Alexandra Winger

Born in 12 BBY, Alex lost her mother, Anii Degarienne, in an explosion at a factory while her father, Matt Turhaya, was completing his training at the Imperial Academy. She spent much of her early childhood with relatives on Janara III while her father served aboard the Relentless before his desertion. Circa 5 BBY, an Imperial raid devastated the city where she was staying, and Alex was dug from the rubble by Lieutenant Chanceller. Chanceller's superior officer, Senior Lieutenant Brandei, offered the girl for adoption to his old friend Tork Winger.

Her Force-sensitivity first manifested itself in dreams about future events—dreams which, most of the time, came true. She often dreamed that she was climbing the Tahika Cliffs, accompanied by a man with sandy brown hair and deep blue eyes—a man she had never met in real life. Another recurring dream was a vivid nightmare of how her biological parents died in an Imperial attack on her original homeworld. Through the Force, she was also able to sense imminent danger and pick up the presence of other life forms.

By her late teens, Alex had become a resistance fighter on Garos IV. She routinely took advantage of her father's position as planetary governor to actively participate with her friends in the Garosian resistance's missions and guerrilla ambushes. The resistance's efforts were focused particularly on sabotaging the production of a rare ore vital to Imperial cloaking device projects.

Extremely intelligent, Alex attended the University of Garos and was one of the best students the university had ever seen, excelling in virtually every course. A graceful and beautiful young woman, many of her male fellow students were romantically interested in her. Among these were Lej Carner, whom she found disgusting, and the clumsy but charming Trad Mays, with whom she was secretly infatuated with for some time.

She also renewed her acquaintance with Dair Haslip, an old family friend who she had first met at the time of her adoption. About a decade older than Alex, Haslip was an Imperial officer and a secret member of the resistance on Garos IV. In order to avoid suspicion, Alex and Dair would pretend that they were having a secret love affair, but many of their romantic nighttime escapades were espionage missions in reality. Their feigned relationship would eventually develop into genuine feelings of attraction and infatuation, especially on the behalf of Dair.

In 9 ABY, the blue-eyed man remained a recurring figure in her dreams, teaching her the ways of the Force and seeing her off in a capital ship's hangar as her X-wing squadron prepared to launch on a mission. Another recurring dream featured the two of them climbing the Tahika Cliffs on Garos IV together; this dream may have evolved into her vision of Sarahwiee, but it may also indicate another aspect of their relationship.

Later in 9 ABY, Alex traveled to the Imperial fortress world of Sarahwiee to rescue captured comrade Carl Barzon. There she discovered that the blue-eyed man in her recurring dreams was none other than the Jedi Luke Skywalker, who was leading the Katarn Commandos on a mission for the New Republic. As they escaped the Imperial facility, they shared a stolen kiss and parted with a sense that they would meet again someday.

Alexandra's actions on Sarahwiee brought Garos IV's situation to the attention of the New Republic, which sent a fleet to the planet. In preparation of the invasion, Dark Jedi Jaalib Brandl was sent to Garos and charged to oversee the evacuation of the Imperial dignitaries from the capital Ariana. Governor Winger accepted to be evacuated, but Alex decided to stay on the planet and fight with the resistance.

Alexandra and her father met Jaalib Brandl at a play held in Ariana. Jaalib recognized her as Force-sensitive, and the two began to have a mutual appreciation for each other. While preparing for the evacuation, Brandl decided that his service to the Empire was done. He planned to assassinate Tork Winger to show his masters that he was no longer going to serve the Empire. To get himself closer to the Imperial Governor, Jaalib destroyed Chado's Pub, a local Imperial hangout, to blame the explosion on the Rebellion, and took Alex and her father into protective custody. During their captivity, Alex revealed her role in the resistance to her father, hurt and upset.

Rigging the protective building with explosives, Jaalib brought Alex outside to tell her his plan and save her from the destruction. Alex was shocked with the information, and immediately after Jaalib explained his plans, the protective building exploded. Jaalib followed Alex to the rubble to find Tork barely alive. In order to save her father, Alex pleaded with Jaalib who took pity on the girl and showed her how to heal her father with the aid of the Dark side of the Force. Alex healed her father to full health but was so terrified that she decided to take her distance from the Force. Jaalib spoke with Alex for the last time, informing her that he planned to follow his own path.

During those events, the New Republic had freed Garos IV and the resistance had its moment of glory. Alex's father was later evacuated to Imperial Space; it was their last moment together.

Alex eventually joined the New Republic, and as predicted by her dreams and Force visions, she became an X-wing pilot, flying with Blue Squadron as Blue Three. In 12 ABY, during a routine mission she attacked two TIE starfighters with her squadron, when a Star Destroyer appeared, which damaged her starfighter and captured her. Placed in cell for days and then transferred to a prison on Janara III, she discovered that it was the captain Brandei's destroyer, the Judicator, which had captured her. The old friend of her adoptive father tried to make her talk, telling her that following its discovery in command of a Republican ship, her father and her "boyfriend" Dair Haslip had been arrested for complicity of treason and showing her the two men tortured on holocomm.

But Haslip, safe and in a stormtrooper disguise, came to her rescue and told her about the death of her father three months earlier of a heart attack. Noting the growing powers of his friend, he asked her why she had not yet visited Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Academy. But her experience with Jaalib Brandl and the dark side was so frightening that she was afraid to deepen her connection with the Force. To that Dair replied that to not train, made her weaker.

Escaping from the prison with her friend on a speeder, the young woman was chased by some scout troopers on their speeder bikes, and during the pursuit Alex was shot in the hand, losing fingers, but still managed to escape by stealing a shuttle and going into hyperspace. Coming out of hyperspace, Alex decided that it was time for her to go on to Yavin IV, and entered the coordinates of the Jedi moon in the computer.

By 19 ABY, Alex Winger was a captain in the New Republic Defense Fleet and had her hand fitted with prosthetic replacement fingers. During the Battle of Yaga Minor toward the end of the Galactic Civil War, she commanded the Webley.

Alexandra Winger was created by author Charlene Newcomb as the main character of A Glimmer of Hope, published in the first issue of the Adventure Journal in 1994. The adventures of Alex Winger were published over the years in a series of short stories released in the Star Wars Adventure Journal. Shades of Gray, published in Hyperspace, ended her adventures fifteen years later.

The author stated Alex was twenty years old in Mission to Zila (late 8 ABY), Shadows of Darkness (9 ABY) and Rendezvous with Destiny (late 9 ABY), placing her birth date in late 12 BBY.

Charlene has indicated that she intended Alex to become a Jedi, but no Legends source has reflected this.

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