After the death of his mother, Sybok was raised by Sarek as a half-brother to Spock. As a young student, Sybok was considered to be exceptionally gifted, possessing great intelligence, and it was assumed that he would one day take his place among the great scholars of Vulcan. However, Sybok rejected his logical upbringing and chose to embrace emotion like his ancestors, believing that the key to self-knowledge was emotion, not logic. When Sybok encouraged others to follow him, he was banished, never to return.