Jonathan Archer

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

For the mirror universe counterpart, see Jonathan Archer (mirror).

Jonathan Archer was a legendary Starfleet officer and captain of the Enterprise (NX-01), United Earth's first full-fledged starship. In that role, he was responsible for greatly expanding United Earth's presence in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, and making first contact with more than a dozen species, among them the Klingons, Andorians, and Xindi.

One of the most important Humans in interstellar history, Archer is widely credited with saving Earth from the Xindi and paving the way for the founding of the United Federation of Planets. He would go on to become one of the Federation's earliest presidents.

[edit] Early life

Jonathan Archer as a boy in 2121

Jonathan Archer was born in 2112 to Henry Archer, the renowned warp scientist, and his wife Sally. Despite being born in Upstate New York (ENT: "North Star"), Jonathan variously claimed to have lived "all" or "most" of his life prior to 2151 in San Francisco (ENT: "Broken Bow", "North Star"). From an early age, he wanted to serve in what would become the Earth Starfleet. In at least one astronomy book he owned as a child, he styled his name on the ex libris as "Admiral Jonny Archer". (ENT: "First Flight", "Broken Bow") Also in his youth, Jonathan achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts. During his time in the Boy Scouts, he earned 26 merit badges, including a Wilderness merit badge which he received in a rainforest in New Zealand. (ENT: "Rogue Planet") In school, Jonathan was called to the principal's office only once, for passing notes to Katy Bentley. (ENT: "The Council")

Tragically, in 2124, his father died of Clarke's Disease after suffering from frequent hallucinations and pain for years, sometimes not even recognizing his own son. However, the relationship that Jonathan shared with Henry's friend, Emory Erickson, strengthened, and Emory became like a surrogate father to him. (ENT: "Cold Station 12", "Daedalus")

As an undergraduate, he likely attended Stanford University, where he was an accomplished athlete in the sport of water polo. During his senior year, he participated in the 2134 North American Water Polo Regionals. The match featured a come-from-behind victory for his team, who were down by two goals in the last minute of play. The nature of the rally became a mantra that Archer carried forward into later life, such that he always believed he could win, no matter the odds. Following the victory in the Regionals, he and his team went on to participate in the championship round of the tournament that year. (ENT: "Vox Sola")

A few years before Starfleet was chartered, Jonathan gave serious thought to serving on a cargo ship, but decided against it. (ENT: "Horizon")

[edit] Early years in Starfleet

In 2136, when Archer was 24 and in flight school in San Francisco, he met Margaret Mullin, with whom he became romantically involved. The night before he graduated, he asked her to marry him. Margaret turned him down, as she did not want to become a "Starfleet widow." (ENT: "Twilight")

Some time prior to 2143, Archer had a relationship with Caroline. When she moved to New Berlin, however, he decided to get drunk in 602 Club.

Commander Archer in 2143, observing Starfleet's first warp 2 flight.

As a Commander, Archer was one of four test pilots in the NX Program in the 2140s. In 2143, he and A.G. Robinson became not-so-friendly rivals in wanting to be the first to fly the NX-Alpha. Ultimately, Commodore Maxwell Forrest gave the assignment to Robinson. Robinson, however, was determined to break warp 2. He did, but the NX-Alpha was destroyed; Robinson managed to get out just in time via an escape pod. Later, Archer, Robinson, and Lieutenant Charles Tucker III achieved warp 2.5 with the NX-Beta after modifying the engines. (ENT: "First Flight")

Later in the 2140s, Archer was on Titan as part of the Omega training mission along with Tucker. When Tucker's environmental suit malfunctioned, Archer saved Tucker's life by preventing him from taking off his helmet on Titan's surface. (ENT: "Strange New World") Around this time, Archer had also been romantically involved with Erika Hernandez. However, he discontinued the relationship when he became Erika's superior officer. (ENT: "Home")

A few years prior to the launch of the Enterprise (NX-01), Archer was a guest aboard the Vulcan Maymora-class ship, the Yarahla, which made a run to a dark matter nebula. He helped set up the graviton telescope, and also spacewalked in a Vulcan EV suit. (ENT: "Breaking the Ice")

In 2150, Archer was selected as captain of Enterprise. (ENT: "First Flight") His quarters aboard Enterprise were located on E Deck. (ENT: "Unexpected")

[edit] Commanding Enterprise

Captain Archer and Commander Charles Tucker III inspect Enterprise just before its launch in 2151.

