More B5

[icepixie]

"Knives" seems less conencted to the plot arcs, but perhaps Sheridan's parasite is related to the ongoing B4 mystery... Did enjoy the random opera break between Londo and Vir. Haha. And Sam's dad played Londo's buddy! Aw, Sam's dad.

alto2 and I have been discussing LOTR's influence on the show, and I felt the need to write down the following associations I've come up with so far. They aren't one-to-one correspondances, and I don't know how much the similarities will influence the associatees later on, but the intellectual exercise is interesting.

• First Ones = Valar (possibly the Ainur in general? Dunno if there's going to be a power differential between them yet. I assume the name "Valen" and possibly "Vorlon" are references)
• Shadows = Melkor/Morgoth and his minions (and since Melkor is basically Lucifer, the comparison to Paradise Lost is again apt)
• Minbari = Elves (although they don't "pass beyond the veil," at least not yet)
• Humans = Men (special relationship with elves/Minbari via Aragorn/Sheridan and Arwen/Delenn; both created directly by Eru)
• Other races = other races of Middle Earth (created by the Ainur)
• Delenn = Arwen (she changes from pure Minbari to Minbari/Human) or possibly Gandalf (again the changing)
• Sheridan = Aragorn and Frodo (he is Teh Speshul, and is going to wind up with Delenn)
• Kosh = Gandalf, if he continues to mentor Sheridan and be a force for good (I still don't trust him entirely)
• The Veil/Rim = The Undying Lands
• Nothing? = Eru/Iluvatar (there hasn't been a stance taken on a creator god yet as far as I can tell)

I'm not sure if the similarity between Za'ha'dum and Khaza'Dum is meant to be more than just chance or not.

While looking up my old posts on The Silmarillion, I ran across my brief fascination with Figwit from the movies. I see the actor has moved on to become one half of the band and star of the sitcom The Flight of the Conchords. See, I knew even in 2003 that he was going places! *g*

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Minbari = Elves

Hmm. I wonder if the technomages might be more the elves. I'm not sure if the comparison will really hold up over time, though I will defer to you on that since you know the books better than I do. I will say that I know for sure that the Minbari are based on Japanese/Asian culture, and the Centauri are ancient Rome (which will definitely become very clear over time). I can't remember if the Narn were directly drawn from a particular region/historical period, but I am quite sure about those two.

[icepixie]

Well, we don't see the Technomages again until Crusade, right? I remember reading that somewhere. I suppose they could be likened to those elves who've already gone into the west. My comparison of the Minbari to elves rests mainly on the similarity in their relationships to the First Ones/Valar--as the Minbari fought with the First Ones against the Shadows, so did the elves fight with the Valar against Melkor and his baddies. (This is mostly from The Silmarillion rather than LOTR, so there's no reason you would have knowledge of it.)

I've definitely noticed the similarities between Centauri and Roman cultures. They've done a good job with that one. :) Likening the Minbari to Japanese culture hadn't occured to me; I don't know much about Asian cultures in general, so I'm having trouble coming up with similarities. The Narn still remind me a bit of downtrodden Klingons, but I doubt that was intended.