![picture: [TNG: The Best Of Both Worlds]](stother/deanna_title_bobw.jpg) | DEANNA TROI Page 1 |
![picture: [#152 Inside Man]](stother/deanna_title_insidemn.jpg) |
Ship's Counsellor, and Lieutenant Commander then Commander on USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D and -E
Appears in [#130 Pathfinder] [#144 Life Line] [#152 Inside Man]
Article by ST:M with considerable additional text by Janet. The ST:M article does not cite episode references. The screenshots, which are not the same as the few in ST:M, were done by Janet.
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 Lwaxana Troi, [TNG: Dark Page] |
Deanna Troi was born in 2336 near Lake El-Nar on the planet Betazed. Her father was a Starfleet officer named Ian Andrew Troi, and was a human, [TNG: The Child]. He died when Deanna was seven years old, leaving her Betazoid mother Lwaxana to raise her, [TNG: Dark Page]. Short pop-up biography of Lwaxana Troi Deanna loved her father very much and, as an adult, recalled the stories of Earth's ancient American West which he used to read to her, [TNG: A Fistful Of Data].
Deanna's mother is the daughter of the Fifth House. Other notable titles held by her mother, whose became an ambassador for Betazed, were: Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx and Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed. |
 Deanna finds a picture of her father, [TNG: Dark Page] |
 impression of infant Deanna's room at El-Nar, [TNG: Dark Page] |
It was revealed many years later, in 2370, in [TNG: Dark Page], that Deanna had an older sister named Kestra, who died at the age of seven in a drowning accident while Deanna was still a baby (her life spanned 2329-2336). It is for this reason that Lwaxana calls her daughter "little one", as Deanna was not her eldest daughter. Lwaxana blamed herself for Kestra's death and made her husband promise not to mention her again, and she deleted all mention of Kestra from her personal logs. Deanna and Picard discovered the gap of seven years in Lwaxana's personal logs, and the mystery of the collapse of her mother's metaconscious thereby deepened. Lwazana had become vulnerable to the condition because her level of psilosynine, a neurotransmitter chemical used for telepathy by the brains of telepathic species such as Betazoids, had become depleted as a result of her exhausting mission working with the Cairn diplomatic delegation, the Cairn being a telepathic species about to join the Federation. In an attempt to rescue her mother from the coma-like state caused by her mental collapse, Deanna decided to re-commence the mind-connection with her mother which had been established by Maques, leader of the delegation of the Cairn, a telepathic species. After Ian died, Lwaxana suppressed all memory of Kestra until 2370 when Deanna finally learned the truth via Maques' telepathic link. The memory was triggered by the resemblance of Kestra to Hedril, the daughter of Maques. Deanna and Lwaxana met inside the latter's mind where the tragic event was "re-lived" (screenshot above; the infant is Deanna as a baby) and Lwaxana at last started to come to terms with this particularly traumatic memory. After the link was severed and Lwaxana's mind was restored, mother and daughter comforted each other and Deanna asked to be told everything about the sister she had not known.
in the Enterprise-D Sickbay, Maques acts as telepathic link between mother and daughter by initiating a link between himself and Lwaxana then with Deanna. After "re-living" the tragedy of Kestra's death, Lwaxana makes peace with the dead girl. After the link ends, Deanna comforts her mother.
During her childhood, Deanna was very close to her mother, especially after the shared grief they experienced following the death of her father. However, Deanna was often embarrassed by her flamboyant mother, and this has only got worse with time. Her mother often still treats her like a child and, until her marriage, continually tried to act as matchmaker for her in the belief that marriage is the only thing that will make her truly happy. In [TNG: Dark Page], although not truly herself at the time, her mother ordered Riker to leave Deanna alone, accusing him that if it were not for him her daughter would be married by now.
