Lwaxana appeared in six episodes of TNG and three episodes of Deep Space 9. The writers seemed to enjoy bringing her into their narrative for one-off occasions. She was a massively wealthy Federation diplomat with a larger-than-life personality, using her telepathic Betazoid powers to help give her the upper hand in situations, as well as seduce and flirt with nearly everyone around her. Due to this side of her, she acted as a constant embarrassment for her second daughter Deanna.
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This relationship between mother and daughter was a complex and somewhat traumatic one. Lwaxana’s first child, Kestra, tragically drowned a few months after the birth of Diana, and the event left Lwaxana traumatized, broken with guilt and regret over the incident. (The name should sound familiar for any who watched Picard, as this was the name given to Diana and Riker’s daughter.) The ordeal made Lwaxana extremely overprotective of Deanna, loving her deeply but desperately clinging to her at all times. Deanna often felt that she was forced to grow up too fast, playing the role of parent to her mother, who often acted with the reckless abandon of a child.
Lwaxana’s ambassador deities were something she was immensely proud of, showing off and reminding people constantly of her position. She was a daughter of the fifth house of Betazed, heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed and holder of the sacred chalice of Rixx. All these things that pointed to her being an incredibly influential and powerful woman. Her personal relationships were far more interesting, however, and the main aspect of her character that the writers obsessed over. She was married a fair few times (the specific number never fully stated).
Her most notable marriage was to Lieutenant Ian Andrew Troi, Kestra and Deanna’s human father, who tragically died 7 years after Deanna’s birth in canonically unknown circumstances. After this came a spree of relationships, notably Timicin a Kaelon scientist who died after a ritual suicide in the TNG episode “Half a Life.” There was also Kostolain Minister Campio, who was the complete opposite of Lwaxana. He was a frailty ridged and rule following minister where she was a wild and free spirit. Despite this, they got all the way to the marriage ceremony before he called the entire thing off after Lwaxana arrived at the ceremony in the Betazoid tradition: completely naked.
Lwaxana also had a deep fondness for the Deep Space 9 chief of security Odo. She took a liking for him right away, iconically saying:
Their relationship was rocky, with her repeated attempts to seduce him falling flat. She eventually wore him down, the two sharing a deeply emotional moment where she removed her wig, Odo being the first person to ever see her without it. While the two never were officially together, they did get married, which in itself is a complicated statement to make. She had gone on to marry another, Jeyal, with whom she had fallen pregnant. She had run away from him however, all the way to the DS9 space station, but he followed her and demanded to take custody of his unborn child. To prevent this, Lwaxana and Odo came up with a plan to marry each other, voiding her previous marriage and giving Odo legal guardianship of her child (a fairly problematic Betazoid rule).
“All the men I’ve known…who’ve needed to be shaped and molded and manipulated. Finally, I’ve met a man who knows how to do it himself.”
Lwaxana was created by Roddenberry to be a sort of symbol for freed sexuality, a woman unburdened by all the social faux-pas. She was ‘allowed’ to be openly flirtatious and sometimes downright inappropriate with almost every man she came across. It’s no surprise then that there was something more complicated going on. Lwaxana was played by Majel Barrett-(wait for it) Roddenberry, none other than Gene Roddenberry’s wife. She remarked in an interview that her husband was incredibly keen on the idea of her playing the role, and that it would suit her perfectly. He told her that the best part of playing the character would be that she didn’t need to act; rather, she just needed to be herself. He described Lwaxana as ‘the Auntie Mame of the galaxy,’ an outrageous and overtly eccentric character known well on Broadway. Apparently this was a complement; however, with Roddenberry, things are always somewhat complicated.
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