Flint

Flint was an immortal Human from Earth who lived under several aliases over a span of 6,000 years. During his lifetime, Flint watched Humanity evolve from savagery and barbarism, and he both knew, and indeed was, some of the greatest minds in Earth history.

Physical characteristics
Flint's cause of immortality was a form of instant tissue regeneration which was coupled with a form of perfect biological renewal. A side effect of this condition was sheer strength twice that of normal Humans.

Flint himself appeared as a medium build Caucasian Human with white hair, although over his enormous lifetime Flint's appearance may very well have changed. At various points in history, Flint had taken up several aliases, some of whom looked nothing alike.

Early history
Flint was born as Akharin in 3834 BC in Mesopotamia, where he grew up to become "a soldier, a bully, and a fool." Sometime shortly before the year 3800 BC, Flint was deployed in an ancient battle and fell in combat after receiving a serious wound to his heart. After Flint did not die, he realized his immortal nature and began living a portion of a life, achieving various accomplishments and sometimes marrying (Flint later stated that he had married over a hundred times), then discarding one identity for another before his true nature could be suspected.

Between 3000 and 2000 BC, Flint lived primarily in the Middle East, in particular the lands associated with the Bible. He was at one point the basis for the Biblical character of Methuselah. Sometime around 1400 to 1200 BC, Flint (who was by then well over two thousand years old) also knew the historical figure Moses.

A thousand years later, circa 970 BC, the nearly three thousand-year-old Flint adopted his first (known) alias which became a major figure in world history – that of the Jewish King Solomon. Some four hundred years after that, Flint had moved himself to the region of ancient Greece, where at one point he knew the philosopher Socrates. Two hundred years later, in 356 BC, Flint again became a major historical figure when he assumed the alias of Alexander the Great. 

Anno Domini
By the first century AD, Flint was approaching 4,000 years of age and had lived through nearly the entirety of recorded history (up to that point). By this time, he had lived as at least two world leaders (Solomon and Alexander) and had seen death on a scale beyond imagination. In his own words two thousand years later, Flint "had seen a hundred billion fall, and had tossed enemies into [death's] grasp." In his later years, these early experiences with Humankind caused Flint see Earth as a savage and barbaric place regardless of the era.

Around 30 AD, Flint was again living in the Middle East and at some point became associated with the religious figure Jesus. Again, Flint became the basis for a Biblical character when he was known by the name.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Flint appears to have moved into Europe where, in the 6th century, he was residing in England, where he became known as the wizard Merlin. For most of the early Middle Ages, the identities and lives led by Flint are unknown; however, in the 14th century, he was living in the city of Constantinople where he witnessed the start of the bubonic plague. As Flint later described:


 * "Constantinople; summer, 1334. It marched through the streets, the sewers. It left the city by oxcart, by sea, to kill half of Europe. The rats, rustling, and squealing in the night as they too died. The rats..."

Renaissance
At the dawn of the so called "Age of the Renaissance," Flint had seemingly abandoned his early ambitions of world leadership and military conquest, and he instead began to focus on improving the Human condition through the study of art and science. Sometime after 1450, he assumed the identity of an Italian under the alias Leonardo da Vinci. This is perhaps one of the most famous identities Flint ever held, since while he lived as da Vinci, Flint created works of art which would be well known centuries later. The painting "Mona Lisa," correctly titled La Gioconda, is one such work; it eventually found its way into the hands of the criminal Kivas Fajo before being retrieved by Federation authorities thanks to the efforts of the android officer Data. 

Leonardo da Vinci "died" in AD 1519, after which Flint moved on to assume different unknown identities. He apparently remained in Italy since, circa AD 1600, he knew the scientist Galileo Galilei. Flint eventually left this life as well, moving into the AD 1700s under several other "names we do not know." 

19th and 20th centuries
At the start of the 19th Century, Flint was apparently still residing in Europe and, as early as 1833, he had adopted another alias which became famous as the musical composer Johannes Brahms. As Brahms, Flint resided mainly in Austria and wrote several musical pieces which were still popular centuries later. Most of Flint's time in the 19th century was spent living as Brahms, with Johannes Brahms "dying" in 1897. 

