"The War Prayer" discussion [spoilers]

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 1X07, "The War Prayer". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Extra reading:

The article for "The War Prayer" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

How well known are the Grey Council’s members to everyday Minbari?

Probably not so much, otherwise every single Minbari coming to the station would have greeted Delenn as Satai, and would have made her discretion about the subject superfluos. As to whether Mayan knows, they seem familiar enough that I'd go with a yes. Come to think of it, we see/hear from three Minbari friends Delenn has/had in the first season - Mayan, Draal and the late Brammer; and of course there was Dukhat as her mentor. Whereas in later seasons her only Minbari friend seems to be Lennier, with enemy-becoming-ally Neroon in a category of his own.

I wonder, are Kiron and Aria – and Vir for that matter – more in line with mainstream Centauri society than Londo or the other major Centauri we see in the series? Is there a generational difference? The new generation, who never knew a time when the Centauri were the dominant power, not seeing the point in holding to the old traditions and power structures?

Oh, good question! The problem is that the other young Centauri we meet aren't in any way typical - there's Cartagia (no explanation needed why he's not representative), Adira who is a slave (as opposed to Kiro and Aria who are free), and Mariel who is Londo's wife, and one of several, so probably counts as imprinted by the former generation. And Lindysti, who, see Cartagia.

I had no problem with Vir claiming he's the ambassador to his cousin, though. Vir isn't entirely without ambition - when he tells Londo what he wanted from life in season 4 during that heartbreaking drunk scene, he says "a title or two, nothing fancy" as well as the "wife I could love and who maybe could love someone like me". Plus as we hear in season 2, Vir's family thinks very little of him, especially his uncle, and thought his assignment as Londo's attaché one big joke. Vir describes the atmosphere as home as everyone ignoring him and an utter silence. So the idea he'd want to impress the cousin who's not actively ridiculing him by claiming to be the ambassador works for me.

Hm, good point about the downside of Sinclair's plan. Maybe this would make a good Watsonian explanation about something in the next episode, i.e. why Delenn is told to kill Sinclair if he finds out he's Valen prematurely. I can't think of a worse case scenario than someone whom you perceive as filled with hate towards your people discovering the enormous power he could wield by claiming to be their Messiah.