Babylon 5/Characters

Some or all of these characters need descriptions. A list of tropes is not a description.

No one here is exactly what they appear.

The scope of the Babylon 5 universe was truly epic. Over the course of the series, the major characters evolved radically as the arc plot advanced. No summary can do more than scratch the surface of their complexities and their evolution--the only way to fully appreciate both is to watch the series.

WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.

The Earth Alliance

Humans in general

Everywhere humans go, they create communities.

• The Determinator: Te Human-Minbari War is filled with this. Despite the technological disadvantage and many Curb Stomp Battles, the human race fought tooth and nail against the Minbari. As Londo said when describing their efforts to others:

Londo Mollari: The humans, I think, knew they were doomed. But where another race would surrender to despair, the humans fought back with even greater strength. They made the Minbari fight for every inch of space. In my life, I have never seen anything like it. They would weep, they would pray, they would say goodbye to their loved ones and then throw themselves without fear or hesitation at the very face of death itself. Never surrendering. No one who saw them fighting against the inevitable could help but be moved to tears by their courage…their stubborn nobility. When they ran out of ships, they used guns. When they ran out of guns, they used knives and sticks and bare hands. They were magnificent. I only hope, that when it is my time, I may die with half as much dignity as I saw in their eyes at the end. They did this for two years. They never ran out of courage. But in the end…they ran out of time.

• Deus Ex Nukina: Lampshaded in one of the novels, where it is stated that while the humans lag behind in many other areas, their nuclear weapons are quite capable, provided they can get one close enough to an enemy they would otherwise be unable to defeat conventionally.
  • This is exactly how Sheridan was able to destroy the Black Star in Earth's only real victory in the Earth/Minbari War.
• The Government
• Government Conspiracy: Too many over the course of the show to list.
  • Oh heck, even the staff of Babylon 5 is a heroic Government Conspiracy.
• Head-in-The-Sand Management
• Humans Are Diplomats
• Humans Are Special
  • Debatable; while lots of awesomeness is done by individual humans, humans as a group come off poorly at times.
  • More like Humans Build Communities. Delenn even notes how any species could have made B5 but allowed only their own kind inside and maybe a few others, while humans would let anyone in and form bonds with them in one form or another.
• Most Viewers Are Human: The chief role of humans often seems to be to provide someone to identify with.
• Mutant Draft Board: Psi Corps.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Especially by Minbari.
• Secret Police: Night Watch. Also elements of the Psi Cops.
• Space Navy: EarthForce Naval; most of the main characters are EFN (as opposed to the EarthForce Marine Corps seen in "GROPOS," and the likely EarthForce Corps of Engineers officers in "Babylon Squared").
• United Space of America: There are still individual nations and the Earth Government is based in Geneva, Switzerland.... yet most of the Earthers we see in the series are American.
  • More to the point, culture and political organization seem geared to be familiar to an American viewer.
• The War of Earthly Aggression: The coup by Clark and the rebellion that followed.
• You Shall Not Pass: The Battle Of The Line, a Crowning Moment of Awesome, Heartwarming, and Sacrifice. Especially after this scene with the President's Final Speech.
  • Subverted, as well. The Minbari casually wiped out most of the defenders effortlessly, then proceeded to surrender without explanation. It had the effect of making many Earthers feel that The Line was a Senseless Sacrifice.

John J Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner)

File:Sheridan 3518.png

For justice, for peace, for the future... we have come home!

• The Butcher: The Minbari call him "Starkiller," for his hand in the destruction of the Black Star, using what they considered underhanded tactics. In the third season finale, he earns that nickname twice-over, destroying the White Star by loading it up with nukes and having it dive into the Shadows' capital city.
• The Captain
• The Chessmaster: he's acknowledged in-universe to be one of the finest tactical minds of his generation, and it's no Informed Attribute. He's almost always one step ahead — if not more.
• The Chosen One: The One Who Will Be
• Combat Pragmatist
• Defensive Feint Trap: Once with the Black Star, and more then once later including the first kill of a Shadow vessel.
• Deus Ex Nukina: When All You Have Is a Hammer... He uses nuclear warheads to deal with superior enemies on no fewer than four occasions.
  • You'd think his enemies would have picked up on that by now...
• Fan Nickname: John "Nuke 'em" Sheridan. (Originally used by Boxleitner.)
• The Fettered
• The Good Captain
• Heroic Archetype
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Dan Randall, the pro-Clark journalist, portrayed Sheridan as a guy subject to sinister alien influences, while oppressing the human population and running ghoulish medical experiments to create alien hybrids, all the while arming an alien invasion fleet outside Babylon 5.
• Hypocrite: In protest of Clark's declaration of martial law on Earth, he secedes and declares independence. However, he declines to form any sort of new governing body for the station and retains ultimate authority over every aspect of its government, making him essentially a military dictator. This is lampshaded a couple of times by people who don't like him. However, considering he was a Military Governor who was upholding the Constitution of the Earth Alliance and B5 is a military base, it is not hypocritical for him to maintain the original concept of the station intact. He is not giving the station over to the alien governments who use it. Once the reasons for the declaration were removed from power, it is likely he would have returned into the Earth Alliance, or then made changes to the governing body of the station. The colonies only made a new government once there was no hope in England agreeing to their demands. There always remained the chance for Clark to be removed from power.
• In-Series Nickname: "Swamp rat".
  • Among the Minbari, Sheridan is known as "Starkiller" for his famous defeat of their flagship, the Drala Fi ("Black Star" in English). The name becomes a Multiple Reference Pun after he also causes the destruction of The White Star
• King in the Mountain: According to Minbari.
• The Kirk
• Like Brother and Sister: With Ivanova. They'd walk through fire for each other, but their relationship is purely platonic.
• Meaningful Name: Named after Phillip Sheridan, a notable Federal cavalry commander in the 1800's.
• Messianic Archetype: Which gets him a What the Hell, Hero? from Garibaldi, who was Brainwashed to have his paranoia and distrust of authority enhanced by Mr. Bester.
• Military Maverick: Subverted. His appointment to Babylon 5 was approved by Clark's government because all the available evidence indicated that he was not a Military Maverick, but rather a staunch loyalist. Unfortunately for them, he was staunchly loyal to the Earth Alliance Constitution, as opposed to being loyal to the government that was failing to follow that Constitution.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: He adheres to the second part of the quote: "if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”
• Noodle Incident: Two come up in the same episode. He refuses to explain how he got the nickname Swamp Rat, and the threat of an embarrassing story is enough to stop him from revealing one about another character.
• Never Found the Body: As we find out in the last episode.
• Nose Art: His personal Starfury has a full-wing Eagle paintjob. In the fourth season, he had the Babylon 5 emblem painted on the hull of his flagship during The Earth Alliance Civil War.
• Pals with Jesus: To Kosh.
• Playing Possum
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone
• The Power of Love: Allows him to defy death because he loves Delenn that much. Damn the Shadows, he's going to be with the woman he loves and nothing is going to stand in his way. Not even the entire universe.
• Punctuated Pounding
• Rage Against the Mentor
• Screw Earthgov I'm Doing Whats Right
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them: Despite his many positive qualities, he can also be a touch petty at times. At one point, he is ordered to pay rent on his quarters or move out. He pulls money from the station's military readiness budget to pay the rent, claiming that the station's readiness depends on him getting a good night's sleep.
• See You in Hell
  • Which doubles as Screw You, Elves.
• Stay with the Aliens
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute
• Suspiciously Specific Denial
• Take a Third Option
• Take Five: Averted and Played Straight, depending on the circumstances.
• Taking You with Me
• Talking the Monster to Death
• They Do: With Delenn. A relationship built on mutual respect, trust, and shared interests, that had its ups and downs but was a lifelong love match on both sides? What a novelty!
• Touched by Vorlons
• Two Plus Torture Makes Five: Averted.
• We Will All Be History Buffs in the Future
  • Lampshaded in the fifth season, where an assassin taunting Sheridan says that he understands Sheridan is "a bit of a history buff."
• Ultimate Authority Mayor: Justified, as he is the military governor of Babylon 5 and really does have absolute authority over the station, within the limits of his own orders. Also Deconstructed, as we see that this leaves him with a lot more on his plate than he ever had to deal with as a starship commander, requiring him to adopt a more hands-off leadership style.
• Undercover Cop Reveal: Later revealed to have been planted on Babylon 5 to investigate the conspiracy around President Santiago's death.
• Unstuck in Time
• Viking Funeral: He died at about the same time B5 was demolished. So kind of.
• Xanatos Gambit
• Your Days Are Numbered

Jeffrey David Sinclair (Michael O'Hare)

Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-Tzu, and Einstein, and Morobuto, and Buddy Holly, and Aristophanes... All of this... All of this... Was for nothing. Unless we go to the stars.

