One of the most iconic planets in all of “Star Trek,” Spock’s homeworld of Vulcan, got a name change. The planet formerly known as Vulcan is now called Ni’Var, due to the fact that as of the 32nd century, Vulcans are no longer the only race to call it home. Vulcan first appeared in the “Star Trek: The Original Series” Season 2 premiere, “Amok Time,” which aired on NBC in 1967. The planet went by this name until “Star Trek: Discovery” Season 3 debuted on Paramount+ in 2020.
Set nearly 1,000 years in the future of the main “Discovery” timeline thanks to some time travel via wormhole, the season deals with the fallout of the Burn, a catastrophic event that occurred in the year 3069, when the main elemental component of warp drives suddenly went inert across the entire galaxy. When the Discovery crew attempts to get information about the Burn from the Vulcans, they learn that the planet has been renamed Ni’Var because many Romulans — a species that had been the Vulcans’ mortal enemies ever since the two races diverged in early “Trek” history — have settled on Vulcan after their own homeworld of Romulus was destroyed.
The destruction of Romulus had nothing to do with the Burn, however, and instead happened in 2387, when the star Romulus orbited went supernova. This was seen in the 2009 “Star Trek” movie, where it was the inciting incident causing the alternate timeline that the Chris Pine-led films take place in. It’s referenced again in “Star Trek: Picard.”
Vulcan’s new name of Ni’Var came from a 1960s Star Trek fanzine
As Kirsten Beyer, the writer who penned the episode revealing the new moniker, explained to StarTrek.com, the name “Ni’Var” first appeared in a Trekkie fanzine written by linguist Dorothy Jones in the late ’60s. Originally written as two words, “ni var” was a Vulcan term meaning “two forms.” It’s described as a style of Vulcan art that compares and contrasts something that has two different sides or aspects. The first usage in this fanzine was for a duet about light and darkness in space that would be performed by Spock and someone else.
“I just thought it was beautiful, and captured perfectly what would be happening on Vulcan should they truly attempt reunification with the Romulans,” Beyer told the site.
Ni’Var made a few other appearances, making its way into “Trek” canon before becoming Vulcan’s new official name. The concept appeared in a 1976 short story anthology titled “Star Trek: The New Voyages” and as the name of a Vulcan starship in a Season 1 episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise.”
