Text 3187, 55 rader
Skriven 2006-07-04 12:09:00 av Robert E Starr JR (3660.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: Denn-shah?
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"Joseph DeMartino" <jdemarti@bellsouth.net> wrote in message 
news:1151898502.781287.224740@a14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> skywalkrz wrote:
>> I was reading JMS's scripts volume 7 and was just wondering if anyone
>> knows or if JMS has spoken to why the Minbari people have Denn-shah?
>> The script says that it means "To the death" but if no Minbari has ever
>> killed another Minbari then why would they even have something like
>> this.
>
> I just received volume 8, but I still haven't gotten around to cracking
> volume 7, so I'm not sure which particular script you're talking about,
> or the context in which the term is used.  But I can offer some general
> thoughts:
>
> No one ever said that "no Minbari has ever killed another Minbari"  It
> is said that no Minbari has killed another "in over 1,000 years" and
> that "Minbari do not kill Minbari".  But all of that refers to
> post-Valen Minbari society.  Basically Valen laid down the law that -
> 1,000 years later - would save mankind from extinction and himself from
> death.  <g>
>
Let's also not forget the Minbari love of semantics -- remember when 
Sheridan comes aboard and accuses a Minbari of lying and Delenn tells 
Lennier he "didn't hear that" because if he *did* hear what he just heard, 
they'd have to kill Sheridan for having made the accusation?  No matter how 
disciplined the Minbari like to think they are, they do occasionally 
demonstrate very explosive tempers ("NO MERCY!").  I find it hard to believe 
that in a thousand years, no Minbari ever flew off the handle and in the 
process, killed another.  But how would the Minbari handle such an incident? 
Look to what happens when Delenn discovers the Grey Council had secret 
documents discussing the fact that Valen was actually an alien.  They let 
what will be (in that case, Delenn's seemingly miscegenistic marriage to 
Sheridan) be, but they make up a cover story that allows her clan to "permit 
it" while still keeping the larger populace from learning the truth about 
Valen.  No doubt in the event of one Minbari killing another, their clan or 
the Grey Council comes up with an acceptable storyline that no one questions 
very closely.  Maybe it was a suicide.  Maybe it was an accident; sure, they 
were just sparring and one guy *accidentally* knocked the other guy's brains 
out.  Yeah, that's the ticket.  Most unfortunate.  But since we all *know* 
that Valen decreed no Minbari would kill another Minbari, *obviously* that's 
the only explanation.  It couldn't be murder; *had* to be an accident. 
Prophecy remains fulfilled.

LMA
                                                                               
                                          
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