History Characters / StarTrekTheOriginalSeriesJamesTiberiusKirk

* NoHeroToHisValet: His older brother Sam makes it clear that he's one of the best captains in Starfleet. He also freely acknowledges that his little brother is a ''massive'' pain in the ass. Later, it turns out his brother is TheResenter of Kirk's rapid success in Starfleet, making Sam feel inadequate compared to his equally-famous father.
-->'''Sam Kirk:''' Look, [[BrutalHonesty I'm not gonna say that Jim isn't a pain in the ass]]. He is. He's a ''huge'' pain in the ass. But the truth is, he's as fine a Captain as Starfleet has.

** At some point before he got to command, Kirk was witness to the massacre on Tarsus IV, where thousands were killed in an attempt to hold off starvation that came to naught when the supply ships arrived[[note]]the episode regarding the massacre doesn't state as much, but a reference to his age a later episode, which was subsequently formalized as canon, makes him no older than ''fourteen'' at the time of the massacre[[/note]]. During his time on the ''Farragut'', Kirk was the sole survivor of an attack by a vampiric cloud creature.

** Back in his academy days, Cadet Kirk was the fear of the underclassmen.
--->'''Gary Mitchell:''' "Watch out for Cadet Kirk! In his class, you either think or sink."

** His InferioritySuperiorityComplex. He has a lot of self loathing, so it makes him crave attention to overcompensate and the need to prove himself. Getting glory and press goes to his head, and in turn makes him miserable cos he feels he doesn't deserve it. The biography has "The Enterprise Incident" as just a shade more acted than how he was actually feeling.
** He also likes repressing his problems. As willing as he to talk about his emotions, Bones despairs about how much he touts MiseryBuildsCharacter, getting out of the problem fast multiple weeks has far reaching consequences for Khan and the MirrorUniverse, and expanded material has Spock's death be the catalyst for being forced to think about all his other losses, like Gary, Sam and Edith. ''Literature/StarTrekExMachina'' also has a LongList of civilizations that he dropped a bombshell on and ran away from, comparing it to his (admittedly biased) view of abandoning Carol and David.

* HonorBeforeReason: In "Arena" and "Spectre of the Gun."

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Throughout the show and the movies; arrogant, paternalistic, swaggering with a KnightInShiningArmor self image, but also massive SurvivorsGuilt [[note]]the novelisation of the fourth movie has him yelling at Bones not to bring up the "old days" of the ''Enterprise'', as he still remembers having to watch Edith die, as well as his brother, his sister-in-law, and Gary[[/note]], is exhausted from TheChainsOfCommand yet feels like he's worth nothing if he's not Captain, and worries there's stains on his shining armour. The official show bible makes note that he has a god complex, and hates himself when he inevitably can't measure up.

* SuddenNameChange: In the [[Recap/StarTrekS1E3WhereNoManHasGoneBefore second pilot]] episode, Gary Mitchell, possessed of near-omnipotent alien powers, fights Kirk and creates an open grave with a tombstone reading "James '''R.''' Kirk." This would normally be a minor matter, but given how many times Kirk later introduces himself as "James '''T.''' Kirk," it's actually quite jarring.