Characters / Babylon Five League Of Non Aligned Worlds

The League in general

The League on Babylon 5

• The Alliance: A loose one, in order to give their worlds a voice and not be eclipsed by the major powers (most importantly, defend themselves from the Centauri).
  • When the League is dissolved, all of the members join the new Interstellar Alliance, along with the four "major" races.
• All There in the Manual: You’ll need to take a look at the tie-in materials, notably an authorized CD, to learn anything substantial about most of the member races. Their names, even.
• "Ass" in Ambassador: Often. The Drazi ambassador, definitely. The Brakiri ambassador has his moments. And the League as a whole will often decide to be stubborn over Sheridan's latest idea, to bring another level of conflict to a given episode.
• Hufflepuff House: Some more than others. The Llort, Grome and Yolu can be seen sitting in session, but none of them will ever say anything. The Abbai get Demoted to Extra and the Vree are seen in person only once, though their ships show up a lot.
• Slave Liberation: Many of them used to be Centauri slave races.

The Drazi

Drazi

Purple! Green!

A scaled race with grey skin, infamous for their Might Makes Right mentality and tendency for random violence.

• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: How their society works. It's also probably why their representative is quite often speaking for the entire League. They don't have the diplomatic weight of the Abbai or the financial power of the Brakiri and the Vree, but they can force their way to the top by virtue of being the League's most militant member.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: A Call to Arms reveals that the male Drazi's genitalia is located in their armpit.
• Comedic Sociopathy: They can be counted upon to start swinging fists at any opportunity, and are often used for comedy. Such comedy usually involves someone getting hurt. The Drazi have plenty of serious moments too, though.
• Early-Installment Weirdness / Art Evolution: In the first season, the back of their heads are smooth. In season two, some Drazi start appearing with layered scales on the back of the scalp. In their showcase episode “The Geometry of Shadows’’, both variants of Drazi appear in the same scenes (apparently, this was done deliberately to suggest racial variation). By season three though, and from then on, all Drazi have the scales. In early seasons their cheeks tended to be spiked, but this was less common later on.
• Fantastic Rank System: According to the episode "Deathwalker", their ships are commanded by a Makar. The only other Drazi rank we hear of, though, is the far more mundane "General".
• Leeroy Jenkins: They rarely have patience for any tactic beyond "leap into the fray, fists flying".
• Lizard Folk: Scaly quasi-reptilians.
• National Weapon: As mentioned above, knives, specifically katars. For ship weapons, they love particle guns, the bigger the better.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Apparently, this is why the rules governing the regular green/purple conflict (which decides the ruling Drazi faction for the next few cycles) have yet to be updated to account for contact with non-Drazi. This is particularly hilarious when a later episode makes it clear that the Drazi have had contact with alien races (specifically the Hyach) for at least 800 years.
• One-Gender Race: Subverted. While every Drazi encountered on the show appears to be male, supplemental material states that their appearance and aggressive nature makes it hard for humans to differentiate males from females.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: They become this in later seasons, after the Narn leave the role vacant thanks to the rise of G'Kar.
  • They also are the greatest military power of the League (almost comparable to the major powers), and have invented a Wave-Motion Gun.
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens: A mild example. Violence is their way, and they're not the friendliest of people, but nor are they antagonists. In a strange way, they're one of Babylon 5's strongest allies.
• Shoulders of Doom: Like the Minbari, their military personnel wear jutting shoulder pieces.
• Silly Reason for War: Their politics involve randomly splitting into two groups and then fighting each other.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: The Drazi are consistent allies of Babylon 5, but also tend to be the ones resisting what the heroes want. See the Drazi Ambassador leading the denouncement of Delenn in "The Summoning" or opposing the Declaration of Principles in "The Paragon of Animals". Whenever the Drazi are being contrary (which is often), they're in the wrong.
• Tim Taylor Technology: They have a species-unique shipboard particle gun that overcomes a lot of the limitations of that kind of weapon just by being really big and having a lot of power fed into it.
• Violent Glaswegian: They're basically the in-universe equivalent of this trope.
• Warrior Monk: Many of them are shown to be religious. In the first season, a Drazi monk has to reluctantly surrender his blade to Garibaldi; in season three, two missionaries poke Zack Allen to receive a blessing. And the patron god of Drazi pilots gets mentioned. Naturally, being Drazi, anything in their culture of any importance seems to involve aspects of the warrior, or at least the brawler.
• With Friends Like These...: Sometimes. Though it makes their Pet the Dog moments - like the Drazi representative informing Delenn that the League will trust her judgement and send forces to aid her in "Shadow Dancing" all the more effective.

