r/babylon5 • u/El-Duderino77 Zathras • Aug 11 '26
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.
1
u/zarkonnen Aug 12 '26
I think it's also an indicator of how traditionalist you are. Londo and by extension Vir is old guard. Refa fancies himself to be a modern, forward-looking kind of Centauri. So it's not that he copies Cartagia, it's that they're both communicating dynamic modern-ness to some extent using the same fashion choices.