Sometime in the latter 20th century, Flint acquired a painting by Reginald Pollack, or perhaps even lived as Pollack himself.

21st and 22nd centuries
Flint's activities in the 21st and 22nd centuries are largely unknown, as he did not speak of who he was or what he was doing during this period when encountered by Starfleet officers a hundred years later.

Sometime in the 2100s, Flint acquired a bottle of Saurian brandy. He was also presumably still living on Earth when the United Federation of Planets was founded in 2161, although, seventy years later, Flint left due to "the unpleasantness of life on Earth and the company of people."

23rd century
In 2239, living as the interstellar financier Brack, Flint bought the planet Holberg 917G in the Omega system. It was uninhabited, and he took great measures to keep up that appearance. Flint built a magnificent home on the planet, where he lived a reclusive life. While living on Holberg 917G Flint engineered a succession of female androids in the quest for an undying love partner. Each bore the name Rayna, and the final, perfect manifestation – Rayna 17 – was not allowed to know of her failed predecessors.

In 2269, the Federation starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) arrived in orbit over Holberg 917G, in dire need of that planet's ryetalyn deposits as an antitoxin for the Rigelian fever which had infected the entire crew. Flint then introduced himself to the landing party, just short of their being killed by Flint's robot M-4.

Hoping to jump-start Rayna 17's emotions, Flint allowed her to interact with the visitors. The android fell in love with James T. Kirk, but could not transfer this emotion back to her disappointed creator. Forced to choose between her suitors and unable to hurt either, she ceased to function, much to Flint's horror.

Spock deduced from musical pieces by Brahms (written in modern ink) and da Vinci paintings, all authentic on contemporary canvas, that Flint must be very long-lived. After this was revealed, however, Doctor Leonard McCoy later discovered that Akharin/Flint, finally, was dying, since his immortality had been sustained by Earth's complex fields, and had been sacrificed in the relocation to Holberg 917G. Flint stated that he would devote the time before his imminent natural death to the improvement of the Human condition.

Timeline of Flint's life

 * 3834 BC: Born as Akharin
 * c. 3000 BC: Lives as Methuselah
 * c. 1400 BC: Knows Moses
 * 973 - 933 BC: Lives as King Solomon
 * Late 5th century BC: Knows Socrates
 * 356 - 323 BC: Lives as Alexander the Great
 * c. AD 30s: Lives as Lazarus and (presumably) knows Jesus
 * Middle AD 6th century AD: Lives as Merlin
 * AD 1334: Lives in Constantinople, where he views the horrors of the bubonic plague
 * AD 1452 - 1519: Lives as Leonardo da Vinci
 * c. 1600: Meets Galileo Galilei
 * c. 1455: Acquires a Gutenberg Bible
 * c. 1623: Acquires a Shakespeare First Folio
 * 1833 - 1897: Lives as Johannes Brahms
 * Late 20th century (c. 1965-1990): Acquires a work of art produced by Reginald Pollack
 * c. 2210-2220: Assumes the identity of Brack
 * 2239: Purchases the uninhabited planet Holberg 917G
 * c. 2240-2269: Lives as Flint on Holberg 917G
 * 2269: Discovered by the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Acquisitions
Flint gathered a large collection of original works of visual art. Some were his own creation (as daVinci); other works included Taranullus lithographs and paintings by Pollack, Sten, and Melozzo da Forlí. Besides his original and unknown Brahms scores, Flint possessed a Shakespeare First Folio and a Gutenberg Bible. 

Background information
Flint was played by actor James Daly.

