Tolkien's Influence on Babylon 5

[Estelyn Telcontar]

davem, you're right about the contrast between order and chaos as being the definitive difference between the Vorlons and Shadows (as Ibrîn already confirmed) - and neither is good when imposed upon others. It reminds me of the Valar and their bumbling efforts to "help" the Children. Freeing themselves from both influences is what the younger races need to continue their development - a very Tolkienesque thought.

Interestingly, both of the older races are also defined by the questions they ask: for the Vorlons, it is, "Who are you?", for the Shadows, "What do you want?" The former reminds me forcibly of a (rare) serious Tom Bombadil quote:

Tell me, who are you, alone, yourself and nameless?

Bombadil is perhaps like B5's Lorien in some ways - calling himself Eldest, yet allowing the Hobbits to make their own choices and mistakes, only assisting them when absolutely necessary and then leaving them to go their own way. Ibrîn, I don't see Lorien as an Eru parallel - he appears to be a created being and leaves in the end. I would instead see elements of Gandalf in his character - as always in the series, there are no copies, just influences. And that again is like Tolkien's own story development - using previous influences and weaving them together in a new way to create something unique.

I do, however, agree wholeheartedly with you that it would have been interesting to see what JMS would have made of the LotR movie!! Perhaps he would not have been interested in bringing someone else's (sub-)created world to the screen, what with his own imagination being filled with the scope of his world.

There is another parallel in the development of the plot: the victory over the older races is a moral one, based on a confrontation with knowledge, rather than primarily military in the end. That is very like the end of Sauron's realm. And like that victory, it does not end the tale; there is still the heroes' own world which must be cleaned up. The similarities to the Scouring are there, though on a different scale.

B5 was there before the LotR movies, but of course the similarities in story bring up parallels in the visual settings and the casting of the characters. For example, I've been thinking that I would have liked to see Jason Carter (the actor who played the Ranger Marcus Cole) as Strider - he would have brought more dignity to King Aragorn, I imagine.

I'm enjoying all of your contributions!