• Alien Abduction
• Bothering by the Book/Exact Words — Displayed an uncommon ability to use Earth gov's Exact Words to accomplish exactly the opposite of what they wanted him to.
• Brainwashed : But only enough to wipe out his memory of the missing 24 hours.
• The Captain — Technically a commander in rank, but follows the role.
• The Chosen One: The One Who Was
• Decoy Protagonist: Unintentional however, thanks to the Absentee Actor.
• He Knows Too Much: Delenn had orders to take appropriate action if he showed signs of remembering.
• In Harm's Way: Puts himself in a lot of dangerous positions he really has no reason to. It's hinted it's his Survivor Guilt speaking, and Garibaldi eventually calls him out on it mid-season 1.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: "There is a hole in your mind".
• Liberator From the Future : He goes back in time to become this for the Minbari.
• Love Transcends Spacetime: Implied to be what allows Catherine Sakai to find him in the past.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: He is Delenn's great-great-great-[great*n]-grandfather.
• The Masochism Tango: His relationship with Catherine Sakai consisted of years of on-again, off-again, have-sex-then-one-of-them-leaves frustration before they decided to have a go at things for real.
• Messianic Archetype
• Mighty Future Human
• Military Brat: Fourth generation military. Knight #2 states it was smart money he'd make Admiral on his pedigree alone; but then along came The Line.
  • Sinclair proudly states at one point that his family has been fighter pilots since the Battle of Britain.
• Put on a Bus: An interstellar bus to Minbar.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: In the late 2010s, J. Michael Straczynski revealed that Sinclair was Put on a Bus because Michael O'Hare had begun suffering increasingly severe psychological issues throughout the first season. O'Hare voluntarily left the show to protect it, and asked JMS to keep the reason secret until after his death.
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Due to his (repeated) tendency to speak his mind when not appropriate, his back story contains this. A lot. His promotion to the head of Babylon 5 came as a surprise to pretty much everyone at Earthforce (including him, given the huge list of people who were ahead of him), but they accepted it because the Minbari were part contributors to the station and got a provision that they had say in who got in. So his assignment to Babylon 5 is a large aversion, though his history is not.
• The Seer: time travel helps at this.
• Shell Shocked Senior: Being a survivor of the Battle of the Line is one of his main character points.
• Stable Time Loop
• Survivor Guilt
• Take a Third Option: His default solution for practically everything.
• Teacher-Student Romance: The canon novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows reveals that he met Catherine Sakai when he was her flight instructor at Earthforce Academy.
• Time Travel
• Ultimate Authority Mayor: Justified, for the same reasons as Sheridan.
• Warrior Poet
• Worthy Opponent: To Delenn when they first met.
  • And to the Minbari in general. Neroon expresses admiration for him, and his special ability in the card game is to undo damages to the human-minbari tension levels.

Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle)

"Thin air." Why is it always "thin air"? Never fat air, chubby air, mostly-fit-could-stand-to-lose-a-few-pounds air.

• The Alcoholic
• Bald of Awesome: Played for Laughs on a couple of occasions. Ivonova strongly suspects (but prefers not to inform Garibaldi) that his hair loss was due to a prank played by a smuggler he had crossed paths with in the past.
• Big Damn Heroes: On several occasions. It does help that all of the station's security personnel answer to him, allowing him to bring The Cavalry with a single call.
• Chef of Iron
• Cool Bike — His beloved, antique Ninja ZX-11 motorcycle.
• Cowboy Cop
• Da Chief: Head of station security.
• The Determinator: JMS in a commentary track compared Garibaldi to a pitbull, refusing to let go of a problem until he's solved it. Increased Up to Eleven by Bester to make him sniff out an anti-Telepath conspiracy.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Garibaldi is a Type 1, particularly toward Talia.
• Face Heel Turn (See Manchurian Agent)
  • Deadly Change-of-Heart
  • Heel Face Turn
• Fan of the Past: The Daffy Duck poster overhanging his bed.
• Knight in Sour Armor
• The Lancer
• Manchurian Agent (in Season 4)
• Nose Art: In early seasons, his personal Starfury had a tiger painted on the center of the wing. In the fifth season, he is briefly seen piloting a Starfury with Daffy Duck painted on the side.
• Off the Wagon
• The Password Is Always Swordfish: His computer password is "Peekaboo", because he knows that nobody would assume that the infamously paranoid security chief would use something so laughably easy to guess.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Except for the fourth season. At least, until his Heel Face Turn.
• Properly Paranoid: Garibaldi's paranoia is an in-universe legend.
• Refuge in Audacity: One of his specialties. Tries to rescue Captain Sheridan from a secret prison on Mars by walking up in uniform and identifying himself by name. It almost works too, except that the guards are Too Dumb to Fool.
  • When an Earth Alliance official demands to know where Sheridan is, Garibaldi refuses to tell him, on grounds that it is so secret that Garibaldi can't even tell himself or else he'll have to arrest himself for revealing secret information to himself.
    • It helps that the official in question is just Genre Savvy enough to figure that it is some sensitive issue best left undisturbed for now. Before he can become suspicious enough to realize he's Wrong Genre Savvy, the heroes present him with an entirely plausible explanation for the secrecy.
• Written in Infirmity: Jerry Doyle suffered a broken wrist during the filming of the battle sequence in "Severed Dreams". The visible effects were then very naturally explained as the character suffering the same injury.

Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian)

File:Ivanova 59.png

Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!

• All Love Is Unrequited: The Trope Namer.
• Badass Boast: Has a habit of these, from "Ivanova is God." to "God sent me."
• Bi the Way (Annoyingly, we only really got a confirmation that Ivanova & Talia were in love after the fact — because Straczynski knew the executives would crucify him if he actually had them kiss, which was considered but remained unfilmed.)
  • Hints do appear previously. They lounge around in Ivanova's bedroom an awful lot.
  • Word of God is that they did in fact have sex off screen.
• Cartwright Curse
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dead Big Brother: Her reason for joining Earthforce.
• Informed Judaism: In the episodes where it comes up, it's made fairly clear that she isn't exactly a practicing Jew.
• Iron Lady
• Large Ham: On occasion, though not nearly as large a ham as some of the other characters.
• Lost in Translation: Played hilariously when Ivanova bitterly curses, only to find out that "Ah, hell!" means "continuous fire" in her crew's language.
• Knight in Sour Armor
• Lady of War: Ivanova lacks the inspirational genius of Sheridan or the unconventional thinking of Sinclair, but she is a formidable officer in her own right.
• Married to the Job: Ivanova. And the job is jealous.
• Mission from God: For her last Badass Boast, she declared that God had sent her to dispatch her foes. She is nearly killed at the end of the battle by a wayward piece of debris, but not before her force has dispatched the enemy fleet.
• My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: When she shows off what she has learned from her studies of the Minbari language. Delenn discretely issues an order to the Minbari crewmembers of Ivanova's ship that anyone who is caught laughing at her heartfelt attempts will be severely punished.
• Nose Art: Her Starfury has a red star and a double-headed Russian Eagle.
• Number Two: For the station, being the second line officer aboard for most of the series.
• One of the Boys: You would almost, but not quite, think that Gender Is No Object is at work here. That's how well Ivanova blends in.
• Russian Guy Suffers Most: And expects to. She considers pessimistic outlooks to be Russian by nature and commends people for them. Sheridan even calls developing a greater degree of pessimism "taking Ivanova lessons."
• Voice of the Resistance
  • Hell, that's even the name of her broadcasts.
• Written in Infirmity: Claudia Christian broke her ankle in a ski-ing accident during Season Two, and this was explained as Ivanova being injured after being caught in a brawl between Green and Purple Drazi. (The fan rumour that she was injured during the filming of that scene is false.)
  • During the commentary track for that episode, Claudia Christian points out that the scream Ivanova gives when the Drazi lands on her (when the "injury" supposedly happened) as being quite real (as said actor landed right on her already-broken leg quite heavily.)
• You Are in Command Now: At least four times in the space of three years, in fact, though it never happens in the heat of battle.

Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs)

• The Conscience: Franklin regards his medical oath as far more important than his oath to Earth Force and is quite willing to remind others of their duties to greater causes than their government.
• Determinator: After he is stabbed, then tormented by a hallucination of himself for all of his failures, he decides that he wants to live, mistakes and all.
• Dr. Jerk: For a while when he was abusing stims.
• Functional Addict
• Insufferable Genius
• The Medic
• Military Brat
• Not Quite the Right Thing
• The Pornomancer: Despite being a bit of a pompous blowhard and not really putting any serious effort into it, he can charm the ladies out of their dresses like nobody's business.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Given by a hallucination of himself, as he's crawling through down-below with a knife wound. Doubles as a Rousing Speech by the very end.
• Trust Me, I'm an X

Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins)

My first CO once told me: "When someone asks you why you took on a job, the worst answer you can give is 'Because a friend asked me to.'" I should have listened. This place is one long exercise in frustration.

• The Alcoholic: She uses her secret past as an alcohol and drug abuser to get Garibaldi back on the wagon.
• Amicably Divorced: She was married to Sheridan briefly. Their marriage burned out fast. Their friendship didn't.
• Badass Bureaucrat
• Dark and Troubled Past
• Lady of War
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Fought on the Loyalist side of the Earth Alliance Civil War. Her being chosen to command Babylon 5 after Ivanova's departure was done as a fig-leaf gesture to the government back on Earth.
• Nose Art: Her Starfury features a Phoenix.
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Rules Lawyer: Manages to temporarily prevent Mr. Bester from arresting a colony of rogue telepaths by citing an Earth Alliance health regulation. Commander Sinclair would have been proud.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute
• Word Of Bi: Neil Gaiman confirmed that the Les Yay in her scenes with Zoe in "Day of the Dead" was intentional.

Zack Allen (Jeff Conaway)

• Ascended Extra
• Big Brother Is Employing You
• Butt Monkey: in season two, Zack's major function is to be the Earthforce security agent who gets knocked out by the alien. Notably, both G'Kar and Lennier take him out at different points.
• The Everyman: While he doesn't quite have the blank slate qualities usually associated with this trope, Zack is essentially an average guy way over his head, trying to do the right thing.
• The Generic Guy
• Heel Realisation
• Hopeless Suitor: To Lyta Alexander. Given how she later develops, he was probably lucky.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the final two seasons, when he takes over as head of station Security, he gets notably more serious and more competent.
• You Did the Right Thing: Both Night Watch and the command staff assure Zack of this when he's used as a double agent in one episode. He finds it less than comforting.

Warren Keffer (Robert Rusler) (Season 2 only)

It was jet black, a shade of black so deep your eye just kind of slides off it. And it shimmered when you looked at it. A spider, big as death and twice as ugly. And when it flies past, it's like you hear a scream in your mind.

• Ace Pilot: Executive Meddling wanted a Top Gun type character.
• Book Ends: The season premiere and season finale both feature him taking part in the defense of the station from an alien warship. Also, his second episode and his final episode both feature a Starfury pilot being killed in Hyperspace.
• Curiosity Killed the Cast: Ignores Commander Ivanova's orders not to continue his obsessive search for the mysterious black ship that he encountered in Hyperspace. Finding that ship is the last thing he ever does.
• Decoy Protagonist: Intentionally given little purpose, but a fake high profile, heroic job.
• Killed Off for Real
• Shoo Out the New Guy: due to being created through Executive Meddling, and the actor apparently not getting on with the established cast.
• We Hardly Knew Ye

David Corwin (Joshua Cox)

"Okay, activate defense grid. Launch all Starfuries, and if they move, shoot 'em. If they don't move, shoot twice; they're probably hiding something."

• Adorkable: The scenes involving him trying to buy and give roses to Ivanova, and his ownership of a Love Bat, especially.
• The Apprentice: Tends to serve as Ivanova's right-hand man and unofficial protegé in later seasons.
• Character Development: Starts out in Season 1 as a generic Earthforce officer with no name and a dorky, wallflower personality, ends up in Season 5 as Babylon 5's XO and almost a male, Lighter and Softer (and, well, still dorkier) version of Ivanova (see above quote).
• Deadpan Snarker
• The Generic Guy: Tends to be written as representing the viewpoint of the average, ordinary Earthforce officer in comparison to the larger-than-life, destiny-laden main characters.

President William Morgan Clark

• A Nazi by Any Other Name
• Big Bad: For most of season four, once the Shadows were taken care of. His government were already major antagonists before that.
• Driven to Suicide
• Evil Chancellor: Well, Evil Vice President to Santiago.
• Expy: Averted, actually. Though many of his policies and his death call Adolf Hitler to mind, Word of God is that he wasn't supposed to correspond to any one Real Life dictator.
• Fantastic Racism: Towards aliens.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Clark does have a handful of scenes, but they're short and after he becomes Big Bad full time he's only seen killing himself. Word of God is that he was supposed to be an idea more than a character.
• If I Can't Have You: "Two words: Scorched Earth"
• Klingon Promotion: He arranged Santiago's assasination with the Shadows in order to become president himself.
• Orcus on His Throne: He never leaves Earth after becoming president.
• President Evil
• Smug Snake
• Unwitting Pawn: To both the Shadows and Psi Corps, to varying degrees.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He certainly tries, and his propaganda machine is much spotlighted, but by the time all is said and done a good chunk of the population is set against him anyway.

Susanna Luchenko (Beata Pozniak)

Well, Captain, you've caused quite a stir. Half of Earth Force wants to give you a kiss on the cheek and the Medal of Honour. The other half wants you taken out and shot. As a politician you learn how to compromise, which by all rights means I should give you the Medal of Honour, then have you shot.

• Deadpan Snarker: See above.
• Internal Reformist: She remarks that Sheridan did the right thing, he just did it in the most inconvenient manner possible.
• Iron Lady: "Don't make the mistake of thinking this is a conversation. It isn't."
• Power Hair
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Formerly the leader of the Russian Consortium, she takes over as President of the Earth Alliance after Clark. However, she is still a politician, albeit one of the better sort.
• Understatement: Describing Sheridan's adventures in the latter half of Season 4 as "caus[ing] quite a stir."

The Minbari Federation

Minbari in general

We are at our best when we move together. And we are at our worst when we move together.

• Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: "Minbari do not kill Minbari", the reason why they surrender at the Battle of the Line after discovering Sinclair is the reincarnation of Valen: Minbari souls are reincarnating as humans.
  • And then the civil war broke out and the Warrior Caste, in particular, dumped that rule pretty fast.
  • Before that, there was the right of denn'Sha, a duel to the death which is seen closer to the ideals of suicide than one opponent killing the other.
• Berserk Button : Don't kill one of their leaders, don't win a battle against them in a dishonorable manner (whatever they're deciding to define that as), don't accuse them of lying, don't... well, just don't.
• Biological Mashup: Thanks to Valen, first known as the human Jeffry Sinclair, is half-human and had children who had more children. As of the Earth Year 2262, the number of Minbari who have human DNA in their bodies is counted in the millions. You can tell which males have human DNA by seeing if they can grow a beard. Minbaris cannot.
  • Deleen actually manages to coerce marriage consent from her clan elders by threatening to reveal that descendants of Valen are part human. It is as if Jews took endogamy so seriously that being descended from King David wasn't worth it because there are gentiles recorded in David's ancestry(as indeed there are).
• The Clan: Several in fact; Delenn is from the family of Mir (itself part of the Tenth Fane of Elleya), Lennier is from the Third Fane of Chudomo, and Neeroon from the Star Riders. We also have the hawkish Wind Swords.
  • The clan system is apparently completely independant of the Caste system. Lennier had a clansman who was warrior caste.
• Can't Argue with Elves: Because the elves are more than capable of blowing your navy out of space and tossing you personally across the room. And aren't reluctant to do so.
• Combat Aestheticist
• Crystal Spires and Togas: The spires aren't literally crystal. They don't quite wear togas. But they're getting dangerously close on both counts.
• Disproportionate Retribution: For a case of Poor Communication Kills, their reaction is "total genocide of the offending species". Other lines from Delenn indicate that the Minbari responses often tends to be swift and violent.
• Fantastic Caste System: Religious, Worker, Warrior
• Good Old Ways
• Higher-Tech Species: most technologically advanced non-First One culture.
• Honor Before Reason: All Minbari at least think they are this. Some are more honorable than others.
• Hypocrites: They hold Sheridan as a monster and a butcher for destroying the Black Star. In a war. Using an ambush... while the Black Star was coming to finish off the wounded from an earlier assault. Essentially they consider Sheridan a monster because in a war he dared to win a battle, using tactics that weren't quite as underhanded as the Minbari did.
  • In Sheridan's first episode, the Minbari hold him accountable for the self-destruction of another cruiser, because he refused to fire on them and kill them himself.
• Moral Myopia
• Our Elves Are Better: To the point where they (and especially Delenn) are treated as the moral core of the series, frequently delivering philosophical Aesops, despite actions that are arguably worse than those of any race besides the Shadows and Vorlons.
  • Subverted as the show goes on and frequently examines how they are often less honorable and civilized than they want to think they are.
• Proud Scholar Race
• Proud Warrior Race
• Boney Back Of Head Aliens
• Rules Lawyer: "Minbari Do Not Lie" & "Minbari Do Not Kill Minbari". Except when they can find loopholes or justify it some different ways. For example, conquering a polar Religious Caste city, and forcing the residents to leave on foot, dying of cold and exposure isn't murder. The weather killed them! Not a Minbari!
• Shangri La
• Space Elves
• Warrior Poet: Seems to contain a high proportion of these.

Ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan)

File:Delenn 4673.png

We are star stuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out.

• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: The Earth-Minbari war.
• Ambadassador: The Ambassador has commanded fleets of warships, flown single-pilot fighters, and generally proved she's not someone to annoy.
• The Atoner: For the Earth-Minbari war.
• Badass Boast: If you value your lives, be somewhere else.
• Badass Satai
• Badass Priestess: The religious caste are often called upon to be war leaders. Delenn has the credentials to back it up.
• Bearer of Bad News
• Beware the Nice Ones: Like Minbari in general, Delenn is polite and well-behaved until she leaves you wondering how you abruptly ended up in Medlab.
  • Silk Hiding Steel: A sweet and aristocratic demeanor that is very sharp underneath.
• Biological Mashup: Going all half-human on you in Season 2 and beyond.
• The Chosen One: The One Who Is
• Cultured Badass
• Death Glare: The only person to consistently employ this in the show, Delenn is quite good at it too.
• Ermine Cape Effect
• God Save Us From The Satai: In the Earth-Minbari war.
• Good Old Ways
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: And Deleen Loves purple robes.
• The Heart: The closest thing to an unambiguously kind, good-hearted character this series has. Surprisingly, this makes her scenes on the bridge of a warship even better.
• The High Ambassador
• Heroic Lineage: Descended from Valen which is borderline Divine Parentage from the Minbari point of view and is awesome enough from any other when you hear that Valen is Sinclair gone back in time.
• Honor Before Reason: Well she prefers putting Honor Before Reason, and indeed often does. She is however a stateswoman with all that comes with that.
• Intrigued by Humanity
• Jeanne D'Archetype: I do not think they would die for me. But they would die for you... Entil-Zha!
• Lady of War: Delenn, as mentioned above and below, commands war fleets and generally lays the smackdown several times in the series. While maintaining proper decorum.
• Lethal Chef: Delenn can't seem to add enough salt to Sheridan's flarn to make it edible.
  • Source material indicates that the Minbari have a poor sense of taste, and make their food very spicy as a result. Sheridan possibly made it to suit his personal taste, unaware it'd taste like cardboard to Delenn.
• Malaproper
• Mama Bear: Threatening anyone she feels protective toward can cause her to go into a royal rage. You really do not want to be the target of her wrath.
  • Though it is often awesome to watch her while she is angry.
• Martial Pacifist: She is usually peaceful and compassionate. But when her Berserk Button is pushed, especially when someone she cares about is threatend, she will become something else.
• The McCoy
• Messianic Archetype
• Minored in Asskicking: Majored in diplomacy and mysticism. But fair at asskicking and even better at encouraging other people to kick ass .
• My Greatest Failure: Voting for the Earth-Minbari War.
  • To be fair the rest of the Council came to her and demanded her vote just when she had the dead body of her beloved mentor in her arms, and never let her back out and it is a reasonable interpretation that that was the only way they could get her support. It is obvious that no other human vessels were in a threatening location(after all it was meant to be a peaceful mission in the first place, not the opposite) and there was plenty of time to muster a battle fleet while making diplomatic contacts, asking the commander be Reassigned to Antarctica and all the normal things one does if there is an accidental military collision. There was no vital interest at stake that was so important that they had to declare war in that much of a hurry. Or in other words the Grey Council wanted a war and they wanted Deleen out of the way and if it was her fault just for being a flawed person it was their fault for actually wanting war.
• The Mystic
• Proper Lady: Oh man! She can command a battle fleet without even wrinkling her robes!
• Proud Scholar Race Gal
• Purple Is Powerful: Darn right.
• Real Minbari Love Valen
• Rousing Speech: She loves giving these.
• Romanticism Versus Enlightenment : Definitely romanticism.
• Satai Incognito: Her true status as a member of the Grey Council is only later revealed.
• Satai That Actually Does Something
• Screw the Grey Council Im Doing Whats Right
• Secret Legacy
• Seeker Archetype
• Sexy Mentor: Poor Lennier...
• Shell-Shocked Veteran
• The Mourning After: Sheridan was the love of her life, and she never loved anyone else.
• The Power of Love: Her love is what gives Sheridan the strength to come back from Z'Ha'Dum. In a way, their love for each other won the entire war.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives these very well and some of her finest moments are giving one.
• They Do
• Warrior Poet: Mostly poet but a not an insubstantial bit of warrior.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist : On more then one occasion, though this is standard for Babylon 5.
• The Woman Wearing The Ambassadorial Mask

Lennier (Bill Mumy)

Where you will walk, I will walk. I have sworn myself to your side.

• All Love Is Unrequited
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Nearly commits negligent homicide on Sheridan out of jealousy before realizing what he is doing and changing his mind to late. Sheridan is saved but Lennier's life is ruined.
• The Atoner: When last seen
• Battle Butler
• Beneath the Mask: He always makes rather heavy weather out of being an honorable Minbari and his shyness makes it seem clumsy.
• Beware the Nice Ones
• The Champion: To Delenn
• Courtly Love
• Dogged Nice Guy(Type 2)
• Fatal Flaw
• Good Old Ways
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Played straight for most of the show, but subverted later.
• Love Makes You Evil / Love Makes You Temporarily Insane: As a Ranger, he has a choice of either helping Sheridan live or leave him to die. He picks the later.
• Nice Guy
• The Not Love Interest
• Proud Scholar Race Guy
• The Reliable One
• Stiff Upper Lip
• Those Two Guys: Is occasionally seen sharing a drink with Vir.
• Took a Level in Badass: During the fifth season, he decides to join the Rangers.
• Tragic Hero
• Undying Loyalty: To Delenn.

Alyt Neroon (John Vickery)

I was born warrior caste, but I see now the true calling of my heart is religious!

• The Bully
• Fantastic Racism: He really hates humans. He makes occasional, grudging, exceptions.
• Heel Face Revolving Door
• Heroic Sacrifice
• Incendiary Exponent
• Proud Warrior Caste Guy
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• Worthy Opponent: Views the few humans he respects (Sinclair and Marcus) as these. And views Delenn as a worthy opponent politically rather than in personal combat.

Shai Alyt Shakiri, head of the Warrior Caste

Now We Rebuild the Grey Council into a Warrior's Council.

