Delenn's Motives (Revised)--SEASON ONE SPOILERS
orso steven n
Signs and Portents, Legacies, Babylon Squared, AND Chrysalis!
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SEASON ONE SPOILERS AHEAD! (Once the avalanche has begun, the pebbles
have no votes!)
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I originally posted some speculations under the title "Delenn's Motives"
in response to the "Chrysalis" plot summaries that arrived from England
earlier this year. Now that I have *finally* seen the episode, I am
reposting them in slightly revised form, as I have adjusted my thinking
now that my sense of the chronology of events in that episode is clearer.
Given his stated delight in pulling the rug out from under his viewers'
expectations, I wonder if one of the switches JMS is playing on us is
setting us up to believe that *Babylon 5* is an epic in which the hero is
one Jeffrey David Sinclair, when the true hero of this epic is going to
be Delenn of Minbar. (Playing on the sexist assumption that the hero
of an epic has to be male, eh? Playing on the terran chauvinist assumption
that the hero of a galactic epic has to be from Earth, eh?) Even if that
is not the case, it is clear that figuring out what motivates Delenn to
enter a chrysalis is vital to understanding what is happening in Babylon
5's corner of the galaxy.
To begin with, we have previously seen a member of the Grey Council
tell Delenn that if Sinclair remembers what happened to him during his
lost 24 hours during the Battle of the Line, he will have to be killed.
What, then, prompts Delenn to go to his quarters and show him her
triluminary, in an apparent attempt to awaken his memory?
For some time, the Minbari have had a general expectation of an approaching
calamity--one that would involve the intrusion into the part of the galaxy
known to them by some new party (which has turned out to be the Shadows).
That something was expected to intrude was confirmed in "Signs and Portents,"
when, after ordering Morden out of her quarters, Delenn said to herself,
"They're here." The basis for this expectation was apparently prophecy--
Valen's prophecy--and that seems to have been the same prophecy that had
prompted the Minbari to break off the Earth-Minbari War. Evidently the
Terrans have a role to play in responding to the calamitous intrusion. And
a particular Terran, Jeffrey Sinclair, has been identified as having a role
of singular importance (The One). With the realization that the calamity
has begun, Delenn risks awakening Sinclair's dormant memory by showing him
the triluminary, the instrument with which his memory of his time as a
Minbari prisoner was apparently suppressed.
(If I'm right, the hole in Sinclair's mind isn't round. It's triangular!)
Apart from its importance to the Sinclair story arc, Delenn's action is
significant because it gives us a clue to the nature of the triluminary.
Whatever it is, one of its capacities is to effect the mental abilities
(memory, in Sinclair's case) of the subject on whom its influence is
applied. (There is also the evidence of its effect overcoming the
guards in "Legacies" and erasing their memories.) I shall have more to say
about this capacity shortly.
Delenn has to risk awakening Sinclair's memory immediately because she
is going to go into chrysalis. The procedure will put her life at risk--
so much so that she feels compelled to tell Sinclair beforehand, in
case she doesn't survive. But what does she intend to accomplish by
transforming herself? I think the key to this is to recall the ritual
surrounding the meeting of the Grey Council in "Babylon Squared": The
counselors are "grey" because they stand between the light and the darkness.
In other words, they assume a position that balances two polar opposites.