Archer's mission as captain of Enterprise began in 2151 with the return of stranded Klingon officer Klaang to Qo'noS after he was attacked by the Suliban who, under the leadership of Silik, were trying to start a Klingon civil war as part of the Temporal Cold War. Archer was successful in his mission, and war was averted. Soon after, he received orders from Starfleet that he and his crew were to begin their mission of exploration. (ENT: "Broken Bow")

Archer explored Terra Nova, a lost Earth colony. The descendants of the original colonists lived underground, as their atmosphere had been poisoned. They believed that Earth attacked them to take back their settlement, which had become independent of Earth, and attacked Archer and his landing party. They also refused to believe that their water supply was contaminated. After much interaction, including Doctor Phlox curing one of them of cancer, and Archer and the leader of the Novans, Jamin, saving a Novan youth, Archer gained their trust. Enterprise relocated them, saving them from extinction. (ENT: "Terra Nova")

Archer and Enterprise made first contact with the Andorians at the Vulcan monastery at P'Jem. Though initially suspicious of Humans because of their alliance with the Vulcans, the Andorians gained some measure of trust, particularly in Archer, when he assisted them in exposing the Vulcan sensor post hidden on P'Jem. Though the decision resulted in the destruction of the ancient monastery, it helped forge a close relationship with the Andorians, in particular Shran, which would later prove invaluable when the Andorians came to the assistance of Enterprise during the Xindi mission. (ENT: "The Andorian Incident")

Archer's next venture concerned the discovery of a pre-industrial civilization populated by the Akaali. A plague was ravaging the planet, and a woman named Riann, a pharmacist, was trying to determine the cause. Archer helped her, and found that a hidden anti-matter emitter in a local shop owned by a man named Garos had contaminated the water. Garos was really an alien who was mining the resources of the planet. Archer exposed him, and when Enterprise disabled his ship, Garos was forced to leave. Enterprise supplied an antidote. Meanwhile, Archer and Riann had a brief romantic interlude. (ENT: "Civilization")

Enterprise intervened when the crew of a cargo ship sought revenge against Nausicaans who had attacked them. The Nausicaans had superior firepower, and the mission was suicidal: they wanted one of their shipmates released. Enterprise intercepted the ships during the battle, and stopped the fight. Archer had the cargo ship release the Nausicaan prisoner, and ordered the aliens to leave the sector. (ENT: "Fortunate Son")

Archer, with Daniels, in the Temporal Observatory.

Archer again encountered Silik when Silik, in the disguise of a pilgrim invited on Enterprise, tried to disable the ship. He also met Daniels, who he thought was a crewmember, but was in reality a temporal agent from the future. Daniels informed Archer that Silik was trying to change the future, but Silik denied this and said it was Daniels who was the culprit. When Silik was found in Engineering and confronted, he escaped; it was apparent he was the saboteur. (ENT: "Cold Front")

Archer helped rescue a Klingon ship that was losing orbit and falling into a gas giant. Bu'kaH, a survivor of the accident, was convinced to cooperate with Archer in a rescue attempt after he convinced her that she would be letting her crew die a dishonorable death. Bu'kaH reluctantly let Archer take her on the reinforced shuttlepod toward her ship, along with an antidote to the neurotoxin. The Klingon crew was rescued along with Hoshi Sato, T'Pol, and Malcolm Reed, who were marooned on the ship in a previous rescue attempt. (ENT: "Sleeping Dogs")

Archer and T'Pol were captured on an away mission on Coridan by rebels backed by the Andorians against the government supported by the Vulcans. Shran, along with Reed and Charles Tucker III, rescued them. (ENT: "Shadows of P'Jem")

Archer visited a planet where Eska engaged in hunting sentient beings, telepathic shapeshifters. When they were afraid, they emitted a chemical that gave away their location and made them easy targets. On Archer's orders, Phlox came up with a plan to mask the chemical, which shielded them from the hunter's scans. The hunters left when they could no longer use their scans, and the beings were safe. (ENT: "Rogue Planet")

Archer shackled to the wall by the Ferengi.

Archer made first contact with the Ferengi later that year, although the aliens in question would remain anonymous; official first contact was eventually made by Jean-Luc Picard. The Ferengi captured Enterprise by rendering the crew unconscious, robbing the ship of all valuables. When Archer woke, he, along with Tucker and T'Pol, was able to play the Ferengi off against each other and retake the ship. (ENT: "Acquisition")

Archer accompanied a landing party down to a barren planet to salvage an abandoned ship. They had been told by D'Marr, an alien they met, about the ship and also that it was haunted. Arriving on the planet, the party found that a group of Kantare had inhabited the planet. Their behavior seemed strange, though, especially when Archer offered to transport them back to their homeworld. They learned that all but two of the Kantare were holograms created by Ezral, who blamed himself for the crash and the death of his friends. He had created the holograms to keep his daughter, Liana, company. Enterprise returned both to their homeworld. (ENT: "Oasis")

Archer, along with Travis Mayweather, was imprisoned in a Tandaran prison camp. The Tandarans were at war against the Suliban Cabal, and had interned innocent Suliban in the camp. Archer learned of the plight of innocent Suliban, who weren't involved with the Cabal but still suffered the wrath of the Tandarans by being imprisoned for years in these horrid camps. Archer and Mayweather, along with Enterprise, escaped and released the Suliban. (ENT: "Detained")