The Brakiri

Brakiri.

A race with dark hair, a cleaved forehead, and tight skin around their brow. They usually wear pinstriped suits.

• The Aesthetics of Technology: They don't have anything like the technology needed for organic ships, but they make their ships to resemble it so they seem more advanced than they are.
• Aliens Steal Cable: Their homeworld is, in cosmic terms, located close to Earth. Close enough that they were just the right distance to pick up 20th century television and radio transmissions from Earth. This apparently became a source of fascination and impacted their culture in various ways, the most visible of which is the tendency of the Brakiri we see on screen to wear garb that resembles rather anachronistic pin-stripe suits.
• All There in the Manual: Aside from the religious stuff in "Day of the Dead", all that we really know about them from the show is that they're pack rats. Source material indicates that they're a corporatocracy, and that their society has many parallels to 20th Century Earth, due to their having picked up television transmissions from Earth before they gained space-faring technology. The only indication of that in the show is that the Brakiri ambassador's clothing somewhat resembles a human suit.
• Artificial Gravity: They inherited the technology from the Centauri when they left, and developed it well beyond any other of the Younger Races except possibly the Minbari.
• Comet of Doom: Both played straight and subverted, funnily enough. The comet is an omen of death among Brakiri. During the Day of the Dead, which comes around every 200 years, the comet is a joyous symbol, but at other times invoking it is considered threatening - Garibaldi mentions in one episode that a Brakiri had taken his mention of a comet as a threat against that Brakiri, his family, and his entire water clan, "whatever that is".
• Dark Is Not Evil: They have a mildly sinister appearance, they're nocturnal, and they have a creepy-looking necromantic religion, but they aren't bad people. Indeed, during the Shadow War, the Brakiri ambassador was one of Delenn's most loyal allies amongst the League races.
• Diurnal Nocturnal Animal: Despite being nocturnal, they're often seen wandering around in daytime (although daytime and nighttime on a space station are somewhat open to interpretation).
• Mystery Cult: Apparently a lot of their religions are like this.
• One Nation Under Copyright: Apparently, their government is corporate-based.
• Proud Merchant Race: The reason for the Brakiri's influence within the League, though some of their partners and rivals accuse them of being pack rats who scavenge technology from others.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens
• Slave Liberation: The one named League Race which was once under Centauri rule.

The pak'ma'ra

Note that unlike other races (save human) the lower-case is the canon spelling: pak'ma'ra. To quote J. Michael Straczynski: Why? Because that's how they spell it.

pak'ma'ra

Aka the carrion eaters. A race with mottled skin and several short tentacles for a face.

• Acquired Poison Immunity: Because of their carrion-eating way of life, they are fairly difficult to poison.
• Beneath Notice: This becomes a point in their favour when they send representatives to join the Rangers.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Supposedly, the hump on their backs is the female of the species, making them something of a reverse angler fish in that regard.
• Butt-Monkey: The other races consider them to be lazy, obnoxious, greedy, smelly, and usually treat them with barely concealed disgust because of their carrion-eating ways. They were considered worthless as Rangers until it was realized that because of their low status in galactic society they were also Beneath Notice, making them ideal couriers for sensitive information. Also, one time all the pak'ma'ra on Babylon 5 had their stomachs forcibly pumped because a corpse went missing and they were within a five-mile radius.
• Cthulhumanoid: Played straight physically, but they're probably the least offensive aliens on the show.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Despite being quite benevolent, they're considered "stubborn, lazy, obnoxious, greedy" and are infamous for eating carrion. Yet according to Vir Cotto, their singing was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, and it even moved Londo to tears.
  • Since they tend to be overlooked and dismissed by everyone, they're the perfect "hiding in plain sight" spies; the first pak'ma'ra to join the Rangers are given this role.
• I'm a Humanitarian: They eat carrion, including the bodies of sapient races.
• National Weapon: The pak'ma'ra don't seem to have one for personal combat, but in space, their ships tend to mount lots of plasma weapons.
• The Right of a Superior Species: They believe they are the Chosen People for their ability to safely digest carrion from many different planets and species. As one pak'ma'ra said, "pak'ma'ra are chosen of God. Very special, we can eat of all the creatures who walk and fly and crawl, but not of the fish in the sea."

The Abbai

A race of semi-aquatic descent with a fin on their head.

