[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b5thelongtwilightstruggle_6739.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:That's right Londo, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone you make this possible]].]]
!The Long, Twilight Struggle

->Tell them, that from this place we will deliver notice to the parliaments of conquerors that a line has been drawn against the darkness. And we will hold that line, no matter the cost.
-->-'''Captain John Sheridan'''

!This episode contains examples of:

* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: After the scene of the bombing of the Narn homeworld, and the riots caused by the news reaching the station, scenes are shown of deserted corridors (with armed security in full riot gear standing guard in all of them) and Sheridan brooding in his office as ISN keeps up a running monologue describing the ongoing bombardment.
* BadassArmy: Sheridan is introduced to and given command of the Rangers.
* ContinuityNod:
** Londo mentions his DuelToTheDeath with [[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E17Knives Urza Jaddo]] and asks Refa how many more friends he'll have to kill.
** Delenn also tries to fill some of [[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E19DividedLoyalties the gaps in her vocabulary]], as she demonstrates to Sheridan:
-->Abso-fraggin-lutely, dammit.
** Also counts as {{Foreshadowing}}: After Sheridan and Delenn leave the planet, Draal calls for [[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E20BabylonSquared Zathras]].
** During the bombardment, ISN quotes [[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E15AndNowForAWord Senator Quantrell]].
* DeathGlare: Sheridan's gets a ''lot'' of use during the Council scene, and Delenn's isn't far behind. When the two of them start glaring in tandem, even ''Londo'' shuts up.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Londo announces that under the new Centauri occupation, the penalty for the murder of any Centauri, by any Narn, will be the execution of 500 Narns.
** Accompanied by an EyeTake from the pak'ma'ra ambassador.
* LargeHam: Draal.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Londo's reaction to the bombardment of Narn by mass drivers. He doesn't actually say it; he doesn't ''need'' to. His face says it all.
* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: When Lord Refa suggests the use of mass drivers against the Narn homeworld, Londo protests that they have treaties outlawing them. Refa dismisses these treaties as "[[AppealToForce ink on a page]]."
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Earth and the Minbari lodge protests over the use of mass drivers, but the fact that the ''Vorlons'' also lodge one shows that what the Centauri are doing is a ''really'' bad thing.
* TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar: Using mass drivers constitutes a massive war crime, apparently. Given what they are and [[ColonyDrop what they do]], it's not that surprising.
* TheOtherDarrin: Draal is played by John Schuck rather than Louis Turenne. They HandWave this by saying The Machine has made him younger and more fit.
* PrayerIsALastResort: While G'Kar has demonstrated his spiritual side on a number of occasions, this is the first time we see him praying. He sits at the altar where the Book of G'Quon is, surrounded by lit candles, whispering fervently. Light years away, a Narn force sent to attack a Centauri supply depot is ambushed by the Shadows and quickly annihilated. As the Shadows leave, G'Kar stops praying and extinguishes the candles.
* SeekingSanctuary: Following the fall of their homeworld, the remnants of the Narn Regime order G'Kar to seek political asylum on Babylon 5.
* TitleDrop: Draal speaks of "the long, twilight struggle to come".
* TheWarHasJustBegun: G'Kar promises in his final speech to the council:
-->No dictator... no invader... can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.
* WeaponsOfMassDestruction: Mass Drivers, which [[ColonyDrop hurl asteroids down onto the planet]].
* WhamEpisode