Archer was captured by a symbiotic creature who had stowed away on Enterprise. The creature assimilated Archer's nervous system, along with others it had captured. When Enterprise offered to take it back to its home so it could be attached to its large host, it released Archer and the others. (ENT: "Vox Sola")

During a visit to Zobral's village, Archer and Tucker got caught up in a civil war, and after an attack, they became stranded in a vast desert. With Zobral's help, Enterprise rescued them. (ENT: "Desert Crossing")

While on shore leave on Risa, Archer met a Tandaran named Keyla, who, in the disguise of a Human, tried to obtain information about the Suliban from him. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights")

In March 2152, after it appeared his ship's mission was over because of the destruction of the mining colony on Paraagan II, Archer was transported to April 9, 2151 by Daniels, who revealed the Suliban were responsible for what had happened. Returning to the present, Archer used knowledge given to him by Daniels, including the technical skill to construct a quantum beacon, to board a Suliban stealth-cruiser and prove what they had done. As a result, Silik demanded Archer. To save Archer, Daniels transported him to the 31st century, causing a major disruption in the timeline that apparently destroyed Earth. Fortunately, Archer and Daniels were able to repair the timeline, though not before Archer managed to learn that he was vital to the creation of the future United Federation of Planets. (ENT: "Shockwave", "Shockwave, Part II")

Archer and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed on the hull of Enterprise.

Archer made a regrettable first contact with the Romulan Star Empire. When Reed tried to disarm a mine attached to the hull, a spike thrust out of the mine and through Reed's leg, pinning him to the ship's hull. Archer, with Reed's instructions, was able to disarm the mine and save Reed. (ENT: "Minefield") This led to a stop at an automated repair station that was just as dangerous as the minefield. The station used humanoids as fuel for its computer by tapping into their synaptic brainwaves. The crew escaped, but not before Mayweather became one of the station's routines and had to be saved. (ENT: "Dead Stop")

After insulting the Kreetassans during an away mission, Archer's dog, Porthos, was infected with a deadly disease. Phlox cured him, but not before Archer spent a whole night worrying about the relations with the Kreetassans and comforting his dog. Phlox not only saved Porthos, but provided Archer with advice that solved the diplomatic problem. (ENT: "A Night in Sickbay")

Archer led a team of crewmen in teaching a mining colony to defend itself against Klingons. They stayed with the miners while they drove off the Klingons. (ENT: "Marauders")

Archer helped T'Pol track down Menos, a rogue Vulcan agent who had become a weapons smuggler. When Menos played on T'Pol's guilt concerning an earlier incident in capturing another rogue agent, Archer was able to help her put her guilt aside and do the right thing. (ENT: "The Seventh")

Archer considers that he may have to die to avoid contaminating the pre-warp Gosis' species civilization.

Archer and Reed were sentenced to death when exploring a planet. Reed had accidentally left behind a communicator, and when he and Archer tried to retrieve it, they were captured. Their captors believed they were super-soldiers sent by their enemies. Heeding T'Pol's long-offered advice on inter-species contact, Archer decides that he and Reed would have to be hanged in order to avoid contaminating the pre-warp civilization. This early, solemn consequence of the as-yet-uncodified Prime Directive was averted, however, when the crew of Enterprise saved Archer and Reed using a captured cloaked Suliban cell ship. (ENT: "The Communicator")

Later that year, Archer granted asylum to Takret refugees. During a radiation storm, they had to take refuge in the catwalk. The military, pursuing the refugees, boarded Enterprise and almost destroyed it when they tried to start the warp engines. (ENT: "The Catwalk")

Enterprise investigated a black hole that was part of a trinary star system. However, the radiation from the trinary system affected the crew, causing odd behavior and rendering them comatose. The exposure would have killed them, but T'Pol awakened Archer, who was able to pilot the ship away from danger. (ENT: "Singularity")

Archer was once again drawn into a dispute between Vulcans and Andorians. He avoided a war when he mediated a territorial dispute between the two species. (ENT: "Cease Fire")

Archer and Tucker were arrested and sentenced to Canamar for false crimes. A fellow prisoner was able to hijack the ship with their help, but when they found out the prisoner was going to beam off the ship and crash it, killing the rest of the prisoners and guard, they foiled his plot and were rescued by Enterprise. (ENT: "Canamar")

When Enterprise discovered a futuristic vessel adrift in space, Archer ordered it brought on-board for further investigation, and a Human body was found in the ship. The Suliban and the Tholians claimed that the ship belonged to them, and demanded that Archer turn it over immediately. Archer was worried that the course of the Temporal Cold War could be affected. During the battle, as they tried to activate the ship, it vanished, and the Suliban and Tholians left. (ENT: "Future Tense")