Abbai

• The Bus Came Back: They were an important League member in season one, were mentioned several times and seen as background characters in season two, then they disappeared for two seasons. Come season five, however, they're mentioned again (including having sent representatives to join the Rangers) and then their representative to the Interstellar Alliance is clearly visible in several episodes (though she has no lines). It seems they must have largely sat the Shadow War out.
• Deflector Shields: While many races have some form of electromagnetic defense for their ships to help resist energy weapons, the Abbai have actual shields capable of resisting even solid projectiles.
• Demoted to Extra: After the first season.
• Early-Installment Weirdness / Art Evolution: In their first episode, their crests are longer than in their second appearance - after that, both variants show up as background extras, but the shorter version is more common.
• Fish People
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum: Inverted: They exported pieces of their (relatively) advanced technology to any race that joined the League.
• Lady Land: According to source materials, their government is matriarchal. This is supported in the show by all but one member of their delegation being female.
• Non-Mammal Mammaries: They're pretty clearly amphibians, but of course they have breasts. Tie-in materials (an authorized CD) attempt to justify it by describing the Abbai breast as in fact a clump of small tendrils that serve a similar but not identical function to mammaries.
• Technical Pacifist: Their hat, and the reason they have shields: they don't like to fight, and when they're forced they make sure as many of their own survive the fight as possible.

The Markab

Markab

A race with pebbly brown/tan skin, wiped out in the second season by a plague.

• Apocalypse How: The drafa plague results in a Class 3; the extinction of the Markab race.
• But What About the Astronauts?: Discussed. It's mentioned at one point that due to the cover-up and general denial among the Markab, the plague's already spread to most of their colonies. There's also a brief mention that there are probably some Markab who survived the plague by being off-world at the time, either on ships or more remote colonies. However, their numbers are almost certainly too few to form a sustainable population, leaving the species functionally extinct.
• Death by Irony: Due to a cultural stigma, the Markab believed that only the sinful could get drafa. However, it was the sin of pride that prevented them from acknowledging the spread of the disease or seeking outside help until it was too late.
• Empty Chair Memorial: After their species goes extinct, their chairs in the League council chamber are left empty for the rest of the season.
• Holier Than Thou: The attitude that dooms them. The ones on Babylon 5 believe the plague is caused by their contact with more "sinful" races, so they isolate themselves to pray and "cleanse" themselves. This just helps the plague spread faster throughout the entire group. By the time the cure is found, there are no survivors.
• The Noseless
• The Plague: Their race is destroyed by the drafa plague.
• Restricted Rescue Operation: The Markab doctors were forbidden from telling anyone else about the drafa. It's also implied that they didn't get funding for research as it supposedly only killed the "immoral" ones.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Efforts were made to avert this; season two plays the Markab up as a significant presence on Babylon 5 and as trade partners of humans, so that their extinction episode carried more weight.

The Vree

Vree

A grey-skinned race who resemble the classic "little grey men" aliens - because they are the classic "little grey men" aliens.

• Flying Saucer: Their ships, of which two designs are seen.
• The Greys: One of no less than three races in the setting to fit the trope. They're the closest of all, having saucer-shaped ships and a history of buzzing Earth in them.
  • One member of their race is even brought up on civil charges by a human; the individual Vree's great-grandfather had abducted the human's great-grandfather, and the human's descendants are suing for damages.
    • According to Word of God, when the Vree found out the significant impact that one of their routine survey missions had on human culture, they thought it was hilarious.
• Hufflepuff House: Their ships show up a lot, but we only ever see an actual Vree individual on screen once, and they never have an important role.
• Jabba Table Manners: Apparently. Something about their way of eating is unnerving, anyway. G'Kar asks if Sinclair has ever seen them eat, remarking "there's horror for you!", and protesting that the Narn delegation has been sat next to them.
• National Weapon: On their ships, antimatter weapons, including the devastating Antimatter Shredder.
• Space Clothes: As can be seen in the picture. Deliberate, no doubt.
• Team Switzerland: According to Vir Cotto, they remain neutral in the season five war between the Centauri and the rest of the Alliance.
• The Voiceless: When asked how he pleads, the Vree up on charges holds up a card with a symbol on it that makes the one Prince used to use look comprehensible.

The Gaim

Gaim, suited and unsuited

An insectoid race who are usually seen wearing environmental suits.

