Hello all, Ric here again with a theory and discussion video. With Picard season 2 coming
out and John De Lancie returning in some capacity as Q alongside Whoopie Goldberg being on board
from all indications, I thought it would be a fun idea to look into the past that these
two clearly have. Star Trek dot Com mentions that Q and Guinan first met around 2160 and
memory beta places it at 2165. In this decade, humanity was finishing the Earth-Romulan war
and joining in the founding of the Federation so probably nothing to do with each other
and Guinan would have been around 400-something at this time.
Something that is relevant to all of these theories is that the Q are near-omnipotent,
but not omniscient. They don’t know everything at all times, although it would be fair to
say that nothing lies beyond their grasp. Q was surprised to see Guinan on the Enterprise
D when he first met her, suggesting that he was unaware of her presence until that moment.
Once he realises who she is, he is taken aback, warns Picard that she is “more than she
appears” and equates her to an imp, takes one to know one.
She clearly has an issue with him too and confesses to having dealings with the Q Continuum
before in her past, but she doesn’t elaborate. For this video, I will be laying out some
theories, both fan ideas and content drawn from extra-canonical stories to speculate
on just why the two share such enmity. This is because there is precious little to go
on in the show, which is a deliberate choice on the writers part to add to Guinan’s mystery
so again, there is no actual concrete answer in the show, just speculations fuelled by
observation. The first two theories are supported by what
we see in “Generations” and the TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” Guinan definitely
has a sense for what we’ll call the universal status quo. She is aware of how things should
be, even if she has no memory of them and can pick up on alterations to the timeline.
In the show, this is never explained but we have to options in apocrypha. The first is
that that this is just a trait of the El Aurians themselves, that their penchant for “listening”
goes beyond simply hearing others, but has a deeper connection to sensing everything,
the flow of time, a perception of the universe. El Aurians can feel, sense or “hear” when
things are not as they should be like an instinct …like when your car handles “off” but
you can’t place it. Theory two as to the origin of this power
comes from the fact that Guinan was exposed to the Nexus energy ribbon and once there,
you always have a part of you trapped there because time has no meaning in it. Part of
your essence therefore is always beyond the confines of space-time, giving you a higher
insight into the flow of time in the universe, you can see the wood through the trees as
it were. Either explanation for her heightened connection
to the universe can fit with this theory, perhaps a mix of both, but this theory states
that any Q can sense this element to her and it makes them uneasy. Q have control over
almost everything and can change reality at a whim, but it could simply be that a part
of Guinan’s essence lies beyond the sight and purview of the Q continuum and Q hates
her for it. He has no control over her, because she is beyond his ability to manipulate entirely.
His intolerance of her is soon reciprocated and there we go, we have a rivalry based on
an intrinsic clashing of cosmic forces. Another theory floating around out there is
that she is a Q, or formerly a Q in some capacity. I’m not sure I’d buy that she was a Q
wholesale, after all, she has a father that was deeply rooted in El Aurian society, but
then again, we have seen individuals such as Amanda Rogers who was born of two Q who
were living as humans. She began to manifest Q powers, despite being conceived as a human
and was brought into the continuum by Q. Guinan could be one such other individual, some Q
out there had a child with an El Aurian and Guinan was the result. However, she denies
returning to the continuum, and somehow evades the execution that is the given alternative.
This might be the origin of the falling out between her and Q, but this seems a little
off considering that she still considers the continuum itself to be “almost decent”.
Perhaps she gave up her powers, something I bet she’d have regretted once the Borg
came for her home. Completely speculative scenario here, (thanks for humouring me),
perhaps she swore never to use her powers, until the Borg came, assimilated El Auria
then she snapped, literally, undid it. So then Q arrived and forcibly depowered her,
restoring the assimilation and the original timeline. Now she’s mad at Q, he’s annoyed
at her, and she has complex feelings now as to the whole thing. I still don’t think
this one is that likely. So if not a depowered Q, then what else? Well,
the Q can grant their powers to other people to test them, as Q did with Riker in “Hide
and Q”. Could be that this was done once before with Guinan, yet she went and did something
impulsive or against Q’s predictions, resulting in her being immediately stripped of that
power, but not before it got Q in trouble with the continuum. This seems a little more
likely, a scenario where Guinan goads Q into giving her a modicum of his power against
the judgement of the Continuum, only to then… I dunnno… rat him out to the Continuum and
get him chastised for it. I could easily see this sort of thing playing out, perhaps an
attempt by Guinan to humble the near-omnipotent being and he is humiliated that it worked.
That, to me plays into their established characteristics too.
There is also the idea that the El Aurians were well on their way to reaching Q-like
levels of evolution of technology, but that the Borg assimilation snapped that away from
them. Their level of development may have potentially been a rival for the Q Continuum,
so the Q allowed the destruction of their world to prevent that. Possible, but I see
an issue with that theory. The Borg would have assimilated El Aurian tech and biology,
so if they were on the cusp of Q like powers, then the Borg would have them. I guess it’s
possible that Q removed all traces of advanced El Aurian stuff from the Borg’s path to
prevent the Borg from getting their hands on it. This could have left the El Aurians
vulnerable to the Borg, directly resulting in the assimilation of the El Aurian people
and Guinan is aware of this. This is circumstantially supported by Q chastising Q junior for provoking
the Borg, suggesting they’re a bit of a taboo species for the Continuum, so maybe
they are activley working to prevent the Borg from growing too powerful.
Of course there is the simple theory that there is no special thing, no superpower,
and no cosmic awareness on her part. Perhaps Guinan just pissed him off one day. Q has
done plenty of reprehensible acts in his immortal lifespan that she could rightly have taken
issue with and it could be that one time she simply undid some long con or prank he’d
been setting up generations on an unsuspecting populace. If she had foiled his schemes once,
he very well could perceive her as an “imp”, some mischievous sprite of devilish origin,
especially to a being that has a history of impersonating a deity. But then, why not simply
erase her as Q is wont to do? The answer might simply be because she is
El Aurian. They have incredibly long lifespans that touch many lives across the cosmos, especially
as they are a species of “listeners” who go out of their way to ingratiate themselves
into places where they can learn a good tale or two to share, building a repertoire of
experiences to advise others. This sort of life leaves a complex trail through time,
especially as El Aurians live to be well over 700, possibly thousands of years old. Couple
this with the canon fact that the Q can perceive through time and understand the repercussions
of alterations, perhaps she is simply too important to destroy, she has affected the
lives of too many key figures throughout history. Yeeting her from existence would undo all
that she did or will do and fixing that mess might be impossible or at the least, more
trouble than it’s worth so Q simply refrains from doing this and makes do with being spiteful
instead. Then again, it did look like she was readying
to counter any attempt for him to relocate her from the Enterprise, but who knows if
this was a bluff on her part? So perhaps she did have, or is holding on to some vestige
of Q power. Honestly, I like a lot of these theories as
much as I enjoy the idea of officers on the Enterprise trying to guess Guinan’s past
over drinks in Ten Forward that would have totally happened. I enjoy the mystery it brings
and I’m in two minds if I’d ever want to see this answered because the fan discussion
around this 30 plus year mystery is brilliant. Let me know what ideas you have, because I’m
honestly leaning on the nexus-consciousness idea mixed with her being too vital to history
for Q to eliminate safely. Thanks for watching this video on Guinan and
Q, and I hope to see you next time for another lore, theory or gameplay video. Thanks again,
I’ve been Ric and goodbye!