• Break the Haughty: His final fate was to be shamed in public while being watched by millions of Minbari. Probably considered A Fate Worse Than Death on Minbar.
• Dirty Coward
• Fantastic Racism
• Inglorious Leader
• Hypocrite :If you believe so much in your caste, step into the circle and die for them. Or is it easier for you to kill my caste? Easier to send others out to die for you?
• Large Ham
• Proud Warrior Caste Guy
• Honor Before Reason: Honor? What's that?
• Miles Gloriosus
• Smug Snake

The Centauri Republic

Centauri in general

I want my people to reclaim their rightful place in the galaxy. I want to see the Centauri stretch their hand and command the stars. I want a rebirth of glory, a renaissance of power.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Centauri women love this trope. They often have very saccharine manners and appearance, but are also prone to stab you in the back when you least expect it. There are some exceptions, however:
  • Adira Tyree subverts this. She is originally tasked by an alien spy to get incriminating evidence from Londo by seducing him, and fulfills her mission. However, just before delivering the files to her owner, she runs away, and after she is freed from slavery she seems to genuinely care for Londo.
  • The Centauri girl in The War Prayer averts this as she seems to really love her boyfriend. This may be because she is still young and has not yet learned the ways of her society.
  • Also averted by Timov, one of Londo's wives, and the only one he keeps, in that she does not put on sheep's clothing and prefers to stay a bitch in plain sight.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: They have no major arteries in their wrists, two hearts, and as for their reproductive organs...well, see Exotic Equipment.
• The Clan: The noble houses, such as House Mollari, or House Refa
• Deadly Decadent Court
• Exotic Equipment: Men have six huge prehensile sexual tentacles, usually hidden beneath their clothing. Women apparently have six slots, three on each side of the spine. The more used, the more pleasure.
• Human Aliens — To the point where (if clothed) there's no way to distinguish them from a human apart from their haircuts and canines
  • They attempted to use this to their advantage: when they first met Humans, they claimed that Humans were a lost colony of the Centauri. It almost worked, until the humans learned more about Centauri physiology.
• Impractically Fancy Outfit and Bling of War
• Improbable Hairstyle
  • This turns out to be a Real Life example of Poor Communication Kills. JMS originally intended Centauri hair to be worn more like human hair, with the length signifying rank. When Peter Jurasik was being fitted with the prosthetic, it was put on him sticking up like a peacock's tail. As a joke, he had it left that way and went to JMS, saying "what do you think?" JMS, thinking Peter really wanted it that way, and worried he was a touchy actor, said it looked fine like that. And thus the Centauri got their iconic hairstyle.
• Realpolitik: The stated philosophy of most prominent Centauri (with heaping doses of Fantastic Racism when it comes to the Narns).
• Sins of Our Fathers: Though they commit plenty of sins of their own to be sure.
• Vestigial Empire
• Waistcoat of Style

Ambassador Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik)

As I look at you Ambassador, I see a great hand reaching out of the stars. The hand is your hand, and I hear the sound of millions of people calling your name. Londo: My followers? Your victims.

• Ambition Is Evil
• Anti-Hero/Anti-Villain (depending on the episode)
• Ass in Ambassador
• The Atoner: toward the end anyway.
• Be All My Sins Remembered
• Bling of War
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
• Deadpan Snarker
• Deal with the Devil
• Deus Ex Nukina: His method of getting rid of Shadow vessels parked on Centauri Prime.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: When he blows up the island containing the Shadow vessels.
• The Emperor
• Enemy Mine (G'Kar, on two separate occasions)
• Even Evil Has Standards
• Evil Costume Switch: Following his first contact by the Shadows, Londo's wardrobe purposely gets darker as the series goes on.
  • And in the episode where The Shadows arrive on Centauri Prime, he gets a brief switch back to his original, brighter wardrobe as he begins to realize the full consequences of his actions.
• Fallen Hero
• Guile Hero and/or Magnificent Bastard: Not in every episode but it comes out some times. In the last few episodes of the Shadow Wars arc he actually pulled a Xanatos Gambit on the Shadows (which is for all practical purposes the same as doing that to Satan).
• Heel Face Revolving Door
• Henpecked Husband: Implied to have been one to the dancer he married (and was later forced by his family to divorce). "She had a voice that could curdle fresh milk. 'Londooo?' 'Coming, my darling!'"
  • His third wife, Mariel, is Silk Hiding Steel and described by Timov as a 'Iron claw in a velvet glove'. Maybe he likes being henpecked....
• Heroic Sacrifice
• I'm Going to Hell For This: "And when I die, there will be a reckoning." Except he seems to have meant that seriously.
• It's All About Me: In "The Very Long Night Of Londo Mollari" — a Journey To The Center of Londo's Mind — a part of his mind points out that, "You're not sorry for what you did! You're just sorry you got caught!" — this trope in a nutshell.
  • At the end of the episode, Londo talks about a Centauri legend about reincarnated souls in unworthy lives — a suitably good soul can attempt to end an appropriatly evil existence — literally will the body to die — in order to escape from it. Vir reminisces that he heard that this was about the souls of card-carrying messiahs trapped in the bodies of Complete Monsters — and eats his foot when he realizes that Londo is referencing himself.
• Gone Horribly Right: In Season 1, Londo has been Kicked Upstairs, and he knows it, lamenting how little power he and his people have to his friends and drinking buddies. By the end of the series, he is arguably the single most politically powerful figure on the show, but has no friends, no free will, and is lost to his misery.
• Heroic Sacrifice: On realizing he is the last trace of the Shadows left on Centauri he asks Vir to kill him. At that moment the Vorlon ship turns away having business elsewhere.
• Ignored Epiphany
• In-Series Nickname: "Passo Liati", a nicknamed earned via his swordfighting abilities. It translates roughly to "fights like a madman".
• Large Ham
• Man of Wealth and Taste
• My God, What Have I Done? — beautifully captured when he's observing the mass-driver bombardment of Narn. There isn't a single word of dialogue in the entire scene...Londo's face says it all.
• My Country, Right or Wrong
• Not So Different
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He really does like his booze and his gambling, but he's not nearly as dumb as he lets on.
• Odd Friendship (G'Kar)
• Pet the Dog: After Vir begs Londo to help him learn to live with the guilt of misdeeds, Londo refuses, telling Vir to embrace the guilt. Londo doesn't want Vir to be like him.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Unwillingly assigned to Babylon 5 before the series begins. Londo's superior tells him in no uncertain terms that it's a dead-end job.
• Skunk Stripe
• Reassigned to Antarctica: In a Flash Back, we see him being told to his face that this is why he was sent to Babylon 5.
• Redemption Equals Death
• Retired Badass: Londo was at the head of the Centauri assault on a world in his backstory, and on the one incident he piloted a shuttle he weaved, effortlessly and laughing, through incoming anti-air fire.
  • Incoming anti-air fire that had already foiled three out of four previous attempts to reach the planet's surface, one of which six ships launched from an Earth Force cruiser.

Susan Ivanova: My god, whoever's piloting that shuttle's a madman!

• Sleazy Politician
• Start of Darkness
• Tragic Hero/Tragic Villain
• Villainous BSOD: During the Centauri attack on the Narn homeworld, he watches in horror as the Narn civilization is laid waste, realizing that he is now responsible for the slaughter.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• What the Hell Is That Accent?

Vir Cotto (Stephen Furst)

There is still hope for you...and for that I find I still envy you.

• Beware the Nice Ones
• The Conscience: Londo's conscience, though often a rather ineffective one.
• The Chew Toy
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu? — by flipping off their proxy: Mr. Morden.

Vir: I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes, and wave... like this. Vir does a mocking little cutesy wave*

• The Emperor
• Heroic Blue Screen of Death: When he kills Cartagia. Though the assassination was the only way to save billions of lives, the guilt overwhelms him.
• Hidden Depths
• Only Sane Man
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Secret Keeper: To Lando. This leads him to a small Heroic Blue Screen of Death in season 2.
• Sue Donym: Abrahamo Lincolni, a made-up bureaucrat who saves thousands of Narns. Only, he used the name deliberately.
• Token Good Teammate
• The Unfavorite

Emperor Cartagia (Wortham Krimmer)

One of our very best torturers. I felt certain he would break him. Two hours he worked. Not a sound! I said, 'Give me a cry, give me a shout, a whimper, a scream'. Silence! So, I got into it myself. You can't leave these things to others, they never get it right.