Archer battled the Borg, although he did not know their species. They had been found in the Arctic and thawed out by a team of scientists that they then assimilated. These were the Borg that had attempted to stop the flight of Earth's first warp-capable vessel, and were later defeated by the USS Enterprise-E. Archer and Reed boarded the ship and set explosives that destroyed the ship. (ENT: "Regeneration")

During first contact with the Vissians, Archer became close with their captain, Drennik. Drennik invited Archer to join him when he took the Vissian strato-pod deep into the hyper-giant. This first contact would end tragically, when Tucker interfered with a cogenitor, a third gender of the Vissians who were second-class citizens. Archer was asked by the cogenitor to grant asylum, which he denied after a meeting with the Vissians. Drennik contacted Archer and told him that the cogenitor had committed suicide. (ENT: "Cogenitor")

[edit] Klingons

Archer's Klingon "tribunal"

After the Broken Bow incident, Archer had many other dealings with the Klingons.

In late 2152, Archer was captured by the Klingons after assisting Rha'darus rebels. Put on trial on Narendra III, he was spared the death sentence through the efforts of his lawyer, Kolos. Archer was sentenced to labor in the dilithium mines on Rura Penthe, but managed to escape. He was hunted by the Klingons for this offense, at first through bounty hunters such as the Tellarite Skalaar, resulting indirectly in Archer making Human first contact with the Tellarites. Skalaar believed that the Klingons would return his ship to him, but when he found out that they scrapped it, he helped Archer escape. (ENT: "Judgment", "Bounty")

During the expedition to the Delphic Expanse, Archer was hunted by Duras, who had been dishonored when Archer saved the Rha'darus rebels from him. Archer destroyed Duras' ship and its crew with it. (ENT: "The Expanse")

[edit] The Delphic Expanse

Archer considers his new mission in the wake of the Xindi attack

After the Xindi probe attack on Earth in 2153, Archer was given a new mission: search for the Xindi superweapon, which required entering a dangerous region of space known as the Delphic Expanse, in order to find the ones responsible for the attack and prevent them from launching their superweapon to destroy Earth. It took nearly six weeks before Enterprise came into contact with an actual Xindi, and even then he proved to be of little help, directing Archer to coordinates that contained nothing but a field of debris which used to be the planet Xindus. (ENT: "The Expanse", "The Xindi")

In September 2153, while investigating an abandoned Xindi vessel on a planet, Archer, Hoshi Sato, and Malcolm Reed succumbed to a virus that mutated them into Loque'eque, a primal life-form. Tret, the leader of an alien race, attempted to kill Archer in order to eradicate the virus. Even after being cured by Phlox, Archer continued to suffer strange dreams of the Loque'eque city. (ENT: "Extinction")

Archer in the Delphic Expanse.

While visiting a planet to obtain trellium-D, a substance that would protect Enterprise from the anomalies of the Expanse, Archer helped rescue a woman, Rajiin, from slavers. However, Rajiin was really an agent of the Xindi sent to obtain information about the Humans. Thus, the first battle between Enterprise and the Xindi occurred. The Xindi-Reptilians boarded the ship and took Rajiin so that they could get the information she obtained. (ENT: "Rajiin")

Enterprise encountered a Vulcan ship in the Expanse. When Archer and T'Pol boarded the ship to see if there were survivors, they found that the crew had gone insane. The Vulcans were intent on killing them and, after they escaped, Archer's only choice was to destroy the ship. (ENT: "Impulse")

Archer spied on a Xindi research facility, and convinced a Xindi-Arboreal, Gralik, that the Humans were not a threat. Gralik gave Archer a canister of kemocite, fuel for the superweapon, to analyze. (ENT: "The Shipment")

In October 2153, Archer suffered a mild concussion from an encounter with a spatial anomaly.

In an alternate timeline, the anomaly infected Archer's hippocampus with interspatial parasites, causing anterograde amnesia by impairing the synaptic pathways that allowed him to form new long-term memories. Though the crew tried to keep Archer up to date so he could function as Captain, Starfleet Command eventually relieved him of command; he spent most of his time in his quarters. Earth was destroyed in 2154, but Archer remained on board until 2156, when Enterprise reached Ceti Alpha V. T'Pol took care of him for nine years (she apparently developed feelings for him as time went on, although Archer naturally could not reciprocate them as he would never remember it the next morning), when Phlox arrived from Denobula with a cure. Destroying one of the clusters of parasites, Phlox and T'Pol discovered that destroying them now destroyed them in the past as well, and realized that, by destroying the parasites in the present, they could completely change the outcome of Enterprise's original mission in the Delphic Expanse. As Enterprise was boarded by Xindi forces, Archer initiated a subspace implosion, eradicating the remaining parasites and thus preventing himself from ever having been infected in 2153. (ENT: "Twilight")

