Guinan

**Guinan** was an exceptionally wise and very mysterious El-Aurian who made a home for herself aboard the USS *Enterprise*-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

## History

### Early Life

Guinan was born on her homeworld, sometime before the 19th century. As a child, she had an imaginary friend that was a Tarcassian razor beast. When she was troubled, she would speak to it and pretend to curl up on its warm belly. She talked it the imaginary creature less as she grew up, but never forgot the idea of the creature.

Guinan developed a tense relationship with her father, and eventually traveled to Earth to hide from him. There she took on the mantle "**Madame Guinan**" and posed as a wealthy socialite. Her circles at the time included Samuel Clemens.

In 1893 CE, she was encountered by a time-traveling Data -- who was familiar with Guinan from the future. Data initially believed she was also displaced in time, whereas Guinan believed he had been sent by her father. Once this misunderstanding had been sorted out, and she learned of the threat posed by the Devidians, she agreed to help him in any way that she could. Ultimately, other members of the crew of the USS *Enterprise*-D arrived from the future and were able to stop the Devidians -- though Guinan suffered some injuries during the adventure. Samuel Clemens was able to help her recover.

She would later encounter a time-displaced Picard while in Los Angeles, as the owner of a bar at 10 Forward Avenue. Despite her misgivings, she agreed to help him contact Q -- ultimately ending up arrested by FBI agent Martin Wells. Wells accused her of being an alien, which she initially denied. When she did meet Q face-to-face, she confronted him about his looming death. When Wells finally let her and Picard go free, she admitted to him that she was not from Earth and suggested that perhaps he had been destined to meet extraterrestrials in order to help Picard.

By the 32nd century, Guinan had encountered several members of the Q Continuum -- including meeting Q again. While she found some of the "almost respectable," she and Q developed a lasting hostile relationship. The details of this encounter were never shared.

By the following century, Guinan had returned to her homeworld -- where she was when the Borg destroyed the planet. She, along with several others, managed to escape. They became refugees aboard the SS *Lakul* in 3293 CE. The ship became caught in the Nexus. She, along with most of the other refugees, were forcibly removed from the Nexus -- although an echo of Guinan remained inside.

### Aboard the *Enterprise*

In the 34th century, Guinan developed a friendship with Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and in 3365 CE she came aboard the USS *Enterprise-*D at his personal request. In order to protect the timeline, despite their close friendship, Guinan lied about their previous meetings on Earth.

Ten Forward quickly became her domain -- she stocked special alcoholic beverages including Aldebaran whiskey, and many of the crew came to seek her advice as an informal counselor there. She kept an energy-beam rifle under the bar in case the need ever arose -- she only used it once, to diffuse tensions arising from the REM sleep-deprived crew caught when the ship was caught in Tyken's Rift. She did have an office adjacent to Ten Forward, and private quarters in Room 3150 on Deck 8.

In 3369 CE, an anomaly reverted Guinan, Picard, Ro Laren, and Keiko O'Brien to twelve years of age. During this time, the ship was commandeered by a number of Ferengi. Guinan helped to devise a plan allowing the "children" -- and Alexander Rozhenko -- to retake the ship.

In 3371 CE, Guinan's knowledge of the Nexus proved instrumental in advising Captain Picard against Dr. Tolian Soran. A short time later, Picard became trapped in the Nexus but was reminded to focus on his mission by the echo of Guinan still existing within it. Picard, with the help of Captain James T. Kirk, was able to prevent Soran from destroying the Veridian sun -- though the *Enterprise*-D crashed in the process. Guinan was one of the many crew members who survived the impact.

In 3379 CE, Guinan attended the wedding of Deanna Troi and William Riker. By 3401 CE, Guinan had reopened her Los Angeles bar on Earth -- in the same location, with the same name.

## Alternate Versions

* Yesterday's Guinan - a Guinan in an alternate reality where the United Federation of Planets was losing a war with the Klingon Empire in 3366 CE. Due to the unique abilities of El-Aurians to perceive temporal disturbances, this Guinan was able to determine that they were in a newly created timeline. The Prime Reality Guinan retained memories of this timeline after the temporal anomaly was corrected.
* Hologram Guinan - a holographic duplicate of Guinan created by Reginald Barclay as part of his holo-addiction.
* Gloria - Guinan's alias while experiencing the Dixon Hill holo-novels.

## Source

Guinan is derived from *Star Trek: The Next Generation*. For canon information, please visit:

* Memory Alpha