The evidence is now abundant that the Shadows are, as their name hints,
a kind of darkness. There have also been hints that Vorlons are the beings
to be associated with light--going all the way back to the glow from Kosh's
encounter suit in "The Gathering". Let us assume for the moment that this
reading is correct. So long as the Shadows were not active in the part of
the galaxy where the events of *Babylon 5* take place, things could be
understood to have remained in balance. We can represent that situation
schematically:
SHADOWS * * * MINBARI * * * VORLONS
(Dark) (Grey) (Light)
Now, however, the Shadows have begun to intrude into that part of the
galaxy, throwing things out of balance. If, as a member of the Grey
Council, it is Delenn's calling to maintain balance, what does she now
have to do? We know that in her pre-chrysalis state she is vulnerable
to the Shadows--recall the obvious discomfort that she experienced during
her interview with Morden in "Signs and Portents." If she, and the Minbari
whom she represents, are to right the imbalance, she will have to make
herself more resistant to the influence of Shadow power. (And, clearly,
the Minbari are *not* immune. If they were, the Shadows would not have
sent Morden to the Minbari ambassador to ask "What do you want?") We also
know the vulnerability is somehow mental in nature--Delenn holds her head
in pain when she speaks with Morden, and the grey triangle appears on her
forehead. She has to strengthen herself mentally in some way--and so she
activates the triluminary, a device that, as we have already noted, affects
the mental capacities of those on whom it is applied. (I assume that the
triluminary is not some all-purpose, universal widget that can do *anything*.
Even a Swiss Army knife has its limits.) The Delenn that emerges from
the chrysalis will be mentally strengthened. I wonder whether the grey
triangle that appeared on her forehead in "Signs and Portents" will become
permanently visible as a result of the change.
BUT, before Delenn goes into chrysalis, she has to be sure that this is the
crisis that the Minbari have been warned about by prophecy. She has to be
sure that she has read the situation correctly--that the Shadows are the
"darkness" that is one of the poles between which the Grey Council stands,
and that the former balance between Light and Dark has been disrupted.
And because there is no Shadow handy to ask, her only means to confirm
this is to go to Kosh and to verify the supposition that the "light" to
which Grey Council tenets refer is the Vorlons. That would account
for the hints that the Minbari have had some sort of contact with the
Vorlons, and with Delenn's assertion in "The Gathering" that she is eager
to *see* a Vorlon. There has evidently been some contact between the
Vorlons and the Minbari (the Vorlons anticipating a Shadow attempt to alter
the existing balance?), but not enough heretofore that the Minbari are
certain about things. (We saw in "Babylon Squared" that some members of the
Grey Council do not share Delenn's conviction of the importance of Terrans.
The Vorlons may have all the pieces of the puzzle, but the Minbari don't.)
Notice, too, that Delenn sends Lennier to ask Kosh her question and then
visits him herself *before* the destruction of the Narn outpost by the
Shadows. It is the apparent confirmation of the prophecy by Morden's
visit to her in "Signs and Portents," not the action in Quadrant 37, that
has set her on the path to chrysalis. And it is by Kosh's showing himself
to Delenn--showing himself to be a creature of light (luminescent?)--that
Delenn finds the confirmation she needs to justify the risk of going into
chrysalis.
What, then, will Delenn be like when she emerges from her chrysalis?
There has been some speculation in this group that Delenn will emerge from
her chrysalis as a Vorlon. I don't think so. We know from both "The
Gathering" and "Chrysalis" that whatever is inside Kosh's encounter suit
emits light. However, my recollection of "Babylon Squared" is that when
the off-screen Delenn approached the future Sinclair, reaching out an arm
to him, there was no change in the lighting--as there would be if Delenn
had been transformed into a lumionus Vorlon.
Given JMS's love of plot twists, my guess is that we have *not* been given
a basis for anything more than inspired guessing. But we have been given
a visual clue--the fact that the transformed Delenn of the future, off-
screen in that critical scene with the future Sinclair in "Babylon Squared,"
was wearing red. Red does not fit a continuum that runs from pure darkness
(black) through grey to pure light (white). Delenn is moving *off* the
straight-line continuum of the old balance to a new position from which she
can work for a new balance. We can also render this situation schematically
(with "DELENN+" signifying the post-chrysalis Delenn):
(Red)
DELENN+
*
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
SHADOWS * * * MINBARI * * * VORLONS
(Dark) (Grey) (Light)
Notice how she remains equidistant from the Light and the Dark--that is,
in balance--while remaining aligned with the Grey. She is different,
but she remains true to her calling. (Is *that* why the triluminary is
an *equilateral* triangle in shape?)
One week to go in my market until "Points of Departure." Two weeks to
go until "Revelations." Patience, I have to remind myself, is a virtue.
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