• A God I Am: He hopes to achieve this with the aid of the show's resident Cosmic Horror
• The Caligula: Lampshaded by Londo in the novelization of In The Beginning.
• Depraved Bisexual: According to Krimmer, anyway.
• Modest Royalty (by Centauri standards)
• Off with His Head: Courtiers who displease him get this treatment. Then he uses them as his Council
• Omnicidal Maniac
• Unwitting Pawn: Perhaps inevitable given pitting a madman against Londo in chessmastery.

Lord Antono Refa (William Forward)

It is a small price to pay for immortality.

• Ambition Is Evil
• Evil Chancellor: He orchestrates the deaths of the Emperor and Prime Minister to install Cartagia.
• Karmic Death: Beaten to death by a mob of angry Narn.
• Not Me This Time: Londo arranges Refa's death because he assumes Refa had his lover Adira murdered. It was actually Morden doing a Batman Gambit.
• Unwitting Pawn: When he went to Narn.
• Upper Class Twit

Adira Tyree (Fabiana Udenio)

• Hooker with a Heart of Gold
• In Love with the Mark
• Sex Slave
• Stuffed Into the Fridge

Timov Mollari (Jane Carr)

• Arranged Marriage
• Aw, Look — They Really Do Love Each Other

Lyndisty Drusella (Carmen Thomas)

• Arranged Marriage — to Vir. It doesn't last long, and you can be thankful for that.
• Daddy's Little Villain
• Fantastic Racism: Or actually, it's not even as much racism as sadism taken to the extreme.
• Proper Lady
• Stepford Smiler

The Narn Regime

Narn in general

Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.

• Asskicking Equals Authority
• Bizarre Alien Biology: As mentioned below, the Narn are actually marsupials. And it's the men who carry their young children in pouches.
• Butt Monkey
• Cycle of Revenge: The Narn homeworld was once occupied brutally by the Centauri. The Narns drove them off in a war of attrition. The Narns spend most of Season 1 mentioning how they wish to exterminate the Centauri, make them pay for the occupation of their homeworld, and kill them all. This comes to bite them in the ass when their revenge-fueled aggression ends up inspiring Londo to use Mr Morden to strike at them. This causes the Narns to AGAIN swear revenge, and declare war on the Centauri, a war they are not capable of winning because the Centauri are significantly more advanced (having mastered true artificial gravity for one) and have the help of Mr Morden's allies. Even the other races, as explained by Delenn and foreshadowed by Sinclair, are unwilling to involve themselves in the war on the Narn's behalf, because they know that should the Narn win, they will go right back to attempting to kill all the Centauri, and no race wants to be accessory to that genocide.

Sinclair: "In order to be free you had to learn to fight. No one questions that. But you've overcompensated. You are like abused children who have grown big enough to do the same thing to someone else as if it would somehow balance the scales. It won't. If you let the anger cloud your judgment, it will destroy you."

• La Résistance
• Mister Seahorse
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: It's implied that this isn't the sole basis of their culture, but being brutally occupied by the Centauri and violently winning their freedom led to their most violent and aggressive aspects becoming dominant.
• The Reptilians (although they're actually scaly marsupials)
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilised

Ambassador G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas)

It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain. If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world, because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past.

• Ambadassador
• Ass in Ambassador
• Cassandra Truth: He discovers that a very old, very powerful race has returned, and attempts to bring proof to the Babylon 5 Security Council in order to rally the other races together and fight the new threat. Nobody listens to him. It is later revealed that the Narn Regime may have been the last to learn of the Shadows' return, as the Vorlons and Minbari were already putting their own secret plans in motion, and the Shadows had already begun to gain influence amongst the Centauri and Human governments.
• Character Development: While he is always something of a Warrior Poet, he started out as a part-time Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, later becoming more The Philosopher by the time the show ends. He endured several fires to get there, seeing his homeworld decimated and occupied by his sworn enemies, learning that Sheridan and Delenn let it happen to keep the Shadows complacent, and finally being personally tortured by Emperor Cartagia who orders one of his eyes gouged out and nearly executes him. And along the way he went on a Vorlon-influenced Vision Quest.
• Chivalrous Pervert
• Covert Pervert: By season 4 he has an artificial eye that transmits an image even while it's not in his head and what does he do with it? He spies on Sheridan and Delenn on their wedding night.
• Enemy Mine (Londo, on two separate occasions)
• Eye Scream
• Heel Face Turn
• Hot-Blooded
• Mars Needs Women
• Moral Myopia: He seems perfectly fine with Narn being The Bully in the first season. Rather less so when Narn are being bullied. He gets over it.
• My Country, Right or Wrong
• Messianic Archetype
• Not So Different
• Odd Friendship (Londo)
• Revenge Before Reason
  • Played with; he is often dominated by the desire for revenge, to a degree that would be unwholesome for a real diplomat. However he can put reason before revenge when needed.
• Scars Are Forever
• Smug Snake
• Stop Worshipping Me!
• Warrior Poet
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• With Friends Like These...: When he finds out that Delenn allowed the slaughter of his people at the Shadows' hands to avoid revealing that the Shadows' return was known, G'Kar tearfully, painfully, admits she was correct to do so. And that he will never, ever forgive her for it.

Na'Toth (Caitlin Brown, Mary Kay Adams)

• Berserk Button: DEATHWALKER!
• Dark Action Girl
• Deadpan Snarker
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Delivered to Jha'Dur in Deathwalker
• Not Quite Dead
• Put on a Bus / The Bus Came Back
• The Other Darrin

The Vorlon Empire

Vorlons in general

Who are you?

• Abusive Precursors
• Ancient Conspiracy
• Beneath the Mask: The series references that seeing a Vorlon's true face inspires absolute trust, and Kosh himself says that he avoids showing it since he would be recognized. By who, someone asks? Everyone. The Vorlons look like angels.
  • Everyone except Londo, that is...
• Catch Phrase
• Energy Being
• Knight Templar
• Manipulative Bastard
• Sadist Teacher
• Starfish Alien
• Sufficiently Advanced Aliens
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form

Ambassador Kosh Naranek (Ardwight Chamberlain)

I have always been here.

• Cryptic Conversation: Talks almost exclusively in these.
• Defector From Decadence: Toward the end
• Heroic Sacrifice (twice)
• Koan: known as "Koshisms" in the fandom
• Mentor Occupational Hazard
• No Body Left Behind
• Not Quite Dead
• The Obi-Wan
• Old Master
• Stern Teacher

Ambassador Kosh II/ Ulkesh Naranek (Ardwight Chamberlain)

We are all Kosh.

• All There in the Script: he insists on being called "Kosh" throughout, after the character he replaces. His real name, Ulkesh, was only revealed in a spin-off novel.
• Bad Boss
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: While Kosh's encounter suit is light-colored, Ulkesh's is dark and his "eye" is red instead of Kosh's green.
• Domestic Abuser
• Evil Counterpart: To Kosh
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• Vader Breath

Sebastian the Inquisitor AKA Jack the Ripper: Vorlon Examiner of Chosen One Candidates

Remembered not as a messenger, remembered not as a reformer...not as a prophet, not as a hero...not even as Sebastian. Remembered only... as Jack.

• Alien Abduction
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Inverted
• Break the Haughty: What the Vorlons did to him, and what they have him do now on their behalf.
• Driven by Envy
• Exalted Torturer
• Ironic Hell: Sebastian wanted to purify the world of sin. Now, as his "penance," that's all he's allowed to do.
• Knight Templar
• Sadist Teacher
• Screw You Delenn: He continually says this to her during the session.
• Serial Killer: His previous vocation.
• Secret Test of Character
• Stay with the Aliens: Not that anyone wanted him back...
• Touched by Vorlons
• Training from Hell

The Shadows

Shadows in general

What do you want?

• Abusive Precursors
• Big Bad
• Big Creepy-Crawlies
• By the Eyes of the Blind: Can normally only be seen by telepaths.
• Catch Phrase: What do you want?
• Evil Mentor: They honestly believe in helping and nurturing the younger races by turning them against each other and making them kill each other so that the 'strongest' survive.
  • Hypocrite: They take it poorly when people decide they want to be free themselves and don't want their 'help'.
• Gone Horribly Right: The Shadows believe that conflict is key to helping younger races evolve. They are indirectly responsible for Sheridan so evolving, due in part to his decision to kick the Shadows out of the galaxy.
• Higher-Tech Species/Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: Borderline. Unlike Vorlons, Shadows need ships.
• Human Resources
• Insectoid Aliens
• Manipulative Bastard
• Social Darwinist
• Starfish Alien
• Ultimate Evil

de facto ambassador Mr Morden (Ed Wasser)

Yes. I think he's ready...perfect for our needs... He suspects nothing. When the time is right, Ambassador Mollari will do exactly as we wish. Destiny is on our side.

