Winn Adami

Plot|date=November 2007
Star Trek character|if=|Title = Winn Adami
bgcolor = #ddddff


Caption =
Size = 200px
Species = Bajoran
Gender = Female
Planet = Bajor
Affiliation = Bajoran Prophets, Pah Wraiths
Position = Spiritual leader of Bajor
Rank = Kai
Portrayed = Louise Fletcher

Kai Winn Adami was a recurring character on "". She is played by actress Louise Fletcher.

The "Kai" is the elected spiritual leader of the planet Bajor.

Overview

Winn held the title of "Vedek" during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, and claimed to have been beaten for her religious teachings. She had a contemptuous attitude toward Bajorans who fought in the underground resistance cells, because she felt she did not get proper credit for helping to fight for Bajor's liberation.

Winn makes her first appearance objecting to the teachings of Keiko O'Brien in the "Deep Space Nine" school, in the episode "In the Hands of the Prophets". In particular, she objects to Keiko's teaching of only the scientific information about the Bajoran wormhole, instead of teaching the religious mythos regarding it. Winn views the science-based teachings as blasphemy, and eventually her influence results in all of the Bajoran students being pulled from the school. Later, a bomb is detonated inside the school. Commander Benjamin Sisko meets with Vedek Bareil on Bajor and asks him to reprimand Winn before she stirs up more violence, but he declines to enter into the conflict. Winn also directs one of her supporters to assassinate Bareil, who is Winn's chief rival in the Vedek Assembly. The failed assassination attempt is made during a speech Bareil is giving calling for an end to conflicts over the school. Winn's involvement, although suspected by Major Kira Nerys, is never proven.

Ever the ambitious opportunist, Winn later aligned herself with an extremist group called "The Circle". The Circle's goal was to eliminate all external influences from Bajor, including the Federation, which would have served Winn's purposes in getting rid of Commander Sisko, whom she resented as the Emissary of the Prophets. The reward for her support would have been the guarantee of becoming Kai.

Eventually it was discovered that "The Circle" was actually being supplied by the Cardassians. Major Kira managed to sneak into the council chambers and presented the evidence to the Council of Ministers. When Kira announced she has the thumb scan of a Cardassian Gul signing off on a shipment of weapons to the Kressari, who in turn sent them on to The Circle, Winn immediately changed sides telling Minister Jaro that if he truly believes the Cardassians were not supplying the weapons, he should not mind an examination of the evidence.

In the episode "The Collaborator", the election for the next Kai approaches. Winn seeks out and obtains information about the Kendra Valley Massacre, which she uses to manipulate Major Kira into investigating Vedek Bareil Antos, who happens to be in a relationship with Kira at the time. Ultimately, Bareil is forced to withdraw, resulting in Winn's election as Kai. Although Bareil is later proven innocent by Kira, he chooses not to reveal the truth, which is that Kai Opaka had actually been responsible for the massacre---a move that resulted in forty-three deaths, including that of her own son, but which had saved thousands of other Bajoran lives. Over the years, Bareil faithfully kept the secret in order to protect the Bajoran people and preserve their religion.

When the first minister of the provisional government dies, Winn gets herself appointed to the political office, and tries to reclaim soil reclamation equipment loaned by the Federation. She wants to have it used to reclaim soil for cash crops for sale off-planet, while a group of farmers led by Shakaar, a former resistance leader, are trying to reclaim soil to produce food for Bajor; Shakaar and his people had been promised the reclamators, but Winn, now leading the government, reneges on the previous leadership's promise. A brief insurrection, with Shakaar's people preparing to fight security forces sent out by Winn, results in the security force leader and Shakaar burying the hatchet. Shakaar challenges Winn for the position of first minister in the upcoming election.

Throughout her service as both Vedek, and Kai, Winn always proved to be selfish, arrogant, and power-hungry. She would do anything, and betray anyone in order to advance her own career and agenda. She is also jealous of other people receiving visions from the Prophets, especially the alien, Sisko the Emissary.

In the final days of the Dominion War, Winn finally received what she believed to be a vision from the Prophets, who tell her that a guide will soon appear to her. In reality, this vision was from the Pah Wraiths, and the "guide" was Gul Dukat, who had been surgically altered to look like a Bajoran.

Dukat and Winn soon became lovers, and he convinced her that in order to restore Bajor, she must release the Pah Wraiths, who he claimed were the true prophets of Bajor. To do this, Winn obtained the Kosst Amojan, a forbidden text, but found that the pages were blank. Her servant Solbor discovered what she and Dukat were planning, and threatened to expose them. As Winn killed him to prevent this revelation, a drop of blood fell from the knife Winn stabbed him with, and onto the blank pages of the Kosst Amojan, revealing the text. Shortly afterwards, Winn discovered Dukat's true identity. When Dukat attempted to read the Kosst Amojan himself, he was blinded (the text may only be read by the Kai), and cast out onto the streets by Winn. After studying the text, Winn discovered the way to release the Pah Wraiths from the Fire Caves and hesitantly allowed Dukat to rejoin her.

Back on Deep Space Nine, the Prophets send Sisko a premonition about a dangerous situation on Bajor. In the series finale "What You Leave Behind", he goes down to the Bajoran 'Fire Caves' to confront Winn and Dukat. While Dukat and Sisko fight, Winn realizes she has made the wrong choices, and that she has become blinded by her own ambition. In an effort to correct all that she has done and redeem herself, she attempts to throw the book of the Pah Wraiths into the fire and destroy it. Before she can do so, however, Dukat kills Winn using powers granted to him by the Pah Wraiths.

External links

*memoryalpha
* [http://startrek.wikia.com/wiki/Winn_Adami Winn Adami] at [http://startrek.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Memory Beta]