The Keeper The Keeper was a male Talosian magistrate in the 23rd century . A necklace with a round pendant distinguished him from other Talosians . History . The Keeper was charged with the upkeep of the Talosian menagerie , an elaborate test with the aim to find a servant species that was supposed to ultimately repopulate the planet Talos IV . Under his command , the Talosians rescued Vina , the only survivor of the crashed Earth vessel , and later lured the to the planet in 2254 . ( ) The Keeper then sent two Talosian underlings to kidnap Captain Christopher Pike , then captain of the " Enterprise " , from the surface of the planet . ( ) Using telepathic illusion s and a supply of a blue liquid that he claimed was a " nourishing protein complex " , The Keeper intended to trap Pike into accepting a life on Talos IV as Vina ' s mate and breeding stock for a new , stronger race . The Keeper also detailed alternative mating selections from the " Enterprise " – Number One and Yeoman J . M . Colt , once they were also captured . ( ) Upon being caught and strangled by Pike , The Keeper became threatening , momentarily assuming the appearance of an illusory anthropoid ape . After the captain managed to free himself and the female officers by overcoming The Keepers ' mental powers , however , the magistrate had to accept that Human ity was unsuitable for his plans , due to their strong will and refusal to submit to captivity . While Pike and the " Enterprise " were let go , the magistrate agreed to take care of Vina , even providing her with an illusory Pike to keep her company . Before the real Captain Pike was beamed back aboard the " Enterprise " , The Keeper wished him , " " May you find your way as pleasant . " " ( ) When Spock attempted to return Pike to Talos IV against orders in 2267 , The Keeper remotely took control of a screen in the " Enterprise " s hearing room , transmitting images of Pike ' s earlier encounter with the Talosians to a court martial aboard the ship . The Keeper later telepathically contacted the ship directly , relaying footage of himself to the screen , and revealed to Captain Kirk – the current commanding officer of the " Enterprise " – that a witness of the hearing , Commodore Mendez , had actually been yet another illusion , nullifying the court martial . Finally , The Keeper welcomed Pike back to the planet , ensuring it was what the former captain wanted to do , and wished Kirk , " " May you find your way as pleasant [ as Pike ' s ] . " " ( ) Appendices . Background information . Despite being portrayed as a male , The Keeper was played by actress Meg Wyllie . In " The Cage " , the character was voiced by actor Malachi Throne . Conception . The fact that , in the story outline of " The Cage " ( as reprinted in " The Making of Star Trek " , pp . 47 - 65 ) , the Talosians were written as crab - like aliens effected how The Keeper was first conceived . For instance , the outline introduced him by stating , " " The crab - creature at the televisor controls turns from the screen , using claw - snap and clatter for speech . " " He was referred to , in the last scene of the outline ' s first act , as " the ' Keeper " and the outline went on to frequently refer to him as that ( though without the use of quotation marks ) . The story outline twice referred to him as " the crab - creature Keeper " . ( " The Making of Star Trek " , pp . 48 & 58 ) In one scene included in the story outline but not in the episode ' s final version , The Keeper was apparently killed by an axe - wielding Captain Robert April , though this scenario was yet another of the illusions concocted by the Talosians , and The Keeper was actually still alive , unharmed . ( " The Making of Star Trek " , pp . 59 & 60 ) The character was commonly referred to with the moniker " The Keeper " in the script of " The Cage " , whose introduction of the character was not quite as elaborate as his initial description from the episode ' s story outline . After a written direction instructing the trio of Talosians to be shown , the first draft of the script went on to describe The Keeper as " wearing an identifiable insignia on his garb . " In the second revised final draft of the script , The Keeper was instead referred to , in the stage directions , as wearing " an authoritative - looking jeweled pendant on a short chain around his neck . " When The Keeper first used telepathic communication in the episode , the script specified that he had an " unemotional and almost pedantic tone which will become familiar to us . " When he first used vocal language in the episode , the script read , " " At first the words will come a bit carefully , as if out of practice in communicating this way . As our scene progresses , speech will follow a bit more smoothly . " " First portrayal . Whereas The Keeper was written consistently in both the story outline and the script of " The Cage " as a male , the decision to cast actress Meg Wyllie in the part was a casting choice that Director Robert Butler took credit for . " " When the femininity idea came up for the Talosians , " " he recalled , " " I thought of Meg because I thought it would have been challenging to her , and amusing to her to do that , and I just thought she ' d do it really well . " " ( " The Star Trek Interview Book " , p . 98 ) Wyllie was thereafter cast by Gene Roddenberry . ( text commentary , TOS Season 1 DVD ) Just as Robert Butler had imagined , Meg Wyllie indeed found The Keeper to be one of her most challenging parts , later remarking , " " I had never played such a role nor had such a makeup job applied to me [ . . . ] The makeup was not comfortable [ . . . ] I was never given a full script , just the sections in which I appeared . " " Wyllie also related that , due to her unfamiliarity with such a part , she " was most intrigued " and revealed that she was given no unusual advice to prepare her for the performance . " " No special instructions , " " she said , " " merely to play the part with dignity and control . A mental , rather than physical , approach was needed to concentrate on the words I was saying . The pulsings of the veins in my skull – and very little facial expressions – were to be the only visible effects of my thought transfers . " " ( " " issue # 117 , pp . 52 & 53 ) In post - production , Gene Roddenberry had Meg Wyllie ' s voice dubbed with a man ' s voice , increasing the sense of strangeness in how the character was depicted . ( text commentary , TOS Season 1 DVD ) In " The Cage " , The Keeper ' s vocals were performed by Malachi Throne . Wyllie was at first entirely unaware of Throne ' s involvement . " " I wasn ' t even aware my voice would be dubbed , " " she explained . " " I was quite surprised to hear a man ' s voice issuing from my head . " " ( " " issue # 117 , p . 53 ) Reappearance . In the script for " The Menagerie " , The Keeper had an additional line of then - new dialogue that is not included in the episode . In it , he told Captain Kirk , " " With only you and Captain Pike present , there was by your own regulations , of course , no legal court martial . We trust you will forgive our interference in this affair . " " On the other hand , not scripted were The Keeper ' s lines at the end of the episode , where he tells Kirk , " " Captain Pike has an illusion , and you have reality . May you find your way as pleasant . " " Because Malachi Throne additionally portrayed Commodore Mendez and an illusion of that character in the " The Menagerie " two - parter , The Keeper ' s voice had to be re - voiced for " The Menagerie , Part II " . ( Starfleet Access , TOS Season 1 Blu - ray ) The " new " footage of The Keeper in that episode evidently reused footage from " The Cage " . Apocrypha . The Keeper ' s mirror universe counterpart appeared in the short story " The Greater Good " by Margaret Wander Bonanno contained in the anthology " Shards and Shadows " . As in the primary universe , the Talosians had used a distress call to lure the to Talos IV with the intention of having mate with Vina so as to create a race of slaves . However , Pike rejected her , refusing to mate with an " insipid Human female . " Upon learning of the Terran Empire ' s fear of telepaths , the Keeper decided to release Captain Pike and use him as their eyes and ears throughout the empire . The captain would give the Talosians an early warning should the empire ever decide to attack and obliterate their planet . After assassinating Pike and assuming the captaincy of the " Enterprise " in 2264 , returned to Talos IV and ordered that its surface be leveled , annihilating the Talosians for the good of the Empire .