#ambassador delenn

[yumyumpod]

[iambic-stan]

last book read + last stethoscope used, part 14

The stethoscope: MDF Instruments' Procardial Titantium in Starry Night/Capridium. Lovely look and sound. Love everything about this one.

The book: Late Babylon 5 actress Mira Furlan's memoir, Love Me More Than Anything in the World. I started this book just before I lost someone close to me, and considering how much it concerns grief, I wasn't sure that finishing it was wise in the state that I'm currently in. I don't regret it, though, and no state of mind is ideal to read about how Furlan lost her childhood friend to suicide, as well as her parents, friends, and many others, before her untimely death and this posthumous publication. It seems inevitable, in a tragic Shakespearean kind of way, that a woman hailing from the former Yugoslavia, whose family history involves multiple horrific stories of imprisonment in concentration camps, would continue to see unjust ends for the rest of her life. But her ability to find joy in what a lot of people take for granted is one thing that staved off some of my own despair. In one chapter, she writes with great detail and affection about how she accidentally came to be owned by a cat. Anyone who loves them will understand her devotion, and knows how they capture us so quickly and without warning. I became interested in Furlan after watching her character, the Minbari Ambassador Delenn, fiercely commanding fleets, doling out wisdom for the ages, and still being an advocate for nonviolence until all of its options have been exhausted, but this memoir is about much more than how the actress immigrated to the U.S. to eventually star in a science fiction series. I think it was just what I needed, too.

[walks-the-ages]

[ID: a photo edit of the original version of Ambassador Delenn from Babylon 5 pilot/movie 'The Gathering' so that she has the trans pride flag overlaid over her. She is an alien with pale, spotted, wrinkled skin, a large yellow-white bone crest over the back of her head that resembles a seashell, and is wearing multi-layered robes. end ID]

Delenn was going to be canonically, literally transgender (instead of being a very pointed metaphor/analogy), but unfortunately the heavy prosthetics and voice work were too much for Mira Furlan, so the initial explicit transgender concept was scrapped.... but we still got her absolutely fantastic transition :)

Honestly, trans Delenn still works perfectly in canon, if you realize she's simply socially transitioned before medically transitioning ;)

Maybe even Commander Sinclair used his position to help stop any transphobes on the station from causing a problem, and this was one of the things that cemented their Old Friendship :)

[phayudesign]

[narnia-and-the-north]

"And my thoughts will ever be with him.

I hope that he can hear them."

Babylon 5: Season 1, Episode 19 - "A Voice in the Wilderness: Part II"

Screencaps from cap-that.com

[therighthandofvengeance]

Delenn: I girlbossed too close to the sun.

Lennier: so now you’re going to gaslight yourself too close to the sea?

Delenn: yes, and I’m going to gatekeep all of this from John the entire time.

[aforgottenthing]

Alien Girlbosses and their human Malewives

[iamthespineofmybook]

The universe puts us into places where we can learn. They are never easy places, but they are right. Wherever we are is the right place and the right time. The pain that sometimes comes is part of the process of constantly being born.

Ambassador Delenn, Babylon 5, Season 2 Episode 4 “A Distant Star”

[ddagent]

Ambassadors G’Kar, Delenn, and Londo Mollari in 1.05 The Parliament of Dreams

[mari-beau]

Never Forget that Delenn (Satai, Ambassador, Entil'Zha, The One) said WORKERS RIGHTS!

[yumyumpod]

RIP to John's last remaining brain cell.

[amusementofaprincess]

I finished rewatching Babylon 5, for I think, the 8th time? I love it even more with every rewatch.

I love watching Delenn and Sheridan fall in love with each other. I love that the female characters on this show are all capable and smart. None of the relevant male characters underestimate them. I love watching G’Kar and Londo go from vague enemies, to G’Kar loathing Londo and then eventually to friends.

I love Vir and Lennier meeting up to vent about their respective ambassadors and the going their separate ways

And I LOVE that Vir got his wish.

