“ | (In Klingon) Whom do we seek? | „ |
~ L'Rell, to Ash Tyler. |
L'Rell is a villainous Klingon who was introduced in the Star Trek: Discovery pilot The Vulcan Hello.
She was portrayed by Mary Chieffo.
History[]
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 Unforgetable. 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. L'Rell, Voq, and T'Kuvma's crew consumed Captain Georgiou's corpse, partially out of revenge and partially because they were starving.
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
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 oversaw the surgical transformation of Voq, giving him Tyler's appearance and memories. Prior to the surgery she and Voq had intercourse. Their encounter led to L'Rell becoming pregnant with a son. Because of her mission she had the baby removed from her body and gestated to maturity ex uetro.
The memories of intercourse were interperted as rape by the Tyler personality. Because of what he had endured Tyler apparently had 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. The two staged a fight in order to convince the guards that Cornwell was attempting escape. 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 his surgery and his prior relationship with L'Rell, 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 confided in Burnham what L'Rell had apparently done to him while he was a prisoner. A few hours later Tyler went to see L'Rell, 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."
After the Discovery arrived in the mirror universe, Tyler went to confront L'Rell again. She recited a Klingon prayer to Tyler. Tyler not only understood every word L'Rell had said but gave the correct responses in turn. She then asked Tyler what his name is, hoping to draw out another personality, but it did not work as she expected and Tyler left her in the brig. After meeting his mirror universe counterpart Voq's personality finally reasserted itself.
L'Rell would later prove instrumental in ending the war between the Federation and Klingons. When it was revealed that the mirror Georgiou had dropped a nuclear device into the core of Qo'noS, the crew of Discovery gave L'Rell control of the detonator, allowing her to assume a leadership role in the Empire and bring about T'Kuvma's vision of a truly united Klingon species. L'Rell called off the attack on the Federation and ordered the Klingon forces back to Klingon space.
As High Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, she informed Sarek that she had no idea where the red bursts that had appeared across the galaxy were coming from. In a meeting with the High Council, she and Voq presented the new D7 cruiser to the Empire. This ship was different than previous ships in that it did not bear the insignia of a particular House, but instead bore the symbol of a united Empire.
After barely surviving a challenge by Kol-Sha, at the advice of Section 31 agent Philippa Georgiou L'Rell faked the deaths of Tyler and their son. Telling the High Council that Tyler betrayed and killed their son, L'Rell told the Council that Kol-Sha sacrificed himself saving her life. L'Rell told the council she could not have any more children, and told the Empire they were now her children. Asking them not to refer to her as Chancellor anymore, L'Rell instead said she needed a fiercer title, and told them to call her Mother. Meanwhile Tyler took their son to Boreth to be raised by the Followers of Kahless.