• Enemy Mine: The six major Gaim hives were once rivals, but united after contact with aliens, and now only compete economically.
• Hive Queen: "The Queens" are mentioned by the Gaim Ambassador at least once; although the context is ambiguous, background materials confirm that these are the Gaim's leaders.
• Insectoid Aliens: The humanoid ones seen in the show are actually a special breed that were created to serve as ambassadors after the Gaim made contact with other races. We never do see what the non-humanoid planet-dwelling Gaim look like, but background material suggests their Queens breed them into different castes, the humanoid ambassadors being merely one caste.
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: Apparently, the event that introduced them to alien life and saw the unification of their queens was a very short-lived invasion by the Narn.
• Shout-Out: Named after Neil Gaiman, and their environment suits are patterned after the appearance of Morpheus' mask.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Not only do they bring the League as a whole into Sheridan's alliance when they agree to aid the Brakiri, following Sheridan's demonstration of power, but the nuclear weapons used by Sheridan to attack Z'ha'dum, and later to get the attention of both the Vorlons and the Shadows at Coriana, were provided by the Gaim. Delenn seems to acknowledge the debt in her words to the new Gaim ambassador in season five.
• Translator Microbes: They only speak through an electronic translator device.

The Hyach

Hyach

An orderly, gerontocratic race with leathery orange skin and large, double-lobed craniums.

• Clash of Evolutionary Levels: Subverted, see Dark Secret.
• Dark Secret: The Hyach once shared their world with another race called the Hyach-Doh, which they were able to interbreed with. Then the Hyach launched an ethnic cleansing campaign that drove the Hyach-Doh to extinction. This came back to bite the Hyach when they learned that the occasional interbreeding with the Hyach-Doh was actually a genetic necessity for their race's survival.
• Dying Race: Slowly dying. There's still a lot of them around, but their population is falling and they're on the decline.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first season, they’re mostly tan or beige in colour, with larger heads; by season two they’re either brick red or orange. After that, they’re orange pretty much all the time, though the red variant still makes appearances. Also, some of the early Hyach (and a later one in "The Legend of the Rangers") have small amounts of fur on their cheeks. Fridge Brilliance, given that Hyach-Doh had hair.
• Energy Weapon: In the Expanded Universe they favour laser weapons, and their ships have the best lasers of the setting.
• Genocide Backfire: What their government is hiding is the reason for them being a Dying Race.
• Government Conspiracy: The Elders are dedicated to keeping the genocide of their counterpart race a secret.
• Honor Before Reason: Their leaders find it difficult to reveal the truth about their world's genocide, having to choose between their sense of shame and hope for assistance from their alien allies.
• Impractically Fancy Outfit: Whereas most of the League races wear somewhat drab or functional clothing, Hyach are always seen wearing flowing, brightly coloured robes that don't seem too practical. Possibly this is justified by the fact that, being a gerontocracy, physical mobility would be negatively correlated with power and authority.
• Oh, My Gods!: Hyach ambassador Tal references "the will of Oshi-Ta"; background materials note that this is an androgynous creator deity.

The Llort

Llort

A race who resemble a cross between an armadillo and a cow.

• Beneath the Earth: They live in subterranean societies on their blasted rock of a homeworld, Vartas (which we never see in the show).
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Apparently, their society is feudal but changeable, and it's entirely normal and expected for Llort to shift allegiances (including religions) in response to shifts in power; this causes even greater shifts in power, meaning their government is never stable. They don't seem to mind.
• Hufflepuff House: They're seen from the first episode right through to the end of the show, a consistent part of the background alien colour. In spite of this, no Llort ever has a line.
• Sdrawkcab Name: "Llort" is "troll" backwards.
• Sticky Fingers: Apparently their defining trait. This may explain why their representative was the first to back G'Kar over the Narn invasion of Raghesh III in "Midnight on the Firing Line" - they don't see an issue with "we wanted it, we could take it, so we took it" mentality.

The Grome

Grome

A race who are known for their self-sufficiency.

• Art Evolution: In seasons one-three, they look like fleshy pink Drazi. In seasons four and five, their makeup is updated to appear more distinct (notably their bony ridges become more pronounced).
• God-Emperor: Their leader, the Margus, is not officially this... but unofficially he's considered this by many and the state is quite happy to encourage it.
• Hufflepuff House: All we know about them save appearance comes from background materials.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Proud and self-reliant, despite being the weakest and least technologically advanced people on this page.
• The Theocracy: Not officially, but the most common religion proposes that the Margus, the Grome's hereditary monarch, is a god, and crackdowns on competing faiths happen from time to time.

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