I was thinking, Who is Kirks greatest love? I define this as this… at the moment he felt he loved them or lost them… which effected Kirk the hardest.
Was Carol Marcus? Edith Keeler? Miramaee? The Android girl? Secret love for Yeoman Rand? Spock in fanfic! (lol!)
I think the Android girl. That is the one that Spock did the “forget” meld on kirk at the end. He didn’t do it for Edith Keeler or the rest.
How say you?
I’m going with Edith Keeler because that’s who all the 80s Trek authors agreed was his long-lost love. Hells bells, the books even have him naming his yacht after her, and you can’t just write anything down! 
I don’t think he was that broken up over losing Carol Marcus, I think his malfunction was the guilt he felt at leaving her high and dry, especially later when he realized he’d left a kid.
Spock’s erasure of the Android girl was because he was embarrassed for Kirk. It’s a good friend that protects you from remembering the time you fell in love with an appliance.
Yeah, I’m gonna go with Edith Keeler too. He really loved her, and the way she had to die must have haunted him.
BTW Love your new sig, rooster. That’s awesome! 
I might be convinced!
Sadly that’s true, but I am not Penn Gillette or Bill Mahr millitant about it. And if somehow I am proven wrong… I’ll be happy. It really was that moment the summer between 8th and 9th grade when i watched that movie and was like “what if there really is no…”
I’m with ya.
It’s funny, in no way am I like Kirk, but I am in this one respect: In any given situation, I’ll be the guy who will always ask a question. Whenever some says “Will there by any questions?” I’m the guy who will always raise my hand and ask something.
lol! Questions are always a good thing. If you don’t have questions… your just following.
I won’t say I am anywhere as cool as Kirk… but I have always given it my best shot and he definiltly is the character in fiction I would hope to think that I am most like.
In reallity, I try for Kirk and come off more like Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China.
Will there be any questions?
oh, and I gota go with Keeler. Wasn’t just the fact he loved her, but the fact that she had to die that broke him.
Ruth (from Shore Leave) no question.
When the Caretaker digs into Kirk’s brain, what does he come up with? Ruth.
(Ran this by The GF, and she confirmed, so argue at your own peril.)
Always wondered about ruth. I assumed Kirk was about 33 in the TOS. Looking at Ruth “exactly as she was 15 years ago” she was about 25.
One more bit of proof that shows that Kirk was the Pimp!
Tho I agree with the GF that Ruth was impirtant - always saw her as “the one that got away” rather than a “broken heart”
So I’m sticking with Edith Keeler
Hrm. Well, “Edge of Forever” was after “Shore Leave,” so it’s an arguable point.
Perhaps he was also heartbroken that in that timeline, she never started her famous bakery:
I’m going to say, David Marcus.
Walk with me. When Kirk realized the Klingons had killed his son, we witness his heart breaking. He backs away and stumbles. He is distraught. We never saw Kirk like this. His voice cracks and he makes a decision that I don’t think any lady would have pushed him to. He destroys his true love, the Enterprise.
When Spock died, Kirk lost a part of himself. This is beyond a broken heart, Kirk lost a part of his soul.
I think 'talos got it.
Oh yeah?? well…damn good point
Well… Talos is the Kirk expert after all, so I gotta go with his insight into Kirk’s heart.
I have to say… Talso’s theory is prety damn good, but it does hijack the meaning of the thread. The thred is about “what woman lost was most important to kirk?” Since he died without any of them it was worded as “kirks broken heart?” He had no successfull relationships. But I like where the thread has went to. [ This is why I love you U guys!]
Off topic, I do agree, that is the single that we witness bust him up the most is David’s death, not really= Here’s why:
He had already lost Spock, Other than being pissed about his job, age and gut…He was a rock. When Spock died, that took him out. Oh and he did more than stumble and look disshovel. He whimpered out side that glass like a ten year old girl with a skinned knee… then fainted. I think that easily compares with kirk falling on his ass for a second then getting back up and kicking Klingon ass.
Age and the Khan incident put a lot of guilt on him about being a deadbeat dad. I think he felt like " I was told to stay away…but you should have fought to be a dad". With everything that happened in the Motaran Sector, He became more hyper sensitive to the life he had missed.
I think destroying the Enterprise was no big deal to him til after he did it. I think the Enterprise as a concept ( the command) was more to Kirk than the actual ship. ( unlike scotty) I think He simply thought of the destruct plan as a good plan and a way to win. ( Heat of battle adrenaline) With the crew safe ( more important to Kirk than metal and alluminum) his plan was a no brainer. It was only after he was sure they had won… did it occur to him that killing the Enterprise would effect him emotionaly ( after all, it was no longer his ship and hadn’t been ,except for like 2 weeks, for like 5 years)
and another thing,
Kirk was supposed to go back to being a desk Admiral, ( I always hated Sulu’s line about “are we getting another ship”… I was like “no, becuase you don’t have a ship, and your not a crew… you are teachers and Kirk is an Admiral from StarFleet opperations. Why would they give you another one. Kirk has a job and you guys just got your students killed. you are being reasigned [ which is a promotion back to the fleet from being training cruise teachers]” Why would Sulu think he was going back to being a helmsman on a ship commanded by the chief of Starfleet Opperations, or StarFleet Academy or whatever Kirk was! Did the writers not watch anything other than Spocks death or the Genisies animation in TWOK before writeing this movie?
These things combined make the death of David more impacting on Kirk than if Carol had jsut called him up during the 5 year mission and said " oh david has a peanut allergy and a stupid girl kissed him after eating a Reecee cup and he’s dead". But Kirk is weakened by everything else in his life at that moment. It was rough… but not as impacting as the other stuff combined. We saw Kirk affected by everything at once.
I also challenge you. Watch Kirk during Spocks death scene… and the funeral hours or days later… and comapre that with Kirk basicaly stumbling for 3 mins top, when David dies… then getting back into Kirk mode, winning, beaming down whipping ass and makeing Jokes.
Kirk still looked like hell when they shot Spock out of the tube… and despite the smiles during the ending on the bridge.
Kirk sure was cheered up like hell for the last 30 mins of ST3.