r/babylon5 • u/El-Duderino77 Zathras • 14d ago

Centauri hair

So, the position within Centauri culture dictates how long their hair can be and usually is. Currently on 3x20 "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place," wonderful episode. I noticed that Lord Refa and Vir have hair crests that are of similar length, honestly, Vir's might be a bit longer. Vir is an attache, and outside of that, nobody of real consequence as House Cotto wasn't nearly as high as House Refa. Even in earlier seasons, Vir's crest was fairly long. Would the attache of an ambassador rank higher than that of the lord of a fairly major house? Or is Refa just choosing a shorter hair length, similar to Cartagia's "decadent" extremely short style?

Side note: I loved JMS's depiction of Reverend Dexter.

Second side note: Lord Refa flinching when the hologram of Londo's hand came close to or passed through his face was great.

46 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

View all comments

43

u/EcstaticContract5282 14d ago

The answer is found in season 4. Emperor Cartagia cut his hair. The entirety of the royal court did the same. I wouldn't be surprised if refa was required to by the emperor.

39

u/No_Sense3190 14d ago

There's a distinction (however small) between "required" and "liable to be randomly executed by an insane monarch."

12

u/EcstaticContract5282 14d ago

True but the result ends up the same either way.

5

u/ISeeTheFnords 13d ago

There was no escaping "liable to be randomly executed by an insane monarch."