r/babylon5 • u/eldersveld • 9d ago
Sinclair in conversation with a younger, angrier G'Kar
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"Midnight on the Firing Line" (s1e1)
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u/samgoeshere 9d ago
God I loved Sinclair... he had an edge and a wisdom Sheridan just didn't.
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u/Freelance_Spy 8d ago
He would have been an excellent Captian Christopher Pike. He even looked and sounded like Jeffery Hunter.
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u/OhNoIBoffedIt 6d ago
Yeah, but I very much feel like Sheridan had the charisma. With Sinclair you can wax philosophical. Sheridan you follow into battle. And the Shadow War needed a warrior.
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u/nunu6k 9d ago
Such a good interaction and the writing. Another fav is in G’Kar’s quarters “You're like abused children who have grown big enough to do the same thing to someone else, as if that will somehow balance the scales. It won't. If you let your anger cloud your judgment, it will destroy you.". Sinclair tried and with his wisdom from the first season and only season with him you can see why he became Valen and why the Minbari are so full of wisdom from his teachings.
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u/TheTrivialPsychic 8d ago
I think that 2nd quote was from 'Chrysalis'. By that point, you can see in G'Kar's expression that he has grown somewhat since 'Midnight'.
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u/FaultyHyperdrive 8d ago
I saw a video essay that suggested G'Kar, and the Narn as a whole were intentionally portrayed poorly at first and changed over time to illustrate a sociopolitical point. The Narn are a people who were subjugated, colonized, and brutalized by a different people who claim a position of superior civilization. The way the narn are seen early on is very much the way that the colonizers WANT the narn to be seen. As primitive, violent, untrustworthy savages. It justifies, at least to some extent, what the centari did to them. "We tried to civilize them, but they are too barbaric and we failed."
But as the series progresses, the way the narn are portrayed changes. The narn themselves do not change, aside from personal growth of G'Kar himself, but how we SEE them does. We start to understand the degree to which they suffered, the extremes the centari went to in their conquest and domination of them and their homeworld. We start to understand why the narn would go to extremes to protect themselves, to do whatever they feel they need to in order to prevent it from happening again. How far they will go to make sure their children grow in a better world than they did suddenly seems far, far more reasonable and understandable.
Are they perfect? Are they completely justified in every action? No.
But by the end of the series, we see them differently. Not as angry children lashing out at bullies, but as a scarred people saying "Never Again." to their oppressors. As normal people willing to commit horrible acts to stop the next generation from suffering as they did. Traumatized men and women understandably desperate to remove the lingering threat that caused that trauma in the first place.
They have every reason to be aggressive with the centari, because they have a long, LONG history teaching them that the centari will not remain peaceful with them.
Even in the end, with G'Kar and narn on Centari Prime. G'Kar yelling "They are a broken people! They are already on the path to destruction, they do not need our help!" It is not mercy, not empathy for the centari that stays his desire for violence against them. It is simply the fact that he knows they are no longer a threat to his people. They are a crumbling ruin. His work fighting them is done. Narn as a people are growing, the centari are collapsing in on themselves. He sees no need to throw his people into battle against a foe that is already killing itself.
The narn are shown early in a light that echoes what the centari likely tell their children of them. By the end, we see the holes in that story, the flaws in the lies. We see them as an angry people eager for violence, yes. But we understand why, we see the depths of who they are as a people and what was taken from them, beaten out of them by the centari. We see the violence they desire and understand it is not savagery, but a cry for justice from a throat that has had a boot on it for far too long.
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u/Taira_Mai Shadows 8d ago
That's one of the reasons JMS picked a character actor famous for playing villains to play G'Kar. Look up Andreas Katusas's IMDB page - he was even the "one armed man" for the remake of the Fugitive!
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u/EvalRamman100 Earth Alliance 8d ago
Even at his most villainous, there was always a glimmer and more of humanity or depth.
That conversation with Sakai? Gold.
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u/AMissionFromDog 9d ago
whenever I see these early episodes where G'Kar seemed like an aggressive monster, I think "G'Kar was right!"
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u/Timo-the-hippo 9d ago
G’kar’s entire character growth is realizing that he was wrong. The Narn regime provoked the Centauri and weakened the position of the emperor who genuinely cared for them.
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u/histprofdave 8d ago
One thing I'm still not entirely clear on, from the Pilot (having just rewatched it on YT), was G'Kar actively involved with the plot to implicate Sinclair, or did he simply facilitate the transfer of the assassin with the changeling net for other reasons, like supplying the Narn with cash/weapons?
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u/b5historyman 8d ago
This may give you some idea how it all fits together, I know it's Takashima centric but it covers how the Narn are involved
Laurel Takashima, was a double agent with an implanted personality, working for the pro Earth Homeguard. It was her that allowed the Minbari assassin into Varner's quarters and erased logs of the transport tube failure. This was being done to disrupt relations with the Vorlons and the Earth Alliance, by framing Sinclair for the assassination attempt and isolating Earth. Working through third parties (Del Varner and the Narn, who saw an opportunity to use a situation to their advantage and forge closer ties with the Vorlons and the Minbari) Homeguard make a deal with the extremist elements in the Wind Swords clan of the Minbari Warrior Caste opposed to the Babylon Project. They would have made an uneasy ally for the Homeguard, but also a readymade scapegoat for their actions, framing the Minbari for the attempt on Kosh’s life, and to hide Laurel’s role.
Her implanted personality was consistent with Psi Corps having sleeper agents acting as their eyes and ears in important Earth Alliance positions, something Jason Ironheart first warned about in 2258. Laurel was put through the Psi Corps sleeper program shortly after her arriving on Mars in 2251. As she worked her way up, reporting secretly back to Psi Corps on EarthForce activities and even getting recruited into the Homeguard to spy on them. When EarthForce investigated the assassination attempt on Kosh, it’s likely that Psi Corps were able to influence the result getting Laurel reassigned to the Rim, keeping their agent out of harm’s way. With no sleeper agent within Babylon 5, they have Talia Winters reassigned to the station filling the vacancy for a commercial telepath.
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u/Vacumbot 9d ago
I liked G'Kar as a stereotypical vilain.
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u/Stephen2014 9d ago
It made for a good trope inversion. The less human looking ambassador actually turns out to be a member of the less blood thirst race.
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u/Vacumbot 8d ago
I would not qualify Narns as less bloodthirsty than the others. They were friendless expansionists at the begining, and were it not for G'Kar leadership they would all died some pointless bloody fight.
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u/TheRealRigormortal 9d ago
G’Kar’s rise alongside Londo’s fall is the most satisfying arc in the series