For all Sarek's gruffness, he belongs in the ranks of notable romantic males because he is drawn to strong, outspoken, direct women. His second wife, Perrin, who appears in Star Trek: The Next Generation, carries herself with the same impressive confidence as Amanda.
His wives are also quite unapologetically friendly and human, precluding the idea that like must fall in love with like. They don't attempt to turn themselves into Vulcans, simply because their husband is rather quintessentially Vulcan.
The actresses are Jane Wyatt and Joanna Miles. Sarek, of course, is played by Mark Lenard, whom I consider the definitive version. (I am aware that James Frain plays the younger Sarek, which casting choice I considered a vast improvement on Ben Cross. However, I haven't seen any James Frain episodes.)
Diane Duane details Sarek and Amanda's courtship in Spock's World. Amanda is a translator and comes in contact with Sarek over the translation of the word that could mean "no emotion" or "restrained emotion." She can get him to laugh! She later becomes head of his House--a large extended family--on Vulcan.
In the Star Trek mystery novel The Vulcan Academy Murders by Jean Lorrah, a woman tries to kill off Amanda because she is smitten with Sarek and thinks she will only have a chance if Amanda is out of the way. In my fan fiction, a crazy human woman moves to Vulcan, thinking that moving to Vulcan is all she has to do to become another Amanda. Since the crazy woman is otherwise culturally "deaf," she keeps offending people as she tries to snag herself a high-powered Vulcan man.
Hey, Sarek is hot and only has eyes for Amanda. And Amanda is something of a powerhouse!
Instant plot fodder.
