Delenn is recalled to Minbar to resolve a problem concerning her relationship with Sheridan, and must finally face up to her role in the Earth-Minbari War. Sheridan sends Marcus and Franklin to Mars on a secret mission.
####Overview

####Guest Stars

Brian Carpenter as Callenn. Reiner Schone as Dukhat.
####Lurk

http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/synops/075.html
####Plot Points

After the last Shadow War, Valen, who was still genetically partially human ([[War Without End part 2]],) had children. The children, fearing persecution because they weren’t pure Minbari, fled Minbar until after Valen’s death. They returned and had children of their own, spreading human genes through the Minbari population to the present day.

Valen’s body was never found after his death.

Delenn is a descendant of Valen, and as such had some human DNA even before her transformation in [[Chrysalis]].

The Grey Council elected not to make contact with humans, who they heard about through the Centauri. When the Grey Council’s cruiser came upon the human convoy some time later ([[A Late Delivery from Avalon]]) only Delenn, who had researched humans in the meantime, knew which race they belonged to. Dukhat realized that the Minbari practice of approaching with gun ports open could be dangerous, but before his order to close them could be carried out, the Earth ships attacked.

Enraged over the death of Dukhat, Delenn gave the order that started the Earth-Minbari War. She was later unable to stop it from proceeding.

The Triluminaries used by the Grey Council were made specifically for Sinclair. They activate in the presence of Sinclair/Valen’s DNA. They were made on Epsilon 3 and brought back in time by Sinclair ([[War Without End part 2]].) Franklin has given G’Kar a prosthetic eye, which can see and transmit images to G’Kar’s brain even when it’s not in its socket.
####Unanswered Questions

Why was Valen’s body never found? Is he perhaps still alive or in suspended animation?

In [[Babylon Squared]], Delenn was given a triluminary and told there were still two left. Why was Sinclair given three of them, when only one was required to operate the chrysalis machine? ([[Chrysalis]], [[War Without End part 2]])

Did Delenn maintain the secret of Valen’s human DNA, allowing Callenn to cover up for her as he suggested?

Exactly what is the dreaming? Does it have a will of its own, or does it simply stimulate the dreamer’s subconscious?

How far can G’Kar’s eye transmit? Is it useful for spying purposes?
####Analysis

Callenn said the number of Minbari with traces of human DNA were beyond measure. A rough estimate can be made, however. If Minbari couples have, on average, two children, and have children at age fifty (since Minbari have longer lifespans than humans, a longer delay between generations is plausible) then in a thousand years, there would be twenty generations of Valen’s descendants, the most recent numbering about 1,000,000. That estimate assumes no interbreeding among his descendants, and a variation in the number of children of the first few generations could greatly alter the number. Still, it’s a useful discussion point.

1,000,000 probably works out to a tiny fraction of the Minbari population, which, it’s not unreasonable to assume, is many billions of people spread across various worlds despite Lennier’s claim ([[Points of Departure]]) that Minbari population has been on the decline for some time.

On the other hand, if Valen’s descendants were markedly more prolific than average Minbari, e.g. with a 30-year generation time rather than a 50-year one (and both numbers are pure conjecture!) there’d have been 33 generations, with 8,600,000,000 in the most recent, in which case the term “countless” would easily apply. Obviously interbreeding, very probable in a population that size, would reduce the number markedly.

Either way, a substantial percentage of the Minbari population most likely still has pure Minbari genes. This is supported by Dukhat’s reaction to the triluminary glowing when Delenn touched it; if Valen’s progeny were in fact a large percentage of the population, presumably previous Grey Council members would have triggered the triluminary.

Callenn’s horror at the prospect of human DNA mingling with Minbari genes parallels the newscast in [[The Illusion of Truth]], which attempted to suggest that Delenn and Sheridan wanted to introduce Minbari genes into humans. In fact, just the opposite has occurred.

David, Delenn and Sheridan’s son ([[War Without End part 2]],) will be a direct descendant of all three of The One. Dukhat’s conversation with Delenn is echoed years later when Lennier arrives on Babylon 5 ([[The Parliament of Dreams]]) and she tells him the same thing Dukhat told her: “I cannot have an aide who will not look up. You will be forever walking into things.”

In [[Rumors, Bargains, and Lies]], Delenn said she’d been training Lennier as Dukhat trained her. Delenn eventually succeeded Dukhat as leader of the Minbari, both in this episode and in [[Babylon Squared]], though she turned the position down in both cases. Will the parallel between Lennier and Delenn in her youth continue into the future? Is Lennier destined to a prominent place in Minbari society?

