Kirk Is Only Half Right About Why the Gorn Attacked the Outpost

Kirk ends his fight with the Gorn believing they were defending their territory. By my count, he's about half right, and it's the less important half. As I see it, a border grievance explains why the Gorn would want a Federation outpost gone. The Gorn did hit its defenses, and then they kept going.

Kirk's change of heart about the Gorn rests on very little evidence

The Gorn's claim deserves to be taken seriously. Mercy from the Gorn means a faster death, and Kirk hears that clearly. Back on the bridge, McCoy asks whether that could be true, and Spock's ringing endorsement is that it may well be possible. As far as the episode shows, that's the entire evidentiary record for what comes next.

Kirk then gets the upper hand, refuses to kill the Gorn, and throws the dagger aside. He reasons that maybe the Gorn thought it was protecting itself. At the start of the episode, as far as I can tell, Kirk thinks the Gorn are butchers, and the evidence backs him. By the end, he thinks they were defending their territory.

The Gorn had a reasonable grievance about the Federation outpost

From the Gorn's side of the border, a Federation outpost appeared where it had no business being. To me, wanting it gone is completely reasonable. A warning, an ultimatum, even a strike on the outpost's defenses would all fit that grievance.

The Gorn did hit the defenses, since the phaser batteries went first. Then they kept going.

The Gorn could have stopped at the outpost's military targets

Nothing on screen shows a warning or a demand to leave. The outpost had real military targets: the batteries, and the weapons Kirk later pulls from the outpost to fight back. The Gorn could have stopped at those specific targets.

As I see it, a border grievance explains why you'd want an outpost gone.

Do you think Kirk's final view of the Gorn holds up?