Archer tries to blend into a Human population in the Delphic Expanse

Archer encountered a Human colony populated by descendants of 19th century Americans. He helped them reconcile with the Skagarans, who had originally kidnapped them from Earth to work as slaves on their planet. The descendants of the Humans revolted and took over the planet, relegating the Skagarans to slaves. Archer helped convince the sheriff and town leader, MacReady, to make changes, but only after a gunfight with some local cowboys. When the humans expressed a desire to be reconnected with Earth, he was forced to explain that his ship could not accommodate them. Nevertheless, he promised that Starfleet would eventually recover them. As a stopgap measure, he at least provided them with the current history of Earth so that they could better prepare themselves for better reintegration with the main human population. (ENT: "North Star")

Archer and T'Pol went back in time with the help of Daniels to stop the Xindi from producing a bioweapon that would destroy Earth in the past. He killed the Xindi and returned to the present. (ENT: "Carpenter Street")

Archer dealt with a group of religious zealots who hijacked Enterprise, planning to use it in a religious war. When the lead zealot demanded that a crewmember be put to death for the 'blasphemy' of taking scans of the 'sacred realms', Archer tricked them into using the transporter on him; allegedly, it would disperse his atoms, but really he was just teleported to another part of the ship. After the ship was retaken, he returned the zealots to their homeworld, where he revealed that their planet had been practically destroyed already, asking them before he left to consider if the 'truth' really was that important. (ENT: "Chosen Realm")

In an alternate timeline, Enterprise was flung to the year 2037 while en route to the Xindi Council planet. Archer decided that the ship would become a generation ship, and that the crew's descendants would be the ones to complete the ship's mission and stop the Xindi superweapon. Archer eventually married an Ikaaran woman named Esilia. One of his descendants was Karyn Archer. (ENT: "E²")

An Andorian starship, led by Shran, helped Archer and Enterprise track down the Xindi superweapon by following a signal from on one of the kemocite canisters that Archer had planted when he visited a research facility earlier in the year. The Andorians captured the prototype of the weapon, but Shran was under orders to return it to Andoria. Before Shran could leave with the weapon, Archer activated it, and Shran was forced to jettison it before it exploded. Despite the conflict, Shran transmitted details of the weapon to Archer. (ENT: "Proving Ground")

In an attempt to gather the whereabouts of the superweapon, Archer captured Degra and, using mind control, attempted to convince him that both have been in a Xindi prison. He tried to gain Degra's trust so that Degra would give them the location of the weapon. Archer told Degra that the weapon had been used and Earth had been destroyed, but that a civil war had broken out on Xindi, resulting in a great loss of life. Degra discovered the ruse, but not before he let slip that the weapon was on Azati Prime. (ENT: "Stratagem")

Archer caring for the Xindi-Insectoid young

On the way to Azati Prime, Enterprise discovered a damaged Xindi-Insectoid vessel with no life signs on board. Archer discovered a hatchery containing Xindi eggs, some of which were still viable. He was suddenly spattered by a strange liquid that spewed from one of the egg sacs, and Phlox determined that Archer was hit by a mild neurotoxin that made him believe that he was the eggs' caretaker, and his actions began to jeopardize their mission. (ENT: "Hatchery")

On the way to Azati Prime, Enterprise found a damaged ship containing an injured alien. It was determined that the alien was a test subject and that his people from another dimension would take over the quadrant when Earth was destroyed. They were the Sphere Builders, who had been manipulating certain Xindi species into destroying Earth. (ENT: "Harbinger")

Arriving at Azati Prime, a fierce fire-fight began. Archer discovered that the weapon was hidden in an ocean. At that point, he declared he was not going to order any more deaths, instead choosing to personally destroy the Xindi superweapon, despite attempts by T'Pol and Daniels to talk him out of it. However, the Xindi intercepted and captured him, though they released him after a lengthy interrogation. Degra was beginning to believe that there were aliens behind the war. (ENT: "Azati Prime")

Archer forges an alliance with Degra

In February 2154, Archer went before the Xindi Council to convince them to not launch the Xindi superweapon at Earth. He had a hard time, but quickly made an ally of Degra. The other Xindi-Primate councilor, Jannar, and Kiaphet Amman'sor soon came around to Archer's side as well, but Commander Dolim betrayed the Council, stole the weapon, and killed Degra. (ENT: "The Council")

In the final battle to save Earth, Enterprise was joined by the Xindi-Aquatics and Xindi-Primates. As the fleet of Reptilian and Insectoid ships were destroyed, the Sphere Builders, the aliens behind the plot, tried to intervene. Sato was captured by Dolim to decode the weapon's software so it could be activated. The MACOs, under the leadership of Major J. Hayes, rescued her, but Hayes was killed. Archer, along with Reed and the MACOs, used Degra's shuttle to intercept the superweapon. Enterprise proceeded to destroy the spheres in the Expanse. Boarding the superweapon, Archer, with Sato's help, was able to cause a reversal overload that would destroy the weapon. As the away team beamed out, Archer was left behind and confronted Dolim, whom he killed. Enterprise destroyed all the spheres and ended the alien interference. Archer was believed to have been killed, having been aboard the Xindi superweapon as it exploded while approaching Earth. (ENT: "Countdown", "Zero Hour")

[edit] Homecoming

Archer trapped by Nazis in an alternate 1944.