Dukhat said he could override the Council’s decision to avoid contacting the humans. What is the relationship between the Council and the leader? Do they simply serve as an advisory body, with the final decisions ultimately made by the leader?

Lennier’s pledge to Delenn, to be by her side through fire, storm, darkness, and death, echoes the pledge of the Nine to the One in the Minbari ceremony in [[The Parliament of Dreams]].

Delenn feels responsible for the Earth-Minbari War. Her father committed suicide, heartbroken over the war ([[Grey 17 Is Missing]].) Does Delenn thus feel personally responsible for her father’s death?

Why did Dukhat suspect Delenn was descended from Valen? With so many descendants, he couldn’t have followed Valen’s entire bloodline, even assuming it was all documented. Perhaps he simply researched the heritage of all the acolytes working with the Grey Council.

Delenn’s childhood vision ([[Confessions and Lamentations]],) in which a figure appeared to her in a temple and said he wouldn’t allow “any of my little ones” to come to harm there, takes on new significance now. If the figure was some kind of manifestation of Valen, “little ones” might have referred to his descendants, and the vision might have been Delenn’s first clue that she was somehow related to him. If so, the vision was probably a powerful motivating force for her, perhaps even the source of her belief in her own destiny.

If Delenn told Dukhat about the vision, or he found out about it some other way, that might explain his suspicion that she was a descendant of Valen.

Did Dukhat know Valen was part human? Callenn was aware of it; was it common knowledge among the Grey Council after Sinclair was interrogated and the triluminary indicated his relation to Valen? ([[And the Sky Full of Stars]])

Do Valen’s descendants have distinguishing features? Perhaps the presence of human DNA explains why a small number of Minbari men have facial hair, e.g. Dukhat, Draal (“A Voice in the Wilderness”) and Kalain ([[Points of Departure]].)

In [[Soul Hunter]], the soul hunter recalls that the Minbari made a wall of bodies to stop Dukhat’s soul from being taken. Although soul hunters appeared as the battle began, no attempt to stop them was shown, and Delenn was seeminly unaware of them as Dukhat lay dying in her arms.

Perhaps the soul hunter was speaking metaphorically; there were so many Minbari dead that their ability to sense death didn’t lead them to Dukhat in particular. However, since the soul hunter recognized Delenn years later, he must have arrived at Dukhat at some point, perhaps after she ordered the attack on the humans.

Zack’s discomfort with his new uniform mirrors his discomfort with the Earthforce uniform in [[Voices of Authority]].

G’Kar is wearing rags around his eye in the flashforward in [[War Without End part 2]]. Where was his eye? Destroyed or discarded, or simply recharging or sending him images from somewhere else?

Ivanova is likely still the leader of half the Drazi on Babylon 5. She wore the green leader’s sash to the party. Presumably the fact that all the formerly green Drazi are now wearing purple ([[The Geometry of Shadows]]) didn’t cause any problems.
####Notes

One of the heavy cruisers in the Prometheus convoy is the Hyperion ([[A Voice in the Wilderness part 2]].) The name can be seen briefly on the side of the ship in one scene. According to coproducer George Johnsen, that was intentional, not just an accidental reuse of a computer model, implying the Hyperion escaped from the Minbari counterattack on the Earth base.

More than five days may have elapsed between the first scene, Zack’s fitting, and the second, the arrival of Callenn and his entourage. (“Thirdspace”)

A slight inaccuracy: The ship carrying Franklin and Marcus is shown to have zero gravity. But the exterior shot shows its engines firing. The resulting acceleration (in the vacuum of space, any thrust will result in acceleration) would have pushed all the objects in the cargo hold toward one of the walls. Of course, it’s possible the engines were glowing but not actually in use; perhaps they were in some sort of standby mode.

Continuity glitch: During the conference scene with Sheridan, Franklin, and Marcus, Franklin is reading over his documents with the folder flat on Sheridan’s desk. When the view shifts to show all three characters, Franklin is holding the folder.

The tune sung by Marcus is “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,” from “The Pirates of Penzance” by Gilbert and Sullivan. Marcus misquotes the song slightly: he says, “quote the facts historical,” when the original lyrics are, “quote the fights historical.”

Delenn’s family name, Mir, may be a reference to Mira Furlan’s first name.

Sheridan’s line about his true face being mashed up against a pillow and drooling was based on a rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated message commenting on [[Shadow Dancing]], where the Minbari ritual was first introduced.