Philippa Georgiou (mirror)

Warning! This page contains information regarding Star Trek: Discovery, and thus may contain spoilers.

Her most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Qo'noS, Regina Andor, Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius was a female Terran who was the Emperor of the Terran Empire during the mid-23rd century. The rebellion against her rule appeared to have little information about her except that the emperor was ruthless. Her identity was not made public, being known as the faceless emperor. (DIS: "Despite Yourself", "The Wolf Inside")

In spite of the Empire’s xenophobic tendencies, Emperor Georgiou had taken titles native to the Vulcan, Klingon, and Andorian subjects of her Empire, as she was addressed as "Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Qo'noS," and "Regina Andor", among others, symbolic of her success at conquering and oppressing other species.

Her flagship, the ISS Charon, was commanded by Captain Maddox. (DIS: "The Wolf Inside")

Biography Edit

Personal life Edit

Georgiou was responsible for rendering Qo'noS uninhabitable, and together with Sylvia Tilly, she subjugated the Betazoids and wiped out Mintaka III. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")

After the death of her parents, Georgiou adopted Michael Burnham. (DIS: "Vaulting Ambition")

Captain Gabriel Lorca was once one of Georgiou's closest advisors. However, Lorca thought that Georgiou was unfit to lead, letting aliens come in their borders and attempted a coup against her. The Emperor dispatched her adoptive daughter, a captain of immense prestige, to apprehend Lorca. This appeared to be a test of loyalty as, unknown to Burnham, Georgiou was aware of her adoptive daughter's collaboration with Lorca to kill her and take her throne. DIS: "Vaulting Ambition"

When Lorca's followers destroyed Burnham's shuttle and he escaped, Lorca's ship, the ISS Buran, was destroyed in retaliation. (DIS: "Despite Yourself", "What's Past Is Prologue")

Sexually, Georgiou took an interest in both male and female partners, even at the same time. According to an Orion duo that serviced her after coming to the regular universe, she had learned them many new things. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")

Michael's "return" Edit

After Michael Burnham of the prime universe posed as her counterpart returned from the dead, the Emperor was quick to assign her a new mission: destroy the Fire Wolf's base on Harlak. However, when Burnham proved too slow to carry out the order, the Emperor herself traveled halfway across the quadrant to confront Burnham.

After Burnham confronted her in front of the Terran Court on board the palace ship Charon, Emperor Georgiou revealed that she was the adoptive mother of the "mirror" Burnham. At dinner with her she was initially amicable. However, she was mistrustful of her long-lost daughter: as Burnham struggled to accept the new role she was to play, the Emperor had her arrested and brought to the Lords of the Terran Empire for her execution. This order was countermanded when Burnham proved herself to be from the same universe as the USS Defiant. After ruthlessly murdering all of the Lords except for one, she discussed with Burnham the terms of her and her captain's liberation. However, during the discussion, her discomfort when adjusting to sudden bright light caused Burnham to realize that the Gabriel Lorca she had brought, who had claimed his own sensitivity to light was caused by eye damage, was actually his mirror universe counterpart. (DIS: "Vaulting Ambition")

Lorca's coup Edit

Lorca then initiated a rebellion against Georgiou, quickly escaping from his confinement and rallying his comrades who had been condemned to the Charon's agony booths. They quickly took the ship with the assistance of the mirror Paul Stamets, who had helped them in their first coup attempt, only to sell out to Georgiou. During a confrontation in which most of the crew still loyal to her were killed, she performed an emergency site-to-site transport, hiding in her personal quarters and wearing a special bracelet that made her undetectable to the ship's sensors. Lorca then took control of the Charon and threatened to destroy the USS Discovery.

Burnham found Georgiou and proposed a plan, to exploit Lorca's desire to put her by his side once more. They pretended to surrender in exchange for letting Discovery go. When the Discovery came out of warp, Lorca was distracted by Saru and Burnham's conversation, giving her time to subdue the guards around her and Georgiou. The fight turned in their favor quickly, and when Burnham released Lorca from gunpoint, citing the Starfleet ethos, Georgiou executed him with a sword through the chest for his treason. He was then unceremoniously kicked through the "sunroof" into the super-mycelial reactor and his end. Georgiou finally warmed up to Burnham, saying that for one second, she was her daughter again, and volunteered to stay behind and give her enough time to escape as Lorca's forces surrounded them. Instead, as the transporter beam energized, Burnham unexpectedly lunged at her and took Georgiou with her to Discovery before the Charon was destroyed, along with all of Lorca's men. (DIS: "What's Past Is Prologue")

Escaping to the prime universe Edit

With Georgiou and Burnham aboard, the Discovery engaged its spore drive and crossed back into the prime universe, having overshot their arrival time by nine months.

Saru was initially shocked at seeing Georgiou alive, believing her to be his former captain. She quickly corrected him and immediately demanded that he kneel as a slave. Burnham revealed that indeed this Kelpien was her captain. However, Georgiou was quick to remind Burham that they had previously dined on entrails of his brethen.

Over nine months, the Federation war with the Klingons had taken its toll, with Starfleet losing one third of its fleet and over twenty percent of its territory occupied. Losses were so great, Admiral Katrina Cornwell and Ambassador Sarek wished all knowledge of Discovery's journey to the alternate universe be buried and locked down.

