Babylon 5-Vorlon versus Shadow

From Episode 315-"Interludes and Examinations". The Vorlons uproot a Shadow offensive on Brakiri space.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• babylon
• vorlon
• shadow
• fleet
• space
• battle
• brakiri
• we
• are
• all
• kosh

[ChristopherDone]

One thing that struck me about this series was how the Shadow ships were genuinely frightening. You pray to god it flies past you and doesn't turn around, because if it sets its sight on you it will never stop and its wretched scream will be the last thing you experience. The shadows in general are one of my favourite races of any sci-fi, as are they Vorlons. The whole discipline and order vs chaos question was enthralling.

[MordyAndKittyNetwork]

Spiders Vs. Squids.

[RockyH2]

@TheSkunkCat

You make a very good point. But personally I feel the Vorlons were just as bad as the Shadows. The only difference was that the Vorlons had an interest in being seen as the good guys.

When I first saw the Vorlons wiping out a planet and killing millions of people I really felt shocked and actually even betrayed.

But yeah, Kosh was a great guy, and he really cared for the younger races. But I do think a majority of the other Vorlons did not feel the same way.

[TheSkunkCat]

@TheSkunkCat

Now I do actually think that there wasn't quite EQUIVALENCE between the Vorlons and Shadows. (Although both races where equally fanatic, the Shadows are definitely the nastier of the two if you ask me. (And Original Kosh seemed to be genuinely well-intentioned. (Kosh 2 on the other hand...) It's just the Vorlons still turned out to be dangerous bad guys, rather then the enigmatic helpers they seemed to be at first. And that was a great twist!

[TheSkunkCat]

@ChristopherDone

I think the shadows where done extremely well yes. They where slowly build up as near-invincible, but not totally invincible villains (like how a few narn ships did cause some minor damage to a shadow ship early on.) And gradually they discovered ways to fight them (by using telepaths), and then it turned out there was a bit more to them then what met the eye and the Vorlons turned out to be far from benevolent too. It was just very well done.

[TheSkunkCat]

@MordyAndKittyNetwork

I'd say sea urchins vs. squids, but close enough.

[name887]

@pazios2002 No, they're not. The techno-mage trilogy sheds some light on this. The shadow ships are entirely run by a single being hooked up to the ship via the shadow implants.

[name887]

There just happens to be a freaky poster in my Spanish classroom with daffy duck and a caption that says "Que Quieres?". That literally translates directly to "What do you want?"

[RockyH2]

@ScutigeraColeoptrata

Yeah, you're right about Centauri Prime as well as with the Vorlons at Corianna 6. (Vorlon Planet Killer)

Personally I feel Vorlon/Shadow technologies developed along the lines of their respective ideologies and that the design choices they made were based around their views/convictions. (Orderly/Balanced vs Chaotic/Erratic)

IMHO the Vorlons seem to go for quality (powerful individual ships) while the Shadows seem to go for quantity (superior numbers)

[ScutigeraColeoptrata]

@RockyH2 I don't know. In addition to this, the Shadows on Centauri Prime seemed to consider it a foregone conclusion that they could do nothing to stop the Vorlon Planet Killer. The other First Ones seemed to also consider the Vorlons the more dangerous of the two, since they targeted them first.

Still, the Shadow Planet Killer might be the more frightening weapon of the two. Even though it can't be used in a ship battle, it seems difficult/mpossible to stop a Death Cloud once activiated.

[RockyH2]

@ScutigeraColeoptrata

The Vorlons and Shadows are about equal in technology, perhaps the Shadows being slightly better. (Look for example at their Planetkiller. A selfsustaining cloud that feeds of planets it destroys and can trap and take out enemy fleets with its missiles)

The Shadows were one of the eldest of the First Ones while the Vorlons where one of the youngest. They were probably pretty close in evoluton. Any differences are probably more because of their ideologies.