After the destruction of the Xindi superweapon, Archer was saved when he was thrown back in time to World War II. He found that as part of the Temporal Cold War, the Na'kuhl were helping the Nazis win the war by conquering America. Archer was able to destroy the time conduit and end the war. (ENT: "Storm Front", "Storm Front, Part II")

Archer back home on Earth in 2154.

Several months after returning to Earth with Enterprise, Archer was sent on a mission to stop a group of rogue Augments, relics of the Eugenics Wars that had been resurrected by Dr. Arik Soong. They had attacked and stolen a Klingon ship, and the Klingons threatened war unless the Augments were brought to justice. Archer, along with Soong, tried to find them. Soong escaped and joined the Augments, and Archer found them at Cold Station 12, a Starfleet facility where other Augment embryos were stored. He was captured and left to die when the Augments triggered a self-destruct procedure. Archer disarmed the self-destruct, and was able to defeat the Augments, recapture Soong, and preserve the peace with the Klingons. (ENT: "Borderland", "Cold Station 12", "The Augments")

Earth's embassy on Vulcan was bombed, resulting in the death of Archer's friend and mentor, Admiral Maxwell Forrest. Although a Vulcan splinter group, the Syrrannites, was blamed, Ambassador Soval urged Archer to travel to their hideout in Vulcan's Forge and find the truth. Accompanied by T'Pol, he met their leader, Syrran, there. Syrran was secretly carrying the katra of Surak, and prior to his death by wounds from a desert storm, he transferred Surak's katra to Archer. Archer, guided by Surak's katra, met with the remaining Syrrannites led by Syrran's lieutenant, T'Pau, and found the long-lost Kir'Shara, a record of Surak's original teachings.

Archer activates the Kir'Shara.

Archer and T'Pau headed to the Vulcan capital to confront the Vulcan High Command. It was discovered by Soval, Charles Tucker III, and Malcolm Reed that the bombing was the work of V'Las, the leader of the Vulcan High Command who wished to wipe out the religious group and start a war of conquest against Andoria. Archer and T'Pau, after presenting the Kir'Shara, averted a war between Vulcan and Andoria. In the process, the Vulcan High Command was dissolved, beginning a new era in the development of Vulcan society. No longer would the Vulcans hold back Humanity's advancement into space; for Archer, it was a life-long dream fulfilled. The event was mutually beneficial: Vulcan society reverted to the more altruistic and logical path Surak had originally intended, and Archer gained a greater insight into Vulcans than ever before as a result of having carried the katra of Surak. (ENT: "The Forge", "Awakening", "Kir'Shara")

Archer would later make first contact with the Organians, though his memories of the event were completely erased. He then become embroiled in high-level galactic intrigue when he rescued Commander Shran from the destruction of the Kumari, which Shran blamed on the Tellarites. However, Archer discovered that it was truly the Romulan Star Empire that was trying to destabilize the entire region through the manipulation of other galactic powers into fighting one another using a Romulan drone-ship. Discovering the ruse, he organized a landmark combined fleet effort of Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites to search for the Romulan vessel, beginning the first steps in uniting these disparate races against a common enemy. (ENT: "Babel One", "United", "The Aenar")

Archer again came into conflict with the Klingons during their Augment crisis. The Klingons used Human Augment DNA in their attempts to genetically engineer their own Augments, unleashing a virus that threatened the Klingon race with extinction. They kidnapped Phlox so that he could help find a cure. Archer was able to rescue Phlox, but not before he helped him find a cure for the virus. (ENT: "Affliction", "Divergence")

Archer addresses the proposed Coalition.

Archer foiled the plot of John Frederick Paxton, the leader of Terra Prime, a xenophobic terrorist group, who threatened to attack all alien ships and Starfleet Command with weapons stationed on Mars. He was able to deactivate the weapon and arrest Paxton. Afterwards, he was influential in restarting negotiations for the formation of a Coalition of Planets, giving a speech which persuaded delegates from various alien worlds to continue the steps towards an alliance with Earth. (ENT: "Demons", "Terra Prime")

[edit] Moral conflicts

Captain Archer aboard Enterprise in 2154.

