcan's Glory. So that's another possible candidate, if you count that book in your headcanon.

So what do you folks think? Is there some other non-human else that Spock might have mind melded with before "Dagger of the Mind"?

*(Yes, I know that Spock mind melds with Kirk in an episode of Strange New Worlds, but let's disregard that for the purposes of this discussion. I'm interested in who Spock might've mind melded with before the modern continuity overwrote the old one. Back when Spock was a taciturn and mysterious alien who only revealed personal details about himself to his shipmates when absolutely forced to. Who did THAT guy choose to meld with?)

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I-Chaya?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I-Chaya?

Oh, that's an interesting thought! It's been a while since I've watched "Yesteryear," but doesn't young Spock meld with I-Chaya to ease his pain?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Also:

SAREK: It is good then. You have comported yourself with honour. We will see I-Chaya is brought home from the mountains.
Y SPOCK: Thank you, father. If you will excuse me now, I have some business to conduct with schoolmates.
SAREK: Business?
Y SPOCK: A demonstration of the Vulcan neck pinch. Our cousin taught me.

Perhaps "Selek" taught Spock via melding.

 

[DonIago]

Now I'm imagining Vulcan parents walking in on their children performing mind melds with their pets or siblings or such and telling them if they don't stop they'll go blind! ;p

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

"She gives great mind."

 

[BillJ]

Everyone. He’s fucking melded with everyone in the universe. That should cover whatever SNW wants to do with the character.

 

[DonIago]

Everyone. He’s fucking melded with everyone in the universe. That should cover whatever SNW wants to do with the character.

What a Vulcan slut!

 

[Rebel Scum]

Oh, that's an interesting thought! It's been a while since I've watched "Yesteryear," but doesn't young Spock meld with I-Chaya to ease his pain?

No, young Spock leaves searching for a healer. Spock teaches young Spock the nerve pinch at the end of the episode, not mild melding.

Mountains
"SPOCK: We cannot get him back to the city to a healer. He is too large to move.
Y SPOCK: Then what?
SPOCK: You are a Vulcan. What is the logical thing to do?
Y SPOCK: I can bring a healer here.
SPOCK: It is a long journey across the desert. There are many dangers.I will go.
Y SPOCK: No. This is my duty. No one else can do it for me. Will you stay with him?
(Young Spock heads back to the city)"

The Animated Star Trek Transcripts - Yesteryear

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

@JonnyQuest037 no, I don't think so, but he may have done so at earlier points in his childhood. The sehlat was his closest friend.

 

[Metryq]

Would Vulcans even need to "mind meld" with each other? In "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" Spock explains, "What most humans generally find impossible to understand is the need to shut out the bedlam of other people's thoughts and emotions."

Vulcans are a passionate people, by nature, and chose their stoic self-discipline to save civilization. In "Dagger" Spock says that he has never melded with a Human. But that doesn't mean no Vulcan has ever mind melded with a Human. Tell me that Sarek and Amanda could have married without it. (And what happened to Sarek's 7-year-itch arranged marriage?)

As for "Dagger," the danger Spock spoke of might be many things. Van Gelder was industrial-strength crazy. Would you wade into that? Especially if you were a half-breed already constantly at war with your dual nature? Then there'd be three of them in there.

Spock is excellent allegory for writers, but if you want in-universe reasons, that's it. ^

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

No, young Spock leaves searching for a healer. Spock teaches young Spock the nerve pinch at the end of the episode, not mild melding.

The visual is somewhat ambiguous, and could be interpreted, I suppose, as "Selek" melding with I-Chaya. In Star Trek Log One, however, ADF was completely unambiguous about it being a nerve pinch:

He reached over and moved both hands on the sehlat's neck, probing. Then he made a motion similar to, and yet unlike, the thing he had done to the le-matya. The great eyes closed all the way and the entire massive body seemed to slump.

 

[Rebel Scum]

The visual is somewhat ambiguous, and could be interpreted, I suppose, as "Selek" melding with I-Chaya. In Star Trek Log One, however, ADF was completely unambiguous about it being a nerve pinch:

That's what's I posted, Spock taught younger Spock the nerve pinch, not mind melding.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I meant he might have melded with him to pass the technique on, rather than just instructing him via visual demonstration and verbal coaching.

 

[Rebel Scum]

I meant he might have melded with him to pass the technique on, rather than just instructing him via visual demonstration and verbal coaching.

That's supposition more like headcanon than anything else.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

That's what's I posted, Spock taught younger Spock the nerve pinch, not mind melding.

Uh, no, he put I-Chaya out after the younger Spock had already left to fetch the healer.

 

[1001001]

Would Vulcans even need to "mind meld" with each other?

Spock said “my father and I never chose to meld.”

That certainly implies other Vulcans do choose to meld with each other.

Maybe not need to, but they can and do.

 

[BillJ]

Spock said “my father and I never chose to meld.”

That certainly implies other Vulcans do choose to meld with each other.

Maybe not need to, but they can and do.

Maybe they can detect surface level thoughts between each other without the meld. The meld itself being far more involved and deeper.

 

[Rebel Scum]

Uh, no, he put I-Chaya out after the younger Spock had already left to fetch the healer.

Yes, that's true and I don't disagree because Older Spock used a nerve pinch on I-Chaya easing his pain while Younger Spock got a healer, not Younger Spock using a mind meld on I-Chaya as was suggested up thread and taught Younger Spock the nerve pinch because he was being bullied. There's no mention of a mind meld used in the episode.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

We know from the TNG episode "Unification" that Spock and Sarek never chose to meld with each other. That seems very plausible considering the distant and troubled relationship they had throughout their lives.

Nobody mind melds with their own father. The very idea gives me ALL kinds of ick. Same with mother. I don't think anybody in the universe wants intimacy with their parents. They want their own privacy, and no incoming TMI from their folks. And yet it is implied that Vulcans do this sh-- routinely.

This train of thought unwraps a new deduction for me: Vulcan mind melds don't open you up. They don't expose any secrets. It's just a silent conversation, and you don't say anything you don't want to. Which raises the question, why do it at all? Once your species evolves the ability to speak, you should be good with that, and not need to transmit thoughts via forehead touching.