#tbf of the aides only vir got a proper development

[mushroombossa]

Figuring Lennier out is weird because even during events where he should be a central core character, he's treated more as a support, a second thought. In S1 we meet him as this naïve young Minbari who's fresh out of his time at the temple, he doesn't know much about the universe and sees his culture in idealized lens. But by S4 (in the few moments we get inside his head that is) he's all skeptical about the Minbari and clings even harder to Delenn because of it.

But the thing is, while he's present at a lot of crucial events that would explain the shift in his thinking, he doesn't really participate as an active character, and therefore leaves us to figure out his arc by overanalyzing small nudgets of nuance sprinkled here and there over the show.

Maybe JMS just didn't know what to do with him personally besides being Delenn's protector/aide, or maybe Lennier just think of himself as so insignificant he prefers to live vicariously through Delenn and his idealized vision of her. Which would also explain his animosity to Sheridan even more, as it's not only a simple jealousy sparred from unrequited love, but a literal "if I was Delenn I wouldn't choose him". But she does and that fantasy is ruined by the time S5 begins.

What's curious is that his choice is to join the Rangers, who follow the same line of suppressing their personal will for a bigger cause. He's not parting ways with Delenn in order to know himself better, but to continue running away from that. He craves purpose for the sake of it, but he's never in the frontline, the first to take a step, he's only there to support others more corageuous to do so.

Hence why his ending feels so strange and somewhat unsatisfying to me. You can see hints of what could have lead him to reach that point, but never a strong development and character direction that corroborates that idea.

#tbf of the aides only vir got a proper development #na' toth was long gone after early s2 - a shame #and lennier just stuck around but rarely had relationships with any of the cast #at most delenn marcus and maybe vir #and tbh i feel like he nullifies himself a lot when he's around delenn #while you see a spark of personality with Marcus and Vir #but he does have more scenes with delenn than anybody else so that's what's left to remember sadly #lennier #babylon 5 #if i didn't hate my writing i'd finish my fic bc i had a lot of ideas for him.