Babylon 5 Head Canon

I know its been awhile, but I’ve been mulling over this one and decided to post it during my B5 rewatch.

So, why does everyone in B5 speak English?

The Headcanon:

They actually don’t. 

In the future, everyone has some form of translator embedded or otherwise on their person. English is simply the default for the viewers, as it is obviously our language and that’s what the B5 command is hearing. 

All the aliens could not possibly be expected to learn English just to interact, some of them don’t even have the anatomy for it.

BUT there is an exception for diplomats. A diplomat is required, by law, to speak all of the languages required for diplomacy. This is because the translators, much like today’s language translation software (think Google translate) are often prone to hilarious, and occasionally disastrous, mistranslations. The last thing you want is “We will use military force only as a last resort.” to be translated to, “Bring it on!” (which may have been a contributor to the Dilgar war ~_^). 

So while most people rely on the language translators to get around on B5, G’kar, Londo, Delenn etc. do actually speak English (and Narn, and Centauri, and Minbari) in order to avoid diplomatic incidents.

Writing this out sort of solidified ideas that have been floating around in my head for the last few weeks; I’m reasonably happy with what I’ve landed on, though I’m sure it could stand some tweaking to make it better.

Basically, this isn’t so much a full head canon as it is trying to find something better than what’s given.

In “Space, Time, and the Incurable Romantic,” JMS tells us what happened with Marcus:

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After Dius moved in with Delenn, John and David, they let him experience kindness and honesty which led him to stop thirsting for power. In the end, he gave up all ambition of becoming emperor of Centauri Prime and instead joined the rangers together with David. 

Neroon is one of our best representatives of the passions of the Minbari warrior caste (not to mention one of the hottest Minbari ever…). He’s proud, brave, at times snarky, and fiercely, fiercely loyal. When we first meet him he’s definitely not at his best, at times almost irrationally so.

The head canon:

Neroon and Branmer were lovers, and Neroon didn’t follow Branmer’s final request because he just couldn’t let him go yet. Yes, Neroon’s decision to parade Branmer’s body around all the Minbari outposts was partially fueled by his desire to honour him as a great warrior, but he specifically tells Sinclair that his “feelings for the <I>shai alyt</I> led [him] to act improperly” (I’ve always thought this was not just about having a tantrum and threatening everyone because of the body’s disappearance, but <b>also</b> his decision to ignore Branmer’s last request.)

Based on Babylon 5 episode 5.8 The Day of the Dead:

Who is Zoe? In particular, who is Zoe to Lochley? Obviously she is important, Lochley keeps “Zoe is dead” as her password something like 20 years after she died.

First off, I’m a huge Neil Gaiman fan, I’ve read all of Sandman, all of his novels, and almost all of his short stories. After awhile it’s pretty obvious what his “type” is, that is the kind of stories that Gaiman likes to write. His fingerprints are ALL OVER “Day of the Dead”, in the sense that I think JMS gave him a lot more freedom than usual with that episode (which makes sense considering JMS hounded Gaiman for years to get him to write an episode). Also at that point, Lochley was still something of a blank slate. Let’s be honest, Ivanova was supposed to take over B5 in the 5th season, and Lochley is as thinly veiled a stand-in for Ivanova as Sheridan was for Sinclair (at first). So I think JMS knew the series was winding down and he basically gave Gaiman free reign with some elements of Lochley’s background, knowing he wouldn’t really have time to get to it himself and knowing that Gaiman is an excellent character writer.

Zoe is a Gaiman character through and through, and Lochley’s shared history with her is as well. The sense we get is that Lochley ran away from home to party and do drugs with Zoe. They were cold, starving, and living in infested, run-down buildings. Zoe was eventually so miserable that she deliberately overdosed, and Lochley came home to find her dead and covered in cockroaches. This is a VERY Gaiman-esque scene, this sort of imagery crops up all over Sandman and Neverwhere. Lochley was so traumatized that she gave up on whatever reason she had from running away, called her father and went home. Not too long thereafter, she joined EarthForce and eventually became the officer we know today.

The Head Canon:

My theory is that Zoe and Lochley were lovers. Lochley ran away from a very strict military upbringing in order to be with her girlfriend, of whom her father disapproved (either for gender reasons or because of Zoe’s drug habit). Life was hard and miserable but they had each other and they had fun. Zoe’s death brought Lochley’s one attempt at rebellion crashing down around her, so much so that she was permanently traumatized. If losing her lover was the price of rebellion, then Lochley was scared out of ever rebelling again. She went home, now terrified out of her old life, and began to live the life her father wanted for her, the one she had rejected when she ran away with Zoe. She joined EarthForce and tried to date boys, starting with John Sheridan. They were both young, both away from home from the first time, and as is quite common with young people in the military (or just away from home for the first time in general) they stuck to the first person they met. Lochley was further trying to gain her father’s approval as well by picking the “perfect guy” to bring home.

Within 3 months they realized it was really not working, that they were friends at best who had found each other at a vulnerable time. Lochley never forgot Zoe, and she stuck to the rules to this day, having learned the terrible punishment of doing otherwise.

I am curious as to why it seems like the aliens on B5 seem to have a one or a few religions each, while the humans have a small mountain of them.

Head canon: Most of the planets have one landmass and have not been spread around, like on Earth. This way, people could come easier together and believe in the same thing, or convert each other.