As one of the first Starfleet captains to explore the galaxy, Archer was sometimes faced with moral decisions. Consequently, he was at times forced to bend the morals to which he once strictly adhered, especially during his time in the Delphic Expanse, though he told T'Pol he could not save Humanity if he lost what made him Human. (ENT: "Damage")

During their first year in space, the Enterprise visited the Valakians, who were being killed off by an unknown epidemic; they would be extinct in less than two centuries. The other species on the planet, the Menk, who were a second-class species, were unaffected. Archer wanted to know if a cure was possible. Phlox told him that he had found a cure, but what was happening was natural evolution and that the Menk showed evidence of an awakening and had the potential to become the dominant species on the planet, which wouldn't happen as long as the Valakians were around. Archer's decision to withhold a cure and let nature take its course was against all his principles, but he realized that he had no right to interfere in another culture and play God; this could be used a an example of an early Prime Directive. (ENT: "Dear Doctor")

Enterprise was ordered to evacuate a group of Denobulan geologists from Xantoras, a world that had been taken over by the military. One of the evacuees was an Antaran named Hudak. Hudak was dying, but refused to be treated by Phlox, because the Antarans and the Denobulans were mortal enemies. Phlox wouldn't treat a patient against their wishes even when Archer threatened to order Phlox to do so. Archer could not understand Phlox's attitude, but honored his wishes. Phlox was able to convince Hudak to be treated. (ENT: "The Breach")

Archer was so obsessed with accomplishing the Xindi mission that he stole a warp coil from an Illyrian vessel; Enterprise needed the warp coil to be able to stop the Xindi superweapon that would destroy Earth. The theft left the Illyrian vessel with years added onto its voyage. Though he did leave them trellium, food, and supplies, Archer couldn't help but come into a conflict with what he believed was right and wrong. (ENT: "Damage")

Archer once went so far as to torture an Osaarian pirate named Orgoth in order to find his ship that had stolen weapons, food, and precious supplies. (ENT: "Anomaly")

Archer authorized Phlox to create a clone of Charles Tucker III, Sim, so its organs could be used to save Tucker, who was hurt in an accident and was dying. This transplant would have ended Sim's life. Phlox refused to perform the operation until Sim agreed to it. (ENT: "Similitude")

[edit] Later career

A holographic representation of Jonathan Archer at the signing of the Federation Charter in 2161.

Archer's command of Enterprise ended in 2161, after which he signed the charter ratifying the Coalition of Planets, which would ultimately lead to the formation of the United Federation of Planets.

Counselor Deanna Troi's line in "These Are the Voyages...", in which she states "this alliance will lead to the founding of the Federation" suggests that the charter which Archer was to sign at that point in 2161 was not the Federation Charter, but rather the charter of the Coalition that led to the Federation's incorporation. Since the Federation has already been confirmed to have been incorporated in 2161, this would seem to indicate that the Coalition gave way to the UFP within the same year. It is also possible that the Coalition of Planets was simply renamed the United Federation of Planets later in the year, in which case, the charter which Archer is about to sign in this episode may be considered the Federation Charter.

After the founding of the Federation, Archer went on to serve in the Federation Starfleet. At his retirement from Starfleet, he was Chief of Staff at Starfleet Command with the rank of Admiral. Archer became an honorary member of the Andorian Imperial Guard in 2164, Federation Ambassador to Andoria in 2169, a representative on the Federation Council in 2175, and ultimately President of the United Federation of Planets in 2184, where he served for eight years. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")

For the biographical display seen in "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II", writer Mike Sussman wrote a final section of text that didn't end up being visible on screen, stating that Archer "...died at his home in upstate New York in the year 2245, exactly one day after attending the christening ceremony of the first Federation starship Enterprise, NCC-1701". Note that Sussman himself has said this information might not be canon.

[edit] Relationships

[edit] Family

[edit] Henry Archer

Young Jonathan and his father, Henry Archer, in 2121.

As a boy, Jonathan often built model spaceships with his father. The two also spent time together flying the models.

On Jonathan's eighth birthday, his father gave him his first astronomy book, The Cosmos A to Z. Archer spent hours staring at the cover of this book, which featured an image of the Arachnid Nebula. Shortly thereafter, his father gave him a tour of the Warp Five Complex. (ENT: "Fusion", "Singularity")

Sadly, Henry Archer died from Clarke's Disease when Jonathan was 12, leaving his mother to raise him. During the last two years of his life, Henry had difficulty recognizing Jonathan or his mother as a result of the disease. (ENT: "Cold Station 12")

There appears to be some contradiction as to when Henry Archer died. Although "Cold Station 12" stated he passed away when Archer was only twelve years old, dialog in "Daedalus" suggests that he was still alive when Archer entered flight training.

