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Guinan
Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation
Species:	El-Aurian
Gender:	Female
Home planet:	El Auria
Affiliation:	Unaffiliated (Civilian)
Posting:	USS Enterprise-D Ten-Forward bartender
Portrayed by:	Whoopi Goldberg

Guinan, played by Whoopi Goldberg, is a recurring character on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Trivia 1.2 Key episodes and milestones 2 External links

Guinan first appeared in the second season opening episode "The Child". Because of a long friendship with Captain Jean-Luc Picard, she was invited to serve as the host of the Ten-Forward lounge, aboard the USS Enterprise-D. Her wise counsel proves to be invaluable to the crew. However, the full nature of her relationship with Picard is never revealed, although she does indicate that Picard stood by her at a time when she was in serious trouble.

Guinan is originally from El-Auria. Her people, sometimes called "listeners," were scattered throughout the galaxy after the Borg invaded their homeworld. As a refugee aboard the El-Aurian vessel Lakul, she is rescued from the Nexus by the USS Enterprise-B.

Her species is long-lived, and she is somewhere between 500 and 700 years old at the time she joins the Enterprise-D ("Time's Arrow Part I" reveals that she lived on Earth in 1893, and "Rascals" establishes that her father was 700 years old at the time). Guinan reveals in Star Trek: Nemesis that she has been married 23 times. She states in "Evolution" that she has "a lot" of children, including a son who went through a phase when "he wouldn't listen to anybody" – something unusual "in a species of listeners." "It took several hundred years," Guinan says, but she "managed to bring him around."

Guinan apparently has some unspecified abilities, as the "omnipotent" Q seems to treat her as an equal (or, at the very least, a threat) whenever he encounters her. It is never made clear whether they are natural to all El Aurians. In "Yesterday's Enterprise," which involves a disruption of the historical timeline, Guinan is able to sense the disruption in the timeline, even though everyone else believes it to be the natural course of events.

According to Whoopi Goldberg, she approached the producers of TNG with her desire to be on the show, due to her childhood admiration of Uhura, a character from the original Star Trek played by actress Nichelle Nichols. At first they did not think a suitable role for such a highly rated actress could be created, until Goldberg said that she didn't care how big or small the role was. It was from this they decided to give her the role of a bartender. The character was named for famed saloonkeeper Texas Guinan.

It is not known how long Guinan stayed on Earth, but she has met Mark Twain and Jack London in 1893, as revealed in Time's Arrow. Taking her words at face value in "Evolution" she may have also actually met Victor Frankenstein.

Episodes and movies in which Guinan's character is expanded or plays a key role include:

• The Child - character introduced
• Q Who? - reveals she knows Q
• Yesterday's Enterprise - notices a change in the space-time continuum
• Time's Arrow - the first time she meets Picard (from her point of view)
• Rascals - a transporter malfunction turns her into a child
• Star Trek: Generations - fellow El Aurian refugee threatens to destroy a solar system

• Guinan article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.

Regular characters on Star Trek
The Original Series	Kirk | Spock | McCoy | Scott | Uhura | Sulu | Chekov | Chapel | Rand
Animated Series	Arex | M'Ress
The Next Generation	Picard | Riker | Data | La Forge | Worf | B. Crusher | Troi | W. Crusher | Yar | O'Brien | Guinan | Pulaski
Deep Space Nine	B. Sisko | Kira | J. Dax | Odo | Bashir | O'Brien | Worf | J. Sisko | Quark | Rom | Nog | E. Dax | Garak | Martok | Damar | Dukat | Weyoun | Winn
Voyager	Janeway | Chakotay | Tuvok | Paris | Torres | Kim | Doctor | Neelix | Seven | Kes
Enterprise	Archer | T'Pol | Tucker | Reed | Phlox | Sato | Mayweather