Lyra Strayd

"I hate bullies."

—Lyra to Winn Schott^[src]

Lyra Strayd is a Valerian refugee from Starhaven and a reformed art thief. After starting a romantic relationship with Winn Schott, Lyra became an ally of him and Guardian, helping them in their vigilante activities.

Biography

Early life

Lyra Strayd was born on Starhaven into the Valerians community and has an older brother, Bastian. When Lyra was a child, her father used to read her stories from The Book of the Ten-Pointed Star.^[1]

After an ecological plague began to intoxicate Starhaven's atmosphere, a 10-year war ensued on the planet, during which Lyra's parents died of starvation and she and her brother were forced to leave Starhaven, such as every other habitant. They spent six weeks in the dark under a clandestine starship's deck.^[1][2]

In 2015, Lyra and Bastian took refuge on Earth,^[3] where they began a series of art thefts in order to survive. They stole a Rodin from the Modern Arts Cultural Museum of National City and an original Warhol from the Art Institute of Metropolis. Lyra would seduce men and then frame them for her crimes.^[2]

Meeting Winn

One day at the alien bar, two aliens suddenly began picking on Winn Schott for no apparent reason. Before they could beat him up, Lyra intervened and easily defeated them both. Winn thanked her, and she invited him to dinner for Valentine's Day as a way to show her his gratitude. That evening, Winn arrived at the bar, apologizing to Lyra for being late and telling her that he had booked them a table at Saxon's, an exclusive restaurant, for 8:00 pm. However Lyra, without listening to him, began to passionately kiss him and they made out, leading to sex.

The next night, Lyra and Winn went to Il Palazzo for their date. At first she was uneasy, as everyone was staring due to her extraterrestrial appearance, but Winn reassured her she looked "just wonderful". Lyra expressed her belief that Winn wouldn't call her after their encounter, because she thought that for him it was just a one-time thing, and because she had never met people that were ready to have a relationship with an alien. However, Winn admitted that the possibility of falling in love with an alien did not scare him.^[1]

A few days later she and Winn casually met at the alien bar and exchange a passionate kiss in front of Mon-El who, later, happily complimented Winn, telling him to having good care of her. That evening, Lyra taught Winn how to play darts during a date.^[4]

As Lyra was enjoying an evening at the alien bar with Winn and his friends James, Alex and Maggie, to whom she had just been introduced, she was suddenly abducted by Cadmus' men who had begun to rounding up all the Aliens that were registered in the country to load them up into a space frigate and send all of them away from Earth. However the plot was foiled by Supergirl, Lyra was rescued by Alex and went back to Winn, who welcomed her with a kiss.^[3]

Revealed to be a thief

After her brother comes at odds with a gang with whom he used to be affiliated, Lyra promised them she would have paid his debt, so she manipulated Winn into breaking in the National City Art Gallery with her to have sex however, unknowingly to him, in doing so Lyra stealed a Van Gogh framing Winn in her place as she does not appear on security cameras. After realizing he was framed, Winn, alongside Alex and Guardian, tracked her to the roulotte park in which she lived and confronted her asking if she ever really cared about him, to which she lied stating she did not.

After a fight Lyra was arrested and imprisoned at the D.E.O. National City headquarters, where she finally confessed her past to Winn revealing that if she does not deliver the painting to the gang that held her brother prisoner they would kill him. Later, with the help of Guardian, Alex and the D.E.O., Winn and Lyra managed to set a trap for the gang and their client, the powerful art smuggler Mandrax, successfully freeing Bastian. Although at first she considered to leave National City with her brother, after Winn reassured her that he doesn't hate her, Lyra decided to stay and the two reconciled.^[2]

Going Straight

Lyra and Winn had been making out in his surveillance van when Guardian returned after completing a mission. He asked if Winn was really on a date with Lyra while he was fighting crime but Winn told him that it looked like he had it handled. Lyra then defended him and referred to Guardian as James. James then removed his helmet and thought that Winn had told her but he said he didn't. Lyra then revealed that she knew it was him as all humans have a different scent and his and Guardian's were the same. When Guardian moved to stop a thief that was robbing a store, he saw that it was just a teenager and let him go. Lyra then moved in and started to be rough with him against Guardian's protests.

Later, at the alien bar, Winn talks to Lyra and suggests that she might not be a good crime-fighting partner for Guardian because she can get out of control. Lyra gets angry at Winn and yells at him to leave; however, later that night she and Winn reconciles as James gave her another chance to help him in crime-fighting.^[5]

Personality

Powers and abilities

Powers

• Valerian physiology: Lyra's Valerian extraterrestrial physiology grants her superhuman powers that other Starhavenites apparently don't possess.
  • Super strength: As a Valerian, Lyra is far stronger than a normal human. Although the exact extent of her strength is unknown, it was shown that her grip is strong enough to hurt the bones of a human's hand^[1] or even break a bottle of glass. She also claimed to be able tear off the jaw from a human head.^[5]
  • Super stamina: As a Valerian, Lyra is more resilient than humans, but not as durable as a Kryptonian. She was able to withstand several hits by a group of soldiers remaining almost completely unfazed,^[3] and can break glass bare-handed without cutting herself.^[5]
  • Super smell: Lyra can recognize humans by their natural scent.^[5]
  • Camera Invisibility: As a Valerian, Lyra does not appear on pictures or security cameras.^[2]

Abilities

• Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Lyra demonstrated extraordinary skills in hand-to-hand combat, being able to easily subdue two significantly larger other aliens.^[1]
• Master deceiver: Lyra was able to seduce and manipulate Winn and several other men in order to frame them for the art thefts she committed.^[2]
• Bilingual: Lyra is capable of fluently speaking English and Starhavenitese.

Weaknesses

• Achluophobia: Lyra developed a strong fear of the dark after the traumatic experience of spending six weeks under a starship's deck while immigrating to Earth. Her fear is so strong that she can't even stand the idea of staying alone in the darkness.^[2]

Appearances

Supergirl

Season 2

• "Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk"
• "Homecoming"
• "Exodus"
• "Star-Crossed"
• "Ace Reporter"
• "Nevertheless, She Persisted" (mentioned)

Trivia

• It was strongly implied that Lyra regularly eats kittens and flowers.^[5]
• Lyra was originally going to appear in Season 3, but was cut.

References