My hyperfixation with this show is back in full force and I will be spamming you all with annoyingly detailed thoughts on all the characters

[tenderspaces]

and you don't seem the lying kind

minvember 2023 palette prompt 2: lie

tempted as i was to draw londo for this prompt, this really is the minbari color palette! a certain flashback about delenn's role in the earth-minbari war was on my mind while drawing this, and how much that added to her moral complexity (not that the ambassadors as a trio and as a rule aren't morally complex enough, but still - what a reveal).

pose referenced from (completely unrelated media property) hsr imbibitor lunae's ultimate attack, as well as an actual profile shot of delenn.

[gretchensinister]

Babylon 5 rewatch, S1 E2: Soul Hunter

Franklin! Oh gosh he's so lively and enthusiastic at this point

Interesting that jumpgates will work/open for completely unidentified ships, most scifi I've read would have that kind of technology not work without some kind of standard code or something

This...does seem like a clear and present danger my dude

Claw machine hell

Let's not worry about momentum

...don't know if he's a he, either (90's!)

Sinclair why is your shirt unbuttoned (probably just off duty but lol)

Okay serious information I'm listening.

I wonder how a station ends up with an underclass, like, how did those people get there and why? What did they expect to happen? Like B5 is as big as a city but it's not like you can get there by accident. It seems like this social situation speaks to less...knowledge? Awareness? Of what's going on than I would personally find ideal on a space station

I'm pretty sure souls actually do canonically exist in the B5 universe unless I'm misremembering something. Either way I wouldn't want to be "preserved" by a complete stranger

I just want to note that now, as opposed to when I was a kid, I realize that all the MedLab stuff is VERY much a plot device--what I mean is that I live in a city with about the same population as B5 and we have sooooooo many doctors offices and at least 3 large hospitals. It doesn't make sense for Dr. Franklin to be directly involved with a random stabbing victim.

Gray Council mentioned!

That bug looks INCREDIBLE compared to some shit I've seen in really expensive movies recently. Fuck me, you could PUNCH that bug.

This guy may be messed up for a soul hunter but even the guy chasing him seems...well...mega-creepy

Also a plot thing that only one person is dying at this time in this size of population, even if it doesn't have the same number of elderly people as a city that's not a diplomatic/military outpost

Hint of weirdness between Gray Council and Sinclair initiated!

Oh yeah souls don't like being trapped in a little glass ball forever HUH WHO KNEW

I wonder how that prosthetic affected her hearing

Why WOULD a Gray Council member be serving as ambassador?👀

Man, Delenn was eating popcorn and watching cartoons last time, this time she was almost murdered

At least she got her peoples' souls back

[woodsfae]

B5 S03E22 Z'Ha'Dum previous episode - table of contents

Flashback central - Anna talking about signing onto the Icarus. Kosh saying "Z'Ha'Dum," Delenn and Sheridan talking about the Icarus landing on Z'Ha'Dum, Morden being a dickbag. 

Anna doesn't seem very sincere, and I don't buy her "I'm an open book, but DELENN didn't tell you...no, I shan't say..." schtick. 

I know I made all those predictions about how this will play out, but I really don't know how this is going to play out. Will the future be subverted and the prophecies less than self-fulfilling? I don't know! 

Partner: "Do you think these guys did like, late-night interviews in the 90s or was it not popular enough?" Me: "Hm let me consult my extensive memories of being 0-6 years old in an anti-technology cult in the 1990s." 

Anna: "I'm your wife." Dr Franklin: "That's your wife." Sheridan: "If that's my wife, then what was all my years of grief-processing for?" 

Excuse me Sheridan, take your hands off Delenn. Don't shake her just because you're emotionally overwrought. 

I am on Delenn's side in this argument. Delenn said clearly that anyone who wouldn't have served the Shadows would have been killed. Therefore, Anna was either dead, or completely opposed to the life and wellbeing of every living thing in the galaxy. 

yeah yeah Sheridan, you have big emotions. But don't be a dick.

Londo's political maneuvering has resulted in a promotion and he's bummed because he can't be satisfied with anything. He's a voracious pit of longing that can never be filled. When he's made an ambassador, he rages because they're sending him away. When he's given a prestigious advisor position, he's mad because he deserved it twenty years ago. 

Mr Morden Jr is here. Sounds like there's about to be an attack on B5. 

Looks like Dr Franklin just found something in his scans on Anna Sheridan. 

Anna is refusing to answer any questions about anything unless John goes with her to Z'Ha'Dum to hear the answers there. Not even why she stayed and let herself be declared dead and all her loved ones grieve her death. 