• Affably Evil
• Badass in a Nice Suit
• The Corrupter
• Deal with the Devil
• Faking Amnesia
• The Handler
• Manipulative Bastard
• Mouth of Sauron
• Nerves of Steel: Nothing seems to faze Mr Morden. At least until Londo blew up the Shadows' island.
  • He already got a little distracted by Vir's answer to his "What do you want?" — question...
    • Arguably his nerve comes from his confidence in being guarded by the shadows rather then his own courage which would make it a possible subversion.
• No Name Given
• No One Could Survive That: After Sheridan nukes the Shadows' capital city, hope is expressed that Mr. Morden will never be seen again. He shows up in the very next scene, burnt to a crisp (and flaking), but still very much alive and ambulatory.
• Off with His Head: Londo's "present" to Vir.
• Prophecy Twist : All the people who express a wish to him get what they want. Londo gets the temporary rise of the Centauri; G'kar gets revenge on the Centauri, and Vir gets revenge on Morden. Only Vir is pleased with his wish in the long run.
• Show the Forehead
• Smug Snake
• That Man Is Dead
• Unexplained Recovery

The League of Non-Aligned Worlds

The League in general

• All There in the Manual: You’ll need to take a look at the tie-in materials, notably an authorized CD, to learn anything substantial about most of the member races. Their names, even.
• The Alliance: A loose one, in order to give their worlds a voice and not be eclipsed by the major powers.
• Ass in Ambassador: Often. The Drazi ambassador, definitely. The Brakiri ambassador has his moments. And the League as a whole will often decide to be stubborn over Sheridan's latest idea, to bring another level of conflict to a given episode.
• Hufflepuff House: Some more than others. The Llort, Grome and Yolu can be seen sitting in session, but none of them will ever say anything. The Abbai get Demoted to Extra and the Vree are seen in person only once, though their ships show up a lot.

The Drazi

Purple! Green!

• Comedic Sociopathy: They can be counted upon to start swinging fists at any opportunity, and are often used for comedy. Such comedy usually involves someone getting hurt. The Drazi have plenty of serious moments too, though.
• Early Installment Weirdness / Art Evolution: In the first season, the back of their heads are smooth. In season two, some Drazi start appearing with layered scales on the back of the scalp. In their showcase episode “The Geometry of Shadows’’, both variants of Drazi appear, in the same scenes. By season three, and from then on, all Drazi have the scales. In early seasons their cheeks tended to be spiked, but this was less common later on.
• Fantastic Rank System: According to the episode Deathwalker, their ships are commanded by a Makar. The only other Drazi rank we hear of, though, is the far more mundane "General".
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: They become this in later seasons, after the Narn leave the role vacant thanks to the rise of G'Kar.
• The Reptilians
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens: A mild example. Violence is their way, and they're not the friendliest of people, but nor are they antagonists. In a strange way, they're one of Babylon Five's strongest allies.
• Silly Reason for War: Their politics involve randomly splitting into two groups and then fighting each other.
• Violent Glaswegian
• Warrior Monk: Many of them are shown to be religious. In the first season, a Drazi monk has to reluctantly surrender his blade to Garibaldi; in season three, two missionaries poke Zack Allen to receive a blessing. And the patron god of Drazi pilots gets mentioned. Naturally, being Drazi, anything in their culture of any importance seems to involve aspects of the warrior, or at least the brawler.

The Brakiri

• All There in the Manual: Aside from the religious stuff in Day of the Dead, all we really know about them from the show is that they're pack rats. Source material indicates that they are a corporatocracy, and that their society has many parallels to 20th Century Earth, due to them having picked up television transmissions from Earth before they gained space-faring technology. The only indication of that in the show is that the Brakiri Ambassador's clothing somewhat resembles a human suit.
• Dark Is Not Evil: They have a mildly sinister appearance, they're nocturnal, and they have a creepy necromantic religion, but they aren't bad people. Indeed, during the Shadow War, the Brakiri ambassador was one of Delenn's most loyal allies amongst the League races.
• Diurnal Nocturnal Animal: Despite being nocturnal, they're often seen wandering around in daylight. Justified, in that Babylon Five business operates during daylight hours; presumably those Brakiri living and working there adapt.
• One Nation Under Copyright: Apparently, their government is corporate-based.
• Rubber Forehead Aliens

The pak’ma’ra

• Cthulhumanoid
• Hidden Depths: Despite being quite benevolent, they're considered "stubborn, lazy, obnoxious, greedy" and are infamous for eating carrion. Yet according to Vir Cotto, their singing is the most beautiful sound he ever heard. It also made Londo cry.
• I'm a Humanitarian: They eat carrion, including the bodies of sapient races.

The Abbai

• Demoted to Extra: After the first season.
• Early Installment Weirdness / Art Evolution: In their first episode, their crests are longer than in their second appearance — after that, both variants show up as background extras, but the shorter version is more common.
• Fish People
• Lady Land: According to source materials, their government is matriarchal. This is supported in the show by all but one member of their delegation being female.
• Non-Mammal Mammaries: They're pretty clearly amphibians, but of course they have breasts. Tie-in materials (an authorized CD) attempt to justify it by describing the Abbai breast as in fact a clump of small tendrils that serve a similar but not identical function to mammaries.

The Markab

• Apocalypse How: The drafa plague results in a Class 3; the extinction of the Markab race.
• Holier Than Thou: The attitude that dooms them.
• The Noseless
• The Plague
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Not intended as a stand-in for AIDS, despite the parallels: initially unknown etiology and vector of transmission, perception that it's punishment for immorality...

The Vree

• Flying Saucer: Their ships, of which two designs are seen.
• The Greys: One of no less than three races in the setting to fit the trope. They're the closest of all, having saucer-shaped ships and a history of buzzing Earth in them.
  • One member of their race is even brought up on civil charges by a human; the individual Vree's grandfather had abducted the human's grandfather.
• Hufflepuff House: Their ships show up a lot, but we only ever see an actual Vree individual on screen once, and they never have an important role.
• The Voiceless

The Gaim

• Hive Queen: "The Queens" are mentioned by the Gaim Ambassador at least once; although the context is ambiguous, background materials confirm that these are the Gaim's leaders.
• Insectoid Aliens
• Translator Microbes: They only speak through an electronic translator device.
• Shout-Out: Named after Neil Gaiman, and their environment suits are patterned after the appearance of Morpheus' mask.

The Hyach

• Dark Secret
• Dying Race: Slowly dying. There's still a lot of them around, but their population is falling and they're on the decline.
• Early Installment Weirdness / Art Evolution: In the first season, they’re mostly tan or beige in colour, with larger heads; by season two they’re either brick red or orange. After that, they’re orange pretty much all the time, though the red variant still makes appearances. Also, some of the early Hyach (and a later one in Legend of the Rangers) have small amounts of fur on their cheeks. Fridge Brilliance, given that Hyach-Doh had hair.
• Genocide Backfire: What their governement is hiding is the reason for them being a Dying Race.
• Government Conspiracy: The Elders are dedicated to keeping the genocide of their counterpart race a secret.

Telepaths

Telepaths in general

• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read
• Fantastic Racism: Many telepaths are guilty of this as well as being targets of it.
• Mutant Draft Board: Human telepaths, anyway.

Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson)

I don't feel like a victim.

• Aborted Arc
• Bi the Way
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: The crew really doesn't seem to think very much about Talia after her real personality is effectively murdered by reciting the keyword triggering her sleeper personality.
  • Well, the next time Bester (below) arrives he comments on what was learned at her dissect..."debriefing". Not that she was actually dissected, he's just getting a rise out of them.
• Face Heel Turn As the result of an artificially-implanted personality being activated.
• Limited Wardrobe: Talia gets a lot of wear out of that gold blazer. This is more evident than with other characters, each of whom wear an assigned uniform or ceremonial garb.
• Manchurian Agent
• The Mole
• Put on a Bus
  • Bus Crash, maybe.

