Unlike the Klingons, who have changed appearance several times over the course of the franchise’s TV shows and films, the physical appearance of the Vulcans has more or less stayed the same since Gene Roddenberry’s pioneering, space faring vision: The Original Series. Their pointed ears and stylish, upwards-veering eyebrows have continued as a staple through the show, despite being originally designed to avoid costly prosthetics and make up. Like most life in the universe, the Vulcans are also humanoid in appearance.

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When exploring Vulcan history, it’s important to include the Romulans. These two species are incredibly different in nature, but share a striking resemblance to one another physically. During The Original Series, audiences discover, alongside the crew of the enterprise, that Vulcans and Romulans really are not too dissimilar at all, as they are both descended from the same ancient ancestors. Their divergence took place before the Vulcans adopted their characteristic obsession with logic and reason.

The ancient Vulcans were an emotionally charged, warlike species, who desired to conquer the stars. They were a barbaric race, who was starting to buckle under its own weight. Through their unquenchable passion and emotion, they were on a slippery slope to extinction. This was until the 3rd millennium BC, when a few ancient Vulcans began to try and suppress their emotion. However, they were still in the minority, seen more as a religious cult rather than people to be taken seriously. The majority of Vulcans still were fueled by emotion, violence, and passion. By the 9th Century BC, Vulcans had discovered warp capabilities, but due to their technological advancements being so far ahead of the rest of the galaxy, they were mostly alone — which, due to their colonization habits, was probably a good thing.

Everything changed, however, during what is known as the “Time of Awakening,” which occurred during the 4th Century. At this time, the planet Vulcan was being torn apart by its inhabitants, who were constantly at war with one another. They had begun to drop nuclear bombs, as well as using a device called the Stone of Gul, which would amplify the target’s violent emotions to the point where they would see red, and go on a blind rampage. Out of all this bloodshed, however, there appeared a Vulcan philosopher called Surak, who had adopted a lifestyle led by logic over emotion, teaching his followers around Vulcan his philosophy. He grew more and more popular, until his observations and teachings were recorded in what equates to the Vulcan holy book: the Kir’Shara.

Despite all the odds, Surak’s teachings mostly stuck, and swept across their home world until order had been restored once more to the Vulcan people. No longer driven by emotion, they lost interest in conquering and destroying one another, indeed looking both to the stars and within themselves for enlightenment. As Spock himself states, “Only the discipline of logic saved my planet from extinction.”

Not everyone adopted Surak’s views, however. The minority who refused to forsake their emotions for logic fought hard to keep their barbaric way of life, until they were eventually forced out from their home world. These outcasts were the ancestors of the Romulans, who carried on their violent ways.

After the destruction and near annihilation of their home, it took the Vulcans a long time to rebuild. They focused on healing their planet and developing further their quest for reason, but after approximately 1500, years they returned to the skies. After all this time, there was a lot more happening among the stars. Cultures on other planets had developed and evolved enough to make things interesting for the space-faring Vulcans. They aligned with the Andorians, and the Tellarites, and eventually, on April 5th 2063, they made first contact with humans. The Federation and Starfleet were born soon afterward, and the rest is history.

Vulcan history is being added to in vast quantities as more and more iterations into the franchise appear, but this is the streamlined version of what brought the Vulcans from a warmongering race to the oddly lovable stoic figures seen today. Through Spock, they made their way into audiences’ hearts, epitomizing the notion of a hard exterior with a soft core.

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