Pilgrims (Wing Commander)

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In the feature film Wing Commander, based on the computer games of the same name, the Pilgrims were a fictional ethnic group. The Pilgrims were created specifically for the film and do not appear in any of the Wing Commander game series, though they appear in two novels based on the film and a proposed sequel.

The Pilgrims were said to be the first humans to colonize deep space, after being driven off Earth by religious persecution (their symbol indicates that they are a possible offshoot or sect of Christianity). The Pilgrims, after many generations of wandering through space, developed an uncanny navigational ability, supposedly a hereditary ability to unconsciously sense magnetic and gravitational fields with great precision. Prior to the events of the film, the Pilgrims had fought a war against the Terran Confederation, resulting in bad feelings and prejudice on both sides.

The protagonist of Wing Commander, Lieutenant Christopher Blair (played by Freddie Prinze, Jr.), is said to be of Pilgrim ancestry, a fact which he downplays to avoid persecution. At the climax of the film, Blair is told to use his Pilgrim instincts to manually pilot a fighter from the TCS Tiger's Claw through a wormhole due to the failure of navigational equipment (essentially the film's version of "Use the force, Luke"). Though he succeeds and the ship arrives at its destination in time to save the day, it is left ambiguous as to whether Blair actually possesses any special abilities.