Sheridan's Son

Sheridan\'s Son

First off, I just had a friend finish all 5 years of Babylon 5. She really enjoyed it; however, she was very upset that no/very little information was given about Sheridan's son. Is there any information out there, perhaps in the trilogies or anywhere else. As I recall, he joined the ISA and Londo gave Sheridan the vial to give to David when he turned 18. Any insite would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Cerberus

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

He's featured in the Centauri trilogy, especially in Book 3. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

Yes, he is. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

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she was very upset that no/very little information was given about Sheridan's son.

[/quote]

Why? Not only is he not an important character in the main B5 story, he isn't a character at all.

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Is there any information out there, perhaps in the trilogies or anywhere else. As I recall, he joined the ISA and Londo gave Sheridan the vial to give to David when he turned 18.

[/quote]

David didn't join the ISA (I think only planets can do that. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif)

The full details are in the telepath trilogy, but all of the clues are there in the series. It is just a matter of connecting the dots.

"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars": In the 3262 segment there is a reference to some kind of "incident" concerning Sheridan's son.

"War Without End" In the Beginning - both of these establish that Sheridan and Delenn are held captive on Centauri Prime in the year 2278. Delenn tells Sheridan "our son is safe" leading to the assumption that their presence there has something to do with David.

"Wheel of Fire" - The Cenaturi break off relations with the IA. They weill rebuild by themsleves, without outside help. Londo has a Keeper which keeps him in line.

"Objects at Rest" Londo gives Sheridan the urn for David and tells him to give it to the child when he turns 16. The year is 2262. David will turn 16 in 2278 or 79, depending on where Delenn is her pregnancy, and how long the gestation period of a Human-Minbari hybrid is.

So David is expected to open the urn around 2278. When he does he'll be "Keepered" 100 years later people are still talking about some sort of embarassing "incident" involving him. In 2278 we know that Sheridan and Delenn have been drawn to a still-hostile Centauri Prime which Londo rules. Delenn tells Sheridan, "Our son is safe" Londo reveals the nature of the Keepers, makes Sheridan and Delenn promise to save his world, then releases them. In order to prevent the Keeper from countermanding his orders he asks G'Kar to kill him.

"Sleeping in Light" (2281) Ivanova asks Delenn where David is. Delenn says that he is undergoing Ranger training and that John did not want to have him return for the "last supper". Relations have been normalized with the Centauri. Vir, now Emperor, is welcome in the Sheridan's home. A Ranger is able to get inside the Imperial Bedchamber with no trouble. Presumably the Drakh and the Keepers have been dealt with.

Regards,

Joe

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

Thanks for the replies. I will give this information to her. I think I will look take a look at the episodes Joe mentioned again myself.

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Why? Not only is he not an important character in the main B5 story, he isn't a character at all.


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She is an older lady with 2 sons both around 40. I think it was just a mother’s curiosity that got her. I may have over stated it before: She was not truly angry or upset, it just being a mother I think she wanted the story to continue in some way and give insight into what happened to David. Anyways, thanks for all the replies so quickly and I just started reading book 1 of the Centauri Trilogy last week. Can't wait to get to book 3.

Thanks again,

Cerberus

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

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<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by NAME: </font color>
David didn't join the ISA (I think only planets can do that. )

The full details are in the telepath trilogy, ....

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The telepath trilogy? No, the Centauri Prime trilogy. I don't remember David Sheridan being mentioned in the Psi Corps trilogy, and Book 3 would have been the only one he could have been mentioned in.


He also couldn't have been mentioned in the Technomage trilogy, because he wasn't born yet.

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

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The telepath trilogy? No, the Centauri Prime trilogy.

[/quote]

That's called a "typo", sonny. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif What can I tell you? I was having a "senior moment". I'd just replied to a thread about telepaths and my brain thought "Centauri Trilogy" but my fingers typed "Telepath". It happens.

Regards,

Joe

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

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"Sleeping in Light" (2281) Ivanova asks Delenn where David is. Delenn says that he is undergoing Ranger training and that John did not want to have him return for the "last supper". Relations have been normalized with the Centauri. Vir, now Emperor, is welcome in the Sheridan's home. A Ranger is able to get inside the Imperial Bedchamber with no trouble. Presumably the Drakh and the Keepers have been dealt with.

[/quote] /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

That's certainly true, and (without giving away too terribly many spoilers) all of the juicy details are given in Book 3 of the "Fall of Centauri Prime" trilogy...I was waiting with baited breath for that one to hit the bookstores, so's I could finally find out what occurred after Londo let Sheridan and Delenn escape. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

So, go and grab it -- not only is it the "canonical" telling of this part of the Babylon 5 story (as JMS allows these things to go), but it's terrifically told, to boot.

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

I would (have) love(d) to get to see David Sheridan. Maybe we still will in a TV movie. I understand completely why he was not in Sleeping in Light. It would have not worked, no matter how good the actor would have been, to get a character in and to give whatever happens to him emotional impact in just one episode - and thats what would have been needed.

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

It is mentioned in the Centauri book that David "looks" completely human - i.e. a head with hair on it, but no bone ridge like Delenn had after her metamorphosis. Just in case you were wondering.

