Babylon 5 - G'Kar requests sanctuary / Londo surrenders his soul

From episode 20, season 2 of Babylon 5, "The Long, Twilight Struggle." The Centauri have just seized control of the Narn homeworld. G'Kar trudges into Sheridan's office and makes his agonized request for sanctuary on Babylon 5, and Londo prepares to announce victory.

[@Lightingwarrior]

For a proud person like G'kar, this was one of the most painful moments in his life, you can clearly see it

[@JimmyCerra]

One of the most painful moments in his life... so far...

[@tilasole3252]

The eye was a stubbed toe, the lashings a mere scrapping of one's knee. Here, he had to request sanctuary... The pride he had to swallow would have choked an anaconda.

[@tatianalyulkin410]

A fearless Reb Field Commander asking for sanctuary!

[@PassiveSmoking]

You can see how that word just sticks in his craw. G'Kar would much rather go down fighting, or even at the hands of a Cantauri torturer, than beg for sanctuary, and if he wasn't being ordered to he never would have asked.

[@travisdavis9577]

G kar had to give up so much personal dignity to save his people. His arc was amazingly acted and written

[@DCdabest]

In some ways both he and Mollari are the same guy. Proud men who had to learn humilty. But Londo learned too late.

[@SulliMike23]

He just slowly walks into Sheridan’s office after learning of what’s happened to his homeworld. He’s now a broken man.

[@jjkunzler]

The curse of being a broken man is you are no longer shackled to the chains of decency that previously held you back.

[@danieldickson8591]

He was humiliated. He was grief-stricken. He was filled with rage and hatred. But he wasn't broken. He didn't stop fighting for his people.

[@tatianalyulkin410]

That is true. And it would serve the Londos and the Mordens of this world well to try and remember that.

[@KesselRunner606]

G'Kar sacrificed his ego and his pride, but in doing so, he would rise. Londo sacrificed everything _for_ his ego and pride, and in doing so, he would fall.

[@amarath84]

one of the most powerful scenes in sci fi history ever, and one of the best series EVER.

[@nicholasdickens2801]

I love how Michael is just holding it together, and wondering just what’s gotten into Londo.

[@BattlestarDamocles]

He could hardly say the word 'Sanctuary'. His pride and dignity so hurt.

[@MalakianM2S]

It must be weird for people born after 2000 to 2005 watching Babylon 5 videos and see the characters writing down things with pen and paper I guess.

[@BrightOranje]

This was actually the first episode of B5 I ever saw (just thought i'd try it and give it a shot). Truly a masterpiece of drama, I was hooked instantly and went back to the start right away :)

[@Alamandorious]

Londo didn't want to do what he did. You can see it in the way he's having trouble maintaining eye contact, the way he holds himself. But he has a duty to perform, and as distasteful as it is to him, he has to perform it. Remember, the bombardment of Narn was fresh on his mind, having witnessed it, and he knew the Centauri were in the wrong.

[@MichaelClark-uw7ex]

Andreas Katsulas was an amazing actor, may he rest in peace.

[@Bayard1503]

I don't know if he was completely opposed to the idea of the Centauri controlling Narn or other species...

[@TheDeadnaughty]

@@Bayard1503 he certainly wasn't completely opposed. After all he was the one that called on the Shadows to conquer the Narn to begin with. But its one thing to wish to defeat your enemies, and another to openly bomb their world with outlawed weapons in a show of defiance.

[@KiwiKugai]

Ever get the feeling that Garibaldi would have loved to haul off and slug Londo at that moment?

[@KorAsek453]

+KiwiKugai probably took every ounce of self control he had to not shoot him on sight.

[@Ares99999]

+KorAsek453 Really? Garibaldi isn't that idiotic. Besides, why would he shoot Londo?

[@Ares99999]

+KiwiKugai Yes, I would have loved to see Garibaldi do something that utterly stupid, then be hauled off HIMSELF for court-martial for assaulting a civilian.

[@epiendless1128]

*Of course* Garibaldi isn't that stupid. That's why he exercised self-control.

[@jancivianci3028]

Ares99999 whatever it is. it can't be that bad

[@richtea615]

Such a role reversal for both characters. Londo started off as the victim and G'Kar the villain. Must have been really hard for G'Kar to go cap-in-hand to Sheridan after spending so much time causing trouble. I really liked how Londo went from a figure of fun to someone really sinister.

