Sometimes I read fanfiction concerning Spock's death in The Wrath of Kahn, and when Kirk blames himself for Spock's death, there is someone to tell him that 'it wasn't your fault' and 'there wasn't anything you could do'. This is rubbish, because Spock's death was entirely Kirk's fault and cosmic retribution for his sins.

The first thing we need to establish is what Spock means to TOS from a meta perspective, and to do that we need to begin with what TOS means overall.

The original series deals with the growth of humanity, of people going where 'no man has gone before'. That line isn't just talking about physically going to space, it's about humanity finding new heights within ourselves, growing as people, learning to overcome our demons and find a better future where we can live in harmony with ourselves and each other.

Kirk is the only person in Star Trek who truly understands the point of the show. Jim understands Star Trek on a spiritual level, and he is always looking outward and inwards at the same time. He journeys into the unknown to find that great and wonderful something just beyond where humanity has been before, always looking to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and to incorporate this alien strangeness into his own life, to become a better man.

This makes it thematically relevant that Spock is the fulfillment of this goal. Spock, himself, is the point of Star Trek. Spock is the strange and alien thing outside of our original perceptions. He does not conform to our preconceptions, and the differences between him and humanity could serve to drive a wedge between us - but if we can overcome our differences we find that the benefits from his strengths and positive characteristics far outweigh any difficulties from our differences. Spock is the thing that we may never understand completely, but become better people by trying to understand and by being exposed to him. He is something that may initially appear to be more trouble to understand than he is worth, but after we understand him we realized how much poorer our lives were when we did not.

It is beautiful, then, that Kirk, who always yearns for the point of Star Trek and Spock, who is the point of Star Trek, should be so inextricably intertwined.

Bearing this in mind, we can move to look at Space Seed. The first time I watched Space Seed I was in middle school, and since I liked it back then and since they made a movie bringing back Kahn (two movies no less!) I had rather… assumed it was good.

Actually rewatching the episode came as a surprise and disappointment. Because wow… is there a lot going on.

For starters, there is everything concerning Marla McGivers, Khan's "love interest". Sometimes Star Trek is so revolutionary you forget it was made in the 60s… and sometimes you get a Marla McGivers. Her relationship with Kahn is textbook. Abuse.

Absolutely horrible. He physically abuses her, controls her actions, appearance, manipulates her, encourages her to assist him in murder and mutiny and at the end of the episode they're played off as a storybook romance.

Kirk should send her to space jail for rehabilitation and counseling, but nooo he has to let her go off with Kahn of all people. Now, Kirk doesn't know everything Kahn did to her, but he knows the man is a war criminal so you'd think he wouldn't want to encourage her to stay with him, but apparently not.

Frankly, this subplot deserves far more time than I can dedicate to it in this chapter, but suffice to say that allowing McGivers to stay with Kahn was a secondary terrible decision that Kirk deserved retribution for, and I'm embarrassed that this came out of Star Trek.

Now, before we get into Kirk's real mistake let's refresh ourselves with the point of Star Trek.

Humanity has risen above its worst urges. No longer do we wage war against ourselves, or enact meaningless violence against others. We carry weapons for defense, but the closest thing we have to a military is primarily a force for exploration. Humanity is no longer motivated by bloodlust, no longer cares to oppress others, no longer revels in death and destruction.

This episode spits in the face of those ideals.

There is a ridiculous scene where Kirk, McCoy and Scotty are running their mouths about how cool Kahn was, and how awesome his dictatorship on Earth was and how cool eugenics is, and when Spock tries to call them out on how terrible the things they're saying are they try to gaslight him into believing these are normal things to say.

MCCOY: The last of the tyrants to be overthrown.

SCOTT: I must confess, gentlemen. I've always held a sneaking admiration for this one.

KIRK: He was the best of the tyrants and the most dangerous. They were supermen, in a sense. Stronger, braver, certainly more ambitious, more daring.

SPOCK: Gentlemen, this romanticism about a ruthless dictator is -

KIRK: Mister Spock, we humans have a streak of barbarism in us. Appalling, but there, nevertheless.

SCOTT: There were no massacres under his rule.

SPOCK: And as little freedom.

MCCOY: No wars until he was attacked.

SPOCK: Gentlemen -

KIRK: Mister Spock, you misunderstand us. We can be against him and admire him all at the same time.

SPOCK: Illogical.

This incredible conversation includes praise for eugenics "They were supermen, in a sense. Stronger, braver, certainly more ambitious, more daring." and a throughline of infatuation with how cool Kahn is what with his ruthless efficiency and lack of moral constraints.

This concept of romanticizing ruthless men of the past carries on throughout the episode. Kirk mentions that "men were more adventuresome then. Bolder, more colorful." In Space Seed, Kirk comes off as nothing so much as a teenage boy, infatuated with how 'edgy' and 'cool' an antihero is, reveling in the unrestrained violence they can wreak to bring about their goals.

This culminates at the very end of the episode. Khan has tried to take over the ship, was about to murder the entire senior crew to force their compliance, has showed no remorse for anything and is still a former dictator and war criminal. Instead of taking him to space jail, Kirk instead opts to give him a planet. A planet. So that he can go on to create another dictatorship and oppress even more people.

But it's fine, see, because of how cool Kahn is, and how he doesn't have any of those pesky future morals to stop him from being so cool. Let the war criminal have his own planet. Don't bring him to justice, don't try to protect people from him - enable him as much as possible. What could go wrong?

Well, to the surprise of apparently everyone except for Spock: everything. Since Chekov was shocked to find Kahn on the barren wasteland of Ceti Alpha V after Ceti Alpha VI exploded, we can assume that no one has checked up on the super-genius space dictator for approximately ever (more brilliant planning, Kirk).

And when Kahn escapes, in retribution for Kirk betraying his morals, for forgetting that violence and cruelty are not to be lauded or admired, for enabling a dictator to run free, for betraying everything that he was supposed to represent… Khan kills Spock. Spock, who represents all that is good about Star Trek, all the morals Kirk was supposed to learn and failed to uphold, Spock: the one person least at fault in the rise of Kahn.

And Kirk deserved to lose the man who fulfills his character, because he turned his back on his morals first.