in a public place (Ten Forward) Lwaxana berates Riker, [TNG: Dark Page]
Deanna was betrothed to Wyatt Miller through the Betazoid custom of genetic bonding when they were both children. Wyatt's father Steven had been a close friend of the late Ian Andrew Troi. Having grown up on Betazed, Wyatt became a physician. Wyatt had been haunted all his life by the image of a woman who he had thought was Deanna, but he later learned the mysterious woman was a Tarellian named Ariana. He chose not to marry Troi so that he could join the Tarellians in search for a cure to the Tarellian plague, a virus which infected the last members of the Tarellian people. Wyatt gave Deanna a chameleon rose (a flower from Betazed which changes color with the mood of its owner) before their planned wedding. [TNG: Haven]. SHOW NOTE
Upon reaching adulthood, Deanna joined Starfleet Academy. After graduating in 2359 (noted in [TNG: Conundrum]), she studied psychology at the University of Betazed (noted in [TNG: Tin Man]). There she met and fell in love with a young Starfleet officer named William Thaddeus Riker who had been stationed there, [TNG: Menage a Troi]. The two often spent time together near a 100-year-old muktok plant whose musical chimes later brought back memories of the good times they shared. (A muktok plant is a variegated bristle-like foliage found on the planet Betazed. It can live for hundreds of years, and the muktok blooms give off a pleasant sound when shaken, [TNG: Menage a Troi].) Deanna referred to Riker as "Imzadi" - the Betazoid word for 'beloved' - and even used her empathic abilities to show him how to sense her thoughts so that they could share their mutual affection on a deeper level. However, in 2361, Riker placed his career above romance when he accepted promotion and a posting to the USS Potemkin NCC-18253, [TNG: Encounter At Farpoint]. They spent their last day together on Betazed at Janaran Falls, and agreed to reunite on the pleasure planet Risa six weeks later. However, while serving on the Potemkin, Riker quickly earned a second promotion and he decided it would be best not to continue their relationship, [TNG: Second Chances].
Deanna was disappointed but over time she accepted that his career had taken him away from her and she concentrated on her own future. As it was, fate brought them together again in 2364 when they were both posted to Starfleet's new flagship, the USS Enterprice NCC-1701-D. Deanna told Riker that for the sake of professionalism she felt they should not renew their romantic relationship, [TNG: Encounter At Farpoint]. They remained close friends, however. She was present, both as Ship's Counsellor and as his friend, when he was falsely accused of (sexual assault and) murder, [TNG: Season 3: A Matter Of Perspective]. She gave Riker an old hardbound copy of 'Ode To Psyche, one of the six great odes written in 1819 by the English poet John Keats (1795-1821), and inscribed it: 'To Will, all my love, Deanna.' [TNG: Conundrum].
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| at a judicial hearing, holographic re-creations of people's testimony are shown. Deanna offers the reassurance of a friend to Riker, [TNG: A Matter Of Perspective] | |
 blueprint diagram of Counsellor's office click to enlarge, RED ALERT picture is over 160KB |
Deanna's appointment to the Enterprise-D was as the Ship's Counsellor, a role which she continues to hold aboard the starship's successor the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E. The Ship's Counsellor is the starship officer responsible for the emotional well-being of the ship's crew, and the duties include providing individual guidance and advice to crewmembers. Deanna is ideally suited to the position of counsellor as her Betazoid heritage means that she can "read" emotions and feelings. Her skills are best defined as empathic, allowing her to sense inner conflicts in a person, without the subject articulating their thoughts. Deanna's natural talents, combined with her extensive psychological training, allow her to gauge the overall emotional state of the crew, and she often passes this information on to Captain Picard. She also carries out periodic crew performance evaluations, usually liaising with the ship's executive officer or other department heads. |
Riker: "It's that time again. The dreaded crew evaluation reports." [TNG: Man Of The People]
 Deanna, sitting on the left of Captain Picard; Riker, the First Officer, sits on the right of the Captain, [TNG: A Matter Of Perspective] | Importantly, the Ship's Counsellor is also expected to provide advice to the Captain on command decisions. Deanna has a regular seat on the Bridge, on the lefthand of the Captain; whilst this may not have been usual for fleet services on Earth of the 20th and 21st centuries, having a Counsellor with this position by the 24th century adds a dimension for television drama, and when present on the Bridge the Counsellor is thus immediately available to the Captain. |
click to enlarge
blueprint diagram of the Bridge of the USS Enterprise-D, note the position of Deanna's chair with reference to the screenshot above
 dashing Barclay wins the admiration of Deanna but it is only a holodeck program, [TNG: Hollow Pursuits] | Deanna assisted assist Lieutenant Reg Barclay in overcoming his holodeck addiction, as depicted in [TNG: Hollow Pursuits], and encouraged him to socialise more with real people and gain more self-confidence when hitherto he had felt self-confident only on the holodeck in an environment of his choosing. |
Deanna counsels Barclay, [TNG: Hollow Pursuits]
 Deanna discovers Barclay's holocharacter the Goddess of Empathy, [TNG: Hollow Pursuits] | Barclay's expertise helps save the Enterprise, from which he starts to grow away from his shyness and immersion in the holodeck. |
Deanna has remained Barclay's therapist and become his close friend, such that he has sought her out on three occasions for help when trying to deal with problems thrown up by the Pathfinder project, that project, based at Starfleet Headquarters, being his current assignment since 2376, [#130 Pathfinder] [#144 Life Line] [#152 Inside Man].
Next page: VALUABLE INSIGHTS.
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