[@sonaruo]

its not true londo never become a villain while gkar was a true villain that wanted the destruction of centaur londo all he wanted a nice wife and some power in the series all the actions of londo was forced whieregkar actions was free

[@JayMaverick]

@@sonaruo interesting point of view. I think you're right that Londo definitely bit off more than he could chew and became an unwilling observer at some point. But he definitely wanted power for himself and his people. Regardless of cost. Was G'kar the same? At first, in my opinion, yes. But he turned from villain (with understandable motives) to redeem himself. Would G'kar go with the Shadows if Morden offered? I can't remember if that came up in the series.

[@sonaruo]

@@JayMaverick the question is?? why gkar changes because narn lost the war, and he lost once more everything if narn won the war would he have changed??? and not forget that gkar wanted a war with the centaur, whi;le londo just wanted the other races to fear and respect centaur, londo did not ask fpr war but for respect, and you can see that when he talked, we were once great and respected in the stars, , or something in this lines and if you see the story start with more personal hit on molary his nephew arrested by narn when they took by force a colony, while for gkar it was we got a tiny planet, londo it was family well in the end gkar had the opportunity to change and in a way londo also, but many of his actions was to save his people, if gkar answer was lets kill all , then the shadows will have allied with them not the centaur. but the story is different is also about how narn is lost in their hate and they can not escape, and they are going to self destruct because of their hate

[@girlgarde]

@@JayMaverick Morden DID ask G'kar the question "What do you want?". G'kar replied that he wanted the Centauri wiped from existence but when asked what does he want next for his people, G'kar replid that he didn't know and that so long as his people were safe that it didn't matter. In other words, G'kar just wanted his people to be safe and didn't care about galactic conquest. Morden then realized that the Narns couldn't be used to stir up conflicts as they had no clear goal beyond just wiping out the Centauri which is why Morden and the Shadows didn't use the Narns as pawns. As for G'kar, he WAS a bad guy at first but one who wanted to protect his people from the Centauri and who wanted revenge on them for all the pain and death they inflicted on his people in the past. He also showed traits of wisdom even in Season 1 which showed that he and the Narns had potential for redemption.

[@Elthenar]

G'kar was never a bad guy. He seemed that way from time to time but that is the beauty of the writing. It was the situations that colored our view. In this scene for example and the one in the council meeting, Londo seemed like he had gone full black hat villain. yet, by the end of the show he had come full circle.

[@odysseusrex5908]

Andreas Katsulas did such a wonderful job of conveying emotion through all those prosthetics and makeup. One thing that was never explained, throughout the series or in any of the movies, was just what it was that the League of Non Aligned worlds was not aligned with. I seem to remember the League being described as existing before the Babylon project. Presumably, most if not all of its members were once subject to the Centauri Empire, but the only world ever explicitly described as such was Narn.

[@ibDeman]

It came about as part of the defense against the Dilgar. During the dilgar war the smaller races were nearly defeated until earth joined. This turned into the non aligned worlds. So they are not beholden to any other empire.

[@odysseusrex5908]

@@ibDeman OK, that sounds entirely reasonable. Do you know if that was established in an episode or movie, or is it just something JMS said at a con one time? Of course, even after Earth came in to the war, what really stopped the Dilgar was their sun going nova. Convenient that.

[@ibDeman]

@@odysseusrex5908 To be honest with you, I can't remember. If it was not mentioned in the Deathwalker episode I don't think it was mentioned in the series. (I would have to rewatch to be sure) I'm pretty certain I read it in the Dilgar war expansion to the Babylon Wars game: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/104093/babylon-5-wars-dilgar-invasion So you may be right that it was not mentioned in the show. On the plus side I have an excuse to rewatch B5 now :-)

[@girlgarde]

@@odysseusrex5908 The Dilgar government learned that their planet's Sun was about to go nova which is why they attacked the League worlds and tried to wipe out the League races so they could then resettle on the former worlds of the League races to insure the survival of their race. I have a feeling that if their sun hadn't gone nova for whatever reason after they were beaten that the Dilgar would've tried again or even allied with the Shadows to get revenge as the Dilgar were practically tailor made to be allies for the Shadows. Of course, because they went extinct, the Shadows ended up in an akward looking alliance with the Centauri who would seem to be more suited to allying with the Vorlons.

[@toomanyaccounts]

@@girlgarde It should be noted that the Centauri heavily supported the Dilgar and were content to stand back and watch the humans get involved with the Dilgar war.