In the first draft script by Jerome Bixby, Flint claimed to have been Jesus Christ and Moses. NBC Broadcast Standards ordered the producers to eliminate these two historical aliases, claiming they might upset religious viewers. In the filmed episode, Flint only refers to have known Moses. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three)

Flint would also have claimed to have been Pablo Picasso and Ludwig van Beethoven. The Picasso reference was removed for fear that the artist himself (still alive at that time) might legally challenge the producers for claiming to have anything to do with forged pictures. Beethoven was changed to Johannes Brahms because Beethoven had never written any waltzes, when one serves as accompaniment for Kirk and Rayna's dance. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three)

Reginald Pollack (1924-2001) was, at the time of the episode's production, still alive. Whether Flint lived as Pollack, or merely owned one of his paintings, is not made clear.

, a film also written by Bixby, concerns a similar main character, who, following his birth during the Paleolithic era, lives to the present day and adopts aliases, including that of Jesus, as Flint would have originally done.

In the episode, Janeway comments that Kirk claimed to have met Leonardo da Vinci. This would implying either that Kirk broke his promise to Flint not to reveal his identity or that he revealed it following Flint's death.

According to Entertainment Weekly, an episode of the proposed fifth season of was "on the drawing board" to reportedly have featured Flint, under a previous alias, coming into contact with the crew of. No script was written, but initial storyboard ideas suggested a confirmation of Flint's alias of Abramson as a famous Earth scientist who would possibly have known either Henry Archer and/or Zefram Cochrane. At the conclusion of the episode, Phlox would have discovered Flint's unique biological characteristics, setting up the latter's negative views on discussing his background with anyone and explaining the "disaster of intervention" reference in the Original Series episode.

Flint has claimed to fake his death when moving from one identity to the other. While the final resting place of Alexander is the subject of much debate and myth, several historical figures that he has claimed to be (notably da Vinci and Brahms) have final resting places that are known, which introduces questions as to whose bodies lie in these places.

Apocrypha
Flint is featured as a supporting character in the novel , in which his primary guise as a billionaire industrialist seems to have already begun devoting himself to the betterment of the Human condition. He also appears in The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume One as Dr. Wilson Evergreen, the leader of an Antarctic station preparing to repair damage to the ozone layer, where he meets Gary Seven and is "killed" by a young Khan Noonien Singh. He also appears in the novel The Cry of the Onlies, where he comes aboard the Enterprise to help defeat a cloaking device he invented. He reactivates Juliana Tainer in the novel Immortal Coil to serve as a companion.

Later on, the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) had an encounter with him – as Emil Vaslovik – in the novel Immortal Coil. (Vaslovik is also the name of Questor's android creator in, a TV pilot on whose writing Genes Coon and Roddenberry collaborated before Coon's death.) In yet another guise, Flint made an appearance in the story "Immortality Blues" in Strange New Worlds 9, living in New York City when World War III began.

In the novel Cold Equations: , Data sets out to find Flint – based on his role in reactivating Juliana – so that he can help Data reactivate Lal.

In Star Trek - Legion of Super-Heroes, the comic book crossover from IDW Publishing, Flint is revealed to be an alternate continuum counterpart to immortal DC Comics villain. In the story, Flint/Savage, then known as "Vandar the Stone," imprisons Q, who had traveled back in time to the dawn of man, and used Q's power and knowledge to alter history and become a tyrannical dictator. In the 23rd Century, he attempts to interrogate Kirk and various Legionnaires who have arrived in his timeline- the Legionnaires were already time-travelling and Kirk and some of the senior staff were transporting down to Earth apparently at the moment Vandar's actions changed history- to learn about their history so that he can "avoid their mistakes". Despite being tortured by Vandar, Kirk dismisses his empire as nothing but the grand ambitions of a stupid caveman who never learned to look to the future and find a way of living aside from conquest, proclaiming that Vandar fundamentally cannot understand the future. Eventually, having traveled back in time themselves, Spock and are able to free Q ("Vandar Stone" trapped Q by preventing anyone else now living from releasing him, only for Spock to bypass that instruction as he had not been born yet), thereby undoing the damage to the timeline. The story concludes with Q – in a guise that resembles Trelane – visiting Flint in the 23rd century, with Flint noting that he abandoned conquest after witnessing so much death in Mesopotamia, prompting Q to reflect that there may be another Flint out there in the multiverse who did not abandon violence.