avelera:

Well in THAT case, what shall we discuss? Hmmm….

So here’s a thought which I have been discussing (more like monologuing at) my bf lately about why Londo’s fall from grace is so unique in television and even many novels. (Sorry for being so predictably Londo/Centauri-centric! One of these…

I’m with you on the Londo love, he’s always been tied with Delenn for my favourite character in the show.

What I really like about Londo (and what you mentioned above) is that he’s never portrayed as a bad or even necessarily unsympathetic person. He makes some terrible choices, but everything he does is very logical and consistent with his character and the pressure put on him by the society that shaped him - we never get the impression that he is in any way ‘going off the rails’. And of course the thing that makes him so different from Lord Refa is that his motivations are all for his people, rather than his own gain. His increased power is almost a side effect.

If I could draw a quick comparison to Battlestar Galactica (which will of course be totally lost on anyone who hasn’t watched, so sorry) I’ve often thought that Londo was in many ways the antithesis of Gaius Baltar. With Baltar, we see that every decision he makes is in order to save his own skin. He’s a consummate coward and he always looks after himself first, even willing to risk the destruction of his own species to that end. He’s not actually an evil person, per se, but the choices he’s forced to make by that aspect of himself mean he causes terrible harm. Londo, on the other hand, is almost entirely selfless, even willing to sacrifice his own life to save his people. Every choice he makes is for what he believes is the greater good of the Centauri. But he too has such narrow vision that he ends up doing more harm than good.

What I find interesting is that when Morden asks G’Kar what he wants, G’Kar’s answer is more personal: ‘I want justice, I want to strip the marrow from their bones’ etc etc. It’s all about his personal need for revenge, whereas Londo’s answer is all about what he wants for his people.