Lyta Alexander (Patricia Tallman)

You cannot stop one who's been touched by Vorlons!

• Black Magician Girl
• Break the Cutie
• The Dog Bites Back: to Kosh II (Ulkesh).
• Fiery Redhead — or Cold Rage Redhead
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Color Coded for Your Convenience
• Person of Mass Destruction
• Real Life Writes the Plot: In a variety of ways. Her departure and return to the show were major story points, and her relationship with Kosh was partially based on her real life romance with Kosh's actor.
• Stockholm Syndrome
• Touched by Vorlons (personal Trope Namer)

Alfred Bester (Walter Koenig)

I'm here to save your butts. Next time show a little gratitude.

• Affably Evil
• Arch Enemy: To Garibaldi and Ivanova
• Asskicking Equals Authority: Only P12s (the most powerful rated telepaths) are allowed to be PsiCops, and Bester is one of the most powerful PsiCops, not only because of his raw telepathic talent, but because of his people skills as well.
• Badass: He accidentally discovers the Shadows' Achilles' Heel when he picks up on the mental noise of the integrated pilot of a Shadow ship about to pounce on the White Star with him aboard. He simply blocks the noise out, which effectively "jams" the Shadow vessel's controls. Using telepaths to do this intentionally becomes an integral strategy for Sheridan later.
  • Handicapped Badass: It's easy to miss, but one of his hands is immobile. The crippled hand is a minor plot point in the Psi Corps books.
• Berserk Button: Do not threaten or otherwise endanger his lover.
• The Chessmaster
• Deadpan Snarker
• Devil in Plain Sight: He doesn't even bother trying to play nice with Sheridan and the crew when he pops up in the first few seasons – he's an outright jerk to everyone and they can't do a thing about it.
• Enemy Mine: when he told Sheridan where the telepaths were being shipped, which was a combination of Papa Wolf, I Will Find You, and a Roaring Rampage of Revenge upon the Shadows.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He had a lover who was modified to serve as a living CPU for a Shadow vessel. Finding out about this is what made him a temporary ally to the station during the Shadow War.

Your war is now my war.

• Knight Templar
• Nose Art: His personal Starfury is painted jet-black, with the Greek letter Omega in white. Subtle. Mind you, he commands an entire PsiCop unit that operates these, but they only appear briefly in flashbacks or as Unwitting Pawns in one of his plots.
• Older Than They Look: He's in his seventies when he first appears.
• Playing Against Type: Very different character from Chekov. One must remind oneself it's the same actor.
• Shout-Out — to the real-world SF novelist of the same name, who wrote the "telepathic secret police" novel The Demolished Man. As it turns out, the Psi Corps novel trilogy reveals that he was purposefully renamed after Bester by his grandfather, a big fan. His birth name is Stephen Kevin Dexter.
  • Be seeing you.
• State Sec
• Tranquil Fury: When his Berserk Button gets pressed.
• Villain Episode: "The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father"
• What Could Have Been: There was a Bester episode planned for Crusade, "Value Judgements". It was unproduced due to the cancellation, but canonically happened, as referenced in Final Reckoning — The Fate of Bester. The script can be read online.
• You Might Remember Me From: Hey, it's Pavel Chekov as a fascistic psychic secret policeman! With a gun!

Byron (Robin Atkin Downes)

• Actual Pacifist: At first. Even to the point of, after being struck by a mundane, asking him to hit him again, to see if it gets his attacker any additional satisfaction. He goes out of his way to try and restrain his fellow rogue telepaths from retaliating against various hostilities from mundanes aboard the station.
• Defector From Decadence: Used to be one of Bester's underlings until he was forced to kill a bunch of surrendered rogue telepaths while they were being transferred to an allied mundane transport, killing both.
• Fantastic Racism: although he tends to accuse others of it, it's obvious that Byron has quite a chip on his shoulder about 'mundanes'
• Ice Cream Koan
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy
• Nose Art: Painted jet-black, with the Greek letter Omega in white.
• Passive Aggressive Combat: Byron is a master of it. He can make anything someone else's fault.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist

Others

Babylon 5

Our Last Best hope For Peace

• City of Spies
• City of Adventure
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: Each Babylon station was evidently painted in a different color scheme. The first Babylon station was red, Babylon 4 was green, and Babylon 5 was blue.
• Government in Exile: Not only served as a human government in exile, but harbored the Narn government in exile, and what was almost but not quite a Minbari government in exile.
  • More specifically, Delenn was using it as a base for the Rangers and as an aid to waging war against The Shadows with the Grey Council in abeyance.
• Home Base
• Land of One City: 3-4 seasons
• Not-So-Safe Harbor
• Space Station
• Truce Zone

Marcus Cole (Jason Carter)

Where I come from is a much more interesting place.

• The Atoner
• All Love Is Unrequited: The Trope Namer (he didn't say it, but the speaker was referencing him).
• Badass Beard
• Badass Longcoat
• Cultured Badass
  • Heartbroken Badass
• Celibate Hero
• Dead Brother
• Dogged Nice Guy
• Doomed Hometown
• Mr. Fanservice
• Gentleman Snarker
• Going Native: He is more comfortable acting Minbari then acting human.
• Knight in Sour Armor
  • Knight in Shining Armor too: He has a poetically idealistic personality.
• Nietzsche Wannabe
• The Paladin
• Warrior Poet

David Mckintyre AKA "King Arthur"

No man takes Excalibur away from me and lives!

• The Atoner
• Bash Brothers: Briefly with G'Kar.
• Bully Hunter: "And they made a very satisfying thump"
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
• Forgiveness: Between him and Delenn. He was actually the man who fired the first shot of the Earth-Minbari war and she was the deciding vote for the Minbari declaration of war.
• I Like Swords
• Just Following Orders: When he fired on the Minbari fleet.
• King in the Mountain: Subverted. He only thought he was King Arthur. Marcus Cole did suggest that he might actually be King Arthur, preserved by the Vorlons, but that was a red herring.
• Knight in Shining Armor.
• Mysterious Past
• Not So Different: With Delenn. Perhaps Marcus too in a different way.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran
• Space Marine: in his Mysterious Past
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia

Lorien (Wayne Alexander)

Why are you here?

• Cool Really Old Guy
• Deus Ex Machina
• Energy Being
• Flat Character
• Immortality
• Last of His Kind
• The Obi-Wan
• Precursors: (Lorien has refered to himself as the First One. His race was the one that taught and guided the races that eventually became the First Ones.)
• Sufficiently Advanced Aliens

Zathras (Tim Choate)

No one listens. It is good that Zathras does not mind, he has even come to like it.

• Backup Twin
• Ditto Aliens
• Ditzy Genius: To whom else could anyone entrust a time machine?
• The Eeyore
• Harsher in Hindsight: One of Zathras's most memorable lines is "[Zathras] probably have very sad death." The actor playing him, Tim Choate, died in a motorcycle accident.
• Lost in Translation: Zathras' attempts to explain that his name is pronounced quite differently from his brother's, Zathras.
• Metaphorgotten: When trying to explain to Ivanova that they can't possibly run out of time, because time is infinite. He somehow concludes with "This... is wrong tool. Never use this."
• Planet of Steves: Zathras is one of many brothers, all named Zathras.
• Third Person Person

The Drakh

• Body Horror
• The Chessmaster
• Dragon Ascendant — their name is even similar to many Romance-language words for "dragon"!
• Fantastic Caste System
• Puppeteer Parasite
• The Remnant: They were servants of the Shadows.

The Raiders

• Combat Pragmatist: They are badly outmatched in any fight with Earth Force. Thus, they prefer hit-and-fade attacks against soft targets such as merchant ships, and will only fight Earth Force units if they have no other choice or if they have overwhelming numbers.
• Curb Stomp Battle: the first time the Shadows make an appearance
  • Most times that we ever see them get cornered into a fight with Earth Force crews. The Starfury is shown to be far superior in pretty much every aspect to their ships.
• Gunship Rescue: Invoked twice, when a larger ship is brought in to reinforce them or to help them escape. Both ships are destroyed or disabled soon after.
• Space Pirates
• Starter Villain

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