Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we review Winn Adami, a recurring character from several seasons of Deep Space 9.
Over the years, we've discussed Winn in many contexts since she becomes a central character in the large story arc of DS9, but we've never profiled her directly. Winn Adami is a Bajoran religious leader who is elected as the first Kai following the Cardassian Occupation. Although she is steadfast in her orthodox faith for many years, she also shows capability for arrogance and treachery on many occasions when she tries to bend the will of the Prophets her way.
We first see Winn as a powerful vedek who is vying to takeover the role of kai, or spiritual leader of the Bajorans, following the disappearance of Kai Opaka shortly after the Federation takes over DS9. Winn was fiercely opposed to Ben Sisko as the Emissary and the Federation's involvement in the region, calling the organization without a soul. Winn tried to undermine Keiko O'Brien's school for not teaching enough religion and then tried to topple the Bajoran provisional government to break the ties with the Federation. Neither effort succeeded, but Winn was able in the same time to force her primary opponent for the role of Kai, Bareil Antos, to step down from the election days before it occurs to basically give her the kai role.
We first see Winn as a powerful vedek who is vying to takeover the role of kai, or spiritual leader of the Bajorans, following the disappearance of Kai Opaka shortly after the Federation takes over DS9. Winn was fiercely opposed to Ben Sisko as the Emissary and the Federation's involvement in the region, calling the organization without a soul. Winn tried to undermine Keiko O'Brien's school for not teaching enough religion and then tried to topple the Bajoran provisional government to break the ties with the Federation. Neither effort succeeded, but Winn was able in the same time to force her primary opponent for the role of Kai, Bareil Antos, to step down from the election days before it occurs to basically give her the kai role.
Interestingly, the show writers has intended throughout the development of the second season to make Bareil the new kai, but a last minute decision was made to switch it to Winn to allow for much more conflict in future stories. Indeed, this character delivered on that promise.
As the kai, we see Winn take credit for the peace negotiations actually led by her former rival Bareil, get into a significant military conflict with farmers and former resistance fighters when she tries to win the political leadership role on Bajor as well as her religious leadership role, and support the appointment of a replacement Emissary when she just couldn't handle an outsider like Ben Sisko having more faith than her.
QUOTE: "I rid myself of the Prophets and shed a lifetime of hypocrisy."
She is then lured away from her faith by visions she receives caused by the pah-wraiths and by a farmer named Anjohl Tennan, who is actually Gul Dukat in disguise. She reveals that she has never been granted visions by the Prophets and that eventually causes her to turn her back on the faith, helping Dukat release the pah-wraiths into the world. She thinks they will choose her as their Emissary, but once again gets politically blindsided when they take possession of his body as their Emissary.
She realizes her mistake and tries to help Sisko as Dukat begins attacking him, but she ends up being engulfed in flames by Dukat, ending the Kai once and for all. Her last act shows her returning once more to her original faith, but this time acknowledging Ben Sisko as a true Emissary.
As the kai, we see Winn take credit for the peace negotiations actually led by her former rival Bareil, get into a significant military conflict with farmers and former resistance fighters when she tries to win the political leadership role on Bajor as well as her religious leadership role, and support the appointment of a replacement Emissary when she just couldn't handle an outsider like Ben Sisko having more faith than her.
QUOTE: "I rid myself of the Prophets and shed a lifetime of hypocrisy."
She is then lured away from her faith by visions she receives caused by the pah-wraiths and by a farmer named Anjohl Tennan, who is actually Gul Dukat in disguise. She reveals that she has never been granted visions by the Prophets and that eventually causes her to turn her back on the faith, helping Dukat release the pah-wraiths into the world. She thinks they will choose her as their Emissary, but once again gets politically blindsided when they take possession of his body as their Emissary.
She realizes her mistake and tries to help Sisko as Dukat begins attacking him, but she ends up being engulfed in flames by Dukat, ending the Kai once and for all. Her last act shows her returning once more to her original faith, but this time acknowledging Ben Sisko as a true Emissary.
Louise Fletcher plays Winn, and she's of course best known for her role as Nurse Mildred Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won her a best actress Oscar. She's the only Trek actress who was won that award. Indeed, her acting chops added a ton to this show and the Bajoran storyline. She took the role initially because fellow star actress Whoopi Goldberg had done it, so she figured she could also make a memorable mark in Star Trek. And that's precisely what Fletcher did. She is largely retired from acting today but still makes frequent public appearances at the age of 84.
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