The Brightest Star in My Sky

The really crazy thing about the romance between John Sheridan and Delenn is that you got to see it coming. From "In the Beginning" onward, we knew that they would develop a relationship, that they would have a son...

It's funny, though, how quickly we forgot it.

Maybe it's because we didn't see Sheridan again for another year or so, and when he finally did show up, he did so carrying a rather large sign reading "Minbari Public Enemey #1". Maybe it's because by that point there were a lot of other things going on, twists and turns in the ongoing arcs of the overall series plot that kept your eyes glued in other directions. In a way it's the classic magician's trick- distraction. You make the grand gestures and flourishes with one hand, and everyone watches that one, while with the other, you work the real magic.

And that's pretty much how it went. Until one day we woke up to notice the way she looked at him, the way he looked at her, and the way Lennier huddled in the background looking disapproving. (Jealous, is more like it, but whatever.)

I've said before that I never really paid that much attention to Sheridan and Delenn as a couple until "Sleeping in Light." Part of that is because I missed quite a bit with my first viewing of the series, coming in towards the end of season 4, "Racing Mars." It's a wonder I stuck with it until the beginning came 'round again and it all started to come together for me. But SiL, particularly that last goodbye, really got me. It was so sad, and yet so beautiful...

All of that being said, though, Sheridan and Delenn's romance is not by any means a normal one. She's the One who Is, he's the One Who Will Be; he is the one groomed by the Vorlons to destroy the Shadow homeworld of Z'Ha'Dum, she is the last descendant of Valen. They are the right people, in the right place, at the right time. It's hardly a dull existance, of course, but it's also a bit strange.

While I find their relationship really quite beautiful, I also find that Sheridan and Delenn are amongst the easiest characters in B5 to mock. I'm never one to let an opportunity for sarcastic commentary go to waste, and as far as that goes, nothing is really sacred.

My mother calls them cute, and they really are. They're also star-eyed, mushy, and sickly sweet. Cynic that I am, I really have a hard time dealing with that sometimes.

I guess- sacrilige that it might be to criticize JMS- I might have written them differently as a couple, more playing up their strengths and the way they could be strong together, but that's because I adore strong female characters and loath weak ones, and I like Delenn best when she's just a little bit scary ("No mercy!" and "If you value your lives, be somewhere else!")

Yeah. I'm strange that way.

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