T'Les was a supporting character in Star Trek: Enterprise. She was a Vulcan who worked as an instructor at the Vulcan Science Academy in the early 22nd century. She was also the mother of Enterprise's science officer T'Pol and a member of the Syrrannite movement. She was portrayed by Joanna Cassidy.
History[]
T'Les and her husband had met only once prior to their bonding and marriage. However, even though they were strangers at the time of their marriage, they grew to love and care for each other deeply. In 2088, T'Les and her husband had their only child, a daughter named T'Pol who later became a sub-commander in the Vulcan High Command and was assigned to the NX-class starship Enterprise NX-01 in 2151. T'Les became a widow when her husband, and T'Pol's father, died sometime prior to 2151.
In 2154, after returning from the Xindi incident, T'Pol visited her mother on Vulcan, and brought Commander Tucker without telling her mother beforehand. T'Les was not happy to see T'Pol with a Human companion, especially given that T'Pol had been engaged in a family-arranged bonding with a Vulcan named Koss. T'Pol had broken off the arrangement three years earlier, in order to stay aboard Enterprise. T'Les insisted, however, that T'Pol keep her marriage agreement with Koss. Despite her initial disdain towards Tucker, T'Les could not help but eventually like him. She was certain he was in love with her daughter. Able to sense a strong bond between them, T'Les hoped that Tucker would inform T'Pol of his feelings for her before she married Koss.
T'Les notified T'Pol that she had "retired" from her teaching position at the Science Academy. In reality, because of her daughter's actions on P'Jem in 2151, T'Les had been under investigation for removing classified material from the Science Academy, and had been forced into an early retirement due to the falsified charges. T'Les later joined a group of Vulcan dissidents known as Syrrannites, who were vulnerable to arrest after they supposedly destroyed the United Earth Embassy. After Archer and T'Pol were captured by the Syrrannites, T'Les came to their aid and persuaded T'Pau, the head of the movement, to trust them. T'Les advised T'Pol that the Vulcan High Command was corrupt and evil. She died in her daughter's arms when the High Command bombarded the Syrranites' compound – the T'Karath Sanctuary in Vulcan's Forge. In her last moments, she expressed her pride in and love for her daughter and said that she had joined the Syrranites to find Surak's original writings, in part, to help T'Pol who had always struggled with her emotions.