Interludes and Explotations (spoilers, por supuesto)

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: Interludes and Explotations (spoilers, por supuesto)
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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+  1: May  9, 1996: Stephen Langasek <langasek at worf.netins.net>
*  2: May  9, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: Stephen Langasek <langasek at worf.netins.net>
Lines: 98

Quite obviously, the following message contains spoilers.  Big ones.  Don't read on 
unless you've watched the episode, or don't mind finding out plot points you weren't 
meant to know.




If


you


go


into


spoiler


space,


you


will


die...

There.

For starters, it seemed to me, in the scenes where the Shadows were somewhat visible, 
that there was more than one type of Shadow--one appeared to be winged?  How many 
forms do these things come in, and what, if anything, can we learn from Shadow 
morphology?

So, Delenn's holding back information, eh?  Could it have something to do with, oh, 
say...  the Shadows' motives, maybe?  (She was very quiet in that scene with 
Sheridan...)  Okay, if we can't find out from her what their motives are (at least not 
yet), can we figure out *why* she's hiding the info?

People have asked why Kosh didn't defend himself, or flee, or something.  I think the 
answer is apparent, now, as is the reason why the Vorlons have stayed out of it until 
this point.  The Vorlons and the Shadows have a stalemate.  The Shadows are afraid of 
the Vorlons taking a stand against them, but the Vorlons are also afraid to take a 
stand against the Shadows.  For whatever reason, the balance of power between the two 
is such that neither wants to face the other head-on.  So instead, they have an 
understanding--you kill one of ours, we'll kill one of yours.  There may be so few 
Vorlons that they would be destroyed, swiftly and surely, in all-out combat.  
Therefore, all combat must take place with the younger races.
This gives the Shadows the advantage.  The Vorlons don't want to destroy any of the 
younger races (as near as we can tell); the Shadows, on the other hand, don't appear 
to care.  The Vorlons have the less than enviable task of preserving the younger races 
without actually opposing the force seeking to destroy them.
We can only hope that Kosh's sacrifice is not in vain.  If it succeeds in bringing the 
races together, it may be one of very few things they can do to help, at least until 
it is their time.

And about that...  When is their time?  Clearly, their time will not come until there 
are more of them--enough of them that they can overwhelm the Shadows again.  But when 
will that be?  Remember Kosh's words?  "There are still few of us."  That's a peculiar 
way to say it.  Were there more of them in the past?  Is their current small 
population the result of damages incurred during the last war?  That seems most 
likely; but if that's the case, then it makes Kosh's statement all the more puzzling.

The Vorlons seem to have expected the Shadows to wait longer before attacking again; 
they thought they'd be ready for them.  They're not.  Is this because of some 
increased reproductive ability on the part of the Shadows, or did the Vorlons not 
rebuild as quickly as has been expected?  OR, did the Shadows strike prior to some 
crucial event which would have decided the battle in favor of the Vorlons?
If they're still struggling to recover from the last war, 1000 yrs. ago, when WILL 
they be ready?  If they're not ready now, will it take them a millenium more before 
they can match the Shadows?  Or, again, will they be ready soon--following some 
critical event?  Do Vorlons reproduce slowly?  Do they currently have, well, a litter 
just shy of maturity (hopefully a large one)?
Or...  And this is the big one...  Are the Vorlons actually *not* a single race?  
Maybe what they need before they'll be ready to fight the Shadows is an influx of new 
recruits...  And maybe the Vorlons are preparing for that, now.
It would answer one question that's been bothering me a little--If the only thing 
stopping the Vorlons is that they're few in number, why don't they just build/grow 
more ships and give them to some of the younger races?  A:  Because you have to be a 
Vorlon to use the ships, and there are no Vorlons in the younger races... yet.
It would also give us an additional reason for the constant disguises.

One other possibility--the Vorlons are waiting from an influx from a different time.  
Sinclair flies around in B4 to pick up Vorlons?

Well?  What does everyone think?

                                 -Steve
-doink-
___
The opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of my employer...
But they *should* be, dammit!

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 6

No, none of the shadows there were winged.



 jms

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