[@mountainstartemple6041]

the political tensions in this show was often just off the scale .... so many times you just tasted something was just building up

[@oldgoat142]

Imho, the story arc of both G'kar nd Mollari is a masterclass in character development. Other arcs were good, but these two I believe made the series so much more compelling. G Fox, thank you for uploading this.

[@Vinnie2501]

stupid clip made me want to remember what happened directly after so i found the episode.... ive just turned it off after watching 3 episodes straight. The Jack episode was awesome

[@tatianalyulkin410]

Is " this " ever truly " over " ? We were foolish enough to buy that idea in 1945 and in 2014 " they " came back and the world just adores them.

[@chrispalo5122]

Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas (RIP) really made this show great. All of the other actors, fine as they are (with the exception of Jerry Doyle. Also RIP), could have been taken out of the series and it would have been fine.

[@roberts.1050]

It may be 2 years later but Mira Furlan cannot be left out of this statement.

[@Alknix]

It's a bit weird that Londo is guarded by humans, not centauri. Although, I guess, in his position aliens might be more trustworthy.

[@suchiuomizu]

Its station security, even if Londo wanted Centauri guards they very likely would not have been allowed. That would have likely only been allowed for very important guests (like it had been for Emperor Turhan), not an Ambassador assigned to the station.

[@micheljavert5923]

Just when you think you know a guy, then he goes and commits a war crime.

[@tatianalyulkin410]

Oh, G'Kar darling, remember that false confession you had terrorized Londo's nephew into signing? I think you have a pretty good idea of what your Reb sister in arms is trying to say.

[@Tounushi]

Sombre scene and all, but did anyone notice Sheridan's painfully '90s calculator at his desk?

[@bidenistechnicallyadictato738]

*Nope - just his huge highly advanced-looking glowing computer screen he was working at, using a digital-pen.*

[@Tounushi]

@@bidenistechnicallyadictato738 It's just a glowing panel with a transparent piece of film on top of it. He's even holding the corner of the film in his other hand.

[@suchiuomizu]

@@bidenistechnicallyadictato738 Learn what a dictator is. Your stupidity genuinely cannot be put into words.

[@nathanielhellerstein5871]

Lots of talk of good guys and bad guys on this thread. But don't forget that even the Shadows thought themselves good guys. They were doing the younger races a *favor.* Destroying civilizations was their way of being *nice.*

[@tilasole3252]

*****SPOILERS***** The eye was a stubbed toe, the lashings a mere scrapping of one's knee. Here, he had to request sanctuary... The pride he had to swallow would have choked an anaconda.

[@misiswhiskers1410]

Babylon 5 is better than Star trek.

[@edmis90]

One is episodic the other is serial. How do you go about comparing such 2? DS9 was the only serial one of the StarTrek series.

[@misiswhiskers1410]

@@edmis90 Star Trek is a soap opera in space.

[@edmis90]

@@misiswhiskers1410 So what you are saying is that StarTrek is a _"serial dealing typically with daily events in the lives of the same group of characters."_ But StarTrek isn't serial, it's episodic. Not only is that description more accurate for Babylon 5 than it is for StarTrek, but you also didn't elaborate why would _Soap Opera_ be better or worse than other things, instead of just different. Regardless though. You didn't even attempt to answer my question - how do you compare a serial versus a episodic, but instead you went ahead answering idk what, and even that was faulty. Nevermind my inquiry.

[@misiswhiskers1410]

@@edmis90 I just think Babylon 5 aliens are way cooler than Star trek aliens. Vorlon are 😎 than the Borg. The Centauri haircut is funny. The are Narn epic.

[@Lightingwarrior]

@@edmis90 That because Deep Space 9 Was A Babylon 5 Ripoff that is a know fact

[@antifapers]

londo was doing his duty as a centauri, selling his sole would have been to do otherwise. get off you high horses.

[@HighLordBlazeReborn]

Lol even Londo realized how wrong he'd been at the end. Read the Centauri trilogy- they're canon too. The Drakh make him realize just how stupid and short-sighted and downright greedy he was.

[@JF-tt6wy]

Borkborkwoof: I never knew of those books until now. I'll have to check them out.

[@Theri4444]

even in the show he started to realize that he was heading down the wrong path but by then it was too late for him

[@jesseling6672]

Just because its your duty doesn't justify it.

[@Ares99999]

+Jesse Ling What was it supposed to do? What, exactly, could he have done at this point in time? I think it's very easy for people who don't have the unpleasant duty. Yes, it was his duty and yes, it was completely justified.