"War without End" discussion

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episodes 3X16 and 3x17 "War Without End, Parts 1 & 2". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Summary:
Sinclair, Delenn and Sheridan travel back in time to rescue Babylon 4.

Extra reading:
The article for "War Without End", Part 1 and Part 2 at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[kathrid.livejournal.com]

I've always thought that, as well as a bit of personal revenge, the purpose they had for David was part of a plan to use the Centauri as an assult on the alliance as a whole.

They know the Alliance is the direct result of Sheriden/Delenn's leadership. By hitting their son with a keeper they have a great way of luring the two most inspirational and important Alliance figures away from their posts, possibly even without anyone knowing why they've disappeared. Then they have the ideal opportunity to attack the Alliance without the uniting guidance of their two leading lights.

Then all you need is a staged transgression (easy to do with keepers, or the shadow-pods they used to stage Centauri attacks, or even with the lasting hatred some races have towards the Centauri) from an Alliance race, say the Narn or the Drazi, and you have a war with a resurgent Centauri Republic that many Allinace races could easily be reluctant to join in, especially if the Centauri play a cunning game of divide and conquer. This may, of course, explain the renewed bitterness in the G'Kar-Londo relationship which makes him the ideal assassin at the end.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

You do see renewed bitterness there at the end with G'Kar then? There are two alternate readings of that; that G'Kar hates Londo and takes this opportunity to kill him (certainly my first interpretation) but I also think there's some validity to the idea that G'Kar is killing Londo cause Londo asked him too.

I like both, but I'm flexible that way.

I like your idea of a staged transgression starting the war. What I'm working towards is this being the 'Drakh War' Delenn mentions in the S4 epilogue. It would seem to be Centauri at first, of course. I want to bring in the long history of the Centauri as an aggressive race...I read in the Chronology (I think?) that the League of Non-Aligned Worlds was formed by those races that had thrown off the yoke of the Centauri Empire, and then were threatened by the Dilgar. War without end, indeed.

[kathrid.livejournal.com]

I think it's something of both alternatives, that G'Kar kills Londo to release him from the keeper, but also because he knows that only Londo has the talent to do... well, whatever he's done to the Alliance at this point. Certainly I think there's more than a little feeling in the words Londo uses 'I am as tired of my life as you are', which is very different from their almost playful banter during S5. It's primarily this line that implies some renewed bitterness.

As far as my reading of likely events is, the Drakh are likely to be using the Centauri as a tool against the Alliance, but their involvement is revealed when Sheriden escapes from Londo and returns to the Alliance. They then have to link with the resistance led by Vir to locate the Drakh bases.

Personally, I suspect that Londo will have been using his drunk time to help Vir infiltrate the Centauri military, so a large chunk of it will immediately switch sides, but then I've always felt that when the Drakh took over Londo they were making their own Sword of Damocles. I love the idea of Londo and Vir playing the long game and slowly forming a weapon against the Drakh, primed to fire when Londo dies at G'Kar's hands. There's a part of his speech made before his crowning that mentions turning their anger against those responsible for the destruction on Centauri Prime. When the screen cuts to an approving nod from the Drakh controlling Londo, that just makes me think 'I know exactly who you're thinking of, and it's not the Alliance'. The Drakh should know better than to think they can out-intrigue the Centauri.