Aaaan he agrees to go to Z'Ha'Dum if she explains why she stayed. Against future!Delenn's pleas. 

Anna says - IPX found a Shadows ship buried under the surface of Mars. As soon as they unearthed it, it sent a message. IPX took some parts and put a homing device inside. When another ship turned up and took the first one, they tracked it. (didn't the second ship also kill a fuckload of people? She doesn't mention anything about that.)

The Icarus went to the coordinates and found the Shadows. In a pit. Very foreboding. She says it was an accident that the crew was killed, and also destroyed the comm system. She says they portrayed themselves as vunerable coming out of hibernation and cut a deal that they could stay and study their tech if they didn't try to contact their homeworld(s). 

It would be a cool plot twist if Anna was telling the truth and he really was about to find out he's been on the wrong side this entire time. However, I don't think that's the case. The Shadows haven't been taking out governmental heads, they've been displacing populations, causing genocides, anmd spreading suffering. 

I do wonder what this secret task he's given Garibaldi is. 

It's incredibly foolish to run off to the ACTUAL HOMEWORLD of your mortal enemies. But there goes John Sheridan! trot trot. Well, they did hit him where he's most vulnerable. The wound of losing a loved one never really goes away. 

They're taking the White Star - what a fucking security vulnerability! Also, so funny that Sheridan is taking the White Star when he's only SEEN the Minbari pilot it. Aviation law must have gotten lax in the future. 

Z'Ha'Dum doesn't have a breathable atmosphere. He goes off, alone, with his formerly-dead wife. To the enemy's planet. With no breathable atmosphere. And just nods and hands over his gun. And doesn't even keep his oxygen mask at hand! 

Dummy.

And Morden's here. AND Anna gives HIM John's gun! goddddddddddd

Poor Delenn, she looks wrecked. John's message to her talks about his time jump and Delenn's plea to not go to Z'Ha'Dum. He says he went because maybe in that future, he listened to her and DIDN'T go, so he's going in case it changes the future. 

Well. 

ok

Justin on Z'Ha'Dum says that most of the higher races left this part of the universe, and the Vorlons stuck around to be parents. Clean your room, behave, etc. The Shadows, though, want to release their potentials...through conflict. "Those who survive are strong, better," Justin says. And Morden says if you knock over an anthill, the future generations get better at building anthills. 

hm. 

"...but I love my mom and dad," - noted parents-guy John Sheridan, hopefully. 

"A few get lost along the way," Justin says. Yeah. Like the Narn got directly targeted and attacked repeatedly until they lost their telepaths, then almost lost everything? Literally they were T A R G E T E D. It isn't a neutral "they got lost," they were pummeled into near-oblivion. 

Oop, the Shadows have arrived at B5. 

Morden would have us believe that sonnets came from wars. Bullshit - sonnets came from the Italian courtly style and was developed in order to flirt better.  (per Partner's masters of poetry)

Ahhh, the Shadows are hanging out over B5 as the hammer over Sheridan's head. Sheridan's too good at diplomacy, so he's preventing the species' growth through warfare. boooooo.

I could go through and rebut the things they're saying point by point but ehhh. It's a lot. But it's 99% bullshit and 1% mispresented.

Sheridan drops a bomb: Anna has been altered in the same way as the people who were being sent to become components in the Shadows ships. 

Whoop, Shadow incoming. And gun incoming! John Sheridan had TWO GUNS. badadadada

oof, poor Sheridan. He's arming the White Star to detonate, and Anna's turned up saying that Anna is dead, but she can love John as well as Anna ever did. 

"I want you to know that I love you, Delenn. Bye." he says, in the video message. 

And there's the Kosh fragment! Sheridan jumps into the pit of doom in the center of Z'Ha Dum as the White Star bursts through the central dome. 

Anna didn't like that!

Kosh said he couldn't help Sheridan if he helped then. And then he helped anyway. lol

I like the G'Kar voice-over. Andreas has such a marvelous voice and he really knows how to use it. 

One of the fighters is missing - piloted by Garibaldi! And the marvelous CGI depicts it floating in a Shadows ship. Well. At least we won't run out of plot anytime soon. :P

season 4 awaits!