L'Rell

"Scream."

- L'Rell, to Admiral Cornwell.

L'Rell was a female Klingon introduced in the Star Trek: Discovery pilot The Vulcan Hello.

She was portrayed by Mary Chieffo.

L'Rell's father was a blood kinsman of T'Kuvma, and her mother was a member of the House of Mo'Kai - the traditional house of spies in the Empire. She grew up learning to speak Federation standard and other languages that would help her spy for the Empire.

When she came of age her mother gave her a knife and demanded that L'Rell cut out half of her heart if she would not chose either her father's house or her mother's. L'Rell decided then to be a bridge between the two houses, in keeping with T'Kuvma's vision of a united Klingon Empire.

L'Rell eventually came to serve as a battle deck commander for T'Kuvma on his flagship Sarcophagus. Feeling that T'Kuvma was a good judge of character, she did not protest when Voq became T'Kuvma's right hand man.

After they defeated the Federation fleet at the Battle of the Binary Stars, she and Voq gave T'Kuvma the title The Unforgeable. After T'Kuvma died at the hands of Michael Burnham, she, Voq, and the rest of T'Kuvma's crew were stranded for several months on the Sarcophagus as the ship's warp drive had been disabled.

When Kol convinced T'Kuvma's crew to betray Voq in exchange for food, L'Rell feigned allegiance to Kol. Commanded to kill Voq right away, L'Rell convinced Kol to leave Voq stranded on the wreck of the USS Shenzhou. L'Rell then went to Voq on the Shenzhou, and provided him with a raider to reach the House of Mo'Kai, who would help him in his quest to take revenge on Kol and the Federation.

L'Rell then took command of a D7 class prison ship that held prisoners of war Ash Tyler and Harry Mudd. Over a period of several months L'Rell tortured and raped Tyler, leaving the young human with a severe case of PTSD. L'Rell then captured USS Discovery Captain Gabriel Lorca and tortured him for information as well.

After Kol captured Starfleet Admiral Katrina Cornwell, L'Rell went back to the Sarcophagus and ingratiated herself with Kol. Under the cover of being an interrogator, she visited Cornwell in her cell and expressed a desire to defect to the Federation. Kol however saw through her duplicity and had L'Rell taken away to be punished.

When Burnham and Tyler boarded the Sarcophagus to plant sensors on the ship to take readings of its cloaking device, they picked up Cornwell's life signs. Finding Cornwell in a small chamber on the ship, the two also encountered L'Rell. Tyler began experiencing flashbacks of the torture and rape he had experienced at L'Rell's hands, and went in to a catatonic state. Burnham left to complete the mission while Cornwell tried to bring Tyler back to reality. She was successful in bringing him out of his catatonic state so that they could be beamed back to Discovery before the Sarcophagus was destroyed.

Seeing they were going to be beamed away, L'Rell lept on to Tyler's back and was also transported to Discovery. L'Rell was placed in the ship's brig. Tyler soon went to see her, demanding to know what she had done to him. L'Rell told him that she would not let "them" hurt him, and then said "soon."