Guinan from Star Trek hails from an extremely long-lived race of aliens called El-Aurians, but how old is Guinan actually and is he immortal?
Guinan from Star Trek: The Next Generation He’s from an extremely long-lived race of aliens, but how old is the mysterious bartender? Portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg, Guinan was first introduced in season 2 of The next generation and went on to play a major recurring role in the rest of the series. In addition to tending the bar at Ten Forward, Guinan served as an informal confidant and advisor to many members of the USS Enterprise-D crew, most notably Captain Jean-Luc Picard with whom he shared a close personal friendship.
Although human in appearance, it was revealed that Guinan is actually a member of an alien race called the El-Aurians. The Guinan people remain a mystery in Star trek Canyon; the name “El-Aurian” was not even given on the run until the movie Star Trek: Generations. However, thanks to Guinan, some important features and history of El-Aurian have been explored. The species has been described as a race of “listeners”, which explains Guinan’s ability as a confidant of the crew. Furthermore, the El-Aruian homeworld suffered a devastating attack by the Borg around 2265, causing the destruction of its major cities and the assimilation of most of its population. Aside from their listening skills and history with the Borg, the most significant fact about the El-Aurians is their extremely long lifespan, something fans have been interested in when it comes to Guinan.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
Although Guinan’s age has never been explicitly stated, clues from the context and external source material can give a fairly accurate idea of how old he actually is. According to your profile in Startrek.com, Guinan is characterized by being “more than 600 years old”. While this estimate seems fairly accurate for his current age, evidence from various episodes in TNG suggests that Guinan was somewhere in the 500-year range when it was first introduced. The two-part episode “The Arrow of Time”, which showed an adult Guinan on Earth in 1893, is the strongest evidence of this. Most of “Time’s Arrow” takes place 472 years before Guinan joined the crew of the Enterprise-D. From the information provided about Guinan’s family, specifically his father, it appears that El-Aurians reach maturity at least 100 years old, so if Guinan was around 100 in 1893, he would be 570 or 80 years old to when he left. to work on Enterprise-D. TNG and his films only spanned fifteen years in the timeline, so at Star Trek: Nemesis Guinan would be 600 years old or approaching her, and in her 620 or 30 years for Star Trek: Picard, where she is set to appear in the upcoming season 2.
Guinan stated in the TNG episode “Rascals” that his father was 700 years old and in good health, suggesting that El-Aurian’s life expectancy far exceeds 700 years. This gives a vague idea of how long the race lives, but it also raises the question of whether they are immortal or not. No concrete answer has been given to this question, but the El-Aurain have been shown to be vulnerable to dying from injuries or attacks. This means that the El-Aurians are not immortal in the same way as a species like the Q, who cannot really be killed except by stripping them of their powers. Given the fact that the El-Aurians are more similar to other humanoid species than to omnipotent beings like the Q, their long lives are much more likely to just appear immortal and eventually grow old and die, albeit very slowly.
Whether or not audiences will see Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan age is another matter, though his upcoming comeback in Picard could provide an opportunity. Since Goldberg has aged since he last played the character, it is possible that viewers may see an earlier version of Guinan in some context. Picard He also has a chance to finally give fans an answer to the question of how old Guinan really is, a question that was never answered satisfactorily on. Star Trek: The Next Generation.
About the Author
Reference-screenrant.com
Not a bad summary of Guinan but both Guinan and Whoopi Goldberg are women. Not a “he”. Give lady Star Trek characters their due!