[edit] Sally Archer

Often, when Jonathan had trouble sleeping as a child, he would ask his mother recite a poem for him. One poem he frequently requested from her was "The Song of the Wandering Angus." While listening, Jonathan imagined how the woman in the poem would appear, creating her image in his mind. He did not learn until years later that the poem was written by William Butler Yeats. (ENT: "Rogue Planet")

[edit] Friends

[edit] The Ericksons

Emory Erickson, the inventor of the transporter, was a family friend of Henry Archer. Jonathan grew up with Erickson's children, Quinn and Danica, and became good friends with them.

During Archer's captaincy, Erickson visited him on Enterprise and asked that he materialize Quinn, who was lost in a transporter malfunction 15 years previously. Archer helped Erickson and Quinn was materialized, only to die a few minutes later. (ENT: "Daedalus")

[edit] A.G. Robinson

Commanders Archer and A.G. Robinson in 2142.

Archer and A.G. Robinson were rivals during the NX Project. Their relationship started out as an adversarial one, as Robinson beat out Archer to become the first pilot of the NX-Alpha. Robinson told Archer that he was picked because he was the better captain, and that Archer tried too hard. After the NX-Alpha was destroyed, the project was in danger of being canceled. During an argument over who caused the accident, Archer and Robinson got into a fistfight. Later, both men cooperated in saving the mission by flying the second prototype, the NX-Beta, and breaking the warp 2 barrier, although this was done without authorization. Archer was saddened and shocked at Robinson's death in a mountain-climbing accident in 2153. (ENT: "First Flight")

[edit] Charles Tucker III

Archer helps Trip on the Torothan homeworld in 2151.

Archer met Charles Tucker III during the NX Project. Archer was a pilot and Tucker was a Lieutenant on Captain Jefferies' engineering team. After the NX-Alpha was destroyed and the project was going to be canceled, Trip and Archer teamed up with Commander A.G. Robinson to save the program. They launched the NX-Beta without permission, and were ultimately successful. (ENT: "First Flight")

Archer and Trip's friendship continued to grow when both were assigned to the Australian Outback for survival training. Archer saved Tucker's life on a number of occasions. On Titan, Tucker's EV pack froze up and he got nitrogen narcosis. Archer stopped him when he tried to remove his helmet. Archer later saved a delirious Trip from heatstroke when they were stranded on a desert planet. (ENT: "Desert Crossing")

On Enterprise, Tucker became Archer's right arm. They took their meals together and shared many interests. Archer never got tired of listening to Tucker's Southern home-spun stories. Tucker, for his part, knew how to relieve Archer's stress. When Archer was upset about a first contact with the Kreetassans, Tucker gave him a data module of the Stanford versus Texas water polo match. (ENT: "Vox Sola")

No matter what kind of a jam he was in, Archer always knew he could count on Tucker. Tucker rescued Archer from execution on a pre-warp alien planet, after Archer and Malcolm Reed tried to find a communicator left behind. He also rescued Archer from bounty hunters who wished to turn Archer over to the Klingons. (ENT: "The Communicator", "Bounty")

Archer and Tucker's relationship was not always stress-free. Like most friendships, it had its ups and downs. Tucker once interfered with the customs of the Vissians, who used a third gender called a "cogenitor" for reproduction. This gender were treated as second-class citizens, and Tucker persuaded such a being that it was being treated unfairly. When the cogenitor asked for asylum on Enterprise, Archer was disturbed that Tucker had put him in that situation. After the request was denied, the cogenitor was returned to the Vissians. Later, when the Vissians informed him that the being committed suicide, Archer was furious. He told Tucker that he was in no position to judge the fairness of the Vissian culture and that he hoped he had learned his lesson about interfering. Archer was so angry that he did not discipline Tucker, but just told him to get out of his quarters. (ENT: "Cogenitor")

[edit] T'Pol

Archer and T'Pol together in sickbay in 2154.

Upon their first meeting, Archer did not trust T'Pol, believing her to be like all Vulcans who wished to hold Humanity in check. In fact, when they first met, he stated, "You have no idea how much I'm restraining myself from knocking you on your ass." Archer found T'Pol cold, uncaring, cynical, and humorless. To make matters worse, T'Pol was not particularly fond of Archer's pet dog, Porthos. Archer was forced to appoint T'Pol his first officer when the Enterprise was commissioned to return Klaang to his homeworld in order to avert a Klingon civil war. As the mission progressed, Archer and T'Pol found common ground. He was wounded saving her life in a fire-fight, and T'Pol assumed command and led Enterprise in pursuit of


Captain Jonathan Archer (2155)
Gender:	Male
Born:	2112
Birthplace:	Upstate New York
Species:	Human
Father:	Henry Archer
Mother:	Sally Archer
Serial Number:	SA-022-9237-CY
Blood Type:	B negative
Actors:	Scott Bakula
	Marty Davis as a child

Captain Jonathan Archer (2151)