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

Y'know I only have one thing to say regarding Sheridan and Delenn's incarceration on Centauri Prime...as it was part of the great caper involving Babylon 4 and the time device was damaged causing Sheridan to become "unstuck" in time that allowed us the knowledge... I had always viewed that as a possible future - not the absolute future. That of course does not tie up the loose ends regarding the Drakh keeper and David Sheridan at 16. /forums/images/icons/blush.gif

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

Actually, this is all now firmly locked in stone, as JMS himself has mentioned, once Sheridan decided on going to Z'ha'dum against Delenn's advice. That possible future became the actual future, and it's all fully documented in the second and third novels of Peter David's trilogy. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

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... I had always viewed that as a possible future - not the absolute future.

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We know it is the real future because we see it again - the framing story of In the Beginning is set in the hours between Sheridan's first and second visits to the throne room. During the establishing shot of Centauri Prime at title reads "2278 A.D. Earth Calendar", and at the end of the film Londo spies on Sheridan and Delenn in their cell.

Even without the books the events of 2278 are therefore "canon"

Regards,

Joe

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

About the bone ridge: It also said that he had a very wild hair cut. Also if he would have a little ridge, it could not be seen even if it exsisted.

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

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It also said that he had a very wild hair cut.

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The only one who remarked on David's haircut was his father, a career military man. David's hair could have been fairly short and still drawn a complaint from the old man. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif (Besides, maybe it was getting long enough to remind him of Byron - reason enough to insist the kid get a haircut.)

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Also if he would have a little ridge, it could not be seen even if it exsisted.

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IIRC the narrative about David looking completely Human is part of Delenn's musings. Since she's his mother and would have seen him long before he had any hair, I doubt she would have failed to notice a bone ridge, or to think about it in contemplating how Human her son looks.

Regards,

Joe

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

Both the narrator and Garibaldi comment on David's shaggy hair cut. And, Mind you - John Sheridan's hair cut at the End of Season 3 / First 3 episodes of Season 4 was quite shaggy too. As I recall, was it not the narrator that said that David looks completely human?

(IIRC = If I recall correctly?)

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

Of course, we don't know when Minbari bone crests come in. I doubt they have one as large (proportionately) as adults' (if one at all) when born ... unless Minbari reproduction is quite different than Terran biological processes. Most creatures that have any form of bony protubrants don't have them at birth or they're very very small. We only hear about David's discription when he's still young. Of course, he would probably be old enough by then that on a Minbari the crest should have at least started to form - if not fully formed already - though it could possibly have been delayed due to different hormonal enzeymes in David or whatnot or just grown so small that it hadn't even stuck out of his skull / skin.

Still, I would go with the idea that he didn't have one, mainly because most of his mother's DNA seems to be human and all of his father's was. Delenn says she's half-Minbari, half-Human but except for her minturized crest and forehead, we didn't see anything else about her biology being Minbari after her change.

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

There was still the minbari strenght (See for example War Without End II - She easily lifts away the pillar Sinclair couldn't - using his full strenght)

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Half-minbari and half-human might easily mean a Minbari mind in Human body. After all, having both halves of both would be near impossible. Firstly because her mind was not human before. Only with time, only by learning about Humans would she start understanding the Human mindset.

Secondly because having two radically different biologies thrown together in the same genome and cells... is a recipe for immunological conflict and utter failiure. Only with partial isolation of different systems and carefully chosen interface points could one hope to rebuild the body while preserving the mind.

That Delenn kept her headbone even if she became mostly Human... was natural. Bones don't break down easily. Hell, if they did, how would the body know in which way and direction to rebuild and repair itself?

Re: Sheridan\'s Son

I tend to agree with Eve about the bearing of the "Flash Forward" on what will/could be. Setting aside the books not penned by JMS, Delenn telling Sheridan to NOT go to Zhahadum, would seem to be her way of telling him how to proceed the way that they went in her time line, since "the other alternative is unthinkable".

So if NOT going leads to that only "thinkable" future, then him going, as he does, should set them on a different track. This point of view has nagged at me since the first or second time I went through the series.

On a side note, it is pretty odd to have Gkar just "hanging around" on Centari Prime, especially with Londo as protective as he is of his Keeper, at least when sober.

As for the view mentioned that the Movie "In the Beginning" locked the "Flashed" future in, I should dare to point out that In the Beginning was just that, in the beginning of the series, before Sheridan would have his flash, before he would go to Zhahadum and, according to the above mentioned theory, would THEN change the future.
In essence, I am suggesting that In the Beginning was itself another type of flash forward, flashing from a point in the time line before the future would have been changed by Sheidan going to Zhahadum.
Taking the episodes (including the intro movie) out of chronological order would seem to be a bad idea, otherwise it becomes very tough to talk about timelines, and which past hooks up with which future, now that JMS brought the whole thing into question with time travel.

I am rather reluctant to call the debut movie canon for the end of the JMS written Universe of B5.

It really comes down to whether the fan wants to think of Delenn's warning as a way to stay on track, or a way to choose a new track. That seems to be the hinge to reading what the "Flash Forward" had to say.