Mythology of Babylon 5

This article contains some of the most important mythological elements of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

Alien Technology

The Great Machine of Epsilon III

The Great Machine is a giant underground structure, located beneath the surface of the planet Epsilon III.

Chrysalis Device

The Chrysalis Device has the ability to transform one species into another by altering the subject's DNA.

Triluminary

The Triluminary is a holy relic of the Minbari religious caste. The device was made from part of Sinclair's commlink, which was keyed to his DNA. after he had taken Babylon 4 into the past to assist the last great war with the Shadows. Because it is keyed to his DNA, the triluminary lights up when a descendant of Sinclair/Valen's bloodline is near it. When Sinclair was taken prisoner during the Earth/Minbari War, his captors attempted to question him using the Triluminary. The fact that it glowed proved to some of the members of the Grey Council that the legend that Valen was half human was in fact true, thus the fact that Valen had descendents who numbered in the tens of thousands meant that the Minbari population were now considered "impure." In order to prevent the Civil War that would have surely erupted on Minbari if the knowledge came out, and in order to prevent Delen from finding out that she was a descendent of Valen, the members of the Grey Council created the fiction that Minbari souls were being reborn into Humans which required an immediate end of the war.

Alien Healing Device

A device used for corporal punishment by an unknown alien race, it transfers life energy from one person to another. The more severe the injury the more life energy it takes to heal the subject.

Jumpgate

A large machine in space that provides a stable portal into hyperspace that any ship can use.

Minbari Fighting Pike

Ancient type of melee weapon frequently used by Minbari warriors and - most prominently during the series - by Marcus Cole, a Ranger stationed on Babylon 5. When inactive, a Fighting Pike resembles a metal tube or cylinder of about 15 by 5 centimetres and is easily concealable. When activated by a sharp, shaking motion, it rapidly extends into a lightweight quarterstaff of about 1.8 metres, issuing a distinctive metallic sliding/clicking sound when its segments telescope and lock in place.

Earth Alliance Technology

Phased Plasma Gun (PPG)

Main article: Phased plasma gun

Communication Link

Babylon 5 station personnel use a short range Communication Link (typically referred to simply as a "link") to communicate with each others within the station. They also have a tracking beacon built in. The links attach to the back of one's hand. The links are bio-coded and designed so they can not be used by anyone except their owner. In the Season Five episode Objects in Motion, however, an assassin kills a security guard, steals his link, and manages to bypass the coding and listen in to security communication.

In that same episode Security Chief Zack Allan finds the link the assassin switched for the guard's link sticking to the inside of a metal box. Chief Medical Officer Stephen Franklin remarks that (the link shouldn't be sticking because) "Links don't use adhesive. It's a molecular bonding material genetically coded to the owner".

In reality, of course, the links had to be glued or taped to the actor's hands. In the cast commentary for the Season 2 episode The Geometry of Shadows the actor who plays Michael Garibaldi complains that having the link glued on and then removed ripped the hair off his hand. The actress who plays Susan Ivanova replies that she used double-sided tape to stick her link to her hand instead of glue.

Organizations

An'La'Shok

Rangers (Minbari: Anla-shok) are a fictional class of warriors.

“ We are Rangers. We walk in the dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge, and no one may pass. We live for the One, we die for the One. ”

Grey Council

Ruling body of the Minbari Federation as created by Valen during the Shadow War one thousand years before the events of Babylon 5. Comprising nine members, three from each of the Minbari's three castes (Worker, Warrior, religious). Among Minbari therefore also known as 'The Nine'.

Bureau 13

Bureau 13 was a secret organization operating in Earthgov. They were mentioned in the episode S02E06 "A Spider in the Web". After hearing of a role playing game with the same name J. Michael Straczynski promised never to use that name again.

Locations

Sigma 957

Home of the 'Walkers', a species of First Ones who were consummate explorers. Comdr. Ivanova persuaded them to fight in the last battle of the Shadow War by playing on what seemed to be an old rivalry between the Walkers and the Vorlons.

Z'Ha'Dum

Homeworld of the shadows and of the First One Lorien. Destroyed after the final shadow war.

Rituals

The Morago

An honor duel to the death between two members of the Centauri duelling society known as Couro Prido ('proud knives' in the Centauri language). The winner of the Morago is honor-bound to accept the family of the loser into his own and care for them as if they were his own blood.

Other

G'Quan Eth

The G'Quan Eth is a flowering plant burned as a ceremonial incense by the Narn people during the ritual which ends "The Days of G'Quan"; the flower being the very symbol of the G'Quan faith. The plant is described as being difficult to grow, expensive to transport (and even to own), but is nonetheless vital to the Narn ceremony. When the seeds of the plant are mixed with the right ratio of alcohol it allows "whole new universes [to] open up" because of its narcotic properties (although the Narn seem to look distastefully upon those who use the plant for such purposes). Although never seen on-camera, the plant serves as the plot-point of a sub-plot in the episode "By Any Means Necessary" in which Ambassador G'Kar must find a replacement for his upcoming ceremony after the original shipment is destroyed in a cargo docking accident. G'Kar's search leads him to Londo Mollari, who, having the only viable plant obtainable before it is too late for the ceremony, demands an exorbitant amount of money for it only to reveal to G'Kar that he has no intention of selling it and was only dangling the G'Quan Eth before him so as to vex him as vengeance for the Narn invasion of Ragesh 3, where his nephew was imprisoned and abused. G'Kar is finally able to obtain the flower after bringing the affair to the attention of Captain Sinclair, who informs Mollari that because of the flower's chemical properties it is considered a controlled substance by Earth law (with the exception of use in medical or religious practices), Sinclair must confiscate it. Mollari, however, willingly surrenders the flower to the Captain as he believes (like G'Kar) that it is too late for the ceremony. Sinclair, however, provides a loophole for G'Kar's ceremony; the ritual must be performed when the sunlight touches the G'Quan mountains—however, because sunlight also travels through space, the sunlight that touched down on the G'Quan mountains 10 years ago is still 12 hours away from reaching Babylon 5, and as the ritual pre-date's Narn space travel, G'Kar is allowed to use that traveling sunlight to complete his ritual after the Captain turns the G'Quan Eth over to him.