On meeting with Georgiou, Cornwell and Sarek found her resemblance to Captain Phillipa Georgiou to be remarkable. With Burham's assurance that Georgiou's appearance in their universe was without motive, Cornwell admitted it remained complicated. Georgiou wished to return to the mirror universe. Burnham stated that she had escaped a violent revolution and should be granted political asylum within the Federation. Georgiou was to be held at Starbase I, until Starfleet Command determined a proper course of action, this changed when the Discovery learned that the starbase had been occupied by Klingons.

Assisting the Federation in their war with the Klingons Edit

Georgiou's rule of the Terran Empire extended throughout every system in their galaxy, conquering places Starfleet hasn't dared to explore. Burnham wanted to know how Georgiou had defeated the Klingon Empire. Georgiou explained that the Klingons were like cancer cells, constantly dividing and the way to root them out was to destroy them at the source, Qo'noS.

As the Klingons were preparing to strike Sol system, the core system of the Federation, the response was to take the fight to Qo'noS. A coordinated attack against their planetary defense batteries, followed by the destruction of all military targets planet-wide. A single offensive so destructive, it would cause the Klingons to retreat back to their homeworld.

Georgiou provided Burnham with intelligence that Qo'noS is essentially a planet of caves, some large enough to house a Crossfield-class starship. The Discovery could use its spore drive to enter one of these caves and map the terrain from the inside-out, reducing the risk of detection.

Meeting with Sarek in private, Georgiou offered her help in winning the war. Whilst she had provided Burnham with the intelligence she could handle, the Qo'noS of her universe was little more than a blackened mass of dust. Burnham's plan would prove effective, but only temporarily. Georgiou offered to bring the Klingons to their knees once and for all. If she got her freedom, she would assure victory for the Federation.

Sarek negotiated with the Federation Council and received approval of Georgiou's plan and that they had no choice but to proceed.

Georgiou took the role of Captain Phillipa Georgiou to chart the Discovery's course to Qo'noS. To cover up her alternate universe origin, Cornwell claimed that although presumed long-dead, she was rescued in a highly classified raid of a Klingon prison vessel. The mission was perilous expedition and Starfleet was confident she was uniquely qualified to get the Discovery there and do what needs to be done. (DIS: "The War Without, The War Within")

The war concluded when Georgiou planted a hydro bomb within a volcano on Qo'noS. Preventing Georgiou from detonating the device, Burnham gave the detonator to L'Rell, who used the threat of detonating the device to force the leaders of the Great Houses to accept her leadership and ordered Klingon forces to halt their advance on the Federation. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?")

Post-war Edit

Having been granted her freedom in return for participating in the Qo'noS mission, after the cease fire Georgiou took over an Orion cabaret on Qo'noS which she had first come to know during the aforementioned mission. During this time, she was approached by a Section 31 operative, who recruited her as an asset. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?", bonus scene)

Appendices Edit

Appearances Edit

Background information Edit

The title "Dominus of Qo'noS" was deliberately mispronounced as "Dominus of Kronos", though the subtitles retain the spelling as Qo'noS. [1]

On his Twitter account, Jordon Nardino, who wrote the episode "Vaulting Ambition", explain the meaning behind the titles and name of the emperor.

"All Hail her most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Kronos, Regina Andor, All Hail Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius. But what's it mean??!?

When we began digging into the Terrans last year, I had just read a newer history of Rome and was excited to use it as inspiration. (SPQR by Mary Beard, check it out.) Here's some of the titles Roman Emperors used: Wikipedia

So into her titles:

• Father of the Fatherland is easy, we turned that into Mother of the Fatherland (even tho we de-gendered Emperor, it felt right)

• Overlord of Vulcan: an early conquest of the Terrans, they see themselves as their protectors. It's paternalistic / delusional.

• Dominus of Kronos: Terrans are very proud of conquering Qo'noS. Dominus is a harsher title the Emperor at the time took as a result (and Georgiou kept for herself). "We OWN them." Qo'noS mispronounced out of cultural chauvinism.

• Regina Andor: Andoria is a jewel in the Terran crown. Subjugated warrior race. Early Terran conquest, pre-Sato. The title was created to celebrate this achievement.

Now as for Georgiou's many names...

"Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius"

• Philipa Georgiou: her given name and her family name, just like Prime.

• Augustus: the Terrans see themselves as inheritors of the Roman Empire so their Emperors take the title of its first Emperor.

• Iaponius is Latin for Japanese. This (in my fever dream) is a title Hoshi Sato adopted when she named herself Empress, to honor her homeland. So is Georgiou descended from Hoshi!?

Well... Hoshi was Empress. 100 years later, Georgiou is Emperor. Georgiou took one of Hoshi's titles as her own to connect them. So Hoshi's legacy as Empress must be good and Georgiou must either be connected to her in a chain of succession or might want to create that connection... But they have different ethnic backgrounds. Hoshi is Japanese, Philipa is Chinese-Malaysian. So I don't think it's likely Philipa is a direct descendant like a great-grandchild. Cousins is possible. More likely tho......whoever inherited Hoshi's throne was someone she adopted as a child & heir, the way most Roman emperors did. And that Emperor adopted his/her heir, and so on, until we get to Georgiou. And she is proud of the connection and flaunts it with the title Iaponius.

But... it's not canon until it's on screen so that's just one writer's opinion.

As for Centaurius, I figured it was the first system colonized by the Terrans since it's closest to Sol so it was a title the Emperor at the time took in tribute.

Hope someone found this informative!" [2]

External link Edit

• Philippa Georgiou (mirror) at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works