Alexandra "Alex" Winger was a Human female who possessed Force-sensitivity. Although her biological father was Matt Turhaya, she was raised as the adopted daughter of Tork Winger, the Imperial Governor ruling over Garos IV.
Born in 12 BBY, Alex's mother, Anii Degarienne, perished in a factory explosion. Her father, Matt Turhaya, was in the midst of his training at the Imperial Academy at the time. For a significant portion of her early years, she resided with family members on Janara III while her father was stationed aboard the Relentless before he deserted. Around 5 BBY, an Imperial raid laid waste to the city where she was living; Lieutenant Chanceller rescued Alex from the debris. Senior Lieutenant Brandei, Chanceller's commanding officer, proposed that his longtime friend Tork Winger adopt the girl.
Her Force-sensitivity initially manifested in the form of prophetic dreams that often came to pass. She frequently dreamt of climbing the Tahika Cliffs with a sandy-haired man with blue eyes, a stranger to her in waking life. Another recurring dream was a harrowing vision of her biological parents' deaths during an Imperial assault on her original home planet. Through the Force, she also developed the ability to sense impending danger and detect the presence of other living beings.
By the time she reached her late teens, Alex had become a member of the resistance movement on Garos IV. She routinely exploited her father's position as planetary governor, actively participating with her comrades in the Garosian resistance's missions and guerrilla attacks. The resistance's primary objective was to sabotage the production of a rare ore essential to Imperial cloaking device programs.
Possessing exceptional intelligence, Alex was a student at the University of Garos and excelled in nearly every subject, becoming one of the university's most outstanding students. As a graceful and attractive young woman, she attracted the romantic attention of many of her male classmates. Among them were Lej Carner, whom she found repulsive, and the awkward but endearing Trad Mays, with whom she harbored a secret infatuation.
She also reconnected with Dair Haslip, an old friend of the family whom she had initially met around the time of her adoption. Haslip, who was about a decade older than Alex, was an Imperial officer secretly working with the resistance on Garos IV. To avoid raising suspicion, Alex and Dair pretended to be engaged in a clandestine love affair, but many of their romantic nighttime encounters were actually espionage missions. Their fabricated relationship gradually evolved into genuine feelings of attraction and infatuation, particularly on Dair's part.
In 9 ABY, the blue-eyed man continued to appear in her dreams, guiding her in the ways of the Force and bidding her farewell in a capital ship's hangar as her X-wing squadron prepared for a mission. Another recurring dream depicted them climbing the Tahika Cliffs on Garos IV together; this dream may have evolved into her vision of Sarahwiee, but it could also signify another dimension of their relationship.
Later in 9 ABY, Alex journeyed to the Imperial fortress world of Sarahwiee to rescue her captured comrade Carl Barzon. There, she discovered that the blue-eyed man from her recurring dreams was none other than Luke Skywalker, a Jedi leading the Katarn Commandos on a mission for the New Republic. As they escaped the Imperial facility, they shared a brief kiss and parted with the feeling that they would meet again in the future.
Alexandra's actions on Sarahwiee drew the attention of the New Republic to the situation on Garos IV, prompting them to dispatch a fleet to the planet. In anticipation of the invasion, Jaalib Brandl, a Dark Jedi, was sent to Garos with orders to oversee the evacuation of Imperial dignitaries from the capital city of Ariana. Governor Winger agreed to be evacuated, but Alex resolved to remain on the planet and fight alongside the resistance.
Alexandra and her father encountered Jaalib Brandl at a theatrical performance in Ariana. Jaalib recognized her Force-sensitivity, and they developed a mutual respect for each other. While preparing for the evacuation, Brandl decided that his allegiance to the Empire was over. He plotted to assassinate Tork Winger to demonstrate to his superiors that he would no longer serve the Empire. To gain closer access to the Imperial Governor, Jaalib destroyed Chado's Pub, a popular Imperial hangout, blaming the explosion on the Rebellion and taking Alex and her father into protective custody. During their confinement, Alex revealed her involvement in the resistance to her father, causing him pain and disappointment.
Jaalib rigged the protective building with explosives and led Alex outside to reveal his plan and save her from the impending destruction. Alex was stunned by the revelation, and immediately after Jaalib explained his intentions, the building exploded. Jaalib followed Alex into the rubble and found Tork barely alive. Desperate to save her father, Alex pleaded with Jaalib, who took pity on her and showed her how to heal her father using the Dark side of the Force. Alex restored her father to full health but was so terrified by the experience that she resolved to distance herself from the Force. Jaalib spoke with Alex one last time, informing her that he intended to forge his own path.
During these events, the New Republic had freed Garos IV and the resistance celebrated its victory. Alex's father was subsequently evacuated to Imperial Space; it was their final farewell.
Eventually, Alex joined the New Republic, and as foreseen in her dreams and Force visions, she became an X-wing pilot, serving with Blue Squadron as Blue Three. In 12 ABY, during a routine mission, she and her squadron engaged two TIE starfighters, when a Star Destroyer suddenly appeared, damaging her starfighter and leading to her capture. Imprisoned for several days and then transferred to a prison on Janara III, she discovered that the Judicator, Captain Brandei's destroyer, had captured her. The old friend of her adoptive father attempted to extract information from her, informing her that her father and her "boyfriend" Dair Haslip had been arrested for treason after being discovered in command of a Republican ship and showing her the two men being tortured via holocomm.
However, Haslip, disguised as a stormtrooper and unharmed, came to her rescue and informed her of her father's death from a heart attack three months prior. Recognizing the growing strength of his friend's Force abilities, he inquired why she had not yet visited Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Academy. However, her experience with Jaalib Brandl and the dark side had been so terrifying that she feared deepening her connection to the Force. Dair countered that refusing to train would only make her weaker.
Escaping from the prison with her friend on a speeder, the young woman was pursued by scout troopers on speeder bikes. During the chase, Alex was shot in the hand, losing fingers, but she managed to escape by stealing a shuttle and jumping into hyperspace. Upon exiting hyperspace, Alex decided that it was time to go to Yavin IV and entered the coordinates of the Jedi moon into the computer.
By 19 ABY, Alex Winger had risen to the rank of captain in the New Republic Defense Fleet and had her hand fitted with prosthetic replacement fingers. During the Battle of Yaga Minor near the end of the Galactic Civil War, she commanded the Webley.
Alexandra Winger was conceived by author Charlene Newcomb as the protagonist of A Glimmer of Hope, which appeared in the first issue of the Adventure Journal in 1994. The adventures of Alex Winger unfolded over the years in a sequence of short stories published in the Star Wars Adventure Journal. Her adventures concluded fifteen years later with Shades of Gray, which was published in Hyperspace.
The author revealed that 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 expressed her intention for Alex to become a Jedi, but no Legends source has depicted this outcome.