Babylon 5: Character Bios: Ambassador Delenn

Click to hear Delenn say, 'What you are about to see has never been shown....'Although Ambassador Delenn (played beautifully by Mira Furlan) seems to be righteous and aloof, she is also a bit of a rebel. She was once a member of the Minbari ruling body (the Grey Counsel), and underwent a physical transformation that gave her human characteristics (like hair). Most Minbari think humans are scumbags, and she has not only fallen in love with a human, but THE human, non other than chief scumbag, the one who ‘dishonourably’ clobbered their best warship in the Earth-Minbari war. Delenn certainly has guts!

If you were in the pub with Delenn she would probably be the one talking about either politics or religion, you wouldn’t be comfortable telling her a rude joke.

She is far to level headed for my liking. She believes strongly in ‘fate’ which is a cop-out in my book. You can do anything and blame it on fate. She is the co-commander (with Sheridan) of the Army of Light – and bloody good at it.

It’s ironic that it was Delenn who actually started the Earth Minbari war. Yes I know it was Earth ships that opened fire first but it was Delenn, grief stricken at the loss of her mentor Dukat, that issued the order to wipe out the Earth ships. It was that action that started the war.

What the hell do you expect, if your were approaching a group of Minbari ships and they ‘opened their gun turrets’ what would you think? I’ll bet it wouldn’t be ‘ahh isn’t that nice, they respect us’. I know the Minbari are a bit naive, but nobody can be that stupid. Imagine walking down the street and a bloke catches your eye, walks over to you, and promptly pulls out a gun. Would you take that as a mark of respect?

In series four, she also got into hot water over her love affair with Sheridan. Apparently the Minbari do not want their blood line polluted by aliens. She had to undergo a ‘dreaming’ session with her buddy Lennier. She found that the bloodline was already polluted by none other than Delenn erm.. dreaming.Valen who was sort of human (ex-Babylon 5 boss – Sinclair) and, it seems, bonking mad! And so, when she confronted her family and some concerned Minbari hangers-on, they agreed to let her continue the affair with Sheridan provided she did not tell anyone about Valen.

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She is now seen as the Head of the Minbari Religious Caste. She was the one who halted a recent civil war between the Religious Caste and the Warrior Caste, and made changes to the political situation on Minbar by re-instigating the Grey Council, this time with the Worker Caste having most members (5). This would, she felt, stop any future occurrence of civil conflict. In that episode, Moments of Transition, she demonstrated that she would lay down her life for her people when the leader of the Warrior Caste clearly, would not.

Delenn remembers Sheridan

She is totally, totally devoted to Sheridan. As his wife she both respects and supports him although, as you might expect, it is not unusual for her to show him the error of his ways. In her final years as a widow, she rose at dawn each morning and sat in her garden remembering her love for her husband. Pretty damned touching huh?

Delenn is a ‘tough cookie’, she is courageous and willing to help others. In a war, I would definitely want her on my side.

“Summoned, I take the place that has been prepared for me. I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light.”
Delenn, All Alone in the Night

“Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective.”
Ambassador Delenn, A Distant Star

“We are the universe, trying to understand itself.”
Delenn, Passing Through Gethsemane

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The ‘Fun-people biographies’ are © 1999 – 2019 Tony Fawl.
Not for reproduction without the authors express permission

The BABYLON 5 names, characters and everything else associated with the series are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, TNT and Warner Brothers, a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company. All rights reserved.

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