My Lyta theory

I just got through watching a whole bunch of episodes from late season 4 early season 5, and i have formulated a theory concerning Lyta's life, both personal and professional. she was in the corps where all they wanted her for was to use her powers as a teep, she went to the Vorlons who used her again this time as a vessel for them, and as a Doomsday weapon, and she was also used by Byron, who wanted to know what she knew. she was never treated as a normal individual by anyone except for Zack, and this i think is the greatest injustice, Zack seriously dug Lyta and though he couldn't understand her powers or what she had been through, he only ever wanted to help her carry her burdens and never to make use of them, yet the only people or groups she ever felt anything for wanted only to make use of what she possessed, whether that be her powers or the information she held within her, i think this is ultimately why i have always had a soft spot for Zack, he seems like the only gentleman left in the universe, even G'kar just has sex with lots of hot earth women.

Not sure I agree about Byron using her. I think Byron did legitimately love Lyta as the series played out, true he came to this love, because she was a Teep he wanted on his side, but, I believe it was true, otherwise, she would most definitely know during Secrets of the Soul of his using her.

I think However, that had Ivanova been in S5, it may have turned out Ivanova was his love, and lyta was used as you suggest.

how so with Ivanova? surely she would still have been reeling from losing Marcus, in sleeping in light she certainly doesn't seem to be married or anything, i always liked the idea that she remained true to his memory.

how so with Ivanova? surely she would still have been reeling from losing Marcus

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jms has told us that has Ivanova been in season five, it would have been she, not Lyta, that fell in love with Byron. Lyta would have just become Byron's closest follower. Imagine the drama of Ivanova having to call in Bester to help route out the telepaths. It would have been specifically because she was still reeling from losing Marcus that would have driven her to Byron; she would be now afraid from having not had the courage to say yes I want to be with you to Marcus that would drive her to more easily say yes I want to be with you to Byron. There is a degree of similarity between Marcus and Byron, particularly in the soft-spokenness, I'd say. And that similarity would cause Ivanova to latch onto Byron out of wanting to seize the moment in a way that she didn't let herself do with Marcus. Of course, as with every relationship she seems to have, it wouldn't have turned out well for dear Ivanova.

much of it for me probably just comes from having a very deep dislike of Byron, but i stand by my point, Lyta has always been drawn to those who have use for her powers, rather than those who would be better for her (with the possible exception of Kosh, but even then the Vorlon race still used her as a vessel for two ambassadors)

*Tries in vain to come up with smartass remark about Lyta Theory*

I don't know if Lyta is "drawn" to those who need her powers as much as she just finds it a necessity for survival.

The only one she was drawn to was Kosh, which is more a result of the genetic finaggling the Vorlons did to humans. Dr Kyle was also deeply effected by the encounter with Kosh, but Lyta even more so because she's a telepath.

After that, as an exile from the Psi Corps (and hence human civilisation), stuck on B5 and with an obvious desire to defeat the Shadows, she had no choice but to help Sheridan. Where else could she go?

As for Byron... never understimate what it means for a member of a marginalised or opressed group to find a movement the teaches empowerment and community (ie, The Nation of Islam, Hamas, the IRA)- even when these groups cross moral or ethical lines.

But keep in mind that Byron never approved of the attacks.

And Byron definitely had a point that Lyta was starting to act like a trained dog. "Sit down!" rather than "would you like to have a seat?"

Who wouldn't be a bit mesmerized by someone like Byron. In the Psi Corp Lyta was taught to be completely loyal. When she escaped them, she found someone else to become loyal to; someone who could use her powers.

Then suddenly there's a man who points out to you rather blatantly that you have gotten so used to following orders, you don't even think not to.

Ah, well. The real shame it it, too, is that even if the renegade Psi Corp members had gotten their own planet, that would just have given the various races more reason to distrust them.

i never liked Byron because he always seemed to me like a petulant child, he comes to B5 to set up a telepath colony and want to be fair to all people, then when he realises he cannot get a homeworld for his people by negotiation he blackmails the ambassadors of the league, then he comes across with the attitude of "i wouldn't have to blackmail you, if you did what i wanted in the first place". I won't lie i was rather pleased when he topped himself.

He only seemed to go all unreasonable and demand a homeworld after sleeping with Lyta. In fairness to Byron, is it not possible that he was "burned" (as she herself warned him he could be), and it altered his personality enough to tip him over the edge with his demands.

What I thought was especially telling in his reaction was the 100% reversal in his attitude upon learning of the Vorlon genetic interference. His entire stance up to then was that teeps were superior to mundanes. What does he talk about after the revelation? "We could have been normal." It seemed to me that his superiority complex was only on the surface. Once he realized that their telepathic abilities were the result of manipulation, he had somebody to blame for all of the injustices that both mundanes and the Corps had visited on his people and he lashed out.

Jan

His entire stance up to then was that teeps were superior to mundanes.

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Ode to a PsiCorps upbringing. Though Byron did become disillusioned with the Corps, he probably did still try to hang onto some things that he was taught during his time there out of not wanting his whole world to feel like it was collapsing in on itself. But, as you say, under the surface he had probably for a very long time felt an endless parade of people and groups walking all over him and those like him, and it just needed a little somethin' somethin' to bring it to the surface.

i don't think he was trying to hold onto anything, i just think bester did a better job of training him than anyone realised, after all they're just mundanes.