Guinan

[Thanos007]

Why did they ever try to make Guinan more than just the wise bartender in Ten Forward? All the hints that she's more than she appears and other cryptic hints to her past really went nowhere. Was it just Goldberg's unavailability or did the writers just not know what to do with her. Personally I would have just gone with the wise old bartender.

 

[Dukhat]

Here’s the thing with that: A mysterious character is far more interesting if they stay mysterious instead of having some explanation for them that almost never lives up to the mystery.

But in Guinan’s case, the mystery was already solved by the sixth season and then Star Trek: Generations.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Supposedly the inital plan was that she was as powerful as Q (hence the "Q Who" stand off) but they realised they couldn't "out" her without having to kick her off the ship since her powers would render every subsequent episode moot.

 

[Timo]

...Unless, of course, it just wasn't on her agenda to help the crew succeed or even survive. A mysterious and evil character (or at least a deceitful and adversarial one) would have been so much fun!

Just "out" her to the audience but not to the heroes, and let hilarity ensue.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Herbert]

Supposedly the inital plan was that she was as powerful as Q (hence the "Q Who" stand off) but they realised they couldn't "out" her without having to kick her off the ship since her powers would render every subsequent episode moot.

Actually, it would have rendered that very episode moot. She could have just zapped the Enterprise back to the Alpha Quadrant. I'm not sure I buy the explanation that she was supposed to be as powerful as Q because in the context of that episode, it doesn't make sense....... unless ........ she really did have some reason for not helping them as Timo states. That puts an interesting spin on it.

 

[Saul]

I hope she shows up in the Picard series. Those guys got history in more ways than one.

 

[Kor]

Here’s the thing with that: A mysterious character is far more interesting if they stay mysterious instead of having some explanation for them that almost never lives up to the mystery.

But in Guinan’s case, the mystery was already solved by the sixth season and then Star Trek: Generations.

I think OP's idea is that those "cryptic hints" should have been completely left out in the first place.

Kor

 

[JesterFace]

...Unless, of course, it just wasn't on her agenda to help the crew succeed or even survive.

I've thought of Guinan as someone who is on the side of humanity on the trial Q is putting them into.
She does help the crew in many cases.

 

[Thanos007]

I think OP's idea is that those "cryptic hints" should have been completely left out in the first place.

Kor

Correct

 

[Finn]

Here’s the thing with that: A mysterious character is far more interesting if they stay mysterious instead of having some explanation for them that almost never lives up to the mystery.

But in Guinan’s case, the mystery was already solved by the sixth season and then Star Trek: Generations.

Not really. Her experience with Soran and the Nexus doesn't really explain Q's reaction and comments in Q-Who. Even with that movie, there's still a lot of mystery surrounding Guinan.

 

[Timo]

Indeed. The Nexus is a partial solution, though, in showing us that Guinan could access places and times previously assumed to be unavailable to her, and perhaps interact with Q there and then. We just haven't seen any of the actual bits that would explain the relationship - we have merely been shown the door that might lead to them.

The time loop thing is another partial explanation, for parts of her relationship with Picard, but we're still left wondering why she would have lied to Wesley in the exact manner shown. So perhaps there's more to that, too.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Makarov]

Her mysterious backstory got upstaged by Mark Twain

 

[Herbert]

Her mysterious backstory got upstaged by Mark Twain

Could be. Character development can be a moving target anyway. The events that happened in that two parter with Twain weren't even conceived of when Guinan first showed up on the Enterprise. Perhaps someone had some ideas planned out for Guinan's story (and by that I mean her background) when she was first introduced (or perhaps not. who really knows?) and then things changed due to different writers, different direction, different ideas, etc. Definitely plausible and not unusual in television really.

 

[Herbert]

Here’s the thing with that: A mysterious character is far more interesting if they stay mysterious instead of having some explanation for them that almost never lives up to the mystery.

Couldn't agree with this more. I remember reading comics back in the 80s and the character Wolverine had a very nebulous and mysterious background and that lent something to the character. Years later when Marvel decided to do the Weapon X story and then even later devise an "origin" story for Wolvy, that mystery was gone.

 

[JesterFace]

Perhaps someone had some ideas planned out for Guinan's story (and by that I mean her background) when she was first introduced (or perhaps not. who really knows?)

Creator of the character and members of the TNG staff might know?

 

[Finn]

^I think we would have heard and/or read about it by now

 

[Herbert]

Creator of the character and members of the TNG staff might know?

Perhaps, or they could have just been making it up as they went. Whether there was a plan that got morphed along the way or it was just happening on the fly, we don't know.

 

[Terok Nor]

Guinan is Sister Mary Clarence still on the run from the mob 400 years later.

 

[XCV330]

I like that she's still left mysterious. She's wise, but doesn't seem to be omnipotent. She seems to be able to hold her own against Q and yet doesn't seem to have his kind of power. Maybe she's one of the Wormhole Prophets that is out in a millennium long holiday.

maybe she's just the Tom Bombadil of Trek

 

[matthunter]

I'd always rationalised it that her connection to the Nexus somehow anchored her existence in time, a bit like Jack Harkness in Doctor Who/Torchwood... not immortal/unkillable like Jack but proofed against Q-snaps rewriting her or changes to the timeline.

That, coupled with her long lifespan and alien knowledge, might have been enough for her to throw a spanner in Q's schemes once in a while, in the same way the Doctor could face down ancient evils like the Gods of Ragnarok or Fenris.

 

[JesterFace]

Perhaps, or they could have just been making it up as they went.

I've had that feeling about her, writers could or might develop her as time goes by.

I like that she's still left mysterious.

Little bit (or a lot) of mystery is a part of her character in a good way.

 

[Qonundrum]

Here’s the thing with that: A mysterious character is far more interesting if they stay mysterious instead of having some explanation for them that almost never lives up to the mystery.

But in Guinan’s case, the mystery was already solved by the sixth season and then Star Trek: Generations.

6th Season explained enough away, and Generations did much to demystify her as (needless?) fanservice. She says it's not possible to get there and later says if Picard does get to the Nexus he won't want to leave. Now add in the problem of her species being slaughtered by the Borg yet they've managed to make it so far into Federation space circa 23rd century when their domain was much smaller and yet no El Aurian saved discussed anything about what happened to them (nobody on the Enterprise-B was curious over what the ships were, what happened, and so on?), in which case they would have spent the whole movie in 23rd century and never got to Data's antics.

 

[JesterFace]

Might it be possible that we get to see and know more about Guinan in the new Picard series. Unlikely but who knows.

In 'The Best of Both Worlds' Guinan told Riker that her relationship with Picard was beyong friends and beyond family.
I don't remember exactly why that is, maybe I need to rewatch some episode to remind me?
A deeper understanding on what's been going on between them might be interesting.