She was willing to destroy an entire race for Dukhat! Still she will not give thought to Lennier having deeper, masculine emotions towards her as she allows him to be drawn into the most intimate parts of her life. What was she expecting? I found her responses to him to be naive and at times, almost cruel.
This is, for me, one of the most difficult issues in the series. I think Delenn does love Lennier in her way, but she also takes him very much for granted - and the key there is that he has sworn that fealty that you mentioned, and renewed that vow at every turn that she offered him release. There's an extent to which she interprets that as meaning that it's her right to use him as she needs. She's so caught up sometimes in her Destiny (it just has to be capitalized for me in this context...) and her personal position and everything associated with that, and I think the structure of Minbari society probably gives her the right, as his mentor and as Satai, to do whatever she damned well pleases without regard to his emotions. Sometimes she remembers to consider him, and sometimes she doesn't. I wouldn't go so far as to say that she's cruel - perhaps unthinkingly so, at times, though.
...We just watched the Shan Fal episode, so at the moment I'm a little down on Delenn as far as Lennier is concerned. The poor guy - I just hate to think how awful that must have been for him. I don't think Delenn knew how he felt at that point, and I think Lennier would have died before telling her at this point, too, and she probably meant it as a sign of her affection and trust for him, having him there keeping vigil and praying for her. But... the poor thing must have just felt gutted.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-08-09 02:57 am (UTC)This is, for me, one of the most difficult issues in the series. I think Delenn does love Lennier in her way, but she also takes him very much for granted - and the key there is that he has sworn that fealty that you mentioned, and renewed that vow at every turn that she offered him release. There's an extent to which she interprets that as meaning that it's her right to use him as she needs. She's so caught up sometimes in her Destiny (it just has to be capitalized for me in this context...) and her personal position and everything associated with that, and I think the structure of Minbari society probably gives her the right, as his mentor and as Satai, to do whatever she damned well pleases without regard to his emotions. Sometimes she remembers to consider him, and sometimes she doesn't. I wouldn't go so far as to say that she's cruel - perhaps unthinkingly so, at times, though.
...We just watched the Shan Fal episode, so at the moment I'm a little down on Delenn as far as Lennier is concerned. The poor guy - I just hate to think how awful that must have been for him. I don't think Delenn knew how he felt at that point, and I think Lennier would have died before telling her at this point, too, and she probably meant it as a sign of her affection and trust for him, having him there keeping vigil and praying for her. But... the poor thing must have just felt gutted.