Picard’s Q Just Answered The Next Generation’s Oldest Guinan Mystery
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 7.
Star Trek: Picard has finally answered the mystery behind Guinan and Q’s hostility toward each other in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Towards the end of the Picard season 2 episode “Monsters”, Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard returns to Ten Forward, seeking the assistance of a younger Guinan. He needs her to summon Q so that he can confront his old nemesis in the hope of finally understanding him.
It’s established in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Q Who” that Guinan’s race of El-Aurians has a history with the Q Continuum. Materializing in Ten Forward, Q is immediately on the defensive when he finds Guinan behind the bar. He’s fearful of her, something that has intrigued Star Trek viewers for years. Picard season 2 is finally shedding light on this decades-old Next Generation mystery.
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In “Monsters”, Guinan explains some of the history between her people and the Q. She tells Picard that there was “a long cold war” between the two species but doesn’t elaborate further as to the cause. It’s not a huge stretch to suggest that the conflict is rooted in the El-Aurian’s time sensitivity and the Q’s propensity for meddling with reality. Both species eventually forged a truce “over a bottle” and the war was at an end. The bottle forms a key part of the summoning ritual that Picard requires. As Guinan explains further that "[when] an El-Aurian summons a Q, a Q appears.” Guinan’s ability to summon Q at will appears to be the root of his fear.
Prior to visiting Ten Forward, Picard is told by Tallinn, a Supervisor who can control the bodies of others, that not even she has the power to summon a Q.
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